Well, I've changed my mind. Turn
with me to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. 32 years ago, one of the first preachers to
come here and preach after I became pastor. The man I was acquainted
with stood right here and preached for about 45 minutes or so, maybe
a little longer, and talked a great deal about the gospel out of
Romans chapter 1. And it's real hard to miss preaching the gospel.
And one of the most meek, mild-mannered, pleasant men I've ever known
in my life is Brother Merle Hart. He's not prone to speak negatively
about anything or anybody. He and Charlotte were the last
ones to leave, other than Shelby and I. She'll cancel when we're
right here. And he said, Brother Don, I can't
tell you how thankful I am that you don't talk to us about preaching
the gospel, but you preach the gospel. And I got the point. I understood
what he was saying and appreciated it and prayed for wisdom to do
so. There are many, many men who
talk about the gospel a lot who never preach the gospel. Many
who talk about the gospel accurately but never preach the gospel. I want this morning to address
the question, what is it to preach the gospel? A few months ago,
Brother Todd Nybert started meeting with some preachers over in Lexington
and asked me to assist him. Some of the men are pastors,
some are young men in his congregation who have an interest in the ministry,
who do some preaching here and there, and trying to deal with
some of the things that would be helpful to them. And he asked
me about a month ago to come yesterday and address this question,
what is it to preach the gospel? And I've been studying it and
working on it for weeks now. And I believe God would have
me to bring a similar message to you. I want to use my notes
for that lecture yesterday, and I hope God is in this. I believe
he is. First Peter, chapter what? This is the highest, noblest
calling, greatest privilege, greatest honor God can give a
man to put him in the ministry. And
the most foolish thing any man can do is put himself in the
ministry. I pray for you young men. I don't
hesitate to tell you. I pray God will save you. And
I pray God will call you young men to preach the gospel. All
of them, that'd be just fine. That'd be just fine. I pray that
God will do that for you. I had a lengthy conversation
with my grandson Friday. We had a few hours together.
And I said to him, Will, I want you to know what Pop desires
for you. I don't know what God's will
is for you. I don't know what your mom and dad plan for you
if they've expressed that to you. But I'll tell you what I'm
praying for you. I'm praying that God will be
pleased to save you, reveal his son in you, and I pray that God
will put you in the ministry, this noblest of all gifts. If that means he sends you somewhere
where I had never had the privilege of seeing you again, that's all
right. I'm praying that God might so
honor you. And so I pray for your sons,
pray for you men here. that God might raise up men and
put them in the ministry of the gospel. But what is it to preach
the gospel? Here in 1 Peter 1, in verse 16,
the Apostle Peter quotes a word given in the book of Leviticus
numerous times, where the Lord God says, Be ye holy, for I am
holy. And here it is a commandment
given that men and women should believe the gospel. But in all
of the passages in Leviticus, except for one, it is not a commandment
or an exhortation, but rather a declaration. And the Lord God
says, be ye holy, or you shall be holy, for I, the Lord your
God, am holy. You shall be holy because I am
holy. Holiness is not something you
do. Now you need to write that down
somewhere, underline it, stick it up on your refrigerator when
you get home and remember it. Holiness is not something you
do. Holiness is something God does
for you and in you. Be ye holy. For I am holy. Well, how can men and women who
are sinners by nature be holy? Holy. We're made holy by two
marvelous works of God's grace. Redemption and regeneration. Redemption has two aspects. The
obedience of Christ in his life and the obedience of Christ in
his death. One, the theologians used to
call it active obedience and passive obedience. But it's the
obedience of Christ as our representative. Brother Ben was asking me about
this this morning before services. If Christ obeyed the law for
us and we obeyed the law in him and fulfilled the righteousness
of the law by his obedience, why did he die? There's another
reason. I mean, another thing required.
God does not only require that we obey his law, God requires
that we make satisfaction for justice. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die. And God Almighty cannot in justice
save anyone apart from the sin-atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who
by his obedience unto God brought in an everlasting righteousness.
But redemption alone never saved anybody. I know that'll cause some fellas
to spin around on their heads, but that'll be alright. Just
spin around. The blood of Christ alone never saved anybody. Never. Never. There's more to
salvation than what happened at Calvary. You won't go to glory
unless you're born of God. Regeneration. Regeneration adds
nothing to Christ's atonement, but rather regeneration is the
certain result and fruit of Christ's atonement. So that God makes
sinners holy by putting in them a new nature created in righteousness
and true holiness. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 24. He puts Christ in you, makes
men and women partakers of the divine nature. All right, let's
pick up the reading of verse 18. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
you weren't redeemed with money. Don't care how much money you
give or where you put it, it won't take away sin. One of the
great points that brought about the
Protestant Reformation. In Germany, there's papists going
around selling indulgences. As soon as the money jingles
in the box, a soul will be released from purgatory. And people believe that trash. They really do. They really do.
Put a little money in a box, everything's all right. Everything's
all right. Folks really believe that nonsense. Oh, no. Oh, no. You're not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation. That means you're empty, meaningless,
worthless life. I sometimes hear folks, they
want to be giving testimony and folks have been for meetings.
Look what I gave up so that I could be a Christian. Look what I gave
up so that I could be a preacher. Let me tell you what I gave up
when God called me. A meaningless, worthless existence. You too. A meaningless, worthless
existence. A vain, empty, worthless life
that contributed nothing to anyone. A vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers. Well, what were we redeemed with
then? with the precious blood of Christ. Precious blood, because
it's His blood. His precious blood, the blood
of Him who is God in human flesh, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world. That is to say, this didn't come
to pass by accident. It didn't come to pass because
this is the best God could do. This came to pass because this
is the reason God created the world. He created the world that
Christ might be sacrificed at Calvary for the redemption of
our souls, that we might have life everlasting in Him for the
glory of His name. But was manifest in these last
times to you. to you who by him do believe. How is it the sinners believe? Well, if the preacher gets his
stories just right, if the preacher is able to express himself just
right, if you plan your services and you move everything just
right and work yourself right up to the invitation time and
then strike when the iron's hot, folks will believe. I was being nice. I was being nice. What nonsense? You might as well put your money
in the box and hope to buy indulgences. How do sinners believe? By Him. By the merit of His blood, Christ
purchased life for somebody at Calvary. And by the power of
His Spirit, you who believe now believe. Oh, God. I don't beg sinners to believe,
I beg God to give you faith. There's a huge difference. Who
by him believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave
him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. Not in a religious exercise,
not in the words of a man, not in a creed, not in a confession,
but in God. seeing ye have purified your
souls and obeying the truth." What? Has David Burge purified
his own soul? If it's pure, you have. Well, you're preaching works
now. You know what? I don't give a
flip what folks think this book says as I preach it. I'm telling
what the book says. Peter said concerning those Gentiles
at Cornelius' house, they purified their hearts by faith, just like
you Jews. They purify your hearts by faith. How's that? Each believing
sinner receives to himself that which Christ has done for him
by the hand of faith. Look at that. That's water. That's what that is. That's water. It's my water. Well, no, it's
not. No, it's not. Now it is. Now it is. I took it and you can't get it. It's mine. It's mine. That's
how believers receive perfection and righteousness and atonement
and redemption and justification and forgiveness. We do not merit
it. We do not cause it. We receive
by the hand of faith the blessedness of it. Read on. Who by him to
believe in God that raised him from the dead and gave him glory
that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you have purified
your souls in obeying the truth. through the spirit unto unfeigned
love of the brethren. You've believed God and you have
that faith which worketh by love. See that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently. Now watch this being born again,
being born again. This is the result. Of the new
birth, this faith and this faith, which works by love, this faith
that gives you hope before God, this faith that looks to Christ
alone for everything. It's the result of being born
again. Doesn't cause you to be born
again. You hear preachers talking, they say, if you believe on Jesus,
he'll give you eternal life. That's just not so. That's just
not so. If you'll trust Christ, you'll
be born again. That's not so. If you could do
that, you don't need to be born again. The new birth is the cause, not
the result. You're born again so that you
might believe. Born again so that you might
look to Christ. Born again, given life in Christ
so that you might trust Him. Being born again, now watch this.
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The corruptible seed
here simply means exactly what the Holy Spirit told us in John
chapter one, verse 13, which were born not of blood, nor the
will of the flesh, nor the will of man, corruptible seed. Man's
seed is corruptible seed. In the Old Testament, the law
was given concerning man's seed. If it's touched, you're unclean.
It's corruptible. Corruptible since the fall of
our father Adam. Through a man's seed comes the
corrupt nature with which we are all born. Corruptible seed. And corruptible seed doesn't
produce anything but corruption. What does a father give to his
son? brown eyes and brown hair and dark complexion and a strong
muscular body and corrupt heart and a corrupt mind and a dying
that never ends and is in the grave. Corruptible seed. We're not born again of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, incorruptible, incorruptible seed. What is that? Look over in 1 John chapter 3. Incorruptible seed. The word seed is used remarkably
throughout the scriptures. We're told that a seed shall
serve him in Psalm 22 regarding God's elect. They're called a
seed, not seeds, seed. We're told that Jesus Christ
himself is the woman's seed. The woman's seed. We're told
that our Lord Jesus is the seed of Abraham. Not seeds plural,
seed singular. And the seed by which we're born
again is God the Holy Spirit who plants Christ in us. Look
here in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 9. 1 John chapter 3 and
verse 9. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot
sin because he's born of God. He's made a partaker of the divine
nature. He's been created in righteousness
and in true holiness. The means by which this is done,
the means by which God, the Holy Spirit, comes into the hearts
of chosen, redeemed sinners is the Word of God. The Word of God being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by this instrumentality,
by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. You mean, Brother Dodd, that
men and women Born again through the instrumentality of God's
Word the only way the only way now look at verse 24 There's
24 Oh Peter speaks here about the Word
of God and let me tell you what's talking about. He's talking about
the whole revelation of God in this book The whole revelation
of God in this book In the Old Testament, God spoke to men and
women by visions and signs and angels and dreams, all those
things, all those things. In these last days, he has spoken
to you by his son, Hebrews chapter one. No, God does not guide,
direct, instruct his people by visions and dreams and angels
standing on your bed post at night. No, that comes from taking
the wrong kind of pills. God directs his people by his
word, his word. this whole revealed will of God. That's how God instructs his
people. That's how folks are born again. For all flesh is
grass, that corruptible seed. And the glory of man, that corruptible
seed is as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth and
the flower thereof falleth away. We're born again, not a corruptible
seed, but by incorruptible, and that through the instrumentality
of God's word forever settled in heaven. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you, so that there is no preaching
I'll tell you what you do, every one of you, every one of you,
take your hand and do this right here with your Bible. Will you? All right, now look at the page.
Until the gospel is preached from that page, that page hasn't
been preached. That's exactly what he's saying.
You're going to be teaching here Sunday morning? Doesn't matter
what you teach, you teach the gospel. You tell sinners how
God saves sinners. If you don't do that, don't stand
up here. Well, I was talking about church
growth. Well, stay at home then. I was
talking about husbands and wives and building a good home. Stay
at home then. I was talking about politics
and economics. Then shut up! I was talking about theological
concepts. Keep them to yourself. This is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. There is
no preaching of the word of God, no preaching of the word of God
in the biblical sense of preaching except as the gospel is preached. And let me address three questions
and answer them as briefly as I can. Number one, how important
is gospel preaching? Number two, what is it to preach
the gospel? And briefly, I'll talk a little
bit about how the gospel is to be preached. How important is
gospel preaching? In Ephesians chapter four, we're
told that God, our Savior, by his ascension from the grave,
having accomplished eternal redemption for us, received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among them. And the Apostle Paul,
writing by divine inspiration, quotes that passage in Psalm
68 and tells us that one of the ascension gifts of Christ for
his church are men who are called pastors and teachers. Pastors, teachers. A pastor who
doesn't teach is not a pastor. Pastors, teachers. We have men
here who are gifted to teach, men who are very gifted to teach. I'm thankful for them, thankful
for each of them, pray for them and use them. But there is only
one man in this assembly responsible for the teaching of this assembly,
and that's the one talking to you. pastors, teachers, so that
the pastor is given of God to teach you the mind and will of
God, the revelation of God, and how it is that God brings sinners
to himself by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Not only is
it true that God sends his word to heal his elect and to deliver
them from deserved destruction, but it is also true that God's
works All God's works of grace are accomplished in redeemed
centers by the preaching of the Word. Now let that sink in. Let that sink in. If God gives
you faith, faith comes by hearing. If God gives you repentance,
it's through the preaching of the Word. If God gives you growth
in grace, it's by the Word. These pastors are given for the
perfecting of the body of Christ, Paul says. building us up in
the body of Christ. Postures. If God gives you patience,
he gives you patience through tribulation as you're instructed
by the word. God doesn't teach men and women
anything except by the preaching of the gospel. Well, I was just
sitting out one night looking at the stars, camping out by
the campfire, and the Lord taught me something. Samuel of God Almighty
taught you something. While you were looking at the
stars, it was because of something you heard preached from the word.
That's exactly right. Well, Brother Don, we believe
that all believers are preached. You are. You are. All believers
have the spirit of God. That's right. That's exactly
right. But God gives instruction to his people by his word. Bobby, he didn't send me here
32 years ago for nothing. Well, I believe I'll not go listen
to the preaching today. I believe I'll stay home Tuesday
night. Bob Duff, you need this like
you need bread when you get home dead lunchtime. Got to have the preaching of
the word. Well, I believe God saves sinners if they just sit
down and read their Bibles. If men just read the Bible, God
will save them. Well, you know what I'd do then? I'd call Walter
and Cody and Lance and Cliff and say, fellas, let me buy you
airfare, you all come home, because it'd be a whole lot cheaper to
buy inexpensive Bibles, get a helicopter and throw them out windows and
let folks read them. No, that's not how God saves sinners. God
saves sinners by the preaching of the Word of God. Well, what
if there's somebody in some place, one of God's elect, and there's
no gospel preacher there? What are you going to do then?
Not a thing. Not a thing. Well, doesn't that
create a problem? There's no preacher there. If God stays
centered by the preaching of the Word, that would be a problem,
David. But there's no problems with
God. Read the 8th chapter of Acts. God picked up a preacher
and carried him to a eunuch at the appointed time of love. And
that eunuch was reading the Word of God. Read in one of the best
passages you can be reading, Rod. Read in Isaiah 53. Man,
if you're going to learn the gospel anywhere, you're going
to learn it there. He's reading Isaiah 53. And Philip said to
him, said, buddy, let me ask you something. Do you understand
what you're reading? Apparently, the man was reading
out loud. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities, chastisement of our pieces. But do you remember
what that eunuch said? You remember what he said? How
can I, except some man show me? Oh, that means the preaching
of the gospel is vital to your souls, vital to your life, vital
to your comfort, vital to your edification, vital to your strength
of faith, vital to your reproof, vital to the exposing of your
sin and the correction of your sin, vital to every aspect of
life for God's people. How important? his gospel preaching. Without gospel preaching, there's
no possibility of salvation, no possibility of sanctification,
no possibility of spiritual growth, no possibility of spiritual direction,
no possibility of spiritual stability. God, I repeat, did not give his
church the gift of the ministry for nothing. Let me see if I
can illustrate it for you. After Malachi, God didn't send
a prophet. How long? 400 years, Lindsay. 400 years. Oh, but those Jews,
those Jews, they had the Word of God. They did. They're the only ones who had
it. They had the temple of God. the only place where the mercy
seat was. They had the ordinances of God. God didn't, not only did He not
share them with anybody else, He wouldn't let anybody but Jews
participate in it. They're the only ones who had
them. They had an exclusive privilege of worshiping God in His house.
And they had the priesthood. They had the God-ordained priesthood. All right, surely that's enough. That's enough. They've got the
Old Testament scriptures read in their synagogues every Sabbath
day. They did something churches don't do much anymore. Here we spend a good bit of time
reading the scriptures. You can visit churches all over
this country three times a week, and you can go seven days a week
and rarely hear anybody read a chapter from the Word. Rarely.
But the Jews, they read in their synagogues every Saturday, every
Saturday. Oh, well, they're in good shape.
They're in good shape. When the Lord Jesus came, they
nailed him to a tree. They didn't have a clue who he was. Not only
could they not get along without someone teaching them God's word,
a man sent from God with a message from God. But they, at least
they never degenerated and worshipped idols. No, you'll never find
a picture of a Jew setting up a stump, painting it over with
gold, worshipping that. No, you won't find that. They did something
worse, David. They turned the worship of God
into idolatry. They turned the sacrifices, the
Passover, everything into idolatry. They turned their religious services
into idolatry. And even after three and a half
years of incessant preaching by the Son of God himself, only
about 120 believed on the Lord Jesus in the whole world. Well, now I know gospel preaching
is nice and it's advantageous, but I can get along without it. Well, I hope you don't try it. I hope you don't try it. I hope
you don't make such a presumption. These churches, there's a real danger of churches
being too long without a pastor, because they get comfortable
without one, and every man does what's right in his own eyes,
and folks get up Sunday after Sunday, and they turn to 1 Peter
chapter 2, and they say, let me tell you what this means to
me. And then the next Sunday another fellow gets up and he
reads 1 Peter chapter 2 and he says, let me tell you what this
means to me. What do y'all think? What do y'all think? Well, we're
kindly agreed. This is what it must mean. Such gains are destructive to
the souls of men and to the authority of the word of God. Gospel preaching
is vital, vital. Plain statements of scripture
make it so. That means that when we preach
the gospel, you men, God gives you opportunity to preach. Preach
with urgency. Preach with urgency and with
confidence. With urgency. I'm fully aware. I'm talking to some folks. If
you take your last breath before you draw the next one, You're
going to hell. And I dare not stand here and
not preach the gospel to you. I dare not do so. Dare not. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Alright, what is gospel preaching? What is gospel preaching? Turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse
2. For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul
went to these Corinthians and he said, I made it my business
while I was with you not to ever preach anything to you except
Jesus Christ crucified. I determined to tell you who
Christ is, God in human flesh. What Christ did, He came down
here in human flesh and He accomplished eternal redemption for His people
by the sacrifice of Himself at Calvary. Where He is now, He's
sitting on the throne, Lord over everything, King of kings and
Lord of lords. What's He doing? He's saving
the people God gave Him from eternity, whom He redeemed with
His blood. Determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified you mean brother
Dodd every time Paul preached He preached the gospel to those
folks of Corinth every time he preached every time he preached
Well boy, that must have been boring Thought I'd just get up
and talk about death burial resurrection all time. I Take you to witness who three
times a week hear the gospel preached. Anything boring or
mundane about this? Oh, it's fresher than cool water
from a mountain spring, if blessed of God. It's the preaching of Christ
in all the scriptures. Turn to Galatians chapter six,
Galatians chapter six, verse 14. Now Paul's writing to these Galatians. These Galatians who had been
infected with Judaism, these Galatians who had been hoodwinked,
had a spell cast over them by somebody who bewitched them,
mixing law and works. And Paul says to them, Galatians
6, 14, God forbid that I should glory The word is boasting. God forbid that I should make
any boast of anything save the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, God forbid. God forbid. Well, you read the book of Galatians
and Paul has denounced justification by works. He's denounced circumcision. He's denounced false gospel.
He's denounced those folks who preach the false gospel. He said
concerning those folks who teach circumcision, I wish they'd let
nice slip and castrate themselves. I mean, he'd be kind of rough
on them. And you read the book all the way through it, preaching
free grace. All the way through it, glorying
in the cross. All the way through it, preaching
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Turn back to Acts chapter 20.
Acts chapter 20. Paul is about to leave the saints
at Ephesus. How long was he there? Two years?
And he's about to leave them. And they know that they're not
going to see him anymore. And they're weeping because they
know he's going to be sacrificed for his faith. And Paul says
to these Ephesian elders, beginning at verse 25, Behold, I know that you all,
among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see
my face no more. I've been preaching the kingdom
of God to you. Now read on. Wherefore, I take you to record
this day that I'm pure from the blood of all men. I'm not like
that prophet who sat on a wall as a watchman over Jerusalem,
and I didn't warn you. I didn't warn you of the wrath
to come. I didn't warn you of eternal damnation. I warned you
plainly and pointed you to the refuge, Christ Jesus. I'm pure
from the blood of all men. Well, how did he do that? He
was preaching the kingdom of God. Because you preach the kingdom
of God by preaching the gospel. Don't we preach the kingdom of
God? Oh, brother Don, I've read books on the kingdom of God.
They talk a lot about the kingdom of God, not the gospel. Then
they haven't talked about the kingdom of God. They don't have
a clue what the kingdom of God is. You're born into the kingdom
of God. And you don't get born into the
kingdom of God except by the preaching of the gospel. Read
on. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God. Now I know how things work these
days. I'm very well aware how things work. It's not going to
happen here if I have any knowledge of it and any control of it.
But if some fella were invited to come here and preach at our
conference, kindly have you and somebody recommends him and says,
he says, boy, he can preach a lecture like nobody else can. Oh, he
can preach. Give him the guinea tape and
listen to it. And he comes here. Boy, he lays it out. I mean,
he lays it out. You're clapping your hands. Oh,
I never heard anything like that in my life. And then next week
he goes somewhere where folks hate it, Free Grace. And he kind
of pushes that to one side, you know. These folks aren't ready
to hear that yet. Oh, isn't he a wise man? Wise
after the manner of this world, but not wise after godliness.
He's a deceiver. He's a deceiver. Paul did not
go to Galatia and preach the cross, and go to Corinth and
preach something else he called Christ crucified, and go to Ephesus
where these folks are and preach something else called the whole
counsel of God. To preach all the counsel of
God is to preach the gospel. It is to preach the gospel. I
just finished Tuesday night, you know, our messages in the
book of Habakkuk. And then, I think that was 35,
36, 37 messages, I don't remember. And over the course of the year,
that book of Habakkuk talks about Chaldeans and Nebuchadnezzar's
invasion of Jerusalem, and the corrupt politicians who were
in Jerusalem and in Judea at that time, and talks about the
Babylonian captivity, all those things. And do you know, I kept
looking for them. I'd come out here on Tuesday
night, and I kept looking to see if I'd see somebody out here
from Babylon. I figured they'd maybe have a towel on their head
or something. I might see one of them. I kept looking to see if maybe,
maybe there was somebody, somebody here who was one of those Jews
who were carried away into Babylon. Well, that's kind of far-fetched. Maybe a great, great, great,
great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandson
of somebody who was carried away to Babylon. and I never did find
one. Well, that must mean we close
up the book of Habakkuk and go home. It can't be talking about
us. It can't mean anything to us.
Oh, how mistaken. How mistaken. Those things happened
for ensamples to us on whom the end of the world has come. That's
what Paul said. They happen to teach us something.
Those things are written. Those things are written, Romans
15, 4, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures,
might have hope. Do you mean, Brother Don, all
the events that took place in all the Old Testament history,
every one of them written in the pages of Holy Scripture,
all of them picture Christ? No, that's not what I mean. That's
not what I mean at all. I mean the only reason they happened
was to picture Christ. That's the only reason they happened.
That's the only reason they happened. God arranged it to show us something
about the Savior's glorious person and his wondrous work of redemption,
grace, and salvation. Now, y'all remember Marjo Terry who
came in here from Seattle a few years ago. Her sister wanted,
she knew she was dying, wanted to take her to the East Coast
and visit Washington, D.C. and some other places. She said,
I'll let you take me if you'll take me by Danville, Kentucky.
She said, I want to confess Christ in baptism. And my pastor's in
Danville, Kentucky. She wrote to me after listening
to messages from here for a good many years, her nephew. Picked
them up down in Southern California and sent them to her before I
ever heard from her. And this is what she said, I'll never
forget it. She'd been in church all her life, just like you were,
all her life. She said, for the first time,
the Old Testament has come to life. I see this talking about
my Savior. You can't preach the word without
preaching the gospel. Yes, you can preach the letter
of it. Yes, you can preach the fact of it. Yes, you can preach
it accurately in its historical grammatical setting. Yes, you
can do that. That's not any difficulty. All
you got to do is study it a little bit. But you can't preach the
word without preaching the gospel. Folks, get in there. Especially
happens in midweek services. Preachers get more lazy then
than any other time. And they don't want to study in preparation.
We're going to have a study. We're going to study about the
family. We're going to study about this,
about that. I can't think of a better illustration
than what I've used many times. If I should begin tonight, a
series of messages on the whole. Oh, that's a good one. Everybody
loves that. Isn't it amazing how much we
love law? We love for somebody to tell us what to do and beat
us a little bit. Not too hard, but beat us a little
bit if we don't do it. Mother Don in there had never
heard such a study. Let's just pretend. He had never heard such
a study. And Mother Don's, oh, he's teaching us about the home
and how a husband ought to behave, how a wife ought to behave. And
Don's sitting there, and he starts straightening things up. And
Deedee starts straightening things up. And you get to talking to
each other. Boy, it's been so good. It's
helped us so much. And then a few weeks down the
road, a man I shall wish Larry and Carol have been here to hear
that. They needed that. You see what I'm talking about?
I'm not talking about occasionally. That's always the result. Always
the result. The teaching of such moralisms. Be they ever so well founded
in the word of scripture. The teaching of such moralisms. teaches you to look to yourself
and set in judgment on your neighbor. The preaching of the gospel teaches
you to look to Christ and set in judgment on yourself. All
the difference in the world, all the difference in the world.
Brother Don goes out preaching to the jail to preach to the
inmates out there. Do you know? I've known preachers
had jailhouse ministries and try to teach folks systems of
theology. sitting out there in jail. Now
we want to get you accurate in your doctrine. We want to teach
you the right church order. They can't even go to church,
let alone have right church order. What nonsense! What nonsense! Gospel preaching is preaching
a person, declaring a person, a glorious, marvelous person. I try to keep this hidden. and
not many folks know it, but if you give me a chance to talk
about my granddaughter or my grandson, do you know how little
trouble I have doing that in any context? That's never a problem. And it's never mundane. And it's
never, it's never, lacking freshness. Now it might with you because
that's not your granddaughter or grandson, but not for me.
And if it were your granddaughter and grandson, it'd be just as
fresh to you as to me. So it is with the preaching of
Jesus Christ and him crucified. God's people never tire of hearing
the Redeemer. No sermon should ever be preached
No sermon should ever be preached that does not show eternity-bound
sinners the way of life and salvation in Christ. The preaching of the
gospel ought to turn the hearts of those who hear us Godward. I pray, I can't tell you how
I pray, God. Oh, God, will you speak by me? to these whom you've gathered
in this place this hour and calls their hearts to be turned to
the Redeemer. Not turn to the world, not turn
to yourselves, turn Godward. Gospel preaching is always preaching
for a verdict. I'm calling for the worship of
God. for faith in Jesus Christ, for
devotion to the Son of God. I'm calling for you to give yourselves
wholeheartedly to Christ the King, the Lord, to sacrifice
yourself to Him, to use everything He puts in your hands for Him,
to spend your days worshiping and serving Him. That's the motive
of gospel preaching. And that gospel preaching is
the motive for all those things. Why shouldn't you? He died for
you. What is it that you should reasonably
hold to yourself? He redeemed you with his blood.
Gospel preaching is the preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Let me try one more time to illustrate
it. It's been years ago. A friend
sent me some messages. They were preached at Calvin
College up in Pennsylvania. Calvin College, of course, named
after John Calvin. They were preached in the chapel
services by a well-known conservative Calvinistic theologian, a man
whose books I have read considerably. And the sermons were on the five
points of Calvinism. He preached five sermons. on
total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement,
irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints. Amen. I believe
it. I believe it. I believe and preach
them every time I preach. I don't preach once a month or
once a year. I preach every time I preach. But I listened to the
sermons. And I thought I must have missed
something and I listened to him again. And then I didn't share
them with anybody, I found a trash can and put them in it. Everything
the man said was exactly right, theologically right. Exactly right. He didn't speak
one word with which I had an objection. But if I had walked into one
of those chapel services, or had sat through all five of them,
and didn't know how God saves sinners and how sinners obtain
God's salvation by faith in Christ, I'd have walked away just as
ignorant as when I came in." Merle Hart, that ought never
happen. That ought never happen. That ought never happen. Any
sermon that doesn't have the three R's, ruined by the fall,
redemption by the blood, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, ought never
to have been preached. What is gospel preaching? It
is preaching Jesus Christ crucified. And no other preaching should
be done or tolerated by anyone, ever. Not for a moment. Not ever. But there's something else required. How shall they preach except
they be sent? I don't have any question at
all that God's called me to preach the gospel. I don't have any
question about that. I don't have any question that
he's given me gifts for the work he's put in my hands here. And
that's not a matter of arrogance, it's just a matter of fact. God's
given me the gifts I have, called me to preach the gospel. Come
and be your pastor. And I believe one more time today,
a whole wonder of wonders, He has spoken through these lips
to you. But I can't do that unless every
time I step up here and open my mouth God sends me to you
in the power of his spirit with a message to declare. Christmas Evans was appointed
to preach in Wales. He was a very famous preacher
in his day, blind in one eye. Wherever he went, hundreds of
folks gathered to hear him. They came down to preach, they'd
sung all the hymns, and they'd gone through the scripture reading,
and the preacher wasn't to be found. And these two deacons standing
in the back said to one another, have you seen the preacher? He
said, no. He said, you go this way, I'll
go that way, see if we can find him. And they went downstairs,
went through the church building, and then they came back upstairs
to the vestibule. And one of them said to the other,
he said, did you find the preacher? He said, oh, yes. He said, where
is he? He said, he's praying. He said,
you go tell him it's time to preach. He said, I don't think
so. He said, I couldn't help but
to hear him. He's on his knees before God.
And this is what I heard him say, oh God, I've gone into that
pulpit by myself for the last time. If you don't go with me, I'm
not climbing those stairs again. What is it to preach the gospel?
It is to preach Jesus Christ crucified from the word, plainly
and clearly, in the power of God's Spirit. Amen.