I invite your attention to the
second epistle of Paul to the church in Corinth, 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. My text. found in verse number 5. And my subject is why I preach
Christ. Paul commences in verse 1 of
chapter 4. Therefore, since we have this
ministry, he has described this ministry in chapter 3. In verse
7 of chapter 3, he speaks of a ministry of death. And then
he speaks of our ministry in verse 8 as a ministry of the
spirit, which is much glorious. In verse 9, there is a ministry
of condemnation. But then he speaks about the
ministry of righteousness, which is far more exceeding in glory.
This is the ministry that the Lord has given unto his ministers. And Paul writes that since we
have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose
heart. But we have renounced the hidden
things of shame, not walking in craftiness. God spare us from crafty preachers. nor handling or adulterating
the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. But even if our gospel is veiled,
and it is, some people cannot see it, it is veiled to those
who are perishing whose minds the God of this age, Satan, has
blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine
on them. And now my text. For we do not
preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake. I began ministering on the island
of St. Lucia, 1985. The church in Ashland,
Kentucky, which at that time was pastored by Henry Mahan,
requested I begin a television ministry, and so we did. We called it We Preach Christ. It was on the only TV station on the
entire island. We came on every Lord's Day morning
at 8 a.m. So if you wanted to watch TV
at 8 a.m. on St. Lucia, you had to watch
me, because it was the only thing on TV. And it was, we preach
Christ. Commenced a ministry in Louisville,
Kentucky, 1993. We went as soon as we could on
radio. The name of the program was We
Preach Christ. Commenced a ministry on St. Lucia,
pardon me, St. Croix, 2008. We commenced the radio ministry.
We named it We Preach Christ. A little later, we commenced
the television ministry. We named it We Preach Christ. And if you have found a common
thread in all of that, there's a reason because We Preach
Christ. A preacher preaches either himself
or Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul said that. He said, we do
not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. You look at any
preacher and he preaches or she preaches either him or herself
or that preacher preaches Christ Jesus the Lord in every instance. We endeavor to preach Christ.
We do not preach our own persons. We do not preach our moral standards
like others do. They preach their family values.
They preach their religion. They preach their sect. They
preach their politics. They preach whatever else they
personally think is important to them because they preach themselves. They want you to know what they
think about this subject or that. I have opinions on a lot of things
and nobody knows but my wife because we preach Christ. Every time we come into the pulpit,
endeavor to, we preach Christ. That's what preachers of Christ
do. That's why they call them preachers of Christ. We preach
Christ. I was stopped in a place of business
after having been on TV for a while, a gentleman, a stranger, walked
up to me and he said, Pastor, he said, I've watched you on
TV. He said, the name of your television
program is We Preach Christ and You Surely Do. And I thought,
you know, that's about as good a compliment as you could give
me, We Preach Christ. And I'm sometimes asked, why?
I mean, you know, so many other people are preaching family values,
moral values, religion, your sect, you know, a creed, a confession
of whatever. Why do you preach Christ? Well,
I'm so glad you asked because I'm going to tell you why we
preach Christ. Number one, I preach Christ because
I preach the gospel. The word gospel means glad tidings,
good news. And the glad tidings and good
news is Christ. He is the good news. He's the
gospel of salvation. And if I preach the gospel, I
must preach Christ because Christ is the gospel and the gospel
is Christ. Now, if someone else preaches something other than
Christ, Assume that he believes that his news is better than
the good news, the glad tidings, Christ, and the gospel. But I
preach Christ because I preach the gospel, and the gospel is
Christ, and Christ is the gospel. Second, I preach Christ because
I was predestined to preach Christ. Christ told an old prophet by
the name of Jeremiah in chapter 1, verse 5, He said, before I
formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I
sanctified you. And before you were born, I ordained
you a prophet. Now notice, before you were in
your mother's womb, I said, Jeremiah is a preacher. That means he
was predestined from all eternity. Jeremiah speaks for every one
of the Lord's preachers. All Christ's preachers were Christ's
preachers in God's foreknowledge and by His foreordination and
by His predestination and by His sanctification from all eternity. Before I was in my mother's womb,
I and every other gospel preacher We had been predestined from
eternity to preach Christ. The Lord said, before I did anything
in your mother's womb, I ordained you to be my prophet, to be my
preacher. Every man predestined to preach
Christ will preach Christ or else there is no predestination.
If God predestines something, it will happen. And he said to
Jeremiah, I predestined you to preach. So Jeremiah's going to
preach. Because the Lord predestined
it. And this is true of every preacher. If someone preaches something
other than Christ, I assume that God did not predestine him to
preach Christ. And he preaches what someone
else, if not himself, decided he should preach. But I'm saying
that as for me, I must preach Christ because I was predestined
to preach Christ. Third, I preach Christ because
God called me to preach Christ. Paul the apostle says of his
own call that, it pleased God who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me through his grace. to reveal His Son in me
that I might preach Him." Now, that's true of every gospel preacher,
every one of them. God's preachers, we were separated
from our mother's wombs in order to separate us unto the gospel
of Christ. Christ was revealed to us so
that we could reveal Christ to others. We were called by God's
grace so that we could call others to God's grace. And every man
called by Christ to preach Christ will preach Christ. And if someone
preaches something other than Christ, I assume it is because
he was called to preach by someone other than God and His Christ.
I assume so. Maybe he chose the ministry for
a career, whatever, but I'm saying to you that God's ministers were
called to preach Christ. Fourth, I preach Christ because
Christ commissioned me to preach Christ. In Mark chapter 16, verse
15, now to commission something is to authorize it and grant
and confer authority to perform a certain duty. I was in the
military. two different kinds of officers
in the military, commissioned, non-commissioned. I attained
the rank of sergeant in the Air Force and I could give commands. I was a crew chief and I could
tell folks what to do, but I took my commands from someone
up higher than me. And in our squadron was a Chief
Master Sergeant E9. His arm looked like a zebra,
all low stripes. He'd been in the military close
to 30 years and seasoned, non-commissioned officer. But if some fellow we
called them, behind their backs, we called them 90-day wonders.
They'd gotten a college degree, gone off to school for 90 days,
and they came out with little yellow bars that were on their
collars. He's been in the military just
a young time. He still probably went behind
the years, but he is a second lieutenant. And when he walks
in, He's been in the military just a few weeks. He's got a
little yellow bar on his shoulder, and he can tell that E9 who's
been in for 30 years what to do because he can give orders,
you see. Now, there's a big difference
here. Two different kinds of officers. That lieutenant is
commissioned. I was noncommissioned. That E9
was noncommissioned. When you are commissioned, you
have special authority. And the Lord has given a commission
to his preachers. And what is it? Go into all the
world, preach the gospel to every creature. I'm telling you, folks,
it's serious business. This is a commission. If I did
something against my rank as a sergeant, non-commissioned,
it's bad. When that officer did something,
when that enlisted officer did something, it was very serious,
far more serious. He had a commission. By the way,
he was said to be an officer and a gentleman. I could not
be an officer and a gentleman. I was non-commissioned. You had
that commission, you were somebody. And you had authority and responsibility. I have a commission, and with
that commission comes a grave responsibility. Go into all the
world. Preach the gospel to every creature.
God forbid I do anything else and violate my commission. If
someone preaches something other than Christ, I assume that Christ
did not commission him and perhaps someone else did. But I'm telling
you, I preach Christ because I was commissioned to do so. I preach Christ because God entrusted
me with his gospel of Christ. Paul speaks for every gospel
preacher when he says, the glorious gospel of the blessed God was
committed to my trust, 1 Timothy 1, verse 11. He also speaks for
every gospel preacher when he elsewhere tells his readers that,
as you know, We were bold in our gods to speak to the gospel
of God in much conflict. But as we had been approved by
God to be entrusted with this gospel, even so we speak. Do you see this? You do not entrust
something to someone unless you have some confidence in that
one. God has taken that word which
is most dear and precious to him. This is the gospel of his
son. And God is pleased to entrust
his gospel to vessels of clay called preachers. God says, I am entrusting you
with my gospel. Well, now, what do you suppose
I'm going to do with it? This is a sacred trust. What am I supposed to do with
it? It's a gospel. You're supposed to preach it.
God forbid I'm not. I've been entrusted with it.
God has entrusted his gospel to me and to all his preachers.
And therefore, Paul says, we are bold in what God has entrusted
to us. If someone preaches something
other than Christ, it is because someone other than Christ entrusted
a different gospel to him. But I'm telling you, I was entrusted
with it. This is a sacred trust and I
preach Christ because I was entrusted with that gospel. Sixth, I preach Christ because
I am an ambassador for Christ, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 20. an
ambassador, is a government minister of the highest rank. He is sent
by his governor to manage the governor's concerns and affairs
in another place. He is sent to represent the power
and the dignity of his governor, and he is sent to speak What
the governor would speak if the governor were there, this ambassador
represents the governor, the king, the president. And I am Christ's ambassador. I say to you that I represent
my Lord to you. and I speak His words
to you. This is an awesome responsibility,
a grave responsibility. I represent the King of Kings. I am His ambassador. When I speak,
it better be His words. When I tell you what He will
do, It better be what he will do. When I tell you what he will
not do, it better be what he will not do. We are ambassadors
for Christ. And what am I told to preach?
The one for whom I am an ambassador. We beseech you in Christ, in
God's name, in Christ's name, be reconciled to God. We stand
before you and implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled
to God. I'm saying to you that if someone
else preaches something other than Christ, I assume he represents
someone else. But as for me, I represent Christ. All his preachers do. Therefore,
we preach Christ. Number seven, I preach Christ
because I preach what I know. Christ spoke for himself and
all his preachers when he said, in John 3, verse 11, we speak
what we know. That makes sense. He is a fool who speaks what
he does not know. I know Christ and therefore I
preach Him. I am told that because of our emphasis
on preaching Christ, that at least one other preacher has
been making an attempt to do so. Perhaps embarrassed by the
fact that every time we come on, it's a different text, but
we preach Christ. And I am told that some other
preachers have been asked by their congregations, why do you
not preach Christ like Parks does? Why do you preach? He's
showing us you're supposed to preach Christ. Why do you not?
Now, I'll tell you why. When you try to preach what you
do not know, it shows that you do not know it. And I preach what I know. Jesus
said that. We speak what we know. Well,
I know Christ. I know not much of anything else.
If I'm going to speak to you what I know, I'm going to preach
Christ. When a man preaches something
other than Christ, I assume it is because he does not know Christ
and preaches what he knows. You see, it's fair enough. I'm
being fair with all these folks. I'm telling you why I preach
Christ and why they do not. But we preach what we know. We
know Christ, we preach Christ. Number eight, I preach Christ
because I'm not ashamed of Christ. I consider very seriously the
warning of Christ that whoever is ashamed of me and my words,
of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his
glory and in his Father's and the glory of the holy angels.
I concur with Paul the Apostle when he says, I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. Well, if you're not ashamed of
it, you'll preach it. Imagine. What if? I told you that I was madly in love with
my wife and I loved her dearly. And, uh, but I was a little embarrassed
to talk about her. I wouldn't want to talk about
her. You ever seen the bumper sticker
on, um, Big, comfortable automobiles that reads, ask me about my grandchildren. These are older folks. They're
grandparents. And they want to tell you about
their grandchildren. Wow, they're not ashamed of them. You don't
ask somebody to, you know, ask me about this person if you're
ashamed of that person. So you want to know about my
grandchildren, you go ahead and ask me. An old man will tell
you how much time you got. I'll tell you about my grandchildren. You want to know about my wife?
I'd be glad to tell you about my wife. Not ashamed of her,
my daughter, my son. There are preachers who say, we love Christ, but they never
talk about him. Is that not a little strange? I moved to Louisville, Kentucky
in 93. We had a mega church, one of
the biggest churches in the city. in the country, in the world,
in Louisville, Kentucky. I wanted to find out something
about the place I had moved to, so I would drive to the church
building early in the morning on the Lord's Day morning, and
I'd turn on the radio just to, you know, listen to this preacher
and to that one, get a feel of what's going on. And it just
so happened that the pastor of a megachurch, Came on. I listened
to him quite a few times. Heard a bunch of jokes, heard
a good bunch of illustrations. To this day, I have no idea what
he knows about Christ. And it's with a bunch of preachers.
I think they're ashamed of him. Or else they do not know anything
about him. I mean, I know Christ. I'm going to tell you about him.
I'm not ashamed of him. You want to hear about Christ?
Ask me. I'll be glad to. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. If someone preaches something
other than Christ and calls himself a preacher of Christ, I assume
he is ashamed of Christ. I'm not. Do not be ashamed of
Christ. If you're ashamed of him, he'll
be ashamed of you. Nine, I preach Christ because
I deliberately preach nothing but Christ. I concur with Paul
when he said, I determined not to know anything among you except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2. That's
the only thing I want to know among you, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. If someone else preaches something
other than Christ, or Christ plus something, I assume he considers
this something else as important as I consider Christ alone. But
Christ is, it's important. I deliberately preach nothing
but Christ. Number 10, I preach Christ because I follow Christ's
example in preaching. And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded to them and all the things in all
the Scriptures, the things concerning himself." Now, here's Christ
walking with two men, and he starts in Moses. Now, Moses wrote
Genesis 1.1. Moses wrote the first five books
of the Bible. And here's Jesus, probably a
long walk, but he's going through all the Scriptures, and he said,
oh, that one's about me too, all right? In the beginning,
God created heaven and the earth. That's about me. I did this.
And the Lord said, there can be light. I'm the light of the
world. Do you see what our Lord can
take any text and preach himself? My son dealt with this text and
a message sometime ago. And, uh, it's been a couple of
years at least, I think, but he made a statement and it stuck
with me. He said, Christ preached Christ. Huh, wish I'd said that. Christ preached Christ. If Christ
preached Christ, why would I want to preach anything else? Every
text we take, what are we doing? Looking for Christ. It is said of some of us, and that would be myself, your
pastor, some with whom we fellowship, that we see Christ in some places
where He is not, really. And beginning in Moses and in
all the Scriptures, He preached the things concerning Himself.
Oh, I grant you, Christ is not as evident in some texts as He
is in others. But pursue that text. Look at
it in its context. Every time... Whatever text we
take, we never to preach Christ because Christ preached Christ. We follow his example. Number
11, I preach Christ because I preach what is most precious to me,
and that would be the unsearchable riches of Christ. Every preacher preaches what
is most precious to him. To me, it's Christ. Unsearchable
means I'm going to preach and preach and preach and preach
and preach Christ and there'll still be more Christ to preach.
It's unsearchable. If someone else preaches something
other than Christ, I assume he does not find Christ as precious
as I do and not as rich as I do. Number 12, I preach Christ because
I am concerned for the salvation of your soul. And the gospel
of Christ is the power of God to salvation to everyone who
believes. I concur with Paul when he says
he did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. The
gospel is what you need. It pleased God through the foolishness
of the message we preach, as the wicked speak of it, to save
those who believe. I, therefore, endeavor to preach
that which is foolishness to others. I declare to you that
the only way you can be saved is to believe this Christ I preach.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Neither
is there salvation in any other. I'm concerned for your soul.
You show me a man who's not preaching Christ, I'll show you a man who's
not concerned for your soul. Him we preach, warning every
man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus through preaching Christ. Number
13, I preach Christ because I endeavor to be innocent of blood guiltiness. Paul says, I testify to you this
day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. for I have
not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God." Let
me tell you a story. This is an incident in my life
that I wish had never happened. In the early 80s, the issue of
abortion was hotly debated in the Virgin Islands where I lived
on St. John and St. Thomas at that time.
Being hotly debated in the legislature in society and so I decided to
weigh in on the subject. Prepared a message on abortion. Got before my congregation and
I preached it. And every word I said was true. Told what the scriptures say
about it. Every word was true. That day, there was a lady in
the congregation. She had never been there before. She sat and nodded her head and
agreed with every word I said. I never saw her again. I had one opportunity to preach
the gospel to a certain woman, and I decided to preach something
else. It has weighed heavy on my soul
every day since. I hope she hears the gospel.
Otherwise, her blood is on my hand, and I take that seriously. I am innocent of the blood of
all men, Paul says, because I preach the gospel. You show me a man
who does not preach Christ and I'll show you a man who's not
concerned about his own blood guiltiness. I am. I endeavored
from that day on. Never again. Never again. I want to be innocent of the
blood of all men. Number 14, I preach Christ because
necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach
the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9, 16. I was predestined by God to preach
Christ. I was called by God to preach
Christ. I was commissioned by Christ
to preach Christ. I was entrusted by God with His
gospel. I was therefore obligated to
preach it. I was appointed by Christ to be His ambassador and
to preach Him. It is therefore necessary for
me that I preach what I know, preach the Christ of whom I am
not ashamed, and to follow Christ's example in preaching. I join
Christ's apostles in replying when I am forbidden to preach.
I must preach because we cannot but speak the things which we
have seen and heard. And I'm going to preach to you
because it is necessary. When necessity is laid upon me,
15th and last, I preach Christ because believers in Christ find
in Christ all they need. and you do not need what anybody
else preaches. It's that simple. You need Christ's salvation. You do not need someone else's
religion, morality, family values, political views, social activism. You need his gospel. You need
his salvation. You need Christ's imputed righteousness,
not someone else's laws. You need Christ's imparted holiness,
not someone else's piety. You need Christ. Just like I
do, you do not need someone else. Therefore, I preach Christ. Do you believe the Christ I preach?
Amen.