The Lord said in verse 38 of
Mark chapter one, let us go into the next towns that I may preach
there also for therefore came I forth. I came
for this purpose. In Luke's account of the same thing in verse 43 of chapter
four. And he said unto them, I must
preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore
am I sent. The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher. He came to save his people from
their sins. and he came to be a preacher.
Those two things cannot actually be separated. The Lord's a preacher. I've entitled this message, The
Preaching of Christ. Now, with regard to preaching,
I wanna confine our thoughts to the preaching of Christ. Not
the preaching of somebody else, but the preaching of Christ.
That's what we're going to look at, where it is said that he
preached. But I'd like to say some things
about preaching. The scripture says it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Somebody says, well, that's foolishness. I know. That's what scripture
says. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. God has manifest his
word through preaching, which is committed to my trust. And the Lord works through preaching. How shall they hear without a
preacher? How should they preach except
they be sent? Preaching. Now, I want you to
remember this about the preacher. He's nothing. He's just as sinful. He's just as weak. He has the
same problems you have. That's the truth about the preacher.
I don't like it when preachers present themselves in this clergy
lady light. The preacher is a pipe. And that's it. So I don't want
to overemphasize the preacher. God has called men to preach,
but they're no different than you. That's just so. That being said, preaching is
very important. I love what Scott Richardson
called preaching, or a preacher. A preacher is a nobody who tells
everybody about somebody who can save anybody. That's a good
definition of a preacher, isn't it? Charles Spurgeon has been called
the prince of preachers. That's ridiculous to call a man
the Prince of Preachers. I don't care who it is. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the Prince of Preachers. And he came to preach. That's why he was sent. That
was his purpose Now, it's true, he works through men. When the
gospel is preached, Mark 16, 20 says, and they went forth
and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. And anytime
preaching is blessed, it's because of the Lord working with the
preacher and speaking to his people's heart through that word. But here the Lord speaks of his
preaching. Now look at verse 35. And in
the morning, Rising up a great while before day, he went out
and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. I wish I could speak of that
the way it ought to be spoken of, to think of the Lord rising
early, getting alone, and praying. If the Lord prayed, how much
more do you and I need to pray? But the Lord was talking about
preaching in this context. And, you know, there's an inseparable
connection between prayer and preaching. You remember what
Peter said? We're to give ourselves. We shouldn't
have to wait tables like this trying to make up who figure
out who gets what. He said we're to give ourselves
to prayer and the ministry of the word. Prayer first. Why first? Because that's showing a complete
dependence upon the Lord, the blessed. We're to give ourselves
to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the Lord is
praying to his father concerning preaching. He knows that's what
he's sent to do. Verse 36, and Simon and they
that were with him followed after him. And when they found him,
they said unto him, all men seek for thee. And he said unto them,
let us go into the next towns, we can't just stay here, that
I may preach there also. For therefore came I forth. Now, in this very chapter, look
in verse 14 of this same chapter, we're given some idea of the
content of the Lord's preaching. Look in verse 14, now after the
John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching,
there's the word, preaching. kingdom of God. He was preaching
a kingdom that you and I cannot see or enter into except we be
born again. There's no understanding of the
kingdom of God apart from the new birth. Now, look what he
says in verse 15 and say, this is what he was saying in his
preaching. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent ye and believe Now, I
love the simplicity of that. Repent ye and believe. You don't
believe, change your mind and believe the gospel. That which
you don't believe, you change your mind and you believe the
gospel. Now, I love the simplicity of
repent ye and believe the gospel. Now, problem with preachers is
they muddy this up so bad. Repent of your sins and believe
the gospel. Do you know that statement is
a denial of faith alone? You need to get something straightened
out before you can believe. Turn from your sins and trust
Christ. That's a denial of what faith
is in the first place. Now, I'm not saying Anything
about our sin is okay or acceptable. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not.
But if I say repent of your sins and trust Christ, all I've done
is put a barrier between you and trusting Christ. That's all
I've done. That's a denial of faith alone. Repentance, as far as repent
of your sins goes, how many times is that found in the Bible? You've
heard me say this before, zero. Zero. Repentance is a change
of mind concerning God, a change of mind concerning yourself,
a change of mind concerning how He saves sinners by His grace.
Repent. Change your mind and believe
the Gospel. That's God's command to me. That's
God's command to you. Believe on Christ. Believe the
Gospel. Now, if we put anything other
than faith in Christ, here's what we do. That's that little
leaven that leavens the whole lump. Now, listen to me, this
is important. Repent of your sins and believe
on Christ. You might as well say, keep the
Ten Commandments first, if that's what you mean by that. That's
that little leaven that leavens the whole lump and makes the
whole message a message of salvation by works. Repent and believe
the gospel. Well, what's the gospel? Well,
I love The Lord's announcement in Matthew chapter one with the
angels announcement when they said, Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. You believe
on that one. He saved his people from the
penalty of their sins. There's therefore now no condemnation,
right now. There's no condemnation in Christ
Jesus. He has saved his people from
the power of their sins. Sin shall not reign over you,
for you're not under the law. You're under grace. You can now
do what you formerly could not do. You can believe. and he shall
save you from the presence of your sin. Now somebody says,
I don't much feel like I've been saved from the presence of sin
because I still sin. I know you do, but you've been
saved from the presence of sin. According to Colossians 1.20,
you're holy and unblameable and unapprovable. In his sight, in
his sight, you have been saved from the presence of sin. That
sin, I can say this to the believer, that sin that troubles you, it's
not there. You've been saved from the very
presence of sin. You stand before God perfect,
without guilt, without sin, perfect in Christ Jesus right now. Believe that. Believe what you
can't see. Isn't that what faith is? Faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Believe your perfection in Christ. Repent of anything contrary to
that. and believe the gospel. Turn to Luke chapter four. And this is the Lord reading
a passage of scripture in verse 18. From Isaiah 61, the spirit,
and I would love to have heard the way he read this. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. And I have no doubt, as he read
that, people knew exactly what he meant. Because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. To preach, there that word is
again. To preach deliverance to the captives and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.
To preach, there's the word again. The acceptable year of the Lord,
the year of jubilee. And he closed the book and he
gave it again to the minister and sat down and the eyes of
all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. They knew
exactly what he was saying. And he began to say unto them,
this day is this scripture fulfilled right before you in me. Now, he's anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. Now, who are the poor? The poor
are those who in and of themselves don't have anything to bring
to the table. They don't have one thing they can bring that
they have done or experienced or not done that would make them
think, I must be saved because of that. They have nothing. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. Now let me quote this scripture.
This is a scripture you hear often. I hope you can hear it
like it's the first time you've ever heard it. First Timothy
1.15 says this is a faithful saying. And it's worthy of all
acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. One question. Are you a sinner? I'm not asking you if you know
you're saved. I'm not asking you if you have evidence in your
life that makes you think you're saved. I'm asking you this one
question. Are you a sinner? If you are, Christ came to save
you. And whatever He intended to do,
He did. If you're a sinner, poor, nothing
to recommend you to God, Christ came to save you. He came to heal the brokenhearted.
Broken, can't work. Can't work. To him that worketh
not. He came to heal the brokenhearted. And it says, but once again,
here's this word, preach. He came to preach deliverance
to the captives. Now, what's a captive? He's in
jail and he can't get out. That's what a captive is. Romans
7, verse 14, Paul said, we know that the law is spiritual, but
I am carnal, sold under sin. Sold as a slave, held captive
to sin. Now, somebody says, how can Paul
be saved if he talked that way? Well, let me tell you the way
he talked when he wasn't saved. touching the righteousness which is in
the law. I was blameless. That's how he talked when he
wasn't saved. But when God revealed to him who he was, he learned
something about captivity. He said, I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin. which is in my members."
Now, do you know anything about this? Well, he came to preach
deliverance to the captives. Do you know what that word means?
Forgiveness. It's the same word that is always
translated forgiveness. He says to everyone who is in
captivity, your sin is all forgiven. Blotted out, put away. He came to speak of the recovering of sight
to the blind. What you could not see, you now
can see. Salvation for Christ's sake,
to set at liberty, to free them that are crushed, to preach the
acceptable, there the word preach is again, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. He's talking about the year of
jubilee, which oh, how we love the year of jubilee. Every 50
years, although it was never practiced, there's not one instance
in all of the Old Testament scriptures of this ever being practiced. They were told to, and they disobeyed.
I mean, if you were going to lose a lot of money, if you observed
the year of Jubilee, you might have a hard time practicing it
too. But here's what was supposed to be done. Every 50 years, everybody
that had gone into debt and had to sell themselves into slavery,
a Hebrew bond slave, because they couldn't pay their debt,
they were a slave, they were set free. Whatever The debt you had was
canceled. You had no debt at all anymore. Whatever you lost was restored
and given back. And the land was given a year's
rest. No work to do. Now the Lord said, I am the fulfillment. You're seeing this Scripture
that's never been obeyed. You're seeing this Scripture
fulfilled in your very ears. That's what He came to preach. Now turn back to Psalm 40. Verse one, I waited patiently
for the Lord. Have you ever done that even
once? Well, I can answer that for you,
no, no. This is speaking of the Lord.
As a matter of fact, look at verse six of the same chapter. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire, mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sin
offering is that thou not required? Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book. It's written of me, I delight
to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. Now
that is quoted in Hebrews chapter 10, it's the very words of Christ.
And remember when you read the Psalms, they're all the words
of Christ. Yes, they're the words of David,
and David was speaking what he felt, but every single psalm,
first of all, is the word of Christ. What about when you're
confessing sin? Well, he was made sin, and that's
how he felt. And that's how he confessed every
song. The first application is the
word of Christ. Yes, it's David's word. David
is speaking what he experienced. But this is the word of Christ.
Now, look in verse nine. This is Christ letting us know about
his preaching. He says, I have preached righteousness. in the great congregation. Lo,
I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest. I have
not hid Thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared Thy
faithfulness and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness
and Thy truth from the great congregation." Now the Lord says,
I preach righteousness. And we don't have to guess or
strain as to what he meant by that because he says in the next
verse, I've not hid, whose righteousness? Thy righteousness. Now here's the preaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I preached righteousness. In Romans chapter one, verse
16, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it,
the gospel of Christ is the power of God into salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for therein,
in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed. Now this is so important. He
doesn't say the love of God is revealed, although it is. He
doesn't say the mercy or grace of God is revealed, although
it is. What word does he use? The righteousness of God. Now
in the gospel, and this is the preaching of Christ, I preach
thy righteousness. In the gospel, God's righteous
character is revealed. In the gospel, his righteousness
in my condemnation is revealed. Listen, If God passes any of
us by, I pray he saves every one of us. But if he passes any
of us by, beginning right here, just and holy is his name. But thank God, his righteousness
in salvation is revealed. You see, my sin was paid for,
put away. His righteousness becomes my
righteousness, and the very righteousness and justice and holiness of God
demands the salvation of every believer. Now, this is what Christ
preached. Thy righteousness. Well, I understand
exactly what Paul meant when he said, Oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. What's next? not having my own
righteousness. I can say this, well, I hope
I'm saying it sincerely. As soon as I say I'm being sincere,
I'm afraid I'm not being sincere enough, but I can say this with
as much sincerity as I know how. I don't want my fingerprints
to be on anything. I don't want to have anything to do with my
own righteousness. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith. Now that is the preaching
of Christ. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I've not refrained my lips,
O Lord. Thou knowest I haven't held back
on this. I haven't tried to not state it so clearly. There is
only one righteousness. His. His. That's the only one there is.
I've not refrained my lips. I've not, verse 10, I've not
hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy
faithfulness. Now, the faithfulness of God is this. He determined to save me before
time began and he did what he determined to do. Faithful is he that calleth you
who also will do it. Now listen to this scripture.
1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he's merciful and gracious
to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now there's only one problem with that, I quoted it wrong. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful. and just to forgive our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You see, he determined in his
glorious predestination, I would confess those sins in the first
place. He determined that I would take sides with him against myself.
And when I confess my sins, that's because of the faithfulness of
God. Not only is he faithful to forgive
me of my sins, because that's what he determined he would do,
he's just. His justice, the very justice
of God demands the salvation of every single one of his people.
He says, I've declared thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. And he says, I've declared thy
salvation. I've declared thy salvation. Would you turn with
me for a moment to the book of Jonah? Jonah, it's right after Obadiah,
Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah comes after that. Can you find it?
Jonah. Now we're going to read the prayer of Jonah from the
whale's belly. But remember, this is the prayer
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think it will become obvious
as we read this. Jonah chapter two. Then Jonah
prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly and said,
I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me.
Out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice.
For thou hadst cast me into the deep, into the midst of the seas,
and the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves
passed over me. Then said I, I'm cast out of
thy sight, yet will I look again toward thy holy temple. The waters
compassed me about, even to the soul. The depths closed me round
about. The weeds were wrapped around
my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with
her bars was upon me, about me forever. Now this is Jonah speaking,
he really experienced this, but this is primarily Christ speaking.
Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption or the pit, O
Lord my God, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came unto thee in thine holy temple. They that
observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice
unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed,
who's the only one who can say that? Salvation is of the Lord. Now that's the salvation he's
proclaiming. Salvation is of the Lord. That means he did it all. I turn back to Psalm 40, I have not concealed." Notice
he says, I've not refrained, I've not hid, I've not concealed. There's so much of that going
on in human preaching. They won't come out and have it. People
are just afraid of the truth, afraid of what it'll do and what
it is. They don't really believe it. That's the only reason someone
would conceal the truth. They don't really believe it.
He says, I've not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth
from the great congregation. Now, somebody once said that
loving kindness is the Old Testament word for grace. I like that. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies blot out My transgressions washed me thoroughly from my
iniquity and cleansed me from my sins. I've declared your grace."
And I love this. He says, I've declared thy truth. The Lord said, I am the truth. I love that. Nobody else could
say that. I could say I am a liar and I'd
be telling the truth, wouldn't I? I guess I'd be close as I'd
come to tell the truth. But the Lord said, I am the truth. When the Syrophoenician woman
came to the Lord with that great need, have mercy on me. Oh Lord,
thou son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with the
devil. He answered her, not a word. She continued to cry. The disciples
said, send her away. She crieth after us. No, you
guys are way out of line. She's not crying for you. She's
crying for the master. But then the Lord said in her
audience, I'm not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And how many different ways are
there to take that? He said to that woman, I've only come for
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I didn't come to save
everybody. I only came to save the elect. Well, did she give
up then and become discouraged and say, well, what's the point
in seeking if that's the way it is? No, the scripture says,
then came she and worshipped him. She worshipped him for who
he is. She didn't know if she was going
to have her prayer answered. She worshipped him for who he
is. And she said, Lord, help me. If you don't help me, I won't
be helped. Help me. And he said, it's not
neat to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. And you know what she said? Truth. That's the truth. If I ever heard
the truth, that's it. Truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat
of the crumbs that fall from the master's table. I'm not looking
for a place sitting with the children, but I'd be all so thankful
for any crumbs of mercy that fall my way. And the Lord said,
oh woman, great is thy faith. That's the Lord's summary of
his own preaching. Psalm 40 verses nine and 10.
I preach righteousness in the great congregation. I've not
refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I've not hidden thy
righteousness within my heart. I've declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I've not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. And that
better be what we're preaching to. Now one final scripture. Would you turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 52. This is quoted in Romans chapter 10. Verse seven, how beautiful on
the mountains, Isaiah 52, verse seven. How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of him. Interestingly, in Romans 10,
it says of them, and it's talking about those who preach the gospel. It's a plural, but not here.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him, the Lord
Jesus Christ. that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publishes
salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Now there's the preaching of
Christ. This is Him. How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of Him. The first thing that said of
him is he brings good news. Notice the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings. Now, I want to say this the way
it ought to be said. I hope I am. But good news is
relative. It's relative. What do I mean
by that? Do I mean Well, it means one thing to one person and something
else to somebody else. Here's what it means to me. I've
heard people talk about the scriptures. Here's what this means to me.
I could care less what it means to you. I really, I don't care. What does it mean? I don't care
what it means to you. What does it mean? Does it mean the way preachers
say we're taking the gospel and we're making it relevant to the
culture and we're trying to, As soon as somebody says something
like that, they become completely irrelevant. I mean, there's nothing
to it. That's no respect for the word
of God. But here's what I mean when I say this. What's good
news to one is not good news to another. That's what I mean
about it being relative. What's good news to one is not
good news to another. If you're hoping in your works
in some way Salvation by grace is not good news. It's bad news. There's nothing good about it
if you're hoping on your works. But if you see yourself as evil,
as sinful, as someone who can't do anything to save themselves,
grace is good news, isn't it? It's good news. He publishes peace. I love it
when the Lord said, my peace give I unto you. Not as the world
gives, give I unto you. He says my peace. Now I want
you to think of the peace that exists between him and the father. It can't even be described, but
it's peace because of who he is. Oh, the Father is so pleased
with him. There's nothing for him to not
be at peace about. The peace of no sin, the peace
of perfect righteousness, the peace of perfect harmony with
the Father. My peace, I give unto you. You got it? You got it? Every believer has this peace. Now, if there's any sin, I got
no peace. But there is no sin. He is our peace. And we have the peace of knowing
that everything God requires of us, He looks to His blessed
Son for. Isn't that peaceful? That bringeth good tidings of
good. Did you know that all things work together for good? To them
that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.
All things. It's all good. For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called. Whom He
called, them He also justified. Whom He justified, them He also
glorified. That's not prophetic. That's
not something that is going to happen one of these days. In
Christ, I'm glorified. I'm without sin. As He is, is
He glorified? Is He glorified? As He is, so
are we in this world right now. He came to bring good tidings
of good that publisheth salvation. That word publisheth means to
cause to hear. You know, isn't it a blessing
when the Lord gives you ears to hear? Him that hath ears to
hear, let him hear of the complete salvation that's in Christ, that
saith unto Zion, that's the church, that's every believer. This is
what the Lord says to the church, to Zion, thy God reigneth. He really is God. That means
he reigns. He's in absolute control. You
know, any God you hear of, and I'm going to say small g, any
God you hear of that does not have absolute sovereignty, complete
control over everybody, everything, every event, is a figment of
man's depraved imagination. That's all it is. It's not God. God's absolute sovereignty is
who he is. This is who God is. Thy God reigns. He reigns. Now let me show you
something. This is what we're going to close with. Turn to
Romans chapter 5. Verse 20. Moreover, The law entered that the offense
might abound, overflow, bubble over. All the law does is expose sin. That's it. If you have any understanding,
you see sin abounds in you when you see the law. That's what
you see. If you see anything else, you
missed it. You haven't seen the law. You
haven't seen God's holiness. You haven't seen your own sinfulness.
You're yet blind. If you ever see God's holy law,
you'll see that sin abounds. But where sin abounded. Would that be you? Would you be a place? Where is
a place where sin abounded? Grace did much more abound that
as sin hath reigned. Now we're talking about reigning.
that our God reigneth, that as sin hath reigned unto death."
Now, how much ability do you have to prevent death? If you took perfect care of yourself,
if nothing bad ever entered your body, if you had perfect sleep,
if you exercised Those are good things. I'm not
making fun of those. It's good. I hope we all do that
stuff. How much can that prevent death?
Not at all. Not at all. That a sin hath reigned
unto death in the same manner even so might grace reign. Now what can you do? Just like
what can you do to prevent death? Nothing. What can you do to prevent
grace from reigning over you? Absolutely nothing. Grace reigns because God reigns. And look what it says, that as
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness. God's grace is righteous grace. It deals with all sin and puts
it away and honors the very righteousness of God unto eternal life. by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Say unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Now that's the preaching of Christ.
And indeed, he is the prince of preachers. Please join me in closing hymn,
Matt.