David Platt - Adoniram Judson: A Call to Go - Romans 10:13-15

if you have a Bible and I hope you do somebody around you does you can look on with let me invite you to open with me to Romans chapter 10 it is always an honor to be here at Southeastern and especially on this day I love this school I love your president I love the faculty staff students here I love the effect this seminary is having on the church and the effect this seminary is having on the world and particularly on this day as this seminary family Commission's out brothers and sisters whose ambition in Romans 15 kind of ways to seek Christ preacher has not been named and they are moving their lives to make his name known among people who have little to no knowledge of him but before we get to praying for them I want to ask every person in this room why are you not moving with them trustees why are you not moving with them faculty why are you not moving with them every student in this room why why are you not being commissioned out with them Romans chapter 10 verse 13 says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard and how are they to hear without someone preaching an hour that a preach unless they are sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news there are over 2.8 billion people in the world right now who have little to no knowledge of the gospel they are some of them today plunging into an eternal hell and no one has even told them about how they could go to heaven I believe that means you need a really good reason to not be moving to them and view of this word and the reality in our world right now the default certainly is for those with the gospel to be moving to those without access to the gospel so I have prayed at the head this morning I might encourage those who are moving and challenge those who are not to either move or to have a really good reason for staying and a radical commitment to sacrificing your life here to send more people moving there so I want to do something a little different instead of explaining this text think it's pretty clear I want to illustrate it starting with a scene similar to what's happening in this room it was a cold blistery day in 1812 on a crowd gathered to Commission Samuel and Harriet Newell and AD Nariman and Judson as missionaries to the unreached so a couple of years before Samuel and out and I remand a couple of other seminary students petitioned the leaders of Congregational churches to send them as missionaries and after much debate those churches agreed that same week at Nam just so happened to meet a woman named Ann not one to waste time one month later he expressed a desire to marry her forget this dating for months her response was that he would have to talk with her dad so ad Naren wrote her dad a letter said Deacon Haseltine I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring to see her no more in this world whether you can consent to her departure and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India to every kind of want and distress to degradation insult persecution and perhaps a violent death can you consent to all of this for the sake of him who left his Heavenly home and died for her and for you for the sake of perishing immortal souls for the sake of Zion and the glory of God can you consent to all this in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory with the crown of righteousness brightened with the acclamation of praise which to redound to her Savior from heathens saved through her means from eternal woe and despair how about that - a letter to a future father-in-law one of Anne's friends dad said quote he would tie his own daughter to the bedpost rather than let her go on such a harebrained adventure Ann's dad left it up to his daughter and she said yes not long thereafter they were sailing on a 114 day trip to India be thankful for planes with plans to go on to Burma on the ship Judson had plenty of time to read and study he was working on a translation of the Greek New Testament into English when he became especially interested in the word baptism as a Congregationalists judge had been baptized as a baby by sprinkling but the more he looked at his Bible the more he thought baptism is for believers by immersion as he realized the ramifications what he was studying he looked at an one day was surprised and he said I am afraid the Baptist's may be in the right but it was the Congregationalists who had sent him and they had sent him to do ministry the Congregationalists way away which he could no longer follow so when they arrived in India Judson connected with a brother named William Carey and the serum for Baptists and he and Ann were baptized as believers that led Judson to start writing letters one to the Congregationalists back home letting them know that their first American missionary was now a Baptist and to letting the Baptists back home know that surprised they now had missionaries who needed support before long luther rice had also become about us and for health reasons would have to return to the states and start a concentrated effort to raise funds for Baptist missionaries as a result in 1814 a Baptist missionary Society was established it was called the general missionary convention of the Baptist denomination in the United States of America for foreign mission so if you like acrostics that's not in a MB or imb that's the GMC BD USA FM boom meanwhile the Judson's had another problem as soon as they arrived in India everybody told them you can't go to Burma ship captains government officials missionaries even William Carey himself said get Burma out of your mind the country is ruled by a despot they're known for savage barbaric practices they have no religious toleration you just plain can't survive every missionary who had gone to Burma he either died or left but this didn't deter the Judson's they found a ship sailing for Rangoon a city in Burma and against everybody's council they on board an wrote in her journal the Berman's are entirely destitute of those consolations and joys which constitute our happiness and why should we be unwilling to part with a few fleeting comforts for the sake of making them shares with us enjoys as durable as eternity indeed the Jetsons would part with comforts from their first days on the ship and was pregnant and just a few days into the journey she gave birth to a baby born dead the trip to Burma had hardly begun and they were burying their first child at sea when they arrived ashore they found a land filled with swarming crowds Buddhist temples leprous beggars and children running around with no clothes while smoking cigars like they were adults immediately they started learning the language as soon as possible they started working on translating the Bible into Burmese they settled into life at Rangoon and less than two years later another child was born Roger Roger was the pride of his parents as the first white baby the Burmese had ever seen he was more than popular around town for six months he was healthy but then he started getting fevers at night it turned into loud heavy breathing and coughing fits around two o'clock one morning Adnan was up with him trying to calm him by feeding him and baby Roger seemed to respond well I'd never laid him down in the cradle where Roger slept with ease for half an hour and then all of a sudden stopped breathing that same day at Nam dug a grave for his six month old baby boy and wrote our hearts were bound up in this child we felt he was our earthly all our only source of innocent recreation in this heathen land and in her husband threw themselves into ministry sharing the gospel translating the scriptures and starting as ayat Sue's ayats were small shelters on the side of the road where Buddhist teachers disseminated Buddhist teachings the Judson's thought why not start one so on April 4th 1819 the first service was held at the First Baptist Society with about 15 adults and a bunch of naked kids smoking six years after landing at rangoon the judges saw the first Burmese person baptized six years when the next year they had a church of about ten Burmese and however was sick and they decided she needed relief from Burma's tropical climate so a deny arm sin his wife off on a ship back to America where she could recover while raising awareness of the need for more gospel work in that part of the world and would be gone from her husband for two years by the time she returned to Burma adoniram had finished his translation of the Burmese New Testament but trouble came soon after that the British invaded Burma in 1824 and suddenly every foreigner in the country was suspected of being a spy one night a denier Manan were getting ready to sit down for dinner when the door busted open and a dozen burmese rushed in where's the teacher they asked I'd never stepped forward and said here immediately he was thrown to the floor tied up with an instrument design for torture and clung to him until the officers dragged him away from her he was taken away to the courthouse where he was consigned to let Mei Yoon otherwise known as the death prison when he got to the prison Judson's ankles were fastened with three pairs of fetters he was thrown to the ground and dragged into a windowless room at 30 feet wide 40 feet long with fifty fifty prisoners on the floor some of whom he knew that night the prison guards lowered a long horizontal bamboo bamboo pool pulled down from the ceiling fastened the prisoners legs around it then raised the pole so that only the prisoners shoulders and heads were on the floor they would sleep with their feet in the air that night and every night thereafter and immediately began working non-stop for adding arms release when her efforts were rebuffed she gave bribes to earn at least five minutes five minute visit swith him the first time she saw him he came crawling out of the prison hardly recognizable to her she would bring him tea and rice as often as she could and before long in one of these brief visits she broke the news to him she was pregnant while judson languished in prison day after day after day for 11 months baby Maria was born the time came for the prisoners to be transferred or transferred to a more rural place commonly known for executing prisoners as they were led to that place one biographer said of the men no one who had known them when they entered could possibly have recognised them when they left their hair was matted their eyes hollow their bodies skin covered skeletons clothed in rags so greasy and tattered their original purpose could not even be suspected they could scarcely hobble and moved to a house closer to that prison from which she could bring food and supplies to Adoni room but during this time and became ill and in turn so did Maria the baby wasn't getting the nourishment she needed an Anne was so sick she had no milk to give so Adoni room received permission to go each night under guard from house to house in the village nearby begging burmese mothers to nurse his daughter by God's grace and and Maria lived and then by God's grace the Burmese government decided they needed some translator for their negotiations with the British so adoniram was released to help them that eventually led to his complete freedom in a way they once thought was never possible this family of three had a fresh start they moved to Amherst settled into a new home I never needed to travel to the embassy so we left and settled in Amherst and set out for a few month boy egde and wrote him a letter soon after he left saying I finally feel myself at home when I asked little Maria where papa is she always starts up and points toward the sea pray take care of yourself may god preserve and bless you and restore you in safety to your home this is the prayer of your affectionate Anne but another letter from her was long and coming and I'd never wondered if something was wrong he received word the baby Maria had gotten sick and his heart sunk one day when a man showed up with a letter sealed in black the man said I'm sorry to inform you of the death of your child an armed one aside to read the letter alone he longed to be with an to hold and comfort her and the loss of their third child he sat down opened the letter and began to read words that stunned him silent My dear sir the letter said to one who has suffered so much and with such exemplary fortitude there needs but little preface to tell a tale of distress they were cruel indeed to torture you with doubt and suspense to sum up the unhappy tidings in a few words mrs. Judson is no more his jaw dropped he couldn't move he read it over and over and over again unable to believe the words before him then he read on it was his wife not his baby who had experienced a violent fever it was Anne who had never recovered he began to cry softly at first and then would loud uncontrollable sobbing as the reality set and his wife had been buried a month before he even knew she was dead Judson couldn't wait to get back home or at least his two-year-old daughter was still alive little did he know that once he got back four days later she would join her mom in death adoniram Judson wrote I am left alone in a wide world my own dear family I have buried one in Rangoon two in Amherst I had never resumed his work of preaching and translating but he couldn't escape a growing sense of despair in his soul he gradually secluded himself as he sunk into depression at one point he dug an empty grave and sat by it every day simply reflecting on the decay of the body he was struggling in his faith at one point writing God to me is the great unknown I believe in him but I find him not yet much like Elijah in first Kings chapter 19 God met Judson where he was and slowly restored his faith that restoration was evident when the spouse of another missionary died Sara Boardman the wife of George Boardman saw her husband died of sickness while working another part of Burma Ida nerim wrote to her saying you are now drinking the bitter cup whose dregs I am somewhat acquainted with and I venture to say that it is far bitterer than you expected but then he went on the same take the bitter cup with both hands and sit down to your repast you will soon learn a secret that there is sweetness at the bottom at the end of the letter jetson encouraged Sara Boardman to stay in Burma continue the work she'd started with her husband Judson likewise were reinterred ministry ministry with renewed zeal and the Lord began to bless it had taken nine years to baptize 18 converts but now in 1831 alone they saw 217 people baptized 126 more were baptized the following year what if God's blessing in our ministries doesn't come until after deep suffering in our lives Judson recommitted himself to finishing the Burmese Bible and finally seven years after Anne's death the translation was complete now what he thought he'd started to look around it just so happened that a couple of weeks after finishing his translation Judson received a letter from Sarah Boardman George Boardman's widow in her letter Sarah congratulated Judson on finishing his translation acknowledging how valuable this was not only for the Burmese but for her own soul and Judson began to think wait a minute here's a woman traveling through Tiger field Burmese jungles proclaiming the gospel she's alone I'm alone why don't we do this together again not one to waste time Judson wrote her about a month after her letter to him he planned a trip to see her follow this timeline he left on April 1st he arrived on April 6 on April 10th they were married some single guy in this room is wanting to use that example the newly married couple thrust themselves into ministry preaching disciple new believers improving translations and having babies abigail ann was born in 1835 at an arm in 1837 elle Nathan in 1838 and Henry in 1839 this is one way to make disciples among the nation's but then tragedy struck stillborn boy named Luther was born in 1841 not long after that the whole family started getting sick baby Henry died as a result a year and seven months old the rest recovered though and in 1842 gave Sarah gave birth to a second Henry followed by Charles in 1843 and Edward in 1844 so all in all an arm had eight children with Sarah and six of them had lived but Sarah's body was weak and her only hope of recovery was a voyage back to the United States adoniram did not want to send her alone so the couple left their three youngest children in Burma with other families while taking the three oldest children with them on the ship at first Sarah's health improved but then it worsened again and they both began to realize that Sarah might not make it to the States I'd neroon's spent all of his time on the ship in the cabin with her he wrote one evening she appeared to be drawing near to the end of her pilgrimage the children took leave of her and retired to rest i sat alone by the side of her bed during the hours the night endeavoring to administer relief to the distressed body and consolation to the departing soul at 2:00 in the morning wishing to obtain one more token of recognition i roused her attention and said do you still love the Savior oh yes she replied I ever loved the Lord Jesus Christ I said again do you still love me she replied in the affirmative by a peculiar expression of her own then give me one more kiss and we exchanged that token of love from last time another our past life continued to recede and she ceased to breathe for a moment I traced her upward flight and thought of the wonders which were opening to her and then closed her sightless eyes dressed her for the last time in the drapery of death and being quite exhausted with many sleepless night I threw myself down and slept the next morning Sara was buried on the coast and add an arm set sail with his three children weeping around him the next stop would be America it had been 33 years since he set sail with an and one other couple all of those who left with him were dead judson only knew the few friends and family he had correspondent with while he was gone so he was looking forward to quietly catching up with them but nothing about his return would be quiet little did this man know that while he had been gone thousands of sermons had been preached about him hundreds of thousands of prayers had been offered for him and thousands of parents had named their children after him he was welcomed with wild fanfare in a way that made him very uncomfortable everywhere people wanted him to preach and tell of his adventures but he would often disappoint them because all he wanted to do was preach the gospel one woman who was a family member of his remarked it was evident even the most unobservant eye that most of the listeners in one particular gathering were disappointed after the exercises were over several persons inquired of me frankly why dr. Judson had not talked of something else why he had not told a story so she mentioned the subject to a denier him why what did they want he inquired I presented the most interesting subject in the world to the best of my ability but they wanted something different a story she said well I am sure I gave them a story the most thrilling one that can be conceived of but they heard it before she said they wanted something new of a man who had just come from the Antipodes of the other side of the world then I'm glad they have it to say Judson replied that a man in coming from the Antipodes had nothing better to tell them than the wondrous story of Jesus's dying love Judson was also discouraged by the division he found Church it was 1845 and slavery was beginning to divide the country which was having an effect on missionary sending Baptist missionaries refused to appoint slaveholders as missionaries which caused the southern churches to separate and start their own convention called the Southern Baptist Convention leaving the northern convention struggling to support missionaries like Judson in other words while Judson was at sea on his way back to America we were withdrawing our support before from him because of our support for slavery once in the States Johnson quickly tired of all the travel one day and found himself on a train headed to Philadelphia for a missions convention for his relaxation the man traveling with him gave him a book to read by a woman named Fanny Forester her actual name was Emily Chubbuck but apparently people didn't read books by Emily Chubbuck the way they did by Fanny Forester she was a popular author Judson was taken in by her style her writing has great beauty and power set is she a Christian Judson's traveling companion said yes in fact you can meet her tonight she's a guest at my house when Judson met her he was all the more fascinated he asked you know where this is going don't you we know this man now Judson met her asked her if she would be willing to write Sara's memoirs Emily was honored by the invitation she'd grown of a Baptist had always heard about the work in Burma so she agreed to help in the coming weeks they began working on the book and somewhere along the way Judson thought I don't want her simply to write Sara's biography I want her to take Sara's place not one to waste time less than a month after meeting Emily Chubbuck aka Fanny Forester adoniram Judson asked her to marry and return to Burma with him they were Wed June 1st 1846 and one of Johnson's Pfeiffer's describes her this way Emily brought a subtly compounded blend of character she was bold but meltable independent yet deeply feminine deeply responsive and spicy I have no idea what that means Emily was spicy she was his equal with her own accomplishments which she was she prized yet she revered him she could throw off her adulthood in a way that encouraged him to throw off his they would play and tease together like children whatever happened they could never be bored with each other together they sailed for Burma where Emily began to write not only Sierra's memoirs but many entertaining stories thoughtful reflections from her own journey upon arrival in Burma she gave birth to a daughter Emily as a deny arm worked to strengthen the church and spread the gospel an arms final project was the completion of an English to Burmese Dictionary a 600-page accomplishment soon Noah thereafter though he became sick and they decided he needed to go on a voyage to recover Emily was pregnant so she couldn't go with him there was decided that he needed to leave as soon as possible and by the time everything was arranged it became clear to both of them though though he needed to take this voyage the chances of his recovery were slim as he lay in bed he looked back at all he done I said I feel as if I were only just beginning to be prepared for usefulness he wanted to continue the work for the sake of the Burmese but in the same breath he would say when Christ calls me home I shall go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from his school the day finally came when Emily sent her husband off to sea with hopes of his recovery within days though he would breathe his last breath the ship's carpenter constructed a coffin sand was poured into it to make it sink the body was placed inside the top nailed shut and slowly it said into the sea west of the Burmese mountains this was the last sight of a man who once prayed one prayer my god thy will be done one only boon I crave to finish well my work and rest within a Burma grave how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news how will they hear if we do not preach to them if we do not move our lives to them how will they hear Romans 10 is not just a flash of Paul's rhetorical skill it is a glimpse into God's redemptive plan to make his love known to every person in people group in the world you just follow the questions from 15 back up to 13 and you see the plan Christ sends his followers his followers preach people hear hearers believe believers call on the name of the Lord and the nations are saved it all starts with him sending so is God sending you to do this and I've prayed that through the telling of Justin's story today the Lord might move in hearts around this room to call out more brothers and sisters from this room to follow in his footsteps he is still sending the opportunities the technology the advancements are far greater today than ever before in history for going so will you I just for every trustee faculty staff student in this room will you at least ask the Lord in a fresh way today if he is calling you to do this just ask like before you lay your head on your pillow tonight will you at some point today even if it's by your bed tonight kneel on your face before God if you are married to do this with your spouse and just ask the Lord do you want us to go will you at least ask this today and will you commit to obey however he answers bleed with you just ask and obey and if he doesn't call you to move your life will you believe that surely he's calling you to lead the church to send more men and women there and to support them and to serve them in any ways you possibly can to refuse to lead and pastor churches for which this is a side thing getting the gospel to people who never heard it is not a side thing we are here to accomplish this thing the Great Commission to see disciples made in all the nations during her time in America and exhorted pastors to quote feel the misery of the heathen world tried to awaken Christians around to preach frequently on the subject of missions never marked it to be the case when a minister feels much engaged for the heathen his people generally for take of his spirit and you hear that when a minister feels much engaged talking about that the eveness people have not yet been reached with the gospel when a minister feels much engaged for them then his people will partake of that spirit so may that emotion may that zeal mark every single students faculty member trustee from southeastern Seminary and said every Christian in the United States should feel as deeply impressed with the importance of making continual efforts for the salvation of the heathen as though their conversion depended solely on himself and said Christians should live like people have never heard the gospel like their conversion depended on us because in a very real sense it does that's Romans 10 they will not hear if someone does not go they won't hear if we don't go we might feel a personal responsibility yes resting and divine sovereignty that he will accomplish this mission but let us not ignore the means through which this mission will be accomplished you and me our churches our seminaries and spirit-filled brothers and sisters going out from them so I don't remove or stay and if we stay that we even fight our lives and our ministries undistracted by things that don't ultimately matter there are lives ministries would be undivided in all-out devotion to making the gospel and glory of our King known among people in the world who have still not heard his name so for brothers and sisters who are going moving your lives be encouraged you are giving yourselves to that which matters it will not be easy Justin makes that clear I just along with dr. lawless did the funeral of two of our missionaries it will not be easy but it will be worth it and be challenged brothers and sisters let's either move with them or let's do everything we can to multiply their number and undergird their work I leave you with the words of the late and Judson Oh that all the members of the Baptist Convention could live in Rangoon one month well the Christian world wake up o Lord send help our waiting eyes are unto thee

Channel: Southeastern Seminary

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Keywords: Southeastern, Baptist, Theological, Seminary, Chapel, Message, Jesus, Preaching, God, Book, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Gospel, False Teaching, False spirits, Spirit, Danny, expository, Great Commission, Truth, Grace, Love, Discerning, Training, Education

Id: AirfQyOwauQ

Length: 35min 33sec (2133 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 10 2018