2024-07-27
Given by Chris Laws
Sermon by William Carey - The Deathless Sermon. Gave rise to an astonishing amount of fruit. That sermon changed the world. This sermon was not from a man who was great in this world's terms. He was an unknown, a cobbler, a leather worker. But nevertheless he had become a pastor and he was delivering this sermon to the Northampton association of particular baptist churches, a group of 24 churches from the Northampton area itself. These churches would meet from time to time and have ministry, but all the members would also report on the Lord's work in their own church, sharing disappointments and grievous problems. Carey was preaching on one such occasion, meeting this time in Nottingham. Some of the pastors there would have walked up to or on horseback 70 miles to get there, it would have taken considerable time to get there. Carey was preaching from [[Isaiah 54]], countless Christians can remember the two key phrases which were particular to that sermon - "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God". This summed up what Carey was all about.
Carey was preaching this sermon for a particular reason. Carey in the previous year had presented the case for a mission to care for millions in the world, his heart bled for them. The other pastors asked Carey to publish his case, and so he set about publishing a book "The Inquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of Heathens", called today "The Inquiry". He put this together over 8 years, researching different people who were so lacking around the world, all the while pastoring his own flock and alongside that as a cobbler.
May 1972 - the association are meeting in Nottingham, the pastors have travelled a long way, this is where we pick up the story.
Many church letters were read at the meeting, Ryland could truthfully summarise that there were many answers to prayer. On Wednesday, Carey preached the first sermon, he knew this song by heart. When presently he made v1-3 his message, his friends knew that the passion of 8 years was to be poured out.
Isaiah 54.1-3
1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. 2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 3 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.
The text itself was a treasure trove, there could be no more inspiring missionary message. Carey lit a beacon that was to blaze for years to come.
He first set forth the historical context for these words, the Jews had been driven into exile. Things were not as they seemed, there was atonement for their sins. God had called her to a new and splendid destiny, the tent where she found shelter was to become a pavilion. "Thy maker is thy husband, he is lord of all the earth".
In this song, there was a mirror of the church of that day. The preacher had seen the smallness of vision. Carey was not content to mourn this dearth, he breathed no soft excuse, he charged the churches with tenderness and grief.
All this was preparation for the gladness of his news though, God called them to leave the ragged tents, but to pitch and stretch mother tents in accordance to his purpose.
Carey believed that in the closing decades of the 18th century, there were many opportunities, the empire, Cook's discovery. As Isaiah had hailed the emergence of Silas, Carey heard in these world events a calling from his Lord.
Carey had been making things in pairs for work, and this unconcisouly fell in the same category. Carey dared to be simple and direct, not to secure personal success, but to win a battle for his Lord. The divine way out from failure was a bolder vision. The prayer call had gone forth 8 years earlier.
The next morning, a different session was held for money spent on different causes. They found themselves up with the issue of Carey's sermon. They could not escape with the excuse of Carey's enquiry. Yet, as Joshua Marshman tells us, the old feelings of doubt dominated, they were about to separate without a firm decision, until Carey's agony. Carey could not believe how weak their belief was. "Is there nothing going to be done sir?" Fuller trembled, and his own soul was stabbed awake, and the Holy Ghost flooded his Spirit, Fuller was timid initially, but this time he stood as Caleb with Joshua, becoming two men with one soul, finding that no precipice is too steep for two. Carey and Fuller could not be ignored, when Fuller pleaded, he could not be refused.
Before the men dispersed at Thursday noon, they resolved to form a baptist society for propagating the gospel among the heathen. The pamphlet was now a plan.
Carey's message found no place in the town that week. Yet what was said and done that week at the town's baptist, the profound issues for God and Man. The foolishness of God is wiser than man.
Kettering was the place where the next meeting happened, which happened to be Fuller's hometown. His sledgehammer broke the sheet of Hyper-Calvinism. His capable hand is seen in all the proceedings on the 2nd of October.
Fuller rejoiced when Ryland pinned his flag to the masthead, with his text from [[Isaiah 43]].
Most of the men were unwilling to commit to the idea of a missionary society, less to discuss its plan. Not many were there for Carey's sermon, or Fuller's appeal, those who had may have grown apprehensive. They felt so helpless. Overall, they seemed to themselves to be too inland, the greater churches should shoulder the burden.
In human terms, they were nobodies from nowhere, with no influence beyond their villages. Indeed, they came from obscure middle England villages. There was no respectability among them, justly apprehensive.
Carey then produced the latest news of the baptisms overseas, news of other missionaries sent. He pointed to the others and asked could we not do the same? So these men trembled and acquised. It was only faith like a grain of mustard seed, but they had witness born to them that they were of glory to God.
This type of society was a first. The puritans had the support of the government. But the 5 just had these pastors from obscure churches. The London churches were critical.
The total raised for the society was 13 pounds, and the proceeds of the sales of Carey's book, which amounted to 1 pound in Kettering before. The student was immensely grateful to be there, but he borrowed to give that half-guinea. There's nothing here for ridicule, the sum was small, but of great significance. The leaders were all young, Ryland 39, Carey 31, Pearce 26. Young men took the initiative, and from that time on they lived for the mission. The world of course did not take note of this organisation, yet its line was to go out through all the earth, and its influence through all the world.
Everything I read this, I cannot work out how they achieved what they did. 41 years of service, Carey made the scriptures available to 300 million people. They set up 18 mission centres across India, able to bring widow burning to a close, a lasting impact on India. "I am unafraid of failure, but afraid of succeeding in things which are unimportant."
For us, the lessons are obvious, if God can do anything with people who are totally committed to the gospel, so we have to examine ourselves, and make that commitment that those men made.