Today I would like you to turn
in your Bible to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians
chapter 9. I'll be speaking to you today
from verse 16. Let's read verse 16 together
if you have your Bible there. The apostle says, For though
I preach the gospel, the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for
necessity is laid upon me. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. The gospel. I want to ask you
this question today. What is it to preach the gospel? Is everybody that calls themselves
a preacher, is everybody preaching the gospel? Well, regrettably,
no, they aren't. I want to Consider this question
today and answer it. What is it to preach the gospel? To preach the gospel involves
telling the truth about these four vital things. To tell the
truth about God, to tell the truth about man, to tell the
truth about Jesus Christ and to tell the truth and to declare
the truth of salvation by God's free grace. So let's look at
those four things this morning. And let's answer that question.
What is it to preach the gospel? Well, the first thing we see
is to tell the truth about God. God is not who we think he is. He's who he is as revealed in
Holy Scripture. This generation of churchgoers,
for the most part, are ignorant of the true and living God. I can say of my generation, as
Paul said of his, For I bear them record that they have a
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." My friend, God The God that's
declared in the Scripture, the God of the Bible, is God who
is absolutely holy. That's the first truth we know
about God, that He is holy. Revelation 15 forward declares,
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou
only art holy. God is holy. independently, infinitely,
and immutably holy. God is light, the word declares,
and in him is no darkness at all. God's holiness is manifested
in his works. You listen to this psalm. The
Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works. God's holiness is manifested
in his works. God's holiness is manifested
in his law. The law is holy, the commandment
holy, just and good. Thirdly, God's holiness is manifested
at the cross. When the Lord Jesus Christ cried
out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? Well, this
religious generation, for the most part, they don't understand
why God had to forsake His Son. And the answer is that God laid
on Him the iniquity of His people, the iniquity of God's sheep.
And because God is holy, when God found sin on His blessed
Son, He had to baptize him in the wrath of His holy justice
to satisfy His law. You see, my friend, in Psalm
22 is recorded when the Lord said, My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? And the answer comes back in
verse 3 and 4, Thou art holy. My friend, because God is holy,
He hates all sin. God is not indifferent to sin.
Because God is holy, acceptance with Him on the ground of human
effort, merit, works, and righteousness, human efforts, human righteousness
is absolutely impossible. God is holy. The second truth we know about
God is that God is sovereign. The Scriptures plainly declare,
whatsoever the Lord please, that did He in heaven and earth, the
seas, and all deep places. Divine sovereignty, what do we
mean when we say God is sovereign? Divine sovereignty simply means
that God is God, subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely
independent. God does as he pleases, only
as he pleases, where and when he pleases. None can hinder his
purpose nor change his will or change his counsel. God said, I've spoken it, I'll
bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I will do it. He works all
things after the counsel of His own will. God is holy, my friend,
and God is absolutely sovereign in all His way. His sovereignty
is seen in creation. He created all things by the
word of His power. Without Him was nothing created.
God made all things. The sovereignty of God is seen
in creation, it's also seen in his providence, those things
he brings to pass. He's the first cause and last
end of all things in providence. God is sovereign in providence.
And thirdly, my friend, and most especially, God is sovereign
in salvation. He'll have mercy on whom he will,
and whom he will, he'll harden. He's God in salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ said, The
Father hath given me power over all flesh, and I should give
eternal life to as many as the Father hath given me. All those
who were chosen in that covenant of grace and given to the Lord
Jesus Christ, he earned and gives life, salvation, redemption to
his people. God is sovereign in salvation. The third truth we know about
God, that he's holy, that He's sovereign. And the third truth
we know is that God is unchanging. God does not change. He said,
I am the Lord, I change not. There never was a time when He
was not God. And there never will come a time
when He shall cease to be God from everlasting to everlasting.
Thou art God. God has neither evolved, grown
nor improved. All that He is today, He has
ever been and ever will be. He is the eternal. I am. My friend,
to preach the gospel is to tell the truth about God. The God
we preach is a God we must bow to, the God that we have to look
to. This God is the God with whom
we have to do. Now, secondly, to preach the
gospel involves telling the truth about God. And secondly, it involves
telling the truth about man. Men don't like to hear the truth
about God. That is, religious lost men don't
like to hear the truth about God, nor do they like to hear
the truth about themselves. God is holy, and man is the exact
opposite. God is holy, men are unholy and
wicked. Romans 3 declares, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of
the way. They are together unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. God is holy. Man and all men
everywhere are the exact opposite. They're unholy. God is almighty. Men are weak, frail, and sinful
before God, guilty before God. God is immutable. God doesn't
change. He's everlasting. Men are changing,
corrupt creatures before God. God is living. He is life. God is the living God. My friend,
all men everywhere, apart from God, apart from Christ, are totally
depraved and spiritually dead in sin. My friend, to preach the gospel
is to tell the truth about God. Secondly, it's to tell the truth
about man, that God is who He says He is, that He's holy, that
He's righteous, that men are sinful and shut out without God
and without hope. The third thing we know to tell
the truth about God is to tell the truth about the Lord. To
tell the truth about the gospel, rather, is to tell the truth
about the Lord Jesus Christ. This involves telling the truth
about His person, who is Jesus of Nazareth. Not only about His
person, but His work. To tell the truth To preach the
gospel is to tell the truth about God, about man, and about the
Lord Jesus Christ, His person. Who is this one, this despised
Nazarene? My friend, he's very God of very
God. Not only is he totally, totally
God, but at the same time, he's a real man. He's the God-man
mediator. He's fully and totally God. Paul
said without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God,
totally God. And at the same time I'm saying
he's a real, real man identified with our humanity apart from
sin. He's a God-man mediator, sin
of God to redeem a people. And he had to be both. You see,
man could not satisfy and God could not suffer, but the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, accomplished both in our salvation. He satisfied
God and He suffered to put away our sin. That's who He is. He's
God and yet He's a man. But what did He do? What did
He perform? What was His work? Our Lord Jesus
Christ left the realms of glory for a definite purpose. He came
to seek and to save that which is lost. His Father sent Him
as a surety and mediator of an everlasting covenant to secure
and to accomplish the salvation of His covenant people. That's
why His name is called Jesus. The angel from heaven declared
He shall save His people from their sin. He is what He's called. He's the Savior. He's the only
Savior, Son of God, not to make salvation a possibility, but
to make salvation an absolute certainty for those for whom
he died. He accomplished salvation for his elect, for his people,
by establishing a perfect righteousness before God, by honoring the law,
and he satisfied that penalty of that law by the shedding of
his blood, giving his life an atonement for the sin of God's
people. He said on the cross, he said,
it's finished, the work that the Father has given me, He said,
I've finished the work. The scriptures know nothing of
a defeated, frustrated reformer named Jesus Christ who tried
to accomplish salvation, who tried to put away sin and failed.
My friend, the scriptures declare he shall not fail. He shall not
be discouraged. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die to make salvation a possibility for all. No, sir. The Lord Jesus
Christ died to make salvation an absolute certainty for those
for whom He represented. And He represented God's sheep,
and they shall never perish. That's what it is to preach the
gospel, my friend, is to preach Christ and His successful work
on the cross. He did not fail to put away the
sin of God's people and to bring in an everlasting salvation.
Now, fourthly, what is it to preach the gospel? is to tell
the truth about God, is to tell the truth about man, sinful and
wicked, and is to tell the truth about Jesus Christ, that he accomplished
salvation for his people. And lastly, what is it to preach
the gospel is to tell the truth about salvation. Every aspect
of salvation from beginning and election To the end and glorification
is all of God's sovereign, free grace. Listen to this scripture. It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and His own grace, which was given us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Salvation is not what
we do for God, but salvation is what He has accomplished for
His people in Christ. No part of salvation can be ascribed
to man in any way, shape, or form. For by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourself, it is a gift of God. Salvation, my friend, is of the
Lord. In its origination, in its execution,
in its application, in its sustaining power, in its ultimate perfection,
salvation is of the Lord. It's by His sovereign, free,
grace and what God begins in grace, my friend, will end in
glory. Now, there are not many folks preaching the gospel because
there are not many people and preachers telling the truth about
God, about man, about our Lord Jesus Christ, who he is and what
he accomplished, and about salvation. It's all of God's free grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, you say, Is it really that
important that we preach the truth, that we tell the truth?
My friend, it's absolutely vital. He said, you shall know the truth
and the truth shall set you free. You look back at that text again
in first Corinthians chapter nine, verse 16, Paul said, I
preached the gospel, but I have nothing to brag about. It's all
of grace. But notice this, he said, for
necessity is laid upon me. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. If we preach, we had better be
sure we are preaching God's truth or we better quit. I cannot think
of a greater crime against God and humanity than to preach a
false gospel that cannot save a flea, that does not give God
all the glory. Now, I want you to consider this
question today. What is it to preach the gospel?
It's to tell the truth about God, who he is. It's to tell
the truth about man, and to tell the truth about Jesus Christ,
and it's to tell the truth about salvation. If you would like
a copy of today's message, you write to me, and I'll send it
to you free of charge. You can write to me at Zebulon
Baptist Church, 6088 Zebulon Highway, Pikeville, Kentucky
41501.