Thank you, Mark, and I'll add
my welcome to his. It's good to see you here this
morning. I want to talk to you this morning about profitable
preaching, and you'll see in a moment why I titled the message
this way, but Hebrews chapter 4, we'll be looking at this this
morning. There is no question that organized
religion today is a profitable business. On any given Sunday,
in more than 350,000 churches across America, an estimated
35 to 50 million people are engaged in some type of worship service
to their God this morning. And this is more than any other
single activity going on in America today. It's even more than the
combined attendance the NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, and
all the other sports programs put together and the people that
engage in them on any given Sunday. This is so because most Americans
are religious. In fact, most people are religious,
but about 10% of the 350 million Americans in America today is
about 10 percent of them that actually engage themselves in
some type of worship service, as we are this day. And this
doesn't go unnoticed to those charlatans, as the scripture
called them, who can sell iceboxes to Eskimos. They take advantage
of people who are interested in religion and concerned about
their spiritual state, but are deceived by these charlatans
who themselves are deceived into selling us a bill of goods that
we don't know. And all of us are guilty of being contributors
to these at some time or other in our life. There was a man
named Simon the Sorcerer in Acts chapter 8 who used subtlety and
sorcery and used the ignorance of the people that he was engaged
with to teach him the falsehood of false religion. But Peter
came to the temple and he laid hands on some of the people that
received the Holy Spirit and this man Simon saw what was taking
place and he said, I want that. I want that power. So he told
Peter, he said, what will it cost me for you to give me this
power? And in Acts chapter eight in
verse 20, Peter answered this way, thy money perish with thee
because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased
with money. There are many Simons in the
world today who preach a salvation that can be bought. by the sinner
when the scriptures plainly reveal that those who are God's elect
are bought already with a price. In Acts chapter three, Peter
and John went up to the temple in the hour of prayer, and they
met this lame man who asked him for alms, and Peter's response
in verse six was this. Silver and gold have I none,
but such as I have, give I unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. The early church
was small in number and little in money, but much in power. But that all changed quickly,
as we know. And now there are many in number and much in money,
but little in power. The existence of the megachurches
today with enrollments in the thousands and buildings that
cost millions with budgets that are in the millions, Though great
in power and persuasive power, they are void of saving power.
In stark contrast to their power
to save, these megachurches, great in persuasive power, are
void of saving power. But they prosper and carry on
still, because people like what they say, and they tickle the
ears of their hearers, so to speak. And it's not surprising
that these churches prosper because they carry on, their mantle is
passed down from the father to the son and we can name all the
major familiar ones and each of them's son has taken over
the mantle, so to speak, and continues their ministry in the
United States. So we would have to say that
based on what we see of them, that theirs is a very profitable
business. They've made great religious
strides in profitability, but they're powerless to save. Their
doctrine is that of that which prompted Christ's response in
Mark 86 to his rebuke of Peter. You remember Jesus began to tell
his disciples how he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer and be
crucified, and Peter took him and began to rebuke him. And
Jesus in Mark 8 and 36 answered this way, for what shall it profit
a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? And in Mark 8 and verse 34, it
says, and when he had called the people unto him with his
disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. and follow
me." You remember what he told the rich young farmer whose barns
were bulging. He said, go sell all that you
got, give it to the poor, and take up your cross and follow
me. These prime time, present day, profiteering preachers rebuke
the Lord in their free will doctrine because they, like Peter, savors
not the things that be of God, but of man. That's what Christ
responded to Peter. Peter, you don't understand.
You savors not the things that are of God, but those that are
But there's another preacher I want us to talk about this
morning. These free will preachers are
not hard to discern, but there's another one that's more subtle
and more dangerous than these modern day preachers. They're
preachers of prophet also. They come in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly, according to Jesus in Matthew chapter seven, they
are ravening wolves. They look like sheep. Their message
is that of a sheep. and they behave like sheep, and
they come in among the sheep, and most of them don't even know
their own state by nature, and they preach another Jesus by
another gospel and another spirit according to 2 Corinthians chapter
11. They can preach the truth some of the time, and they do.
They can preach the doctrines of grace. They preach the sovereignty
of God in election and predestination, but they will not abide in the
truth. The chief evidence of their unbelief
is their failure to repent. You know, people want to believe
they are saved under this gospel, but unless you see that you were
lost until you heard of an imputed righteousness based on the present
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're really in ignorance
of the true gospel, and there's no way that a person ignorant
of the gospel can be saved. So these people, these preachers,
preaching imputed righteousness, but they say, I was saved before
I knew anything about an imputed righteousness. And we need to
remember this about wolves that come in sheep's clothing. They
have one mission in life, that's to destroy the sheep. That's
all a wolf has interest in, is to devour the sheep. And they
do this by introducing damnable doctrines, as Peter called it,
in 2 Peter chapter two and verse one. which were, if it were possible,
he says at another place, they could deceive even the very elect. Look at what he says about these
false preachers in 2 Peter 2.1. But there were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. These preachers always promote
two eras, more, I'm sure, in the context of everything to
say, but two in particular. First of all, they make Christ
to be less than he is, and they make sinners to be more than
they are. They make the impeccable Christ,
who is without spot, to be a sinner of such ignoble character that
he became the sinner of all sinners, the greatest sinner, and thus
disqualifying the only substitute for sinners who himself would
need a sacrifice if such were the case. If Christ became the
greatest sinner that ever was, he needed a substitute just like
we do. But every lie they foster against
Christ they had shame and reproach upon the Lord of glory. The implication
is that he was the greatest hater of God. that ever lived. Bill
preached this last Sunday. This is what these people are
saying, that say that Christ became a sinner, that he actually
hated God. It's a sin to hate God. So he
was the greatest of the sinner. And they blaspheme every attribute
of God's character as a just God and a savior. How can God,
who must be just to justify the ungodly, and he's committed himself
to justify his sheep, how can he How can he who must be just
and justify remain so and save every sinner if his substitute
and surety has become disqualified because of sin in his own life?
That's what they imply. They say without Christ becoming
sinful, God could not impute sin to him. And this happens
by some mystical, mysterical transportation and not by transgression. But that can't be because what
is sin? It's a transgression of the law.
So Christ had to have transgressed the law in some way to be the
chief of sinners. But in any event, he would be
a destroyer of the law and not the fulfillment of that law.
And we know that there's no scripture that substantiates such heritage
as this. And on the other hand, after
making Christ to be the worst sinner of all, they claim to
be as holy in themselves as They claimed Christ was sinful in
his person. If such were the case, they would
not need a Savior, and he would be no Savior. They would stand
not in need of, but equal to Christ, who is now an ex-Savior,
since a holy God cannot and will not receive a blemished sacrifice,
even that of the Lord Jesus Christ. God couldn't accept even the
sacrifice of Christ if he had been a sinner. Again, they diminish
Christ and exalt the sinner in their message. These are preachers
of profit, making merchandise of men's soul, and they seem
to come short of God's rest that we'll look at in just a minute.
And then there are those faithful preachers, ministers of the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus the Lord. Those
appointed and sent by the Lord with a single message the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. And we look
at this in a moment in Romans chapter six, one in verse 16
and 17, that is here and here alone that the righteousness
of God is revealed from faith to faith based solely on that
righteousness he established and received by faith and is
preached by every true gospel preacher. It's God's promise.
to the faithfulness of his word. So let's look at just a few moments
now at this faithful preaching of these true preachers of God. Look at Hebrews chapter four
with me, verses one and three. The writer of Hebrews is writing,
he said, let us fear therefore, lest a promise being left us
of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short
of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them.
But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith that was in them. For we which have believed do
enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world. So I've chosen from verse two
the title of my message, Profitable Preaching. Look at that verse
again. But the word preached did not
profit them because it was not mixed with faith in them that
heard it. Three things I'd like for us
to look at this morning. Profitable preaching, it motivates
us to fear. The true gospel motivates sinners
to fear God with a reverential fear, not a legal fear. Secondly,
it mixes with faith. If it doesn't mix with faith,
it's not the true gospel. And thirdly, it marks those who
are of the faith. So let's look briefly at these
three things this morning. First of all, profitable preaching. And profitable preaching is that
preaching that honors God. It motivates to fear. Look at
verse one again. He said, let us therefore fear,
lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest, any
of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel
preached as well as unto them. You know, fear is something that
all of us experience. And fear is either slavish or
it's healthy. It's one or the other. It can
be detrimental or beneficial depending on the situation in
which it is experienced and how we respond to that fear. Fear
of fire can cause one to experience hypothermia or it can save you. You can either be afraid of it
and freeze to death or you can be warmed by it and save your
life. Fear of sickness can actually
induce sickness or it can make you live a healthy lifestyle,
make you adopt a healthy lifestyle. To the guilty, the law's presence
brings fear, but to those who comply, peace. So all of us experience
fear of some kind. The deciding factor in dealing
with fear is knowledge of the truth concerning that fear and
our response to it. Adam is a good case in point.
Look what God says of Adam in Genesis 3, verses 9 and 10. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked
and I hid myself. When Adam heard God's voice,
in other words, when he heard what God said, and what did God
say? In the day you eat thereof, you shall die, When Adam heard
God's voice, he saw his exposure to the wrath of God. That's what
he's talking about, the naked. He was naked. They were naked
before. But now he's naked because he's
exposed to the wrath of God. And he's exposed to something
that he had not heard before known of God. And it motivated
him by fear to hide from God. And that fear motivated him to
sew fig leaf aprons to hide his exposure to God's anger. And
then fear motivated him to blame the woman. And then ultimately,
fear motivated him to blame God. He said, the woman you gave me,
she made me do it. So in Adam, we all learned fear. Like Adam, we hid ourselves.
Legal fear overcame us in Adam, our federal head and representative. When he sinned, we sinned. When
he died, we died. When he feared, we feared. In
our federal head and representative, we are by nature at enmity with
God. We're afraid of God. Look at
Ephesians chapter two and verse one. Paul writes, and he hath
you quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in times past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. among whom also
we all had our conversation in time past, in the lust of the
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, even as others. Paul the
Apostle adequately describes us all in Romans 3.18, there
is no fear of God before their eyes. We achieve that rank, first
of all, by imputation, and then by birth. We were born with that
nature in us, sinful nature, and then by practice we are all
guilty of this fear of God. Those who fear God with a legal
fear are subject to bondage according to the scripture, and Satan uses
this fear to keep sinners in legal bondage. Look at what he
says in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14. For as much then as
the children are protectors of flesh and blood, he Christ himself
also likewise took part in the same that through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil,
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. Adam experienced the fear of
God. So did we, and so do we. But he would experience another
aspect of God that he had heretofore not known. What would bring about
this change? What would change his legal fear
to a reverential respect for the honor of God's holy character. He was shown another side of
God that he had heretofore not known, his redemptive glory as
a just God and a Savior. He would learn a godly fear,
a reverential respect for the glory of God in redemption. This
would be accomplished in him through the preaching of the
gospel, as it is with every one of God's elect. Adam was taught
of God in the slaying of that animal and the making of the
coats of skin which pictured in types the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ and establishing the righteousness
which God freely imputed to his people. The writer of Proverbs
says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So profitable
preaching accomplishes this goal in his people. It motivates to
fear a reverential respect for the honor of God's redemptive
glory. in redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Where before regeneration
and conversion, the sinner is motivated to legal fear, which
holds us in legal bondage. Now he's motivated by the knowledge
that God has justified him by satisfaction to his holy law
and justice rendered by the obedience, suffering, and death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this brings with it automatically
a repentance. from every thinking that my salvation
was conditioned on my law keeping. And it causes me to rest and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in my flesh. I
am given respect for God and Christ, which I knew nothing
of before. Profitable doctrine, preaching, reveal the holiness
of my Savior and the sinfulness of my own self. Now my motivation
is grace and gratitude. of what God has accomplished
in Christ for me. So the writer of Hebrews in chapter
four in verse one here encourages us to fear. The scriptures repeatedly
command us to fear God. All men fear God, either in a
slavish legal manner or a reverential respect for God's redemptive
glory and salvation based on what Christ has done and His
righteousness imputed along. So the question is this morning,
Where is your fear? What is your fear? Look at Hebrew
4.1 again. Let us therefore fear. Let us
hear, let us believe, let us trust, let us expect God who
made the promise to give us the whole inheritance of grace up
to and including final glory in heaven based only on the imputed
righteousness of Christ. That's the fear. Let us fear
that. Lest the promise being left us of entering into his
rest, some of you seem to come short of it. So, profitable preaching
motivates to fear. Do you fear God? Secondly, profitable
preaching mixes with faith. Look at verse two of Hebrews
chapter four. Paul says, for unto us, or the
writer of Hebrews, we assume it was Paul, said unto, for we
are, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them.
But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith in them that heard it. He's speaking here of national
Israel and how they didn't believe the truth of the gospel that
was preached every day. So the question is, how can I
be sure that my fear is a reverential fear, respect for the honor of
God's redemptive glory? Do I know him, first of all,
as a just God and a savior? Did I know God in his redemptive
glory as a just God and a savior? In other words, do I know how
a holy God who must do what's right, who cannot lie, who said
the soul that sinneth it shall surely die, do I know how he
can, as it were, get around that, which God doesn't get around.
He solves the situation, but it seems that God has to get
around something in order to justify an ungodly sinner who's
nothing but sin. We're the mass of sin. He's the
holy one. And how can he justify us? Well,
the gospel reveals that, and we who know the gospel know how
God can be just. Did I hear of a just God and
Savior under the true gospel? Well, eventually I did, but for
many years I didn't. No one learns of God under a
false gospel. I didn't know God until I understood
how he could be both a just God and a Savior. No one ignorant
of the true gospel has this reverence and respect toward a holy God,
for it is therein in the gospel alone that righteousness is revealed
from faith to faith. Let's look at Romans 1 in verse
16, 17. Paul writes, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. That
first faith there, he says, from faith to faith, that first faith
is objective faith. In other words, it's that body
of doctrine we believe, the gospel, which declares Christ's righteousness
and beauty to be the only ground of our salvation. The second faith is my believing
what that first faith, that gospel implies. It's that faith which
the spirit locks me up into as the truth that God's righteousness
in Christ imputed is all that God requires of a sinner. So, do I know him in his redemptive
glory as a just God and a savior? Secondly, did the gospel profit
me? were not profited by the gospel
when they heard it because it was not mixed with faith. There's
a warning here for all of us. Is it possible to have true knowledge
without faith? The nation of Israel was taught
the truth. They had the truth. The answer to that is yes, it
is. But unless this knowledge reaches the affections and the
will, it will profit you nothing or me nothing. The national Israel
heard the message every day, and the sacrifice, and the ordinances,
and the types, and the pictures. And they refused to believe what
it all pointed to. They failed to see that the only
way God's holiness could be honored was by conditioning all of our
salvation upon Christ. So the question is, am I convinced
I was lost until I heard of a righteousness imputed? Yes,
I was, and no sinner is saved without that. Did God mix my
faith? Did God mix faith with my hearing
the gospel? If I have any faith, he did,
because faith is a gift of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. So God has
to mix faith with the hearing of the gospel. Hearing and faith
are inseparable in salvation. Where God makes the sinner to
hear the promise savingly, he gives faith. This is the power
of the word. It is living and powerful and
sharper than a two-edged sword. Hebrews 11, 6 says, for without
faith, it's impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. So profitable preaching, first
of all, it motivates to fear. Secondly, it's profitable. because
it mixes with faith. And thirdly, it's profitable
preaching marks those of the faith. Look at verse 3 of Hebrews
chapter 4. For we which have believed do
enter in, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall
enter into my rest, although the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. A man is known by the doctrine
he holds of Christ and of God. What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? Is a legitimate question, because
there are many antichrists, John says, who've gone out into the
world even now. How we answer the question determines
our state and our standing before God, either in faith or unbelief. Profitable preaching will expose
our state of unbelief. and bring its heroes to Christ
alone for all of salvation. God gives us three evidences
here of how we can know if we are marked by the faith. First
of all, he says here God rested. Look at Genesis chapter two with
me in verse one. Here the scripture says the heavens
and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on
the seventh day God ended his work which he had made and he
rested. on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in
it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."
God had a work to do. And when that work was finished,
he rested. There was no more creating to
do. It was finished from the foundation of the world. God's
not creating anything. His creation is complete, has
been. So God rested. Secondly, Christ
rested. Look at Hebrews chapter 4 and
verse 10. For when he had entered into his rest, in other words,
when God entered into his rest, he, Christ, also hath ceased
from his own works as God did from him. Christ entered into
his rest, just like God entered into rest from his work. What
was Christ's work? To do all that was necessary
for the full, free, eternal salvation of every sinner given him by
the Father in the everlasting covenant of grace. When the Father
was glorified in their complete salvation based on his righteousness
established and imputed, Christ rested. When every condition
for our salvation was complete, justification and final glory
in heaven was completed, Christ entered into his rest. Well,
if God rested and Christ rested, His people rest. Look at Hebrews
4 and verse 3 again. For we which have believed do
enter into his rest. God had a work. He finished it. Christ had a work. He finished
it. Man thought he had a work, and he struggled to find peace
with God and never could. And then God said unto his elect,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly, and you shall find rest for your
souls." God did a work and then rested. Christ did a work and
rested. I finished the work, he said,
thou gavest me to do. Do sinners have the audacity
to think that we can add to an already perfect, complete work?
We are the only one in the equation with nothing to do toward salvation.
God did a work. Christ did a work. and we don't
have anything to do. We don't believe to be saved.
We don't repent to be saved. We don't confess Christ to be
saved. We don't persevere to be saved, or whatever other condition
you want to put on it. We do these things because we're
already saved, not to be saved. So profitable preaching declares
a salvation already accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ, which
includes our complete justification, sanctification, and faith. based
on nothing but the imputed righteousness of Christ, which is our entire
salvation. How do we know God the Father
was pleased with the work of the Son? He raised Him from the
dead, exalted Him, and seated Him in His right hand because
He made satisfaction to God's law and justice. Well, does the
gospel mark you in this faith? If it does, profitable preaching
has come your way by the sovereign will and purpose of God. In other
words, he put you under the sound of the only gospel whereby you
can be saved. And it came to you in power in
the Holy Ghost, and it has come to you in the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, a suitable substitute and savior who covenanted
with the Father and the Spirit to make known to the elect his
grace in our salvation. This is accomplished through
profitable preaching, preaching that motivates the sinner to
fear, preaching that is mixed with faith, and preaching that
marks those who are of the faith. So let us fear, the writer says. Let us worship God, a just God
and a savior, and bless his holy name for his complete and eternal
salvation in Christ. Think about the 35 to 50 million
people today who worship, they know not what. They have no fear
of God before their eyes. They fear God, but it's a legal
fear, but they have no respect for the honor of God's redemption
glory because they don't know Him as a just God and a Savior.
There but for the grace of God and profitable preaching go we.
God's elect are witnesses to and recipients of the power of
God profitable preaching unto salvation, which is a saver of
life to some and a saver of death to others. So I pray that these
few words will bless you and cause us to look to Christ in
his finished work for all of our salvation. Mark, come and
lead us in a closing hymn.