Hello. RT Hull Ministries is grateful and humbled to be part of your sanctification today. We invite you to review our other sermons online, but also want to stress the importance of being joined with a biblical local church. Our website is rthullministries.com. That's R-T-H-U-L-L-M-I-N-S-T-R-I-E. ministries dot com. Good morning. And it's a pleasure to be here. resting time. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for this day that you've given us. We thank you for our opening of the month. The day that we will come here once again in this body to worship you, our great God, and call on you to be praised. So we ask now in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Amen. in Jesus' precious name, amen. Amen, we're gonna be in John chapter nine, verses one through five. John chapter 9, I'll read it. I'll be reading from the King James Version. When Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was withdrawn from his birth. And his disciples asked him to say, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but the works of God, who made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me while the day, and the night cometh, and no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." So if you saw my title of this message, it says, God's sovereignty and urgency in evangelism. And you may be thinking, how can these two truths be compatible? And when you look at the sovereignty of God, you don't see how the sovereignty of God, that He is the one who is Hokey Tokey's ruler, that He's the one who has ordained all things and decreed all things that come to pass. He's the one who is in total control. He's perfect in power, goodness, and wisdom. He's the one who saves people. So how can these two truths be reconciled? And someone asked Charles Scrooge at one time, they said, how can you reconcile God's sovereignty and human responsibility. And he said, you don't have to reconcile twins. And so, I believe that these two truly bring together the sovereignty of God, and urgency in evangelism, don't have to be reconciled, because they're all friends, they work together. Think about the sovereignty of God. And right at the beginning, we see that. through Genesis. And right in Genesis it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The Bible says that the heavens declare the glory of God. We see God's power right from the beginning. That by His spoken word, He created out of nothing, those is power. And then, you know, if you look at things, and you look at God's creation, right down to the smallest thing, you see the DNA code, and you see insects. Sometimes they come off the face of a small little insect, and they show all the details, the creation of just a small insect. But even greater than that, as you get higher and bigger, the fish, every once in a while, it's like a new fish comes out from out of the bottom of the sea. And they're like, look at this amazing creature. You see it, you're like, wow. Look at this. Then you look at the birds in the sky, the different creations there. You look at animals that God created. The king of the jungle. And you look at the desert lion, and you're like, wow. The bear. You see him and his greatness. What God created. And then you go and you look at his mountains. The great vastness of the mountains that he's created. The vastness of the sea. And these things, when you look at it, powerful He is. And then to just keep going, looking at the sky, you see the planets, and the sun, and just God's power revealed. You know, it makes me think of the psalmist who says, when I consider the heavens, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of? When you look at that, when you see God in creation, and we look at ourselves and we see how small we really are in comparison to how great God is in His song, in His power. And so, we can look at creation, we can see that, we can say, you know, He has no power in creation. But also, we see sovereignty in salvation. We see God in His power. The Bible says, salvation is of the Lord. He is the one who saves. And we see His sovereignty working in the God, the trinity of God, that God the Father, He chose a people with one conviction of the world. He elected them. And God the Son went out and redeemed those people back to Him. And then we have the Holy Spirit saying goodbye. We see this work of God, this power of God in all our personal salvations. And it says, He predestined us in love to the adoptions of those sons. Salvation is all of God. I like to show off with Edwards. He said, the only thing that we bring to our salvation is the sin that needs to be repented of. But God is in control. But, if he prunedeth in some to salvation, it also follows that he did not pruneth in others to salvation. This too shows in Revelation, that God has chosen not to save some. You know, the potter is the potter's freedom. He can take a lump and make one less potter, and another for this arm. That really shows the power and the control of God's sovereignty. And He has been control of everything. He has decreed all things that come to pass. He is omnipotent and almighty. His coming is not subject to His sovereign rule. The Bible says, our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. He does whatever He pleases only as He pleases. And the answer is to Noah. Because he is the one who is in control. There's no fire. There's no court of appeals with him. He's the highest of the high. Supreme. And he's controlling everything that happens. You know, anything. Charles Spurgeon said, He's in control of it all. If there was one molecule that was not under his reign, he wouldn't be sovereign. He's sovereign over everything. He's so sovereign that he's working all his efforts So now when we look at the urgency that God gives us in evangelism and religion, and then go and be urgent in our evangelism. When you think about urgency, it's a time constraint. A time constraint, it's not a time, it's an urgency. You hear things like time flies when you're having fun, time moves for no man, but I don't know this verse, this little word here, time is of... and it says, this needs to be done... it seems to get done right now. And so, if we look at urgency, and we look at it in... we really don't know how much time we're giving So we need to be urgent in our things with this life. Because the cross, and the end of it, and the vandalism that I can see in it, works together. Because actually, a lot of the things that happen in your life, they never happen again. We need to be ready to protect those. The Apostle James, he asked, what is your life? And I would say, What is your life being used for? What is your life? What are you doing with the life that you've been given? Are you using it to glorify God? You know, every once in a while, I'll drive in my son's graveyard. Every once in a while, I'll stop. I'm interested in, like, when these people live, how long they live. And then I see, you know, that their lives are more in this state than God's in this state. Right in between is a little dash. And that was their life, that pitch. And that pitch was our life. It's a short little span. And as Christians, we're called to redeem the time. We're to take the most of every opportunity that we can give it. We're to live our lives urgently with zeal for God and his glory. from that day to the other day, to do what we love. If we love Jesus Christ, we're going to do what He commands us to do. We're going to live purposely, purposely and wisely, in light of the property of life. We have a mission here. And so we have to be urgent and determined in this mission that God has given us. There's no greater example of discrepancy and urgency in the Lord Jesus Christ. You think about his life. Born in Bethlehem, a major, the son of a carpenter. At 12 years old, he was taken, and his parents go back heading home after a trip, And they go back and look at him, and they find him. He's reasoning with the documents of the law, and he's asking the questions, and he's receiving. This is what they have to say. And his parents say, where have you been? We've been looking for all of you. And what does he say? He says, did you not know what must be about my father's business? Here it is, 12 years old. And he's already in the mindset of his work getting done. And then he goes on and says he waxed strong in the sight of God and men. And he lives his life. And then at 30 years old, he goes and he gets baptized. He goes before John the Baptist and says, you know, I baptize me. And he says, you're not going to baptize me. He said, no, it goes through this and that whole righteousness stuff. And then after that, the Spirit draws him into the desert, and he spends 40 days in the desert in the darkening. He's tempted by the devil. But it says right after that, he basically started his ministry. So here he is at 30 years old, and he went out, and his first words were, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And he goes out, and he starts his ministry. And in all of this, He starts it. He knows. He knows he has but a short time in his life. Maybe three more years. And so you would think that knowing that would make you panic in a sense, like, I don't have a lot of time. You never see that in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything he does, his words, his actions, are calculated, He had to do work, but he was never rushed or hurried. And so he goes out and we see in his life that throughout the scriptures, he would take time with people. We see right here in the first verse of John chapter nine, it says, and Jesus passed by. He saw a man that was blind at his birth, and his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who do you see? This man was paralyzed and he was born blind. And Jesus answered, neither hath this man sinned nor experienced, but that the works of God should be made manifest. Once again, thinking of the works. Thinking of the works. And Jesus passed by a lot of men. He was passing by. And he saw a man. He took the time. He had the time to pass him for that man. And he took the time to stop, and to have compassion upon that man. And we see it also, the woman at the well, he comes, he's weary, he goes to the well, and he's resting from a long journey, and a woman comes out. A woman who's been married a couple of times. And she talks with him. And these people, it is not I who am speaking to you. He is the One, He is the Messiah. And she runs back, and she goes and tells the rest of the people that she's with Him. And He spends more time with them. Him, Roshar, He went and spent more days with them. And many others who were with Him. Jesus took time. He was compassionate for people. And even with the other blind, the blind Bartimaeus, they're walking past, and the blind Bartimaeus is annoyed, and he cries out, Son of David, have mercy on me. And they're telling him to be quiet. And he cries out even louder, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stops. And Jesus takes the time with his poor, blind hand. He heals him. He was never in a rush with people, but he was with urgency. He was always about his father's business. It was very important to him to do the work that his father gave him. And we see that in verse 4 here. It says, I must work the works of Him that sent me. In your version they say, we must work. Yes? Yes, we should. And if we must work, so must we. So must we take our lives and be forever in the state of Christ. We have a great work. We have a great commission. We've all been called. to be faithful, to be witnesses in our lives. People would ask, what's God's will for my life? We have a great commission, we know the will. He's the goal, it's not a thing, it's a task. And we know that. And we're all to do it. And I realize, and I say this many times, is that I don't expect people to And that's what matters. No. Whatever sphere of life God comes to live, whatever the inner sphere of life is, the man witnessed it all. He preached the gospel to them. Your co-workers who just can't do anything in this world, and we made the team, we replied to God. And so, we have to be urgent in season and out of season. Like the Apostle Paul, he says, necessity is greater than quantity. We have a fire in the bones. And we must go out and tell people. We can't make excuses for not proclaiming the Gospel. We need to get it out to the Lord. We need to draw We want to go and be faithful. And we came from a university school. We have an opportunity. And we didn't know this day would come. Now we need for God, for his spirit to move upon us. We have to live as dying men. We understand that. We need to be faithful, like Judge Richard Atchison. Preach as dying men to dying men. I'd say we preach to God again and again, but didn't it trespass in the city? And so we are all very important to him, but trusting in the sovereignty of God, we didn't know it, we didn't know that. It pulled the power that we need. But we need to realize that our time is valuable, so we do need to live in a sense of urgency, The devil pulled his minions and gathered them together, and he said, I need something that we can bring people to destruction. We need to come up with a plan. And the poor devil said, I know. We'll tell them that there's no God. And he said, no, that's not going to work. Let's figure out what the heavens and the earth are talking about. The second one said, I will tell them there's been no such thing as evil. And they said, no, that's not going to work. We see it in our headlines, in our movies, that the evil that's spread, that's not going to work. And you look at the third one. And the third minion said, well, I know what we can do. We'll tell them they have plenty of time. And I think so many times, meaning that we have plenty of time. And we're not looking at our lives solely... I mean, I write about it in a few of the papers in my talk paper, and I try to put that point that we don't know how long we have in this life, and eternity is a long time to be involved. And so, when we understand that we can look at our lives solely of the brevity of it, I think that helps us. John did that real good. We stand in the eternity of our arrival. He said that he resolved to live, so as in, I shall wish I had lived when I come to die. He wanted to have no regrets. The way that he lives his life now, so when he comes to die, he'll have no regrets. So I think it's important that we look at that and understand the brevity that we're dealing with here, and that that rocks someone, but that doesn't negate us being vigilant in our evangelism. We didn't think gender is our evangelism. Pastor Pena told me Wednesday night, he said that if you're a man, that's probably the number one answer of why people are hindered in their evangelism. You're afraid of what's going to happen, how people are going to perceive them. Fear of reputation. The reputation might get it. Fear of rejection. No one might not like it. They may vote for it or not like it or whatever it is. Those are factors. I think another one that is not what we want is the lack of urgency in our evangelism. I think a lot of times that's a big issue. We make time to do the things that we love. We do. But how does your schedule exist? You try to fit those things that you love to do right in there. And so our fear of man should not be greater than our fear of God. And that's helped us to be clergy. You know, a lot of times, people will talk about, you know, you see the glory of God, and in the Westminster, it says, what is the chief end of man? To glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. And so what is the chief end of evangelism? Many people think that it's to see people saved. Well, that's kidding. The chief end of evangelism is to glorify God and to see people saved. So our chief end is that we go out, we trust in the sovereignty of God, We trust that God's chief will hear his voice, and that God will save them. And so, when we do that, we don't have to worry about, did God save that person, or did he get saved, or will he get saved? It's not up to us. It's up to God. So we go out, trusting in the sovereignty of God, praying that God saves people. But ultimately, Virangelism wants to glorify God. Wants to bring glory to Him. And even in today's society, with the way things are, the only answer is the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so when we go out there, we need to bring this law to die for. The Gospel. And Christ is the centrality of the Gospel. Christ and Him crucified. And that's the only thing that's going to change us in our society in these times that seem tumultuous, or times of duress. It's the only thing that has the power to change hearts. I remember when everybody was up on the top of the answer. Well, the answer is Christ. The answer is Jesus. He's the only one that can change a heart. Someone who's been in the process since then is true. He raises them to life. We need to take the focus home for ourselves. We need to do the work while it is day, because night's coming when we're going. And that night for Jesus was, he knew he was gonna die. A lot of times that's what night refers to. Death. And the fact of the matter is, we don't know when eternity is going to come. And that's why we need to live and work while it is day. Galatians 6 says, and let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. So that would be important for us to realize that no matter what we do, we're doing it for the glory of Christ. When you're rewarded something, you get a great reward. And that's the motivate us. Not for the reward, but the fact that we're honoring God. We're living for Him. We're doing what is right. We need to be steadfast. We will always abound in the work of the Lord. And even more, as we see the day approaching, and I'm not even talking about the whole world ending, but our little world. We're not that young anymore. And time is flying by. What is your life? It isn't big, but if you really look at it, God says, what is your life? It's like a flower that blossoms up, the wind blows over it, It's crazy to remember. This life, this point. And so, with having that concept of non-propaganda, urgency, evangelism, that should help us. That should help us to liberalize, focus on what is important, and knowing that we have the whole shower behind us. We have God before this shower. In his sovereignty, he is the one who saves sinners through the preaching of his word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing about the word of God. So we can go out there with the gospel, knowing that we have the power of God to save men. And then this first slide. I am in the world. I am the light of the world. Jesus Christ is the source of spiritual light. He was the light that shined through the darkness, and was the light of men. Jesus himself said, he said, I am the light of the world, and you shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. If we are to follow Christ's example, we need to know, we need to work on today, He worked. He labored. A munch on quick food and no rest. Always working. Always concerned. He looked upon the clouds as a sheep without a shepherd. He had a heart of compassion for the lost. He was weak. He needed to work all his day. And now, like Jesus Christ, And he's told them, he said, you are the light of the world. He said the light isn't supposed to be put under a bushel, but it's supposed to be lifted up to light the room. And he's given us this great commission that we are to be the light now. We are to be men and women who are followers of Christ, who are set out, set on fire, to go out into the sport, and be, and work on his day. And trust me that God is confident in his salvation, and that he will hear his voice, just as Jesus taught. So, my hope for you today is that we would all be at it, You see, it's neat when everybody does this great work together. And then when you come together, and you tell your war stories, what happened after the war, what happened after the war, and everyone has a story to tell of what they did, how they were capable in that moment. It encourages the body, and everyone can get together to that person. And now, everyone's encouraged. And now there's a fire that starts to spread throughout the congregation. Because now, we're doing what we're involved to do. We're faithful. And we can do this, no matter how much we're controlled at all. All supported, all planted, by God being the increase. God is in control, we can trust him. And he promises that he will save his people from their sin. His sheep will hear his voice. And the beauty of this whole thing is knowing that God is sovereign. At night, when we're done, and we've evangelized, and we've preached the gospel with clarity and with boldness, we can go home at night and we can like, knowing that it's not dependent upon me, that it's not dependent upon you, but it's dependent upon God. He's the one who's in control of it all. Right from the beginning of creation, right down to the saving of souls, we've heard the verse today, He who began it with working, calling it a different thing, that He who began it with working, in Jesus Christ. And so now we can go out there trusting God, knowing we have the full power that God has given to go out there and preach God's word faithfully, and go home peacefully, and come together in joy, and rejoicing in the great things that God has done in our lives, and using us, taking our evil efforts, and using it for his glory, What a great opportunity that we have here to be the light in the darkness of our lives and with the Gospel. So we can do that now that God is in control. So God's sovereignty and urgency work perfectly together. Now we can go out and tell people about Christ. And then they fathered him. We do thank you, Lord, for the great dimension that you've given us to go out into this small town, to go to the hospital, to go to the other most parts of the world, to be witnesses. Help us, O God. Help us to be faithful in that. Help us to be steadfast and movable, always abiding in your word. Let us not grow faint. but let us be strengthened. Let us be fired up. Let's fire up our bones and get up and speak for our neighbors, for our homeworkers, for our families, for our children. Come on, let's go. This great task ahead of us, but we can trust you because you're the God of all power, that you are soft and willing and brave. You are in control. We can go out there knowing that we can do great things for those who we ask for that we want to do. Let's give the rest of our day, whether our fellowship, or some time together, or even an easy meeting. All I can say to you is that we're pleased to have you in our community, and thank you for these wonderful opportunities that come your way.