In this sermon, the speaker tells the story of a young man in the early summer of 1744 who had a deep desire to bring the gospel to the Native American tribes near the Delaware River. Despite warnings of potential danger, he fearlessly approached their wigwams and was met with reverence instead of hostility. The young man was deeply devoted to the Bible, with the seventh chapter of John's Gospel, specifically verse 37, being his most frequently read passage. He preached to the Native Americans about their need for Christ and the abundance of His grace and salvation available to all who accept it.

God has gathered us together tonight in the house of the Lord to worship Thee. We thank Thee for the work of God here. We rejoice, Lord, that Thou hast opened a door here, which, if it's a door that God has opened, no man can ever shut. Lord, we pray that Thou wouldst continue to bless Thy servant, bless his ministry, bless those who faithfully stand with him. Lord, we pray Thou wilt give the increase in these days. Even in this week of meetings, we pray that Thou wilt come down our souls to greet, and that Thy glory will crown the mercy seat. Lord, send us revival. We pray there will be a stirring of our hearts as we study the lives of men of God. For, Lord, You have said that the memory of the just is blessed. We pray, Lord, that it truly will be a blessing to our souls to consider the lives and the ministries of those of a former day whom Thou hast used. We pray, Lord, Thou wilt stir us up to serve Thee, bless Thy people, cause us to be challenged and convicted and encouraged. And we pray for any without Christ, that, Lord, even tonight You'll speak to them and save their precious souls, bring them to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. Be with us now. We do seek Thy help. We do desire that we might be filled in the preaching of the word with all the fullness of God. We pray that Thy Spirit will take us up as an instrument to the glory of Thy name. For we ask this for Jesus, our Savior's sake. Amen and Amen. Tonight I want to continue with the second message in the series, which we commenced this morning, on favorite scriptures of famous saints. There are certain Bible verses that appear to have had special significance for some of the Lord's choicest servants. There are many Christians who have a number of favorite verses in Scripture, not just one. And I suppose I would be one of those people. I'd be hard-pressed to give you just one favorite text. Some of the men that we are going to consider in this series may not actually have had just one favorite text, but several. And in their writings or sermons, sometimes we can trace a number of references to the same text of Scripture, which might lead us to believe that that was, in fact, a favorite verse of that individual. The text that I have chosen for this evening seems to have been a favorite of the man of God who I wish to focus upon in this service. He was a godly minister of the gospel, a man of prayer, and a fervent missionary of the cross. One who had, like Robert Murray McShane, whom we looked at this morning, a very brief but a powerful ministry. And who has been called the morning star of modern missions. And his name, of course, is the Reverend David Brainerd, missionary to the North American Indians. The text that really marked his life and ministry is John 7, verse 37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. David Brainerd's favorite text, I would suggest, was, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. This text appears, I say, to have been a favorite verse of his, for on a number of occasions in his journal and in his diary, he does refer to it as a scripture from which he preached. Sometimes it's marked down as a fault in preachers when they preach the same text over and over, but David Brainerd certainly was one who employed this text on far more than one occasion. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. I want us to look at this text of scripture and seek to weave around it the life of David Brainerd. As we look at the text in relation to Brainerd, we can say, first of all, it was a text that mystified him. It mystified him. Now, you might look at the text and think, well, there's nothing difficult about it. There's nothing mystical about this. There's nothing that is hard to understand. Jesus clearly stated, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. But I'm going to show you how the text mystified and confused, in a way, David Brainerd. It was something that he could not come to grips with for a period in his life. Let me begin by saying that David Brainerd was born on April 20th, 1718, in Puritan New England. He was born of godly parents, brought up, therefore, in the gospel, but in a somewhat hard and narrow way, a way for which some of the Puritans were noted in that day. I don't mean to be overly critical of the Puritans, but it is true of many of them that their mode of operation was hard and it was narrow. And young David Brainerd could never understand the great invitation that was employed in this text. If any man thirst, let him come unto me. And the thing that mystified Brainerd was, what does it mean to come? He could not understand what the Lord was saying here. What does it mean? Let him come unto me. But, history tells us and his biographers tell us that during the great awakening, the revival that took place at the early part of the 18th century, Brainerd was led to believe and he was soundly converted to Christ. But he does speak of those years prior to his saving experience. And he says this, While I was in this distressed, bewildered, and tumultuous state of mind, I was irritated through not being able to find out what faith was. What was it to believe? What was it to come to Christ? I read the calls of Christ to the weary and the heavy laden, but I could find no way that He directed me to come in. I thought I would gladly come, if only I knew how. For I was not effectually and experimentally taught that there could be no way prescribed whereby a natural man could have his own strength to obtain that which is supernatural and which the highest angel cannot give. Brainerd was mystified by the invitation, Come unto me. Perhaps I'm speaking to one or several tonight and you too are wondering how you can come to Christ. How may I come to Him? After all, does the Bible say that none can come? Does the Bible not say that except the Father draw him, there is none that can come to Christ? The Bible does in fact say that, yes. But the Bible also says, Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The Bible says, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. This word, come, is a wonderful Bible word. It's found some 600 times in Scripture. And one of those places where the word is employed is Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 1. Listen to what it says. Again, when we keep in mind Brainerd's text, this is a similar text. Isaiah 55 verse 1 Notice how several times over the Lord says, Come. Come ye to the waters. Come ye, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. This is God's command and this is God's demand of you as a sinner that you come to Christ. John chapter 4 then. We read of our Lord's words to the woman at the well. What did He tell her? He said there in John 4 verse 13, Whosoever drinketh of this water, that's the water that's in this physical well. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. What a tremendous statement that is. And when we go over further in John's Gospel to chapter 6 and verse 35, Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And therefore we find that that's what believing is. It's coming to Christ. And that's what coming to Christ is. It's believing on Christ. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. There's nothing at all mysterious about the invitation of the Lord Jesus. Do you desire Christ today? Well, if you do, it's God who put that desire there. And you can come and welcome to Jesus. Don't stay away, but come to Him. Even a little child can come. I myself came to know the Saviour as a young child. And I came to Jesus as I was. And He received me. And He saved me. And He can do the same for you. John 6 verse 37 says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. That means there's not a circumstance and there's not a situation that we can think of that would cause the Lord Jesus to turn us away when we come to Him. He will, He will save us when we come to Him. Brainerd, though for a time, was mystified by the text. But at the age of 20, Brainerd, we find, was mastered by the text. It was a text that mystified him. But it became, at the age of 20, I say, a text that mastered him. This verse, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. This verse and its great message captivated the heart of David Brainerd. He couldn't get away from it. Let me give you his own testimony in his own words. And I quote, I hungered and thirsted and was not refreshed and satisfied. My soul longed for God, the living God. I thirsted night and day for a closer acquaintance with Him. David Brainerd came to see that Christ was freely offered to sinners just like himself. And he came to Christ for pardon and cleansing from sin. You listen again to his own testimony. He's talking about this period of his life. At this time, Brainerd says, the way of salvation opened unto me with such infinite wisdom and suitableness and excellency that I wondered that I should ever have desired any other way of salvation. I was amazed that I had not dropped my own contrivances and complied with this lovely and excellent way before. If I could have been saved by my own duties or any other way that I could formerly concede, my whole soul would now have refused it. I wondered that all the world did not see and comply with this way of salvation. The Lord brought him to that point where he could see the simplicity and the sincerity of the offer of the Lord Jesus come unto me. David Brainerd had thirsted, but coming to Christ, his thirst was quenched. And rejoicing in the assurance of sins forgiven, he penned the following words. This is from his diary. Unspeakable glory seemed to open to the view and apprehension of my soul. I don't mean any external brightness, for I saw no such thing. It was a new view of God such as I had never had before. I stood still, wondered and admired. I never before had seen anything comparable to it for excellency of beauty. It was widely different from all the conceptions that ever I had had of God or things divine. I felt myself in a new world and everything about me appeared with a different aspect from what it was wont to do. My soul was captivated and delighted. I rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. You know, sometimes when people think about David Brainerd, and especially when they read his diary, they think of him as a melancholy type, as someone who was mournful and downhearted and downcast. But here he tells us when he came to know Christ, he rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And I say to you tonight, so you will find it to your own soul, if you truly come to know the Saviour, He'll put a joy and a peace in your heart that the world can't give and that the world can't take away. A century and a half later, after the time of Brainerd, Horatius Bonner, whose hymn we sang tonight, penned those words which could well have been the personal testimony of David Brainerd, and in fact is the experience of every redeemed soul. I heard the voice of Jesus say, Behold, I freely give the living water, thirsty one, stoop down and drink and live. I came to Jesus and I drank of that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him. You know, it was a remarkable feature of David Brainerd's later ministry, after he was converted, that he made much of the willingness of Christ to freely receive all that come unto him. On one occasion he said this, The Lord enabled me to set before them, and that's the Indians, the Lord Jesus Christ as a kind and compassionate Saviour, inviting distressed and perishing sinners to accept everlasting mercy. And I say to you this evening, this is the Saviour that I am presenting to you today. This is the same Saviour, one who is not unwilling, but one who is willing to receive sinners. See, the old devil wants to tell you and to tell me that the Lord is not willing to receive us, that He doesn't want to accept us, that He is more likely to turn us away from Him. But that's not the God of the Bible. For He is one that delighteth in mercy. You don't find in Scripture that it ever says that God delights in damnation. But it does say that He delighteth in mercy. That's the Saviour I present to you tonight. He is one that receiveth sinners, who is not only able, but is willing to save you if you come to Him. And I trust that this great text, therefore, will not mystify you, but as it did with Brainerd, that it will master you, that it will master your heart, that you'll come on the basis of this invitation. If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink, that the Lord will enable you to come and drink that living water to me. David Brainerd was one whom this text mastered as his preaching showed. Again, a direct quote of his, I cannot but take notice that ever since my first coming among these Indians in New Jersey, I have, in general, been favoured with that assistance which to me is uncommon in preaching Christ crucified, and in making Him the centre and the mark to which all my discourses among them were directed. To show them their absolute need of Christ, to redeem and save them from the misery of their fallen state, to open His all-sufficiency and willingness to save the very chief of sinners, the freeness and riches of His divine grace, proposed without money and without price to all that will accept the offer, and thereupon to press them without delay to betake themselves to Him under a sense of their misery and undone state, and to show them the abundant encouragement. If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. Here is a text that mystified him, couldn't understand what it was to come to Christ, but it was a text that mastered him. The Lord showed him how simple the invitation is, and how sincere the Lord is in offering salvation to us, and enabled him to come, as I trust He will enable you to come if you are not the Lord's. But concerning the truth of this text, if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink, I would say it was a text that motivated him. And here I want to come to the heart of Brainerd's ministry, because this glorious gospel of free grace, David Brainerd began to preach at the age of 24. He could well have had a comfortable charge in some church somewhere, and been relatively at ease. He was an acceptable preacher. He was one who could have found a charge, there is no doubt. But Brainerd's heart was burdened not for the ministry per se, but for missions. His heart was stirred to be a missionary. He had a vision which was worldwide, China, India, Africa, but all of those for him were out of the question. Yet he realized that he did have a mission field right at his door. And he thought of the canoes, and the wigwams, and the frayed leggings, and the feathered headgear, and the bows, and the quivers, and the arrows, and the scalping knives, and the tomahawks, and the powwows, and the peace pipes of the Indian braves. He thought about the Indians' haughty demeanor, but he thought of the Indians' soul. And David Brainerd made up his mind to evangelize the lost who at that time were on his very doorstep. He made up his mind that he was going to carry the light of the gospel into the darkness of the wigwams of the redskins. Now David Brainerd, and another young minister who went to the Indians on Long Island, New York, were actually approached, strangely enough, by a missionary society in Scotland. You might find that surprising, but that society was known as the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, the SPCK, that actually to this day, as I understand, have bookstores in the United Kingdom. But the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge had heard of Brainerd. They had actually been impressed by the testimony of several ministers who had talked about the deplorable, perishing state of the American Indians, the Native Indians of America. And so the SPCK prevailed with David Brainerd to actually turn down, to refuse several invitations that had come to him to go to places where he had the prospect of a comfortable settlement among the English. And rather to endure the fatigues and deprivations that would be his lot in evangelizing the Indians. Because, you see, the Indians were not going to be easy to reach. It was going to involve a lot of travel on horseback over mountain and through forest and wilderness and over rivers and streams. And he was going to find that it was not an easy thing to reach those secretive people. But David Brainerd was willing to go. Just as 100 years before him, a man by the name of John Elliot, the apostle to the Indians of New England, had been willing to go. And so although he was a frail young man, Brainerd did not enjoy good health. He was a consumptive, which in our language is a sufferer with tuberculosis. And although he was raped constantly with a cough, oftentimes it was said that you could tell where Brainerd had been on the snowy days because he had coughed up so much blood in the snow that there was a trail that he left behind. But although he was never free from pain, he went on passing from tribe to tribe, telling everywhere the story of the cross. Finding his way through the dense forest, spending days on end in the saddle and most of the nights beneath an open sky. He exposed himself to perils by day and by night, but was enabled to continue for five brief but strenuous years to evangelize the lost among the native Indians of America. You see, he was determined that thirsty souls like himself might come to Christ. That they might hear this message. If any man thirsts, even if that man be a red Indian, let him come to Christ and drink. He was determined that thirsty souls might have their thirst slaked and their inward desires satisfied in the blessed Savior of men. Brainerd began his ministry in April 1743, but like many who have gone to the mission field, for a period of time he saw no fruit. In fact, for two years, he saw no outward fruit for his ministry at all. But yet the Lord was doing a work in his own soul. And many a man has found it to be so many a minister, many a missionary, that when the Lord doesn't make the place better, He makes you better in the place. That's what happened with Brainerd. The Lord was doing a work in ploughing up his own heart. In fact, he records concerning this, There appeared at this time to be nothing of any considerable importance to me but holiness of heart and life and the conversion of the heathen to God. David Brainerd gave himself to prayer and as he went forth to preach to those pagan savages, he wrote, Here am I, Lord. Send me to the rough, savage pagans of the wilderness. Send me from all that is called comfort even to death itself if it be in Thy service and to promote Thy kingdom. We see in our mind's eye young David Brainerd sitting beside a river out in the wilderness, away from his friends, away from his home, far from his companions. It's the early summer of 1744. He's a young man, but he has an old heart with a burden that is burned into his inmost soul. The burden to reach the red-skinned nations with the blessed word of the living God to share with them that same pardon that he himself has received at the cross of Christ. He hears of a group of Indians who have their lodges near the forks of the Delaware River. I now minister in Allentown, Pennsylvania a matter of some 15 miles from there. It's now called Easton, Pennsylvania. The old name was the Forks of the Delaware. He's been told concerning these Indians that they will attack him if he dares to go and bring the gospel to them. But despite that, he goes on his long journey. He discovers where they are and fearlessly he approaches their wigwams. And they exhibit to him not the ferocity that was anticipated, but a reverence that nearly took his breath away. And later he discovered the reason for that. They had been watching him for many days. They had noticed how at night he prayed and how that the night before he approached their village there was a rattlesnake that crept up to his side. How that it lifted its ugly head and was about to strike with its forked tongue but then for no apparent reason glided swiftly away into the wilderness. And what the Indians thought was the Great Spirit is with this pale face. We must do him no harm. We must give him a prophet's welcome. Do you see how the Lord was even working providentially in that way? But we see this young man, Brainerd, and he's sitting in the wilderness. His eyes are fastened upon his Bible. And what is the portion of Scripture that his Bible is opened at? What is the chapter of Scripture that's more thumb marked than any other part of his Bible? What's that passage that he's constantly and continually reading? Well, you guessed it. It's the seventh chapter of John's Gospel. And it's verse 37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Brainerd is now a youth of 26. At that very time, John Wesley and George Whitefield are sweeping the land with their revival preaching. In the summer of 1745, God began to display His grace and power in a place called Cross Weeksong, an Indian name, in New Jersey. A most remarkable awakening commenced among the Indians and it continued until it was one of the most remarkable in history. Now remember, Mr. Brainerd was in a very poor state of health. But it is said that with the coming of that revival, his spirit triumphed over his weak and diseased flesh. In 1745, he rode over 3,000 miles. I didn't say he drove over 3,000 miles, for that was impossible. He rode on a horse over 3,000 miles, spreading the gospel along the Indian trails. I was remarking just yesterday in his diary for November 22nd in 1744, this is what he said, Came on my way from Roxiticus to the Delaware, was very much disordered with a cold and pain in my head, about six at night I lost my way in the wilderness and wandered over rocks and mountains, down hideous steeps through swamps and most dreadful and dangerous places. And the night being dark, so that few stars could be seen, I was greatly exposed. I was much pinched with cold and distressed with an extreme pain in my head, attended with sickness at my stomach, so that every step I took was distressing to me. I had little hope for several hours together, but that I must lie out in the woods all night in this distressed case. But about nine o'clock, I found a house through the abundant goodness of God and was kindly entertained. Thus, I have frequently been exposed and sometimes laying out the whole night, but God has hitherto preserved me and blessed be his name. Going periods of time without food and without proper rest, for what purpose? So that he could preach to men that if any man thirst, he should come unto Christ and drink. This was a man of God, a man of God who loved to preach Christ. It's very interesting to note some of the records in the journal of Brainerd. I marked four of them. February 15th, 1745. He said, This evening I was much assisted in meditating on that precious text. Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. I longed to proclaim such grace to the whole world of sinners. The second one, February 17th, 1745. That's two days later. On the sunny side of a hill in the wilderness, I preached all day to people who had come 20 miles to hear me. And I preached on. Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. I was scarce ever enabled to offer the free grace of God to perishing sinners with more plainness. There were many tears. April 22nd, 1745. I preached with freedom and life on. Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And then August 5th, 1745. Preached to the Indians from. That's right. Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. You can see how it was not difficult for me to pick the text that was his favorite. He said, some who had never been affected before were struck with deep concern. And others had their concern deepened to a considerable degree. I'm sure all preachers of the gospel in the day in which we live would wish for the same in their own ministries. That some who have never been affected before would be struck with deep concern. And those who have been concerned would have that concern deepened to a greater degree. There are other extracts that I will not read to you. But they show how God moved in great power through the preaching of Brainerd. But one instance does come to mind and it needs to be mentioned. And that is the time when Brainerd was preaching to a group of Indians through an interpreter who was actually drunk. Indians have always gotten the name historically for being fond of the booze. Being fond of strong drink. And this was certainly true in the day in which Brainerd lived and ministered. And of course he did not have the language of the people at his disposal. But he did use interpreters. And one day he was preaching through a drunken interpreter. These are his own words. And through that drunken interpreter God moved in mighty power. And a group of Indians, there may have been as many as 30 of them, were converted to God through the preaching of God's precious truth. And glad to say also that later on that same drunken interpreter came to know Christ and gave every evidence of being a child of God. The Lord used this man in a mighty, mighty way. You might say, well where did his power come from? Well, that's easy to answer. Brainerd was a man whose power came from God. And just as we said about McShane this morning, so I say concerning David Brainerd tonight, his power came from God but it was sought from God. And he agonized in prayer for that power. On the occasion that I have mentioned, when he preached through a drunken interpreter and the Holy Ghost was so poured out that numbers were savingly converted, it was after eight days prayer in the woods. Eight days. He spent before God in the woods and then he came forth endued with power. And though preaching through a drunken Indian, the Holy Ghost was poured out and souls were saved. This revival ministry of Brainerd was brief. David Brainerd, again like McShane, did not live long. He only got to minister among what he called his beloved Indians for only four short years. But yet, that was time enough for God to move in such a way that churches were established among the Indians. And those who had hitherto been savages became worshippers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brainerd spent his last days in the home of President Edwards. Jonathan Edwards, who was the president of the then New Jersey College, later to become the famous Princeton College. Edwards' second daughter, Jerusha, was engaged to be married to Brainerd. But we read that in March 1747, David Brainerd, in consequence of extreme ill health, had to take leave of his Indians in New Jersey and in the month of April came into New England when he was invited by Mr. Edwards to take up his abode in his house. He came there on the 28th of May, apparently very much improved in health, cheerful in his spirits, free from melancholy, yet at that time probably in a confirmed consumption or tuberculosis. Mr. Edwards had now an opportunity of becoming most intimately acquainted with him and regarded the residence of Brainerd under his roof as a peculiar blessing to himself and his family. Listen to what Edwards says about Brainerd. We enjoyed not only the benefit of his conversation, but had the comfort and advantage of having him pray in the family from time to time. Now he was at this time very feeble in health, but on the advice of his doctor he left Northampton for the city of Boston on the 9th of June in company with the second daughter of Mr. Edwards, Jerusha. They arrived on the evening of the 12th among the family relatives of Jonathan Edwards in Boston and for a few days Brainerd's health appeared much amended. But a relapse on the 18th of June convinced his friends that his recovery was hopeless. Contrary to their expectations however, he so far revived that on the 20th of July they were able to leave Boston in company with his brother Mr. Israel Brainerd and on the 25th they reached Northampton. Here his health continued gradually to decline until early in October. It was obvious that he would not long survive. On the morning of Lord's Day, October the 4th, says Mr. Edwards, as my daughter Jerusha who chiefly attended him came into the room, he looked on her very pleasantly and he said, Dear Jerusha, are you willing to part with me? I am quite willing to part with you. I am willing to part with all my friends. Though if I thought I should not see you and be happy with you in another world, I could not bear to part with you. But we shall spend a happy eternity together. Brainerd died on Friday, October the 9th, 1747 and on the Monday following, Jonathan Edwards preached the sermon at his funeral from 2 Corinthians 5 verse 8 where it speaks of being absent from the body and being present with the Lord. And the title of his sermon which was later published was True Saints when Absent from the Body are Present with the Lord. Brainerd, after destroying the early part of his diary, had left the residue in the hands of Mr. Edwards to dispose of it as he thought best. Jonathan Edwards concluded to publish it in connection with a brief memoir of his life. In the ensuing February, Jerusha, the second daughter of Edwards, who had been engaged to be married to Brainerd, was removed by death just a matter of months after her beloved had died. Her father, in a note to the memoirs of Brainerd Lutz, alludes to the distressing event. He says, She was a person of much the same spirit with Brainerd. She had constantly taken care of and attended him in his sickness for nineteen weeks before his death, devoting herself to it with great delight because she looked on him as an eminent servant of Jesus Christ. In this time, David Brainerd had much conversation with her on the things of religion, and in his dying state often expressed to us, her parents, his great satisfaction concerning her true piety and his confidence that he should meet her in heaven and his high opinion of her not only as a real Christian but as a very eminent saint, one whose soul was uncommonly fed and entertained with things which pertain to the most spiritual, experimental and distinguishing parts of religion and one who, by temper of her mind, was fitted to deny herself for God and to do good beyond any young woman whatsoever whom he knew. She has manifested a heart uncommonly devoted to God in the course of her life many years before her death and said on her deathbed that she had not seen one minute for several years wherein she desired to live one minute longer for the sake of any other good in life but doing good, living to God and doing what might be for his glory. David Brainerd went to be with Christ his sweetheart soon after went to be with Christ but Brainerd left behind a tremendous testimony. Like McShane of Dundee David Brainerd, although there is some controversy concerning his true age but I believe it to be right that he died also at age 29 and through his faithful labours many sinners were brought to drink of the water of life. David Brainerd's godliness is that which I think should be emphasised in closing. Just listen to these excerpts from his diary and I quote Oh that I could spend every moment of my life to God's glory I know I long for God and conformity to his will in inward purity and holiness 10,000 times more than for anything here below Oh that my soul were holy as he is holy Oh that it were pure even as Christ is pure If I had a thousand lives my soul would gladly have laid them all down at once to have been He was a godly man and the Lord used him in a mighty way The Lord used him even after his death The testimony of Brainerd was a testimony that was effective and effectual William Carey, the great missionary to India was counseled by John Wesley to read the life of David Brainerd In that life, Carey got a vision for missions and became the missionary pioneer of India Henry Martin, whose life we will consider later this week in The Will of God read the biography of Brainerd also He also got a vision for missions and became a great missionary pathfinder So see how the Lord used this man even after his death to be an inspirer and a motivator of others who might go and tell sinners if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink Brainerd was a leader, he was a pioneer he was the morning star of modern missions and a writer called Sherwood says and I quote His story proves him to be one of the most illustrious characters of modern times It has done more to develop and mould the spirit of modern missions and to fire the heart of the Christian church than that of any other man since the apostolic age One such personage, one such character is a greater power in human history than a finite mind can calculate If you're not a believer tonight you don't know Christ let me speak to you as Brainerd would speak to you If any man thirst, Jesus says let him come unto me and drink I can do no better to the memory of Brainerd than to set before you the Christ that he preached and to call upon you to come for all things are now ready The Lord has prepared the feast and all you must do is to eat and to drink He that believeth on me shall never hunger He that cometh to me shall never thirst and I say to you if you're a believer in Christ pray that the Lord will give you the zeal and the consecration to the service of Christ that David Brainerd had Such a short life but yet such a life that was useful and effective for God and for truth I trust that the Lord will make us to be men and women of prayer that the Lord would cause us to have a vision for souls even as he did that the Lord would cause us to be willing even to give up our comforts and to endure privations that we might get the gospel out that we might be able to tell others of Jesus the mighty to save What a man David Brainerd was What a ministry he had and of course we give the glory to the Lord whom he served For David Brainerd as you read his diary you'll find felt himself to be nothing and less than nothing We look upon him tonight and we regard him as a mighty man of God as one who was a giant of the faith but that's not how he regarded himself but his spirit was like that of John the Baptist when he said he must increase and I must decrease more of him and less of me and surely that's the spirit that ought to be found in the heart of every preacher and in the heart of every believer Lord let there be seen in my life far less of me and far more of the Lord Jesus Christ May the Lord grant that to us all for his glory Amen