Amen. So in Leviticus 14, we have this, you know, these,
these different methods of going about of, you know, diagnosing
and treating these different plagues that are in here, this
leprosy that's in there, both in the leper and himself and in
garments and in houses. But I want to just focus in there
specifically on how the leper was to be treated. If you look
there in verse one, it says, And Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
This shall be the law of the leper. And the day of his
cleansing, he shall be brought unto the priest. And then, you
know, you have verse 10, it picks up there, and he gives all
these different, he's on the eighth day, he's gonna take two
lambs, one new lamb, this flower, and with mingled oil,
a log of oil, and the priest is going to present him. And if you
look at verse 13, And he shall slay the lamb in the place where
he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering in the
holy place. For as the sin offering is the priest, so is
the trespass offering, it is most holy. And the priest shall
take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the
priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is
to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and
upon the great toe of his right foot. And if you were able to be
here this morning, you know, that would sound very familiar
to you. You know, we just read about that this morning in
Leviticus chapter eight, that when Moses was to sanctify Aaron
and his sons into the priesthood, that he did the
exact same thing with the blood of the ram, that he would, he
put it upon the tip of the right ear on the right thumb and the
right, great toe. So here again, you have this same
procedure being done, except this time, it's the priest
himself who's been sanctified into that priesthood that is now
in turn applying that blood upon a leper. Okay. And of course,
leprosy in the Bible is a picture of sin, you know, it's
a disease that spreads, it's something that we should
separate from. And it's something that here when we're
cleansed of it, there's this picture of the blood being a
part of that cleansing, okay, and we're cleansed by the blood
of Christ. And there's a lot of passages about that. If you
would keep something Leviticus 14, we'll come back later, go to
first Corinthians three, first Corinthians three. And we talked
a lot about that this morning, how the blood is what cleanses
us from sin, we all understand that. And there's a lot of
different passages we could turn to, but for sake of time, we'll
move along here. And for one example would be Colossians
chapter one, verse 14, in whom we have redemption through his
blood, even the forgiveness of sins, Ephesians chapter one, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according the riches of grace. First Peter talks about
how we have been redeemed from our vain conversation, excuse,
from the received by our tradition from our fathers, but
with the precious blood of a Christ as of a land without
blemish and without spot. And there's many other passages,
okay. So again, you have this picture of the leper coming to a
priest and receiving the blood applied to him in order to
signify that he has been made clean, okay. And I want to just
draw a few parallels here this evening and make some
application, but the first thing I want to point out is that the
leper could not apply the blood himself. The leper could not go
and apply that blood himself. Somebody else, a priest, had to
do it. And again, we talked about this morning how through
the blood of Christ, we are made priests unto our God, that we
have been made a holy priesthood, okay. And now we have
this picture of the priest who also has been sanctified and put
into the priesthood, now himself applying the blood, okay. And
the application is this, is that, you know, the necessity of
the soul winner, the necessity of the soul winner. Look, people
aren't going to get saved by themselves. Somebody has to come
along, a priest like you and I, you know, that's who we are, the
priesthood of the believer has to come along and apply that
blood and show them, look, this is how to be saved and open up
the word of God and preach them Christ and by faith the blood of
Christ is then applied to them. The necessity of the soul winner,
and this is something that we need to understand and never
lose sight of and never think that, you know, it doesn't
matter if I don't go soul winning or it doesn't matter if
our, you know, if our church doesn't go soul winning. Look,
soul winning is the most important thing that we do as a
church. It's the most important thing because it's absolutely
necessary because the Levite, or excuse me, the leper, he
couldn't just go get these sacrifices, kill himself
wherever he feels like and apply the blood and pronounce himself
clean. He had to go before the priest, he had to go through
this ceremony, he had to go through this sacrifice and it
was somebody else that had to take that blood and dip it in
his finger in that blood and apply it to him and pronounce
him clean. And look, it's the same thing that we have to do.
We have to go out there and take and preach the blood of Christ
and apply it to people. Now obviously, it's not a perfect
picture, okay? You know, the leper always, of course, any
leper is going to want to be cleansed, right? They're going
to want to receive that blood. You know, a lot of times we're
going to go out and preach and people are just going to come to
the door like they did this afternoon and take one look at
me and go, oh, and just close the door, right? But then you're
going to have other people who are going to get saved and tear
down all the idols off their wall, literally, right? So
again, it's not a perfect picture, but the application is
this, is that look, we as priests, it's our job, it's our
duty to go out and apply the blood to the lepers. The leper
cannot do it himself. And a lot of people get this idea that,
you know, that the soul winner is somehow just kind of
optional. You know, they'll even say, oh, it's ideal. Yeah,
ideally, you would have somebody preach the gospel to someone,
but they can get saved in all these different ways. But, and
yet, we're going to look at several different examples here
in the scripture where that is not the case. You know, where we
can't just get, people can't just get saved by reading a
Bible tract. People can't just get saved by, you know, just,
just having, you know, reading it somewhere. There has to be
someone that actually preaches the gospel to them and plants
that seed and waters that seed. Because that's the example
throughout the entire New Testament. Every salvation that
you look at, it's just somebody else preaching, somebody else
preaching, someone bringing the gospel. It's this picture all
the way back in Leviticus of the priest has to be the one to
apply the blood to the leper. He has to be the, you know, the
intermediary there. He has to be the one that kind of conducts
that service to guide that, you know, leper through that ritual
and make that application. The necessity of the soul winner. I
mean, look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 where you are, verse
5. Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, Apollos, excuse me, but
ministers by whom ye believed. He's saying, look, we are the
ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every
man. Now does it say there that he gave them to most men? Or
does it say every man? It says every man. It says that God gave
to every man a minister by whom they believe. The necessity of
the soul winner is the scriptural position. There has
to be somebody there to preach the gospel to another person in
order for them to get saved. Go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 5,
2 Corinthians chapter 5. The Bible says in Proverbs 11, we
know this verse, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life
and he that win its souls is wise. He that goes out with the
gospel, opens up the word of God, preaches the word of God,
he's the wise one. Not the one who just, you know, leaves Bible
tracts in every public restroom. And look, this is something that
I'm, you know, I get a little worked up about because, you
know, I used to be that way. You know, I just, you know, I
wouldn't actually preach to my co-workers. I would just leave
the gospel. I just leave the chick tract with its false, you
know, repenting your sins salvation in, you know, in the
bathroom. And then I'm thinking, and they keep disappearing
something, oh, they're reading them. And then one day my boss
just sits me down and lays it all out in front of me and says,
knock it off. Right? Or I would go into the bookstores and
libraries and this is how I would preach the gospel. You
know, hide these tracts in random books. Someone's going to
find this one day. I mean, I remember I worked for somebody
and thought, hey, let's put a gospel. He was a roofer. Let's
put a gospel tract under one of these shingles that maybe one
day someone will find it and read it and get saved. You know,
it's a real romantic idea. It's real novel, but you know what?
It's not the Bible. The Bible says that God gave every man a
minister by whom he believed. He didn't give every man a gospel
tract. He gave every man a minister. Second Corinthians
chapter five, verse 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as
though God did what? Beseech you by us. Who does God beseech the
lost by? By us. By the soul winner. We pray you in Christ
stead be reconciled. God, go to Acts chapter eight, Acts
chapter eight. Ezekiel, the Bible says, and I sought for a
man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the
gap for me, in the gap before the land, before me for the
land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. What was
he looking for? To stand in that gap? Was he looking for, you
know, a creation seminar presentation? Was he looking for
a gospel tract? No, he was looking for a man. He was
looking for a soul winner. He was looking for a preacher to
stand in that gap and make up the hedge. Acts chapter eight,
verse 26. You know, most people probably know this here. You
know, this is the story of, you know, the Ethiopian eunuch and
Philip there. He's sent down to go down from Jerusalem under
Gaza, and he goes and he beholds a man of Ethiopia who's coming
back from, he's coming back from Jerusalem. It says there
in the end of verse 27, for he had come to Jerusalem for to
worship. So you literally have a guy, I mean, talk about low
hanging fruit. You got this Ethiopian eunuch who's come from
all the way from Ethiopia, all the way to Jerusalem to worship
God. I mean, he's just, he wants to know how to be saved, right?
And not only that, it's, he says he was returning. And of course,
we know the story of the Spirit, verse 29, said unto Philip, Go
near and join thyself this chariot. And Philip ran thither
to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah. So he's coming
back from Jerusalem where he just got done worshiping God,
and he's got the word of God open in front of him. It's not
even just a cheap little gospel track. He has the prophet
Isaiah, you know, Isaiah, he's turned there. And he read and
Philip runs up to him and asked him this question, understand
what thou readest. And he said, How can I accept some man should
guide me? You know, I'm sure this story is just in there
because God just, you know, you need to put some filler in
there. You need to get a certain amount of verses in the Bible.
So he just said, Well, let's just tell that story. No, this
story is in here for a reason, folks. And that statement is
recorded for a reason. He said, How can I accept some man should
guide me? But there's people in this world that would get saved
that want to get saved, but they can't understand. There's people
that we've run into about soul winning. They say, Hey, I've
been reading the Bible. I don't understand it. I've been a part
of this church. They don't have the right gospel. I want to know
how to be saved. I can't understand it. That's why we
need to go and guide these people. Look, the leper can't
apply the blood himself. The priest is the one that has to do
it. Necessity the soul winner, and he desired Philip, it says
there in verse 31, that he would come up and sit with him. And
then of course, he it says there in verse 34. And the eunuch
eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee of whom speak of the
prophet, this of himself or of some other man, then Philip
opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached
unto him, Jesus. And see, that's the reason why a lot of people
today, a lot of Baptist churches, a lot of evangelical
churches want to get away from soul winning because it actually
requires you to open your mouth and speak. And you know what
that requires? It means you have to know what you're talking
about. You actually have to know how to give the gospel. You
actually have to go there and maybe even be rejected. You
might even have to have somebody say, I'm not interested. Might
have to have somebody slam a door. They don't like that.
They'd rather just send something in the mail. They'd
rather just rather, you know, put something up on YouTube.
Look, we need to go out into the world and reach these people
where they are, and open our mouths and make known the
mystery of the gospel as we ought to. That's what we've been
called to do. Go over to Acts chapter 16. Romans chapter 10,
you're going to Acts 16, how then shall they call on him on
whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of
whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a
preacher? Without a preacher, they're not going to hear.
Well, no, no, no, they'll hear through a gospel track. They'll
hear through our, you know, creation seminar. We'll just
debate atheism for hours on end, and then eventually they'll
hear. No, how shall they hear without a preacher? Somebody has
to go and preach them the gospel. Acts chapter 16, look
at verse 30. Of course, this is the famous story about the
Philippian jailer, right? We quote this often out
solvening. And he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I
do to be saved? I mean, this is, how often do you hear that?
Look, and I've heard people ask that question. There's been
stories, I remember people literally ask that question.
Well, how do I be saved? Right? It's very rare, but here's
another just low hanging fruit. What must I do to be saved? Here,
read this. Right here, just take this and go read it on your own
and it'll make sense. He said, what must I do to be saved? And
they spake unto him the word of God is what it says there in
verse 32. And they spake. They did what? They opened their
mouth. They spake unto him the word of God. Yeah, they said,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy
house. But then it goes on that they actually went on and got
the house together and preached unto them the word of the Lord.
They preached the gospel unto all that were in his house. So
we see, first of all, with this picture of the leper coming to
the priest and being anointed by that blood on his right ear and
his right thumb and his right toe is the fact that the priest
has to be the one that applies the blood. The leper cannot do
it himself. He can't just make his own sacrifice and apply it
to himself and pronounce himself clean. There's the necessity of
the priest. You and I today are that priest through Christ. We
saw that this morning that we through the blood of Christ have
been made priests unto our God. It's our job to help these
lepers out, to go out there and find them and say and show them
the word of God and help to apply that blood to their lives.
Now, let me say this. In order to be a soul winner, the only
thing you need to be is saved. Look, in order to be a soul
winner, the only thing you need to be is saved. You know, and
sometimes people struggle, and I've heard this many times.
People say, I want to preach the gospel, but I just feel like I
don't know enough. And look, I went through the same thing. I
remember when I first started soul winning and said, well,
I've got to learn how to give the gospel to a Mormon. I got to
learn how to give gospel to a Jehovah Witness. I got to learn
how to give a gospel to a Roman Catholic. I got to learn how to
give a gospel to all these. I thought I'm just going to have a
different way to give gospel, the gospel to everybody. And I
can't do that until I know all of this information. I got to
study what they believe, and I got to figure out what the Bible
says and know all the talking points. Look, just do away with
all that and just, because at the end of the day, it's the
gospel that saves, not our intellect. It's the gospel that
saves, not the power of our speaking. Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believes it. What is the power
in the gospel? Is it my intellectual ability? Good thing
it's not, because there's not a lot there. No, it's the word of
God that does all the heavy lifting for us. Our job is just
to go out and to preach it. Our job is just to go out and apply
that blood. That's all we're to do. And look, all you need to be
is saved, because saved people have the Holy Spirit. That's
what it takes to get someone saved, the Holy Spirit. If you
would, go over to Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter
one. Actually, you know what? Just jump down to Acts 10, Acts
chapter 10. And look, we have the Holy Spirit, right? If
you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit. That's what it takes to
get someone saved. And I'm going to develop this here in a
minute. But we are sealed by the Holy Spirit under the day of our
redemption. So, I want you to notice this, that in the old,
in the, throughout the Bible, the Holy Spirit is represented
by oil. That's a representation of the Holy Spirit. I'll read to
you from Luke 4. You're in Acts 10. The Bible says that the
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel of the poor. He hath sent me to heal the
brokenhearted. So, Jesus said that he had been, what,
anointed, okay, which is something that you would do with
oil, the oil of anointing, right? A lot of times you would
see, and we even read it, you know, earlier, Leviticus
chapter 14, where he would anoint that leper with oil,
right? And Jesus said that he was anointed to what? Preach
the gospel, right? And he had sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised. Look at Acts chapter 10, verse 38, how God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power. So,
again, that, what is the anointing that's taking place
here? It's the anointing of the Holy Ghost. And when he was
anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, what did he do?
He preached the gospel to the poor. Look, if you have the
Holy Spirit, you have, and you're saved, well, obviously,
if you don't, you're not saved, you don't have the Holy Spirit.
If you have the Holy Spirit, you have everything it takes to
go out and preach the gospel. And newsflash, if you're saved,
you have the Holy Spirit. And that's the only thing you need.
You need your King James Bible, the Holy Spirit, and that's it,
and a willingness to go, and a willingness to open your mouth.
Even if you have to stutter and stammer and figure your way out
on how to give the gospel, you can still get people saved
because it's the power of God. It's the scriptures. It's the
gospel that gets people saved. And the Holy Spirit is
represented by oil throughout the scripture. If you would, go
back to Leviticus chapter 14. Leviticus chapter 14. The Bible
says in 1 John 2, but the anointing which you have
received of him abideth in you. And you need not that any man
teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you all
things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught
you, ye shall abide in him. So what is this anointing that's
going to teach us all things? And what is this anointing that
is truth and is no lie? What is this anointing that has taught
us and shall abide in us? It's the Holy Ghost. That's why Jesus
said in John 14, but the comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall what?
Teach you all things. The Holy Ghost is that anointing. The
Holy Ghost is represented by that anointing oil. Now I want
us to notice, I'm going to make an application here going back
to Leviticus with the priest. Notice how the priest applied
the oil. We already talked about the blood, right? But he also
noticed in the story that after he had applied the blood to the
leper, he went on and applied the oil, okay? And it says
there in verse 15, the priest shall take some of the log of
oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, and the
priest shall dip his right finger in the oil in his left
hand, and he shall sprinkle it with the oil of his finger seven
times before the Lord, and the rest of the oil that is in his
hand, the priest shall put upon the tip of the right ear of him
that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of the right hand, and
upon the great toe of his right foot, and upon the blood of the
trespass offering, okay? So first he takes that blood and he
anoints him upon the toe, the thumb, and the, excuse me, the
toe, the thumb, and the ear, right? And then he takes the
oil that the leper had brought, and he puts it into his left
hand. Now remember from this morning's sermon, you know, when
the priest was anointed, he was anointed on his right side,
right? It was his right ear, right thumb, and right toe, and
the left side was left blank, right? There was nothing applied
to it. And what is this showing us here? Is that God uses us in
spite of ourselves. Because remember, the application we
made this morning was that the, you know, we have two natures as
Christians. You know, we're priests unto our God. We've been
anointed by the blood of Christ, but we still have that
old man, that old nature, that left hand side that has not been
anointed with blood, okay? So which side, which hand is the
priest pouring the oil into? He's pouring it into the left
hand, okay? I believe this is a picture of the fact that God can
still use us in spite of our weak flesh, you know, in spite
of the old man. I mean, that's how I see it. The left hand, the
priest with his anointed blood was not anointed with blood,
the right hand was. This represents two natures, right?
Working in conjecture to what? Help heal the lepers. And this
is important to understand, okay? Especially these days when
you start to hear people get up and want to just berate people
about going out soul-witting if they're not clean enough. Say,
oh, you're, you know, we want to be accused of the fact that,
you know, people want to say things like, oh, you're just
using soul-witting like some kind of cloak for your sin. You
know, I've never taught that. I've never said, hey, it doesn't
matter what kind of, you know, life or, you know, you can go
ahead and go out and win souls and then just live like the
devil. I've never taught that. I've never heard anybody else
teach that. I've never heard any other pastor or preacher get up
and say, oh, you know what? As long as you're soul-witting, you
can just live as unholy and unclean as you want. Never
taught that. And look, if people develop that attitude, that's
not my fault. And personally, I don't know anybody like that.
I've never heard anybody, and I know some people. I know quite a
few soul-winners. And you know what? Generally speaking, all the
ones I know, they actually live pretty decent lives as far as I
know. Are they perfect? No. No. They still have the oil in that
left hand. They still have it in that side that the old man, they
still have it. They still have their faults. They still have
their sins. They still have their problems. But at least
they're out there trying to, you know, anoint somebody with it.
At least they're trying to go out there and spread the oil of
gladness out there. At least they're out there trying to
help the leper. And why would I want to tear somebody down for
that? Why would I say, oh, you're not good enough to go
soul-witting? All you need is the Holy Ghost. And if you're
saved, you got it. When I read this story, when I read about
this leper being anointed by the priest and him taking that oil
out of his left hand, to me, that just shows us that God uses
us in spite of ourselves. Because the fact that left hand
represents the old man, the old nature. If you would, go over to
2 Corinthians chapter 4, 2 Corinthians chapter 4. You see,
the left hand is what? It's our earthen vessel. That's the title
of the sermon this evening. Our earthen vessels. That's what
that represents. Of course, we have the right hand that's been
anointed. We're priests. I get that. But we still have that old
nature to deal with. And we're never, we're gonna have to
crucify the flesh every single day. We're gonna have to contend
with that flesh every single day. So it's silly to sit there
and say, well, you know, you can only go soul-witting until
you've cleaned up, you know, until you've crucified the old
man enough. Well, who's gonna determine how much, you know,
how much sin you have to get out of your life before you go
soul-witting? Who's gonna make that decision? If anything, you
know, we see in the scriptures that as people, sinful people,
as they go out soul-witting, it actually cleans up their life.
They actually want to be, they want to live for the Lord even
more. They want to be better used. But it says there in 2
Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3, but if our gospel be hid, it is
headed for them that are lost. In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God,
should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves. Look, I
don't go out there and preach my holy life to people. I don't
want to say, well, you know, I'm living a holier life, you should
listen to me. I go out, what do we preach? Christ Jesus the
Lord. What does it matter how sinful or unscentful my life is?
I'm not out there preaching that. I'm out there preaching
Christ Jesus. And if anything, if I got a sinful life, all that
is is a greater testament to the fact that Jesus saves. Does it
make me a hypocrite? Because I'm not preaching that. I'm not
preaching, hey, you know, clean up your life to get saved. I'm
preaching, look, God can save the worst sinner. He said, look,
we preach Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake. For God commanded, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Look at this, verse seven. But we have this
treasure in earthen vessels. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. We have the treasure of the gospel of Christ in us, but
what is it in? It's in a weak, sinful earthen vessel. Where is
that oil in the priest? What hand did he put it in? He put it
in that left hand that represents that old man. You know
what that tells me is that preaching the gospel is a
privilege. It's a privilege. It's something that is granted
unto us. It's a treasure that's given unto us. It's not
something that's earned. It's not that something that says,
okay, I've checked all these boxes off. I'm living a good
enough Christian life, and now I can go soul winning. It's not
something that's earned, folks. It's something that's granted
unto you, and it's a privilege. Preaching the gospel, cleansing
these lepers, it's a priestly privilege that is granted, not
earned. And really, when we start to look at the scriptures,
soul winning actually makes us better Christians. Look, if I
want somebody to clean up their life and start being a better
Christian, I'm going to take them soul winning, because then
they're going to start to see God work in other people, and
they'll say, I want a part of that. And they're going to want
to preach the gospel, and they're going to get in their
Bibles, and they're going to be in church more, and they're
going to attend services. You know what? And just by nature of
being, just through being there for all that, they're going to
start to live better Christian lives. And look, should we all
strive to live better Christian lives? Of course. I mean, isn't
that what this whole sermon was about this morning? And how many
other sermons can we point to that I've preached, that other
people have preached that have said, hey, live a holy life,
clean up your life, get better? You know, it's not like we're
against that or something. We're for it. And I'm here to tell you
that soul winning will make you actually a better Christian. It
will help you clean up your life. It's not the other way
around. If you would, go over to Proverbs chapter 16, Proverbs
chapter 16. He said in John 15, every branch in me that beareth
not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit,
he purgeth. Look, the guy that's going out and winning souls and
preaching the gospel, God's going to work in his life and
purge him. He's going to help him cut out the sin in his life.
He's going to help him be a better Christian, that it may
bring forth more fruit. 2 Timothy, you're in Proverbs
chapter 16. Look at verse 1. The preparations of the heart in man
and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of
man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the
spirits. Verse 3, commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy
thoughts shall be established. You know, you want to clean up
your life? You want to clean up your thought life? You want to
clean up the way you think about things? You want to clean up
your philosophy in life? You want to clean all that up?
Commit your works unto the Lord. Isn't that how the equation
works? Isn't that how it goes there? Isn't that the order of
things? Commit your works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts
shall be established. Isn't it, hey, start doing the work, get
out there, win the souls and get committed to living, you know,
going out and doing the work of God, you know what, the living
for God will come after that. The thoughts will follow. That's
the order of things there. Now, if you would, go to 2 Timothy
chapter number 2, 2 Timothy chapter number 2. Look, we
should be better Christians. We should, oh, but that's, at what
point do we say, I've arrived? Never. And that's what this
morning sermon was all about. But I'm preaching this evening
to let us know that, look, going out and preaching the gospel is
something that is a privilege. And we should never get this
idea of I'm not good enough to go soul winning. I'm not good
enough to go out and anoint some leper. I'm not good enough to go
out and teach and preach the word of God to somebody and
spread, you know, and help impart the Holy Ghost unto them.
Because that oil, my friend, was put in the left hand of that
priest. And I don't think God just said, just pick a hand, any
hand. He said the left hand for a reason. And he put that
passage in there after Leviticus chapter 8, where he clearly says
that the left hand was the one that was not covered with the
blood. And it's showing us that what? We have this treasure in
earthen vessels. We're never perfect. We're never going to be
good enough. Let's look at 2 Timothy chapter 2. Now, still,
you know, we should strive to be better Christians. The Bible
says that, of course. Verse 19, nevertheless, the foundation of
God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that
are his, and let everyone that nameeth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity. Amen. Let them do it. You know, if you
name the name of Christ, you should be getting further and
further away from iniquity. You know, if you have some sin in
your life and you know it, you need to get out of that sin. You
need to crucify the flesh. And you can go listen to this
morning's sermon. We went all through that. Verse 20, but in
a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver,
but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to
dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he
shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the
master's use, and prepared unto every good work. So the Bible is
saying here that in this great house there are all these
different types of vessels, some that are of gold and of silver,
but some of wood and of earth, some of honor and some to
dishonor. But if we get those things which are dishonorable,
if we purge ourselves from these, if we separate from what,
like it says in verse 19, if we depart from iniquity, you know,
then we will be meet for the master's use. So yes, of course
there is this principle that if we want to be better used of
God, we should clean up our lives. You know, just for
anybody that's doubting, you know, that whether or not we
preach that, you know, somehow soul winning is a penance for
your sin. It's not. And if, you know, maybe you're trying to go
out soul winning and you're really looking for that oil in
that left hand. You know, it's in there somewhere. You know, if
you want to fill that thing up, you know, then go ahead and be a
vessel unto honor. Purge yourself from iniquity. Separate
from these things. Depart from it and get more of that Holy
Spirit. Okay. But I'm telling you, even if that, no matter how
sinful you are, that oil is in there somewhere. You might have
to go looking for it, but it's in there and God can still use
you. Of course, we should purge ourselves from these so that we
can be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the
master's use and prepared on every good work. But you know,
what is the iniquity that we're to depart from? Is it just sin
in general? You know, what are these dishonorable vessels that
we are to purge from? Well, it's in the context of this passage.
If you go back to verse 4, he's talking a lot about, you know,
separating from different things, departing from
iniquity, purging ourselves from these things. Look at verse 4.
No man that warth entangleth himself with the affairs of this
life, that he may please him who had chosen him to be a soldier.
You know, one of the things that can prevent us from being a
vessel, meet for the master's use is getting entangled with
the affairs of this life. Just not because we're involved,
we're sinful or wicked, but just because our priorities are
wrong. Because we just get caught up in the cares and the
pleasures and the riches of this life and we get choked out by
the world and we can't do the things that we ought to do. We
shouldn't be entangled with these things, right? And I
thought of this illustration, you know, it's like if you're on
a construction site and you got to go and you got to plug in,
you know, an electrical tool, some kind of power tool into a
wall, right? But you need an extension cord. You have two
extension cords in the floor. One has been, you know, put away
properly like the way I do it, you know, where you make a nice
loop, you know, I'll show you if you know how to do this. You
make a nice loop and you wrap it around and make a little loop
in it. It's put away and it doesn't tangle up. Or you could
be that other guy that just, you know, wraps it up real fast like
that and then just throws it in the corner and then the next guy
goes to use it and he has to spend five minutes pulling every
knot out of it before he can even get to work, right? You all
know who that guy is, right? Just don't be that guy, right?
But if I'm that guy, if I'm that contractor, if I'm trying to
get something done, which cord am I going to reach for? The one
that's just there, that's prepared, that's loose, that's
ready to just, you know, I don't have to sit there and untangle
it. Of course that's the one I'm going to reach for. I'm not
going to sit there and reach for that one that I have to, you
know, unknot it from everything else, from itself. So if we
want to be a vessel that's, you know, better used of God, of
course we should separate from these things. We shouldn't be
entangled with the things of the world so much. We should be
able to let go of those things more and more. What are some of
these other things that he says we have to separate from? Look
at verse 14. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging
them before the Lord, that they strive not about words to no
prophet, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to show
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, but shun. Well,
you know, there's that idea again of departing from
something, of purging yourself, of not being entangled. What?
Shunning profane and vain babblings, for they increase
unto more than godliness, and their word will eat as doth the
canker of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the
truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past and
overthrow the faith of some. Look at verse 22. Flee also
youthful lusts. You know, that's another thing we should
separate from. But follow righteousness, faith, charity,
peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. You
know, that verse, verse 22, is one that God impressed upon me
very early on in my Christian life. I said, you know what? I
got to flee from people. I got to separate from people who just
want to indulge all these youthful lusts. They just want
to party and fornicate and do all these things. You need to
flee from those type of people and follow what kind of people?
Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that
call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned
questions avoid knowing they do gender stripes. So look, we
have, yeah, of course, there is a lot of purging. There's a lot
of separating that we need to do. There's some things we need
to get away from. But it doesn't mean, what it's not saying is
that you have to just be this squeaky clean, you know, sinless
person before God will use you. That's not what it's saying.
It's saying, look, some of the things you have to separate
are being entangled with the affairs of this life, being
choked with the cares and the worries and the riches of this
life. You know, flee from the youthful lusts and follow
righteousness. Look, there's all types of things that we have to
separate from. We have to shun the profane and vain babblings.
And what has that got to do with my sinful life? Nothing. Okay.
And what I'm trying to get across this evening is that God
can use you in spite of your shortcomings. You know, and I'm
walking proof of that. And many other people in this room are
walking proof of that. They can go out and they can preach the
gospel and people will get saved. Not because of how perfect
they are, but because they're willing to go and open their
mouths and speak the word of God. Look at verse 24. He says,
And the servant Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all
men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that
oppose themselves. If God peradventure will give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, that they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are
taken captive by him at his will. Look, we have a job to do,
folks. We have a very important job to do. Look, the soul
winning, if we don't go out soul winning, we can just, you know,
add more numbers to the bulletin. Like, I'm not against
that. I like keeping track so we can see how are we doing. You
know, do we need to pick it up? Do we need to do more? But we
have a job to do. You know, the reason why we go out there is
because, look, we want people to recover themselves out of the
snare of the devil. We're trying to keep people from going to
hell. So, you know, what do I care, you know, whether or not
you're, how sinless your life is or isn't? I mean, if you're
willing to go out and preach the gospel, we could use you. If
you're willing to go out there and learn how to preach the
gospel, learn how to give the gospel and get people saved,
amen. I'm on board. And I'm not going to, you know, what am I
supposed to start, you know, interrogating people before I
take them soul winning? You got any sin in your life? You sin
this week? Well, you better get that. Are you going to get that
right and then come back next week? Then maybe we'll go. Now,
I'm going to take them out there and take them soul winning and
show them how to get people saved. And then, you know what,
they'll want to clean up their life on their own. I won't even
have to tell them to do that. They'll want to be, you know, a
vessel meat for the master's use. They'll start to purge
themselves from these. They'll start to flee from these things.
And look, that's what I'm trying, I'm preaching a sermon.
You know what? We have a big job to do and I can't stand it when
I hear people who want to just, you know, douse soul winning or
discourage people from soul winning for any reason. You know,
I'm against that. You know, we're a soul winning church
here. We need more people, not less. We need more people to get
fired up. I don't need to sow doubts in the minds of people
about whether or not they should be out there soul winning. Well,
I just don't know if I've gotten rid of enough sin in my life. I
don't know if I'm good enough to go in. Let me just, you know,
break it to you. You're not good enough. No one is. No one is.
You know, that's that picture of that left hand. You say, hey,
put that oil in that left hand. And you know what? But you know
what? He still had the right hand, didn't he? He still had
that sanctified hand, that blood washed hand that was able to do
what? Make the application. The oil just sat in that hand,
didn't it? It was just in that left hand, but it was that
sanctified finger that went in there and dipped it and applied
the blood. And look, I have the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy
Spirit. We're saved. We have this treasure in earthen vessels.
You know, if we go out there and preach the gospel, you know,
that right finger is just going to go, dip, and it's going to be
applied. We still have the power of God to go out and preach the
gospel and see people get saved. So why would I want to
discourage people from doing it? It doesn't make any sense. It's
stupid to sit there and discourage people from wanting
to go out and do the one thing that, you know, of all the
things that would probably help them clean up their life the
most, soul winning. Yeah, of course, the preaching, coming to
church, that's going to help. But you know what? I've been on
this side of the pulpit for not very long, but long enough to
know this, that you can preach the same thing over and over
and over again, and people still won't change. They'll say,
no, well, I know that's what the Bible says, but I'm not going to
change. And yet you'll take people out soul winning and
their lives will transform. And look, I'm looking around the
room and there's just, there's testimony after testimony out in
this room of people who wanted to be part of a church that went
out soul winning. And their lives were not, they were not
the epitome of godly Christian living. You know, I'm not trying
to pick on anybody. But that's just the facts. You know, and
that's the same way with us. You know, we were out in Michigan in
the church that did want to go soul winning, you know, and the
fire was dying out, you know, and it felt like throwing the
towel in the Christian life. Then I heard about a church that
went soul winning, and I went out there and got on fire for
God again, and got the sin out of my life. And I've seen it in
this church too, and I've seen it in other churches, where
people come out, maybe they're not the perfect Christian, but
they go soul winning, and they steadily and surely start to
improve. Because they go out, they begin to bear fruit, and
God says, you know what, I'm going to purge that branch. I'm
going to purge it, so it can make, it can make even more
fruit for me. You know, that's, that's what the Bible teaches.
And it just frustrates me to hear when people try to, you
know, quench someone's zeal for winning souls. And I'm not, and
I'm not going to just stand quietly by and let, and let
people do that. You know, if I hear that, I'm going to, I'm
going to preach against it. Because I'm trying to lead a
charge here in Tucson to go out and preach the gospel to every
creature, to knock every door, and get souls saved. You know,
and along the way, you know what, people will get, their
lives will clean up, they'll get better, and, and, and I don't
have to worry about that. I just know that if, hey, if we take
people out soul winning, and show them how to give the
gospel, and they see, I mean, what could be more inspiring
than seeing somebody get saved? I mean, you know, Brother
Andrew, I'm not, you know, I don't mean to embarrass you,
but that's what he said when he came back today, he got two
people saved door, back to back. And what did he say? I feel
alive, right? And he said, I just want to keep going, right?
I mean, it's, it's amazing to sit there and preach the gospel
and watch somebody believe it and get saved every time. I mean,
it doesn't surprise me, I know people are going to get saved,
but it doesn't cease to amaze me either. To watch the power,
it's inspiring. You know, soul winning makes people better
Christians. That's my take on it. You know, and God can use
us in spite of ourselves. God can say, you know what, just
keep that, go ahead and keep the oil on that left hand, you still
got that right hand. You're still a priest, you're still a
believer. You know, you still have the power of God in your
life to go out and cleanse the leper. We as God's children
still have the power to go out as God's priests, and offer
spiritual sacrifices, and help the spiritual lepers in the
city of Tucson, and help them to get saved and understand and
know the gospel. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer.