Why Do I Preach the Gospel?

The Apostle Paul wrote these
words in I Corinthians in the 9th chapter, verse 16. He said,
For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. For necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. My subject today is why do I
preach the gospel? Now, I know what Paul is saying
here. I can identify with what he's
saying completely. I love this scripture and I can
enter into it. I have experienced it. I understand
what he's saying. I think I can explain it to you.
If you look carefully at it, now listen, He says, though I
preach the gospel of Christ, though I preach the gospel of
Christ our Lord, I have nothing to glory of. I have no reason
to boast if I preach the gospel. If I preach the gospel, if I
preach the word of God accurately and truthfully and even powerfully,
I have nothing in which to boast. I have no reason to brag as if
I had done something great. and feel that I've accomplished
some great mission. No, I'm just a servant of God. And a servant is expected to
be loyal and true to his master, is he not? Paul kept saying,
though I be nothing, he said, I labored more abundantly than
you all, yet not I, but Christ in me. I have nothing to glory
of. If I preach the gospel, I have
nothing to glory of. What I have, he gave me. What
I am, He made me. I am what I am by the grace of
God. What I know, He taught me. You see, the glory belongs all
to Him, to our God. I know what Paul's saying here.
Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing in which to glory, boast
about, or brag about at all. For he says, necessity is laid
upon me. I must preach the gospel. Necessity. Why? Well, it's the gospel of
God. I don't dare preach any other gospel. It's His gospel. Paul called it the gospel of
God. I must preach God's gospel. It's
the truth. I couldn't say anything else.
I've got to tell the truth. I've got nothing to brag about
or boast about, just telling the truth. I can't lie to you. It's the
gospel by which I was saved. This gospel found me lifted me,
redeemed me, and gave me hope, why would I find anything to
brag about or boast about except in the cross of Christ? It's
the only way to God for sinners. If I'm standing on the street
corner and you drive by in your car and stop and roll down the
windows, we've done many times, and look out and ask me directions
to a certain place, and I know where it is and I stand there,
I don't dare tell you the wrong way. I point and tell you where
it is. You say, well, I'm sure proud
of you. Don't be proud of me. I haven't done anything. I just
told you where your goal is, told you the way, told you how
to get there, how long it'll take you to make it. Necessity
is upon me. I must, I must preach the gospel. And then he says, woe is unto
me. Woe is unto me. If I preach not the gospel, if
I lie to people, Listen to Paul in Galatians 1. You've read this,
haven't you? Galatians 1, verse 8. It's strong
words. He says, listen, As we said before,
so say I now again. Listen, he says, I'm going to
repeat this. It's strong, powerful, but true. If any man preach any other gospel
unto you, then that gospel which you have received, let him be
accursed. So, though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to boast about or brag about or seek men's applause. Necessity
is laid upon me. I must preach the gospel. It's
God's gospel. It's the truth. It's the only
way to God. It's the gospel by which I was
saved. Should I tell men something else?
Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. So why do we preach
the gospel? Let me give you five reasons.
This will serve as my outline for today on this subject of
preaching the gospel. Why do we preach the gospel?
Well, first of all, we preach the gospel because we've been
commanded to preach the gospel. That's why we preach the gospel.
Our Lord gave these orders to his apostles. After he died on
the cross for our sins and was buried and rose again and appeared
to his disciples and above 500 people at once, for 40 days he
made personal appearances after he arose from the grave. And
then he assembled his disciples before him, before he ascended
to heaven. He said, now, all power is given
unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples
of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son,
Holy Spirit. And teach them to observe what
things I've commanded you. And you preach the gospel to
every creature. And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. And he that believeth not shall
be damned. That's why I preach the gospel,
because the Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to preach the gospel. And Paul in I Corinthians 1,
people were talking about who baptized this one, who baptized
that one, who baptized the other one. They were divided over their
preachers. Some said, I'm of Paul. Some
said, I'm of Apollos. And some said, I'm of Cephas.
Some said, I'm of someone else. And Paul was rebuking these people.
And he says, God didn't send me to baptize or organize. He sent me to preach the gospel. You see that? And then when he
went down to Corinth, he said to them, he said, this was the
mighty city of Corinth. And this was the great apostle
Paul. And he came down there and he said, I was with you in
weakness. and in fear and trembling. But
he said, I determined, I determined to know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's reason enough, isn't it?
If I didn't have the other four, would that be reason enough to
preach the gospel? My Lord, my blessed Redeemer
commanded me to preach the gospel. And in the book of Ezekiel, by
way of illustrating In the book of Ezekiel, God took his prophet
Ezekiel out on a hill overlooking a valley. And there had been
some sort of battle in that valley, and many people had been killed.
And there were thousands of bones. That's what the scripture said,
the valley of dry bones, someone called it. Bleached, barren,
dry, brittle bones. lying under a desert sun for
many years, dry as powder, even the dogs wouldn't have them.
And God sent Ezekiel out there to overlook, to look over this
great valley of bones. And this is what he asked him.
He said, son of man, son of man, can these bones live? Can these
bones live again? What did Ezekiel say? Lord, thou
knowest." They can't make themselves live. I can't make them live. You can, because you gave man
life to begin with. You gave them life when they
were born, and you took their life when they died. If you're
pleased, you can give it back, so you know. Now watch it. So
God spake again and said, Son of man, preach to them. Preach to them. Say to these
dry bones, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord." Now, that's
the reason I preach the gospel. God commanded. God lets me survey
a great, vast valley of the shadow of death in which there are many
dead sinners. And He says, can they live? Can
they, the spiritually dead, live? Lord, you know. Well, preach
to them. Preach to them and command them
to hear the Word of the Lord. Tell them what I can do and what
I will do. Tell them. That's why I preach
the gospel. I'm commanded to. And if God's
pleased to awaken the dead, give me in life, I'll rejoice. If
God's not pleased, as in the days of Noah, Noah was a preacher,
preacher of righteousness, preached 120 years. Never had a convert. But he didn't quit preaching.
He didn't quit preaching. You see, we preach. And if I
preach, I have nothing to glory of. Necessity is laid upon me.
He told me to. He said, preach the gospel. Preach
the word. Be instant, in season and out
of season. There's no season for preaching
the gospel. It's all the time. I know there's
a time to plant and a time to reap and a time to sow. And there's
a time to do whatever you have to do, but the time to preach
the gospel is all the time, in season, out of season. All right,
secondly, let's move on. Why do we preach the gospel?
We preach the gospel because the gospel glorifies God. Now,
remember that. I preach the gospel because he
commanded me to, and secondly, you preach the gospel to save
sinners, don't you? Well, yes, I'll get to that in
a minute, but I preach it first to glorify God. If He's not pleased
to save anybody, I'm going to still preach it because it glorifies
God. In I Timothy 1, 11, Paul calls
it the gospel of God's glory. When you read that scripture,
the glorious gospel of God our Savior, it's the gospel of the
glory of God our Savior. That's what our Lord prayed before
He went to the cross. Glorify thy son, that thy son
may glorify thee. And that's what I pray when I
stand here through these 20 years preaching to you. God, glorify
your name. Come, let us come magnify the
Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. In 2 Corinthians 4, 6, Paul says
this. He said, If our gospel be hid,
it's hid to them that are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded their minds, lest the glorious gospel, the light
of the glorious gospel of God, should shine into them. But God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Christ Jesus. This gospel is the gospel of
His glory. This gospel glorifies God. This gospel exalts His name.
The greatest glory of God is his mercy, his grace to sinners. The average person, now listen
to me. Pull up your chair and listen
to me. The average person thinks that God's greatest glory is
creating a world. God's greatest glory is in holding
space and planets, sun and moon and stars together. People think
God's greatest glory is raising up empires. God's greatest glory,
perhaps, is healing a sick person. Well, the heavens declare the
glory of God. I know that. The firmament shows
His handiwork. But the greater glory of God
is His mercy. His mercy, His grace, His redemption
through Christ, that's His greater glory. God hath commanded light
to shine out of darkness. Yes, that's glorious. But He
hath in the same way shined in our hearts to give us the knowledge
of His glory. Where? Where is God's glory? In the face of Jesus Christ. Christ crucified. Christ risen. Christ our intercessor. Christ
our mediator. That's the glory of God. in the
face. Have you seen Him? If you haven't,
you haven't seen the glory of God. If you haven't, you haven't seen
the glory of God. Well, preacher, I've seen the
Son. I know the heavens declare a measure of God's glory, but
the glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ, Jesus,
Savior, Christ, Redeemer, God, God-man. That's where you see
His glory. Moses prayed in Exodus 33. He
says, Lord, show me your glory. Moses had seen all these miracles
of Egypt, the dividing of the sea, the smiting of the rock,
the feeding with matter. He'd seen all those things. And
here he is asking God to show him his glory. And God said,
all right, all right, get behind the rock, get in the cleft, put
my hand over you. I'm going to pass by you. I'm
going to show you my glory. My glory is my goodness. Read
it, Exodus 33, 18, 19. My glory is my goodness. I will
be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. That's my glory. That's right. You see, the cross reveals the
holiness of God. The cross reveals the holiness
of God. God spared not His own Son. That's
how holy God is. He'll crucify Christ, His Son,
bearing our sins. That's how holy, that's where
you see the holiness of God. You don't see the holiness of
God in the law, some of it. You don't see the holiness of
God in rules and regulations, some of it. But the holiness
of God is when the judge of the earth will kill His Son because
He bears sin. That's how holy He is. You're
not that holy. You'd put somebody else's boy
in jail, but not yours. That's right. You'd put that
boy down the street in jail, but you wouldn't put your son
in jail. You'd write to the judge and write to the mayor and write
to the governor and everybody this side of heaven to keep him
out of prison because you're not holy, but God is. The cross shows the holiness
of God. The cross reveals the wisdom of God. Only God could
have come up with this way of salvation. The cross reveals
the justice of God. The cross reveals the love of
God. Nowhere is the love of God seen like Calvary. God so loved
the world, He gave His Son. The cross reveals the mercy of
God. The cross reveals the power of God. But the reason our Lord
crucified is called the power and wisdom of God is because
there at that cross, mercy and truth met together. Righteousness
and peace kissed each other at the cross. That's why we preach
the gospel. It's the glory of God. All right.
Third reason. We preach the gospel because
by the preaching of the gospel... Now listen carefully. By the
preaching of the gospel, the elect of God... God has an elect. The Bible says that over and
over again. The elect of God. By the preaching of the gospel,
The elect of God hear, hear the gospel, and they believe, and
they're saved. That's how they hear the Word
of God. That's how they hear the promise of God. That's how
they hear the grace of God and the mercy they hear. They hear. Listen to these scriptures. John
5, 24. Verily I say unto you, he that
heareth my word. and believeth on him that sent
me hath everlasting life." What does he do? He hears, hears my
word. He says in Ephesians 1, in whom
you trusted after you heard, you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation. In Romans chapter 10, it says,
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, but
how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And
how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God. That's how the elect are saved. They hear the gospel. They hear
the gospel. They see Christ in the Word.
They hear and they see and they believe. James 1.18, listen. Listen to this now. Of His own
will begat He us with the Word. of truth. We hear the word. The word is the seed. That's
right. In the begatting, in the conception of life, there's got
to be a seed. You don't have corn without a
seed. You don't have an apple tree without a seed. You don't
have your flowers without a seed. Nothing grows without a seed.
It doesn't just grow. You don't just stand back and
say, I want an apple tree. Well, plant a seed. And children are
born because a seed is planted. Now listen, I Peter 1, 23, being
born again, not a corruptible seed. It's not an apple seed
or a mustard seed or a flower seed or an acorn. We're born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed by
the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. When the
Spirit of God comes, we're born of the Spirit of God and the
Word of God. And when the Spirit of God comes
with the Word, life is begotten. Life. Oh, I tell you, Psalm 115,
they said, David, where's your God? Where's your God, David?
He says, in the heavens. They said, what's he like? He
said, our God is in the heavens and our God hath done whatsoever
he pleased, whatever the Lord pleased. That did He in heaven,
earth, in the seas, and all deep places. Well, what has it pleased
your God to do? Well, He tells us in I Samuel
12, it says, it pleased God to make you His people. You didn't
choose Him, He chose you. You didn't love Him, He loved
you. It pleased Him to make you His people. Secondly, it pleased
God that in Christ should all fullness dwell. He put everything
in the hands of Christ. Everything pertaining to life
and godliness is in the hands of Christ. Isaiah 53, 10, Then
it pleased God to bruise him. God sent him to a tree and bruised
him, smitten of God, stricken of God, smitten and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgression and bruised for our iniquities.
Pleased God to bruise him. And then it pleased God to reveal
His Son in you and me, Galatians 1.15. And then I Corinthians
1.21, when Paul said that he didn't send me to baptize, he
sent me to preach the gospel. He went on and said this, because
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. That's why I preach. That's exactly
right. Why do I preach the gospel? God
commands me to. Why do I preach the gospel? Because
the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It's the glory
of God and the power of God. He said in II Corinthians 2,
I am bound to give thanks to God for you always, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel, by our gospel. That Ethiopian eunuch, he heard
the gospel. Philip preached it to him. Now,
here's the fourth reason. By the preaching of the gospel,
the people of God have assurance. Every time a child of God hears
this gospel, God blesses it to his heart. You see, the preaching
of the word is our green pastures. It's our still waters. It's our
table He has prepared before us. And when we hear this message,
it gives us assurance and confidence and growth. Faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. As newborn babes, listen, listen,
as newborn babes, God's babes, desire the sincere milk of the
Word that you may grow You know, that little baby born into your
home. I was recently in a meeting and a lady had twins and they
were nine days old. She brought them to church. They're
so frail and fragile and tiny. But when I go back there in a
year, it'll be a whole new ballgame. They'll be fat and saucy and
sassy. You know why? Milk. Milk and
plenty of it. Mama's milk. as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow. Preacher, why don't I grow in
faith? You're neglecting the food, the
word of God. Why am I always so discouraged
and filled with anxiety and trouble? You're staying away from the
green pastures. You're hungry. Malnutrition. You're suffering
from spiritual malnutrition. You're not studying the Word
of God. You grow by the Word of God. Comfort comes by the
Scriptures. Comfort one another with these
words. Every grace of our God comes
through the Word and the growth of that grace is through the
Word. These religious fellows came around our Lord and they
said, if you be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you.
I told you, but you didn't believe me. You didn't believe me. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they'll never perish.
Never will. That's why we preach the gospel.
That's why. God commands us to. It's the
gospel of His glory. It's the gospel by which His
people are saved. It's the gospel by which they
grow. And then last of all, Because it's the only true gospel. There
is but one gospel. Let me read those words again
from Galatians 1. Strong words, but I do believe
them. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we preached
unto you, let him be accursed. As I said before, so saying I
now again, any man preach any other gospel and you have received,
let him be accursed. Paul said our gospel is the only
gospel. There's no other. Why did he
believe that? Well, could I close with this? I believe that our gospel is
the only gospel, first, because it's true to the Scriptures,
according to the Word of God. Our gospel is according to the
Scriptures. Secondly, I believe it's the only gospel because
it gives God all the glory. Thirdly, it enables God to be
just and justifier. That's right. Fourthly, it'll
save the chief of sinners. No merit, no works. Grace. And it'll keep him safe. And
it'll give him a perfect holiness in standing before God, and it's
the power of God that'll take him to glory. That's what this
gospel will do. Why do we preach the gospel?
If you want this message on tape, along with the one Christ our
hope, send two dollars, we'll mail it to you. Till next week,
God bless you.

Why Do I Preach the Gospel?

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Why Do I Preach the Gospel?

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