1 Corinthians 1. Our text is found in verse 17. The Apostle Paul says, For Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. The title of my message this
morning, Preaching and Preachers. Preaching and Preachers. As I was preparing this message
this week, I had a phone call from one of my friends. And he
asked me, what are you doing? I said, well, I'm learning how
to preach. He said, what? You're learning
how to preach? I don't understand. What books are you reading? I
said, well, I'm reading the Bible. Where else does a preacher learn
to preach but by the gospel that he's called to preach? We must
learn to preach from the Scriptures. I remember one time I was reading
a book that was How to Prepare a Sermon. And as I started reading
through this book, I found out this man had no idea who Christ
was. Although he knew how to prepare a sermon, he didn't know
anything about Christ. And so when I learned that, I
started throwing the books away of men trying to teach me how
to preach. Rather than that, I would go
to the Word of God and learn the gospel of Jesus Christ, for
this is what I'm called to preach. I'm called to preach Christ.
I'm called to preach Christ. Now in this chapter, the Apostle
Paul lays out for the church of Corinth a blueprint. A blueprint
in this verse as to what a preacher is and what a preacher is to
do. This is a blueprint for what
is the purpose of a preacher. What is the reason to have a
preacher? What's the purpose? Why does
this church call me to be their pastor? What is the importance
of this matter of preaching the gospel? Now, in this church,
they had many problems. We know the church of Corinth
had many problems. And the Apostle Paul started
addressing this problem, first of all, concerning preachers.
You see, in this church, they had a preference. They had a
preference of preachers. Some said that, hey, I'm of Paul. Others said, I'm of Apollos.
And some said, I'm of Peter. And then some said, oh, I'm of
Christ. I'm of Christ. You see, some people liked Paul
because he could dig down into the deep theological things,
you know. He was a good preacher and he could dig into the darkest
secrets and mysteries of God. I like him. Oh boy, man, he really
tickles my ears with theology. I like it. And some said, well,
I like Apollos. because he can speak with the
tongue of an angel. Oh, he's like George Whitefield. Somebody said George Whitefield
that could make people weep by saying the word Mesopotamia.
He had such an eloquent voice. And some people liked Apollos.
He had such a great gift of oratory skill. And some people said,
I like Peter. He's a meat and potatoes man.
Oh, he understands the common folk language. He understands
me. And I like to hear him. Oh, he's
really good. Now, if Paul comes, I don't have
any really interest because I can't understand him. You know, I just
don't like him so much. And you know, Apollos, he's too
wordy for me. I like somebody who says he's
short and sweet. Speak about Jesus in about 15 minutes and
that's all. You know? And then there are
these. Oh, I'm of Christ. I'm of Christ. You see, I don't
need Peter or Paul, or I don't need Apollos, and I don't need
a preacher. You see, I already know all of
those things, and they can't teach me anything. I'm of Christ.
I'm of Christ. These are the super spiritual
people. These are the super spiritual people. These are the ones that
think themselves wiser than their teachers and have no need of
a man to teach them. These were as much to be condemned
as any of the others. Paul begins his rebuke to them
asking them a question. Remember on Wednesday night I
told you asking a question is a good thing. It's a good way
to begin a rebuke. Paul does that. He says, Christ
divided. He says, in other words, is the body of Christ divided?
Is the church of Christ divided? No. Now, I'll tell you, there
are many local bodies and local assemblies and churches, and
even though we have differences on some opinions about certain
things that are non-essential things, Yet what holds us and
unites us together in the body of Christ is faith in Christ
alone for our salvation. Any man, it doesn't matter where
he goes to church, if he is a believer in Jesus Christ, if he holds
to the righteousness of Christ alone, then he is united to the
body of Christ no matter where he's at. No matter where he's
at. He is united to this body and
we're not divided. We're not divided at all. Paul
asks another question. He says, am I crucified for you?
You that like to hear me. Am I crucified for you? Why would
you exalt me above anybody else? Why would you exalt me above
Christ is what he's saying. No, Christ was crucified for
us and we were baptized into His death. Therefore, He is our
Lord and He is determined of what we should be doing. We all
have in our flesh this tendency, don't we? We all have men that
we enjoy hearing more than others. That is a tendency of the flesh
and that's sin. I want you to know, plain and
simple, that is sin. In order to do that, what we
do is we exalt the man above the message. If you have two
men, one is being preached by a man who's very gifted and very
talented, and then you have another man who preaches that's not so
gifted and talented, but yet they're preaching Christ. Both
of them are exalting the Lord Jesus Christ. You should come
not to hear the man, but the message. Never to hear the man,
always to hear the message. We are children of God, are not
to judge worship by the skill of the preacher, or the lack thereof. We are to
determine where to attend worship, not based on the speaker, but
on the message. The message, the message is important. There are several questions I
want us to bring this morning concerning this matter of preaching
and preachers. Several questions this morning.
I'm going to try to hurriedly go through them because I have
six of them. I have six questions. I had more, but I'm not going
to do more. I got six. Six is enough and we're going
to do that. Six questions this morning concerning this matter
of preaching and preachers. I want us to see the importance
of preachers as well as the importance of the message by which these
questions are asked. First of all, those of you who
take notes, I'll try to keep those a little slow so you write
it down. Who sends preachers? That's the
first question. Who sends preachers? What are preachers sent to do?
How is the gospel to be preached? What is the result of all who
preach by man's wisdom? And why do we preach only one
gospel? And number six, how is it that
the gospel to believers is our love and glory? Now, first of
all, who sends preachers? In our day, many people go off
to seminary. They go off to a college and
they pay a lot of money and they spend a lot of time. Four years
and thousands of dollars later, they get a piece of paper that
says preacher on it. Nice little plaque, they put
it in and put it on their wall. Does that make a preacher? Does
that make a preacher? Is that how God calls preachers? Through seminary school. How does God call men in the
Scriptures? That's how we should find out how men are sent. We
should not determine by our own wisdom how men are sent. Men
are sent by the way God determines them to be sent. Is this how men are trained to
be pastors? No. Pastors are not called by
men. They are called by God. God calls men to preach. And that's the only way a man
should ever preach. If a man is called, I don't care
if he's called by 10 million congregations of people, if he
is not called by God, he is not to preach, no matter how much
he knows, no matter how gifted he is or how skilled he is. If he is not called by God, if
he is not sent by God, he shouldn't preach. Preachers are sent by
God. Read that in our text. Paul gives
a blueprint for Christ sent me. Christ sent me. See, it is Christ that calls
men to preach. It is not a matter of talent,
ability, or education, but rather God's call on a man to the ministry. Paul, in Romans chapter 1, I
think he says this best. In Romans chapter 1, verse 1,
when he said, Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an
apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. You see, all of us who are called
by God to preach the gospel, we're not called kings. That's
not our name, is it? We're not called princes. We're
not called to be princes. We're not called to be doctors.
We're not called to be reverends. We're not called to be theologians. What are we called to be? What
am I called to be? I'm called to be a slave of Jesus
Christ. That's what I'm called. You want
to see what a slave looks like, you're looking at him. I'm a
slave to Christ. I'm a slave to Christ. I have been bound by His love
and constrained by His grace to preach the gospel. I'll tell you what, if a man
thinks he is called to preach the gospel, This advice was given
to me and it's the best advice I can give anyone who thinks
they are called to preach. If you can do anything else,
do it. Because if you can do anything
else, you're not called to preach. If you are not constrained by
Christ, if you do not have the fire in your belly like Jeremiah
had, that when he was silent, he couldn't restrain himself. He had to preach. And I have
to preach. I have to. I have to. Why? Because I'm called. God called
me to preach the gospel. He puts it in our hearts, and
there's nothing more we long to do, and there's no higher
calling than to be a slave of Jesus Christ. My friend, to bend
down and unlatch his shoe as a slave is the highest calling
of men. The highest a man could ever
get. And if any man longs to be a pastor or a preacher, I
would encourage him to sit under a faithful man. And I'll tell
you this, any man who's not faithful is not called to be a pastor.
Any man who's not faithful is not called to be a pastor. We are compelled to be faithful. You know how I learned faithfulness?
By watching my pastor. by sitting faithfully under the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Every time the gospel was preached,
I was there, and God constrained me to be there because He wanted
to teach me faithfulness by example, and I watched my pastor. And by God's grace, you should
be able to watch me, and I should be faithful. I should be faithful. Because God has called me to
the ministry. Number two, what are we to preach? What are preachers
to do? What are we called to do? God
calls us, but what has He called us to do? Just stand up here
and talk and give you stories and make you laugh and make you
cry and do a little bit of song and dance for you? Is that what
God's called us to do? Absolutely not. God has called
us for one purpose, to preach the gospel. That is our purpose. Paul said, I'm not sent to baptize. What does that mean? Did Paul
say that he's not sent to baptize anybody? No. You see, we're given a mandate
by God to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. That's what we're called to do. We're called to
baptize. And I'll tell you what, as I preach the Gospel, I long
for someone who comes to faith in Christ. Someone to believe.
And if you do, if you believe in Christ, then I tell you, be
baptized. So you see, baptism is very important. Very important. Baptism is a
picture, it's a mark of every believer. You see, when we stand
in the water, we stand and identify with Christ and His life. When
we are submerged in the water, we are baptized into His death. And when we rise up out of the
water, we are resurrected with Christ. It is a picture of what
we identify with Christ. You see, some people like to
say that, you know, you come down to the front and that's
how you identify with Christ. That's not how you identify with
Christ. You identify in believer's baptism. That's how you identify
with Christ. And if you've never been baptized,
your master commands it. It's important. But Paul is saying
a very important thing here when he says, I was not called to
be baptized, to baptize. You see, it's not our purpose. In other words, if I stand here
and preach the gospel and nobody gets baptized, that doesn't affect
my mission, does it? That doesn't affect my mission. You see, I have a main purpose,
a main goal, and my main purpose is to preach the gospel. My main
purpose... Now, this is a problem for baptismal
regeneration folk, isn't it? Anybody that believes that the
waters of baptism are salvation, this Scripture totally blows
them out of the water. Paul said, I didn't come to baptize.
What do you mean, Paul? If baptism is regeneration, then
why didn't you come do that? If salvation were in that water,
I would be talking about it all the time. And you wouldn't shut
me up until I got you in there. It's not. That's not our purpose. My purpose is to preach Christ
and Him crucified. If you will notice that here
in this place, the preaching of the gospel is the climax of
the service, isn't it? We always center in this place
around this time. Everything leads up to this point,
doesn't it? Everything leads to this point
of preaching the gospel, and it is centered around this pulpit.
Why? Because the focus is my main
purpose. This is the main purpose we've
come here for. Now, what is this gospel I'm called to preach?
What is it? A few words and make it as simple as I possibly can.
Salvation is of the Lord. That's the gospel I preach. The
gospel I preach is salvation is of the Lord. I preach gospel
salvation by the triune God. God the Father chose a people
and eternity passed. And out of His great love and
affection for them, He chose them by His grace. I preach God
the Son saved, God the Son in covenant of grace agreed to be
the surety for all those people that God set His love on. I preach
that Jesus Christ lived for them, He died for them, and He rose
again the third day for them. That's what I preach. I preach
that salvation is accomplished in Christ, not that salvation
is made possible. I preach that Jesus Christ accomplished
salvation. I preach that the Holy Spirit
agreed in that same covenant to come and to be their seal,
that He come to be their regeneration, that He would come and take this
gospel that I preach and apply it to the hearts of all God's
people, wherever they are. And I preach that He comes to
hearts of sinners. That's who He comes to, sinners. And He gives them life and faith.
This is the good news of God that saves sinners. Listen to
me very carefully. I did not come to preach God
came to save good folk. That's not what I'm preaching.
I'm preaching God came to save worthless, vile sinners. That's who He came to save. He
came to save the worst among you when He saved a wretch like
me. My friend, He came to save sinners. And Jesus Christ accomplished
that by His work on the cross. You
see, the God-man Jesus came and by His life accomplished my salvation
completely and fully. And He came to accomplish the
salvation of all who will in time come to believe on Him.
That's what I preach. You that do not believe, I preach,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That's
the message of the gospel. And I tell you, if you don't
believe, believe now. This is a matter of urgency,
my friend. This is not a message of take
it or leave it. This is a message of urgency. You have no promise for tomorrow. Boast not thyself of tomorrow. You don't know what tomorrow
holds. Believe now. Now. to the saving of your souls. I preach that God uses gracious
terms like this, whosoever will come. Isn't that gracious? It puts a smile on my face every
time I say it. Whosoever will come. Christ said,
come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Isn't that what He said? Well,
that's what I say. What he said. What he said. I must preach Christ and the
salvation for sinners alone is found in Christ alone. This is my purpose. I have no
other purpose. I have no other purpose. Number three, how is this gospel
to be preached? Now, there are many men that
may agree with the message I've just declared to you. Many men
may say, I agree with that, Pastor. I think that's what pastors should
do. And I think that's what I should do. But my congregation is so big,
and if I were to say something like that, I would lose them.
Some men say, well, you know, I can do it better than preaching.
I can do it better. I tell you, this is the way to
get people in now, is to have plays and entertainment and music
and performances, and keep them lively, keep them entertained,
so they don't get bored with the same message. So we just
keep them in the church. That's how we're going to keep
them, in the churches, by entertaining them. We'll draw all kinds of
people in, and then once we got them in there, once we tricked
them. Once we trick them into coming, then we'll preach the
gospel to them. But you know what? They never
get around to that part, do they? They never get around to that
part. They're always entertaining. Always entertaining. And they
never get around to preaching Christ. Never get around to it. But this, my friend, is nothing
more than worldly wisdom and words of wisdom by this world. That's what it is. Those thoughts
are earthly reasoning, earthly wisdom. You see, my friends, I don't
want the world in this church. I tell you the truth. I don't
want the world in this church. All the world does is bring pain
and hurt with them. What I do want is God's people
to come in. I want those who are sinners,
who need a Savior, I want those to come in here. I've got a message
for those people. You want to be entertained? I'm
sure there's a football game going on somewhere. You can find
a sports bar anywhere. They'll entertain you. I'm not
here to entertain. I'm not here to entertain. I'm
here to preach the gospel of Christ. I don't want the world in this
church. I definitely don't. My business is not to entertain
but to preach. I must nor will not compromise
the means that God has ordained just to tickle the fancy of men.
I will not compromise it. I cannot. One of my family members,
I'm going to illustrate this, one of my family members came
to my mother a few months ago, and she goes to a big church,
I think, one of those entertaining churches, and she told my mother
that the method that she is accustomed to, the man standing with a prepared
message and preaching to the congregation, she said, that's
outdated. That's outdated. You know, we're
more educated now. We have better ways than preaching
for people to attain knowledge. And you know what? By earthly
standards, she's right. You know, you'll probably retain
about 10% of what I said today. Speaking like I'm doing and preaching
to you is, by worldly standards, the least amount of knowledge
gained. You know that? Why do we do it? Because it's
God's method. That's why we do it. I don't
care what the world thinks about what I do, because what I do
pleases God. Because what I do is God's ordained
means of saving people, saving sinners. This is the means God
has chosen. The world says, for the preaching
of the cross to them that perish is foolishness. They say we're
outdated. They say we need to change our
tactics. I say to them, let them have the world. I'll preach Christ. I'll preach Christ. To all those
that think this foolish, to all those who believe that this is
a waste of time, hear me. Anybody who thinks that this
is a waste of time, effort, and money, they think this way because
they're perishing, they're lost, and they don't know Christ. They
don't know Christ. See, I as a preacher am sent
by God to do one thing, to declare the gospel. There was a question
asked of Henry Mahan, how is it that we're to preach the gospel?
How is it that we're to preach the gospel? He gave five things
and we'll give them plainly to us. First of all, he said that
to preach the gospel is just to declare it. In other words,
I'm not here to debate this. I'm not here to haggle about
it. I'm here to declare to you the gospel, salvations in Christ
alone. That's what I'm here to say.
And I don't haggle about that. I don't need a debate. And I
hope that I say it as simply as I possibly can. I hope that
a 12-year-old child can understand me. I hope that every young person
in this building should be able to understand my words that I
say. And that way I know I got the
most educated. If I can speak to a child, then I can speak
to an adult. Same thing. Preach it simply.
That's what he said. Declare it simply and plainly.
Number two, he said, declare that this is the message of God.
You see, we're not preaching our own message. This is not
my message. This is God's message. And if
God will open your eyes to that, you'll be awake. It's God's message. We're not here to tickle men's
ears. but to preach the message of Jesus Christ, Him crucified.
Look to the Lamb of God, for He alone is able to save you.
Look to the Lamb of God. Number three, he said, declare
the gospel to everyone. You see, this world has got this idea
that the gospel needs to be divided into groups. Right? Have you
ever been to a Christian bookstore? They've got books for all types
of groups, don't they? They've got them for the old
people's section, they've got the young people's section. They've
got the rich people's section, they've got the poor people's
section. They've got the educated people and Bible for dummies
over there. So they've got all kinds of groups. You see, when we divide the gospel
into groups and preach it to a specific group, we make it
palatable to that group while rejecting another group. If I
say this gospel is just for the wise, then I'm neglecting the
simple. We preach this gospel to everybody. This gospel is for everybody. Not just for a certain group
of people. You see, I preach this gospel to Calvinists and
Arminians. I will. I'll preach this same gospel
to both of them. I'll preach this gospel to the old and to
the poor, rich and poor, young and old. We don't divide into
groups. I like the gospel for you. The gospel is meant for
sinners. And number four, he said, preach
the gospel and declare it as my own. You see, I know this gospel is
powerful because I've experienced it myself. It's my gospel. It's mine because He made it
effectual to me. And if He makes it effectual
to you, it'll be the only gospel you love and enjoy to hear. You
won't want to hear anything else. I don't care to hear anything
else. I love Christ and I love His
gospel. I love his gospel. And he said,
number five, to declare the gospel is to desire that all that hear
it believe. My friend, I desire within my
heart that every time I preach that someone would come to Christ. I long for that in my heart to
see all of this city come to Christ. That's what I long for. I long for people to hear this
gospel and believe. I do. It's what I'm here for. It's
what I do. Well, question number four that
I had is, what is the result of all those that preach that
worldly doctrine? What's the result of it? Look out there, every time you
pass by you guys in Indiana, you see that big church as you
pass by? That huge, big building with
thousands of people every time you see cars lining up to get
in there. Let me ask you this question.
What effect does that church have on the Kingdom of God? How
much effect does that church have on the Kingdom of God? Do
they have any impact at all? No. Zero. That church is as worthless
as the beer joint down the road. That's about as worthless. It
is as worthless because they're not preaching Christ. You see, Paul said this. Read
back in our text. Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel. Here it is. Not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. How much effect do they have?
None. None. My friend, this group we have
here today has more to do with the Kingdom of God than any one
of those megachurches that does not preach Christ. The one that
entertains, the one that doesn't preach Christ, but they have
a bunch of entertainment for you. The cross of Christ is of
none effect there. The cross of Christ is of none
effect. I can't count how many times
that I've declared the sovereignty of God to some people and I get
this response. Well, I don't feel it's right. Oh, I couldn't serve a God like
that that would choose some and pass by others. I can't serve
a God like that. I don't want to have anything
to do with a God like that. then wherever they're sitting,
if they're hearing that, if they're not preaching the sovereign grace
of God in Christ, that salvation is in Christ alone and not by
the will and works of man, then their church has no effect on
the kingdom of God whatsoever. That's the result of those churches.
So don't be discouraged, my friends. Don't be discouraged. I'm not.
I'm not discouraged in the least. Whether I preach to a hundred
or to one or to a thousand, it makes no difference. Whoever
God calls to bring under the sound of this ministry, I will
preach Christ. And that's all. Why do we then
believe that this is the only true gospel? Why could you say
such a thing, pastor? How could you be so bold about
this? How could you be so sure and
confident? They're doing such good things
out there. How can you be sure? Well, because what they're doing
is not pleasing God. Look down in verse 21. Paul says, after that, in the
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching. What you're hearing right now
is pleasing to God. This is pleasing to God. God
has been pleased by His own sovereign choice to make this the way that
sinners come to faith in Christ. This is the only way. It pleases
God. And any other way doesn't please
God. This is the way God's chosen.
And this is the only means that sinners are saved by. Somebody
once asked me, can a man be saved under a false teacher? Can a man be saved under a false
teacher? Not if he's preaching a false message. No one is saved apart from the
gospel of God's grace in Christ. If salvation is not by grace
and they claim it is of works, then anyone who hears that message
and believes it is not saved. That's a fact. You see, salvation is either
by grace or by works. It's not in between. There's
no middle ground. And I'll tell you what, if you
have family members that you know are lost, then my friend,
you should compel them to come into this place every time it
is open. Why? Because this is the means
that God has chosen to save sinners and no other means is going to
be used. Not plays, entertainment, music,
nothing but the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Anything else won't save. And I'll tell you what, if you
find another church that preaches the gospel of God's sovereign
grace, and you think they're better off there, then send them
there, wherever the gospel is preached. But my friends, they
must come under the sound of the gospel, or they will not
be saved. Will not. Paul says, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel. Let me ask you this, and here
again, I like this mirror, because I like putting it in front of
myself. Are you ashamed of the gospel? Are you ashamed of the gospel
of Jesus Christ? I'm not. Why? Because it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. This
is the power of God. Oh, but I don't see how power...
You won't until the Spirit of God moves on you. You won't. We preach Christ and this is
the only gospel because it confounds the wise. When I look at somebody and I
tell them the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ, they
look at me like a calf at a new gate. They have no idea what
I'm saying. Huh? What just happened? I remember
having one guy told me when I explained the gospel to him, he said, you've
turned my religion upside down. That's what the gospel will do
to somebody. It'll turn their religion upside down. And they
won't understand. They don't understand why you
go. They don't understand why you come to hear this gospel
over and over and over and over again. Have I preached anything
new since I've got here? I've been here over a year and
a half. Moose has been here 15 years. He ain't preached nothing
new. We won't preach anything new. When you come here, I guarantee
you will hear this message of Jesus Christ. That's what I guarantee.
You will hear Christ. And if you don't, I failed. And why then is this gospel,
my last question, why then is this gospel of Christ the believers
love and glory? Why do you love it so much? You
that come and hear the gospel over and over again, why do you
love it? Why do you come? I know it's not me. I recognize that. I know it's not me. If you come to hear me over and
over and over again, it must be the message. It must be Christ! It must be Him. The Scripture
says in verse 30 and 31 that God has made Christ unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. You see, once
I was a fool and thought I could merit God's favor. Once I was a fool and thought
that if I just made everybody happy, I'd please God. once I thought I was strong enough
to save myself." That's why the Scripture says,
not many wise, not many mighty. When I look among you, are there
any mighty or wise people here this morning? I mean, do we really
have the scholars of the earth in this place? Do we really have
the kings and dignitaries trying to break down the door to get
in here this morning? No. Why? Because they would have
to lay aside their wisdom and see that Christ is the only wisdom.
They would have to lay aside their strength and see they have
no strength and need strength that's only found in Christ. You see, those that are self-righteous
would have to lay aside their righteousness to see that Christ
is our only righteousness. We'd have to see that we don't
sanctify ourselves, do we? Anybody here sanctify yourself
this morning? Scripture says that Christ is our sanctification. You see, I don't make myself
holier, do you? Is there any such thing as being holier? No. And Christ is our redemption. Glory, I'm saved. Glory, I'm
saved. My sins are all pardoned. My guilt is all gone. That's the message sinners love
to hear. I love to hear it. And I love
to hear it because my sin still abides in this body. And I know
this, that because of Christ, He is faithful and just to forgive
me of my sin. And I stand justified before
God. Justified. And that's the believer's
love and the believer's glory. You love the message of Christ. You love the message of Christ
is because you love the Christ of the message. He is all-important. To Him be
the glory and honor for all things. Let's stand and we'll be dismissed.