Out of our five sessions, this is the one that I approach with the most trepidation because this is totally out of my usual style. I'll be reading some of the message that I've written not just straightforward preaching out of the scripture the way I usually do. And I know that many men are very comfortable stepping up in the pulpit and just reading a lecture more or less. And I'm not comfortable with that. And so pray for me and stick with me. You know, we are thinking about missions. And all we've ever known that missions has been something that Baptists have embraced, they've been enthusiastic about, they have participated in, but it has not always been the case. And so what I wanted us to think about for this afternoon session is go back to the time when it was not the case and Baptist history and see how the Lord brought about that change and he opened and initiated the movement of modern missions really and so there's a lot of history here and there is scripture here, but I want to present this in an engaging way, but I think it will be a blessing and encouragement as we consider this. We'll begin by reading Joel verses chapter 1 verses 1 & 2 and Joel, of course, there's many things that he's dealing with there, but there's just one point that I want us to latch on to as we read these words here. He said, Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the day of your fathers? Tell your children, and this is what I want us to grab on to. He says, this has been in our days, this has been in the days of our fathers. Tell you your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation. One thing that he is pointing out to us is that there's some things that are important enough that we need to tell and retell and retell from generation to generation because we need to be reminded of these things. our own history. He says the things that happened to your fathers and the things in your life you need to tell your children. We need that in our families. We need that in our churches. They need to know that God has been at work and he is still at work. King David referred to this very same thing. Psalm 143 and verse 5. He said, I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works. I muse on the work of thy hands. He wasn't only thinking about looking back through Scripture at what God had done. He's thinking about looking back in his own life, looking at the life of his family, looking at the life of his nation, and seeing what God has done. He thinks on those things, meditates, and he muses on those things. If we likewise look back in the history of the Lord's churches, we'll see that we're doing exactly what David was doing. We look back in our own life. We look back at some hard times. We wonder, how did I ever make it through it? And we realize, well, God was with me all the way through that. And we look back in the history of the Lord's churches, and we see the same thing. God was with us all the way through that, and He brought us to where we are today. The Lord has been at work. He is still at work among us. And we should, like Joel said, muse, or David said, muse on the work of His hands. If we don't do that, We're in danger, in danger of falling back into the same ruts, in the same extremes, in the same lethargy or error or paralysis that they were in. So what I want us to do in our thinking right now is to go back to a time when there really wasn't a missionary movement. There were isolated people preaching the gospel in foreign places, but there wasn't a missionary movement as we know it. Well, at that time in England, there was a young pastor, a new pastor, named William Carey. You've heard of him before, I know that. He attended a minister's meeting in Northampton about the year 1787. The pastor John Ryland Sr. was presiding in this minister's meeting, and he just opened it up for discussion. He said to the young brethren, he invited them to propose a subject for discussion. Well, William Carey had already been thinking about this for a long time, and he says, I have a subject. He says, I want to discuss whether the command given to the apostles to teach all nations was not obligatory on succeeding generations and ministers all the way to the end of the world, seeing that the promise extends to the end of the world. Well, you know, we look at the commission, yeah, he said go, and he gives his promise to be with his churches until the end of the world, and we look at that and it just seems self-evident to us. But it didn't seem self-evident to them at that time. In fact, that was pretty radical thinking that Cary was proposing. And it's reported that the elder Ryland dismissed Cary. He said, young man, sit down. You are an enthusiast. When God pleases to convert the heathen, he'll do it without your aid or mine. That sounds pretty shocking to us, and it should be. There was an influence of hyper-Calvinism that prevailed in the minds of many Baptists at that time. Ryland's son, denied later that that is a true story, but everyone else that was there said it was true. Cary himself told Eustace Cary, his nephew, that he had been rebuked and brushed aside by Ryland. You see, there was a hyper-Calvinism that was paralyzing churches and pastors, and there was no mission vision. But there were great things that the Lord had planned. And He was working those things out. He was bringing it to pass. At that time, the Lord was working the hearts of several young pastors. Kerry being foremost among them, but he and others. The Lord was working in their hearts. He was preparing their hearts for what would be the beginning of the modern missionary movement. We know some of the names, Andrew Fuller, William Carey, there were others, John Sutcliffe, John Ryland Jr., Samuel Pierce. These men were close friends and they would sit together and discuss preaching the gospel to the lost and preaching the gospel to the world that didn't know the gospel. And they were burdened and the burden was growing. And it was a burden that God was stirring up in their hearts. They were kindred spirits. They encouraged one another, edified one another, challenged one another. And Kerry was saying, let's do something. Let's do something to set out to attempt to begin taking the Gospel to foreign lands. Well, there was an association meeting, 1791, April. From this group of young preachers, two were scheduled to preach, John Sutcliffe and Andrew Fuller. Sutcliffe was called up to preach first. His text was 1 Kings 19 and verse 10. And he read Elijah's words. I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. And that was his subject. Jealousy for the Lord of hosts, illustrated. I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. In his text, Elijah was looking at a day when the Lord was not known. The Lord was not honored. And Sutcliffe saw that he was living in a day when the Lord was not known and the Lord was not honored. And so he stood before that association meeting and he preached with a jealousy that God might be known throughout the world. He was speaking of all believers and he preached this, I'm quoting from Sutcliffe. He said, are they not salt of the earth? Is it not proper that salt, or is it? Not proper that the salt should lie all in one heap. It should be scattered abroad. Are they, believers, not light of the world? These taken collectively should, like the sun and devil, to enlighten the whole earth. As the rays, however, that each can emit, they are limited in their extent. And so let them be dispersed, preached Sutcliffe. And thus the whole globe may be illuminated. Are they, believers, not witnesses for God? If so, it's necessary that they be distributed upon every hill and every mountain in order that their sound may go into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world." So he said, believers are salt and light and witnesses, so let them be scattered. Well, next up was Andrew Fuller. His message was from Haggai chapter 1 and verse 2. Here was his title, Instances, Evil, and Tendency of Delay. Instances, Evil, and Tendency of Delay in the Concerns of Religion. His verse was, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say the time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. He wasn't expounding the historical narrative that was there. He was taking that and applying it to his own day. Because the brethren were still calling for delay. And they're saying, it's not yet time. So they were waiting. And his message was a plea that they would no longer entertain delay in regard to the work of missions that began to implement some specific means for the spread of the Gospel among the nations. So he preached. Quoting Fuller. He said, when the Lord Jesus commissioned His apostles, He commanded them to go and teach all nations. Preach the gospel to every creature. Even though there would be difficulties and oppositions lying in the way. He said the apostles, they executed that with diligence and faithfulness. But since their day, Fuller said, we seem to sit down, contented, contented that the greater part of the world should remain in ignorance and idolatry. Yeah, there's been some noble efforts, but they're small in number when you're compared with the magnitude of the object before us. Why is it so? Ask Fuller. Are the souls of men of less value than they were before? No. Is Christianity less true or less important than in former ages? No one would pretend that, he said. Are there no opportunities for societies or individuals to convey the gospel to the heathen? We can't say that. He says, as long as we have opportunities to go and trade in those countries, Even going by men as slaves from those countries to carry out commercial enterprises in those countries, how can we say there's no opportunity to go to those countries and preach the gospel? So he continued, the truth is, if I'm not mistaken, we wait for we know not what. We seem to think the time has not come, the time of the Spirit to be poured down from on high. And we pray for the conversion and salvation of the world, and yet we neglect the ordinary means. That was what was happening in that day. Yeah, they would pray, and yes, they would preach, but never go. There was no missionary movement. He says, if it pleased God beforehand, by the foolishness of preaching to save them but believed, then there is reason to think it will still please God. to work by that distinguished means. Ah, we not then at least try by some means to convey more of the good news of salvation to the world around us than we've done here before. Well, when Sutcliffe had finished his sermon and then Fuller had finished his sermon, the Lord had blessed. Witnesses that were there wrote that that sermon produced such a deep impression to the point that the ministers gathered were scarcely able to speak to each other at its close. They said an unusual degree of attention was excited. The mind of everyone was possessed by a solemn conviction of our need for more zeal and convicted of the sin of negligence. And one wrote, every heart was subdued. Such deep solemnity has seldom been witnessed. Just reading it doesn't do it justice. The Spirit of God was poured out on these men with conviction that we have to do something to preach the Gospel to the world. Well, that day after the meeting was over, Cary made an appeal to the men present. What are we going to do? What was their response? Well, it's written that not even the two preachers, Sutcliffe and Fuller, not even the two preachers of the day stood with Carey. They had not anticipated such a hasty response and they drew back from Carey's application of their urgings. Feeling the difficulty, says Fuller, of setting out on such an unbeaten path, their minds revolted at the idea of attempting it. seemed too much like grasping at an object utterly beyond their reach. So even the men who had preached that day with such blessing of the Lord drew back when they got to the point of saying, let's do something now. Well, did they take any action at all? Only this, they requested Mr. Carey to publish his thoughts. So a year later, he did that. On May 12, 1792, Carey published his Inquiry. It was a small book, a small book or a large pamphlet of 87 pages, whichever way you want to look at it. Let me read you the full title. The full title was, An Inquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, in which the religious state of different nations of the world, the success of former undertakings, and the practicability of further undertakings are considered. So that's why we call it the inquiry. But he's looking at means, the need, what can we do? It was actually an amazing document for its day. Much forward thinking was displayed in what he wrote. It was divided into five sections. Let's think about what the five sections stated. Section one was an inquiry, whether the commission given by our Lord to his disciples is not still binding on us. We would easily say yes, right? Well, he began with, our Lord Jesus Christ, a little before his departure, commissioned his apostles to go and teach all nations. This commission was as extensive as possible. It laid them under the obligation to disperse themselves into every country of the habitable globe and preach to all inhabitants without exception or limitation. So they then proceeded at length to challenge the opinion that the commission applied only to the apostles. That was section one. Section two, he gave a short review of former undertakings for the conversion of the heathen. Well, he began, the best place to begin, the Book of Acts. He looked at the journeys of Paul. Then he spoke of traditions regarding the ministries of the apostles after the Book of Acts. He looked at Christians through later generations. He spoke about Wycliffe, the Bible translator in England, the Anabaptists in the valleys of the Piedmonts. He spoke of Eliot and Brainerd in New England. reminded them of the very recent Moravian zeal and efforts to carry the gospel in Europe. Section three, very interesting. He set forth a survey of the present state of the world. State of the world, 1790s. Here he went continent by continent, country by country. He listed size, religions, estimated populations. He didn't have the internet. It was hard work getting all the information, but here's some of the statistics he came up with. He found 160 million Muslims and pagans in India. 160 million. Well, today it's over 1.3 billion. He listed 13 and a half millions of pagans and papists in Mexico. 13 and a half. Mexico City has maybe doubled that today. 127 million in Mexico. He came up with a total world population of 731 million souls. And then he stated, it must undoubtedly strike every considerate mind what a vast proportion of the sons of Adam there are who yet remain in a most deplorable state, heathen darkness without any means of knowing the true God. That was his conclusion. Today, there's over 7.3 billion world population. Can we repeat Carey's observation? Section four, he spoke about the practicability of something being done more than what is being done for the conversion of the even. How practical? What practical things can we do? First, he said, well, he touted the advantages of modern technology. Well, he was a missionary just like modern missionaries. The advantages of modern technology. He said, distance is no longer an excuse with the marvelous new technology available to us. Well, we have the Mariner's compass. Boy, what would he have thought if he had had the internet? He said, it's now easy to sail the oceans. Secondly, their uncivilized and barbarous ways should be no objection to preaching. Well, it's no objection to commercial men. With only monetary motivation, why shouldn't we be able to go to those who are uncivilized? And thirdly, he said, well, there is a danger of being killed, that's true. But the goodness of the cause? The perishing state of men should motivate us as it did Paul and Barnabas who hazarded their lives in the name of the Lord Jesus. Fourthly, he said, the difficulties in procuring the necessaries of life would not be so great if there was a willingness to eat and live as the native inhabitants of the land. You know, we don't have to import all of our deities from England or from the United States to be able to live on the other side of the world if we'll just eat what God has blessed that land with. And then, really interesting, fifthly, he said, as to learning languages. This is already being done in trade between countries. Learning their languages, that's not a challenge. And he says, it is well known to require no very extraordinary talents to learn, in the space of a year or two at most, the language of any people on the earth. Yeah, that's easy for you to say Brother Kerry. And he says, or at least so much of it as to be able to convey any sentiments we wish to their understanding. And he's thinking about days when they didn't have bilingual dictionaries and they didn't have grammar textbooks and you just sit down with somebody and start learning the language. Now he was gifted in languages. But men can learn languages, and he knew that. Section five was an inquiry into the duty of Christians in general and what means ought to be used to promote the work. He mentions a need for fervent united prayer. But then he states, we must not be contented, however, with praying. without exerting ourselves. And the use of means for obtaining of those things that we pray for. So he proceeded to lay out plans for a simple mission society, financial support, by commitment of small weekly mission offerings from church members. And he concludes saying, surely it is worthwhile to lay ourselves out with all our might in promoting the cause and kingdom of Christ. That was his vision. You know, as you go through these five sections of his inquiry, you realize that this was a very thorough and thought-provoking missionary challenge that is still being, almost all of those points are still being repeated today by missionaries. And he had never heard a single missionary presentation. Well, he put his inquiry into print. A couple weeks later, he was called on to preach at an association meeting. May 30th, 1792. Here's an interesting side note on this particular meeting. This was taking place in Nottingham, England. The meeting, the church was Friar Lane Baptist Chapel. Friar Lane as in Friar Tuck. It was at the corner of Maid Marian Way. I'm not making any of this up. This was in Nottingham, Friar Lane, Baptist Chapel, at the corner of Maid Marian Way and just down the road from Nottingham Castle. But something much more important than Robin Hood was transpiring that day. You see, the sermon that William Carey delivered is now referred to as the Deathless Sermon. It was never put into print, and yet they call it the Deathless Sermon, because the ripples are still reaching even us today. It was one of the most famous sermons of all time. Its impact continues. It led to the beginning of the modern missionary movement. His text was Isaiah 54, verses 2 and 3. It says, enlarge the place of thy tents, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine inhabitations. Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. In this, Cary took encouragement. God was going to bless. God was going to bring a harvest of souls. And so He proposed that it is now time to pour ourselves into the work of preaching the Gospel to the heathen nations. Be encouraged. Apply the means that God has ordained. Well, He climaxed that message with two rightly famous phrases. Expect great things. Attempt great things. Biographers later added to that, they changed it to expect great things from God, attempt great things for God. Some even reversed the order and they said, attempt great things for God and then expect great things from God. But adding to that, that Cary stated, or reversing of the order, really does misrepresent his intent and his thinking and the way that he presented them. Cary saw this as an awakening that God was bringing about in his people. So in his mind there was no from God and for God. Both the expecting great things and the attempting great things were from God in Cary's mind. God was stirring this up to send them out. It was all from God. So he said, we see the promises that God has given so we can expect great things. But if the promises are there, We should attempt great things, believing those promises. For Cary, faith in his promises led the way. So expect great things, but by faith we must act on the promises if we truly believe them. So attempt great things. Brethren, the promises are glorious. The Lord has redeemed a people. Revelation 5-9 says this, They sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Brethren, I believe in definite atonement, particular redemption, If the saints in heaven say, you have redeemed us out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, then who will be gathered around the throne? People out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. So they must hear the gospel if they are to be gathered. His promises give us hope and expectation of an abundance Psalm 22, verses 27 and 28. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord. All the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's and He is the governor among the nations. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn. Psalm 66, verse 4 says, All the earth shall worship Thee and shall sing unto Thee. They shall sing unto Thy name. Psalm 86 and verse 9. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name. Brother, promises like these encourage us to expect great things. I don't believe that there is any expectation of seeing the world converted. But brethren, we should hold the expectation of seeing the penetration of the Gospel. and to every ethnicity, every people, and tongue, and nation. You know, Psalm 67 in its entirety is a missionary psalm. The prayer of the psalm is this, God be merciful unto us and bless us. That's a wholesome petition, isn't it? Cause His face to shine upon us. But why does the psalmist ask for God's mercy and blessing? Is it that our day-to-day life would be more encouraged and comfortable? That's not what He has in mind at all. He says that He is crying out, that Thy way may be known upon the earth and Thy salvation among all nations. Lord, bless us! Make Your face shine upon us! But why? So that we can make You known among all nations. Oh, let the nations be glad, he says, and sing for joy. Let the people praise thee, O God. Let all the people praise thee. The desire of the psalmist is that God would bless us so that we could take the word to the ends of the earth and preach the gospel. So let me ask a question. Are we, as Sutcliffe brought to our attention, very jealous? for the Lord God of hosts? I hope we are. But when you see pictures of blatant Buddhist idolatry, you've seen the Buddhas. Maybe little golden statues and maybe huge stone statues. And you see that blatant idolatry. Are you jealous for the Lord God of hosts? When you look into Hindu lands, and you see people there bowing down to cattle, to monkeys, and to elephants, and worshipping them, and bringing them offerings of flowers and fruits, and letting them walk through their yards, and walk into their houses, and go anywhere and everywhere they want, while other people are dying of starvation, Yet they're worshipping all these creatures. Are you jealous that the Lord of hosts might be known instead of men worshipping animals? Are you jealous when, in the name of Christianity, You see men and women bowing down, not to Jesus Christ, but to images of Jesus Christ, and to crucifixes, or praying to saints, or to Mary, and all the while despising the Word of God. Oh, may Christ be known! When you see in the news Muslims beheading anyone who calls himself a Christian, Is your gut reaction, is your only reaction that of the sons of thunder? Lord, shall we call down fire from heaven? Lightning, destroy them. Mr. President, nuke them. We've thought that, haven't we? But wouldn't you rather hear those same Muslims cry instead of Allahu Akbar, Allah is the greatest, hear them cry, Isa, Jesus is the greatest. Their souls in blindness they must hear and we must not let our politics affect our spiritual discernment for their souls. Yes, there's a military option and that's for Caesar to decide. Maybe politically that's what should take place. But their souls are our concern. And our perspective must be for Christ's everlasting Kingdom. Brethren, we must be jealous for the Lord God of Hosts. And may Jesus Christ be known. And may Isaac the Akbar become the cry of those lands. Would we delay? That was the question that Fuller asked, the time has not come that the Lord's house should be built. We must ask the same questions that Sutcliffe and Fuller ask, but we must answer with the same answer that Cary gave. Enlarge, stretch forth, spare not, lengthen, strengthen. The challenge still calls out to us today. Expect great things. Attend great things. Amen. May God bless you as we consider this just musing on the work of his hands among our own Baptist churches. Amen. Thank you.