The gospel preached is. The gospel
preached is. Now, I recognize that very few
of us here are preachers or will preach the gospel, but it's important
for us to know what's the gospel? How is the
gospel preached? What kind of gospel preaching
does this congregation support? What kind of gospel preaching
is going to go forth to our community from this congregation? It's
also important because we need to be able to recognize how the
gospel should be preached. We need to be able to recognize
God's servants when we hear them, because this is how we're to
preach the gospel. What kind of gospel is this congregation? Are we going to send forth into
this community? And the first point is this.
The gospel preached is never in vain. Look at verse one. First Thessalonians chapter two.
For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that
it was not in vain." You know, we never preach the gospel in
vain, ever. Look at Isaiah 55. The gospel,
when it's preached, always accomplishes God's purpose. Now, we may not
know what His purpose is, but it always accomplishes His purpose. Isaiah 55, verse 10, "'For as
the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth
not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth
and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the
eater. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.
It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I sent it." Now, it has pleased God by the foolishness of preaching,
by what the world calls the foolishness of preaching the gospel, to save
them that believe. And you can tell you've heard
the Word in power. God's Word has not come to you
in vain when the gospel preached reveals sin and kills sin. When it reveals self-righteousness
and kills self-righteousness. When it reveals God's mercy and
it applies God's mercy to your heart. The gospel has not come
to you in vain. When it reveals faith and gives
faith in Christ, puts it in your heart. The Gospel is also the
means that God uses to feed His sheep, to nourish His sheep,
give them growth. Don Bell told me one time, he
said, you just keep dealing honestly with the Scripture. People will
flourish. Eventually, people will flourish
if you deal honestly with the Scripture. Isn't that the kind
of preaching we pray God give us here? That's what we want
to send forth into our community, into our children, to our families.
Honest dealing with God's Word. But the Gospel also hardened
hearts if that's God's purpose. When someone hears, they come
here, they hear the gospel, and they leave here not believing
Christ, it makes me sad. I mean, I'm just so sad. Sad for them, but not defeated. Not defeated because this was
not God's purpose at that time. Pharaoh heard a word from God,
didn't he? Israel heard the same word. Israel rejoiced. Pharaoh's
heart was hardened. Moses wasn't defeated, was he?
No. I wish Pharaoh would have heard.
He was probably sad about that, but he was not defeated because
that was God's purpose, that Pharaoh's heart be hardened.
The same gospel that gives spiritual life to one adds to the condemnation,
adds to the death of another. The same gospel that softens
the heart of one will harden the heart of another. Look at
2 Corinthians chapter 2. Now, which will happen? Will
it soften or harden? Will it give life? Or will it
add to the condemnation? Well, that just depends on what
the will of the Lord is, what his purpose is at this time.
2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. Now, thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ. We're never defeated.
He always causes us to triumph in Christ. And maketh manifest
the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. We are unto
God a sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved, and in them
that perished. To the one, for the saver of
death unto death, and to the other, the saver of life unto
life. Now who is sufficient for these
things? Knowing this is the case, the same gospel preached softens
one, hardens another. Who is sufficient for these things? The gospel preached is never
in vain. Secondly, the gospel preached
is preached boldly. Look at verse 2 in our text.
But even after that we had suffered before, were shamefully entreated,
as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak
unto you the gospel of God with much contention. Now, whenever
the gospel is preached, there will be opposition. There'll
be attack. Satan despises the gospel of
Christ. It's his goal to keep people from looking to Christ.
He'll attack when Christ is preached. The flesh will attack when Christ
is preached. You know, if you preach the gospel,
you're going to tear down the flesh. You're going to attack
the flesh. The flesh will fight back. The gospel is going to
come under attack. But that will never make God's
servants soften the message. You know, you meet opposition
and hatred, you say, ooh, that didn't work. I'm not going to
say that next time. I'm not going to do that next
time. Next time I'll soften the message a little bit, and then
I'll ease people into the truth. Well, no, that's not very bold.
That's not the way we're to preach the gospel. If you have the truth,
you know you have the truth. Well, you'll be bold with it.
There's no reason to be timid with the truth. You're going
to be bold with it. Part of this word bold means assurance. I know that Christ is the truth
of God. Well, if I know that, do you
know that? That's what we'll preach if that's what we know.
If we know Christ is the truth, we're going to preach Him. The
gospel is the message from the King of Kings. Well, now you
can boldly, the ambassador can go out and boldly declare the
message from the King of Kings, can't we? This gospel is the
King's message. We're not at liberty to edit
it. You know, people say, well, now, you know, the gospel was
written 2,000 years ago. It's out of date. We've got to
edit it, modify it to fit the times. No, sir. We boldly declare
the message of the King. And as soon as the gospel was
preached here in Thessalonica, now people believed. And also,
immediately, they came under persecution. Look in Acts chapter
16. This is what Paul is referring
to the time there at Philippi when they were so badly treated
in Acts chapter 16. And they continued, even though
they were under persecution. They continued to preach the
gospel boldly. And that doesn't just apply to
the pastor now, that's to the church congregation. Are we going
to boldly preach the gospel of Christ or not? In Acts 16 verse
23, this is after Paul and Silas had cast out the demons out of
this woman, the soothsayer. In verse 23, and when they laid
many stripes upon them and cast them into prison, charging the
jailer to keep them safely. who, having received such a charge,
thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the
stalks." Now, maybe with all those stripes on their back,
and the bleeding wounds, and their hands and feet in the stalks,
and they're in pain and hurting, and in that cold, dark dungeon,
maybe they think, you know, we'll back off this a little bit. At
midnight, Paul and Silas prayed, and they sang praises unto God,
and the prisoners heard them. Now, that's pretty bold, isn't
it? Look back at Acts chapter 4. The point of all this is we're
going to boldly preach the gospel. We're not going to let contention
and strife make us back off. Acts 4 verse 18. And they called
them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the
name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and
said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to
hearken unto you more than God, Judge E., you decide that. For
we cannot but speak the things which we've seen and we've heard.
Can't do it. And they further threaten them,
but it didn't matter. They're going to preach anything.
Now that's pretty bold, isn't it? That's the way the church
is to preach the gospel. And as a congregation, we cannot
let opposition make us back down from the truth. Can't do it.
God's glory is at stake. The souls of sinners, the souls
of people are at stake. When Paul says here, with much
contention, that word means as if in a battle. Because we are
in a battle. We're in a battle for God's glory.
We're in the battle for souls, to win souls to Christ. And the
hotter the battle rages, the more boldly we're to contend
for the truth and preach the gospel. The gospel preachers
preach boldly. Third, the gospel priest is preached
with a pure motive. Look at verse 3. For our exhortation
was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor of guile. Now our exhortation,
that means a persuasive discourse. And it also means comfort. That's
the message of Christ, isn't it? A persuasive discourse and
comfort. We persuade men to come to Christ
by preaching Christ to them. And we comfort God's people.
with the same message, by preaching Christ to them. Now, the goal
of this congregation, isn't it to lead sinners to Christ? Isn't
that our prayer? Dan prayed it this morning. That
sinners would come to know the Savior. Our goal is to lead sinners
to Christ. Well, we can't use to seek then,
because the word here that Paul uses means it's to lead here
and there, to wander off. which leads to error and fraud.
That's the definition of the word. It's going to lead to error
and fraud. Now, the main reason we gather
together is to go straight to Christ. To be led straight to
Christ. Well, if as a congregation, if
we fail to lead men straight to Christ, we've committed fraud.
We've committed fraud on men. We've robbed them of their inheritance.
Just like those fellows at Enron. They committed fraud. Ruined
people. Bankrupted them. That's what
we've done. If we don't lead men straight
to Christ, we've committed fraud on them. And as a church, we
don't persuade sinners and we don't comfort God's elect out
of an impure motive. That's what uncleanness means,
out of an impure motive. We're not preaching the gospel
for our own gain. You know, we don't preach and
try to gather a big crowd. You know, as we say, well, look
how many we have and bring glory to ourselves. That's what the
Pharisees do. Look at verse 6. Nor of men sought we glory, neither
of you, nor yet of others." Well, we might have been burdensome
as the apostles of Christ. Paul said, we're not seeking
our own glory in this thing. We're seeking the glory of Christ.
That's whose glory we're seeking. And we're not putting demands
on people. Paul could have done that, couldn't he? I mean, this
man had authority. As an apostle of Christ, he had
authority. He wasn't going to put burdens
on people. Now, I tell you, come to Christ. But if you come, you're
going to come willingly. You're not going to have somebody
dragging you to Christ. You're not going to have somebody twisting your arm.
You come to Christ, but now if you come, you're going to come
willingly. You give. You do the things that you do
to support the gospel. But now nobody's twisting your
arm to do it. If you feel like somebody's twisting your arm
to do it, quit it. Don't do it. But if you're going to give,
you're going to give willingly. God's people are going to be
willing. And I tell you when people are willing, when they
hear the gospel in power. It's not in vain. They hear the
gospel empowering. God speaks through the power
of his gospel. People are going to be willing.
Our motive as a congregation is the glory of God. That's what
we desire. We desire God to be glorified.
Whatever you do in word or deed, do it in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Do it for his glory. Our motive as a congregation
is the good of God's elect. Paul said, I endure all things
for the elect's sake, for this cause. that they may also obtain
salvation, which is in Jesus Christ. We preach the gospel
because we're commanded to preach. That's why we preach. Go into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You
preach. We preach for this reason also. We can't keep silent. Can't
keep it in. My mouth shall show forth thy
praises all the day long. And as a congregation, we don't
persuade sinners. We don't comfort God's elect
with anything. anything other than Christ. The word guile there means decoy. We're not putting out a lure,
you know, like they do when you're duck hunting, put those plastic
ducks out and you're using it as a decoy, a lure to lure people
in. What I learned trying to lure
people in and then eventually slip Christ in, you know, lure
men for some other reason, then want to slip Christ in on them.
No, no. Look at verse five. For neither
at any time use we flattering words, as you know, nor cloak
of covetousness." God's witness. You know, we're not going to
flatter the flesh and then try to sneak some truth in on people
aren't looking. First of all, there's nothing
flattering about the flesh. You can't flatter the flesh.
There's nothing flattering about it. But there is about Christ. He's altogether lovely. That's
what we're going to preach. We're going to preach Him. And
we're not flattering people so that they'll like us. You know,
well, if people like us, then they'll stay and stick around.
No, we're not flattering people so that they like us. I hope
you do. I hope you like me. I hope people
that come in here, I hope they like you all. I mean, I really
do hope that. We ought to be likable people.
But my main concern is not that somebody likes me. My main concern,
my main concern is people love Christ. The only way they're
going to love him is if they hear him preach. That's our main
concern. That's what the Apostle Paul
said, I'm determined not to know anything among you, save this,
Jesus Christ, him crucified, because I want you to love Christ.
And if we used all these methods, deceit and uncleanness and guile,
that would defeat our purpose. That would defeat our goal for
sinners to be saved, because nobody's going to be saved with
a lie. God's not going to honor a lie. He uses the truth to save
his people. God's sheep will not be fed and
they won't grow with anything other than the truth, the sincere
pure milk of the word of God. So fourth, our gospel is preached
with a pure motive. Fourth, the gospel preached is
preached because God's entrusted it to us. We have to preach it.
God put it in our trust. Look at verse four. But as we
were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even
so we speak, not as pleasing men, But God was trieth our hearts. Now, we're not just playing games
here. I mean, this is serious business. And I pray every one
of us will treat this ministry with great care. Great care. We have been allowed of God to
be put in trust with His gospel. The gospel of His Son. The word
allowed means deemed worthy. Like you test a coin, you know,
you see in the old movies, they put a gold coin in their teeth
and tug on it. They're testing it to see if
it's genuine, to see if it's worthy. We've been deemed worthy
to be put in trust with the gospel. Now, we already asked who's sufficient
for these things. How can we be worthy of such
a charge to be given the gospel, put in charge of the gospel?
The only reason is God's made us worthy. He's made us genuine
believers. Now, we're still clay pots. I
mean, we're nothing better than a clay pot. But God has chosen
to put His gospel, the gospel of the glory of His Son, in clay
pots like us. Now, treat that seriously. Not
just me, the whole congregation. We need to treat this charge
seriously. To be put in trust is to be given
the care of something. And about the best illustration
I can think of is you grandparents. When you keep your grandchildren,
your children, they bring their child to you, give them to you.
They're going to go off somewhere. That's a big responsibility.
You treat that pretty seriously? Got those grandbabies? Treat
that pretty seriously? When they're with you, do you
want to be safe? You don't have to call your child
and say, I went and watched them go down the stairs. Do you want
to be safe? Do you want them to feel loved? When they're with
you, you want them to have some good memories that they'll look
back on. I would say, you know, you want them to get the proper
amount of rest. You want them to eat well, but you don't. You
let them stay up late and eat junk because you want them, you
know, you're spoiling them. See, every illustration only
goes so far, but you get my point, right? You want them to be happy. You want them to be safe. How
would you feel? How would you think your child
would feel if they brought you your child and you didn't love
them? I noticed Debbie sitting there this morning with her grandbabies
on her lap. Pure, unadulterated love. Leah, how would you have
felt if it was the opposite? That wouldn't go over too good,
would it? You want them to feel loved.
How serious a matter is it that God Almighty has put in our trust
the gospel of His Son? The gospel that preaches the
glory of His Son, that guards the reputation of His Son. How
serious a matter is that now? God's put that in our trust. What a responsibility. And we
have to give an account for our ministry. Well, how's that account
going to go if we took this opportunity to accomplish our purpose, not
God's purpose? How's that account going to go
if we didn't preach the gospel boldly? Well, you know, we thought
we ought to do it our way. How's that account going to go
if we don't preach the gospel out of a pure motive? God's put
the gospel of His Son in our trust. Now, how's that account
going to go if we usually try to get gain for ourselves? If
we try to get glory to ourselves? If we treat the gospel as a light
thing, how's that account going to be given? Well, it'll be given
with grief, not with joy. My greatest fear in preaching
is I let the Lord down. That's my greatest fear, letting
the Lord down and letting you down. That's what Paul means
when he says we don't preach the gospel as pleasing men, but
pleasing God. We're not going to let him down.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9. This sums up pretty well what
I'm saying about this, God's given this to our charge, the
gospel of his son. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 16. For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. This
charge has been given. It is necessary that we preach
the gospel. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel." Now, we've been made stewards. Stewards of the
gospel of Christ. We've been put in charge of that.
We're stewards or put in charge of whatever it is the Master
decides to give us. Well, shouldn't a steward be
faithful? As a congregation, let's be faithful with the gospel
of God. Knowing this, there's just one
gospel. Paul said the gospel. We've been put in charge of the
gospel, the gospel of God. This gospel that could never
fail. This gospel of God is never an empty, never a vain, useless
thing. Well, then let's not preach anything
else. Now, let's be determined not to get sidetracked. If something
has become a distraction, if something I'm doing is becoming
a distraction to the gospel of Christ, I'd better quit it. Let's
be determined that nothing's going to happen to take somebody's
attention and the focus off of Christ. This is the gospel of
God. They're just one gospel because
they're just one Savior. Well, let's preach again. And
if we're just one, shouldn't we preach it boldly? There's
salvation in none other name. Should we boldly preach his name
so people don't get off on some tangent? They're just one gospel
because they're just one source of good news. The gospel means
good news. We're just one source of good
news. It's Christ. There's no good news in us whatsoever.
That's why we're not going to flatter the flesh and use deceit
and guile. The only way sinners will be
saved, the only way God's people will grow and be comforted is
to hear the one gospel, the unvarnished truth. The gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's why we don't preach
men to make them love us. We're not trying to please men.
God's put the gospel in our trust. Well, let's preach it to please
God. And if we do, we preach the gospel to please God. You
know what? That'll please God's people and we'll be friends.
But we're not going to be joined together by anything other than
the gospel. The gospel of Christ. Fifth,
the gospel preached is preached in love. Look at verse seven.
But we are gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her
children. And I told you this Wednesday
night, you cannot minister to somebody you don't love. You
just can't preach to somebody if you don't love them. You all,
when you see need to help somebody, you can't help somebody you don't
love. Now, we preach the gospel boldly. God help us to never
do anything less than preach the gospel boldly. But that doesn't
mean you have to be mean and harsh. You can be bold and loving
at the same time. And I'll give you an illustration.
You see your child running towards the street. As they're running
towards the street, you see a truck coming this way. And you say,
well, now come back here if you want to. That's not bold. And it's not loving at all. You
see your child that you love running And you run and grab them and
pull them back. There's going to be some force involved, isn't
there? But it's loving. You don't want to get smushed
by that truck. You can be bold and loving at the same time.
You can be uncompromising and you can be loving at the same
time. You don't have to be hateful about this thing. You know, Janet
and I were uncompromising when our girls were growing up. Uncompromising. We would never let them eat rat
poison. You can be uncompromising and loving at the same time,
can't you? Now, I know sometimes it's necessary that the Lord
use the rod and the staff. But that can be done lovingly.
We don't want to bruise God's sheep. You don't want to give
them a concussion and smack them upside the head. You just don't
want them to fall off the cliff. You can do those things without
being mean to people. And we're not lords over God's
heritage now. We're examples. Examples of faith,
love, and boldness. And that applies to all of us.
None of us are lords over anybody. None of us. And if you think
you are higher, if you think you're on some higher plane than
somebody, here's what you do. Don't boss them around. Be their
servant. Isn't that what the Lord said? Whoever is chief among
you, let him be the servant. Be as a loving mother, a nursing
mother. When a mother is nursing that
child, how does she love that child? deep love. A mama nursing that baby. She
gives of her time. She's got to stop what she's
doing and nurse that baby. She's giving her time. She gives
of herself. She gives of her body. So that
baby's going to take what it needs first. She's going to get
what's left over. She's giving of herself. That's
a self-sacrificing love. That's the way this congregation
is to preach the gospel. With a self-sacrificing love.
Look at verse 8. So being affectionately desirous
of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel
of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear
to us. We were gentle among you as a
nurse cherishes her children. We were affectionately desirous
of you, and we give of ourselves so that the gospel can be preached."
Verse 9, "'For you remember, brethren, our labor and laboring
night and day because we'd not be chargeable unto any of you.
We preached unto you the gospel of God. Now I'm willing, I'm
willing to be spent preaching the gospel, studying and preaching
the gospel. But now don't be mistaken. I'm
not the only one by far committed to preaching the gospel in this
community. You all are. You're just as committed to it
as I am. We're all committed to this matter of preaching the
gospel. I'm not the only one sacrificing so the gospel can
be preached. You all are too. And you know
why? It's because we care about the
glory of God. We care about people. We want
people to know Christ. And Paul said, I wouldn't be
chargeable to you. He was willing and he did. Willing to go out
and work a job in the daytime to earn my keep and study at
night so I can preach the gospel to you. I'm willing to do that. It wouldn't be best for you or
me, either one, but I'm willing to do that. God's servants will
be willing. The messages wouldn't be good because it doesn't have
time to prepare, but you know, you'd be willing. Cody Groover
is telling me back years ago, they had these big Henica plantations
all in Mexico, and they would go, the men would have to travel
away from home. They'd be gone all week working
in these plantations, and then at the weekend, they'd come home.
Well, the brethren, Go work. You know, all week they'd be
gone all week. Well, they're done with their work day. They
can't go home. See their wives and children.
They all get together. He's at dad's service every day. Every single day. The pastor's
with them. He's out there working the Hanukkah
fields. And he preached to them every day. And what sounds, you
know, great is go hear some preaching, you know. And Cody said, I don't
know if it's good or bad. He didn't have time to prepare.
Well, you know, if you're willing, But it wouldn't be good for either
one of us, because messages wouldn't be good. You have to have time
to spend studying and praying. But there's a deeper meaning,
I think, here. I have to give an account of my ministry to
God and to you. I have to give an account of
my ministry. I don't want to be chargeable to you. I don't. You would be able to put to my
charge a crime if I didn't preach the gospel to you. If I didn't
preach it boldly, if I didn't preach it in love, if I didn't
take this matter of having the gospel committed to our care,
if I didn't take that seriously, you'd be able to lay a charge
to my account. I'd be guilty. I don't want to
be chargeable to you. You'd be able to lay a charge
to my account if I held something back. If I held something back
that was profitable to you, if I held back part of the truth,
I'd be chargeable to you. I'd be guilty of a crime. I've
not shunned. to declare the whole counsel
of God to you. Now, I don't know the whole counsel of God, but
what I know, what God showed me, what he's taught me, I'm
not shunned to declare unto you. And if I wouldn't do that, I'd
be chargeable to you. Now, I'll show you how earnestly we're
to preach the gospel. He mentioned earlier a mother
nursing her child. Now, look here at verse 10. Your
witnesses, and God also, how wholly and justly and unblameably
we behaved ourselves among you that believe. As you know, how
we exhorted, and we comforted, and we charged, that word charged
is testified. We testified to every one of
you. Now how did you do that? As a
father does his children. Now when a father is giving advice
to his children, especially his children who have gotten a little
older, he's pretty serious about it. It comes from the heart,
motive of love from the heart. These are his children. He watched
them grow in the womb. He watched them begin to grow,
see signs of life in there. He watched them be born, take
that first breath. He heard that first cry. He watched
them as they learned to roll over. A little while later, they
learned to crawl. A little while later, he watched
them start to take those first steps. He heard their first words. He watched them grow and learn
and mature. By this point, I'm pretty invested
in that kid. I mean, I'm emotionally invested
in that kid. How am I going to tell them about
Christ? Earnestly. Lovingly. I'm not going to hold
anything back. I'm not going to take part of the edge of the
truth off so that it don't hurt their feelings. I want them to
know Christ. That's how I feel about you.
That's the way we feel about this community. We care. But
how the gospel is preached, as a father talks to his children,
earnestly, he's not going to tell his children a lie. He's
going to tell them the truth. That's the way we're to preach
the gospel. I hope God will enable us to preach the gospel this
way to our community. It's important. What a charge
God's given us to be responsible for preaching the gospel to our
generation. What a charge. May God help us
take it seriously.