Well, it's wonderful to be here. I apologize for being, running a little late. I've been sitting on a runway in Dallas for quite some time. And on the incoming flight, I've never had this happen before, someone actually stole a seatbelt. So everyone got on the plane and there was one seat that didn't have a seatbelt and so that really threw everyone for a tizzy. So they went and got a seatbelt, but it was the wrong size. And so then that took a little while to find another seatbelt. So finally they got us all set and ready to go. So here I am. I do want to thank Stephen Lee for the invitation to be here. There's Stephen. Yeah, I've had the privilege of being at each one of these foundation conferences, foundations conferences, and Stephen and I do go back. And I don't, honest to goodness, I don't know of anyone who has done more to spread the preaching of the Word of God than Stephen Lee and Sermon Audio, and preaching that's worth hearing. There's a lot of bad preaching out there. In fact, I don't think we need more preachers. I think we need fewer preachers, to be honest. But Stephen Lee has managed to put his arms around the best of the best, the faithful men who stick to the text of Scripture, and has sent that around the globe. And I don't know of anyone else really in the world who has been more strategically used to advance the Word of God that it would run swiftly. than the ministry of sermon audio. So anytime Stephen Lee calls, I just say, yes, sir, and it's an immediate yes, and I'm always so grateful to be able to stand with him. So, normally at this time I would be saying, take your Bible and turn with me too, which is what I do week after week after week, just like most of you do. But Stephen Lee has thrown me a bit of a curveball here and has asked me to do a biographical sketch of a figure from church history, a man named David Brainerd. And so I want to spend our time today reintroducing you to David Brainerd. And I was reading Jonathan Edwards earlier this morning about Brainerd, and Jonathan Edwards made this interesting comment that we grow in the Christian life basically by two ways, he said. One is the straight instruction of the Word of God. that we would be sanctified by the truth, Your Word is truth. But he said, secondly, as we see it lived out in the lives of other men and women who walk by faith and live by obedience to the Word of God, And I think David Brainerd is one who is worthy of our focus. This is really like updating Hebrews 11. By faith, David Brainerd. And even the Scripture itself elevates certain men into a visible place. that we would learn from them from their walk with Christ. And even Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. Be an imitator of me as I imitate Christ. And every one of us in this room needs men and women who are out ahead of us. to follow in their example, to be a part of riding a wave of influence for our lives. And I've had men like that in my life who have shaped me significantly, men who are alive as well as men who have already gone to be with the Lord. I spoke for Al Mohler a couple of years ago at a conference at Southern Seminary, and he asked me, or I asked him, what do you want me to speak on? And he said, I want you to speak on heroes. And it really took me back. I said, well, no one's ever asked me to speak on heroes. Tell me your thought in asking me to do this. And he said, my students have, many of them have the wrong heroes. And they need real heroes. And so, I spoke on some of the greats of the Christian faith down through the centuries. Well, I think David Brainerd is one who ought to be on every one of our short lists. of authentic heroes in the faith who are worthy of really emulation from their example. Obviously, David Brainerd had feet of clay like every one of us, and even Jonathan Edwards pointed that out in his funeral sermon that he gave for David Brainerd. But suffice to say, I want to reintroduce you to this really extraordinary figure, David Brainerd. We could call him the forerunner of the modern missions movement. The end of the 18th century witnessed one of the greatest movements that we've ever seen in church history. It's what's known as the modern missions movement. In 1792, there was a shoe cobbler named William Carey. who felt strongly that we must reach the world for Christ, and got on a ship and sailed halfway around the world. And before he did that, he wrote a pamphlet entitled, An Inquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. And so, that really launched and birthed the modern missions movement, and there would be others who would be caught up in that movement. Henry Martin took the gospel to India. Adoniram Judson sailed for the cause of Christ to Burma. Robert Moffat spread the flame of Christianity down into South Africa. Robert Morrison went to China, as did Hudson Taylor and C.T. Studd. And David Livingston went into the very heart of Africa really boldly and courageously. And so I think we would ask the question, what really got them going? Who struck the match that lit the fuse? Who was William Carey reading? What was Henry Martin reading? What were these giants of the faith reading that would set them to sail around the world? And the answer is, they were reading David Brainerd. David Brainerd was the man that God sovereignly used to bring about the explosion of the modern missions movement. So I think each and every one of us here today need to know about our forefather, David Brainerd, and to be able to see qualities in his life that we would want to emulate. And his influence did not stop with the modern missions movement. The favorite son of Scotland, Robert Murray McShane, was greatly impacted by reading David Brainerd's diary and journal. And Jim Elliott, when he went to the Akha Indians, what had he been reading? Jim Elliott had been reading David Brainerd. So, we would almost have to put out a caution that if you're going to read David Brainerd, you may end up on the moon. You may end up on the other side of the world, because there was a fire that was burning in his bones that was so strong to take the gospel where the gospel had not been preached, that he was willing really to go anywhere, pay any price, to do whatever is required to extend the message of Christ. So, the time that we have today, I want to just give us a survey, a walkthrough, the life and times of David Brainerd, and I trust that it will have an influence upon your life. He was born in 1718 in Connecticut in a farming village along the Connecticut River Valley. And his father was a man of some visibility and notoriety. He was a Connecticut legislator and one of England's counsel for the colony. He was the third of five brothers. He had sisters as well. And his father died at an early age, at age nine, and his mother died shortly thereafter at age 13. So he grew up basically as an orphan and lived with his sister and then lived with a pastor. He was surrounded with really Puritan Christianity, really the best of the best Christianity, committed to the Westminster Confession, committed to sound doctrine, committed to high view of God. And yet, David Brainerd, though growing up in a home like this and in a community like that, remained unconverted. He said he was at ease in Zion. and without God in the world. He said he was an almost Christian. In other words, he had a lot in the head, but he had never been regenerated in his heart. And he was under deep conviction of sin. The law of God set the standard for him. He saw that he fell short of the glory of God. He understood from the Word that Christ was calling him into a saving relationship. But he didn't know how to take that step of faith. He didn't know really how to commit his life to Christ. And he read a book by kind of an interesting coincidence, Solomon Stoddard, who was the maternal grandfather of Jonathan Edwards. He read a book that he wrote called A Guide to Christ that laid out for him what it was to come to that place where you deny yourself and take up a cross and become a follower of Jesus Christ. And so he was converted at age 21, and I have his testimony here. I'd like to just read some portions of this testimony because he was soundly converted. I mean, there was no need to walk him through how to have assurance of your salvation. I mean, when you go from death to life, I think you ought to know that. When you leave the darkness and you go to the light, it would seem to me that you would know that. And when you come to a place where you submit your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, it would seem like you would know that. And so, here is his testimony. He said that on July 17, 1739, interesting historical footnote here, that is the year that George Whitefield made his second sailing voyage to the colonies. And it would begin the greatest evangelistic preaching journey of any preacher since the Apostle Paul. And so, right in the mix of Whitefield and the Great Awakening, here comes David Brainerd into the kingdom of God. God always has next man up. And people say, well, what's going to happen after R.C. Sproul dies? What's going to happen after John MacArthur dies? What's going to happen? Listen, God always has next man up. And so, here's his testimony. He said, I was brought to see myself lost. And by the way, no one will ever be saved until they know they're lost. We all came limping into the kingdom. I was brought to see myself lost and helpless. I was attempting to pray but found no heart to engage in that. I had been endeavoring to pray for nearly half an hour. Then as I was walking in a dark, thick grove, Unspeakable glory seemed to open to the view and apprehension of my soul. I do not mean any external brightness, for I saw no such thing. But it was a new inward apprehension or view that I had of God, such as I never had before. My soul rejoiced with joy unspeakable to see such a God, such a glorious divine being. And I was inwardly pleased and satisfied that he should be God over all forever and ever. My soul was so captivated and delighted with the excellency, loveliness, greatness, and other perfections of God that I was even swallowed up in God. I had no thought about my own salvation. For years, he had been so focused on himself. in an attempt to come into the kingdom, that he had lost sight of God. And he had lost sight of Christ. And in this moment, his eyes were finally off of himself and the paralysis of analysis of himself. And God enabled him to have this expanded understanding of the glory of God and the greatness of God. And in that moment, he is just swallowed up in the majesty and the transcendence and the holiness of Almighty God. He said, God brought me to a hearty disposition to exalt Him and set Him on the throne and principally and ultimately to aim at His honor and glory as King of the universe. I felt myself in a new world, and everything about me appeared with a different aspect from what it was. The way of salvation opened to me with such infinite wisdom and excellency that I wondered I should ever think of any other way of salvation. Last sentence, I wondered that all the world did not see and comply with this way of salvation entirely by the righteousness of Christ. That man got saved. That man became converted under a towering understanding and view of God, a high view of God, and the lordship of Jesus Christ. And so, Brainerd immediately since the call of God into the ministry. I mean, he couldn't contain it within himself, and within two months he was enrolled in Yale University. And as he entered Yale in 1739, that's about the time that Whitefield will arrive to the colonies for the second time, he entered Yale in order to be trained for the ministry. And I would remind you that is where Jonathan Edwards was trained for the ministry as well. And it was during this time that the Great Awakening exploded. I know you are familiar with the Great Awakening. It was the greatest movement of the Spirit of God on American soil that has ever taken place. And the first wave of the Great Awakening really happened in In Northampton, under the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, at the end of 1733 going into 1734, the whole town of Northampton came alive unto God. It began with the teenagers. It spread like a wildfire. As there were conversions, it spread to the other towns along the Connecticut River Valley. And after a period of time, a couple of years, it then subsided. But with Whitefield coming in 1739, it was like re-striking the match and lighting the fuse, and the colonies suddenly became alive with the presence of God. And it created such a stir because there were so many young people coming to faith in Christ, so many teenagers, so many in their early 20s, that they were on fire for God. And they had trouble blending in with their own congregation, some of which were just still kind of dead and apathetic and lukewarm. And so it was creating this tension And so it all came to a boiling point at Yale University as the Board of Trustees met to start the new year. They were trying to sort through, is this of God? The Great Awakening, is it not of God? And the Board of Trustees decided that it was not of God. Can you believe that? And so I want to read you their official document. It's a part of the David Brainerd story. If any student of this college shall directly or indirectly say that the rector, the board of trustees, or the tutors are hypocrites, carnal, or unconverted men." And I want to tell you, some of them were. They were, as John Knox said, I'll call a spade a spade. He shall, for the first offense, make a public confession in the hall, meaning before the student body, and for the second offense, be expelled." Well, later that day, in the remarkable providence of God, the Board of Trustees, after drafting that statement, asked Jonathan Edwards, of all people, to preach the commencement address. Can you believe all these galaxies are colliding at one time? And Whitefield's already been there and preached and has only stirred up the students even more. And Whitefield had the audacity to say that even the pastors in the colonies need to be born again. So, Jonathan Edwards steps to the podium, to the pulpit, to address the entire student body, the board of trustees, and local pastors who have gathered, and Jonathan Edwards brought one of the most defining messages that have ever been brought at a strategic time in church history. It became a best-selling book. It is known as The Distinguishing Marks of a True Work of God's Spirit. He took 1 John chapter 4 verses 1 through 5, Jonathan Edwards, and he identified the five marks of a true work of God that you may know if this is God that is in this movement. And he began the message by giving eight or nine marks that could go either way. So don't be caught up with these eight or nine. These five will be the plumb line that will determine whether the great awakening is of God or not. And Jonathan Edwards actually sided with the students. He said, this is a true work of God, and we must be patient with the old people. Well, sitting there that day in the student body was David Brainerd. Can you imagine how the intersection of these lives are taking place? And David Brainerd is on fire for God. David Brainerd was sold out to the lordship of Jesus Christ, and in the midst of this, in the next term, there was a freshman student who was walking down the hall and overheard David Brainerd say that his tutor had no more of the grace of God than a chair. And so, the freshman student turned in, sounds a little legalistic, I know, but turns his name in and David Brainerd is expelled from Yale. They throw him out on his head for simply probably saying the truth, that his tutor was lacking the grace of God in his life. Well, God used that to redirect David Brainerd's life. He had already distinguished himself as really at the head of the class of Yale, not bad, and having a brilliant mind and extraordinary memory and powers of analysis with Scripture and theology. He was an unusually gifted young man. He appeared at graduation, humbled himself, asked for forgiveness. The Board of Trustees would not forgive him. And they denied him his diploma, though he was at the head of his class. And so he had no choice but to seek a new direction for his life. And in the amazing providence of God, when one door closes, another door opens. And he spent that summer evangelizing the Indians near the New York-Connecticut border, and it would become a preview of what would be in his future. Word was out that he was both bold and brilliant – that's an extraordinary combination, by the way – and both godly and gifted And he was asked by a mission society, the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. They asked him to travel to New York City, to come to New York City and to meet with them to see if he would be suited to be sent out as a missionary to reach the Native Americans, to reach the Indians. And so, David Brainerd went, he can't graduate, he can't continue his studies at a higher level, and so he accepts the petition, or the commission, and he records in his diary, and I wish I had time to read more portions of his diary, but you just sense the sincerity and the earnestness and the piety that is in his heart. Lord's Day, August 15, 1742. Felt much comfort and devotedness to God this day. At night, it was refreshing to get alone with God and pour out my soul. Oh, who can conceive of the sweetness of communion with the blessed God but those who have experienced it? Glory to God forever that I might taste heaven while on earth. And that's just pulling back the veil a little bit and sensing the spiritual heartbeat and pulse that is throbbing in the soul of David Brainerd. Maybe one more, Wednesday, August 18, 1742. spent most of this day in prayer, in reading. I see so much of my own extreme vileness that I feel ashamed and guilty before God. I look to myself like the vilest fellow in the land." Well, you know, if we sent him to a Christian counselor today, he would say, you've got such a low self-esteem on yourself. You're just kind of hard on yourself. No, it sounds like the Apostle Paul, I'm the chief of sinners, is what he is saying. And he is showing himself really to be man marked by humility and purity and contrition. And so, he begins his ministry to try to reach the Native Americans, the Indians on the eastern seacoast. And so, his first assignment was to go to western Massachusetts to the Mohican Indians. And he was there for 12 months. And he actually served the Lord not far from Stockbridge, which will be at the end of Jonathan Edwards' life, where he will go after he is run out of Northampton by a 90% vote to no longer be their pastor after 22 years of pastoring the Northampton church. If any of you have been run out of a church, you're in very good company. They ran Edwards out. They also ran John Calvin out as well. And so he goes there. He sees very little success. He suffers from ill health, much self-doubt. He's very discouraged, but he has this missionary fire that's burning in him. And I don't know who I may be speaking to today, but there may be in your heart and in your soul a missionary fire that is kindling, and you are about at a point where you need to make a decision what you're going to do with your life. Well, this was where David Brainerd was. Listen to what he writes in his journal. He said, I never, since I began to preach, could feel any freedom to enter into another man's labor. I must settle down in the ministry where the gospel has never been preached before. He said, there appeared to be nothing of any considerable importance to me but holiness of heart and the conversion of the heathen to God. And so, this was his first assignment and though he was discouraged, he nevertheless, it really deepened his convictions though, that I'm in the center of God's will and I want to reach people who have never heard of Jesus Christ. Well, he is then sent to what is known as the Forks of the Delaware. It's the meeting of some rivers in Delaware, the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, and there he went to preach the gospel to the Delaware Indians. He needed an interpreter to go with him to travel there, and he is confronted with a The Indians, with their fixation on myths and superstitions and their traditions and their heathen ways, and he sees very little responsiveness to them, which is only causing Brainerd into a deeper dependence upon God, because he sees that he cannot make this happen except God go before him and open the eyes and open the ears of these who are impossible to reach with the gospel. And so, let me just read one diary entry, Monday, August 30, 1744. Oh, I saw what I owed to God in such a manner as I scarce ever did. I knew I had never lived a moment to Him as I should. Indeed, it appeared to me I had never done anything in Christianity. My soul longed with a vehement desire to live to God. In the evening, I sang and prayed with a number of Christians and felt the powers of the world to come in my soul and in prayer. I don't know if you've ever heard the saying, well, he's so heavenly-minded, he's no earthly good. Well, I've never met that man. David Brainerd knew he could not be any earthly good until he would first be heavenly-minded. And his mind is being anchored to the throne of grace and to God in prayer and in worship and study of Scripture. Later that year, he makes a significant missions journey deeper into Pennsylvania. It would be one of four trips where he would go even further at that time, we would say, into the wilderness, and to try to preach the gospel through an interpreter, and he is met with the hostility of the Indians. And today, someone trying to do this would almost come to the conclusion, well, this must not be God's will for my life, because doors aren't just opening and people aren't flooding to Christ. But no, David Brainerd understood the challenge it would be to take the gospel to people who are not seeking for God, who are running away from God, and who must be stripped of their false hope in their own pursuit of God. And so, here's just one account as he goes into Pennsylvania. We arrived at the Susquehanna River and found twelve Indian houses. After I had saluted the king in a friendly manner, I told him my business, and that my desire was to teach them Christianity. This was no sneak-up approach in evangelism. I mean, he doesn't have a puppet ministry or something. You know, he just shows up and says, I'm here to preach to you and teach you Christianity. Will you listen? The Indians gathered, and I preached to them. I asked that they wanted to hear me again. They sent me word that they would immediately attend if I would preach again, which I did, with freedom both times. When I asked them again whether they would hear me further, they replied they would the next day. I was exceedingly sensible of the impossibility of doing anything for the poor heathen without special assistance from above, and my soul seemed to rest on God, and leave it to Him to do as He pleased, and that which I saw was His own cause." I think I just need to put a theological footnote right here, that it is a firm belief in the sovereignty of God. that gives staying power to a missionary, knowing that God holds the heathen, the unconverted, the unbeliever in the palm of his hand, that he is the potter and he, out of one lump of clay, can make vessels of wrath and can make vessels of mercy, that his responsibility is simply to bring the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to be faithful to do that, and to leave the results to sovereign God in heaven. And that is what nailed Brainerd's feet to the floor and it is what nailed his flag to the mast. It is what kept him in the saddle and to continue to preach knowing that the results lie with God. He makes another journey yet deeper into Pennsylvania six months later, May 1745. And it was a journey of 350 miles, most of it on horseback, some of it walking, and Jonathan Edwards actually gives us the replay. And just to fast forward for just a brief second, David Brainerd will die in Jonathan Edwards' house. David Brainerd will die all but in the arms of Jonathan Edwards. And in those last days, Brainerd tells Edwards everything about these missionary journeys. And Jonathan Edwards, arguably the greatest intellect America has ever produced, easily the greatest preacher America has ever produced, the greatest philosopher, the greatest author, the greatest theologian America has ever produced, who has produced tomes of theological books, The greatest thing that Jonathan Edwards ever wrote was putting together David Brainerd's diary and the influence that came from that. So, no one better in all the world to tell the story of David Brainerd than the leader of the Great Awakening himself, Jonathan Edwards. Listen to what Edwards says as he recounts the travels of Brainerd. It's May, 1745, Edwards writes. Brainerd set out on his journey to the Susquehanna with his interpreter. He endured great hardships and fatigues through a hideous wilderness where having lodged one night in the open woods, he was overtaken with a northeasterly storm. in which he was almost ready to perish, having no further shelter and not being able to make a fire in so great a rain, he could have no comfort if he stopped." So, really no point to stop for the night and try to rest because I can't even make a fire. There's no hut. There's no place. I might as well just keep on going through this unceasing rain. Therefore, he determined, Brainerd, to go forward in hopes of meeting with some shelter without which he thought it impossible to live the night through. Their horses happened to eat poison and were so sick they could neither ride nor lead them, but were obligated to travel on foot until just at dusk They came to a bark hut, and they lodged there, and he saw it as the sovereign hand of God. There were Indians there, and he preaches the gospel to them, and they are willing to hear him. So, wherever... David Brainerd is following Providence, and the storm, the horses, all of that turn him here. He goes here. He preaches the gospel. David Brainerd, Edwards records now, comes down with ague, which is malaria, followed with burning fever, extreme pains in his head and bowels, attended with great evacuation of blood, so that he thought he must have perished in the wilderness. And this just goes on and on and on. The difficulty, the sacrifice, the perseverance. the endurance, the closed doors, the seeming impossibility of moving forward. But David Brainerd will not take no for an answer. David Brainerd has burned his bridges behind him. There is no reverse gear in David Brainerd. There is no going back. He is simply moving forward. And so, this brings us now to the time of the Great Awakening and another really powerful movement of the Holy Spirit in 1745. the Great Awakening, it spills over even into the Indian tribes where the gospel has not yet been preached. And when David Brainerd goes into these villages, it is a total reversal where previously they have been resistant and stiff-necked and hard-hearted. Now they are open and receptive to hear the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And here's what's amazing. It's the same messenger with the same message using the same method, but a totally different response. It's the same seed being sown by the same sower, it's just now the soil has been tilled, and the soil has been prepared. And this is the day now of God's visitation with the Indians, and it's all in God's perfect timing. And Brainerd goes to New Jersey, Cross Weeks on New Jersey. And David Brainerd said God was pleased to display His power and grace. He said it closely resembled what had occurred among the civilized citizens of New England during the Great Awakening. And just stop here for a theological footnote. How we should pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to be preparing the hearts of people to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. how we need God to go before us and to till the soil and to begin to prepare people's hearts to receive the message when we bring the message to them. Until then, we're just sowing seed on concrete. We're just throwing seed up into the air. It must fall on soil that is fertile, that is broken, that is receptive, to the message, and then only God can germinate seed. Our responsibility is to pray for the condition of the soil and to scatter as much seed as we possibly can. And by the way, another footnote, the word broadcasting, it comes from Matthew 13, taking a handful of seed and casting it as broadly as you possibly can. And so, we all need to be broadcasting. and casting the seed of the gospel as far and as wide as we possibly can. And so, Edwards, excuse me, Brainerd, comes to New Jersey. First, he preached to seven Indians, mostly women and children, then thirty, And Brainerd preached the truth of the gospel, the glorious majesty of our sovereign holy God, the sinfulness of the human heart, the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said he looked up and he saw the Indians dissolved in tears. and his own interpreter through whom he's trying to preach is dissolved in tears. And his first convert would be his own interpreter. Imagine that. And the first to be baptized would be his own interpreter. As literally the power of the gospel is channeling through this interpreter into the language of the people. Brainerd writes, I stood amazed at the influence that seized the audience. and could compare it to nothing more than the irresistible force of a mighty torrent or swelling deluge. Old men and old women who had been drunk in wretches for many years, and some little children not more than six or seven years of age, appeared in distress for their souls. They were under deep conviction of sin and the fear of the judgment to come, and that Christ is the only way of escaping this judgment. I mean, David Brainerd preached, hell's hot, heaven is sweet, sin's black or white, judgment is sure, and Jesus saves. And so, his first baptism, 25 souls were baptized. In the course of a year, 77 Indians were baptized, of whom 38 were adults. And Brainerd would not give anyone assurance of their salvation. Brainerd would not tell anyone that they're saved. Brainerd required that there be a radically transformed and changed life, that if the root is good, there will be the fruit that will be good. And now pagan superstitions and drunkenness were being abandoned. Christian marriage and family worship was being observed. A church was planted. They were observing the Lord's day. He said, I have often thought that they were cheerfully and diligently attending divine worship, and they could do it 24 hours a day if they had the opportunity. And here's pretty much the punchline. There seems to be so much of the presence of God. I mean, that's what happens in a great awakening. God comes to church. In a great awakening, there is a sense of the presence of God among us. There's nothing unusual that takes place. It's just the elevation and the magnification of the glory of God that is perceived by people as they come under the eternal weight of glory. Well, he makes a third, another journey deeper into Pennsylvania. He makes yet another journey deeper into Pennsylvania. I just need to fast forward now to the last year of Brainerd's life. And here's what's amazing. When you do the math on this, he was only on the mission field for three years. It's almost like the earthly ministry of Jesus. How could you have done so much? in such a short, concentrated period of time? And there's only one answer to that. From a human perspective, David Brainerd was all in with God. He was sold out. He was willing to do whatever God required of him and to do it wholeheartedly and to leave the results with God. From the divine perspective, obviously it was a work of the sovereign hand of God, the invisible hand of God. This was God's time. This was God's day to work. But not only has God appointed the end of all things, God has appointed the means to the accomplishment of those ends. And David Brainerd was an instrument in the hand of holy God. And think about what that would mean for you in your life and in your ministry, to be an instrument in the hand of almighty God to be used by Him to impact the day for the cause of Jesus Christ. David Brainerd, last year of his life, 1747. He's forced to withdraw from the mission field. He travels to Boston, where it becomes apparent to him that he is dying. He's dying from tuberculosis. He suffered enormously from his health, but he was so sold out for God that there was no slowing him down. I mean, he would be like Robert Murray McShane and die at age 29, having accomplished so much in such a short period of time because he lived full speed ahead for God. He wasn't pacing himself, as we hear so many say today that we need to do. No, he was sold out, full speed ahead for God. And better to live a short life, full speed ahead for God, than to live a long life where you're only going through the empty motions of ministry. Well, he writes his brother, one of his brothers, whose name was Israel, and he's burdened for his brothers. And so let me just read a portion of this letter, and it just bleeds his evangelistic heart. It just bleeds his piety. It just bleeds his indefatigable desire to reach people for Christ. That's why he's on the earth, is to reach people for Christ. So he writes in this letter, my dear brother, It is from the sides of eternity I now address you. I'm heartily sorry that I have so little strength to write, that I long so much to communicate to you. But let me tell you, my brother, eternity is another thing that we ordinarily take it to be in a healthy, full state. Oh, how vast and boundless is eternity. How fixed and unalterable is eternity. Oh, what infinite importance it is that we be prepared to step into eternity. I have been dying now for more than a week, and all around me have thought that I'm dying, but in this time I've had so clear views of eternity, have seen the blessedness of the godly in some measure. What anguish is raised in my mind to think of an eternity for those who are Christless, for those who are mistaken, and who bring their false hopes to the grave. You, my dear brother, I have been particularly concerned for you. And I've wondered so much, neglected conversing with you about your spiritual state at our last meeting. Oh, my brother, let me beseech you now to examine whether you are a new creature. whether you have ever acted above self, whether the glory of God has ever been the sweetest, highest concern with you, whether you have ever been reconciled to God, whether God has been your portion and a holy conformity to Him, your chief delight. If you cannot answer positively, consider seriously the frequent breathings of your soul. Do not put yourself off with a slight answer. If you have reason to think that you are without grace, give yourself to the throne of grace and give yourself no rest until God arrives from the throne of grace and save you. My soul longs that you should be fitted for and in due time go into the work of the ministry." His brother's not even saved. and he's longing for his brother not just to be saved, but to go into the ministry. I cannot bear to think of your going into any other business in this life. Do not be discouraged because you see your elder brothers in the ministry die early, one after another. I declare, now I am dying. I would not have spent my life otherwise for the whole world. But I must leave this world and go be with God. If this line should come into your hands soon after the date, I should be almost desirous you should set out on a journey to come see me. It may be you may see me alive, but if you cannot come, I must commit you to the grace of God where you are. May He be your guide and counselor. May He be your sanctifier and eternal portion. O my dear brother, flee fleshly lusts and the enchanting amusements of this world. My dear brother, strive to live for God. Take this as the last line from your affectionate dying brother, David Brainerd." That's just one letter. I don't have time to read the other letter to his other brother that he's pleading for his soul. David Brainerd is in Boston. He now makes his final trip. He travels to Northampton where Jonathan Edwards is pastoring. He had heard Edwards preach that day at commencement. He had met Edwards once, a couple of years earlier in his travels, and he wants to be with Edwards. He wants to die in Edwards' home, where many young men have come to be discipled and to live with Edwards. And so David Brainerd makes this difficult journey. At this point, he has tuberculosis that is far advanced. Edwards' house becomes a hospital, and Edwards' daughter, Jerusa, 17 years of age, becomes his nurse. He falls in love with her. He asks for her hand in marriage, and Edwards, seeing the piety that David Brainerd says, she's not worthy of you. Edwards describes those last hours and days. The thoughts of approaching death never seemed in the least to dampen him, but rather to encourage him and exhilarate his mind. And the nearer death approached, the more desirous he seemed to be of it. He said not long before his death that the day of death and the day of judgment were sweet to him. He often used the word glorious of speaking of the day of his death. I recall him saying, I am almost in eternity. God knows how long to be there. My work is done. I have done with all my friends. All this world is nothing to me. I shall soon be in eternity. I shall be with the holy angels. And Edwards said, I heard him say, I'm not at all afraid. I'm willing to go this night into eternity, if it be the will of God. Oh, why is the Lord's chariot so long in coming for me? David Brainerd dies October the 9th, 1747, and before he dies, He gives Jonathan Edwards, the mastermind of theology, the leader with Whitefield of the Great Awakening, he gives to Edwards his diary and his papers. After he dies, Jerusha contracts the same disease. She dies four months later. They're buried side by side. I have been to Northampton and gone to the graveside and see those two tombstones side by side. And on the tombstone, it says that he laid down his life for the salvation of the Stockbridge, Delaware, and Susquehanna tribes of Indians. Who else to preach his funeral? But Jonathan Edwards, you can't do any better than that. Edwards takes as his text 2 Corinthians 5 verse 8, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And Edwards says that Brainerd was a man of uncommon abilities, natural eloquence, easy-flowing expressions, quick discernment. very strong memory, penetrating genius, that's coming from Edwards, clear thought, piercing judgment, and understanding that is quick and strong. You see, he went to the mission field not because he couldn't do it in quote-unquote civilization. No, David Brainerd was the A-team. He was the first string. He was the lottery pick. He was the best of the best who went to the mission field. And Edwards recognized that. Listen to this interesting comment. I remember reading this decades ago, and it just has never left my mind. Brainerd had extraordinary gifts for the pulpit. I never had opportunity to hear him preach. but I've heard him pray. And I think his manner of addressing himself to God shows me that he's powerful to preach. In essence, if he can speak to God like this, he can certainly speak to men like this. He expressed himself with exact propriety, words that are weighty and pungent, and expressions with sincerity and reverence and solemnity. When he prayed, he forgot the presence of men as being in the immediate presence of a great and holy God that I scarcely have ever known to be paralleled. And his manner of preaching, by what I have heard of it from good judges, was no less excellent, being clear and instructive, forceful, moving, searching, convincing, and convicting." He several times spoke of the different kinds of willingness to die and spoke of it as An ignoble mean to die, to be willing simply to get rid of your pain. And it would be an ignoble death just to go to heaven to receive honor and advancement. His longing for death was to be with God. I heard him say, my heaven is to please God and glorify Him and give all to Him and to be wholly devoted to His glory. That is the heaven I long for. That is my religion. That is my happiness and always was ever since I suppose I had any true religion. I do not go to heaven to be advanced but to honor God. Tis no matter where I shall be stationed in heaven, whether I have a high seat or a low seat there, only to love and please and glorify God. That is all my soul desires. If I had a thousand souls, I would give them all to God. It is impossible for any rational creature to be happy without God. I long to be in heaven, praising and glorifying God. All my desire is to glorify God, to glorify God. That is it. That is above all, to glorify God. And so David Brainerd passed from this world into the presence of God. I like what John Wesley once said. Our people die well. David Brainerd died well because he lived well. He died without regrets. He died not looking back over his life and wondering what I should have done. He lived full tilt for God. And He did it all in such a compressed three-year period of time. How much time will you have left in this world? Psalm 90 verse 12 teaches to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom. How many days do you have left? They're numbered by God. You'll not live one day more. You will not live one day less. You're held in the palm of His hand, and that number of days has already been measured out by God from before the foundation of the world. The day of your death was appointed by Him. The day of your birth was appointed. The day of your death has already been appointed. So how will you spend the rest of your life? Will you give it to God? Will you put your shoulder to the plow? Will you run the race full speed ahead? Will you be willing to sacrifice? Will you persevere? Will you endure? Will you forget what lies behind? Will you press forward to what lies ahead? Will you widen your stride? Will you pick up your pace? Will you keep your eyes fixed on Christ and not look to the left and not look to the right? When you come to the end of your life, will you be able to die as Brainerd died? I long to go to heaven, to be with God, to be with Christ, and to leave it all behind. And the legacy that he has left is the diary and the journal where he simply recorded his missionary endeavors. If you've never read them, I would urge you to read them. And the legacy of David Brainerd is what propelled William Carey to leave England to get on a ship and sail to India. It's what drove these other men. They read Brainerd. You will leave a legacy for your children, for your grandchildren, for those under your preaching, those that you've poured your life into, those you've discipled, those you've prayed for, those you've preached to, The legacy that you leave needs to be that which would have profound effect upon those who have been next to you, such that even after you die, the influence of your life, like David Brainerd's, will go on and on and on. Well, I need to stop. I'm not finished, but I need to stop. Let's close in a word of prayer. Father, I need someone in my life like David Brainerd, someone so far out ahead that I can't coast, I can't jog, someone like Brainerd to challenge the socks off of me. to press on, to do what you've called me to do. And Lord, everyone here today needs a David Brainerd, the example that they have set, that Brainerd has set, as well as others. We need to be pulled forward with greater commitment to do your work. So Lord, what we've discussed today, may it have a profound effect upon us. That as Brainerd followed Christ, so may we follow that example of Him who went before us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.