If a man is called of God to
the work of the gospel ministry, it is his great privilege, joy,
and awesome responsibility to preach the gospel of Christ to
eternity-bound sinners for the glory of God and the everlasting
salvation of those who hear it. Let me repeat what I have told
you hundreds and hundreds of times before. I wish I had the
ear of every preacher in this world and could persuade him
of this fact. And I hope that if I should drop
dead before I finish this message and you call another pastor,
you will remember what I'm telling you. The only true biblical preaching
there is, is gospel preaching. The only true biblical preaching
there is, is gospel preaching. No man has preached, not in Bible
terms, until he has preached the gospel. I mean, at any time. At any time. A man stands up
here and talks to you for an hour and a half, reading scripture,
and talks to you about this, that, and the other out of scripture,
and doesn't preach the gospel he hasn't preached. He hasn't
preached. No man has truly and accurately
expounded any text of scripture until he has expounded the gospel
in that text of scripture. No Bible subject has been faithfully
and properly handled if it has not been set forth in the context
of gospel light. Folks these days talk about prophecy
and talk about last things, talk about Y2K and All the nonsense
that goes on. Waste people's time playing games
with your souls. And do it in the name of God.
Stand up and give marriage counseling lessons, and give family values
lessons, and give lessons on Christian biblical economics.
I had a fellow one time, one of these brilliant fellows, six
months teaching folks on Christian biblical economics. Man, just
pay your bills. That takes care of that. Get
on to something important. There is no faithful exposition
of any Bible subject until it's set forth in gospel light. No
sermon should ever be preached which does not show eternity-bound
sinners the way of life and salvation in Jesus Christ alone. Any such
sermon is a mockery to men's souls and a mockery to God Almighty,
an abomination and ought never be preached. You men who are
given occasion and opportunity in God's providence to minister
to others in preaching or teaching, make sure. I encourage you to
do something. I do it with every sermon I prepare.
When I get done writing out a message, I sit down and go over it and
make sure that the three R's stand out prominently all the
time. The three R's of ruin by the fall, redemption by the blood,
and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. If they ain't there,
I just start all over. And I've never had to. I've never
had to just start all over. But I'm telling you, I'd scrap
it and throw it away and never use it if those three R's are
not set forth plainly in the message. Gospel preaching is
the only true preaching there is. The singular, universal subject
of Holy Scripture is the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in Jesus Christ the Lord. This is the Word. which by the
gospel, and only by the gospel, is preached unto you. Now knowing
these things, I say with the Apostle Paul, as much as in me
is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you. For I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation
to everyone that believe it. Christ sent me to preach the
gospel. not with wisdom of words, lest
the cost of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the cost is to them that perish foolishness, but
all to you who are saved." It's the power of God. I determine,
therefore, not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. How come? Look down in Romans,
or 1 Corinthians, chapter 9. And verse 16, let me show you. Why is this such an urgent matter
with me? Why is it so important? Why is it that I'm absolutely
determined not to be moved away from the preaching of the gospel
for one second? For though I preach the gospel,
verse 16, I have nothing to glory of. Ain't nothing to that. I
got nothing to brag about. I got nothing to boast in. This
is no big deal. I have nothing to glory of, for
necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. Now with that as our background,
I want to answer one question in this message. What is it to
preach the gospel? My only source of authority is
the Word of God for this and all other things. In Friday's
paper, I didn't bother reading the article. I just glanced through
a little bit of it. There were pictures of three
prominent preachers. I reckon you'd call them prominent,
at least in our area. And they had been to one of these
stupid ecumenical councils. And one of the fellows was talking
about their authority for what they were doing. He said, He
said, our source for the Word of God is the Bible. Now folks
think that sounds good. That's blasphemy. That's heresy. That's heresy. Of course, that's
what you expect from pagans. Our source for the Word of God
is not the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. And that makes it our source
for authority, our source for faith, our source for practice. We have no other. So this Word
of God is the source from which I will state everything I had
to state this morning about what it is to preach the gospel. Let's
look in the Word of God and find out what it is. Turn to Isaiah
chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. I started
to read this passage for our scripture reading this morning,
but I believe it was just Tuesday night that Lindsay read it back
here in the office before services. But this is a glorious, glorious
passage of scripture. Here in Isaiah 40, the Lord God
speaks to his servants and tells his servants exactly what they
must preach. He says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people in the beginning of the chapter. That is, speak
ye to the heart of my people. Now, no man can do that, but
a man's got to if he's God's servant. And the only way he
can do that is if God gives him a word and God speaks by him.
All right, and then the word comes up, well, what do we cry?
What do we say? How do we speak to men? The first
thing there is to preach in the gospel is to preach the truth
about man. That's the very first thing.
Look here in verse six. The voice said, what shall I
cry? And this is God's response. What shall I say to these people?
I was driving down the road sometime back, and I saw a sign I hadn't
seen in years. It was over in Lexington. It was on the front
of the church building. It said, We can't spell C-H-R-C-H
without you. We can't spell church without
you. Isn't that wonderful? God was
spelled in church 2,000 years before you came along. He doesn't
need you. You're not important. Not before
God. I'm not important. We're irrelevant. What do you say about man? We've
got to give men some dignity. We've got to bolster man's ego.
He doesn't have any problem with that. That's not his problem.
What we've got to do is figure a way to get rid of it. Well,
this is what he said. What shall I cry? Tell everybody
who hears you, you're just grass. Just grass. All flesh is grass. All the goodliness thereof is
as the flower of the field. The grass, what is it? It's just
withering. You're just dying, withered up
grass. That's all. Well, but I'm somebody. I've made a name for myself.
Man, look what I've done. I got myself a PhD. I got myself a master's degree. I got myself a college education. I've made a business for myself.
Man, look at me. And then we said, oh boy, you
did do something, didn't you? And one worm bragging on another,
that's all. Just grass, withering grass. And all the stuff that
makes you strut, the flower of the grass, fades away. That's what it says,
isn't it? Because the Spirit of the Lord
blows on it, and you're gone. You're gone. Just like that.
Everything you worked for. Everything you thought distinguished
you. And these days, preachers are
as bad as other folks for wanting people to recognize them. I get
papers come across my desk almost every week. Somebody offering
to get you a doctor's degree, you know. You can buy them for
25 cents. You can get them from most anywhere.
Preachers want to call me Dr. Fortner. I like to talk about
Reverend Twiddle. But Reverend Twiddle got him
a D.D. so they called him Reverend Twiddle D.D. And that's just
about what I think about him. Doctor so and so. Withering grass. Just withering grass. What does the Bible say about
man? Read the third chapter of Romans. There's none righteous,
no not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. Nobody. Nobody in the world
who's righteous. Nobody in the world who understands
anything spiritual. Nobody in the world who seeks
after God. But I sought the Lord. No, you
didn't. No, you didn't. The only man who seeks the Lord,
Mark, is one who's been sought of the Lord. The only man who
turns to him is one who's been turned to him. The only man who
walks with him is one who has been called to walk in the way
by faith. No man seeks after the Lord.
Read what it says, Romans 3 verse 12. They are all gone out of
the way. Out of the way. That's where
you were when God found you. They are all together become Boy, this sounds good, doesn't
it? This is how you win friends and
influence people. Unprofitable. Unprofitable. Not just insignificant, unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Our Lord said, you
have not the love of God in you. Somebody said, but I love people. That makes me good. You don't
love people. No, you don't. You love yourself. You think about people you think
you love. You think about it for a minute. You don't love
anybody. Well, I love my wife. She's your wife. I love my husband. He's your husband. Well, I love
my children. You ought to. They're yours.
Well, I love my Savior, my personal Savior. You wouldn't if He wasn't
yours. What's wrong with man? Every man makes the world revolve
around himself. That's exactly it. Everybody
seeks his own pleasure, his own will. I wonder why on earth men
run off and leave his wife and kids? Why women run off and leave
her husband and kids? Every man seeks his own pleasure.
Why on earth would anybody just live like barbarians, live like
beasts, shack up together with no commitment, no responsibility?
Don't want any. Everybody lives for his own pleasure.
Everybody. That's the nature of man. Why
on earth would anybody, would anybody just go out and commit
mass murder without any seeming excuse? Because I'm upset. My mama didn't raise me right.
I had a bad childhood. Everybody loves himself. Everybody. That's the nature of man. You
wonder why you act like you do? Read on. There is none good,
no, not one. Their throat's an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they've used deceit. The poison of Asp is
under their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing
and bitterness. Oh, I wouldn't cuss for nothing.
That's not what it's talking about. Now, you oughtn't to cuss,
but that's not what it's talking about. This is what it's talking
about, murmuring, complaining, fault-finding, backbiting, gossip,
cursing and bitterness. Cursing and bitterness. The feet
are swift to shed blood. You can't kill a fella, but you
would if you could. Destruction and misery are in their ways.
The way of peace have they not known. How come? Because there's
no fear of God before your eyes. That's exactly right. This book
tells us that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. But
there's no genuine, honest, sincere fear of God before your eyes. You need the fear of God and
a tremble in His presence. No, in this day of apostate religion,
even very religious people have no fear of God. If they feared
God, they'd be silent in His presence. If we feared God, we'd
choose our words carefully. Our worship would be marked not
by shouting and clapping our hands and throwing hymn books
and running up and down aisles. Our worship would be marked by
bowing our heads in awesome reverence before a holy God in silence
before Him. Job feared God. He said, I've
heard of you with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth thee. I've seen you and I've spoken once. Yes, I've spoken
twice. But now I will keep my mouth
shut. I'll not speak again. I sat down
the other day and started counting the questions God asked Job in
those last chapters, 37, 38, 39. I lost count before I got
done reading. I had to go back and start all
over again. And Job said, now I've seen you and I won't say
any more. I'm done talking. I'm done talking. John said, when I saw the Lord,
I fell at his feet as one dead. He'd run up and down the aisle
waving a handkerchief, shouting hallelujah. Praise the Lord. He said it a little while ago,
Ron. Isaiah saw the Lord. He said, when I saw him, I cried,
woe is me. I'm undone. Some time ago, I had the opportunity
of witnessing to a fellow riding on an airplane with me. He opened
the door. God opened the door. We talked for just a little bit,
and he said, you know, I go to church, big church. He named
it. You wouldn't know about it if
I told you. But he said, you know, the preacher's a swell
guy, nice fellow, smart, smart as a whip. He said he can tell
stories, and he's a nice gentleman, nice gentleman. But he said,
there's something wrong. He said, I go out of there feeling
too good about myself, and I know that's not right. I said, you're
right, it's not. It's not. Oh, if preachers would
just preach the truth about men and women might go out the church
door again. Like that publican crying, oh
God be merciful to me, the sinner. Because that's what you are. Just sin. Now mama won't tell
you that. Daddy won't tell you that. Your
girlfriend won't tell you that. Your boyfriend won't tell you
that. Oh, you've done this, you've done that, but now you're alright.
No, you're sin. Just sin. just oozing corruption
before a holy God fit for nothing but destruction unless God has
mercy on you. Me too. What is it to preach the gospel?
It's to tell the truth about man and it's to tell the truth
about God. Hold your Bibles here in Isaiah
40 again. He goes on The preacher says,
what shall I cry? And Lord God says, oh Zion, verse
nine, that bringeth good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain,
oh Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings, lift up thy voice with
strength, lift it up, be not afraid, say to the cities of
Judah, behold, your God. What is it to preach the gospel?
It's to tell men the truth about God. Now Rex, nobody likes to
hear the truth about himself, nobody. If it wasn't for the
fact that I have a refuge, I'd despise hearing it every time
I hear it. Nobody likes to hear the truth about himself. And
nobody by nature likes to hear the truth about God. Nobody.
Now, you can talk to them about that little peanut God they tote
around in their pockets, you know, that little rabbit foot
God they rub for good luck. You can talk to them about that
little God they wear around their necks hanging on a cross. You
can talk to them about that and say, oh, I love Jesus. Oh, I love Jesus. You talk to
them about who God is, find out whether or not they love him.
The problem is not that they're confused. The problem is they're
dead rebels before God. That's the problem. Behold your
God. Who is it? He's that one who
feeds his flock like a shepherd and gathers his little ones with
the arm. He's that one who measured the waters in the hollow of his
hand, and made out the heavens as a span, and comprehended the
dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in
scales and heels in his balance. He's God, who no man ever taught
anything, who never learned anything, who's never been instructed by
anyone. He says in verse 18, to whom will you liken the Lord?
To whom will you liken God, or what likeness will you compare
to Him? Folks start trying to compare
God to something. Everything you compare him to
is idolatry. Everything. That's the reason
he said, don't compare me to anything. The workman melteth a graven
image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth
silver chains. The poor worshipper is so impoverished,
he's so bloom and pour, that he hath no oblation and chooses
a tree. Turn over to chapter 45, you
find out after he gets done worshiping his tree, he cooks his food with
it. Poor man, poor man. He chooses a tree that will not
rot, and he seeks to him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image
that he shall not be moved. Have you not known? Have you
not heard? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundation of the earth? It is he, this is God, that setteth
upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are
as grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens
as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. He
brings princes to nothing and makes the judges of the earth
vanity. Verse 28, to whom, or 25 rather,
to whom then will you liken me? Or shall I be equal, saith the
Holy One? Verse 28, hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth,
fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his
understanding. Behold your God. Who is God? Who is he? What are his essential
characters? His essential attributes? Those
things that are essential to his nature as God. Now, when
I've done telling you who God is, I'm going to say something,
but I want to say it now so you can be prepared and get it. The
gods of this religious world, the gods worshipped and preached
in this town and all around this town, In this state and all around
this state, in this country and all around the world, the gods
of 20th century Christianity are no more God than if you had
gone out into the woods and found you a tree that would not rot
and carved you out of God and hired somebody to make you a
god out of stone and sit in there and say, now he can't be moved.
It's just an idolatrous figment of man's imagination. Your God
he is, unless he fits the character of this God. That's just honest. That's just
honest. I had a fellow sit down with
me the other day. It happens all the time. I was preaching
somewhere. He said, we talked a little bit. He asked just as
if he didn't hear what I said. He said, you mean I wasn't saved
when I was worshiping that Arminian God? Well, no. How can you say that? He's no
God. I said to him, I said, would
you want me to tell you you were saved if you were worshiping
the statue of the Virgin Mary? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. She's
not God. Neither is the God that men have whittled out of their
imaginations. Who is God? He's eternal. He's called the
everlasting God. He told Moses to go to the children
of Israel and bring them out of Egypt. And Moses said, well,
who am I going to tell them sent me? By what authority do I come?
He said, tell them I am. Not I was. Not I shall be. I am. I am that I am. Moses said, here I go. Yes, sir. With your name, I'll go tell
them. Who is God? He's the creator of all things. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. Well, that's not very scientific,
I know. But, you know, this may shock
you, but I don't care. I'm not interested. If science
contradicts God's book, science is wrong. It's just that simple. But how can you say brilliant
men are wrong? I didn't. God did. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him we
live and move and have our being. God created everything. He's
the God of total providence. Total providence. There's nothing in this world
that moves or wiggles without God moving it and wiggling it. Nothing. Nothing breathes but
by Him. No action comes to pass but by
Him. Our God rules. The King's hand,
the scripture says, or the King's heart is in the hands of the
Lord. Yours too. Mine too. Well, you mean the
hearts of good kings. That's not what he said. He said
the king's heart. It's in the hands of the Lord.
And like rivers of water, that is like irrigation fields, just
like Oscar would go down and irrigate his tobacco. He puts
the irrigation pipes up this way today, puts them out here
tomorrow, puts them that way the next day. He turns it whithersoever
he will. Far easier than you can set up
your irrigation pipes. Just like that. The lot is cast into the lap. A fellow goes out to Las Vegas,
gets him some dice, rolls the dice on the cramped table, says,
boy, he sure was lucky. No, God determined the number
before he ever rolled the dice. That's what Proverbs 30 says. The lot's cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Do you mean preacher? God controls everything. Your
imaginary God who doesn't control spit is no God. But God Almighty
controls everything. That's right. And more, we rejoice
that it's so. He's our Father. He's our Father. The Lord God Almighty is that
God who says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Oh,
you can't preach that to me. If you're interested in telling
them the truth, you can. That's right, buddy. We've got
to tell men the truth. The truth. The truth will make
you free. Not man's truth. Man doesn't
have any. God's truth. The truth about
God. If God Almighty is pleased to
open doors of heaven, and reach down with the long, omnipotent
arm of his sovereign mercy, and knock down the door of your heart
and put his grace in you, then you'll be saved. And if God Almighty
leads you to yourself, you're going to hell. I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, he says. The Lord God Almighty, the God
of Scripture, is righteous, righteous, always righteous. He cannot even
pardon sin, even the sins of folks he loves with everlasting
love, except he finds satisfaction. The reason Jesus Christ came
down here to die for sinners is because God is righteous and
the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. And the only way the righteous
Lord who loves righteousness can pardon sin is if he finds
one who can justify himself, justify his righteousness, justify
his law in forgiving sin. And now because Jesus Christ
has fulfilled all righteousness and has satisfied the justice
of God on behalf of his people, God is just. and the justifier
of all who believe. Who is God? What's He like? He
says, I am the Lord. I change not. Blessed be His name. He never changes. He can't be changed. Bob, He's
God. We're not talking about a a modern
image. We're not talking about a piece
of clay. We're talking about God. He's never changed. He never decided anything. We talk like that, but he never
decided anything. He never thought about anything. He didn't have
to. He's God. He never came up with an idea. He's God. He never changed. Never. Never. He never changes in his character. in the objects of his love, in
the purpose of his grace. He never changes in his love,
he never changes in his goodness. He's God. What is it to preach
the gospel? It's to tell sinners the truth
about God, the truth about themselves, and the truth about his Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll have to wrap it up. Folks
ask all the time, where is salvation? The only reason the question
is asked is because you look in the wrong place. And you refuse to look in the
right place. Salvation is in Christ. Only in Christ. Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Well, why is it that way? So
that no flesh or glory in His presence. You see, if salvation depended
on something, you do. I don't care if it was just so
much as winking your eye. If salvation depended on something
you do, if it was just so little as drawing your own breath, then
you'd have something to boast in. But salvation's not by what
you do. Salvation's of the Lord. Salvation's
in Christ. What does it take to save a sinner?
It takes an eternal election. It takes a covenant redemption. It takes The whole machinery
of providence. Oh, can you get hold of this?
It takes the whole machinery of providence. What does it take
to save us all? It takes the irresistible call
and power of God's Spirit. It takes the gift of faith. And
it takes God keeping you in life and faith. And it takes God himself
presenting you faultless before the presence of his glory. Oh,
now God help you to hear the gospel for Christ's sake and
believe. Amen. Ron, you come lead us in
the hymn, please.