What is it to preach the gospel? That's the title of my message.
What is it to preach the gospel? May God the Holy Ghost be our
teacher as you care for your soul and care for those who are
influenced by you. Give me your attention and hear
what God says. I repeat everything I have to
say in this message. Every word is of immense importance. The salvation of God's elect
is a matter of absolute certainty. It is a thing that is absolutely
sure. Now, folks who understand the
Word of God even slightly, folks who just have the slightest understanding
of the Word of God, recognize that every sinner chosen by God
the Father in eternal election Every sinner redeemed by the
precious blood of Christ at Calvary, and every sinner called by God
the Holy Spirit in effectual grace, shall come to Christ,
shall believe on Christ, and shall inherit eternal glory with
Christ. There is no possibility, no possibility,
that the Father could love one who perishes. That's just impossible. This day and age, folks talk
about God's universal love. Let me tell you something about
universal love. It is universal foolishness.
You hear people say, I love everybody. That's a lie. You don't love
somebody you don't know. That's impossible. And folks
talk about God loving everybody. If God loves everybody, he's
got a strange way of showing it. Some folks go to hell. To
talk about God loving everybody is to say that the love of God
is meaningless. Talk about God loving everybody.
Well, there's some sense in which God loves everybody, even though
some folks go to hell anyhow. If that's the case, there's some
sense in which God's love doesn't matter at all. That's just blasphemy. That's just blasphemy. To suggest
that God wills the salvation of all men and some are not saved
is to say that God does not have His will. His will is subject
to man's will. His will is subject to Satan's
will. And that's to say, after all, He really isn't God. It's
to say that God's will, God's purpose is meaningless. If God
willed the salvation of all people, all folks would be saved. The
scripture says, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. And this God
said concerning Jacob and Esau, when the children were not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, and it was written,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of
works but by God's free grace so then it is not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy
God who has mercy on whom he will have mercy is God who hardens
whom he will harden I don't like that take it up with God that's
the way it is that's the way it is to deny the efficacy of
Christ atonement to deny that every sinner for whom Jesus Christ
died at Calvary shall with certainty believe on him being born of
the Spirit of God shall with certainty enter into heaven's
glory to suggest to suggest just just to entertain the notion
that Jesus Christ died for the multitudes who perish in hell
as well as those who are saved by his grace, died for those
who are saved and died for those who are lost, is to say that
the blood of Christ ain't worth spit. It is to trample underfoot
the blood of the Son of God. It is to deny the very deity
of the Son of God, for it is to declare that he is a failure. In fact, my first theology professor,
when I was in school at Springfield, Missouri back in 1968, Noel Smith
was probably the most consistent Arminian I ever met in my life.
This statement he wrote out and I've kept it for years. He said,
what is hell? I say it with every nerve in
my body tense. I say it reverently and fearfully. Hell is a colossal trophy to
the failures of the triune God to save the multitudes who are
there. He did all he could, he failed. Let me tell you something,
a failure ain't God. To say I believe in God and say
he fails is to contradict yourself. It is to declare that you believe
a false God. To say I believe in Jesus Christ,
I trust his blood, that his blood doesn't make any difference to
some folks, that's to say I don't believe in the Christ of God.
The Christ you're talking about's a false Christ. Now, to declare
that he's a failure is to declare exactly contrary of what God
said about him. Isaiah 42 verse 4, He shall not
fail. Failure is not a possibility
with the Son of God. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
shall never be discovered a miscarriage. To suggest as virtually all Religious
folks do. That God the Holy Spirit calls
folks who resist his grace and hold out and just fight against
God and will not submit and finally go to hell in spite of God the
Holy Spirit doing all he could to draw them to Christ, is to
declare that God the Holy Spirit is a useless influence and not
God at all. Those things are utter blasphemy. Brother Don, are you saying that
people who don't believe that God's sovereign, that he saves
his people, that all the redeemed are truly redeemed, that all
who are called by the Spirit of God are saved by God's grace,
folks who deny that are lost people? Well, of course I'm saying
that. Of course I'm saying that. There's
not any reason, there's not any reason for you folks to have
done what you've done the last three or four years trying to
establish a gospel work here. There was no reason for you to
move here and make the sacrifices you've got to make the rest of
your life to build a gospel church in this place if folks can go
down the road and hear the gospel. There's not any reason for it.
There's not any reason for it. This is not just a better, higher
form of religious knowledge. I'm talking about the gospel
of the free grace of God in Jesus Christ. I'm talking about the
glory of God our Savior. Not only is it certain that God's
elect will be saved. Every redeemed sinner will be
saved. Every sinner called by God the
Holy Spirit will be saved. There's no question about that.
None at all. It is also certain that God has
ordained to save those people by the preaching of the gospel. God has ordained to save his
elect by the preaching of the gospel. Now, gospel preaching
is not an optional extra that you can take or choose, choose
or refuse. Gospel preaching is vital to
the salvation of your soul. Gospel preaching is vital to
the salvation of God's elect. No one's going to be saved without
God's election. No one's going to be saved without
Christ's redemption. No one's going to be saved without
the Spirit's call. And nobody is going to be saved
without the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God. Nobody. I recall a couple of years ago,
I was flying somewhere out of Louisville, Kentucky, and one
of the TSA agents had to go through my bags and saw my Bible in there
and asked me if I was a preacher. I said, yes. And he said, And
he had to kind of whisper, because he's not supposed to talk about
those things, I reckon. He said, what do you think about predestination?
I said, I think it's a good thing. You believe in predestination?
I said, of course I do. He said, well, why do you preach? I said, because I believe in
predestination and election. God's going to save his elect.
There's no question about that. Every predestined sinner shall
be called by his grace. But he'll do it through the voice
of a preacher preaching the gospel, just like I'm doing here now.
I give my life to this work. I give my life relentlessly to
this work. I travel almost every week somewhere
to preach the gospel, sometimes to two or three people, sometimes
to several hundred people, usually just to a small group just like
this, because I know there are people in this world chosen of
God to life eternal, redeemed by the precious blood of God's
darling Son, who shall be born again by God the Holy Spirit
through the preaching of the gospel. Listen to the language
of scripture. The issue is not whether or not
God can save without gospel preaching. If God wanted to, he could call
that projector there to swing from the ceiling and hit you
in the head and save you with it. Of course he could, he's
God. If it were his will to do so,
he could speak to you by an angel and cause you to believe. Were
it his will to do so, he could cause you to believe on Christ
without anything being used except his will. But that's not his
will. And God has plainly told us what
his will is. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. The book tells us plainly,
faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans chapter
10, verse 17. Turn over to the book of first
Peter. I want you to see this. I want
you to see this. Don't let anyone confuse you
in this regard. James tells us, of his own will
beget he us with the word of truth. Somebody said sometime
back before it believes in gospel regeneration. And if they'll
ask me about it, I said, of course I do. Of course I do. Cause this
is what the book says. First Peter chapter one. First
Peter chapter one. Look at it. Don't take my word
for it. Look what it says. First Peter
chapter one. I'm sorry. I'm in the wrong place.
Let's go to second Peter. Nope. I was in the right place
to start with. First Peter chapter one. Verse 23, there we are. Peter says, we're born again. You see that? Born again. Not a corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible. By the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. by the word of God now the word
that's translated word there is not the same word translated
word in John chapter 1 verse 1 in the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and God was the word that word is
talking about Christ who is the revelation of God the word used
here translated word here is the word that is used throughout
the New Testament to refer to the written word of God okay
we're born again not a corruptible seed not a corruptible seed but
of incorruptible by the word of God this book right here look
at this this book right here which liveth and abideth forever
for all flesh is grass and all the glory of man is the flower
of grass the grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth
away But the word of the Lord endureth forever. Now watch this
next word. And this is the word. You got
it in your hand there? You got it, Mike? This is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. This is the word which
by the gospel is preached unto you. There is no understanding
of this word but by the preaching of the gospel. No understanding
of whether you think we just come and listen to the preacher
and believe what the preacher says. No, sir. You check everything I say by
this book. Check it by this book. If what I speak is according
to this book, you hear it, believe it, and obey it. If it's not,
don't ever hear me again. And I say that with regard to
every man who dares to speak in God's name. Find out what
the book says. But understand this, Mike, you
cannot understand it on your own. How can I know these things
if some man showed me? The eunuch asked that, didn't
he? Some man got to show me. These things come by divine revelation
through the instrumentality of God's ordained means, the preaching
of the gospel. That makes what's going on here
right now the most important thing on this earth. The most important thing on this
earth. If you half-believe that, you
wouldn't choose to stay home and watch gun smoke instead of
be here. If you half-believe that, you wouldn't choose to,
well, I just, nah, we don't need to go down there. We'll stay
over here and play cards tonight. This is not an optional thing.
Read the fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians. Christ received
gifts for men when they rode on high. Yea, for the rebellious
also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. You know what
those gifts were? pastors and teachers for the perfecting of
the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ, so that
God is pleased to call out his elect by the preaching of the
word of God. Those who teach that God saves
sinners apart from the preaching of the word fly fully in the
face of Holy Scripture. Now, this is what I want you
to see. The preaching of the gospel is God's chosen ordained
means of grace by which he calls chosen redeemed sinners to life
and faith in Christ by the irresistible power of God the Holy Spirit. I hear people say, well, I will
say, cause I just read in the Bible and I saw it. If you saw
it, it's cause somebody told you somewhere along the way.
You didn't just come up with it by yourself. God saves sinners
by the foolishness of preaching. And this word is preached to
you by the gospel. It is not preached unless the
gospel is preached. This word is not preached unless
the gospel is preached. I know we live in this religious
age and folks had their Bible studies on prophecy and they
have studies on marriage and divorce and finances and raising
children and politics and all the stuff you find in horse barns. That's what it is. It's just
dung. It's just dung. It's religious exercise without
God, without grace and without his spirit. I, uh, you'll hear
folks gonna have a series of studies. Preachers gonna start
preaching on the family. Gonna start preaching on the
family. Oh, that'll get you interested on it. Gonna preach on the family
and folks will come and they'll listen to the teaching and the
preaching and they'll say, oh, that's so good, that's so good.
And Eric and Amy will quit fussing and fighting and hitting each
other and throwing coffee cups at each other. It's feeling real
good about themselves and it must be good for us. And after
about three or four weeks, I say, man, I sure wish Mike and his
wife had been there. They needed that. And that's always the result.
I don't mean now and then, that's always the result. It's always
the promotion of your righteousness. And it always succeed in doing
just that. Well, what about Ephesians 5? Husbands, love your wives
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Wives, submit
yourselves to your husbands. Those things are all true. Those
things are all true. And do those things, that's right. But Paul
said, now don't misunderstand me. That's not what I'm talking
about. I'm not talking about you and your wife. I'm talking
about Christ and the church. and all relationships taught
in this book are reflected through Christ and the church by the
gospel, so that everything in the book is preached when the
gospel of God's grace is preached to you. If the preaching of the
gospel is, as God the Holy Spirit universally declares it is, vital
to the salvation of lost souls, then no questions can possibly
be more important than the three I want to address this evening.
Come back to Romans chapter one again, and we're gonna go over
the same material we looked at last night deliberately. I have
three questions. I'm gonna answer them as clearly
as I possibly can from the word of God. First, who preaches the
gospel? The woods are full of preachers.
Rob Barnard used to say somebody ought to put a 10 cent bounty
on them. I kind of agree. Woods are full of preachers.
Contemptible scum of the earth. Preachers who lie to you about
God, about God's salvation, about God's word. The most contemptible
scum of the earth. I don't care who they are. If
they don't preach free grace, they got no business preaching.
Who preaches the gospel? Number two. What is the gospel? Let's look at that again. And
number three, what is it to preach the gospel? I want you to hold
your Bibles open here at Romans chapter one. May God the Holy
Spirit be our teacher. Number one, who preaches the
gospel? If you want an example of a gospel
preacher, show me the prime example of a gospel preacher among men.
You can't do better than look at the Apostle Paul. That man
was a preacher. He was a preacher. He said to
the church at Ephesus, I've not shunned and declared to you all
the counsel of God. In two years, in two years, he
said I preached to you all the counsel of God. And I've been
preaching a while. And I haven't yet expounded every
word in the book. I've been doing it for 45 years.
You're not gonna preach every word in this book in two years.
It just ain't gonna happen not even with Paul. What's his name?
I've not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God. He's
I've told you all the truth of God and he said the same thing
in first corinthians chapter two verse two i've determined
not to know anything among you say jesus christ and him crucified
that's the message of the book that's the whole counsel of god
those who preach the gospel follow paul's example now look how he
describes himself paul a servant of jesus christ called to be
an apostle separated to the gospel of god That man who truly preaches
the gospel, that man who always preaches the gospel, that man
who preaches the whole gospel and preaches the gospel exclusively,
he is the servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle. Gospel
preachers are men, not women, men, men. You mean that women
ought not preach? Of course not. most absurd thing on this earth.
A woman standing up, pretending to be a preacher. That's ridiculous.
You ladies, I strongly urge you, don't start acting like theologians. That's not your place. That's
not your place. Worship God and learn with quietness,
meekness, and submission in the house of God. Those men who are
called of God to preach the gospel are men. Men called and gifted
by God as his messengers. Now let me tell you what that
means. That means they are men who by God's grace had been made
to meet the standards laid out in the New Testament for what
a pastor, a bishop, must be. Blameless. A man who rules his
house. A man who is of good repute.
A man who is apt to teach. Apt to teach? What does that
mean? That means he is given by God a remarkable divinely
gifted ability to understand the book of God. He understands
the word of God. I'm not pretending to be humble. I recognize I'm a man of just
average intelligence, but I know what God's done for me. God's
given me the knowledge of his word. Pastor, I know what this
book teaches. I know what it teaches. It teaches
free grace and the crucified redeemer from one end to the
other. I know the whole message of this
book. And God gives that man not only the ability to understand
it, but the ability to communicate it to others so that he speaks
the word and folks understand what he says. And a man who doesn't
understand the message and doesn't have the ability to declare the
message with clarity so that folks understand it is not called
of God to preach. Doesn't matter how nice he is,
doesn't matter how much you like him, he's not called of God to
preach. Those who are called and gifted of God to this work
understand the word. and they're gifted of God to
communicate the word to others so that they too understand the
word. Called to be an apostle. If you ever run across a man
called of God, you've run across a fella who has something special. He has a mandate from God. A mandate from God. If you run
across somebody who even thinks he has a mandate from God, you
may as well get out of his way, because you're not going to control
him. You're not going to control him. He has a mandate from God.
Moses came to Pharaoh with a mandate from God. And Pharaoh kept offering Moses
compromises. Read the book of Exodus. He said,
you ought to go out a little ways in the wilderness. Just
leave your cattle here. Moses said, when we go out, we're not
going to leave a hoof behind. He had a mandate from God. He
couldn't be controlled. He couldn't be coerced. He could
not compromise anything. Why should he compromise anything?
He had a mandate from God. God told him, you're going to
take Israel out of here. And so he goes to Egypt and goes
to Pharaoh under God's authority with all the meekness there is
under the sun. With meekness. Because he knew
he was God's messenger on God's mission. And you can't control
him. You can't coerce him. You can't get him to compromise.
You can't bribe him. He has a mandate from God. John
the Baptist was that kind of man. And every man called of
God is just such a man. Look at verse 1 again. I'll tell
you something else about that man who truly preaches the gospel.
He's the servant of Christ. He's divinely called as the messenger
of Christ. And he is separated to the gospel. God separates him from his mother's
womb. God separated him from eternity. God separates him in his providence. God takes his elect and hedges
them about. Isn't that wonderful how he does
that? He hedges them back so they can't escape. I've just
got two grandchildren. I pray for them every day, every
day. God set a hedge about them. and don't let them escape. Well,
he does that for those who are separated from eternity to be
his messengers. He sets a hedge about them and
everything about their lives is directing them to this work.
And when God separates them to the work, he places them where
he would have them. So that he has prepared that
man to minister to those people in the place where he's put him.
I've been in Danville for almost 35 years. And the first day I
was there, my wife will verify this, I called her up and I said,
honey, I don't know what these folks are going to do, but I
know this is the place God has for me. And they called me, Pastor,
pack your bags, we're moving to Danville. How could you know
that? I just knew that. And I've never
considered going anywhere else. I've never given it a thought.
I know I'm in the place for which God prepared me and the place
God prepared for me. So that that man who is called
of God to preach the gospel is not just called to preach here
or there or anywhere. No, no. He's called to a specific
work. Called to do a specific thing
in the kingdom of God for the glory of Christ. He's a man separated
to this. Look at how Paul describes this
separation in verse nine. You remember how Abraham sent
his servant to find a bride for Isaac, what is it, Genesis 23?
Eliezer goes out and he said, now, Eliezer, you promised me,
you promised me you're gonna get a bride for my son down here
among his kindred. Don't take her from among the
heathen, from among his kindred. And Eliezer put his hand under
his thigh and swore to him. And he went down and he found
Rebekah's and found her brethren. And the brethren wanted to do
this thing and the other. He said, I won't eat till we get this thing settled.
This is what I've come for. Get this settled, then we'll
go eat and have fun. But right now, I've come to find a bride
for my master's son. So it is with those who preach
the gospel. Look at verse nine. God is my
witness. God is my witness. that's a strong
declaration whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his
son that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers
making requests if by any means now at length I might have a
prosperous journey by the will of God to come to you because
I want to come to you I want to come to you by the will of
God I want to come to you so as to be proper or prosperous
to your souls for I long to see you that I may impart unto you
some spiritual gift. I want to see you not just so
we can get together and talk about old times. I want to impart
something for your soul to the end that you may be established.
Verse 12, that is that I may be comforted together with you
by the mutual faith of you and me. Brother Horton just said
some things to me before service tonight and he's kind of apologized
for saying I don't want to Lift you up. I want to lift up your
pride. People sometimes ask me, I don't
know what to say to the preacher. I want to make him proud. Go
ahead and risk it. He can handle that. But he said some things. And your comments of the comfort
you give him were a comfort to me. That's just what Paul's talking
about. I'm profited when you profit.
I am nourished when you're nourished. I'm here to serve your soul,
and if God will let me serve your soul, then I'm comforted
with you by the mutual faith. The mutual faith. Isn't that
a good word? The mutual faith. Our faith is mutual faith of
you and me. Now, look at verse 13. I would
not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed coming
to you. I've made my plans many times,
but was let hitherto. I was hindered. The Spirit of
God wouldn't let me come. that I might have some fruit among
you also, even as among other Gentiles. He says, God, the Holy
Spirit kept me from coming to you. And God, the Holy Spirit
set the time for me to come to you because I've got to come
at his time so that the trip will be profitable and fruitful
to you. And look at verse 14. I'm a debtor, I'm a debtor. both to the Greeks and to the
barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much
as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at
Rome also. I'm a debtor. I'm a debtor. How can you be
a debtor to somebody you've never met? How can you be a debtor
to somebody you've never seen? A debtor to folks you don't even
know their names. How can that be? Paul had never seen these
folks. He said, I'm a debtor to you,
a debtor to you. If I've got water and you're
dying of thirst, I'm a debtor to you. If you've got cancer and I've
got a cure, I'm a debtor to you. Not to sell it, but to give it.
Understand that? You're dead. I've got life. You're lost. I've got salvation. You're going to hell. I've got
everlasting mercy to declare to you by the gospel. I'm a debtor. I'm a debtor to the Jew and to
the Gentile, the Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise. I'm ready then
to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also, for I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Because this is the power of
God to salvation to everyone that believeth. To the Jew first
and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from my faith to your faith. As it is written,
the just shall live by faith. Who preaches the gospel? Those
men who are the servants of Jesus Christ, called messengers of
God Almighty, and separated to the gospel of God. Look at verses
1 through 6. And let's just read this and
we'll look at 1 Corinthians 15. Here's the second question. What
is the gospel? We saw this definition last night,
verse 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which God
promised aforetime, aforeby his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
This is God's gospel. It was promised in the prophets
of the Old Testament in types and shadows of the law. It's
concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, made of the seed of
David, according to the flesh, that is, made to be the king,
sitting on the throne of Israel, as he is this day. Not made to
be David's seed sitting on that little peanut thrown over in
Palestine. No, sitting on the throne of Israel, the Israel
of God, the throne of the universe, according to the flesh, and declared
to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead. And by him, We have received
grace The gospel is a declaration of God concerning his son in
the accomplishment of redemption by his grace and we Receive grace
from him the risen Lord for the obedience to the faith Among
the nations for his name for his glory Among whom ye are also
the called of Jesus Christ All right. Now, let's look at Paul's
definition in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 Now here's the litmus
test. By this test, we must judge all
religion, all doctrine, and all preaching. By this test, judge
all religion, all doctrine, and all preaching. Does it exalt
God alone? Or does it make you feel good
about yourself? Does it turn you to Christ? or turn your eyes inward to you. Does it cause you to be elevated,
lifted up, to feel good about yourself? Then that's hellish,
devilish doctrine. Don't hear it. That which is
of God exalts God in His grace, in the person of His Son, declaring
the accomplished work of Jesus Christ the Lord. The gospel is
all about a person. It's not a doctrine. It's not
a system of religion. It's all about a person. It's
not an offer. It's not a proposition. It's
all about the person and work of God's Son declaring who he
is. He is God come in the flesh.
declaring what he did while he was upon this earth. He lived
in this world to bring in everlasting righteousness, not for himself,
but for his people. And he died upon the cursed tree,
made sin for us to satisfy the justice of God, and thereby put
away sins. He rose again, and yonder he
is now, sitting on the throne of glory. What's he doing? He
ruled in the universe to save his people. Thou hast given him
power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. Paul said, we're bound to give
thanks all way to God for you, brethren beloved. Because God
had from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. whereunto he called you
by the gospel. All right, now let's look at
Paul's declaration of it here in 1 Corinthians 15. Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, just one, remember,
the gospel which I preached unto you. by which also ye are saved,
which you also have received, by which you are saved, wherein
you stand, by which you also are saved, if you keep in memory,
that is, if you hold fast, if you're not turned away from what
I preached unto you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received. Watch
this. Circle the word, put a star beside
it. H-O-W. That's the key. That's the key. What's the gospel? Jesus died and was buried and
rose again the third day. No, sir, that's not the gospel. Those
are historic facts you can read in any encyclopedia. That's not
the gospel. It is how Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures and was buried and rose again
the third day according to the scriptures. The gospel is the
declaration of how Christ died. Not the fact that he died, how
he died. Four words. You ought to always
think of when you think about the death of Christ. Number one,
sovereignty. He died by his own will. Those
Jews did his will when they nailed him to the tree. He did not die
as a helpless victim of circumstances. He didn't die because the Jews
wouldn't pretty please let him be king in Israel. And then God
had a second plan and nailed him to the tree. That's, if it
wasn't so sad, make you weep, it's laughable. No, that's nonsense. He died because that was the
purpose of God from eternity. And they, with their wicked hands,
did exactly what God before ordained must be done and crucified him
at precisely the time God said. He died sovereignly as the sovereign
Lord of the universe. He laid down his life. He died
as a substitute. substitute. He died in the place
of his people. He said, I'm the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And he had
folks in the crowd there, like I sometimes have when I go places
to preach. And they didn't like it. We don't like that. You're
preaching election. You're preaching limited atonement.
We don't like that. He said, I wasn't talking to you. You're
not my sheep. You're not my sheep. He said,
you believe not. What's the book say? What does
it say? Because you're not my sheep. He did not say, you're not my
sheep because you don't believe. He said, you believe not because
you're not my sheep. The Lord Jesus died in the room
instead of his people. Well, why is it so important
to preach that? Because, as I said earlier, to preach otherwise
is to deny the accomplishments of Christ the Redeemer. It's
to declare that he's a failure. Third word, satisfaction. Sovereignty, substitution, satisfaction. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. He shall see his seed justified,
sanctified, and glorified with him forever. And this is the
joy set before him for which he endured the cross, despising
the shame. The fourth word, success. How
did Christ die? He died as our sovereign savior,
the good shepherd giving his life for the sheep. He died as
our substitute in our room instead, in the room instead of God's
elect. He died making satisfaction to justice, bringing satisfaction
to the purpose of God and satisfaction to his own soul. And he died
successfully so that whatever he intended, he accomplished.
Whatever he intended, he accomplished. Did he come to put away sin? Sin's put away. Did he come to
satisfy the justice of God? The Lord God, having buried his
sword in the soul of his son, says, fury is not in me. Did he come to bring in everlasting
righteousness? We're made the righteousness
of God in him. What is it then to preach the
gospel? Let me give you five statements
and I'll wrap this up. To preach the gospel is simply
to declare it. Just declare it. Brother Scott
Richardson. There was an old man and I were
preaching together shortly before he just couldn't travel anymore.
And he said, I wish you young fellows would just stand up on
your hind legs and tell it out. That's what it is to preach the
gospel. Just tell it out. Just tell it out. Don't hide
anything. Don't try to figure out a way
to make it acceptable. Just tell it out. It's not the
preacher's business to defend it or to explain it or to apologize
for it. It's our business to declare
it. Declare it and wait on God to accomplish his purpose by
it. Number two, what is it to preach the gospel? To preach
the gospel is to declare it and to declare it as God's message. How shall they preach except
they be sent? I can't preach to you unless God gives me a message
for you and sends me in his spirit to declare it to you. And that no man can accomplish
for himself. It keeps the preacher on his
face before the throne of grace. I've been begging God all day
long. God send me in your spirit with
your word to your people this hour. to declare the gospel as
God's message. I'm his messenger, his messenger. It's mine to seek his message
and having his message to declare it to you. Then you hear it, but you will not
hear it without consequence. Not if God lets me speak in the
power of his spirit. It will either draw you to the
Redeemer or harden you in unbelief. Number three, what is it to preach
the gospel? It's to declare it as God's message
for everyone. These days, folks like specialized
things, and churches are real good at giving folks what they
like. And so we have family night, and youth night, and divorcee
night, and old people's night, and young people's night, and
children's church, and teenagers' church, and we have special classes
for this group, special classes for that group, and we have special
ministry for the young people, and special ministry for the
single people, and special ministry for the divorcees. Let me tell
you something about specialized preaching, specialized ministries. If you specialize for one group,
you compromise for that group. If you specialize for one group,
you compromise for that group. You can't make the gospel palatable
to unregenerate men without compromising the gospel. What do y'all have
for young people? Preach it. Well, do y'all have Easter Sunday
preaching? Years ago, I probably told y'all
this, it'll be a repetition. Years ago, when folks still called
me about such things in town, a gal on the newspaper who wrote
articles on a religious page, she called me, Easter Sunday
was coming up, and she said, she called me Reverend Fortner.
She said, Reverend Fortner, this is, I forgot her name now, it
doesn't matter. She said, She said, what are y'all doing special
Sunday? I said, well, we're gonna have
worship services at 1030. I mean, it's Easter Sunday, what
are y'all doing special? I said, I'm gonna preach. She
said, I'm not making myself clear. I'm writing an article on what
the churches are doing for Easter Sunday. Said, what special program do
y'all have? I said, I'm going to preach. I'm going to preach
the gospel. She said, I mean, what are you
doing that's different? I said, honey, you can't believe
how different it'll be. Come and see. Just preach it. Just preach it. We preach the
same message to all people everywhere we go. The same message for evangelism
and for edification. The same message to comfort and
to convict. The same message to correct folks
and the same message to give them ease and comfort and peace
as they walk in God's earth, in God's providence. We preach
the gospel of God's free grace. Here's another thing, to preach
the gospel is to preach the gospel as my message. I looked at this
again today, three times, Paul referred to the gospel as my
gospel, my gospel, my gospel. What's he mean? What I preach to you I preach
to you from the experience of God's grace as God the Holy Spirit
with fire. as with a white hot iron has
branded it in my soul in the experience of grace. I don't
come to the pulpit with speculation. I don't speculate about what
scriptures mean. I study and I leave my study
in the study. When I come here to you, I come
to declare to you what I have absolute confidence God has taught
me. And when you preach with absolute
confidence, this is what God's taught you, it just kind of gives
you a little sphincter. You folks out here don't know
what that means, sphincter. That's the stuff that put on
a hound's nose, makes him holler when he hits Coombs Trail at
night. That just gives him some fire in his belly, causes him
to preach with experience and passion and heart and conviction. To preach the gospel is to preach
the gospel with a genuine desire that you believe on the Son of
God. Every time I preach, I pray that
God, the Holy Spirit, will enable me to preach the gospel to you
as if I just learned it today and you'd never heard it before
and you will never hear it again. and I might never preach it again,
with passion and with fire, that you may have Christ the Lord,
that Christ may conquer your hearts by His grace and sweetly
calls you to seek Him and trust Him. He that hath the Son hath
life. It's all about Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Some years ago, I read about
a man who was very wealthy. I don't know if the story's true
or not, I just read it. He and his son collected art.
He was a very wealthy man that collected art and enjoyed it.
When the Vietnam conflict broke out, his son volunteered for
military service, thought it was his duty, and he went to
Vietnam. And he was killed in duty while
he was trying to save some of his comrades in arms. And after
his father had grieved for him just a little over a month, just
a few weeks, he had a knock at the door. And there's a man there,
a young man with a large package in his hand. And he said, sir,
you don't have any way of knowing me. I told him his name. He said,
I'm the boy your son died to save. He saved a lot of men that
day. And he was carrying me across
his shoulders. I'd been wounded when he was
shot through the heart and dropped dead instantly. He often spoke
to me about you and his delight in the artwork that you all have
collected. And here's this for you. He said, now don't misunderstand,
I'm not an artist. Your son was dear to me, and
I painted this, and I thought maybe you'd like to have it.
The man opened it up, and there's a portrait of his son. And we
saw his son's eyes, his eyes welled up with tears. And he
thanked the man, and he said, what can I pay you for this?
Oh, no, sir, no, sir, it's my gift to you. And the man took
it in and hung it above his battle. And every time someone came into
the house, first thing he did was took them to see this portrait
of his son. So pleased with the portrait of his son. And it wasn't
long, he died. And everything had to be auctioned
off, and some was on the air. So he had stipulations for an
auction, and the auction time came and the place was packed.
It was packed. People wanted to buy those rare
art gems. And hanging up on the platform
was that picture of his son. And the auctioneer struck the
gavel and he said, we'll start the auction. First piece of art
to be auctioned is this portrait of the son. And folks looked
at it. Nobody said anything. And somebody
angry in the background said, we didn't come here for that.
We want to see the Van Goghs. And the auctioneer said, this
is the first thing to be auctioned off. And he said, anybody have
a bid for me? Finally, there was a man in the
back who had been the gardener of that family for years. He's
a poor man. He said, I'll bid $10. That's
all he could afford. And the auctioneer said, $10
has been bid. Anybody bid $20? $20? $20? He
said, get over with it. Give him the painting. He said,
$20? Going once, going twice, sold $10. Struck his gavel. And he said, now we get on with
the big stuff. He said, the auction's over. And they were angry. He said, I've had specific instructions.
I couldn't tell you until now. I was to auction off this one
picture of this man's son. And he left these stipulations.
Whoever gets the son gets everything. And the auction's over. Get Christ and you get everything. Miss Christ and you get nothing.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. No matter whatever else it is,
you have. Amen.