H. B. Charles, Jr.: Surgeon Lectures

[Music] grace and peace be multiplied to each of you the day of the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord it is a great joy honor and privilege to be here with you these days for the 2018 Spurgeon lectures let me publicly thank my friend and brother dr. Jason Allen for the gracious wonderful invitation and publicly praise God along with you for all that God is doing in through and beyond this campus for the sake of the church if you would take a copy of ice of God's Word to turn with me to Isaiah that is where we will spend our time this morning I would love to spend this time talking to you about preaching but maybe the best way to talk about preaching is just to preach and so I would take a passage from Isaiah 55 let me pray first and then I want you to hear the reading of God's Word father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we do thank you for this time together and for the privilege to open your word together be our teacher guide us to the truth calls us to grow in the Grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ I pray father that you would help me to speak your word faithfully and clearly and the Christ alone would be exalted as the word has explained to your glory amen Isaiah chapter 55 beginning at verse 1 come everyone who thirsts come to the waters he who has no money come by and eat come buy wine and milk without money and without price how do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy listen diligently to me and eat what is good and the light yourself in rich food incline your ear and come to me here that your soul may live and I will make with you and everlasting cover my steadfast sure love for David behold I made him a witness to the peoples a leader and commander for the peoples behold we shall call a nation that you do not know and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and of the Holy One of Israel for he has glorified you seek the Lord while he may be found call on him while he is near that the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts for the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth making you bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth it shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish that which our purpose that shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it for you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands instead of the thorns shall come up the cypress and cypress instead of the Brier shall come up the myrtle and he shall make a name for the Lord an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off amen I want to label this passage the great invitation the great invitation Chris Enzio Ibara recorded a brief video inviting family friends and neighbors to a birthday party celebrating the 15th birthday of his daughter Ruby it was to be a grand they're marked by music food games including a horse race with a 10,000 pesos prize everyone is cordially invited saying I borrow during the 15 second clip as he stood next to his wife and daughter when a local promoter uploaded the video to the community's Facebook page he inadvertently hit public instead of private the video quickly went viral 1.2 million people RSVP'd for Ruby's 15th birthday party the video was shared nine hundred and seventy eight times in hashtag fifteen de Ruby became a trending topic on social media the Mexican airline interject got in on the fun and offered 30% discounts on tickets for anyone who was coming from around the world to be a part of Ruby's 15th birthday party the party took place on December 26 2016 of people descended on this village made up of only about 10,000 people if you pull up clips of it you can see how obviously overwhelmed the young girl was by the spectacle of it all one young man actually was killed in an accident that took place during the planned horse race in an interview with reporters Ruby's mother Ann Eldo complained that my husband sent out an invitation but it was just to be to family and friends in the community I don't know who got ahold of it but they copied it and published it and it blew up she says as if it was an invitation to the whole world this true story is a tragic illustration of fallen humanity we receive invitations from the world that are not meant for us and we respond to invitations from the world that cannot deliver what they promise sin causes us to crave what is actually not true to neglect what is ultimately true CS Lewis said it well I suppose that the Lord does not find our desires too strong but rather too weak we are like half-hearted creatures fooling about with sex and drink and ambition when infinite joy has been offered to us like a little child who continues playing with mud pies in the slums because he doesn't know what it is to be invited to a holiday at sea Lewis concludes rightly we are far too easily pleased but I come into you that true satisfaction in life is only found in the great invitation God extends to guilty sinners and this great invitation is stated in no greater fashion than it is here in Isaiah chapter 55 Isaiah chapter 53 records the finished redemptive work of the suffering servant the Messiah King who is to come chapter 54 presents for us the benefits of this finished work for Israel specifically but chapter 55 is a wide-ranging far-reaching and more importantly life-changing invitation to one and to all our God our holy God extends a gracious invitation for guilty sinners to get right with him in this chapter Isaiah the prophet Isaiah the preacher raises two big features of the great invitation God extends to guilty sinners on one hand God extends a great invitation that is too good to be true God extends a great invitation that is too good to be true stubborn sin has resulted in divine punishment through the Babylonian captivity but now the same God returns to his people offering to feed them and to fulfill them and more importantly to forgive them this invitation however is more than just a good opportunity it's a divine obligation there are some 12 commands in the first seven verses of Isaiah 55 God commands sinners to come to him to believe his promises and to repent of their sins first God commands sinners to come to him verse 1 come everyone who thirsts come to the waters and he who has no mercy no money come by and eat come buy wine and milk without money and without price I hope you caught the keyword of verse 1 it's repeated four times in the opening verse come come come come true satisfaction is available but it is only found in God you must come to him but there is a condition come everyone who first come to the waters anyone and everyone who recognizes their spiritual thirst is free to come contrast arrogance self-sufficiency automatically disqualifies you from divine resources in John chapter 7 verse 37 Jesus says if any man thirst let him come to me and drink God speaks here like a merchant standing on the street corner Hawking his wares but unlike the merchants on the corner God offers his resources to those who cannot afford to purchase them he who has no money come by and eat come buy wine and milk without money and without price how is this possible Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 5 verse 3 blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven the offeror God makes is without money and without price because the price has already been paid laurens Richard says it costs us nothing it costs Christ everything here in verse 2 the Prophet confronts those who would refuse God's gracious invitation why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy verse 1 tells us that sin robs us of spiritual resources verse 2 tells us that sin robs us of spiritual discernment sin makes fools out of us the rich live by their money the poor live by their labor but both are wasted in the life of sin the rich spend their money for that which the world offers only to find out it's not really bread the poor spend their money spend their labor for what the world offers only to find out that it does not satisfy and the Prophet inquires why matthew 20 Matthew 16 verse 26 Jesus raises the same issue in different language but does the profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul what in the world can a man give in exchange for a soul verse 2 says and diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourself in rich food when I first discovered this passage as a boy I learned it from the King James Version it says let your soul delight itself in fatness John chapter 5 verse 24 Jesus says truly I say to you whoever hears my word and believes in Him who has sent me has eternal life he will not perish he has passed from death to life God bids the sinner to come to him and then also God commands sinners to believe his promises verse 3 incline your ear and come to me hear that your soul may live again there is the call to come but notice that if the center is to come they must hear the word of God incline your ear and come to me hear that your soul may live this is the urgency of preaching they may not come until they hear the offer of God's grace hear that your soul may live God offers new life and abundant life and eternal life to all who come to him it is says verse 3 and ever lasting covenant the great invitation has a lifetime guarantee he presents it as his steadfast sure love for David which teaches us that the great invitation God extends is based upon divine love divine covenant not human accomplishment in comparison here to the covenant God extends to David in 2nd Samuel chapter 7 verses 12 through 16 promising him a lasting legacy and an unending throne verse 4 behold I made him a witness to the peoples a leader and commander to the people's some real sense this is a reference to David and his royal line but ultimately this is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 13 verse 34 Paul declares as for the fact that he raised him from the dead no more to return to corruption he has spoken in this way I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David the promises here of the great invitation are only fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ John 14 verse 6 Jesus rightly said I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through me so in verse 5 God says and I think speaking here directly to the servant you shall call a nation that you do not know and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God the Holy One of Israel for he has glorified you the messiah-king will not just be the king of the Jews he will be king of kings and Lord of lords here in Isaiah 55 verse 5 we have an allusion to the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 28 verses 18 through 20 all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always even to the end of the age God commands then sent us to come to him God commands sinners to believe his promises this is our message and God commands sinners to repent of their sins this great invitation is wide-ranging and far-reaching but you must come on God's terms what are God's terms verses 6 & 7 it's clear that come to God you must repent of sin repentance seems to be a lost word in the lexicon of the contemporary church but here God states the terms of his great invitation without stuttering we must repent we must call men and women to repent of their sins they must repent we must repent immediately and completely repent immediately seek the Lord while he may be found verse six call upon him while he is near his language is provocative there is a time Isaiah says when God may be found in the time when he may not be found there is a time when God is near in the time when God is not near when is God not near enough to be found I don't want to know and neither do you that's the point it is an urgent call and there is no time to waste the call let's get right with God now the other sovereign life is short death is sure eternity is long hell is high there is no time to waste get right with God now must be our message in the critical times that we live in psalm 32 verse 6 david says therefore let all who are godly call upon him in the time when he may be found surely in the flood of Great Waters they shall not come near him the flood of divine judgment david says his coming call on the lord while he may be found repent immediately we must not be apologetic about god's call to repent from sin if we are going to faithfully proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to this generation repent immediately and then repeat completely verse 7 let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon I think verse 7 here is the most succinct statement of true repentance that you might find in the script but what does it mean to repeat we see here that it is more than regret or remorse it's more than feeling sorry for your sins as being sorry enough to quit when one hand he says sin must be forsaken let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts note note here the depravity of man we are sinners in both our ways and our thoughts in both our conduct and our intentions in both our behaviors in our attitudes internally and externally we are marked by our sins the wicked is called upon by God to forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and then after we forsake sin what is man to do verse 7 says let him return to the Lord this is God's grace you can return to the Lord just come back to God run to the cross throw yourself on the mercy of God trust the finished work the Christ has accomplished on our behalf by his bloody cross and his empty tomb and if you return to the Lord the Bible says here God will have compassion on him if you return to our God he will abundantly pardon he will not just pardon he will abundantly pardon I don't know what that means but I like it Isaiah 55 verse 7 affirms the invitation of Isaiah 1:18 come now let us reason together says the Lord though your sins be as scarlet I'll make it as snow though it is red as crimson I will make it as wool this is the message we proclaim the guard by his Sovereign Grace extends a great invitation that the world needs to hear that is too good to be true but in the second half of this chapter Isaiah says God extends a great invitation that is too good not to be true oh we say if it sounds too good to be true it probably is we have right in our time to view the matters with such cynicism because the world is constantly offering bait-and-switch invitations romans 3 verse 4 it says let God be true though every man be a liar God here extends an invitation to sinners that is too good to be true but because this invitation is from God it is too good not to be true Raylan jr. comments here that the gospel is not some little psychological uplift it is tomorrow's world headlines today and in verses 8 through 13 as there gives three reasons why we should trust the great invitation three reasons why we should serve and minister and witness and preach with confidence and the great invitation God extends to sinners first he says trust the way God thinks trust the way God thinks again in verse seven he says if the wicked were just forsake his way and Wren back to God God will have compassion and abundantly pardon if you will forsake your thoughts and ways and come to him this sounds too good to be true all of the sinner has to do who's been running from God it's just make a u-turn and run to the cross but verses 8 and 9 says do not judge God's thoughts and ways by man's thoughts and ways those thoughts are different than ours God does thoughts and ways are different for my thoughts are not your thoughts verse 8 neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord knoweth things differently than us 1 coming Taylor sink said it here our understanding must not be the measurement of what God can accomplish his thoughts and waves are not like our thoughts and ways my father was my hero I just wanted to be with him wherever he was and he just felt like always being in a classroom I was always learning something and we could just be riding down the street and my father just in casual conversation would be teaching me something in on occasion I'd be so blown away I said wow dad I never knew that and there were a few occasions he replied by saying son there's enough you don't know to start a brand new world I took offense at that but it's the truth and it's the truth about you and me today right that's enough we don't know for God to take dad and start a brand new world without much missing or listen the way Solomon says it to his son proverbs 3 verse 5 trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding translation do not depend on what you think you know God's thoughts and ways are not like ours they are different than ours and not just different than ours they are higher than ours verse 9 for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts God's thoughts and ways are infinitely higher than ours God is transcendent he is infinitely above us and beyond us he is in the words of Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 he is able to do far more abundantly than all that we could ask or think this omnipotence sovereign power is most clearly demonstrated in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ Romans chapter 5 verse 74 scarcely would weren't die for a righteous man even though for a good man one may dare to die but God is commended his love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us we have no reason or right to second-guess a God like this we should trust this God we should obey this God we should proclaim this God and we should worship this God Psalm 145 verse 3 says great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable if God was just an average God average praise would be acceptable if he was a mediocre God mediocre praise would be okay but he is a great God therefore he is greatly to be praised because his greatness is unsearchable trust the way God thinks then as you go forth from this place - whatever ministry God would call you to not only trust the way God thinks trust the way God speaks okay H me his thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours how then can we know God's thoughts and understand God's ways verse 10 for ask the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater stop there that God speaks through storms says verse till rain and snow don't come from heaven and just evaporate precipitation from heaven results in transformation on earth when the rain and snow come down from heaven they don't return there but they water the earth they make the earth bring forth and sprout I love this phrase the bottom of verse 10 it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater the seed is the beginning place of bread bread is the finished product of sea this is a picture of sovereignty of God God has our needs covered from beginning to end verse 11 but moreover the God that speaks through storms most specifically speaks through Scripture so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth note the two personal pronouns there this is how God described Scripture my word coming from my mouth second Timothy chapter three verses 16 and 17 all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching and rebuke correction and instruction and righteousness so that the man of God may be complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work scripture is not merely may of thoughts about God it is God's self-revelation of himself the nature character and authority of Scripture is rooted in the nature character and authority of God himself I like the way Isaiah 40 verse 8 says it the grass withers and the flowers fade but the word of our God will stand forever this is why secretin thie chapter 4 verse 2 can bid us to preach the word and be ready in season and out of season because God's Word look at verse 11 shall not return empty it shall accomplish that which our purpose it shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it trust the great invitation because of the way God thinks because of the way God speaks and finally because of the way God works you shall go out and joy and be led forth in peace again the background of this pastor just a Babylonian Empire in Babylonian captivity God says I will bring you out you will not deliver yourselves I am the one who brings you out you shall go out because you'll be led forth in the evidence that I'll do it is that it'll be marked by true joy and real peace and as you are delivered and make your way forth from captivity as you go forth with joy the joy will be so great that it won't be limited to you the mountains and the hills before you show break forth into singing and all of the trees of the field shall clap their hands I'm always amused by that because I personally know people who specifically pick churches where they'll never be asked to sing or clap their hands because there's the bouncers before you shall break forth into singing nature will join in the praises of God the trees of the field shall clap their hands Romans 8:21 states that this way creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God verse 12 is God's grace that extends what we do not deserve verse 13 is God's mercy that holds back what we do deserts instead of the thorn shall come up the Cypress instead of the briars shall come up the myrtle in Genesis 3 the aftermath of Adam's sin the ground is cursed and he says you will work from the sweat of your brow and thorns and thistles will come up as a result of your work that's what happens when mail works thorns and thistles but verse 13 when God works death is transformed to life judgment is transformed to salvation and briars are transformed into evergreens why does God think the way God thinks why does God speak the way God speaks why does God work the way he works for the salvation of sinners the end of verse 13 tells us it's to make a name for the Lord and everlasting sign - oh not be cut off dr. Alan mentioned I was a boy preacher and was called to my first church at the age of 17 I knew very deliberately through the reading of Spurgeon among other means that I needed to build a ministers library and I started collecting books took Spurgeon's advice sell your shirts and buy books and I was shared them with the other ministers around me giving them access to my small but growing library but then when I would go back and try to find the book I couldn't find it and then at some point I would see one of the fellas walking around with said book and I say hey man I've been looking for that book and they said nah doc that's not your book I got my own copy I don't know what happened to your copy well I couldn't investigate what happened and I didn't want to stop being generous so I came up with a plan I started keeping a marker with me I still do to this day and when I when I got a new book I'd pull out that marker and on the top of it I'd write H be Charles jr. and on the side of it I'd write H be Charles Julia and at the bottom of it I'd write HB Charles jr. and just for good measure on page 25 at the bottom I put my initials H B C - I put my name on it so that it was being no mistake on who the book belonged to there seems to be better ways than preaching to reach sinners with the good news but God works the way he works so that when he saves sinners nobody else can take credit for what he has done he puts his name all over it so he alone gets the glory Psalm 51 15 verse 1 says it this way not unto us not unto us O Lord but to your name be glory because of your steadfast love and your faithfulness as we proclaim this great invitation to a lost and dying world God has so worked that he alone gets the glory for his triumphant grace put on display the virgin births righteous life atoning death physical resurrection glorious ascension intercessory ministry and imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ my father the human named ran away from home as a boy Lake Charles Louisiana he was raised by a white family they took him in and sent him to school in his first or so year he ran into financial problems he said and he was pointed to a family at the school another white family who would be of assistance to him after reaching out the father of that family invited my dad to dinner to hear my dad's testimony and to consider my dad's need my dad had dinner with the family he says and at the end of the meal they talked he shared his testimony expressed his desire to study and the financial need that he had he said the the old man wrote him a check for what he needed he said when he was handed the check and looked at he couldn't help but make an expression he didn't catch himself and the old man saw the expression and said son what's the matter nothing yesterday yesterday is something is the matter embarassingly my father admitted to the man on the cheque you misspelled my last name Charles to which the old man said son start your name on that cheque that counts his mind may the Lord help us to remember that truth as we preach the gospel Shepherd his people and spread the great invitation where ever he would send us it is not our name that matters it is his thank you for this time together in your word father thank you for your sovereign grace that Conda sins to show mercy to rebels like us thank you for making us ministers and messengers of reconciliation above all we praise you for the Lord Jesus Christ the righteous one and for your grace in which you made him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him help us to be faithful courageous obedient ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ in this season of our lives and wherever you would call us may we be unashamed to proclaim it's good news of your grace to the world this good news that is too good to be true this good news that must be true because it is your perfect god-breathed inerrant sufficient word and testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and is in his name we pray that you would receive all of the glory for our labors and the gospel in Jesus name Amen

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Length: 40min 0sec (2400 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 30 2018