Go with me if you would back
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I would like for us to approach
the message today kind of in the same way we would approach
a Sunday school lesson, a Bible study. Romans 15 verse four says,
whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope. It was all written for our learning
that we might have hope. I pray that the Lord might teach
us something this morning. And through that teaching, I
pray he might bless his word to our hearts. Our text specifically
is verse five, but let's begin reading in verse one. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. Everything we do in God's ministry
is based on the fact, it is built on the fact that we have received
mercy. Everything we do in God's ministry,
it's built on the fact that we have received mercy. We don't do anything in order
to receive mercy. And I want to repeat that. We don't do anything in order
to receive mercy. Nothing. Everything that we do
is because we have already received mercy. Everything we do. What is mercy? Mercy is not getting what we
deserve. That's what mercy is. Not getting
what we deserve. Because of our sin, we deserved
God's wrath. You know, men think they're ready
to go meet their maker, they're ready to go meet God, and they
just want to get what's coming to them. Well, this is what's
coming to us. This is what was owed to us.
This, based on how we lived the life that we lived on this earth,
based on everything that came out of this heart and everything
that rolled around in this mind, everything these hands got into
and our feet ran to, this is what we deserved. We deserve
God's judgment and God's punishment and God's wrath for all of our
sin. He said, if you commit one sin,
judgment's coming down. And we all have committed more
than one. That's all we do. It's all that
we are. Therefore, we deserve death. The wages of sin is death, eternal
spiritual death. We deserved to be forever separated
from God. That's what we earned. That's
what was owed to us. But God did not give us what
we deserve. In the Lord Jesus Christ, specifically,
In Christ, God did not give His chosen people, and I pray that's
us. I pray that's us. I pray that's
all of us. God did not give His chosen people
what they deserved. He gave Christ what they deserved. He gave Christ everything they
deserved. And that's called mercy. All right. That substitution,
that trading of places is known as grace. Christ was given as
the gift from God and everything that he took from us and everything
that he bore for us, everything we were supposed to get that
was laid on him. That's called mercy. We didn't
get what we deserve. Christ got it for us. All right. He took it for us. Verse one
says, therefore, seeing we have this ministry as we have received
mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty. Dishonesty means lies. It translates
shame. And that shame is because of
the lies. Paul said, we have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty. God's people want truth alone. Let me tell you what I want.
And let me tell you what you want. The truth alone. The truth alone. We don't have time for lies.
Eternity is too long for lies. God's judgment is too strict
for lies. We want the truth. Just tell
me the truth. God's people want truth alone. God's people know that the truth
can be shocking. The truth can hurt. But they
also know that in the end, the truth is the only thing that's
going to stand. So they cry, give me the truth.
If we know the truth, the truth will make us free. Verse two
says, we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking
in craftiness. That means trickery or false
wisdom. He said, we don't try to use
big words to make you think that we're smarter than we really
are. We just don't do that. Some love
to do that. Not us. Verse two, he said, we've
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
nor handling the word of God deceitfully. Telling people that
it says what it doesn't say. And telling people that it doesn't
say what it says. Which happens all the time. People, this is something people
have always said, and they're going to keep on saying it. This
is what you'll hear. Well, now you know the Bible says, but
it doesn't say that. They're just saying that. It's not actually in the Word
of God. Well, now the Bible says. Our response needs to be, where?
Show me. It does? Show me that. Verse two says, but have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth. That word manifestation means
bestowment, revelation, making known, showing the truth. We are commending ourselves to
every man's conscience in the sight of God. Verse 3 says, but
if our gospel be hid, the fact that he said our gospel tells
us that there are some out there who preach something else. Not
the same thing we preach. And he tells us right here that
that's a very dangerous thing to do. Verse 3, but if our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. To preach or to believe
anything other than exactly what has been written in this word
is to be lost. It's to be lost. Let me show
you how Paul worded that to the Galatians. If you turn over a
few pages to Galatians chapter one. Galatians 1 verse 6, he said,
I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is
not another. There's not another. If everyone would take God's
word at God's word, we would only have one denomination. We
would all believe the same thing. If we wouldn't try to twist it
and try to, there's not another. God has written one thing. Verse
seven, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert
the gospel of Christ. He said, but though we or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be cursed. As we said
before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel
unto you, then that you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men or
God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. So Paul said back in our text
in 2 Corinthians four, verse three, If our gospel be hid,
it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world,
that's the adversary, that's what the scripture calls him,
says he hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. If
a person does not believe the record of the gospel that God
has given, that person is under the captivity of the adversary.
Verse 4 says, lest, it goes on to say lest, or if they weren't
blinded, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. Verse 5 says, for, or for
that reason, because of that, because this is the means that
God has chosen. because we have received mercy,
because the light of the glorious gospel of Christ has shined unto
us. Verse five, he said, we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord in ourselves, your servants
for Jesus sake. Now there are two words in verse
five that I've been dwelling on. We preach those two words
clearly He has established that there's a difference in those
that have received mercy and those that have not received
mercy. There's a difference in those that preach truth and those
that preach lies. Dishonesty, craftiness, handling
the Word of God deceitfully. There is a difference in those
that are saved and those that are lost. Captive and free. blind and seeing. There's a difference
in what we preach and believe. If we are God's people. If he's
given us eyes to see the truth of his word, there's a difference
in our message and the other message. Which is no message
at all. And here's what I want to say
before we go on. If we have been given the true message, It is
by the grace of God alone. We didn't deserve it. Where is
boasting then? Where's the room for arrogance?
Well, we got it and they don't. God forbid. If God has shown
mercy to us, where is boasting in that? But here's the question
for the morning. What is the difference? All right,
here we all are. We're sitting in these pews as
opposed to other pews. Why? What's the difference? What do
we preach? Are all the messages out there
the same? Can you go into any building and hear the same exact
message? Clearly the answer is no. What do we preach? Well, let's
start right here. Let's start with what we don't
preach, okay? Verse five says, we preach not
ourselves. We don't preach ourselves. What does that mean? What is
it to preach ourselves? The answer to that, seeing what
we don't preach, will tell us what we do preach. If we answer
that, we'll see what we do preach,
okay? This is preaching ourselves. It would be preaching our Word,
it would be preaching our work,
and it would be preaching our glory. That would be preaching ourselves.
That's not what we preach. Paul said in verse 5, we preach
not ourselves, But Christ Jesus the Lord. We preach Christ. Christ Jesus the Lord. Now, what
does that mean? Doesn't everybody? Isn't everybody
saying His name? Isn't everybody standing up in
His name saying Lord, Lord? Really, what does that mean?
To say we preach Christ. What is it to preach Christ?
Here it is. It's to preach His Word. It's
to preach His work and it's to preach His glory. Period. That's what we preach. That's
what we preach. Look with me at Acts chapter
five. Acts 5, verse 42. It says, And daily in the temple,
and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ. That's what we
preach. We have a very specific message. And that message is a person. That message is a person. Look
at Acts chapter 8 verse 5. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. He preached Christ unto them.
Look at verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are going to notice as we
go through the scripture and we preach message after message
after message, our emphasis is not a thing. The emphasis here
is not a thing. It's not a mindset. It's not
a doctrinal position. It's a person. We will hear this
person, by God's grace, if God is willing, over and over and
over again. We preach Christ. We preach Christ in everything
that the scripture deals with and it deals with everything.
Whatever it is we could be faced with, the scripture deals with
it. But in everything we preach Christ, we preach everything
in light of Christ. Look with me at Colossians chapter
one. Colossians 1 verse 27, it says
that we are talking about Christ. At the end of it he said, which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Verse 28 says, whom we
preach. Whom we preach, warning every
man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus, all of the warnings are in light
of Christ. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son hath not life. The wrath of God
abides on him. All of our teaching is in light
of Christ. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved his wife, the church. and gave himself
for it. We don't love our wives so that
Christ will love us and give himself for us. We love our wives
because Christ loved us and gave himself for us. Everything surrounds,
everything looks to, everything is in light of this person, the
Lord Jesus Christ, whom we preach. Whom we preach. We preach Christ. We preach His Word. Think about it like this. This
is not just the Bible. It is the Bible. But this is
His Word. This is His Word. We preach His Word. We don't preach our own. We do
not. We preach His. Look with me at
Mark chapter 2. Mark 2 verse 1 it says, And again
he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noised
that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered
together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them,
no, not so much as about the door, and he preached the word
unto them. When Christ preached, He preached
the word unto them. Again, the longer we go, the
more messages we hear. We're going to notice the fact
that we are heavily in the Word. We are very, very heavily in
the Word. The majority of our message is
the Word. I want it to be that way anyway. That's what I'm striving
for. Paul told Timothy, preach the
Word. Be instant, in season, out of
season, whether it's popular or not popular. Reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, meaning do it with
all patience and do it with the Word. He didn't say read one
verse just so that you can say you did that and then go off
on a rant for 45 minutes. He said, preach the word to people.
I want you to know God's word. I think about that all the time. How many times have we gone to
Galatians 1 verses 6 to 10? I marvel that you're so soon
removed from the gospel of Christ unto another gospel." And he
said, there's not another one. If any man preaches anything
to you other than what God has written, let that man be cursed.
How many times have we gone to Ephesians 2.8? By grace are you
saved through faith, that not of yourselves. A lot of times
I think, well, we don't need to turn there. They've turned
there now about 400 times. Why would we stop? This is the
eternal word of God. We're going to be reading Ephesians
2.8 for all of eternity. Not one word shall fail. Preach this Word. Know this Word. Don't know a doctrinal position. Don't know a denominational tradition. Know the Word. Preach the Word. Don't preach Dr. So-and-so's
thoughts on it. It doesn't matter. What I think
doesn't matter. You don't need to know what I
think about it. That doesn't matter. If it's contrary to this,
it's wrong. Preach the word, hear the word. The father cried, this is my
beloved son, hear him. Believe his word, preach it,
believe it. Whether we understand it or not,
that's irrelevant. We preach the Word. We believe
the Word. Here's an example of that. The Scripture says, He
is our Creator. And when I say He, I mean the
Lord Jesus Christ. By Him, all things that are made
were made by Him. Alright? He is the One who formed
Adam from the dust of the ground. He's our Creator. We are His
creation. The scripture says He, meaning
the Lord Jesus Christ, is our King. And we are His subjects,
we're His servants. The scripture says He, meaning
the Lord Jesus Christ, is our brother. Our elder brother. It says we are joint heirs with
Him. He is the Son of God, and in
Him we are sons of God. He's our brother. The Scripture
says He is our husband. We are His bride. Well, which
one is it? Which one are we going to preach?
All of them. All of them. If that's the way
God says it is, that's the way it is. The Scripture says we
are going to approach and we are going to bow before the throne. The Scripture also says we are
already seated with Him in that throne. Which one are we going
to preach? Both of them. If that's what
God says, that's the way it is. We preach His Word. Turn with
me over to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 23 it says, but we preach Christ crucified. We preach His work, only His
work, only His work. A few years ago I had a man send
me an email, he found us on the internet, and he was reprimanding
me saying, surely you're not just going to tell people what
Christ did and then leave it at that. That's exactly what we're going
to do. Chapter 2 verse 2 says, For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's it. That's it. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians
3, all of that other religion, I count it all dung. I've thrown
it all away. All of my works, all of my doing,
oh, I just want to win Him, be found in Him, be made conformable
unto His death. That's it. The scripture says God the Father
chose and elect people to save. Okay, now I'm going to be, I'm
going to finish soon, but I want you to turn with me because I
just said we're preaching the word and reading the word. We're
going to do a little fast and furious turning, but I want you
to see it with your own two eyes. Okay. Turn to Ephesians one. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, According
as He hath chosen us in Him, that's Christ. Now when did He
choose us to be in Christ? Before the foundation of the
world. that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. He chose us to be holy and without
blame before Him in love. All right, go to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13, it
says, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. God, from the beginning, chose
you. He said, we're bound to give
thanks for all the brethren because God chose each one to salvation. Chose who he would save. Go over
to Romans chapter nine. Romans 9 verse 10, Not only this,
but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac,
for the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but he so have I hated. God the Father
chose a people to save. He conducted an election. The election was in his hands.
From the foundation of the world, He predetermined every soul that
He would show mercy to. Now, what are we going to do
with that? Verse 14 right here says, What
shall we then say? What are we going to say to these
things? What are we going to do with that? Here's what we're
going to do with it. We're going to preach it. We're going to preach it. This
word says the decision was in God's hands and not in our hands. And we're going to preach that.
We're going to preach it. The scripture says that Christ
redeemed all of the souls and only the souls that the father
gave to him. It was a particular redemption. The scripture says Christ did
not die for everybody. He did not shed His blood to
make salvation possible for anybody who decides they want to take
part in it. God the Father chose exactly who He would save and
Christ saved those people exactly and He saved them. He didn't
leave the work up to them. He didn't start it for them to
finish it. He saved them. It is a particular
redemption. It is a full redemption. It is
a complete redemption. Alright, turn with me over to
John 10. John 10, this is the Lord Jesus
Christ, verse 11. He said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. He said, in that day the sheep
are going to be on my right hand and the goats are going to be
on my left. He said, I give my life for the sheep. Verse 24,
Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long
dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. Now watch verse 26. But you believed
not because you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. He didn't say, you're not my
sheep because you believed not. He said, you believed not because
you're not my sheep. Look at verse 14. He said, I
am the good shepherd and know my sheep. and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep."
In John 17, he said, I pray for them. I don't pray for the world,
but for them which you have given me, they are thine. All right,
so Christ Fully, completely redeemed all of the souls that the Father
handed to Him. That's what the Scripture says.
What are we going to do with that? Explain it away? Hide it under a bushel so we
won't offend? No. We're going to preach it. By God's grace, we're gonna preach
it. The scripture says that God's Holy Spirit will call every elect
redeemed child to Christ. Let me quote these to you. You
can write them down and read them later if you want to. John
6, 37 says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. and him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out." In John 16, verse 7, he said, it's
expedient that I go away because if I don't go away, the Comforter
will not come to you, which is the Holy Spirit. And when He
comes, He will convince of sin and righteousness and judgment.
He will not speak of Himself. He'll speak of Me. He will teach
you the truth. He will show all of these things
to you. What are we going to do with
that? We're going to preach it. We're going to preach it. By
God's grace, we are going to preach. Whosoever has the Son,
whoever believes on the Son, has life. and whoever believes
not the Son of God hath not life. We preach Christ. We preach his word, we preach
his work, we preach his glory. David said, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. Not unto us in any
way, shape, or form. Never do we turn his grace back
into a work. Never, never, never does the
glory or the credit come back to us. Never. John said, the one who's coming
after me, I'm not even worthy to stoop down and tie his shoes. John said, he's the bridegroom.
I'm just the friend who's standing by. This is who the Lord said
was the greatest man born of woman. He said, I must decrease
and He must increase. He said, I've done nothing. I
deserve nothing. You don't even need to know my
name. I'm just here to give all the
glory and all the credit to Him. John said, this is all I have
to say. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world. That's what it is to preach Christ. And that's
what Paul meant when he said in our text, I'll just quote
it, we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake. Just like John said, we're just
a voice crying about Him. That's all we're doing. That
is all we're doing. We're just preaching Him. It's all unto Him. All right,
let's all stand together. Turn with me to hymn number 32.