Okay, let's turn back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. This week I was looking for the
message this morning. And a verse of scripture just
kept stabbing me. It just hurt my heart. And it's
verse 16. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 16. For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea,
woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. Did you know that not every preacher
preaches the gospel? Did you know that? Did you know that you can't just
go anywhere and hear the gospel? Did you know that just because
a man wears a collar around his neck or goes around telling everybody
he's a preacher, It doesn't necessarily mean he's
a preacher of the gospel. Do you know that? Woe is unto me. If I preach not
the gospel. You know what that means? It means God will eternally kill
me for it. That's what it means. If I don't preach the gospel,
God will eternally kill me for it. How serious do you think
that makes this to me? How serious? Go with me over
to Galatians one. Galatians 1 verse 8. It says, but though we or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 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. Received from who?
God. This is the inspired word of
God. An angel from heaven went around one time preaching to
the other angels of heaven. Another gospel in his name was
Lucifer. And what happened to the angels
in heaven? I'm not an angel in heaven. If
that happened to them, what do you think is going to happen
to me? Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel, there is only one. Well, we have our differences,
but we can all come together in love. No, we can't. There's only one. Woe is unto
you. If you hear not the gospel. I'd better make sure that what
I'm preaching is the gospel. And you'd better make sure that
what you're hearing is the gospel. I am as serious as a heart attack. Go with me to first Timothy chapter
four. Every living soul on earth will
either take this seriously now or seriously then. One of the
two. 1 Timothy 4, verse 16 says, Take
heed unto thyself. That's talking to a preacher.
And unto the doctrine. That's talking about the word
of God. Continue in them. For in doing this, thou shalt
both save thyself and them that hear thee." There's a lot of
responsibility that goes with this. Somebody used to say all the
time, be careful what you tell people. Somebody's going to believe
you. How vital is preaching and hearing
the true gospel? That means the truth. People
talk about, that's the truth. The truth. It is life and death. It's life and death. I have two
questions for us this morning. Here's the first one. How does
a person preach the gospel? All right. We all come from different
places. Some of us have driven far. We're
going to go out and listen to different people throughout the
rest of our lives, stand up and do this. As you listen to people, here's
the first question we need to ask. A man's about to preach
the gospel to me. How does a person preach the gospel? First, that man has got to preach
the word. Turn over to 2 Timothy chapter
4. 2 Timothy 4 verse 2 says, preach
the word. I do not want to hear a motivational
speech. I don't want to hear about what
happened to you Senior year of high school, football team, you
know. And that guy did something, he
did something so good for somebody else and I just knew, that man's
saved and I'm going to be just like him and I changed my life
right there. I don't care. Preach the word. Be instant. In season, out of season. When it's popular, when it's
not popular. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. You've got to preach the word.
Second, you've got to preach all of the word. All of the word. You know, there's
some hard things in here. I lean toward the happy things.
It's just my personality. There's some hard things in here.
There's some soft things in here. There's some complicated doctrine
in here. There's some easy, restful things
in here. There are some things that condemn
unbelievers. There are some things that encourage
believers. Paul said, I have not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. All the counsel. Well, let's skip over that verse
because we don't like it. Nope. Well, that book is one that's
a little too hard to understand, and it opens up a can of worms,
and so we're going to just stay away from that. Nope. May I never preach a message
as though no unbelievers are in the room. That means don't assume everybody's
saved. And may I never preach a message
as though there are no believers in the room. How does a person preach the
gospel? He preaches the Word. He preaches all of the Word and
he preaches what he has seen and heard personally, first hand. He doesn't preach in theory. Well, I heard a man write a book
on the theory of something and that's what I'm going to preach
on today. No, I'm not. He preaches as a witness. John
said that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. Well, I've got the concept down.
Nope. Verse by verse. Chapter by chapter. Book by book. I've seen it. And now I'm declaring it unto
you. Peter said we were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. His majesty. The true gospel preacher today
preaches what God has revealed to him through the word. Through the word. And I witness
through faith, by faith, eyes of faith. All right, let me give
you one more way. How does a person preach the
gospel? Every time the Lord healed a sinner, this is what he told
me. Go and tell. How great things. Great things. Marvelous things. Wonderful things. The Lord hath
done for you. He is to preach good news. We just had a Bible study that
was just full of sin. Still good news, wasn't it? It's good news. Good news to
sinners. Sinners who don't deserve it. Sinners who you would think are
not eligible for it. Not him. Nope. It's to tell sinners like you
and me that Christ died for sinners. And every sinner whom the Lord
has chosen He's going to say, you mean me? If that's your response, yes,
I do. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. I'm so glad because I'm the chief. I'm so glad it doesn't say Jesus
Christ came into the world to save the good people. Jesus Christ
came into the world to save the church going people didn't say
that. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save those who helped themselves. Doesn't say that. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save those who have turned over a new leaf. Doesn't say
that. He came to save sinners. Being a true gospel preacher
is the happiest commission a man could ever receive. You know
that? You know that? It'd be like going into the cancer
ward at the hospital and say, The cancer is gone. I just pulled
your chart. I just looked at the record.
There is remission. You're free to go. It's the happiest commission
a man could receive. We are not delivering the news
of bondage to the law. Our message cries, free from
the law, O happy condition. The Lord Jesus bled, there is
remission. Cursed by that law we just talked
about, bruised by that fall, Christ hath redeemed us once
for all by the offering of one man. Good news. That's how a person
preaches the gospel. All right. Now here's the second
question. And this is the title of the
message. What is true gospel preaching? I just told you how
we preach the gospel. And I think I just preached the
gospel. What is true gospel preaching? All right, we just said it was
preaching the word. All of the word as an eyewitness gladly
delivering the good news. So let's see what the word has
to say about true gospel preaching. Go with me to Matthew four. Matthew four, verse 17 says from
that time, Jesus began to preach. Do you think he was a true gospel
preacher? And to say, repent, repent. Do you know what repent means? It means have a changed mind. Have a changed mind. I am not
saying change your mind. Change your mind. You can't. You can't change your mind. That
living soul can't. Died spiritually. Scripture says in Adam we're
spiritually dead. A dead man can't do anything.
This change of mind has got to be a gift of God. Have a changed mind. It's a present. That's grace. Repentance is actually
grace. Sovereign grace. To you, have a changed mind. All whom God has given this gift
of repentance to will have a changed mind. It's the evidence. All whom God gives repentance
to will have a changed mind about who God is. I used to think I
know who God was. I got a changed mind now. People said, won't you let God? Yes, I will. I love God. I will gladly let Him save me.
He's knocking. He's standing there knocking
at the door. I will gladly open the door for God. You know what? I have a changed mind. I cannot
let God do anything. I'm dead, lying in a coffin.
And God says, live. And when he came to my heart's
door, he didn't knock, he pulled out a two-edged sword and stabbed
it. And then he ripped it down. And
he came in and he said, I live here now. I've got to change
my mind. God is not wimpy like I thought
he was. I thought God was wimpy. Fair-skinned, smooth hands. God
has no hands but my hands. Oh, not according to the word. He's not like I thought he was.
All whom God gives repentance to will have a changed mind about
who I am. I thought I was doing pretty
good. I'm holding down a job. I don't cuss that much. I pay my bills. IRS is not after
me. I'm living right. I volunteer
at the food bank or soup kitchen. You mean I'm rotting in sin? According to the word of God.
If we read it long enough, it'll be proven. You mean I'm vile
and I stink? I'm a stench in the nostrils
of God? Yeah. That sounds way worse than I
thought I was. I am a sinner. This preacher
is a sinner. Are you? Christ came to save
sinners. Oh, no, I'm not a sinner like
that. I don't have good news for you then. Sorry. All whom God gives repentance
to will have a changed mind about what salvation is and how it's
accomplished. You know, based on the word of
God, I now see as an eyewitness that I don't play a role in it
at all. Not at all. Not at all. To preach the true
gospel first, you've got to preach repentance. What is true gospel
preaching? Go to Matthew 10. Our Lord just
said this in Matthew 4, but I want to read it in Matthew 10. Verse 5. These twelve Jesus sent forth
and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles,
and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but go rather to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach,
saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." The kingdom of heaven
is at hand. The King is here. That's good
news to that quickened spirit. That's great horror to a soul
outside of Christ. The end is near. Man, you're like a wild man on
the corner thumping hellfire and brimstone. I'm just preaching
the word. This is urgent. I'm pretty sure
I'm right with God. I'm gonna go about my business
and. If anything needs to be done later, we'll get it later. This is drop everything. Drop
everything. No, they don't actually preach
the word over there. It's mainly they got the big
band. It's oh man, it moves me. I cry
every time I go. And the band rocks. I mean, it's
just like really Christian rock. And then somebody will get up
and he's, um, you know, he'll, he'll just really get us pumped
up for the week. And no, they don't actually open
the word over there, but, uh, I like it. Oh man, this thing
is urgent. We got to know the truth. Today
is the day of salvation. Call while he's near. Why do
I need to call? Find out in the word. Seek while
he may be found. What do you mean he won't be
found later? Nope. None of us are promised tomorrow. We're all about to go get in
vehicles and drive away. Right? I think every few seconds or
something, a person dies in a car accident in America, much less
the world. Somebody just went to meet God right then. Somebody
just went to meet God right then. Somebody just went to meet God
right then. Somebody just went to meet God right then. Today
is the day. This is urgent. Don't just eat, drink and be
merry. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. We're about to go
meet God. We're about to go meet God. All who haven't bowed the knee,
one man put it like this, are hanging over the mouth of hell
and death by a spider's web. Stop, you're scaring me. I don't
like this. You're scaring me. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Kiss the son, lest he be angry. Are you talking about gentle
Jesus making mild? He doesn't get mad at anybody.
Kiss the son, lest he be angry. Psalm 2. True gospel preaching is to preach
the fear of the Lord. What you're telling me is making
me afraid of him. Yeah, that's right. True gospel preaching breaks
men and women. Breaks their pride. It breaks
their will. And then something else happens.
First, they got to be broken. Thank God something else happens. You see, outside of Christ, men
are broken and they stay broken and God breaks them and dashes
them to pieces. But in Christ, something else
happens. After that, true gospel preaching
does something wonderful for the broken. After true gospel
preaching breaks men and women, Shocks men and women. It does something wonderful for
the broken. The broken sinner. Go to Luke
4. Verse 16 says, Our Lord came
to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His custom
was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood
up for to read. And there was delivered unto
Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book,
He found the place where it was written." Can you see our Lord
sitting there turning the pages? Knowing what verse He's going
to read. It was determined before the
foundation of the world. Verse 8, this is what He said.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind. to set at liberty them
that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Outside of Christ I have got
no good news, but in Christ we are made acceptable. Acceptable. Christ hath made
us acceptable, accepted in the Beloved. That is true good news
preaching. Verse 20 says, And he closed
the book, and gave it again to the minister, and sat down, and
the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened
on him. That's the result of true gospel
preaching. That's the result. All who hear
it and receive it have their eyes fastened on Him. Eyes of faith fastened on Him.
Verse 21 says, And He began to say unto them, This day is the
scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bear Him witness and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.
And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? True gospel preaching really
is gracious words. And if the Lord will open our
ears to hear them, they are so sweet. They are so sweet. And if the Lord doesn't open
it up, it sounds so hard, but it's not. That hard part is the
truth. It's called the truth. I'm telling
men the truth. Somebody comes in with cancer
and the doctor says, oh, I don't want to hurt their feelings.
They only have two weeks to live, but It looks good. Just a little bit. You just got
a few little cancer cells. I'm sure those are going to be
swept under the rug. Don't worry about it. That's
the truth. You're going to die. You're going
to die. But guess what? There is a remedy. There's a remedy. That's the
gospel and it's gracious words, it's sweet words. Sing them over
again to me. Wonderful words of life, loving
words. Our Lord preached them to everybody
was there. Who was there? Everybody. He told them all. But in spite of how sweet they
were. In spite of the fact that our Lord didn't tell them one
hard, negative thing. In spite of the fact that every
bit of it was sweet, precious promises of peace. I'm going
to heal the brokenhearted. I'm going to set free all the
prisoners. It was a savor of death unto death to all those
whom the Lord hadn't given ears to hear and a heart to believe
it. How could anybody hate what he
had just said? How could anybody hate it? Look
at verse 28, And all they in the synagogue, when they heard
these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust
him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill
whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down
headlong. Head first, feet up, throw him
over. I hate what he just said. He's going to set us free? That
means he's saying I'm a prisoner. He ain't going to talk to me
like that. He's going to heal the broken.
He's saying I'm broken. He ain't going to talk to me
like that. I ain't broken. You look to yourself. I'm fine. Oh, you're broken. No matter how sweet it is, if
a sinner has not been chosen to love it, chosen to believe it, he will
not. And it's because he cannot. Without
the Holy Spirit of God, a man can do nothing. Nothing. What is it to preach the gospel?
Turn over to Acts 5. Acts 5 verse 40 says, And to
him they agreed. And when they had called the
apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not
speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And they departed
from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple
and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach. Jesus Christ. It's to preach
Jesus Christ. Now I want to read you a little
article that I've read to you before. And this is the greatest
article I've ever read. It's called The Difference Between
Preaching Christ and Preaching About Christ. And there's a big
difference. Years ago, I read the following
quote by an unknown author. I can appreciate the ability
of the learned botanist, flower person, to give me the scientific
name of a rose, the origin of it, the various types of roses,
how and where they grow, and the number of petals, thorns,
and leaves to expect on a genuine rose. I can appreciate that.
But too often those who become overly entangled in these things
somehow lose the most important things, the beauty and the fragrance
of the rose. I hope in our teaching, preaching,
and witnessing concerning the gospel of our dear Savior, we
do not become more concerned with the system more than the
sweetness. With the mechanics rather than
the mercy. With the right terminology rather
than the right spirit and attitude. You will soon weary my head if
you don't warm my heart. While I am eager to learn more
of how, why, and when I came to Christ, I would like to rejoice
and enjoy my relationship with Him now. He is my Rose of Sharon,
which brightens my life and sends His sweet fragrance through my
soul. One can preach about Christ and
not preach Christ, just as we can know how God saves sinners. and not be a saved sinner. Oh, the wonder of it all. Just
to think that Christ loves me. Isn't that wonderful? What is true gospel preaching?
It's to preach Christ. We're preaching a person. We're
not preaching a system. We're preaching His words. We're not just preaching a doctrine. Acts 10 verse 42 says this, And
He commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that
it is He which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick
and dead, living and dead. It's to preach the sovereignty
of Jesus Christ, the sovereignty of God. What that means is here's
what we preach. What do you guys preach over
there? We preach sovereign grace. You know what that means? Here's
what we believe. God is God. And I don't let God do anything,
because if I did, then I'm God. You know that? If God's waiting on me to give
him permission, I am God. God ain't waiting on me to do
anything. We preach the sovereignty of God, His majesty, His holiness,
the right of the only true judge. He commanded us to preach unto
the people and to testify that it's He which was ordained of
God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. Salvation's of
the Lord. It's in his hand. It's his choice. It's his decision. Do you know
what you call that? The truth. Salvation's up to
you. Now it's your choice. The message
has been preached. It's your choice. It's in your
hands now. You know what you call that?
A lie. How do you know? The word of God. I've seen it. I'm an eyewitness. What is true gospel preaching?
Acts 17 verse two says. Paul, as his manner was, went
in unto them in three Sabbath days, reasoned with them out
of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs
have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this
Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. This Jesus. is the Christ. What that means is he is the
God man. He is the God of scripture everywhere
in the Old Testament where it's talking about God doing this.
That's Jesus Christ. He is the God manifest in the
flesh in the New Testament where this man walked around and healed
people and did things. That's God. He is this judge. He is the one who is at hand.
Jesus Christ is at hand. He is the one holding that sword. He is your redeemer. He is your
deliverer. God is. God is your redeemer. You think you're going to be
redeemed if God is your redeemer? Yep. God is. True gospel preaching, Romans
10 and I'm almost finished. Romans 10 verse eight says this. But what sayeth it? The word
is neither even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the
word of faith, which we preach. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
It's to preach faith in him. Believe him. Believe him. Don't just believe in your believing
him. Well, I believe and that's what
gives me comfort. Not me. My faith is so weak. Some days I wonder, do I believe
at all? My faith is in him. Trust him. I don't trust many
people, but I sure trust myself, not me. I trust him. Not in theory and experience,
call on him. Because it says in verse 10,
with the heart man believeth under righteousness, with the
mouth confession is made into salvation for the scripture sayeth.
The Word says, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Last one, what is true gospel preaching? 1 Corinthians 1. This
is the last one. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 23 says, But we preach
Christ crucified. That's what we preach. All our
hope is built on Christ crucified. They made that movie called The
Passion. Oh, that good humanitarian, bless his heart. Oh, did you
see what they did to him? That poor guy. I hope that doesn't
happen to me. My hope is built on the fact that Jesus Christ
was crucified. His highest honor, His highest
glory, His highest accomplishment is that He was crucified. It's to preach, Jesus Christ,
my substitute. He hung there, so I wouldn't
have to. It's to preach His work for salvation
and not mine. It's to preach His accomplishment
and not mine. I haven't accomplished anything
for Jesus. His accomplishment and not mine.
This is my favorite one. It's to preach His death and
therefore not mine. Not mine. That's good news, isn't
it? Alright, let's stand together.