If you take your Bibles now and
turn with me to 2nd Timothy, 2nd Timothy chapter four, 2nd
Timothy chapter four, we're looking at verse, let's read verses one,
usually read verses one and two. The apostle says, I charge thee,
therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge
the quick and the dead at his appearing and at his kingdom.
Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of
season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. The title of my message tonight
is The Doctrine and Purpose of Preachers. The Doctrine and Purpose
of Preachers. Paul says, I charge thee before
the Lord Jesus Christ To do one thing, he charges this young
man, Timothy, this preacher of the gospel, with this one task. I charge thee before the Lord
Jesus Christ. Here it is. Preach the word. Preach the word. Now, the times
in which this letter was written were dark times. They were dark
times in the church. The church at this time was expanding
exponentially. Now that was a great thing. The
church was growing large. It was spreading, the gospel
was spreading, but at the same time, it was very sad because
the apostles, most of them had already been killed and several
of them were ready to die. The apostle Paul here, was in
prison. Matter of fact, if you look at
verse six and seven, the apostle is telling him he's ready to
die. Look at that. He said, for now,
for I am now ready to be offered. And the time of my departure
is here and I've fought a good fight. I've finished the course.
I've kept the faith. The apostle is ready to be offered.
It's a very dark time for the church. The persecution, though
it's growing, Listen, when the church grows, guess what else
grows? Persecution. Persecution. In this previous
chapter there, Paul therefore sets himself in opposition to
vain babblers and false preachers, seeing that the chime of the
church was in such darkness. Paul sets forth himself as an
example. And he sets himself in opposition
to vain preachers. Those, if you look back to verse,
chapter three, and he's talking about these last days and perilous
times, verse two, for men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of
God, listen, having a form of godliness. I think those things
sound like a form of godliness. Do you? No, they're against godliness,
but yet, listen, these men are religious. Though they are all
of these evil things in themselves and in their works and in their
conduct and in their action, yet on the outside they appear
to be godly. They appear godly. They have
a form of godliness. But what do they do? Denying
the power thereof from such turn away. Paul sets himself in opposition
to these false preachers. He's false preachers. And the
first thing he mentions here is that distinguishes him from these
preachers, these false preachers, these false liars, is his doctrine. Look at verse 10. He said, But... In opposition to these people,
But thou hast fully known, first of all, what? My doctrine. What separates true believers
in Christ, true preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
those who are false preachers, those who only have a form of
godliness, is what? Their doctrine. Their doctrine. He said, you've known my doctrine
and my conduct. Well, we take both, don't we?
The doctrine is especially important. You've known my doctrine. What
was Paul's doctrine? What was it that set him apart
from these men? These men. It's the same thing
that encourages, he encourages young Timothy to preach. What did our text just say? Preach,
verse two, chapter four, preach the word. Preach the word. He encourages his pastor, this
young pastor, to preach the word in the midst of great persecution. Verse 14 of chapter three says,
but continue thou in all things which thou hast learned and has
been assured of knowing from whom thou hast learned them.
Now, Timothy did learn these things in verse 15. He learned
them from his His mother and his grandmother, he learned the
scriptures. From a youth, he learned the
scriptures. But really, how does one learn the scriptures? By
the power of the Spirit of God. That's how you learn the scriptures.
He's been taught by his family, but yet, who really taught him? It was the Spirit of God. The
only source then of true doctrine, the only source upon which true
doctrine is founded is what? The scriptures, that's what he
said, the scriptures. He tells Timothy, continue down
the things that you've learned and has been assured of knowing
of whom you've learned them. Paul says the scriptures are
the only thing able to make thee wise unto salvation. Verse 15, Thou hast from the
child known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. So what then is the source of
doctrine? Paul is making distinction, he's making distinction between
him and those false teachers and what distinguishes him from
them is this, the doctrine. Now what's the source of all
doctrine? It is the Holy Scriptures and
that's what he's encouraging this young pastor to stay in
the Scriptures. You know where you received your
doctrine, by the Holy Spirit, from the Scriptures. This is
the only place by which men are quickened and made alive through
the Word of God. All the truth of God and the
truth of men and truth of salvation in Jesus Christ is founded not
upon creeds. Why do you think we don't spend
any time discussing creeds? Because those are written by
men. They may try to reflect the word of God, but they're
not the word of God. The Word of God is the Word of
God. Creeds are the word of men trying to understand the Word
of God. So that's not our source of truth.
It's not scientific discourses or governments or politics. The
only source of truth is the Holy Scriptures, which are given by
the inspiration of God. Look at that in verse 16. Why
do we preach or get our doctrine from the Scriptures? Verse 16,
all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
what? What's the first thing? For doctrine,
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good work. So Paul is saying the Holy Scriptures
are the only source of our doctrine. By the Word of God, men are reproved
of all man-centered doctrine, aren't they? By the Scriptures,
men are reproved of their man-centered gospel. Men are corrected from
their erroneous doctrine by the Holy Scriptures. And men are
instructed in righteousness. how sinners may become righteous. Isn't that the most important
need of a sinner is to understand how he may be made righteous
before God? You see, this is what the scriptures
teach, therefore, instruction in righteousness, as to know
how a man may obtain righteousness. And here is the doctrine that
Paul preached, and here is the doctrine that we preach. First
of all, this, that man is by nature is absolutely completely
depraved. That is the scripture. That is
the doctrine of holy scripture. We know this in Romans chapter
three is very clear. The apostle makes this doctrine
clear. He says this in Romans chapter three in verse 10, it
says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are altogether become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Now whose doctrine is that? Is
that my doctrine? That's the scriptural doctrine.
That's God's Word as it is written. This is true. This is the doctrine
of absolute depravity of man that none is righteous, none
seeks after God by nature. This is the doctrine Paul preached.
Man is dead in trespasses and sins. He tells us that in Romans
chapter 5 and verse 12, Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. What's the doctrine here? Well,
death came by sin, spiritual death, physical death, the curse
came by sin, and all sin came by one man, Adam. And the result
of that sin was death, spiritual death that passed upon all men
for all have sinned. Now, is that my doctrine? That's
what I preach, that is my doctrine because it's the doctrine of
this book. Man by nature cannot by any works
of the flesh or obedience to the law obtain righteousness.
That's not, I didn't come up with that. That's the word of
God. That same passage in Romans chapter
three, Paul makes this very clear. He says, therefore, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in this sight. And
what part of no flesh do you not get? By the obedience of
the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God. Why? Because
the law's purpose is only to expose sin, never to redeem,
never to save, only to show you the guilt. Isn't that what Paul
said? When the law came, sin revived and I've died. That's
the purpose of the law, is to expose our depravity. That's
a doctrine Paul preached. That's a doctrine we preach.
And he's charging Timothy, that's the doctrine you heard. That's
the doctrine of this book. I charge you therefore, preach
it. Preach that doctrine. Secondly,
we preach the doctrine of God's sovereign election. This is the
scriptural doctrine, is that God by free grace chose a people
before the foundation of the world. by sovereign free grace,
without any merit in them. God chose them. And he purposed to save them
by giving them to Christ. It's not my doctrine, it's the
doctrine of Scripture. The Scripture, Ephesians chapter
1. You guys know this so well. Ephesians chapter 1. Paul blesses the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, verse three, who blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places, according as he had chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, for this purpose
that we should be made holy and without blame before him. Here's
his motive, in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children.
Here's how, by Jesus Christ unto himself, and here's the total
motivation of God, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace. Now, there's nothing
in there about your merit. This Sabbath was a sovereign
choice of God, a sovereign election of God. The scriptures are clear
concerning Jacob and Esau, that the children not yet being born,
neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to what? Election might stand. And said to her, the elder shall
serve the younger as it is written. You got that? As it is written.
By who? All scripture is given by the
inspiration of God. It was God that wrote this. Jacob
have I loved and Esau have I hated. When did he do that? Eternity,
friends. Eternity passed. Not based on
anything they have done. God chose and purposed salvation
in Jesus Christ. Second Thessalonians 2.13 says
the same thing. We are bound to give thanks,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, for God hath from the beginning,
what? Chosen you to salvation. Through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. So we preach the total depravity
of man. We preach the doctrine of God's sovereign election.
Thirdly, we preach the victorious accomplishment of Jesus Christ
concerning the salvation of the elect. We praise that Christ was the
only chosen Savior. It was not a cooperative effort. God did not choose Christ and
then leave the rest to you. He chose Christ. And if he chose
you, he only chose you in Christ. So none of this is our work.
He was chosen. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, and whom my soul delighted. What does the scripture
say? He shall not fail nor be discouraged. That's the word of God. That's
not my word. That's a doctrine we preach because
it's the word of God. And so Christ came into the world
and what did he do? He did exactly what God purposed
him to do. He accomplished the redemption
and the righteousness of all the elect of God. That's what
he came to do. It's what he was purposed to
do. Back over there in Romans three, the apostle said this. He said, let me go back over
there for you in chapter three and verse 20. I don't want to
misquote it. I'm sorry, verse 21. He says, but now the righteousness
of God without the law. That's good. Isn't that good? Righteousness without the law,
because that's what I need. is manifest. Now, where is this
manifest? By the law and the prophets.
The law and the prophets told you of it. Even the righteousness
of God, here it is, by the faith of Jesus Christ. How is righteousness
merited? By the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ, by the obedience of Jesus Christ, not by the obedience
of Scott Connerly. Isn't that wonderful? Our righteousness
was not merited by my obedience, by your obedience. It was merited
by the obedience of Jesus Christ for His elect. And not only by
His obedience, but also by His blood. He was purposed to be
the Savior through His death. You can't possibly, I say you
can't possibly. If you're a believer, you can't
possibly miss this. Who offered the first sacrifice?
The first animal sacrifice that ever was offered, who offered
it? God did. You remember, they were naked.
Who clothed them? God killed the first offering. to clothe their nakedness, which
was his first picture. The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent, and he killed the animal to show
how it was gonna happen. It's a picture of Christ. It
was always from the beginning, Christ's death should redeem
his people. And I like Daniel chapter nine
and verse 24. It says, 70 weeks are determined. I like that word, don't you?
It's determined. Do you suppose there's anything that could have
messed this up? Anything? Everything moved like clockwork. It was determined, 70 weeks precisely,
determined upon the Holy City to do what? Finish the transgression. Make an end of sins. and make
reconciliation for iniquity and bring in an everlasting righteousness
to seal up the vision and the prophecy and anoint who? The
most holy one. That's Christ. He came to make
an end to finish sin, transgression and iniquity by the offering
of himself. It was determined. And he brought in by that an
everlasting righteousness by his obedience. This is the scripture. This is the doctrine we preach.
It's the doctrine of Christ. that by his one offering he hath
forever satisfied the justice of God against the sins of all
his people. That's why Paul could so freely
say this. There is therefore now, right
now, no condemnation whatsoever. God doesn't even have a hint
of condemnation against any of his elect because Christ already
paid. God is just and He cannot demand
twice payment. He cannot demand it as Christ
can and then again at mine. Christ accomplished salvation. And how do we know this? Because
our doctrine says He rose from the dead. He rose from the dead. Why do we die? Because of sin. Why was He raised from the dead?
Because there was no more sin left. There was nothing left. God raised him from the dead
and set him on the throne of grace that every knee should
bow and every tongue should confess. And Peter said this very well. He said, there is none other
name. How narrow is Christianity? I'm
not talking about fake Christianity. That's pretty wide. They let
anybody in. They just let, they say, oh,
you, we're just all going to get along. Let's just all get
along. And you know, you're going to go your way. I'll go my way
and we'll just all get to God. No, there is none other name. There is no other way to God. There is no other righteousness
except His. There is no other offering God
accepts except His. There is no other works God accepts
except His. None other name given among men
whereby, I like this word, we must be saved. You know the elect
must be saved? It's not an option. They will
be saved. They will be saved. They must
be saved because they were redeemed. They were redeemed. And the fourth
thing is this, therefore, Jesus Christ has sent His Holy Spirit,
the author of the scriptures, into the world to quicken the
dead to life and faith in Christ. This is our doctrine, that the
Holy Spirit is sent into the world to call His chosen people
to life, to call all Israel, You know it's what Paul says
in Romans 11, he said this, all Israel shall be saved. What does
that mean? Every true Israelite of God,
both Jew and Gentile will be saved. Every one of them shall
be saved. The Spirit of God will come to every one of them and
give them life and faith in Christ. Go to John chapter 3. John chapter
3, this discourse here with Nicodemus. Our Lord's preaching to this
man Nicodemus. And he says to Nicodemus in verse
three, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. What do men need most? Life. Life. They need spiritual life. That's
what Christ is telling him. He needs to be born again. He
needs life. He needs to be born from above
or he cannot see the kingdom of God. What is it to see the
kingdom of God? He's not talking about heaven. He's talking about
Christ. He's talking about himself. You'll never see me, the king
of the kingdom, except you be born again. You must have life
in order to see that I am king. A man must be born again. Our
doctrine is this, that all who are quickened then, born again
of the spirit of God, are given life and faith in Christ. You see, I see how it is that
a man may come to the kingdom of God, only by the king, only
by Christ. All who are born again are born
again by the spirit of God that gives us life and faith and makes
us righteous. Now notice the Lord then begins
to expose sin and depravity. Look at verse 8. The wind bloweth
where it listeth. You can hear the sound thereof,
but you can't tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So
is everyone that is born of the Spirit of God. You see, you must
be born by the Spirit of God. It's the only way a man is born
again. Now verse 9, Nicodemus says this. How can these things
be? How can these things be? This
man, Nicodemus, he was a master of the Scriptures. Notice what
Jesus said. He said, art thou master of Israel
and don't you know these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
we speak that we do know and testify what we have seen and
you receive not our witness. What is he talking about? The
scriptures. We testified to you in the scriptures. We know what we've seen and what
we've heard. We testified to you and you are
a master of Israel and you didn't know that? You didn't know the
scriptures? You're supposed to be a master.
He said, if I told you earthly things and you believe not, how
shall I? You believe if I tell you heavenly
things. You know, the Old Testament scriptures are earthy language,
aren't they? They're earthly pictures. I've told you earthly
things. And yet you didn't understand the type. You didn't understand
the picture. You know, it's like giving your
kids a picture book. That's what God gave them. He
gave a picture book. And they couldn't even see the picture.
And he said, no man ascended into heaven. What does that mean?
It means no man's going to heaven by his works. That's what we've
told you. We've told you this and you've
not seen it. No man shall ascend unto heaven,
not by his works, but he that came down from heaven. That's
the only one that's going to be accepted. Even the son of
man, which is in heaven. Speaking of his deity. Now then
notice this, then Christ preaches to him the gospel again. He shows
him the picture again. As Moses lifted up a serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting
life, eternal life. So what did the Son of God preach
to Nicodemus? What is the only remedy for sin?
and the only object of faith by which men are saved. Here
it is, Jesus Christ and him crucified. Isn't that what he preached to
him? As Moses lifted up the serpent, even so must the son of man be
crucified. Lift it up. So that whosoever
believes on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So
then what's the sum of our doctrine? What's the sum and substance
of our doctrine? Here it is. Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. This is our doctrine. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That was Paul's doctrine. This
was Paul's purpose. And this is the purpose of every
man that is called to preach the word. When he's telling Timothy,
preach the word, what does he tell him? Preach Christ, preach
Christ, preach Christ, preach Christ. That's what he does.
And that's what we do. Now listen, to preach the Holy Scriptures
is to preach Christ alone, who is able to make thee wise unto
salvation. Now listen, these men, these
false preachers, those who had a form of godliness, you know,
they use the same words we do. You go to a false freewill works
religion church, they're gonna use a lot of the same words we
do. They profess to know the God
of the Bible. Ask them, they'll say, do you
know the God of the Bible? Well, of course I know the God
of the Bible. They believe in the Christ of
the cross and the Holy Spirit of God. They use words such as
the grace of God, faith in Christ, sanctification of the Holy Spirit
and the righteousness of the saint. They use those same terms
we do. You see, but the problem is they
only have a form of godliness. Their words are only empty words. They're meaningless words that
may change over time. Their creed may change, and so
the meaning of grace may change. The meaning of righteousness
may change. It doesn't change in this book.
What grace meant at the beginning, it means now. What righteousness
meant at the beginning, it means now. It doesn't change. So how
do you discern, then, the difference between those who have a form
of godliness and like Paul? How do you discern? And I'll
tell you, discern, we must. Friends, it is imperative that
we discern. I know this nation goes around
and they say, well, you just don't need to be so judgmental.
Look, if that book judges, then I'll judge. This book is my judgment. However, this book decides how
it is. Whether it's against me or it's
for me, this book is true. Let God be true and every man
a liar. This book is the source and sum
of all of our faith and practice. These false preachers, Some men have swerved. Paul said
they made shipwreck of the faith. I don't want to make shipwreck
of the faith, do you? I'll tell you what, we better be discerning
as to who these men are. Paul said, mark them out and
don't come near them. So by what measure do we discern
whether a man is called God or not? What I said at the beginning,
by his doctrine, by his doctrine. What is his gospel? What is he
preaching? What is the sum and substance
and theme and topic of every message he preaches? True preaching
and true preachers set one theme, one topic, one gospel above all
else. Here it is, Christ is all. Christ is all. That's what Paul
says in Colossians 3 verse 11, Christ is all. Whoever's preaching to you, if
Christ is not all, he only has a form of godliness, but he denies
the power of the gospel. He denies the power of godliness,
which is Christ. He denies Christ. Jesus Christ
is all. First Corinthians 1, In verse
30, the apostle is very clear that, but of God are you in Christ,
who of God is made unto us, what? Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. Christ is all our salvation. All of it. Jesus said this of himself, I
am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. So then,
you take this book, And from this cover here to this cover
here and all in between is about one man, Jesus Christ and his
work, him crucified. That's what this book is about.
From cover to cover, it is about Christ. I like when Jesus told
those Jews, he said, search the scriptures. In them, you think you have eternal
life. In them you think you have eternal
life. They are they that testify of
me. This book alone speaks of Christ. And if any man is not preaching
Christ, he is not preaching the doctrine of this book. And any man not preaching the
doctrine of this book is not worthy to be heard. Now you listen closely to this
statement. Any sermon that is without Christ
and him crucified is a sin in its conception and an abomination in his execution. I'll say it again. Any sermon,
any sermon that is without Christ crucified is a sin in writing
it. and an abomination when it's
spoken. Any man who devotes himself to
anything other than preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is an imposter. It doesn't matter what he's saying. It doesn't matter how good it
sounds. It is of no value to the souls
of men Jesus said, search the scriptures.
Behold how learned men right now search the scriptures. These
doctors of theology, masters of religious studies, spend years
and decades in books, hundreds and hundreds and thousands of
books. They read and they read and they
pour in all of this knowledge. They write millions of books
on various subjects. I looked at the top ten books
of Christian literature and they're not fit to burn. They're always talking about
you and what you need to do and how you need to act and how you
need to do this and how you need to stop doing this and start
doing this. They make themselves another
law. Garbage. My son's got to read that for
his school. Mere Christianity. What an abomination
that book is. C.S. Lewis is praised as some
kind of great theologian when he's a garbage collector. His writings are an abomination.
What a fake imposter he is. And so these Jewish religionists,
Jesus said, search the scriptures. These legalists, like many false
freewill works religion, they search the scriptures for what?
A rule of morality. Isn't that what they search the
scriptures for? They try to use it as a measuring book. See if
they're going to get into heaven. Am I doing good enough? No, I'll
save you. I'll save you a lot of time and
trouble. You're not doing good enough. Whatever it is you're
doing, you need to do more of it because it ain't ever enough. Matter of fact, all your goodness
is worthy of hail. That's it. They search this book
for a book of morality and how to merit God's favor. And I'll tell you, they may find
a lot of things to boast in their intellect, pride, and self-righteousness,
even because they search the scriptures in vain, not seeing
Christ, not seeing Christ. I'll tell you what, they sure
feel good about themselves though. Isn't that what they're searching
the scriptures for? Looking for something to feel good. Make
them feel good about themselves. No matter how intelligent a man
is, and even how true their findings are, if they look not and see
not Christ in the scriptures, they misuse the word of God to
their own destruction. They die in their sins and hell
will be their portion. Jesus said, search the scriptures
for in them you think, you vainly believe you have eternal life,
but you missed it all because they are they that testify of
who? Me. The scriptures testify only of
Jesus Christ. Remember on the road to Emmaus,
Jesus came and those men were sad that Christ died. He said,
why are you sad? Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and entered into His glory? And then what'd He
do? Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, He expounded unto them and all the scriptures, things,
what? Concerning Himself. And those guys were so excited,
they left, they went back to where they came from, came in
the door and told those disciples what they had heard and what
they had seen. And all of a sudden Christ appears to them. And you
know what he says to them? The exact same thing he said
to those guys on the road to Emmaus. He said this in Luke
24, 44. He said, these are the words that I spake while I was
with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written
in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms. concerning me, concerning me. Therefore, as Paul by the Holy
Spirit charged Timothy, even so does God charge me and every
other man who claims to be a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
we are to do one thing, preach the word, preach the word. What is the word? Jesus Christ
and him crucified. That's the sum of our doctrine.
That's all. Man's depraved, has no hope.
God chose a people and gave them to who? Christ. Christ came into
the world and saved who? The elect. Christ rose again
and is seated at the throne of God and sent his Holy Spirit
to quicken who? The elect. And the elect, when
they hear the word of God preached, they believe. And who do they
believe in? Christ. Who do they want to hear? Christ. Who do they love? Christ. To them, Christ is all. And that's
all we preach. That's our doctrine. Well, go
back to your text. How long are we supposed to preach
this? When are we supposed to preach this? Now, when? Surely
there's got to be times where you've got to get off of this,
preacher, and really deal with people's problems. I am dealing
with your problem. You're a sinner. You need Christ. I'm sick, you need Christ. I'm
broke, you need Christ. See, I've got the same message
for every problem you got. Christ, Christ, he's all. When do we preach it? Look at
that in verse two. Preach the word, when? Be instant,
in season, out of season. When this message is being heard
and when it's not. When men praise Christ and when
men curse Christ. When men believe and when they
will not. What are we to do? Preach the
Word. In other words, I don't care
what men do. He's telling Timothy, do not
let men and what they do affect your job, your purpose. Preach
the word, preach Christ. When, Paul? At all times, in
all seasons, in all circumstances, in all events, preach Christ. Preach Christ and Him crucified. In fact, Paul warns that shortly
men are not going to endure this. Look at that in verse 3. There's
a time coming when they will not endure sound doctrine. But
after their own lusts heap to themselves teachers having itching
ears, they will turn away their ears from the truth and be turned
to failure. What's my authority? He said
this, not only preach it in season out of season, but reprove, rebuke
and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. What's my authority
to do that? To reprove, rebuke and exhort.
By what right do I have to reprove and rebuke those who will not
preach? Have I been doing that? Reproving and rebuking those
who will not preach Christ. I did it all throughout this
whole sermon. I've reproved them. I rebuke them as nothing but
useless messengers. Not sin of God. Well, who gives
me the right to do that? By what authority do you denounce
free will works religion? I do. Denounce it, I do. Why? It's not in the book. Their doctrine is not found in
the book. It's made up. These are men have heaped to
themselves teachers having itching ears and turned away from sound
doctrine. What right do I have? Because our doctrine is this,
thus saith the Lord. There's my authority. The moment
I say, I think, or I feel, or it's my opinion, I lose all authority. Right? You witness to somebody,
and you say, well, you know, I feel. If you feel, you've lost
all authority. Because they feel, too. If you
say, well, it's my opinion that, well, you've lost all authority
because they have an opinion, too. It doesn't matter about how we
feel or what we think or our opinion. My authority is this,
thus saith the Lord. So it doesn't matter what you
think or you feel, what I think or what I feel. I can reprove, rebuke, and exhort
because thus saith the Lord. I'll tell you this, if a man
wants a large church, he doesn't have to do very much. He may
have to be a gifted speaker. I mean, people like to hear a
gifted orator. So he may have to have oratory
skills. But it's not complicated to get a large church. All you've
got to do is make men feel good about themselves. That's it. Very simple. All you
have to do is abase God and exalt man, and you have a large congregation.
You can. Because that's what men want
to hear. They will not endure sound doctrine, which is to abase
man and exalt Christ. That's sound doctrine. They will
not have it, they don't want it. So like Paul, he said this in 1 Corinthians
2.10, so does every preacher. I determine on purpose not to
know anything among you except one thing, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Now listen, if you want to know
what I believe, Just listen to my sermons. Just listen. There are many of
them up there. I think, Scott, we had some,
I'm probably on the low end of our brethren, but I think there
were over a thousand on Sermon Audio. So if you want to know,
you can go back and listen to all thousand of them. If you find
one that I didn't preach Christ, you should throw it away and
not listen to it. But I don't know of one. I've
kept most of them, so I could go back over. If you found one,
let me know. And I'll agree with you. If I
don't preach Christ, I'll let you know. I'll agree. I determine
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ. Why? Because
preaching of this message of Jesus Christ is the only means
by which God saves sinners. That's the only means by which
God saves sinners. It is the only means by which
the church is edified and God's people grow in the grace and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His means. We say, I don't
like preaching. Surely there's got to be something
else. Look, you're arguing with God. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21, But
after the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.
Now listen why preaching is necessary. It pleased God. by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now, why do we need
to preach? It please God. Now, you need any more authority
than that? I don't. It please God. This is His means. This is His means. Go to 1 Peter.
Go to 1 Peter. I'll wrap it up here in just
a second. 1 Peter, chapter one. Look at verse 23. How are you
and I born again? How do we know anything of Christ?
How do we know of his precious blood, his offering for sin,
God's election, the Spirit's calling? How do we know anything
of that? Because, 23, we were born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. where all flesh is grass and
the glory of man is a flower of grass, the grass withered,
the flower faded. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever. Now, what is this word of the
Lord by which you were born again? What is the word of God that
endures forever? He doesn't leave that to your
imagination, which by the gospel is preached to you. You see,
that was the means, preaching the gospel, the eternal, immutable,
never-changing gospel of Jesus Christ. That was preached to
you, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, you were born again. You were born again with the
Spirit of God. You heard and you believed. Millions
upon millions today are hearing a false Christ. They're hearing
of a false Christ by the mouth of false preachers who profess
a false Christ whose blood is only a gamble." You know, I heard
that one time, a preacher, a very prominent preacher in Houston,
Texas, one of the largest Baptist churches in Houston, Texas. This
is exactly his quote. Two games were being played at
the cross. The thieves were gambling for the coat of the Lord Jesus.
and Christ was gambling for the souls of his people. What a blasphemous statement. This is the Christ men are hearing
about though. That Christ's death was only
a venture. in hopes to save men if they
would just make His blood effectual. If they'll just exercise their
will, or do good work, or be baptized, or perform some religious
ceremony, then they make His blood effectual to redeem them. One problem, it's not in the
book. It's not in the book. You know
what's in the book? Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 12
says this, Christ obtained eternal redemption. Chapter 10 and verse
12 says, But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sin, sat down at the right hand of God, henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool for by his one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That sound
like a gamble to you? No, it wasn't. Gospel of free will works religion
is nothing but lies, friends. It's nothing but lies. And no one was ever saved by
that gospel. Matter of fact, Jeremiah chapter
23 and verse 32, God said this about false prophets. He says,
they will not be profitable to my people at all, at all. Therefore, we must preach Jesus
Christ for he has obtained redemption, eternal redemption. He has satisfied
the justice of God for all that the father gave him. He said,
all that the father had given me shall come to me. Does that
sound like a gamble to you? No. They shall come to me. And what is He gonna do when
they come? When they come to me, I won't cast them out. Why?
He chose them and I redeemed them. The Spirit called them
and quickened them. I will in no wise cast them out.
Why? It is the will of the Father that I should lose nothing, but
raise it up again at the last day. How many will Christ lose?
Huh? How many? I don't know, what
does the book say? Nothing. I shall lose nothing. All Israel shall be saved. You'll lose nothing. Not one
of them shall ever be lost. And so by the preaching, by preaching,
we witness of Jesus Christ and we beseech you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. You who are sinners, listen to
me, you need to be reconciled to God. And the only way you
can be reconciled is this, for He hath made Him to be sin for
us. This is how reconciliation was
accomplished. For Him, Christ was made sin
for us who knew no sin, that you might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's reconciliation. That's
how it was accomplished. So why will men not come? Why will they not endure sound
doctrine? Why will they cleave to men with a form of godliness
who deny the power of the gospel, who deny the gospel itself? Why
do men do that? Why won't they turn to Christ?
Why they despise the sovereign God of Holy Scripture for a weak,
effeminate, modern Christ? Why? Because they want to glorify
themselves. Men want to honor themselves
and abase God. Paul preaching in Acts chapter
13, he says, through this man, only through this man is the
forgiveness of sins. It doesn't come by the law of
Moses, by the freewill works religion of man, It comes by
Jesus Christ and him crucified. Friends, those who are called
to preach the gospel have one doctrine. The source of our doctrine
is the word of God. The sum and substance of our
doctrine is Jesus Christ and him crucified. Therefore, we
who are called to preach have one purpose, preach Christ. to preach Christ. And you know
what that does? God uses that. He does two things. He saves sinners. And then by
the same Gospel, He saves them, He comforts them. Isn't it comforting
to know that your salvation is all of Christ? All of Christ. What's your part? I don't have a part. Matter of fact, even faith, you
say, well, it's necessary. You got to believe. Well, of
course I do. But even faith is not of myself. It is a gift of
God. I believe today still because
it is a gift of God's grace. My salvation is something done
outside of me, and then it's something done inside of me.
And one day I'll experience the fullness of that salvation. But
until then, I'm kept by the power of God, under salvation, ready
to be revealed, last time Peter said. And what is our comfort? It is the word of God. I'll tell
you, if we're not comforted, most likely it's because we're
not hearing it. We're not reading it. We're not
studying it ourselves. We're not looking for Christ
when we do. How many times have you looked in this book and tried
to see yourself? What are you gonna see when you see yourself
in this book? Sinner, guilty, worthy of hell. Those are things
you'll see about yourself. No comfort there. Where's the
comfort? In Christ, there's no condemnation. Those are in Christ. There's
therefore now. Scott, right now, there's no
condemnation. And you know what? Right now,
there's no condemnation. And when I leave this house,
there will still be no condemnation. When I go home, there will still
be no condemnation. Why? Because I'm in Christ Jesus.
That's why He's the sum and substance of our message. He's the purpose
we stand here and preach. And if anybody doesn't preach
Christ, mark them out and leave. If they do, thank God for them.
Thank God for them. How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things.