I'll be reading in a moment from
2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 if you
want to follow along in your Bible. Now the Apostle Paul traveled
all over the world, not to see the sights, but to do one thing. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse
12, the apostle said, a door was opened unto me to preach
Christ's gospel. That's what a gospel preacher
is and does. He preaches Christ's gospel. Recently, I had the opportunity
to travel to Mexico with another preacher. to preach the gospel
in various villages in Mexico. Now, I enjoy seeing the sites
in Mexico, the ruins of the ancient Mayan Indians, but we went there
to do one thing, to preach the gospel, Christ's gospel. That's what a gospel preacher
does. God demands it. That's why God calls preachers
to preach the gospel. And sinners need to hear the
gospel. So the gospel preacher is sent
to do one thing, preach Christ. He's not a socializer, he's not
an organizer, he's not a politician, but he's a preacher. And the
message which he must preach is Christ crucified, the Son
of God. Let me tell you a story. Back
when David was king, over in 2 Samuel, the story of David
as king, a war was going on and his son Absalom was slain. And there was a young man named
Ahamias who heard some things that were going on, heard about
the war and heard some things and wanted to run and tell the
king what he had heard. Now, he knew nothing of what
happened to the king's son, Absalom. He knew nothing about the king's
son, but he wanted to run and tell the king anyway. Well, the
king's captain, Joab, told the young man, said, you don't have
tidings. You can't run. You don't know
what went on. He said, no, you can't go. And
there was another young man named Cushi. He saw what happened to the king's
son. Cushi saw what happened to Absalom. He knew. about the
king's son. And Joab, the captain, called
Cushi. He hand-picked Cushi and sent
him to the king with tidings of the king's son. So he went. But Ahimeaz, the first young
man, wanted to run so bad. He wanted to run and tell the
king something so bad. He kept asking Joab to let him
go. So Joab finally said, Well, go
ahead then. And Ahabias ran faster than Cushiah. He was a faster runner. And he
overtook Cushiah. And over in 2 Samuel 18, verse
29, this is what the king, when Ahabias finally came to the king,
this is what the king said. The first thing out of the king's
mouth was concerning his son. He said, Is the young man Absalom
safe? What about my son? The king said. What about my son? And the young
man said, well, I saw a great tumult, but I don't know what
it was. I don't know. I don't know about
your son. I don't know what went on, but
I just wanted to run. Well, the king said, get out
of the way, turn aside. And then came Kushai, the one
who was sent by the captain of the king. Kushai was sent, handpicked,
called, and sent, and he'd seen what happened to the king's son. And he came to the king, and
the king said, What about my son? And Kushai told him what
had happened to his son. That's a clear picture of the
true gospel preacher as opposed to one who was not called and
not sent and who knows nothing of the gospel. The gospel is
concerning the king's son. It is what God demands that the
gospel preacher preach. And all whom God calls and sends,
he sends with this one message, Christ crucified. There are many
who put themselves into the ministry, who know nothing of the gospel,
and yet run anyway. And God didn't send them. Well,
the gospel is concerning the king's son. The gospel is concerning
who Jesus Christ is. Do you know who Jesus Christ
is? He is God manifest in the flesh. He is Emmanuel, which
is interpreted God with us. He is Jehovah, Jehovah Sidkenu. Do you know what that name means?
You need to know what that name means. Because the essence of
that name is the essence of the gospel. Jehovah Sidkenu means
the Lord our Righteousness. And Jesus Christ is the righteousness
for every unrighteous person or everyone who needs that righteousness. He is the Lord our Righteousness. Jesus Christ is the Savior of
the lost. Jesus Christ is the only advocate
or lawyer for the guilty. If you're unrighteous, Jesus
Christ is your only righteousness. If you're lost, Jesus Christ
is the only Savior. If you're guilty, Jesus Christ
is the only advocate. That's who Jesus Christ is, and
he's King. He's Lord of Lords and King of
Kings. And the gospel is why Jesus Christ
came. The gospel concerns why Jesus
Christ came. He came to be the substitute
for God's elect, to take their place, to live that life that
God demands of them, to die the death that they deserve. Christ
came to do for them what they could not do for themselves,
to glorify God as a man, to die as a man in their state. The
gospel is where Jesus Christ is now. He's at the right hand
of God, interceding for his people. He is reigning and ruling over
all. He is making sure his covenant,
he's making sure that all he died for will be saved. The gospel is who Jesus Christ
is, what he did and where he is now. And Paul says, God always
causes me or us who preach that gospel to triumph, to make the
savor of His knowledge, that is, the knowledge of the person
and work of Christ, to make it manifest everywhere we go. God
always blesses someone when Christ is preached. Christ said, My
sheep will hear My voice. In verse 15 of 2 Corinthians
2, He said, We are unto God A sweet savor of Christ. God loves to
hear of his son. Do you love it when people speak
of your children? Well, God loves to hear of his
son. God demands to hear of his son. As I said, God demands it. Sinners
need to hear it. And it is a sweet savor to God,
and it's a sweet savor in them that are saved. Some believe,
and Christ is the sweet savor of life to them. Some do not. Well, God is glorified whether
men believe or men don't. God's justice is going to be
glorified in the damnation of some. God's salvation, God's
mercy, God's grace, God's longsuffering will be glorified in the salvation
of some. So, the gospel is a sweet savor. to God, and it's a sweet savor
to them that are saved. Verse 16 says, to the one we're
the saver of death unto death. To those who are dead in trespasses
and sin, the gospel means nothing. Perhaps there's someone listening
right now to whom this gospel means nothing. If you're still
listening and haven't turned the radio off, this means nothing. All that I've said thus far means
nothing to you. That's because a dead man has
no savor of life. The life has no savor to that
man. The gospel has no savor. But
to the other, to those who are alive unto God, the gospel is
a sweet savor of life unto life. To the believer, the gospel is
a sweet thing indeed. And Paul says, who is sufficient
for these things? Who is sufficient for these things?
Well, no man. Only the Holy Spirit can make
the gospel a sweet savor to a man. The Holy Spirit must give life.
The Holy Spirit must give the new birth for the gospel to mean
anything. Well, Paul says in the next verse,
in the last verse here in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 17, he says, Now we
are not as many which corrupt the Word of God or deal deceitfully
with the Word of God. He says many. The Lord Jesus
Christ said there would be many false prophets come into the
world. Many. And when Christ says many,
when God says many, that's a lot. The Lord said that he has a people
as the sands of the seas and the stars of the sky. He has them numbered. But he
says no man can number. Well, if God can number the stars
and the sands. And here he says there are many.
Well, that's a lot. And so it is today that many,
many preachers, but not all are true preachers of the gospel.
I contend, based on the word of God, that most are not true
preachers of the gospel. That there are many false prophets,
many false preachers gone out into the world, which Paul says
here they are known by the fact that they corrupt the Word of
God. They deal deceitfully with the
Word of God. And the way that men corrupt
the Word of God is by not saying what God's Word says. They do
not preach all the counsel of God. Paul said, I have not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Whatever God's Word says,
the true preacher says it loud and clear. Whenever God's word
says elect, the true preachers of God's word says elect. Whatever God's word says about
predestination, the true preacher of God says predestination. Whatever
God's word says about the depravity of man, that man is filthy and
unrighteous and none doeth good, the true preacher of the gospel
says it loud and clear. He doesn't apologize for it,
but he says it loud and clear. not withholding God's Word, but
declaring all of God's Word. And many corrupt the Word of
God by saying what God's Word does not say, adding their own
opinion, adding their thoughts. And so, many false prophets corrupt
the Word of God by taking away from it, by not saying what it
does say, and by adding to it, by saying what it does not say.
Paul says, we are not as many, but as of sincerity. True preachers of the gospel
are in this thing sincerely. Sincerely for the glory of God. That's uppermost in their mind. The glory of God. Christ said,
let a man come in his own name and him you will receive. And
so it is. There are many out there today
who come to to make a name for themselves. And you see their
names everywhere, but not the true preacher of the gospel.
He's sincerely in it for the glory of God and for the truth
sake and for the salvation of men's soul to tell them the truth.
And quite often they become men's enemies for telling the truth.
And then Paul says, as of God, God sends them. And then in the
sight of God, the true preacher is more concerned with what God
thinks of him rather than what men think. And then he says,
in the sight of God, we speak of Christ. Speak we of Christ.
Christ is the message every time, every place. One message, Jesus
Christ and him crucified. God demands it. The sinner needs
it. Well, until next Sunday, good
day. Okay. Okay. Okay. you