Let us turn to Romans 10. Romans 10:14-15 says:
How then shall they call on him in 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? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Did you notice how positive this is? Did you notice how wonderfully God views the bringing of the Gospel?
This is totally opposite of the world’s perspective. How does the world view the child of God? They do not do this favorably. They look down on an individual whom they might see standing before them with a tract. This is just inborn in people. This is the natural mind of man.
This is kind of funny, but I remember standing and handing out tracts in Japan. I was with someone who spoke Japanese. We were at this one location where buses were stopping when these two little children, who must have been about four or five years old, came skipping along in their school uniforms. In Japan, it feels so safe that you can have little ones just walking around. They do not seem to have the safety problems to the degree that we have in America.
So I offered these little ones the tracts. The boy took one, but the girl was hesitant. She was kind of backing away from me. At that point, the boy said something to her. She then came over and took a tract, and then they both ran off laughing and skipping away. I said, “Is it not nice that they took a tract?” The other person with me started laughing and asked me, “Do you know what they said?” Of course, I did not know what they said. So he told me that the boy said to the girl, “Take it. Do you not feel sorry for him?”
These were little children, which is really revealing. It just shows what is in the heart of man, that he just does not have any place in his world for the Gospel. There just is no place for bringing the Gospel. They do not see how it fits the structure or the hierarchy. There is the top and then there are those who are trying to get to the top. This is what everyone is involved with in this life. They are involved with being the best or the greatest, in obtaining goals. Someone comes along with a tract and they wonder what this person is doing standing there on a corner. We are not even asking for money. We are beneath the beggars because we are not even begging for money.
It is a very low view that the world has of those who bring the Gospel, but this is not God’s view. We read again in Romans 10:15:
…How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Wow! God highly esteems this. So the situation is reversed, is it not? How does God view the world and its pursuits? How does God view someone who is going for fame? How does God view someone who is going for money? How does God view someone who is going for personal glory? God views them in a low way. They are exalting themselves, but God says that He will bring them down. God says, “Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.”
This day of bringing mankind low is fast coming. It will be on May 21st of 2011. That will be a day of shame. It will be a day when God will reveal the Lazaruses, the poor beggars who were full of sores and who laid at the rich man’s gate desiring a few crumbs from the rich man. They will then be lifted up into Abraham’s bosom where they will have peace and happiness and eternal joy, everything that they could ever imagine. They will have eternal life forever and ever in the most glorious and blessed state that they could imagine, because God will give them a new resurrected body that will last forevermore.
Where are the rich? The rich are in torment. They are in torment in the “lake of fire,” which is describing the five months. Once there, then they will understand. At that point, their minds will be set straight and they will rightly perceive the real importance of things. They will realize that what was important was not their riches. The rich man in the “lake of fire” will not be crying out to God, “O God, give me some of that money from my bank account. O God, just let me be clothed with those beautiful clothes from my closet. Let me have this thing or that thing.”
No; he will not be mentioning any of this. He will be saying, “Just give me a drop of water, just one drop of water.” More than this, he will be saying, “Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue.” At that point, he will desire that poor beggar whom he wanted nothing to do with as he lay at his gate full of sores. He will at that point desire that the poor beggar Lazarus come and just give him one drop of water, which is referring to the Gospel. He will just want the least bit of possibility, the tiniest degree of hope that at that time, after May 21st, during that time of torment, there might be a chance for him to become saved.
But it is now that the water is abundant. It is now that the earth is “full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” At this time, it is everywhere and nobody wants it. Of themselves, nobody cares for this. Nobody has time for it. This is due to the natural state of man.
So here in Romans 10:15, we read:
…How beautiful are the feet of them…
This is a quote from Isaiah 52:7. We must keep in mind that it is God’s privilege to change a word or to change something when He is quoting from the Old Testament to the New Testament. It says in Isaiah 52:7:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace…
It is changed from “them” to “him” because God’s people are the ones whom Jesus sends into the world with the Gospel, but we are doing His bidding. We are His ambassadors, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5. We read in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20:
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
This is the message that we carry. We carry the message of the whole Bible and we beseech others on God’s behalf, “in Christ’s stead,” to be reconciled to God through the salvation that God provides in Christ. Our message is that we are to go to Him, in other words, and cry for mercy. We are to beseech Him that He will save us before it is too late.
It is believers who do this. It is believers who stand out on the street corner with the tracts or who share this information with others in whatever way they can, but this is all in God’s stead. This is in His place. This is done on behalf of Him.
This is why He can say, “How beautiful are the feet of them,” as well as, “How beautiful…are the feet of him.” Because when someone is bringing the truth of the Bible, the true Gospel, this is on God’s behalf.
This is exactly what He would have someone to do. Therefore, it is a dangerous thing when people dismiss this or, worse, when they are actually coming against this. If someone is rebelling against this, it is a very dangerous thing.
So the title that God gives His people is one of ambassador. We are ambassadors. Each child of God is an ambassador. In our present world, to be an ambassador is to have a lofty and high position. Presidents appoint ambassadors to various countries. Normally, even though this does not happen with every president, they are political appointments. They are sometimes payback for help or assistance that an individual has given to whatever particular president or king or whoever is in power, and so it has become a noble position to be an ambassador.
Of course, it is noble to represent God. This is a very noble thing; but also, this word may cause us to think maybe a little bit more highly of ourselves than we should. Therefore, God has other terms that He uses to describe those who go forth with the Gospel that help us to realize that we should not be proud of ourselves in any way. We should not be proud of ourselves that we are fulfilling the role that God would have us to do.
For instance, go to Psalm 84. This is another term that God gives His people whom He commissions. The Great Commission has never been revoked: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” We read in Psalm 84:10:
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
So rather than going in and dwelling in tents where you can lay back and have people serving you, you should “rather be a doorkeeper.”
Have you ever been to a fancy hotel where there is someone who maybe opens your car door for you, and then when you walk up to the door of the hotel, there is a doorkeeper who opens the door for you? This person might receive a tip for being a doorkeeper; but as soon as you walk into the hotel, the doorkeeper is totally forgotten because he is not thought of as any great person in the world’s status quo. In the hierarchy of this world, a doorkeeper is a rather low position. But, of course, a child of God will do any job. We will do any job that is to the glory of God. God tells us, “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” Any job can be transformed into a very valuable thing when someone is working to the glory of God.
So here is a doorkeeper and it is not a very glamorous post, but God indicates here in Psalm 84:10, as He moved the Psalmist to write:
…I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
What does a doorkeeper spiritually point to? We read in John 10:9:
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Christ is the Door. The doorkeeper opens the door and he closes the door, and God has given into the hands of His people the Gospel through which entry can be found into Heaven. This is the portal. It is the only portal. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Salvation only comes through Jesus Christ. He is the Door. He is “the way” into the Kingdom.
So God has really given us this great privilege. No matter how this is perceived by the world, it is a great privilege to be able to bring the Gospel that can open up the door into eternal life, into the Kingdom of God.
For instance, there is another verse in Acts 14 that relates to this. It says in Acts 14:27:
And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.
This is the “faith of Christ,” because the door into Heaven is, of course, “by faith.” It is not your faith or my faith. It is by Christ’s faith. He says, “I am the door.” He is the faith. This is the only way that a person can get into Heaven.
The great peril that is right in front of the world can be seen when we turn to Matthew 25. This is the parable of the ten virgins. The bridegroom comes. The bridegroom is Christ. The five wise virgins represent the true believers. The five foolish virgins represent those who profess to be believers but who are not. It says in Matthew 25:10:
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
“The door was shut.” Christ will be coming for His bride. The Bible tells us that “the wise shall understand.” The Bible also says, “A wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment,” and there are many other verses like this.
So when Christ comes for His people, “the wise,” He takes them through the door into Heaven, which is like when Noah and his family went into the ark. Who then shut the door of the ark? God shut it. Who is going to shut the door on this world? God will shut it on May 21, 2011. This is the day that the door shuts. Christ is the door. He is the only possible way into Heaven.
After this door shuts, how can anyone get into Heaven? They cannot. It will no longer be a possibility. There will therefore be no more salvation. It will be over and done with. This is why May 21st is so significant.
In the Hebrew or the Biblical calendar, what is May 21st of 2011? If you went to a Hebrew calendar converter website and you typed in “May 21, 2011,” what is the Hebrew date that is going to appear? It will be the month of Iyyar, which is the second month of the Hebrew calendar, on the 17th day.
This is the very day in the days of Noah when God shut the door on the ark. After He had said to Noah, “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth,” God shut the door. This correlates to a period after 7,000 years, which happens to land in 2011. Where does it land? It lands on May 21st; because after 7,000 years, this is the day when God will shut the door on salvation. Never again will God save anyone in this world.
Look at Luke 13:24-25. It says:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door…
Does anyone see the problem with this verse? This is very strange. What is the problem? God is giving very good counsel by telling us:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate…
This is referring to the way to get into Heaven. Jesus is “the way.” He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He is “the door,” and “gate” is just another form of “door.”
We are to strive to go into “the door,” that portal, into Heaven. This is what we should be doing right now; of course, many are not, but we should be striving. This should be our overwhelming desire, bar none. Everything else should be far behind this. This should be the number one goal and focus of our lives, as it was for the Ninevites once they were given a date and they believed God. This actually displayed the ambassador role that believers have, including Jonah. But they did not believe Jonah; they believed God. Remember that Isaiah said, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,” and so the Bible says that “the people of Nineveh believed God.”
There is a problem that we find in Luke 13:24. It says:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
The problem is that we have to ask if this is true today. Are many people seeking to enter into the Kingdom of God today who are not able? No. What “way” are people going today?
We tend to confuse this verse with a verse in Matthew 7, but they are different verses. We read in Matthew 7:13:
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Many are going the “broad” way. They are not striving to enter into the “narrow” way, and this is what has been normative for mankind all throughout history. People go the “broad” way. This is what is typical and this is what people do when they are going the way of other religions and other gospels or if they are atheistic or agnostic. Whatever way someone says that they are going, if it is not the way of Christ, the way of the Bible, then it is a broader way, a wider way.
This is the idea of the world. They think that if they are basically a good person, then they will get into Heaven. But this is a very broad way, because you can do practically whatever you want and still believe that you are going to Heaven. People self-deceive themselves into believing that they are going to Heaven when, actually, they are going to be destroyed.
This is the same with the religions that are not the religion of the Bible. Many think that if they go to Mecca or if they go and wash themselves in the Ganges River, if they do this or if they do that, they will get to Heaven; but none of this leads to Heaven. These roads lead to destruction and this is where the vast majority of people are going.
Out of seven billion, God is going to save a great multitude. If we believe that God is going to save 200 million, how many will this leave for destruction? This leaves six billion, eight hundred million people, which is a big number. They are going to destruction, which is where many are seeking to go. This is the direction of their lives.
Matthew 7:14 says:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
So this verse is not saying what Luke 13:24 is saying, which is:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate [the narrow way]: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
In the next verse, God tells us when this will take place, because it has never happened before in history that many will be seeking to get into the “strait gate”; that is, they will then know “the way.” They will realize the truth at that point. They will have a proper understanding of what the Bible is teaching. This has never occurred in all of history. It says in Luke 13:25:
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door…
It is after God has taken His people out of the world and the world has then seen with their natural eye the resurrection of the dead and the rapture, after they have seen God’s people lifted up. This is, of course, when they will then put two and two together. They will realize that others had warned of this for years.
In the rubble of this world after worldwide earthquakes, they will still be able to find Bibles. They will still be able to find these booklets like We Are Almost There! underneath the rubble of some buildings. Can you not just see one of these booklets underneath some stones from a building in a muddy puddle? Can you not see the tracts that said “May 21, 2011 Judgment Day!” littered all over the place? Can you not see the collapsed billboards in many nations of the world that warned that the trumpet was sounding and that we were almost there? Some of these billboards were asking, “Are you ready?”
It is at this point that they will know. It is then that they will get it. It is then that they will believe. It is then that they will know that the God of the Bible is God and that the Bible was His only Word. This is why they will be casting their idols “to the moles and to the bats.” No other religion described this in such detail as the Bible did.
God is indicating that on that day, the door will be shut. There will be no remedy available. There will be no more deliverance. There will be no more salvation because the door will be shut. We are the doorkeepers and our job or our task is almost over.
I am not saying that we are going to retire from this role, even though we will in a certain way because we will not be doing this particular job anymore after God takes us to Heaven; but we will no longer be doorkeepers because God will have all of those whom He wanted to save in Heaven, and so our job into eternity future will definitely change. It is only in this world that God wants His people to assume a low role, to assume a low position.
After all, who do we think that we are? Who are we? Who are we that we cannot stand a little bit of shame? Who are we that we cannot stand the world’s scorn and the world’s derision and the world’s reviling and the world’s mocking, when Christ went through extremely much more on our behalf? He took upon Himself our sins and became cursed and a shame for us. I think that the believer, of course, realizes this and is quite willing to withstand just a little reviling for this short period of time.
So God speaks of His people as “ambassadors” and as “doorkeepers.” A third way in which God speaks of His people is as “labourers.” This is not as dignified as the word “ambassador” has come to be, but we read of this in Matthew 9:36-38. It says:
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
Again, Matthew 9:37 says:
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
This is parallel to what we read in Luke 10. It says in Luke 10:1-2:
After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
“The harvest truly is great.” It is a “great multitude.” This is the same word that is also found in Revelation 7 where it speaks of “a great multitude, which no man could number.” It has been God’s plan all throughout history that at the end, He would save the best for last and that He would save the vast majority of, in all probability, two hundred million people.
This is unlike anything ever seen before in history and this is God’s plan to save these people, but have you ever wondered why God did not use the churches to do this? Why did God not use the churches to do this?
I just jotted down a couple of things that you would think would be beneficial and helpful. These are things that would make the task of reaching the world of seven billion people a whole lot easier.
For instance, churches are already practically in every nation. In many places, they are there in large numbers. The churches have Bibles already there in all of these nations where they are located and the churches have people who already speak these languages, while Family Radio is working diligently and as hard as they can to translate the Gospel information into as many languages as they can. I think that they are up to about fifty-six or fifty-seven languages, but there are a whole lot more languages. If God had decided to use the churches, it would have made things a lot easier. The churches also have manpower, because how many professed Christians are there in the world? There are over two billion. Two billion! This is about one-third of the world’s population.
It is great that we are doing these tract trips, but how many people wound up going to Trinidad? It was seventeen people. How many people went to Japan? Twenty-four people went on that tract trip. How many people went to Argentina? Ten people went to Argentina. How many went to Grenada? It was five.
Just think, two billion people! Would it not have been a lot easier if God would have decided in His wisdom to open up the Scriptures, the same as was planned, but to reveal it to all of these churches and the individuals within these churches? They would have had the ability to broadcast this into practically every nation already. They could have put this on their signs that most churches have out in front of their buildings. They speak the languages of the people. They could easily contact the local radio stations, and so on.
What else does the church have in large quantities? They have money. They have a great deal of money. I do not know what the worth of just the Catholic Church alone is, but it has to be hundreds of millions, which is probably an underestimate. Then there are all of the other churches. If you put all of the churches together, they have billions of dollars.
God has certainly provided Family Radio for this end-time role of getting the Gospel out. From what I hear, they are going for broke in using their funds to get the Gospel out to the world, but I have no idea what their worth is. Whatever it is, just compare what they have to the billions of dollars that the church already has, to the unlimited manpower that the church already has, to people in place within the nations who already speak the languages. Not only all of this, but the corporate churches have authority and influence upon their communities. Why did God not just choose to use them? Why did He not use them?
Well, we know that there is also something else working out, which is that the churches have been unfaithful throughout the church age. God determined that He would bring judgment upon them. He told us that “judgment must begin at the house of God.” This has already begun upon them.
So here in Matthew 9:37 where Jesus is saying:
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
This is not a plea for help. This is not a plea for help, like so many churches have presented this to their congregations. Their attitude is that there is a tremendous harvest, a tremendous field that is ripe out there, “Will you not please help God? In order to reach these people, will you not come forth so that God can do what He would want to do in reaching the billions of people in the world?”
But God is not saying this. Frankly, God is going to do this without you and without me. If we do not get off our bottoms and if we do not put our hands “to the plow” and no longer look back, God will still get this done. He will do it and He is going to do this with the “few.”
In our day, He has also arranged things so that the electronic medium and the technology would develop to the point in which it has in order that few people can man and operate radio stations, the Internet, television, shortwave, etc. These “few” people can send forth the Gospel into the world and manage to blanket the earth.
In Matthew 20, we read what God means by “the labourers are few.” We read in Matthew 20:16:
So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
The “chosen” is the Greek word eklektos, which is also translated as “elect” in other places in the Bible [note: speaker inadvertently said “few” instead of “chosen” for the Greek word eklektos]. The “few” are God’s elect and “the labourers are few.”
God is about to put in the sickle to reap the “precious fruit of the earth” and to bring in the harvest. We are almost there. When it comes to this point in time, He will utilize His people. He will utilize His people to get the Gospel message to this world of seven billion people.
Do not think that the two hundred million elect are going to bring this message, because how many of these are not even saved as yet? How many will just be new believers? They will know what to do. Their role may be nothing more than like the thief on the cross who just gave praise and glory to God. It is a very small number compared to the population of the world whom God intends to use to bring the Gospel message to all these people out there in the world, and He is presently doing this.
Let us go back to the book of Judges. I think that this verse tells us why God did not just use the churches. In the historical account of Gideon, God was trying to get him courageous enough to go to battle against the army of the Midianites. We read in Judges 7:2:
And JEHOVAH said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
God, of course, does not want to share His glory with anyone and will not because there is no one deserving of this but Him. So, yes, there are two billion professing Christians in the churches. Yes, they are strategically located. Yes, they have resources. But, however, He is not going to use them. He is not going to use them because then they could puff out their chests and say, “Oh, look at this great thing that we have done!”
So, instead, God took a certain number of people that we read about in Judges 7:3:
Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
There were 22,000 people. Then God narrowed it down to 10,000. This was still too many, and so He had them go to the water where those who lapped like a dog when they took to the water became the 300 men who are indicated in Judges 7:6:
And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men…
So God left 300 men to come against a vast host of Midianites. How was God going to do this since Gideon was so fearful? Gideon could see what he was up against. He could count the numbers, “We only have 300 people, but look at that huge host of Midianites! How are we going to win this battle?”
God then encouraged him. After this, some of the men went down outside the Midianite’s camp. Some of the Midianites then had a dream that was interpreted and heard by Gideon. The interpretation was that Gideon would defeat the Midianites. In other words, once again God foretold what He was going to do. He told His servant, the prophet Gideon. Again, Gideon was encouraged. It says that he then “put a trumpet in every man’s hand,” just like we are to blow the trumpet and warn the people. He put a trumpet into every man’s hand and also a lantern. They broke the lantern so that the light could shine. Then they blew the trumpets and Gideon and his men started shouting. They then went down the hill and routed the army.
This was a great victory that God wrought with few men, and not one of them could say, “Is it not wonderful what we did?” No, they knew that defeating the Midianites with 300 men was an impossible task. There was absolutely no way that 300 men should have defeated this great army. They realized that it was only because God was with them and that God won the victory for His own glory.
We are running out of time, so I am going to skip to another point. The Bible also typifies believers as “servants.” Let us go to Luke 19. We read in Luke 19:11-13:
And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
This is our call, each of us. Little children, occupy. Young men, occupy. Young ladies, occupy. Middle-aged men, occupy. Old men and old women, occupy. This is for every single one of us.
We have not seen a certain kind of battle for awhile, but in times past, all of the inhabitants of a city would be enlisted when things got desperate. Everyone would be involved. They would not be able to avoid this.
Now is this time. If you are not going to do it now, if you are not going to serve God now, when would you or when would I? When will someone take up his cross and endure whatever the world and Satan may do in order to try to stop or at least slow down the progress of the Gospel going out into the world? If God does not move within us at this time “both to will and to do of his good pleasure,” then when?
A long-time Family Radio listener told me at one time that he was just going to remain on the sidelines. He used to be very active and involved. Years ago I was talking to him and trying to encourage him to help with something. He was shying away from it and said to me, “You know, I am not out of the game. I just look at myself as being on the sidelines.” But, no; this does not exist. There are no sidelines. This is something that each of us must be involved with. We must look at this task of a watchman that God has given us. We are to blow the trumpet and warn the people.
Let us also go to Luke 17:7-10. These verses also pick up this idea of a servant. We read in Luke 17:7-10:
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
It is a duty. When you are in the Army, the Army gives you a task and you are to carry it out and do it. It is your duty. In this case, we are in the Army of God. That song is correct that says that we are good soldiers for Christ.
Turn to Romans 12. It says in Romans 12:1:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
This is not service that is above and beyond the call of duty; not at all. If we are obedient to God’s command to go into the world with the Gospel to any degree, this is our duty. This should be our response to God. This should be what we are doing. We should not in any way think too highly of ourselves for doing it.
Actually, God indicates that if we could do this perfectly, from now for the rest of our lives up until May 21st, we would finally have to say that we are unprofitable. We are unprofitable.
Who are we? We are sinners who have offended God and who deserve to die. We deserve to perish, and yet God has redeemed us and saved us. For this, He is to get all of the glory. It was never because we were performing the role that we should have been performing, a job that we only did partially at that.
Let us stop here.