My message tonight is an appropriate
message. I'm preaching on the subject,
preachers and preaching. And it's especially appropriate
since our pastor has returned and taken his place leading us
in worship. It felt good tonight to see you
up here leading us. I'm just confident that there's no greater blessing, and I mean it just that way,
no greater blessing than the Lord giving a congregation a
faithful, loving, tender unto shepherds. There's no greater, I don't believe
there is a greater blessing than the Lord. I guess there's not
a greater judgment than the Lord pleased to take him out. You know, preaching and preachers. A preacher of the gospel has
the highest calling. God said about Noah, he said,
God saved Noah, the eighth person who was a preacher of righteousness. And I want you to turn to the
book of Ecclesiastes. I want you to read this. You
may have seen it before, but it's a powerful statement regarding
preaching and preachers. Ecclesiastes 1, verse 12. Now, Solomon didn't say either
king was a preacher. What did he say? I, the preacher,
was the king. Who's the first? What's the first
calling? I, the preacher, that's my calling,
that's my vocation, that's my work. I am a preacher, Solomon
said, and I was king over Israel in Jerusalem. John the Baptist, our Lord said
this concerning John the Baptist. There's no man born of woman
greater than John the Baptist. What was his calling? To prepare
the way of the Lord. Preach the gospel. That was his
vocation. He wasn't a bi-vocational. His vocation was preaching the
Word. Preparing the way of Christ. And then it says, turn to Mark
chapter 1. Mark chapter 1, verse 14 and
15. Mark 1. And our Lord Jesus Christ began
His ministry here in Mark 1, verse 14 and 15. And the Scripture
says, now, after John was put in prison, Jesus, our Lord, came
into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying,
the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. repent
ye and believe the gospel." True preaching, which honors God,
is called the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
Paul said in his opening words to the church at Rome. He said,
Paul, a bondslave, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, called to be
an apostle and separated unto the gospel of God concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." That's what it's all about, concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ. And I think it was Brother Dan
Parks that I heard preach a message one time, and he started the
message going through the book of Acts, recalling these scriptures. I'll just give them to you. Acts
10, 36. The apostles came preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He's the Lord. Acts 11. The apostles came to Antioch
preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. And the hand of God was upon
them. Acts 28, 31. Paul dwelt two whole
years. These are the last years of his
life in Acts 28. all dwelt two whole years preaching
and teaching those things which concern Jesus Christ." You don't
remember that. You probably do. You remember
everything. But he went down, he said, this
is our message. It's Christ, Christ, Christ.
And thirdly, true preaching is from the heart to the heart. Preaching is communication. It's
communicating with people. It's a man God calls and gives
the message, gives the gifts, and he preaches from his heart
to your heart. That's what the Scripture says.
Keep thy heart with all diligence. That means preachers and those
to whom they preach. Keep your heart with all diligence,
for out of the heart, that's the whole issue of life. It's
all right there. Psalm, Proverbs 23 says, As a
man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Romans 10 verse 8. What does it say? What does the
Word say? The Word is near you, it's in
your mouth, it's in your heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. It's a message from the heart
to the heart. And our doctrines are vital,
special, essential. I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't
in any way reflect on the doctrines. I love the doctrines. I love
knowledge. I love to study. That's, that's,
that's evident. Your pastor studies. Brother
Parks is a student. He teaches preachers. He's a
man who studies. Well, study it so you shall prove
unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. I'd rather
do most anything than go in the pulpit unprepared. I just would
go almost do anything. Stand on my head or anything
else to keep me going in the pulpit unprepared. Our gifts
are essential. But I'm telling you this. Paul
speaks a word of warning. He talks about the gifts in 1
Corinthians 12. Turn there just a moment, 1 Corinthians
12. He talks about the gifts and
he talks about talents and ability and gifts and all these things
in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 29. Listen to this. Are all apostles? No. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 29. Are all prophets? No. Are all
teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
Do all have the gift of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do
all interpret? No. But covet—I'm not putting
down gifts now, he says—covet earnest is the best gift. And
I'm going to show you something better. I'm going to show you
a more excellent way. Look at the next verse. Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love,
I am become as a sounding brass and a tickling cymbal. And though
I have the gift of preaching prophecy and understand the scriptures
and the doctrines and all these mysteries, and I have all this
knowledge, and though I have faith so that I can remove mountains
and have not love, I'm nothing. I'm nothing. And though I bestow
my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not love, it profiteth me nothing." Paul said, though
I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. Necessity is laid
upon me. Yea, woe is me if I preach not
the gospel. I found this somewhere. Think
about it. preaching and preachers. One
cannot separate those who preach from the gospel they preach,
because Paul called it, my gospel. This is my gospel. You can't
separate a man. This is our life, preaching the
gospel. It's my gospel. One cannot separate
those who preach from the Savior whom they preach. we're one. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet now Christ lives in me. And the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. We preach not ourselves. We're not here to give a demonstration
of our ability and talents and gifts and leadership. We're here
to preach Christ Jesus. That's why we And one cannot,
this is what Paul said in 1 Corinthians, one cannot separate those who
preach from the spirit and attitude in which they preach. Spirit and attitude, gentle,
loving, gracious, kind. Therefore, Paul says, I endure
all things for the elect's sake. This is for your sake, that they
may obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ with eternal
glory. That's our purpose. Now turn
to First Thessalonians, chapter two. First Thessalonians, chapter
two, and the Apostle Paul takes us into his very heart and soul
in setting forth for everybody to read. the manner and way in
which he preached the gospel. You have your Bible there on
1 Corinthians chapter 2. You have it there? Look up above,
when it tells the place, 1 Thessalonians 1, 2, in what manner Paul preached
the gospel. That's what I said of my Bible
here. This is the manner in which he
preached the gospel. And the first eight or nine verses
of 1 Corinthians 2, Paul gives us the way, the manner, the attitude
in which he preached the gospel. This is my gospel, he said. God
gave it to him, and I'm saved by it. And I love it. It's my
gospel. All right, first, number one.
True preaching is never in vain. He says in verse one, Yourselves,
brethren, you know our influence unto you. It was not in vain. When the Spirit of God ministers
the words of God through a man, it's never in vain. It's never
in vain. Isaiah chapter fifty-five, read
this. Isaiah fifty-five, you're very
familiar with it, but let's read it together. Isaiah 55, verse
9 through 11. Listen. The Lord says in verse
8, Isaiah 55, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, my thoughts than your thoughts. And as the rain cometh down from
heaven, and snow and snow from heaven, and returneth not thither. But what is the earth, maketh
it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower,
bread to the eater? So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It will not return to the Lord.
It is not preached in vain. It will not return void. It shall
accomplish that which I please, it shall prosper. in the thing
whereunto I've said it." Paul said, we are the saver. That
word is fragrance, the fragrance. To all to whom we preach, to
some life unto life and some death unto death, the fragrance
of Christ. To some it's life, to some it's
just death upon death. But who's sufficient for this
thing? His word will not return void. A young man came to my
house one day. Darcy and I were sitting in the
den, and he had his girlfriend with him. They rang the doorbell,
and I went to the door, and the young lady I've known all her
life, and the young boy, she'd been dating him for several days
or weeks. And she brought him to talk to
me about the gospel. And he said, can I take a little
of your time to talk about Christ and the gospel? I said, you can
take all day. Come on in. We sat down. He said,
I'm lost. And he said, I want you to tell
me how to say it. So I sat there and I talked to him and talked
and talked and read the Bible and we prayed. And then I said,
now I'll tell you what you do. I said, you attend the services
and you read your Bible and you Talk to folks about Christ and
you come hear me preach." He said, but how will I know when
I'm saved? I said, how'd you know he was lost? He said, God
showed me I was lost. I said, well, he'll have to show
you when you're saved. I can't do that. We preach the
word of God, but we don't preach it in vain. it will not return
to me void, it shall accomplish that where do I have sinned."
That's what Paul, that's the way he preached. Depending on
the Spirit of God to quicken the heart, to grant faith, and
to grant salvation. All right, verse two. But even
after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated. As you know it, We were bold
in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention."
True preaching is boldness. And that word is brave. It's
bold, and our boldness is not in our wisdom. We don't lean
on that. Our boldness is not in our power.
Our boldness is not in our position or our office. Our boldness,
Paul said, is in our We're bold in our God. David wrote in Psalm 27, the
Lord is my life. The Lord is my life and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? God's
preachers are bold. And true preachers, listen to
this, true preachers are especially bold when they are opposed. That's when they're especially
bold. They just, you know, Paul said, I've become all things
to all men, and by all means I might say some. But I'll tell
you, when the chips are down, and when we're preaching the
gospel of God's sovereign grace, we're bold. That's right. True preachers are especially
bold when they're opposed or when they're persecuted. by the
enemies of the gospel. One person wrote this, persecution
only makes God's servants more noble. Martin Luther, a fellow that
wrote me one time asked me if I thought Martin Luther was saved.
I wrote him back and I said, I hope so. He sure has been a
blessing to me. Martin Luther was someone before
the Dod of Worms, somewhere around 1527. He was summoned, I mean
all of the heads of state and heads of Catholicism, heads of
everything was assembled at that Dod of Worms. And he was being
challenged because of his opposition to the Pope and his opposition
to the, what do you call indulgences and so forth. And for one week, they grilled
him and grilled him and grilled him and grilled him for one solid
week, trying to force him to repent and to deny what he believed. And finally, they gave him an
opportunity to speak. This is what he said. It didn't
take him very long. Here I stand. I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen. Yes. And that's the way God's preacher.
He's not arrogant. He's not harsh with people. He
loves people. But he's bold, and he's brave,
and he knows whom he believes and what he believes. And he's
going to preach it. He's going to preach it. Thirdly,
verse three, for our exhortation was not of deceit. It was not
of uncleanness. It was not in guile. It wasn't
in insincerity. True preaching is sincere. It's
free from pretense. And I'll ask you to turn to Romans
9, verse 1, and Paul gives us three witnesses of his sincerity. Romans 9, Verse 1, three witnesses
of the sincerity and truthfulness of his message. He calls three
witnesses. Romans 9, verse 1, I say the
truth in Christ, I lie not. I call on the Lord Jesus Christ
to be my witness. I am in Christ, I am born again,
I speak by Christ, and I speak the truth, and I do not lie,
and I call on God as my witness. The Lord Jesus Christ. And secondly,
he says, my conscience. My conscience also bearing we
witness. Somebody said one time, a conscience,
a real conscience is worth a thousand witnesses. Did you know many
years ago, this is not true now, I don't think, but back when
people were different from what they are now. I'll leave that
right where it is, you know. Back years ago. You remember
when we used to, we used to, there'd be a paper at the drug
store and it'd be out on a stand. There'd be a cigar box and people
would come by and get their paper and drop the money in there.
Nobody stole the paper. Nobody stole the money. They
were just, just honest folks most of them out with it. And
Paul said, and they used to say this. If a man confessed to some
crime or activity or unlawful dealing, if he's on his deathbed,
the court would take his last testimony, his conscience. You know, they used to think
if a man's on his deathbed, he's not going to lie. And Paul says
this, Christ is my witness and my very conscience tells you
I'm not lying, telling you the truth. My conscience before God.
And then thirdly, he says, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
of God is my witness that His Spirit bears witness with our
spirit that we are sons of God. True preaching is sincere. free
from preaching. We're not playing games. We're
not playing games. Look at verse, also in our text
now, verse four. Verse four. True preaching, true
preaching is a God-given trust. This is what he says here in
verse four. But as we were allowed of God
to be put in trust with the gospel. allowed us to have in our hands
and hearts His gospel. The Lord put me in the ministry,
Paul said, and gave me the sacred trust of preaching His Word and
being true to His Word. You know, Becky and Bob used to go out
of town once in a while and leave the children with us. Luke and
Carrie would stay at my house. And I'll tell you, I took better
care of them than their parents did. I scared to death something
would happen to them. Nobody can leave you with more
of a greater trust than their children. Here's my little ones. I'm trusting you. Almighty God
says, here's my gospel, and big boy, I'm trusting you. That's a solemn, solemn thing,
trusting you to tell the truth. Not only that, we were allowed
by God to put in trust with his gospel, but watch this, not as
pleasing men. I don't speak to please men.
We do not speak to gain the favor of men and women. We're not seeking
their esteem. We love their esteem. We love
their friendship. We love them. We love their presence.
But we're not seeking. Those are not the things we seek.
We're not seeking their plows or their treasures. We're seeking
their hearts. My son, give me your heart. I have your heart, I got everything.
If I have your heart, I got you. That's what the Lord is saying.
And we don't preach to please men, but we preach, verse 4,
but God who tries our hearts. David said in Psalm 139, Search
me, O God. Try me. Know my heart. Know my thoughts. and see if
there's any deceitful, insincere, wicked way in them. No more heart, no more
thoughts. See if there's any wicked way
in them. True preaching, verse five, listen. True preaching is never used
as a cloak of covetousness. Listen to verse five. For neither
at any time did we use flattering as you know, or as a cloak of
covetousness. We didn't use flattering words,
as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness. A true minister of Christ, someone
said years ago, will never use his office or his ministry as
an outward show to gain support and to gain favor. God will support
his servants. He always has. David said, I'm
old, I've been young, I've been, I'm old, but I've never seen
God's servants forsaken, nor His seed begging bread. My God
shall supply all your needs through His riches in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Brother Bill Clark. Bill Clark's
one of the greatest missionaries I've ever known. Bill Clark and
Walter Gruber were two old-timers. Cody Gruber, too, and other preachers. Bill Clark was just an outstanding
missionary. I met him in the middle 60s.
And Bill Clark was working with a mission board, EMF, Evangelical
Mission Fellowship. You're familiar with that over
in England. He led the same for Billy Graham in his crusade back
down in the late 50s, early 60s over in England. Bill Clark did. And was well known and well respected
and was in the group of missionaries. But he could not, he could not
take their Arminianism. He could not take their freewillism. He couldn't take their grabism.
And he resigned. Just quit. Post for everything,
just quit. At that time, shortly before
that, your uncle, John Thornberry, was getting ready to go to the
Philippines as a missionary. And we were taking up money for
his support. E.W. Johnson, Bob Holbrook, Farrell
Griswold, 13th Street. We've taken up money. John was
assistant pastor at 13th Street. And we've taken up money for
he and Rita to go to the Philippines as a missionary. All this going
on at the same time. But Bill fits into this. And we've got a pretty good sum
of money. And John applied to the mission
board, and it turned him down. Turned him down on some kind
of thing about pre-millennialism, or all-millennialism, that wouldn't
send him. So John said, we'll just take
all this money, and what are we going to do with it? Give
it to Bill Clark. Give it to Bill Clark. All the
men decided, right at that, he resigned, and right at that very
time, we gave that money to Bill Clark. and started his mission
work over there in France as a sovereign grace mission. God will supply. God will supply. My God shall supply all your
needs according to His riches owned and governed by Christ
Jesus. And Paul said when he's told the elders at Ephesus goodbye,
he said, I've coveted no man's silver, gold, or peril. God has met our needs. Boy, he
said, I've had to work with my hands a time or two, you know,
to get some support, but God always gave me something to do.
He gave me a tent to make, or needles and threads to sew it
up, you know. God supplies my needs. True preachers,
verse six, nor of me insult we globally, neither of you, nor
yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as some
of the apostles of Christ. True preachers do not seek glory
and praise. They just do not. Let me tell
you a story about Charles Spurgeon. Charles Spurgeon was taught of
God and he was converted when he was about 16 years old. Raised
in his grandfather's home. His grandfather was a preacher
and he was converted at 16. He'd been to early school, you
know, to what they call elementary or whatever it is. But he began
preaching at 18. Became pastor at Water Beach.
Was that the name of that church? Water Beach in England. He became
pastor at 18. Never been to college. Never
been to cemetery. Cemetery. That's not the way
you pronounce it. Seminary. Never been to a seminary. Never been to one of the big
Oxford or Cambridge, any of those places. He just called up God
to preach. Well, he tells this story himself.
He said, I thought, well, I'll go to school. I'll go to the
seminary, or I'll go to Cambridge or Oxford, one of those great
places. Anyway, he made an arrangement to meet the president of that
university, whichever one it was. He made an appointment. And so, he was supposed
to meet at this rich fellow's house. And he went there, and
the maid, he came in, he was about 19, 20 years old, 21, and She escorted him to a room to
wait for the coming of the president. Well, she got busy, and the president
came, and he put him in another room. And there sat Spurgeon
over here waiting for that man to show him when to go to school,
to study, to get all the credentials, you know, that preachers had
in those days—doctors And all the other degrees. And here sat
the professor. And they sat there for an hour
or two. Finally, the professor got up and walked out. He got
up and walked out. And Spurgeon was, he said, my
heart was just so blue. And I was so depressed, he said,
I left. And he thought, well, he didn't
want to meet with me. He didn't want to talk to me.
And he said, I went out walking in the garden. Out there, those
beautiful homes have such beautiful gardens. Walking out in one of
those English gardens, you know. And he said, the Lord spoke to
me. And he said this, Seekest thou
great things for thyself, seek them not. And he said, that was
the end of my schooling. I thought of God. That's a true
story. Preacher said to me one time,
said, these credentials and these degrees and D.D.s are like the
crook in a pig's table. You don't add a thing to the
pig or to the ham either. Spurgeon also told about Pastor
Twittle. Pastor Twittle decided to go
to the university to get him a degree. And it dawned on him
that if he got that degree, he'd be Reverend Twiddle-dee-dee. It don't hurt to laugh, does
it? But if they don't laugh with
you, they won't cry with you. That's a good story for us preachers.
If they don't laugh with you, they won't cry with you. See, people are emotional people.
They have emotion, they have fear, they have love, they have
laughter and sadness, but we're emotional people. Don't take
my emotions away from me. Don't take my tears away from
me. Dry eyes in the pulpit is a curse. Dry eyes usually goes with a
cold heart. All right, here's number, verse
seven. True preaching is bold, it's
brave, but it's gentle. He says, but we were gentle among
you even as a nurse cherishes her children. So we being affectionate
and desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted to you,
not the gospel only, but also our own souls, because you are
so dear to me." That's what Paul said. Somewhere, I don't know
who started this, somewhere in the past, the past 200 years
or so in America, some folks have began to associate preaching
with screaming at people. associate preaching with yelling.
They call it stepping on toes. I don't want to step on my toes,
I want to preach my heart. Hard-brimmed stuff. Preaching,
demanding, controlling, badgering. This is not preaching. This is not what Paul talked
about here. This is theatrics. This is foolishness. Paul said, we were gentle among
you as a nurse, or a mother cares for a child. I watched you, I
watched one back here a while ago in that, in that crib, and
how gentle a mom is, how patient they are. Our ladies are patient,
they're patient. Sometimes the daddies get a little
bit upset, but mothers are patient. Preachers need to be so. We were
affectionately desirous of you. Why? Because you were dear to
us. I read this one time. A man said,
I just love to preach. I just love to preach. And the
reply was, that's fine. That's fine. Many people covet
to preach, to teach. But we never will be a true preacher
until we love the people to whom we preach more than the fact
that we're preachers. We'll never be true preachers.
Not just we love to preach. I love to preach. I love to preach
the gospel to people and see God perform a work of grace in
the heart because they're dear to us, dear to us. Two little
boys, tell your story. Two little boys were sitting
on the steps of an apartment home in Chicago, a tenement place. One was about eight or nine,
one was about ten or twelve. And a young man drove up, this
was years ago, a young man drove up in a fancy sport car and parked,
these little boys sitting there on the steps of that tenement
house, and they watched him drive up in that big, fine, beautiful
car. And when he drove up, they stood
up and walked towards that car. Of course they did. They walked
towards that car, looking just in awe at that beautiful car. And the older one turned to his
brother and said, Jimmy, did you ever see such a beautiful
car? He shook his head. He said to
the man when he got out of the car and walked around, he said,
Mister, where'd you get that car? That's the finest car I've
ever seen. Did you buy it? The man replied,
no, son, I didn't buy it. My brother gave it to me. He
said, your brother gave you that car? That's right. Free for nothing? Free for nothing. Just gave it
to you? Just gave it to you. And he turned
to Jimmy and he said, did you hear that, Jimmy? Your brother
gave him that car, free for nothing. Gee, Jimmy, I wish I could be
a brother like that. Jimmy, I wish I could be a brother
like that. That's all I need, to be a brother
like that. All right. We're so glad that
you're here. I wanted to clap, but that was inappropriate, wasn't
it? I was about to pause.