If you would turn in your Bibles
for a few minutes tonight to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 1. I will begin reading in verse
14. Paul says, I am a debtor. both to the Greeks and to the
barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much
as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at
Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. I guess I just would call this
tonight Reflections on a funeral. As you know, we have had a funeral in our midst. Yesterday
we gathered in the funeral chapel to preach the funeral of our
dear sister. And as always there is, in this
occasion, There was a diverse congregation of people. But there is one thing that I
am never, as Paul makes mention of here, I'm never in wonder
as to what to preach. I'm never in question as to what
message is best suited for all those various individuals. Because like Paul said, woe is
me if I preach not the gospel. And you really ought to have
that opportunity from that perspective, looking out into a congregation
of people such as that, and watching the expressions and the countenances
of their face as you preach the gospel of God's grace. On some faces, There is a blank,
just a total blank, as if they were not even there. And then there are other faces
that seem to have a question mark right in the middle of the
face, as if they are so puzzled at what is being said. And then there are other faces
that it's obvious that they never have heard anything like that
before. They're just in bewilderment. And then there are those faces
that delight. a few faces that delight in what's
being said, God being glorified and Christ being exalted and
grace being preached. And most of those faces were
you people. And then there is the countenance,
and oftentimes this is the case, wherein people trying to be civil
They cannot hide their anger at the gospel. They don't like
what they are hearing. They don't like that which exalts
God and abases men. But even though that be the case,
as Paul says here, all believers and all preachers of the gospel
should not be ashamed of the gospel of God's grace in Jesus
Christ. There is only one gospel. There is only one true gospel. And Paul said also in another
place that the natural man, that is those who are in their natural
state, religious or otherwise, He says, those unawakened by
the Spirit of God, those not born of the Spirit of God, those
that God has not opened their eyes, it says, the natural man
receiveth not the things of God. And for that reason, the gospel
is naturally offensive to men. It just cannot be avoided. Paul says in Galatians, and I,
brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. If I preach something that would
be man-centered, If I preach something that would be law-centered,
if I preach something that would be works-centered, if I preach
something that would tell men something to do and glorify men
in the doing of it, he said, then, then the offense of the cross
would be non-existence. But he said, for that reason,
he says, I am persecuted. I preach the gospel, and it's
naturally offensive, number one, because it is contrary to man's
rebellious love for what he calls independence. Free will is simply an attempt
to be free from the constraints, the control of God. And man naturally
wants to think he's free. He rebels against all the authority
of God. He rebels against God's way,
God's son, everything, especially God acting in sovereign grace,
showing mercy to whom he will. That's naturally offensive to
me. And then the second reason is
because the true gospel speaks to everyone that it's preached
to, addresses everyone who hears it, everybody in a congregation
of people as sinners. They're so used to being told
how good they are, how great their works are, how wonderful
it is to have them in the congregation, how important they are, how valuable
they are to the service of God and all that, but the true gospel
No matter who you are, where you're from, what your education
level is, how rich you are, or anything else, the gospel addresses,
puts everyone on an equal plane as sinners. People don't like
to be talked to as sinners, as lost, as doomed, as vile, as
dying, as helpless, just like they really are and yet are blind
to it. But the gospel, the true gospel,
does not make men more than they are, does not demand of men more
than they can do apart from God. And it addresses everyone who
hears it as a sinner, lost in Adam, fallen, helpless, hopeless,
nothing more or nothing less than a sinner. And then it strips man of every
ground for boasting. It strips us of every reason
to boast. Paul said, when he spoke the
gospel so clearly, he said, where is boasting then? If we're saved
by grace, if we're saved by God alone, if we're saved in Christ
alone, if it's his righteousness and not ours, where is there
a reason for us in any part to boast. But can't we have just a little
bit? Can't we have just something
like rewards, whereby we can earn them in order to have some
basis to boast, to glow, to think of ourselves as being above one
another? No. Because the gospel strips every
man, especially every religious man, every moral man, every person,
regardless of who they are, it strips us and leaves us naked
before God. And then this gospel is offensive
for this reason. It demands total submission to
Christ as King and Lord. Men talk about accepting Jesus
Christ as your personal savior, like you would have your personal
comb or personal toothbrush. or you can accept him as your
savior and later bow to him as Lord or make him Lord, they say. They can have some way of bowing
to him as far as salvation is concerned, and yet the rest of
their life is not under the submission that he demands as the king. And another reason is because
it's God's gospel. It's God's gospel. Paul said,
I certify to you, brethren, that the gospel that I preach is not
after man. That's why I don't like to use
men's name in regard to the gospel. That's why I don't want to put
Calvin's name or Luther's name or saying that I'm this or that. It's God's gospel and the reason
that men don't like it is because the carnal mind, the natural
mind is enmity against God. So if I can say, like, I preach
Calvinism, they can say, that's a man. Or if I am this or that
or the other, or I have some theological position, no, this
is God's gospel. This is God's truth that we're
declaring. And furthermore, men do not like
the gospel because it's not known by man's wisdom. No man can,
by searching, find out. It has to be revealed to them. It's got to be revealed. It helps me so much in seeking
to preach to men and women to know, even though they're in
this awful state, that God can, and sometimes does, reveal it
to His people. He alone can do it. We declare
it. We pray over it. We sound it
out as clear as we can. We exalt God in the salvation
of sinners. We speak the promises of God
which are yea and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. We tell men
to believe on this Christ. But we know that it's necessary that God
reveal it to them. Just is. He says, he that hath
an ear, let him hear. Well, doesn't everybody have
not only an ear, but two ears? But they don't hear this truth. He says, He that hath an ear,
those that God gives the ear of faith and the understanding
that comes through and by faith in His Word, he that hath an
ear, let him hear, because it's God's revelation. Eye hath not
seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart
of man, the things that God has for His people, His salvation. But Paul said, God, God the Spirit
has revealed them unto us. Not because we deserved it, not
because we're smarter than anybody else, not because of any of these
man-made reasons, but simply because He would. He revealed
His gospel to us. And then I'd say that men are
offended at this gospel because it is against man's pride because
it's a finished work. Let's go and help God a little
bit. Let's go and make, we'll have
some way of making the work that Christ accomplished on the cross,
we'll have some way of man making it effectual, or putting it into
gear, or getting it initiated, or making it effectual to me
in some way. No, we preach a finished work. We preached the Christ that hung
on that cross, and at the end of the time he was to suffer
there, he yielded up the ghost, he bowed his head, he said, it
is finished. I'm not too smart, but I know
you can't add anything to something that's finished. His is a finished
work. A successful work. An accomplished
work. All the time in Scripture, you're
hearing God say that He did something by one offering, like put away
sin. He did it all Himself. He did
it all by Himself. He did it all with Himself. And it's Offensive because it's
contrary to man's love of self, because it demands discipleship. Demands that we are all our day's
learners and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. It demands
that we sacrifice not to God, but for our brethren, for those
that we love, those that are loved of God. We bow and submit
to everyone. And everyone, even the most faithful
believer, must be reminded of these things and warned of these
things. Because the Lord said, whosoever therefore shall be
ashamed of me and of my words, there never is a greater temptation
for a preacher to stand and say what somebody wants to hear,
then at a funeral. I dare say, if you want to find
out whether a man preaches the gospel or not, go to the funeral
that he preaches. Because he'll give a lot of ways.
A lot of hope. He'll speak peace, peace when
there is no peace. Billy, I know you've heard it
thousands of times, working in a funeral home. He'll tell what
they want to hear on that occasion. He'll make some way for them
to have hope. If he doesn't put them into heaven,
he'll make you think they are. But he says, whosoever therefore
shall be ashamed of me and my words, in this adulterous and
sinful generation, you cannot separate Christ from his words. Of him also shall the Son of
Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with
the holy angels. I don't want to be ashamed in
that hour. I don't want to be ashamed before that company. Paul said to Timothy, be not
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. He said again to the Corinthians,
for the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that are
lost. But the preaching of the cross
is salvation, wisdom, glory to those that are being saved. And really this is a great testimony
and the proof that this is the gospel of God. No man would naturally invent
a gospel which stirs the natural prejudices of men and is so hated
by the world as a whole. When men invent, and they often
do, it's pleasing to men because the offense of the cross is removed. the offense of the cross is removed. When we preach what gives glory
to God alone, when we preach the only hope
of salvation for sinners, when we preach that the only
way that you could be saved is if God purposed to save you, is that God determined to save
you, that God sent his son who alone
has saved you, When we preach, there's nothing
that you can add to God's salvation. It just naturally makes it offensive. So you have
all these expressions. Some have not heard it. They just haven't heard it. And that's not all. Some will
never hear it. And some will hear it and at
first be puzzled at it. They'll say, what is this man
saying? And some will just get downright
angry at it. You'll see them kind of grit
their teeth, you know. If looks could kill, I'd have been a dead, gone duck. And some are just blank. They
just look at you like, hurry up and get this over with. But God says, The Lord Jesus
Christ said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Rather than being ashamed of
the gospel, Paul gloried in it. He said, but God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom
the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Thank God
by His grace and by the cross and by the preaching of the cross,
I'm not going to hell with all these unconcerned religious lost
folks. We shall be saved from wrath
through Him. And we dare not be ashamed of
the offensiveness of the cross. If we were to preach works, no
one would be offended. But then no one would be saved. There's two things I'll leave
you with. This has to do with whether we're preaching it, such
as I do, or whether you're bearing witness to it out in the world. Paul said to Timothy, the servant of the Lord must
not strive. It's not a matter to be debated.
It's a matter to be proclaimed. Argued? but be gentle to all, apt to
teach, patient. In meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves, if peradventure, God will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth. They may be said hard, fast against
it today, but you don't know what God will do tomorrow. They
may frown in the funeral today, but the Lord may open their heart
to that truth next week, next year. that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him
at his will. And then one more thing. Be amazed. Be thankful that you love the truth. Why, why, why? Did God look upon
us? Reveal his truth to us? That
he sent his son to die for us? That he purposed to save us?
That he chose us? Why, why, why? I'm just amazed
at it. How can it be hard? How can I
kick a blind man? How can I, how can I Just fight
against somebody that's helpless and spiritually dead. Would you
go out into the cemetery and kick those old dead bones out
in the cemetery or a dead man on the street or something? No. You preach the gospel to him.
In meekness, seek to teach him. If peradventure. God will give him faith and repentance
toward God, to the acknowledging of the truth, which is to the
acknowledging of the truth of salvation by grace in him who
is the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. And somehow, a funeral brings
this reality into focus. For me, as I stand to preach
to you, as you have so many of your friends and families at
funerals, we just thank God for his grace
to us. And we're looking for his sheep.
I don't know who they are. But he does. The Lord knows them
that are his. Our father, we thank you this
day for your grace and your mercy that you've extended to your
people. We thank you for your son who died in our place, who
saved us from our sins. We thank you for your spirit
that came to us when we were not looking for your spirit,
when we were not searching after your truth, when we didn't think
we needed your son or thought we already knew your son and
you revealed him to us, brought us to repent of all that is against
you, all that we thought was right and what was wrong about
you, and to believe on your son, to
wholly lean on Jesus' name, as the hymn writer said. We thank
you for your mercy to us, and we pray in Christ's name. Amen.