All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Galatians, of course. Galatians chapter one. Now, something
rare happened. The rarity's not my first statement. Joe said he watched the broadcast
this morning, of course, it would have been the early one, and
said that, of course, it was my message, I was preaching,
and Paul had to put a song at the end of it for filler. Now
remember, that's 28 minutes and 30 seconds. You can mark that
on the calendar. That's rare, unless I intend
to do that. Specifically, that's rare. I
don't know whether I tended to do that for the message that
was broadcast this morning, but I'm afraid I'm going to have
to tell you this is probably not going to be one of them 28
minute and 30 second ones. It needs a song at the end of
it. So Galatians chapter one, just the last few verses of chapter
one. Last Sunday, I tried to go through
some of the context of what Paul wrote here about Damascus, Arabia,
all of that. But look at verses 21, 22, 23,
24. Afterwards, verse 21, Galatians 1. Afterwards I came into the
regions of Syria and Cilicia, and was unknown by face unto
the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they had heard
only that he which persecuted us in time past now preacheth
the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me.
But they'd never even seen him. Now I have every reason to believe
that many of them, maybe not all, but many of them had heard
of this man Saul of Tarsus. The scriptures, he wreaked havoc. I mean, havoc. And that's the
word here for destroyed. We think of destroyed as taking
something, and whatever that something is, as you cause it
to completely cease to be. That's not the meaning here.
Paul did not destroy the faith. No, but he was definitely trying
to destroy them who believed this faith, if you will. But I just imagined this. Now,
what it was like for some of the churches in Judea, those
that were in Christ, and I may talk about that later, maybe.
And here they get the word filters in. Of course they didn't have
our phones and telephones and all that. At best it was word
of mouth or a letter. And it's sent out by a courier, not by
some jet, but some guy walking or riding a horse or something,
taking a letter. Have you heard the news? Saul
of Tarsus is preaching that Jesus is the Christ. And I can imagine
my first thought would have been, And you know, I don't know about
that. And it even goes on, and they glorified God in me. We may, God willing, talk about
that later. But what I want to talk about
this morning I want to kind of take a phrase from what I've
read here is this, and I thought this was going to be almost exactly
like what I said before, preach Christ, that I might preach him.
And that's the whole reason God called Saul of Tarsus, as far
as him being active, working, was to preach Christ. Preach
Christ, preach Christ. Well, here it says, preacheth
the faith. My title is Preach. the faith,
preach the faith. Now think about this, you know
this, but I just wanna remind you of it. The word faith is
commonly used today. It's everywhere, faith, faith. It's used in religious circles
and totally irreligious circles. In some circles, the word faith
or this thought of faith, this thing called faith is even revered. People named their baby girls
Faith. Faith. We speak of persons of faith. You can see it on TV. Persons
of faith, or he's a person of faith, or she's a person of faith.
And it can mean just about anything. It's like the word spiritual.
I mean, you watch TV and somebody says, I'm a spiritual person.
Well, that may mean that they're worshiping stumps and twigs and
trees and everything else. We know it has nothing to do
with what the book calls spiritual. So you can speak of persons of
faith. There is the Word of Faith movement among some Pentecostals,
and they're big on TV. There's the International Word
of Faith Church. There's places called Faith Baptist
Church. There's the Word of Faith Family
Worship Cathedral. That's a mouthful. That's hard
to even say in a little essay three times fast. The Word of
Faith Family Worship Cathedral. There's Faith Presbyterian, just
on down, faith, faith, faith. It's everywhere. It's everywhere. But now this says, but they had
heard only that he which persecuted us in time past, now preacheth
the faith which once he destroyed. So it is a particular faith. Because Saul of Tarsus had faith. He had great faith in the sacrifices. And in the doves, and the pigeons,
and the goats, and the rams, and all of those things. You
see, the fact of faith, the so-called act of faith, and I'm not here
to down that. There is the fact of faith, positive
and negative. There is the act of faith. Faith
without works is what? Dead, dead. And I'll mention,
we'll look at that. The fact of faith, the so-called
act of faith, the possession of faith, having faith, I have
faith, I have faith, is more important to some people than
the truth itself. For them, just having faith is
all that matters, because doesn't the Bible, after all, say you
got to have faith? And then if you particularize
it a little bit more, but I have faith in God. When others may
have faith, but they don't have faith in God. But I got faith
in God, well that's revered today. Or I have faith in Jesus, right?
So this, as I said, this fact of faith, this so-called act
of faith, this I have faith, this possession of faith is more
important to some people than the truth about faith itself. But here's what's really sad.
this fact of faith, this so-called act of faith, or my possessing,
my actually having faith, is far more important to most, and
it's sad to have to say this, it's far more important to most
people than Christ himself. If you just believe in Jesus
of Nazareth in some general way, and you have faith in him, that
seems to be all that's necessary to be a Christian today, right? to be, and beloved, in our day
and age, you can be one of those kind of Christians and just about
live and hold to anything you want in this world, and it don't
matter. It don't matter, and I could
go through a whole list there, but that's not my purpose this
morning. Now, you know this here, but let me state this, because
there may be some who don't. It's similar to the fact of love.
Somebody says, all love is good, all hate is evil. That's not
so. And yet in our day, we are bombarded
with this, that hate is evil, hate is evil, and love is good,
love is good. Our brother John the Apostle
said, if a man loved the world, that's love, that's a real love. But if a man loved the world,
what? The love of the Father's not in him. So there's a love
that's bad. God said, Jacob, I love, and
Esau, I hated. That's good because God's the
one doing the hating. I don't have the right to do
that, but I'm not God. But God is God. He has the right
to do, he has the right to hate us all and not love a one of
us. But the similar thing is true
of faith. There's two kinds of faith. James 2 and 17, I'm not gonna
deal with it. There is dead faith. I said I'm
not gonna deal with it any much further than this. Dead faith
exists in spiritually dead people. Rephrase, dead faith exists in
unregenerate people. It's not just having faith. The reason I say it's not just
having faith is this, because there is that faith that is intrinsic
to God alone. It's a glory, a majesty, a characteristic,
an attribute. I don't know what's the best
word or the most appropriate word, but it's something that
resides in God alone intrinsically. And of course, Paul in Romans
3.3 talks about the faith of God. the faith of God. This same faith now, this same
faith. There's two different kinds of
faith, but when it comes to that faith that is intrinsic to God
alone, it's all the same faith. That faith is said to be a fruit
of God the Spirit. Galatians 5, 22, right? Along
with several other things. But note, just to help us here,
it doesn't say repentance is a fruit of the Spirit. Now listen
to my wording. Repentance is a fruit wrought
by the Spirit. But repentance is not a fruit
of the Spirit because God the Spirit never needs to repent.
Now you look at those, the fruit of the Spirit, but faith is a
fruit of the Spirit. So that means if I have it, It's
God Almighty working His own faith in me. Though we know by
Paul's words in Romans 12, verses like one, two, and three, it's
in measure. It's in measure. Just like the
Spirit of God is given to us, how in measure our Lord had the
Spirit of God fully. Even as a man. So remember, there
are two kinds of faith. There's dead faith. There's that
faith that's intrinsic to God alone, that same faith is called
a fruit of the Spirit, but that same faith is called a gift of
God to some. Ephesians 2.8, right? It's a
gift of God to some and according to Paul in our letter itself. We'll look at that God willing
later Galatians 5 and verse 6 it's a faith that is Energized or
as the KJV puts it worketh. It's a faith that is energized
by love So I'm gonna say this I don't care if you believe all
the right doctrines if you don't love the God of those doctrines
and If you don't love the Christ of those doctrines, that faith
amounts to nothing. Because this faith, this second
kind of faith, as far as I'm talking about, it is energized
by love, love, love. If you don't love Christ, you
don't know Christ. If Christ is not the sum and
substance of that, we'll use a phrase, I don't mean this wrong,
if that turns you on. People understand that phrase
nowadays, don't they? If that's what turns you on is
the person and work of Jesus Christ, that's love. That's what
gets my goat. That's what gets me excited.
That's what gets me across the finish line. faith in Christ. Now, when said
of Paul that he now preaches the faith which he once destroyed,
my first thought when I thought about that phrase, I thought,
I will preach on that thought there. My first thought was,
well, he's preaching the body of truth. No. Now granted, there is no
doubt, Paul taught the body of truth, but he's what? Now preaching
the faith which he once destroyed. He didn't destroy the body of
truth. The body of truth was housed in the people of God. Paul told Timothy that the church
of God is the pillar and ground of the truth. That's where the
truth is housed now. How many people really read this?
Now, come on, how many people really read this? How many of
those Gideon Bibles? And I'm not even against that.
I'm not against that. I used to be against a lot of
things because I let my own self-righteousness concerning grace get in the way.
But how many people, you think, go into that motel room, hotel
room, pull out that Gideon Bible out of the desk door and just
sit down and say, I'm going to seek God? Now, that doesn't make me say,
well, I don't want them in there. Get them all out. It's just like
this, folks. I will give you this. People
get all upset, religious, especially grace people. I don't need nobody
in school teaching my children the Bible. Ever felt that way? Come on, be honest. If you don't
want to shake, yeah, yeah. But let me tell you something.
If God by his providence, now listen to me, I'm gonna put it
this way, maybe a better way to say it, if God by his providence
puts the teaching of the Bible back in the school, just maybe,
God might raise up some teacher somewhere to be as wise as a
serpent and as harmless as a dove and actually start telling young
kids what the law really means and what the Bibles really say.
And if they give them that right to do it in the school, bless
God they got that right. Now am I all fired up and let's
go vote? No, I'm not saying, listen, God
is in charge of the politicians. And when God moves them to do
things a certain way, I don't care if it is against this word.
Sometimes it's the judgment of God. And sometimes it's God and
his providential workings. Now listen to me, sneaking the
truth in on people, even when they don't expect it. You see, let us just preach Christ. Leave the rest of it up to God.
Quit trying to get prayer in school or out of school. You
understand what I'm saying? Just preach Christ, because as
I was going to say, how many people read this? But I'll tell
you what they do read, this. They read me. Jack, that's scary when I sit
down and I think about it. I know it's a cliche among some
places, but you are the only Bible some people will ever read
as a believer in Christ. They're not gonna pick this up.
Now, I'm not talking about, oh, be good and holy. I'm talking
about, are you talking about what the Lord Jesus Christ did
for you? Do you ever tell people, this
is what God done for me? You don't have to be a theologian.
You just have to be saved by the grace of God. Because if
you've never really been saved by the grace of God, if you've
never really been given this faith, I'm talking about this
morning, this faith that Paul now preached, You're just saying
words. You're just saying words. And
let me tell you, in truth, when trying to speak to others about
to preach Christ, if you want to call it that, to witness about
Christ, if you want to call it that, to testify about Christ,
if you want to call it that, it's all the same thing. Now
let's be honest. To preach simply means, it doesn't
mean you have to stand behind a podium, have notes in front
of you, does it? It means to proclaim. And every
one of us, male or female, that's ever went out and told somebody
else what God did for you through the personal work of Jesus Christ,
you've been preaching to them. You've been proclaiming to them.
Preaching doesn't mean raising your voice, though some may raise
their voice. Preaching doesn't mean you gotta
be all analytical, though some may be very good at the analytics
of it. But that's not the point. He
now preacheth the faith which he once destroyed, as we will
see later. It wasn't with wisdom of words. It wasn't through fancy
speech. It was just speaking the truth
of who Jesus Christ of Nazareth is. So again, it's not about
his preaching the body, he was preaching Christ, preaching Christ,
preaching Christ. So again, when said of Paul that
he now preacheth the faith which he once destroyed, what does
that entail? If it just means, Paul, the doctrines,
then so be it. Just get up and preach the doctrines
and don't worry about it. But that's not it. Remember,
verse 16, to reveal his son in me that I might preach, what's
that next three-letter word? Him. Now, granted, the doctrines
must be there, but it's not just the doctrines. It's a person
to preach him. What does this entail? Now preacheth
the faith which he once destroyed. Now, I have an order of this. It's not the order in which Paul
felt it, or Saul of Tarsus, I should rather say, felt it. But I'll
give it to you in the order I have here. According to Paul in Romans
one, specifically verses one through four, the gospel is a
message concerning God's son. If you're not speaking about
God's son, you're not preaching the gospel, no matter how much
truth you're telling. If all you're preaching is God
created, God created, it's not evolution, you've never preached
the gospel. If that's all you're preaching.
And yet, God created the world, he didn't do it by evolution.
You understand what I'm getting at here? But what did it, it,
Paul, it never in this book does it say, Paul says, I hated the
gospel. but it's the whole tenor of what
he says about it. He hated the people for whom
the gospel was everything. He was wanting to lock people
up, not because they secretly believed in Jesus of Nazareth
as the Messiah in their homes, and just told them, they spread
it abroad. They told others. They weren't
quiet about it. They were devoted to him so much
so that it, as Earl used to say, it leaked out on them. Right? And that's what got the ire of
Saul of Tarsus. I mean, there had been many false
Christs before. They'd pay no attention to them.
But something was different about this Jesus of Nazareth character.
It said of him, after they crucified him on the cross and buried him,
he was raised from the dead. from the dead. And more than
that, he ascended up to the right hand of God the Father. So what
is this preaching the faith he wants to destroy? He hated it.
He hated it. It entails his hatred for Jesus
of Nazareth as the Messiah. We got every reason to believe
the Saul of Tarsus believed the Messiah was coming. But I don't
think he thought he would come in the character he came in.
A redeemer from sin. He was looking for a king to
come and put Israel back in charge. That's what he was looking for.
And that's what a lot of pre-millennials were looking for. An iron one. But I'm not looking for that.
Do you hear what I'm saying? Do you hear what I'm saying?
It entails his hatred for Jesus of Nazareth. Remember, I think
it was, it may have been Henry Mahan or Don Fortner mentioned
this. Remember Peter, when he said, gold and silver have I
none, that one guy was begging for money. Gold and silver have
I none, but such as I have, I give I unto thee, in the name, if
he'd have said in the name of the God of Israel, nobody would
have said a word. And Pharisees, amen. But he said,
in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. That changed the whole spectrum,
didn't it? That changed it all. So when you go out there and
talk about Jesus, there are all kinds of Jesuses out there. And all kinds of different people
have different ideas about this, even the Jesus of the Bible.
But when you begin to define to them the Jesus of the Bible,
then it will cause the stir. Then things will happen. So one,
it entails his hatred for Jesus as the Messiah, God's son. But it also entailed his hatred
for those who held to this faith, who had it as a possession. Who
believed it so strongly that they believe it unto death. They weren't afraid to die still
holding. They wouldn't recant even if
you spared their life. You had the authority, like he
had papers, papers, legal papers to put people in prison. And
all I had to do was say, I recant, I don't believe in that. I'm
done with it. Oh, okay, fine. In fact, they
wouldn't do it. They wouldn't do it. And we know
down through the ages what had been done to some who never would
recant, that they held that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. They
were burned at the stake. Think about it. The History Channel
loves to talk about the Salem witch trials. But they never
ever will adequately, adequately and truthfully put on the History
Channel the burning of those who believed in the sovereign
Christ of God and were burned at the stake, will they? They'll
never make a true movie out of Fox's Book of Martyrs. because
then they'd have to delve into the lives and beliefs of those
martyrs, and they ain't gonna do it. I challenge you, Hollywood. Now, I know Hollywood will probably
never see this, but who knows? Who knows? So it entails his
hatred for Jesus as the Messiah, God's son. It entailed that these people
believe that Jesus of Nazareth is God himself. and has destroyed
this faith until his hatred for those are held to this faith.
But think about this. Here's the last point on this.
The radical change of now preacheth the faith he once destroyed,
just that very phrase. I'm talking about if you just
found that little piece of scripture written by Paul, and you found
it out there in the dust in Syria somewhere, and you picked up
that little scrap, and somebody said, well, I've studied that, and that looks
like a manuscript, a little piece of a manuscript from the New
Testament, and you just had, now preacheth the faith which
he once destroyed. You kind of take the idea, well,
I don't think this now, this Saul of Tarsus now, I don't think
he had just a loose affiliation with Jesus of Nazareth, do you?
He once destroyed this, hated it, despised it. This is no loose affiliation,
but rather this is, this man's an ardent disciple. Am I an ardent disciple? Are you an
ardent disciple? Do I swing with the flow? Now
I'm gonna tell you this, and this is not counsel, but this
is just truth from almost 40 years of trying to preach the
gospel. When you go to your job for your boss, you do your job. You do your job. And your boss
don't pay you to go be a soul winner. But if somebody asks
you your opinion, give it to them. Give it to them. But do it in meekness and love. and compassion, knowing that
God showed you grace and mercy. You did not deserve this. You
understand what I'm saying? And what if they fire you then?
Then so be it. Huh? Your boss don't pay you
to go be a soul winner. but if God Almighty gives you
that opportunity to speak out, then tell the people the truth
of the person and work of Christ. In my 27, 28 years, in my present
job, I've had the opportunity to maybe do that three or four
times, and that's it. I mean, really sit down with
somebody individually. We don't have a bunch of, well,
I believe this. If you got a bunch of people
around and everybody's arguing back and forth, don't waste your
breath. But if you got a little one-on-one or a one-on-two or
three and they're willing to listen, then tell them the truth
of what God did for you. You don't have to define to them
all about election. Tell them what Christ did. Tell
them what he did for you. How he opened your eyes. So again
I say this radical change of now preacheth the faith which
he wants destroyed is no loose affiliation. Paul said, put it
this way, I'm not gonna read it. You can find it in his epistle
to the Philippians. My background was in Judaism. This is my own words. Sacrifices
and law. and works and obedience and I
count it all what? A four letter word. It's a four
letter word. D-U-N-G. That I might win the doctrine
of election. That I might win the doctrine
of regeneration by the spirit alone. That I might win Christ. Christ. Christ. Look at Acts 20, just let me
read that. Acts chapter 20. And you know these things. Verse
20, Acts 20 verse 20, and how I kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you. But I have shewed you, or showed
you, and taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks. It's not a message
for one kind of people. You see it? Repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. You see it? That's what he did. If Paul was
talking how he ought to be honest at work and give your boss a
good day's work, you know what? I still bet you Ellen, he talked
about Christ. Huh? Huh? Yeah. You see, having, this is just
so, this is the faith he wants destroyed, and all of a sudden
these people are hearing, he's out there preaching this same
Jesus. And they were glorifying God
in him. Remember, we know this, but we
gotta be constantly reminded, God gets the glory, but that
don't mean you don't encourage the people God's using And I'm
not just talking about the three men that stand here and preach
or other men that are invited. I'm talking about one another.
This world is a waste, howling wilderness. It's tough enough
just to go do your job, honestly, let alone have that opportunity
to speak of the God of glory in the person of his son. Encourage
one. When a brother or sister does
something, do you say, that honored God. I appreciated it. Let them
know that. Well, I don't want to swell their
head. I used to hear that, especially when I first came into the truth. Well, be careful now. Your head's
already swelled. My head's already swelled. We need to be encouraged. And
it glorified God in me. That's another message. But this
being so, this being so, Preaching the faith then has some particular
hallmarks. Now turn with me to 2 Timothy
to start with. I'll try to, some of this I'm
probably just going to mention. Some of these I want to hit in
particular. Having shown this to be so, since
this is so, then preaching the faith has certain hallmarks. Now I have four of them, I don't
know that I'll get through them adequately, but I'll touch on
all of them, but a couple I wanna deal with. First Timothy chapter
two, are you there? First Timothy two, if you're
following along. To be a preacher of the faith, let me stop and
say, I'm gonna talk about being a pastor. A pastor no doubt preaches,
he must. A pastor no doubt teaches, he
must. But this ain't just about pastors.
This ain't just about apostles, prophets, and evangelists. We
often think of those as preachers, the preachers, right? But as
I've already indicated and tried to say, every believer is a preacher
of a sort. You understand? Not every believer
has been called of God to stand in a place like this and lead
a local assembly, but every believer is a preacher of a sort. So what
I'm about to read, well let me just read it and make a few comments. 2 Timothy chapter two, here's
one of the hallmarks of preaching the faith. Thou therefore my
son, of course this is the older Paul writing to the younger Timothy. And Timothy had some difficulties,
you know, to say the least. Thou therefore my son, be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. and the things that thou
hast heard of me among many witnesses. In other words, Paul is saying,
Timothy, I didn't give you the little bit, you got the real
truth. The truth is the truth. You know, it's like Earl used
to say, you don't sneak it in the back door. Now, if God wants
to sneak it in the back door, Jack, that's his business, but
I'm not to sneak it in the back door, okay? And the things that
thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou
to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. In
other words, it's not housed in just a little handful of men.
These three men here, we're not the only men. Now there may not
be a whole lot more, but we're not the only three men. I look
at it now, but again, remember, this is not just about pastors.
Yes, the primary thing here is a old apostle teaching a young
pastor evangelist. He told him, do the work of an
evangelist as well. Take the gospel where it's never
been before, okay? But granted, that is the first
thing, but notice, let me read. I'm wanting to get ahead of myself
so much. To teach others also that thou endure hardness as
a good pastor. Is that what it says? No. As a good apostle. No, Timothy
wasn't an apostle. As a good prophet. No, all those
are included. As a good evangelist or what
we call a missionary. Is that what he says? If that
had been the only application, he would have been moved to put
that only application. What I'm pointing out is thou
therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Do you see it? That's why that
word's used there. Now, granted Paul uses this military
style language, but he's not talking about the military. He's
talking about preaching the gospel of Christ. Now therefore endure
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now look, the next
verse is not a command. This is not what a good soldier
ought to do, even must do. It is what a good soldier does
do, and I might add, don't do, okay? But it is what? Just a
soldier. I don't care if that soldier's
a female or a male. That's right. Now you hear what
I'm saying? Remember Israel had a couple
soldiers. They were called judges. One of them's name was Deborah.
There was another one too. I can't think of her. Does anybody
remember her name? Judges in Israel. Redeemers, saviors. That's
what they were on a physical sense. But look, no man See,
this is no man ought to, no, this is a declaration, it's not
a command, it's a declaration. Here's how it is. No man that
woreth. See, he's still using that military
language. He doesn't say no man that preacheth,
though that's certainly what he's talking about. He's using
the military language. Do you see it? Do you get what
he's saying here? No man that woreth entangleth
himself, and that's the first word you really better try to
get a hold of. That no man. that woreth, no,
no man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this
life, that he may please him that who has chosen him to be
a soldier. As I said, this, he is, this
gospel, he or she, for that matter. Now granted, this was Tawheed.
The first reference, it would be to pastors, okay? But it's
soldier, it's not just pastors. Because if that's true, if it's
just about pastors, then apostles are left out, prophets are left
out, evangelists are left out, deacons are left out, and on
down the line. No man that worth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him
who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Here's one of the first hallmarks.
This person is a God pleaser, not a man pleaser. You know what
it says? And if a man also strive for
masteries, yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully. That doesn't mean you gotta be
a law preacher. There's nothing to do. You gotta do it the right
way. That's what he's talking about.
The way God has ordained it to be done. I realize, and some of you maybe
don't read some of the commentaries, maybe some of you don't listen
to some folks out there. Pardon me. This passage I've just read to
you. Many people use, and many commentaries
will say this, this is about the pastor is supposed to have
a salary by the church and not work in the world. That is not
what he says. Because one, he says, no man
that woreth entangle us. Do you see it? Entangle us. intertwined if you look it up
in the strong intertwines all bunched up hmm Now if this is
about the fact that the pastor is supposed to have a church
paid salary and not work in the world Then what salary should
he get? How much should you limit him
to or not remember what Paul said about the law? He said You
don't muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads the corn. So we
give the preacher $1,000 a month. That's all he gets. No. You give
him $1,000 a month and he goes out here and he preaches somewhere
else and somebody else gives him money or somebody else, here,
come help me and I will give you $100. That's his. You don't muzzle his mouth. What do you mean muzzle the mouth
of the ox that treadeth the corn? Treadeth the corn when he's doing
his job. And so we feed him, how often do you feed the ox?
Once a day, twice? We feed him twice a day. Don't
let him eat that corn. No, let the ox eat what he needs. Eat. You know, oxen don't eat
just to be eaten. They eat to stay alive. They
eat what they need and you know what they do? They quit. When
they're hungry, what do they do? They eat. And then Paul says,
does God care for oxen? Is that what that's all really
about? Just an ox? No, take care of the pastors. That's scriptural. But this is
not about the pastor cannot go out and work. Well, think about
this. It says, no man that woreth. I don't care who they are, pastor
or deacon. I don't care if it's the Sunday
school director. I don't care if it's the choir
director. I don't care if it's the lady who plays the piano.
No one, no man that warth entangleth himself. It doesn't say he cannot
engage. It says entangleth. Now I'm gonna
give you, not a verbatim, I'm gonna give
you my words as I study these Greek words here. intertwined. Not driven by ambition
in an occupation, that's included. Not driven, but it's not entangled. Driven by ambition. Paul worked. Paul worked, and I read one fellow
online, I Googled it, Paul the tent maker. He said Paul was
back slid whenever he was making tents. I'm serious. That's what
he said, and he proved it by the Bible, don't you know? He
said, when Paul was making tithes for Priscilla and Aquila, he
only preached on the Sabbath day, but when them other two
preachers came into town, Paul got fervor and started preaching
more, so his back slid. I thought, where do you get that
from? It's like, jeez Louise. No, no man that wars, what is
a man, when a man goes to war, he's a soldier. The person that
hired him, drafted him, or whatever, what does he do? He pays his
way. Does he not? He pays his way. That's what
he's talking about. No man that worth entanglement, he's not
intertwined, he's not driven by ambition in an occupation. I tell you, if a man's a true
soldier, I don't care if he is working, he's a pastor and he
is working, he's not driven by ambition in that occupation.
That job ain't number one. You hear what I'm saying? That
job ain't number one, but it's more than that. It's driven by
ambition and occupation, or a pleasure, or a leisure, or even everyday
responsibilities. Hmm? I just can't go here and preach
because I just ain't got quite enough money and the wife needs
a new dress, which is more important. Come on. Which is more important. That's what Paul's talking about.
I'm just giving one illustration. I'm not against a pastor or anybody
buying their wife a new dress. But when a man is a good soldier,
what comes first? The battle. The war. The war. Why? Because he's there to please
who? The one who's chosen him to be
a soldier. That's what that's about. Now,
listen to me. I do not expect this small group
of people, and I know why some people get a little upset with
our group here. You know, Tommy got really tickled
one time when he heard when somebody asked him, why do you have three
preachers? I said, because we don't have four. And I said that
because I wasn't about to engage in the this and that. There's
nothing wrong with having one pastor. Bless God, some folks
are struggling just to have one. Just to have one preacher. One
man that God chose to stand up publicly and help lead the assembly
and the preaching of the gospel. We've been blessed with three.
Joe, if God takes me today, we still got men to lead. You don't
have to go out here and try to find somebody to hire him, do
you? No, do you? Most folk don't have that. But
let me tell you something, you do what you can for the men that
are in the battle. But that also means this, if
I know I'm gonna go somewhere, this is just an illustration,
I'm gonna go somewhere to preach, and I know they don't have a
piano player that'll say, Ellen, won't you come along and you
play the piano? You know what, I'm not expecting her to pay her
own way. Not am I? Huh, no, see, that's what I'm
talking, that's what Paul's talking about here. The husband, look
at it, verse six. The husband that laboreth, he
works in the field, must be first partaker of the fruits. He said,
first of all, it's gotta be real in him. It's gotta be real in
him, or her for that matter. If it's the piano player, whatever,
it's gotta be real. Jody, if it's somebody that cleans
the building, mows the yard, what, it's gotta be real. Believing
and knowing Christ, it's gotta be real in them first. But what
do you do if you're out there working that field? God, you
want you a cucumber and you're working in the cucumber patch,
what do you do? Pluck it off, maybe clean it off and you eat
it. There's no thought given to that. Can't do that, it won't
be enough for a full jar. Our religion does that. That's
what Paul's talking about. Those that are engaged in the
battle are not to pay their own way. All of God's people are
to take care of the debt. That's it. Mm-mm-mm. And you understand,
I wanted to get to that one more than anything else in this world.
Because there are people that look down upon us, look down
upon you all, because you don't pay your preacher. They have
no idea what they're talking about. You know that? They really
have no idea what they're talking about, but you think I'm gonna
go out there and start up the fuss, Ella? Nah, let them go. They have no idea what you all
do for us. and it ain't their business. It's between us and
God. And I will say this, and I'm
bragging on God and bragging on you. They don't have two TV
broadcasts, do they? Huh? Are they spending money
on two? No, we gotta pay the preacher.
Preacher can't work. Huh? Which is more important,
a paid preacher or preaching Christ to people out there? There's
a second thought. According to Paul in Philippians
three, verses one through three, this preaching the faith, this
being a good soldier, it always exposes error and flesh and exalts
Christ. We have no confidence in the
flesh. No confidence in the flesh. And we say beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision, right? And where do we rejoice? Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus alone. Here's the third point, I gotta
move along. Third point, turning this soldier, this hallmark of
a person that just is dedicated to the battle. It has the crosswork
of Christ as its sum and substance. Even Paul said, I dealt with
it, I think it was last Sunday or Sunday before, Christ didn't
send me to baptize. But baptism's right. Correct? It's right, it's commanded. But God didn't send him to baptize,
but to do what? Preach the gospel. And then he
explained what the gospel is. It's the preaching of the cross
of Christ. If all I ever talked about was
the resurrection, as vital as that is, Joe, is to know of hell
apart from the cross. His resurrection validated the
reality of what he did on the cross, what he accomplished on
the tree. God said, it was finished, and
I'll show you. He raised him from the dead and
set him as it over our hand. Here's the fourth thing. Preaching
the faith is not about eloquent speaking. Now turn to 1 Corinthians,
I wanna give you this one. And please bear, I know it's
late, but bear with me. And that's another thing. You
folks, and if you do, you have to sit here, when we're all three
here, you have to sit here and listen to three men preach. Do
you realize most people that profess to be Christians would
not do that? I don't care if we had 500 people,
we'd start dwindling off once we had three preachers every
Sunday. Now, if we met on Sunday night
and Wednesday, Jack, I'd probably say let's split it up some. But
we don't. And we don't not meet on those
other days, because we don't think y'all do. Some of us are
getting old and tired. And we have more gospel preaching
on one Sunday morning than most folks got in a lifetime. So they
need to quit the stupidity and the criticism. The real problem
is they're intimidated by the fact that this small group is
dedicated to the truth of Christ. We sit here and have done it
for months now, months now. Three men preach when all three
are here on a Sunday morning and I ain't heard a one of. I started
to say another word and I had to check myself. I ain't heard
a one of you gripe and complain about it. Do you know that? Now,
if you are, keep it to yourself, please. Please. We don't need that rubbing
off on the rest of us. But you understand what I'm saying?
Not a complaint. If it was 500 of us, Joe, there'd
probably be 350 complaints. Am I telling you the truth or
not? What did Paul say? What did I say? What did I say?
What did Paul say? I'm saying preaching the faith
is not an eloquent speaking nor cunning exposition of words.
I know I've listened to men online. Somebody's like, man, that guy
can speak and talk, and he's preaching Christ, and it's great.
I'd love to listen to it, but it's not about that. You understand? Now remember what I, or what
Paul said, 1 Corinthians 2. And I, brethren, When I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and much trembling.
And folks, I see some of these guys, and I'm not throwing off
on them, but everybody thinks every preacher, oh, if every
preacher was like that, things would be a whole lot better.
No, sir. There's some of them, they're just absolutely confident
about their ability. That's okay, if God gave it to
them. If God gave it to them, but that's not the point. That's
what I'm pointing out. I'm not denigrating a man that
speaks well. Apollos spoke well, but everybody
didn't have to be in Apollos. But then this same group of our
brothers started bragging on, well, I like Apollos, I'm of
Apollos, I'm of Paul, I'm of Peter, and then the real spiritual
Calvinists come along and say, well, I'm of Jesus. That sounds like me. I'm serious,
that sounds like me. I'd have been the ones, well,
I'm of Jesus. Look, and I was with you in weakness and in fear
and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power. Now what's that mean? Doesn't
mean he's in command of the congregation. No, he's speaking the truth boldly. Even though he's scared half
to death, he's trembling. He's not afraid to tell the truth.
That's the context, right? Why though, that your faith,
how do you see it? That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. You see it? I'm glad it don't
take an Apollos for a man to be converted by gospel preaching,
ain't you? Huh? So you, us three here, it's not
about how eloquent you are. Preach the truth. Some men are
far better at putting messages together. You understand what
I'm saying? You could hear him and it's just
like, man. But then you hear another guy and he's just like
jumping all over the place. But if he's preaching Christ,
brothers and sisters, that's what God uses. So let me wind
this up. It's hungry time for food, real
food. I say real food. Strike that.
Preachers lie all the time, don't they? For natural food. There's two things, a faith which
does not cling to the faith of Jesus Christ is godless. It may be a faith, but it's not
of God. Remember, faith without works,
action, life, what is it? It's dead, it's dead. A faith which does not cling
to the faith of Christ. Believing Christ, trusting Christ,
worshiping Christ, serving Christ, obeying Christ. You hear what
I'm saying? I believe in grace, I don't have
to obey. You're an idiot if you really believe that. I mean really,
you are. The faith which does not cling
to the faith of Jesus Christ is a godless faith and it's no
gospel at all. But the faith that God gives,
it loves God's Christ. It can't do without Him. It can't do without Him. Our
brother Paul said, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be accursed. Anathema, the Lord's returning. You know what he says? Anathema,
maranath, or no, I think it's, yeah, anathema, accursed, the
Lord's returning. The faith that God gives loves
God's Christ, but it's more than just, well, I love Jesus, but
anyhow, I'm going on about my very, no, we learn to love about
him in this book. Paul said it, and he said it
adequately. We haven't even scratched the surface, even of the revealed
word, Ellen, about the personal work of Christ in this book.
We're just scratching the surface. And John lets us know that if
the works that were done by Christ were done, we're all recording
the books. Somebody say, how, he's eternal. Do we not realize he was advocating
for us before we ever even existed? That his joys was with the, his
pleasure with the sons of men before they ever even came along? I can't even fathom that. The faith that God gives loves
God's Christ, but it loves his person at work, wants to know
about it. Hungry for it, but it loves his
people. His people. You know what? I'm gonna give you this real
quick. I'm not gonna say much else about it. I will give you
this. Some of you here later may accuse,
well, he said this, he said that. I'm glad God stopped the live
stream. You hear what I just said? I'm
glad God stopped the live stream. Because that way, if you want
to see it when it's happening, you're going to have to be here. Huh? Oh, it's taped. You could hear it. But if tape's
all enough for you, you're in trouble. But I thank God for
that, because I know some people that don't have that. They don't
have this. I think of Ray Fortner down in
Cedar Bluff. just two or three people that he fellowships with
and they sit and have Bible studies together. Nobody wants to hear
it. Nobody cares. He's way up in
his 70s. He can't drive three hours every
Sunday. Now can he, Jack? Could you do that every Sunday?
Three hour one way? But I'm glad God stopped the
last rain. Why? Because we need to be with
one another. This actual tactile contact,
this physical contact is what God ordained. You hear what I'm
saying? Ordained. He didn't ordain us
to meet online. Now if that's what we get rid
of, that's what providence shuts us up to, then so be it. We'll
do that God willing online. But it's to be with God's people.
Now, is what I said to you true or not? True or not? Heavenly Father, we know these
things often stick us where we live. We know that your word,
though, is said to be your word, whether it be your son himself
or this book, which is his word, that is sharper than a two-edged
sword, Lord, it cuts us. but you wound us, Lord, not for
our destruction. You wound us for our good and
our blessing. We thank you in Christ, amen.