frequently, people who hear the
gospel of God's free grace preached plainly, distinctly, and clearly,
will accuse we who preach it of being hard-shelled. And generally,
those folks, I don't care too much for trying to satisfy us,
I just tell them I'd rather have a hard shell than no shell at
all. But we are not hard-shelled, we're not primitive and this
is the distinction. We recognize that God does not
save sinners apart from the preaching of the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, don't let anyone deceive
you with the idea that since God is sovereign, since God has
predestinated and chosen sons of salvation, and Christ has
redeemed them, and their salvation is infallible and secure, then
they may be called by God apart from the preaching of the gospel.
So there's no need to witness, no need to send out missionaries,
no need to send your pastors and preachers around the world
to preach the gospel, because God's going to save his elect
no matter what. You understand me and understand me well. God
will not save his elect no matter what. God saves his elect through
the preaching of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There
is no such thing as salvation apart from the preaching of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Now that is not because God is
not able to save men without the gospel, He could save men
by grasshoppers kicking them on the nose if he wanted to,
but that's not his purpose. It is God's purpose, and his
determination, and his will to save sinners through the preaching
of the gospel. Lend your red to your first Corinthians
one just a moment ago. it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And so it is that our
God has purpose to grant life to dead sinners by the word of
his grace. You who believe, believe having
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. You
believe because you're born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible by the word of God, which lives and abides
forever." Now, that teaching is so plain, so obvious, so clear
in Scripture, that error in this regard is absolutely inexcusable. The preaching of the gospel,
then, is God's chosen, ordained means of grace. the means by
which he calls out chosen sinners, redeemed by the blood of Christ,
by the effectual power of his Holy Spirit, giving life and
faith to whom he will, according to his own eternal counsel and
his own sovereign purpose. Now, that being the case, the
questions that I have this evening are questions of immense importance. They ought to be questions of
pressing concern and interest to every one of us. I want to
show you from the scriptures the answer to three very, very
important questions. We will find the answers to these
questions in Romans chapter 1. I want you to open your Bibles
there and hold them open on your lap. The first question is this. Who preaches the gospel? Now
we've got preachers, scabs of them everywhere. We've got preachers
on every corner. We don't need any more preachers.
We've got too many. I don't want anybody to take
me literally, but I'm about inclined to speak as Brother Barnard did,
wish somebody put a bounty on their head, 10 cents a piece,
and just blow them away. We got too many preachers. We
don't have any use for more preachers. We do need, we do need gospel
preachers. There is a huge difference. Who
preaches the gospel? Everybody pretends to. Everybody
who preaches claims to. But who does? We cannot do better
when we look for an example of a gospel preacher than to look
to the apostle Paul. Look here in verse 1 of Romans
chapter 1 and see how the apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit,
describes himself as God's servant and a gospel preacher. Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto
the gospel of God. First he says, Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ. That man who preaches the gospel,
who truly preaches the gospel, that man who always and exclusively
preaches the gospel, is one who is a servant of Jesus Christ. Gospel preachers are the willing
bond slaves, the voluntary servants of the Son of God. Now notice
how Paul describes himself. It is not Reverend Paul, or Dr. Paul, or Father Paul, Or Pope
Paul, just Paul. Paul, not even Paul the servant,
as if he set himself above another, but Paul a servant, one among
many, a servant of Jesus Christ. This man counted it his highest
honor and greatest distinct privilege to be the servant of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. Look at the next line. Called
to be an apostle. The word apostle, I recognize,
stands for a distinct group of men, those men who were the inspired
messengers of the covenant, who were inspired of God to give
us the word of God, who had seen the Lord Jesus in the flesh and
received the word directly from them, or from him rather, had
received the revelation of grace and of the gospel by the direct
instruction of the Son of God in the flesh. But the word principally,
in its root meaning, simply is messenger. And that's how I want
you to see it this evening. In that regard, Larry Paul is
just exactly what we are, a messenger. Just a messenger. Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be a messenger. A gospel preacher is a man with
a message. Not just a man with a sermon.
A man with a message. a message from God Almighty burning
in his soul, a message he must deliver. He is a man with a messianic
call, a messianic purpose, a messianic mandate. If you ever run across
a man with a mandate from God, you won't have to wonder about
it. If you even meet up with a fellow who thinks he's got
a mandate from God, you won't have to wonder about it. It makes
him distinct. It causes him to have a little
backbone. It causes him to be a man who
cannot be pressured, who cannot be coerced, who cannot be controlled.
He will not be pressured, controlled, or coerced by anything on this
earth. He's a messenger from God Almighty. That man cannot be forced to
compromise. He cannot be forced to bow. He
has a mandate from God. Why should he compromise? He
has a mandate from God. Why should he bow to anyone?
He has a mandate from God. Why should he scrape before any
man? He's God-forsaken. I don't know if I've ever met
a man like that or not. If you ever meet one, you'll know it.
Moses was a man like that. Read what you find of Moses in
the book of the Old Testament. This man had a mandate from God.
He didn't back up, not even before Pharaoh. When Pharaoh said, now
Moses, I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll make a compromise.
You and the men in Israel can go out into the wilderness, three
days journey, and go out there and worship God. But now leave
your wives and your children here. You don't need them to
go out and worship God. Leave your cattle here. Moses said,
there shall not so much as a hoof be left behind. We're going out
of this town. We're going out. But you're talking
to Pharaoh, the mighty king. I'm speaking for God, Pharaoh's
king. He had a mandate from God. John
the Baptist was a man with a mandate from God. He came into town and
everybody thought, man, what on earth is this fella? Until
they heard him speak and they understood they were not the
apostles. Not a reed shaken in a wind, but a man sent from God. Paul was a messenger. And I'm
telling you that every gospel preacher Every man who truly
preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ is a man with a message,
the message coming from God himself. Look at verse one again, Paul
tells us something else about that man who truly preaches the
gospel. He's the servant of Jesus Christ, divinely called of God,
the messenger of Christ, and he is separated unto the gospel.
Now I could spend a lot of time here lot of time needs to be spent
here, but I have to be brief. I want to move on. God's servants. Don't take this business of being
God's servants lightly. God's servants are men separated
to the gospel by God's divine decree from eternity. He said
to Jeremiah, before I knew thee, or before I formed thee in the
womb, I sanctified you Apostle Paul said, God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace. We're
separated unto the gospel by God's distinct call. People ask
sometimes, what is it to be called to the ministry? Most people
who go about preaching, most men, and regrettably in these
days, nuts are crazy enough to ordain women, so women go about
preaching too. But most people who go about
preaching have some kind of an ecstatic feeling, you know. They feel like God called them
to preach. Feeling ain't got anything to do with it. Ain't
got anything to do with it. If God calls a man to preach,
that man has the ear of God's people, and he is placed in God's
kingdom where he preaches. And if he's not doing it, God
hasn't called him. That's as simple as that. There's no such
thing as a fellow being called to preach who's not preaching.
No such thing as a man being called to preach who hasn't got
a people to whom he is given to preach. No such thing as a
man being called to preach who doesn't have this message from
God. That man who is called to preach doesn't just have a desire
to. All of God's people have a desire to declare the gospel.
Every man who knows anything at all about the grace of God
desires to proclaim the message, but they can't all do it. That
man who's called of God to preach is gifted to preach, and his
gifts separate him unto the gospel. The man's gifts, the wise man
said, shall make room for him. Not only that, but God places
him where he wants him. puts each one of his servants
exactly where he has ordained that they shall serve him, and
fits them for their place. Oh, would to God I could persuade
every preacher that you don't need to envy what goes on at
this place or that. Would to God I could persuade
every local church, you don't need to envy that local church
or this one. Oh no, we're doing what God put in our hands to
do. We're not responsible to do what God puts in the hands
of Todd Roach and Todd Nyberg to do. We're not responsible
to do what God puts in the hands of Walter Groover and the folks
in Mexico to do. We are responsible to do what
God has given us the means, the ability, and the opportunity
to do. That's what separates us from
the gospel. But there's another thing. God's
servants are men who by deliberate devotion and increasing determination
separate themselves unto the gospel. That man who preaches
the gospel of Christ is like Abraham's servant. You remember
Abraham sent his servant down to find a bride for his son Isaac?
And he made his servant put his hand under his thigh and swear
to him that he would go down and find the servant. And his
servant said, what if nobody will come? Then Abraham said,
you go down and declare what I'm telling you to declare. And
if no woman comes back, you're free of my oath, but you go declare
it. And Eliezer said, all right, that's what I'll do. And he went
down to declare his mission. And he met with Rebekah. And
when he met with Rebekah, he went over to Laban, her brother,
and all of her brothers got together. And they said, well, let's have
a feast. And that man said, I will not eat until I've told my message. I will not allow either pleasure
or pressure to turn me aside from what God called me to do.
Oh my soul, my brethren who hear this message, let nothing turn
you aside from the work of the gospel. It's just too great. It's just too great. I hear about preachers They want to make a little extra
money, so they go do this, that, and the other thing. If I'm God's
servant, I'm just confident God will supply bread to my table.
And I'm just confident that it's my responsibility to live on
the bread he provides. I'm just confident of that. And
then some folks who, they just, they raise sand because some
fella goes out and works a public job. They don't have to work
a public job, they spend all their time in recreation, spend
their time doing this or that and ball things and ball fields
and speculation and this thing or that and this other this other
business of that. Oh there's no excuse. God's servants
are men who increasingly with determination and devotion cut
themselves off from everything else to the business of preaching
the gospel. But what about your children?
You're going to follow me. Man must hate his brother, and
sister, and brother, and father, and son, and daughter, and even
his own wife. Give her no consideration. No
consideration. I'm going to be honest with you.
I would not be here doing what I'm doing if I let my consideration
for my wife control me. I think I could provide a little
better for her. I think I could secure a few more things for
doing something else. I would not be here doing what
I'm doing had I allowed consideration of my daughter's pleasure to
dictate what I do. God's servants are men who separate
themselves unto the gospel increasingly with determination. Read what
Paul says about himself here to these Romans in chapter 1
verse 9. He said, God is my witness. Boy, he didn't speak that like
some drunk on the street. He knew who God is. He said,
God is my witness, 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. Look at this.
If by any means, now at length, I might have a prosperous journey
by the will of God to come to you. He said, I won't come to
you. I pray that God will allow me to come to you. He said, I
long to see you, that I may impart some spiritual gift to you. He
said, in verse 13, oftentimes I purpose to come, but God didn't
let me. Now he says in verse 15, I'm ready to preach the gospel
to you in that room also. I'm ready to go right to the
seat of heathendom. I'm ready to go right to the
seat of Caesar's throne and there preach the gospel to you in that
room also. Who preaches the gospel? those
men who are the servants of Jesus Christ and called messengers
of God Almighty, men who are separated under the gospel. That
man who is God's servant, who is called by God with a message
from God, separates himself under the gospel. Now, if you look
at chapter one again, you'll see the answer to the second
question. What is the gospel? Now, there
are many texts in Scripture which could be used to show the answers
to this question. But for our purposes tonight,
I'll take just this passage of scripture, and let me show you
what the Holy Spirit here describes as characteristics of the gospel.
In these six verses, he gives us five distinct identifying
characteristics or marks of the gospel. Mark them carefully.
Learn what they mean. Any gospel which does not measure
up to this standard is a false gospel. The man who preaches
any other gospel is a false prophet, and those who believe any other
gospel do not know God. They are yet under the delusion
of darkness. Now, there are not many gospels but one. The apostle
says here that the gospel we believe and preach, the gospel
of Holy Scripture, the only true gospel, is the gospel of God. It is what? It's the gospel. It is the gospel which is of
God. It came from God. So this is
not the invention of a man. You start talking about God sacrificing
his own son, for the satisfaction of his own justice in the place
of guilty sinners, for the glorification of his own great name, you're
talking about something that no man ever dreamed of until
it was revealed. No man. You can read any history
book you want to read about any group of people throughout all
of mythology in the Greek Gentile world or throughout all of the
barbaric tribes found in the world or even in the most enlightened
ages. Men never invented such a religion
as this. This gospel is of God. God ordains
it. God divides it. He divides the
means by which he can be just and yet justify the ungodly.
It reveals God in his true character. It is made known to sinners by
God Almighty, and it brings us to God, exalting and glorifying
the Trident God. That gospel which is of God is
that which he had promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. This gospel which is of God is
that which is revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures in type
and in picture, in promise and in prophecy. So that as you turn
back to the Old Testament Scriptures, you read the same message. It
was there veiled. It was there given in picture
and in type and in shadow. But it was the same message.
The saints of God in the Old Testament, God's elect then were
saved exactly as they are now by faith in Christ, by the grace
of God through faith in Him. And there's no other way of salvation.
Abraham was saved just like you are. He believed God. He said
to his son Isaac, my son, God will provide himself a sacrifice. And he did. Noah was saved the
same way we are. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. The book doesn't say that God found grace in Noah's
eyes. Noah found grace in God's eyes.
It wasn't that God chose Noah, but rather that God chose Noah. Enoch walked with God, he walked
with God just exactly like you did, by faith in Christ. There's
no other way to walk with him, no other way to please him. That
gospel which is of God, that gospel which is according to
the scriptures, promised in the prophets of the Old Testament,
is concerning God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now look at
what he says here. The gospel is good news about
a person The Lord Jesus Christ. It is not a set of doctrines. I sometimes use the phrase, we
love the doctrines of grace. Well, that's really not a very
good statement. That's really not a very good
statement at all. My wife wears various things. I love to see
her wear. But I'm not going to close it
and hug one of them up. You see me take down one of the dresses
out of her closet, and you're over there visiting sometime,
and the bed's turned back, and I stretch out one of those dresses
there, and I send Shelby downstairs to turn the bed back for her?
You call folks with the paddy wagon. I need to be taken away.
That's not what I'm in love with. I love those things that she
wears when she wears them. They're utterly meaningless unless
they're on her. And I'm telling you the doctrines
of grace are not the object of our love, but rather Jesus Christ
who adorns the doctrines, and the doctrines are seen in their
beauty only as they are on him. All things are in him. And the
gospel is concerning God's son. He is described here as the son
of God. God the son, the second person
of the Holy Trinity. He is Jesus, our Savior, our
Deliverer, our Redeemer, our great Savior who has put away
our sin by the sacrifice of himself. He is called the Christ, Jehovah's
servant, God's elect, in whom his soul delights, the Messiah,
that one of whom it is written, he shall not fail. He is here
described as our Lord, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Lord he
is. sovereign monarch of the universe.
And this Lord Jesus Christ is that one of whom the gospel declares
when it says he was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh. Jesus Christ was made of a woman
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.
Being a man made according to the direct line and moral line
of David the king so that he sits upon the throne as God promised
he would, David's son to reign forever. Then after he satisfied
the law and justice of God for the sins of his people, which
were imputed to him when he was made to be sin for us, as he
died upon the cursed tree, satisfying the law of God, after he was
dead for three days, on the third day he was raised up again, look
at what the scripture says here, and declared to be the son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
was sanctified and justified in the Spirit. That is, our sins
which were imputed to him, when he rose from the dead, he arose
by the Spirit of holiness, and there was no sin found on him,
because he had put away our sins. And thus he was manifestly declared
indisputably to be the Son of God, raised from the dead. It
is this great God, our Savior, revealed in the gospel, by whom,
he says in verse five, we have received grace, faith, and obedience. This gospel, everything about
this gospel, is here described as being for his name, for the
glory, honor, praise, exaltation, and worship of his holy name. The gospel we preach is for the
glory of Jesus Christ, the glory of the triune God revealed in
Christ. I hope you understand that. Here
is a litmus test by which to judge every sermon you hear,
every preacher you hear, every religion you read about, every
doctrine you hear or read about. Here's the litmus test. If it
gives honor to man, to man's will, to man's works, to man's
worth, to man's religious deeds. If it extols and exalts and lifts
up man because of anything he is or imagines he is, anything
he does or imagines he does, then it is the lie of Satan,
the deceiver of men's souls. And it will damn you if you believe
it. But if it exalts Jesus Christ, If it exalts the triune God in
the glory of His grace, if it gives all praise to God and causes
you to lift your heart to God honoring Him and worshiping Him,
then it is the gospel which is of God. It is for the honor of
His name. And this gospel, this glorious
gospel of the all-glorious Christ that we believe is here called
that by which we are called of Jesus Christ. Turn to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Last week I concluded my message
to you with this 13th and 14th verse of 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel." Our men say they are called to life and faith
in Jesus Christ according to God's sovereign purpose of grace
and election before the world began. Called by the effectual,
irresistible power of God's Spirit according to our gospel. Briefly add to one last question.
What is it to preach the gospel? Several years ago sitting out
in the front of the motel down in Cherokee, North Carolina.
This has been a long time ago. Someone asked Brother Mayhem
this question and I'll give you the answers he gave. They're
outstanding. I'll just give them to you and
maybe preach on it another time. Brother Todd and I were talking
about it just a few weeks ago and he reminded me of this. First
to preach the gospel They sent me to declare it. That's all. We're not sent to defend it,
to apologize for it, to explain it. Just declare it. Paul said,
I declared unto you that which I received. God's servants are
men who get a message. If I hand Bob Pontchart a note,
say you give this to Paul when I leave, then your responsibility,
if you agree to it, just take the note and give it to him.
Don't read it. Don't scratch out parts and fill
in. Just hand a note to him. If you do anything other than
hand in the note, you haven't fulfilled your responsibility.
And it's my responsibility as God's messenger simply to tell
you what God has sent me to tell you. What is it to preach the
gospel? Secondly, it is to declare it
as God's message. Our gospel is the gospel of God.
It is not the gospel of the Baptist church. It is not even the gospel
of the reformers. or of the Puritans, or of Calvinism.
The gospel we preach is the gospel of God, and we defend it not
on the basis of history, but on the basis that it is God's
gospel, and only that. That's the declaration of the
word. The gospel we preach is that which God himself has revealed
to us and given to us. Thirdly, to preach the gospel
is to declare it as God's message for everyone. We don't have programs specially
designed for old folks, young folks, black folks, white folks,
single folks, married folks, divorced folks, folks who are
about to get divorced. And here's the reason why. When
you start to set the gospel for a specific group of people, you're
bound to compromise. When you start to specialize
the message, you compromise the message. The gospel we preach
is the same for everybody. We preach it for sinners and
for saints. We declare to all men alike the
gospel of the grace of God. And to preach the gospel of the
grace of God is to preach it as my message is there. Paul
spoke over and over again about the gospel. He said, it's my
gospel. This that I preach to you is not something I've learned
from a book. Oh no. The things I preach to
you had been burned into my heart as with a branding iron from
the Word of God in the hands of God's Spirit. They've been
inscribed on my heart in fire by the finger of God. And with
these things, there's absolutely no question, this is my gospel.
This is what I've experienced. This is what I've learned of
God. This is what I declare to you. And to preach the gospel
is to declare it with a genuine desire that all who hear it Oh, I want you to hear this. I pray for grace and wisdom every
time I preach, that God the Holy Spirit will give me the ability
to preach the gospel as though I had just learned it this morning
for the first time, as though you had never heard it in all
your life, and as being certain that you will never hear it again.
I pray that God will give me grace and wisdom to preach the
gospel with fire in my soul, as one convinced he will never
have opportunity to preach again. That's what it is to preach the
gospel. May God be pleased to make it effectual to your soul
for Christ's sake. Amen.