Would you turn with me to the
40th Psalm? Tonight, we're going to be looking
at 1 Corinthians chapter 13. I want to attempt to preach on
charity. I've entitled this morning's
message, The Preaching of Christ. Now here's a preacher I want
to hear. The preaching of Christ. Psalm 40, verse 9. I want to
read verses 9 and 10. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation Though I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord Thou knowest, I have not hid Thy righteousness within
my heart. I have declared Thy faithfulness
and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation." Now, who is speaking here when
he says, I have preached? Who is speaking? Look up in verse
6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offerings and sin offerings hast thou not required. Then said
I, Lo, I come, and the volume of the book is written of me.
I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my
heart. Now, who's that? Let's turn to Hebrews 10. Let's
remove all doubt regarding who's speaking. This is quoted by the
writer to the Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse
5, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he saith, Sacrifice and offering, thou wouldst not, but
a body hast thou prepared for me, and burn offerings and sacrifice
for sin. Thou hast had no pleasure. Then
said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it's
written of me to do thy will, O God." Now, we see that this
is a direct quotation. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the one who says, I have
preached Christ. is the preacher. The Lord Jesus
Christ identifies himself as a preacher. Did you know that
Christ was a preacher and is a preacher? When he inaugurated
his public ministry in Luke chapter four, first thing he said, it
was a quotation from Isaiah chapter 61. The Lord hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor. The Lord Jesus Christ was and
is a preacher. Who was his audience? What did
you notice? In those two verses I read, two
times we read of the great congregation. A preacher has an audience, doesn't
he? The great congregation. Now, the great congregation spoken
of is the church. Every believer. And indeed, this
is a great congregation. All of God's people, the church
that he purchased with his own blood, that's who he speaks to. And if you are a part of this
church, if I'm a part of this church, I've heard this message.
This is the message he's given to me as the preacher, as God's
word, as God's prophet. Christ was a preacher. Now, what
is a preacher? He says, I have preached. What
is a preacher? Now, quite often people use it
in a derogatory way. Well, he's preaching at me or
preaching. Well, I realize why people can
use it as a derogatory word, particularly what preachers are
for the most part. I do. I tell you, I'm still embarrassed
to identify myself as a preacher. Because I know what people think
about him. And it's not that I'm ashamed to be a preacher.
I'm proud of the gospel I preach. I'm proud of the word of God.
I'm proud of the truth. But as far as what preachers,
how they're associated with, how would you like to be one?
I mean, it's awful, really is. I mean, you know, just the way...
But what is a real preacher? What is a preacher? A preacher
is a man who has a message from God. That's what a preacher is. He's a man with a message from
God. Now, if somebody's got a message
from God, I want to hear what they've got to say, don't you?
I surely do. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
preacher. He's the Prince of Preachers.
I've heard Spurgeon called the Prince of Preachers. I don't
think so. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Prince of Preachers, isn't He? He's the true preacher. Now, when Christ describes his
own preaching, I have preached in these two verses in Psalm
49, Psalm 40, verses 9 and 10, he uses three words to tell us
what he did not do when he preached. And he gives us one word to tell
us what he did do when he preached. And this is this is what true
preaching is. If you want to understand something
about true preaching, listen to these words that our Lord
uses to describe his own preaching. He says in verse nine, I preached
righteousness in the great congregation. And look at these three things
he did not do when he preached, he says, I've not refrained.
My lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I've not refrained. In verse
10, he says, I've not hid thy righteousness within my heart.
I didn't hide anything. I've declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I've not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. Now, you notice
the three words he uses to describe what he didn't do when he preached. He said, I've not refrained.
I've not hid. And I have not concealed or covered
up. First, he says, I've not refrained.
That word means to hold back. To keep back. It's a failure to tell it all. Paul said, I've not shunned to
declare all the counsel of God. I've kept back nothing that was
profitable to you. A man that refrains from telling
what he really believes is not a God-called preacher. There's
no refraining. There's no holding back. If you refrain, if you don't
tell what you really believe, all you prove is you're dishonest.
Nothing else. In true preaching, there's no
refraining going on. And he says, I've not hid. I've
not covered up. I've not covered up. You know,
a lot of preachers do this. They cover up the truth with
words of wisdom, human wisdom, human philosophy, human arguments
that just covers up the truth. Paul put it this way. Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
Covering up the truth, making it appear to be what it's really
not. He says, I'm not hid and I'm not concealed. I've not concealed. In preaching, there's no concealing
going on. Now, you wear makeup. I'm not against makeup. Don't
get me wrong. But you wear makeup to conceal something, don't you?
To make you appear different than what you really are. You
wear certain types of clothing to conceal something. And through
preaching, we're not trying to conceal anything. We conceal
when we're afraid to preach the naked truth, oh, that God would
deliver us from refraining, hiding and concealing. That's what goes
on in human preaching, but when someone is truly preaching the
gospel, that kind of stuff's not going on, is it? It's just
not there. Now, look at the one word he
uses to describe his preaching. He says, I preach righteousness,
verse nine. I preach righteousness in a great
congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared." There's one
word he uses in true preaching. He says, I have declared thy
faithfulness and thy salvation. That means to publish, to certify,
even to boast. You're certainly not ashamed
of the message if you declare it. As a matter of fact, you're
proud of it. I'm proud of the gospel I preach.
It's worthy of God. I'm proud of the Word of God.
I'm proud of the way God saves sinners. I don't hide it. I don't
refrain. No, I want to preach it in its
naked simplicity. You declare it openly. You don't
attempt to dress the truth in such a way as to make it more
palatable to the flesh. You preach the truth in its naked
simplicity, trusting God to take care of the results. And that's
what true preaching is. It's a declaration of the truth. You don't have to scratch your
head and say, what do you reckon he means by that? No, it's a declaration
of the truth. Now, such was the preaching of
Christ and such is the preaching of every true God called preacher. That's how he preaches, and you
can see that. Now, let's consider what the
Lord preached. What was the subject of his preaching?
Look in verse 9. I have preached... what? Righteousness. Now that summarizes
all of the Lord's preaching. He says, I have preached righteousness. You know, I just read that Scripture
at the beginning of this service. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed. Now, this is the subject of every
true gospel preacher and of every gospel message. The subject is
Righteousness. That one word summarizes it all. Righteousness. Now, the Lord
goes on to amplify what He meant when He said, I preached righteousness. Let's go on reading. Let's read
verses 9 and 10 together again. He says, I preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness. within my
heart. And here's what he means by righteousness. I've not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I've declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I've not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Now, when
he preached righteousness, he uses five words to describe what
he means by that. Thy righteousness. What he means
by righteousness? God's righteousness. I preached
thy righteousness. I've declared thy faithfulness. Now, these five things stand
or fall together. They all go together. The reason
I preach righteousness is because of thy faithfulness and thy salvation. Thirdly, that's a part of preaching
is righteousness, thy salvation. I've not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. Now, if a true
preacher is preaching the truth, here's his subject. Righteousness.
God's righteousness. God's faithfulness. God's salvation. God's loving kindness. God's
truth. Now, let's consider these one
at a time, and they all go together. First, he says, I've not hid
thy righteousness within my heart. Now, when you think of the word
righteousness, what generally comes to your mind? What comes
to our mind naturally is right living, isn't it? And I'm not
against right living. I'm all for it. I'm all for it. But what does the Lord mean when
he speaks of righteousness? He says, I've made mention of
thy righteousness, thy righteousness, God's righteousness. Now, why does he make mention
of God's righteousness? Well, let me answer that real
simply. The reason he makes mention of
God's righteousness is because it's the only righteousness there
is. Now, when Paul the Apostle, quoting
from Psalm 53, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
speaks of all of Adam's race, you know what he says in Romans
chapter 3, verse 10? There is none righteous. No, not one. So when we speak of God's righteousness,
he's the only one who is righteous. The righteousness of God. Let's
look at a couple of scriptures. Turn to Romans, chapter three. Romans, chapter three. Verse 19. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. You stand guilty, not righteous,
not righteous, but guilty as charged. You ever been there? You stand guilty before God. It's settled with you. Therefore,
verse 20, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. Here's what God's law does is
it exposes sin. But now, verse 21, but now the
righteousness of God without the law is manifest. Being witnessed
by the law and the prophets is what the Old Testament has always
taught. Even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith,
the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all men that
believe, for there is no difference, the righteousness of God. Turn
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse
21. For He, God, hath made Him, the
Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made, what? The righteousness of who? The
righteousness of God in Him. Look in Philippians chapter 3.
One other scripture. Verse 8. Yea, doubtless. And
I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things, and do count them but done that I may win Christ and
be found in Him." Look what he says, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law. Paul says, I don't want to have
anything to do with that, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. The righteousness of God. Now,
what is it? The righteousness of God
is His character. God's righteous. He's altogether righteous. He
loves righteousness. He hates iniquity. He's altogether
righteous in His character. Psalm 117 says, The righteous
Lord loveth Righteousness. He is altogether righteous in
His character. His righteousness as the judge. Everybody here knows this. God's
the judge, isn't He? God's the judge. He's the judge
of all the earth. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? He's righteous in His condemnation. If He condemns
me and sends me to hell, you know what it's going to say?
God is righteous. Not God is too strict. God is
righteous. He's righteous in his condemnation,
and he's righteous in his salvation. If I'm saved, the righteousness
of God demands my salvation. You know, something happened
in Lexington just in the last couple of weeks. I'm not making
what I even think about this, but what about that fellow who
admitted to guilt and they set him free? Is there anything righteous
about that? He admitted the guilt, and what
did they do? They set him free. He's out of jail now. And I'm
not making any issue about that, but I'm just saying that's not
righteous. If God saves me, it's not going to be a way where I'm
guilty, but I get set free. No, He saves me in a way that
His righteousness is honored. I'm saved by the very righteousness
of God. You know, when Paul said in Philippians
chapter 3, verses 9, O that I may win Christ and be found in Him,
Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of
God, which is by faith. Now, that's the righteousness
he's speaking of that Christ preached. God preached thy righteousness. Now, first of all, what this
means is we're talking about his righteousness, the righteousness
of God. This is my preaching, Christ
says. He's talking about the righteousness of God imputed. The righteousness of God imputed. That's a good word. That's a
Bible word. The righteousness of God imputed. It's not imputed righteousness.
It's righteousness imputed. You see, there's only one righteousness.
That's the righteousness of God. And it is imputed to everybody
that Christ died for. Everybody that Christ represented.
It's imputed to them. Listen to this scripture from
Romans chapter four. As a matter of fact, I want you
to turn to this one just so you can see it. Romans chapter four. Verse six. Even as David also
describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, don't you
find that attractive? For God not to charge you with
your sin. You know you're a sinner. You
know you've committed sin. But isn't it attractive where
God doesn't charge you with it? But He takes the righteousness
of His Son and charges it to your account, and you stand before
God righteous. Now this is the way God justifies
sinners. He takes the righteousness of
His Son and He charges it to your account. And listen to me,
He's got the authority to do that. He's God. He's got the
authority to take the righteousness of His Son and charge it to you
and to where it's yours. Now that's the righteousness
He speaks of. Righteousness imputed. Now, if that's all I say about
the righteousness of God and the believer, if all I talk about
is the righteousness imputed, I've not given the whole story.
I'm not giving the true sense. This is just as essential to
the salvation of the sinner. God's righteousness is also his
righteousness imparted. Now, what do I mean by that? Some
people have trouble with that term, imparted righteousness.
I don't have any trouble with it. I think it's good. Well,
it's not in the Bible. Someone says that word's not
in the Bible. Well, neither is sovereignty. It's a good word,
though, isn't it? The word Trinity's not in the Bible, but it's a
good word. It's a good word to describe. The truth is there,
even though the words of it were the truth of imparted righteousness.
Well, let me show you what this imparted righteousness is. The
imparted righteousness is what God gives the sinner in the new
birth. We're made partakers of the divine
nature. We're given a righteous nature,
a holy nature that was not there before. It's not the old man
getting improved and doing better and so on. No, this is the righteousness
of God, the new nature that is due with righteousness. Now,
let me show you this in Scripture. Turn with me to 1 John, chapter
2. 1 John 2. Verse 29. If you know that He is righteous,
do you know that He is righteous? The Lord God is righteous. If
you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of Him, is birthed of Him. Look in verse
5 of chapter 3. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. If I'm in him,
I don't have any sin. It's been taken away. Now let's
go to verse 6. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteous is righteous, even as he is righteous.
He that committeth sins of the devil. For the devil sinneth
from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. And there's only one way to take
that. He does not commit sin. Someone says that means he doesn't
practice sin. Now wait a minute. Wait a minute. You don't practice sin. Let's
be honest. As far as your flesh goes, that's
all you do. In and of yourself, that's all
you do. When you breathe, it happens.
But yet it says that one who's born of God does not even commit
sin. What's this all about? That's
that new nature, that holy nature, that righteous nature that does
not commit sin. Can I say it? Not really. No, I don't much see it, but
I know it's there because the Word of God says it is. The new
nature that doth not commit sin. I love God. That's the new nature. I delight in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the new nature. It's what
wasn't there before. That's the partakers of the divine
nature. That's what the Scripture says.
Now, this is what helped me to understand this as much as anything else.
When Adam sinned in the garden, You know what happened? His sin
was charged to our account. Doesn't Scripture teach that?
We were personally held responsible for what Adam did. In Romans
chapter 5, there's no escaping that. We were held responsible,
it was charged to our account, and we were condemned because
of the sin of somebody else. Not only was his sin charged
to our account, but his sinful nature was passed on to us, wasn't
it? I was born into this world with
His sinful nature. His sin was charged to me. His
nature, that's the nature I'm born with. Now in the same manner,
Christ's perfect righteousness is charged to me. And we're partakers
of the divine nature. That's the new birth. That's
the new nature. So when He's speaking of God's
righteousness, He's speaking of God's righteousness imputed.
He's speaking of God's righteousness imparted. But whether we're talking
about imputed or imparted, it's God's righteousness, isn't it?
It's only God's righteousness. You see, you can't be sort of
righteous. You can't be 90% righteous. You
can't be 99% righteous. Somebody says, well, I tell the
truth most of the time. I don't get it. I don't murder very often. Well, that would make you a murderer,
wouldn't it? Well, I've only murdered once. That's what it
makes you. There's no degrees of righteousness.
You either are or you're not. There's only one righteousness.
That's God's righteousness. His righteousness imputed. His
righteousness imparted. The Lord says, I preached thy
righteousness in the great congregation. O Lord, thou knowest. Back to
our text. Psalm 40. He says, I've not hid, the true
preacher doesn't, I've not hid thy righteousness within my heart.
He says, I've declared, this is what it says next, I've declared
thy faithfulness. Now, this is the reason he infuses
and imparts his righteousness to his people because of his
faithfulness. God is the faithful God, and He always does what
He said He was going to do. The reason He imputes His righteousness
to me and imparts His righteousness to me, to every believer, the
reason He does it is because He said He was going to do it.
That's why. His faithfulness. He's doing
what He said He was going to do. You see, way back before
time began, God gave Christ to people. He said, you work out
a righteousness for them, I'm going to impute it to their account.
You pay for their sins, I'm going to wash them away. And God always
does what He said He's going to do. He's faithful. You see, the reason He gives
you His righteousness is not because of something you did.
Not because you deserve it. Not even because you asked for
it. But because He is faithful. He is the faithful God, and everything
he does is because of his faithfulness. Now, let's go on reading, verse
10. I have not hid thy righteousness with my heart. I have declared
thy faithfulness, and I have declared thy salvation. Now, a sinner, like me or you,
having the righteousness of God is what we call salvation, isn't
it? Now that's salvation. Somebody
like me. Having the very righteousness
of God. Oh, that is salvation. Turn to
Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54. Look in verse 17. And no weapon that's formed against
thee shall prosper. And every time that shall rise
against thee in judgment, you're going to condemn. Now, this is
the heritage of the servants of the Lord. That's salvation,
isn't it? And their righteousness, their personal righteousness,
is what? It's of me, saith the Lord. This is salvation, having his
righteousness. When you talk about salvation,
when the Bible talks about salvation, what's saved from what? If you're saved, you're saved
from something. Saved from what? You know the
answer to that. Matthew 121 says, Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Saved from sin. My sin is my
enemy. Now, I'm scared of the devil,
but he's God's devil. And while I'm scared of him,
I'm more scared of the Lord, and I know the Lord's in control
of him. My big enemy's not the devil.
He's an enemy, but he's not my big enemy. Men are what? They're under God's
thumb. I don't need to be afraid of
any man. Do I get afraid? Of course I do, just like anybody
else does, but I don't need to be. They're just men whose breath
is in their nostrils and God can take it away. Here's what
I'm afraid of. Here's my big enemy. My sin. My sin. And He saves His people
from their sins. I'm saved from the condemnation
of sin. How? I've got His righteousness. There's
nothing to condemn me for. I stand perfect before God right
now. How righteous is Jesus Christ?
That's how righteous every believer is. I stand righteous before
God with His righteousness. I can't be condemned. I'm saved
from the power of sin. How come? I have His righteousness.
Greater is He that's in you. You see, this nature that believes
God, this nature that loves God, that's His righteousness in me.
That's Him in me. Greater is He that's in you than
He that's in the world. There was a time when I couldn't believe,
but I can now. There was a time when I had no
love for God, I do now. Why? I have His righteousness
in me. That's the work of God the Holy
Spirit in a man. One of these days, I'm going
to be saved from the very presence of sin because I am the righteousness
of God in Him. So whenever you talk about God's
righteousness, it comes because of his faithfulness and it is
his salvation. He says, I declared thy salvation.
Look what he says next. I've not concealed. In Psalm
40, verse 10, I've not concealed thy loving kindness. Here's what's behind all this,
God's loving kindness. Now, what's meant by God's loving
kindness? David, turn to Psalm 51 for a moment. David writes this psalm, Psalm
51, after he is exposed by Nathan. God works repentance in his heart.
But let's remember what he was guilty of. He was guilty of adultery. And he was guilty of cold-blooded,
premeditated murder. David, the man after God's own
heart. He committed these great sins. Now, can you imagine what you'd
feel like if you had those sins fresh on your mind? I've committed
adultery. What a what ruin that brings
into people's life. Murder. He did these things. Well, I wouldn't do that. Yeah,
you would. If God takes away the restraint, you'll be just
like David. You believe that? It's so. It's so. Now, David has this on his mind.
Now, look what he says in Psalm 51. This is a psalm of repentance. Have mercy upon me, O God, and
I'll make up for all these things. Have mercy upon me, O God, because
I promise to never do it again. Have mercy upon me, O God, because
I'm going to give all kinds to try. Have mercy upon me, O God,
according to thy loving kindness. Not because I deserve it. Not
because I've even it. Because of your loving kindness. According to the multitude of
thy tender mercies, blot out my transgression, wash me throughly
from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. God's loving
kindness. God did not send Jesus Christ
the Lord into the world to make a way for Him to love. He sent Him because He did love. You see, the love of God is the
very foundation. It's underneath everything. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son. Whom He did foreknow. And remember
this, that means whom He did forelove. It doesn't simply mean
He knew who they were. He knew him, like Adam knew his
wife, Eve. He knew him. Whom he did for
love, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. The love of God is the foundation
of why sinners like me and you can have the very righteousness
of God. The love of God. Back to our text, finally. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. Now, I've just
preached to you the truth. You've heard the truth this morning.
This is the truth that Christ preached. This is the truth that
Christ preaches through every God called preacher. This is
the truth. If somebody does not preach this,
what I preached this morning, what our Lord preached and preaches,
he is not preaching the truth. If he's not preaching the truth,
what's he preaching? A lie. It really is that simple. Now,
here's the preaching of Christ, he said, I preach thy righteousness. In the great congregation, that's
his only subject, the very righteousness of God, I preach thy righteousness,
I preach thy faithfulness, I preach thy salvation, I preach thy loving
kindness, I preach thy truth. Now, this is the preaching of
Christ. And this is the preaching. of
all true preachers. Right here. Righteousness. May God enable us to believe
this message, receive this message, love this message, and preach
this message in this generation. Let's pray.