How Do We Preach the Gospel?

I prepared a message which will
be broadcast next Sunday morning on channel 13 on the subject,
why do we preach the gospel? Why do we preach the gospel?
Well, there are so many, many reasons why we preach the gospel. But I'd like to sum it up in
five for you. Five reasons why we preach the
Gospel. My subject tonight is how do
we preach it? But here's why we preach it.
First, we're commanded to preach the Gospel. We're commanded. Our God commands us to preach
the Gospel. He gathered His disciples about
Him before He went back to the Father and He told them to go
into all the world and preach the Gospel. Preach it to every
creature. Every creature. That's the command
of our Master. And the Apostle Paul said, God
sent me, not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. That's
why He sent me. Alright, secondly, we preach
the Gospel because the Gospel glorifies God. The Gospel is
God's greatest glory. It's called the gospel of His
glory. You'll find that scripture in
1 Timothy which says, according to the glorious gospel of our
God is really according to the gospel of the glory of our God. Our Lord on the cross reveals
all of the attributes of God in redemption. There, more than
any place else, is seen God's mercy, God's love, God's righteousness,
God's justice, God's holiness, all in the cross. There is where
His glory is accomplished, the cross. So we preach the gospel
to glorify God. Thirdly, it's by the preaching
of the gospel that the elect hear. and believe. Our Lord says that. He says that
when you go preach the gospel to all creatures, every creature,
he that believe it and is baptized shall be saved. Verily, I say
unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life. So the elect, and it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So
that's how the elect Hear the Word and believe the Word and
come to faith. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. Then fourthly, by the preaching
of the Gospel, the people of God have assurance and comfort
and confidence. Like this morning's message,
so many of you expressed to me your appreciation for that message
because it comforted you. and gave you assurance and confidence
in Christ. And you grow in grace, you desire
the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. That's
why we preach the Gospel, that God's people may grow thereby,
have assurance and comfort and confidence. And the fifth reason
why we preach the Gospel is because it's the only true Gospel. It's
the only true Gospel. It's Moses' gospel. It's Abraham's
gospel. It's Isaiah's gospel. It's the
apostles' gospel. It's the reformers' gospel. It's
our gospel. It's the only true gospel. Only
true gospel. Now tonight, here in 1 Thessalonians
2, Paul tells us how we preach the gospel. How we preach the
gospel. Down here in verse 9, Look at
verse 9 first, and then I'll go back to verse 1. For you remember,
brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because
we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto
you the gospel of God. That's what we did. We preached
unto you the gospel of God. Now, if you go back to verse
1, and in the following verses, the Apostle Paul says something
about how he preached that gospel. In verse 1 he says, For yourselves,
brethren, know that our entrance in unto you was not in vain. We don't preach the gospel in
vain. We don't preach the gospel in
vain. The Lord said in Isaiah 55, My
word goeth forth and will not return unto me void. It'll accomplish that where unto
I set it. We don't preach the gospel in
vain. How wonderful it is to know and how thankful I am that
our God is the God of purpose who declares the end from the
beginning. And even in our struggles and
in our limited knowledge, our preaching is not in vain. It's
not in vain. The Father didn't establish the
covenant in vain. Turn to Isaiah 46, or listen
to me read it. Isaiah chapter 46. Listen to
what He said here. He did not establish His covenant
in vain. He said in Isaiah 46 verse 10,
I declare the end from the beginning. And from ancient times are things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. I'll
do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that
executed my counsel from a far country. Yea, I've spoken it.
I'll also bring it to pass. I've purposed it. I'll also do
it." The Lord God did not establish His covenant in vain, and the
Son didn't die in vain. Isaiah said in chapter 53, listen,
In verse 10, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. The Lord God put
him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall not fail. He shall not
fail. He shall not be discouraged.
He shall see, verse 11, of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied,
and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many,
for he shall bear their iniquities." The Father didn't establish covenant
in vain, and the Son didn't die in vain, and the Holy Spirit
doesn't call men in vain. The poor knew He predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son, whom He predestinated,
He called. And whom He called, He justified.
And whom He justified, He glorified. So Paul said here in verse 1,
Brethren, yourselves, brethren, know that our entrance, our coming
to you, preaching to you, it was not in vain. It shall accomplish
that whereunto I have said it. The true messenger does not run
in vain, and the true preacher does not preach in vain. There's
one other Scripture I want you to look at in reference to this
first verse, and that's 2 Corinthians 2. 2 Corinthians 2, listen. Verse 14. Paul says, Now thanks
be unto God, now listen carefully, Thanks be unto God, which always
causes us to triumph in Christ. And maketh manifest the savor. That's not Savior now, that's
savor. That's fragrance. That's an odor,
that's a fragrance. and maketh manifest the fragrance
of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a
sweet fragrance of Christ in them that are saved and in
them that perish. To the one, those who perish,
we are the fragrance of death unto death. To the other, the
savor, the fragrance of life unto life. And who's sufficient
for these things? What is he saying there? He's
saying we don't run in vain. We don't preach in vain. God causes us always to triumph
in Christ. And when we open the treasures
of His Word and open the beauty of Christ, there's
a message that goes out over the congregation. There's a fragrance.
And to some, it's a sweet odor. It's a sweet aroma. It's a delightful
aroma. It's a savor of life unto life.
And when you talk about Christ and His beauty and glory, to
some, they don't like it. It's not pleasant. They don't enjoy the gospel.
It's not a pleasant sound or a pleasant aroma or a pleasant
A pleasant word. And they reject it. But we don't
preach in vain. All right, secondly. Secondly,
verse 2, he says, but even after that we had suffered before.
We suffered. And we were shamefully entreated. I want you to watch these words
here. Why? Because of the gospel he
preached. The message. We suffered. We were shamefully entreated.
As you know, at Philippi, that's when they were put in jail. You
remember when he was in jail and the Philippian jailer was
converted? They were beaten with many stripes, cast in jail, suffered,
shamefully treated, yet we were bold in our God to speak unto
you the gospel of God with much contention, much contention,
shamefully treated, suffering, but we were bold. We were bold. So we preached the gospel. How?
Not in vain. And we preached the gospel. How?
Boldly. God's apostles and God's servants
are not cowards. They're not cowards. They're
not covetous. They're not covetous and they
will not compromise the gospel. Remember those three C's. They're
not cowards. and they're not covetous, and
they will not compromise. Paul said, though I preach the
gospel, I have nothing to glory of. Necessity is laid upon me. I must preach the gospel. Woe
is unto me if I don't preach the gospel. And there's but one
way to preach the gospel, and that's boldly. Boldly. Paul said, I've kept back nothing
profitable to you. I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God." He didn't say that he declared
all the counsel of God. No man knows all the counsel
of God. But he said, I hadn't shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God that I know. There's only
one way to preach the character of God, and that's preach it.
In His majesty, sovereign, and glory. There's only one way to
preach the fall of man, and that's preach it. There's only one way
to declare substitution, that's to declare it. There's only one
way to preach covenant mercies, elective grace, particular redemption,
perseverance, and that's to preach it. Preach it. And that's what
he says here in verse 2, how do we preach the gospel? Well,
we'll have to suffer and be shamefully entreated and have contention,
but we'll preach it boldly. Always boldly. And I'll tell
you this, as you preach the gospel of God's grace boldly, you'll
know that it's getting through to the people in some places
when they begin to come up and say, is this what you're saying? Is this what I understand? And
now you're getting through. Now you folks know it, but in
other places where you go and preach, You'll preach a day or
two and then somebody will come and say, is this what you're
saying? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, you're hearing
it. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Romans 9 a minute. Let me tell you an amusing story. You know, folks, in some places
where we preach the Gospel, It takes a little while for it
to really dawn on folks what you're saying, the glory of God,
the inability of the flesh, the effectual work of Christ, these
things that you all hear and know from your youth. But back
years ago, 1952, that's 42 years ago, I was teaching a men's Bible
class at Pollard Baptist Church. There may be men in the congregation
tonight who were sitting in that class, but I was trying to get
across to them God's sovereignty and salvation. How did He save
whom He willed? Elected a people, gave them to
Christ, and caused them by His Spirit, and Christ saved them,
and trying to get these things across, and I realized that some
of the men understood what I was saying, and some of them didn't.
Some of them weren't even hearing me. So one Sunday morning, I
came to the class, and I decided that I was just going to read
the 9th chapter of Romans. I wasn't going to comment, I
was just going to read it. The 9th chapter of Romans. And
I got to verse 11. Look at it. I read right on through
here, and I got to verse 11. And I said, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve
the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, and Esau have I hated." I'm just reading this to the
class. These men are sitting there, 35, 40 men. What shall
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. He said to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
And a fellow interrupted me. I can remember it like yesterday. I know his name, I won't call
it. He had a son that was a Baptist preacher. But he stopped me,
he said, Preacher, and I raised my head for the reading, I said,
Yes, sir. He said, You're teaching that God elected a people to
be saved for this boy. I said, No, I'm not. He said,
Yes, you are. He said, That's exactly what
you're teaching. You're teaching. that God Almighty elected a people
to be saved before they were born. I said, no sir, I'm not.
He said, you are. By that time the men began to
snicker, you know. I said, no sir, I'm not teaching
anything. I'm reading the Word of God. That's what you concluded
from the reading of the Word of God. I didn't teach that.
God did. He stood up and he stomped out
the door. And I never saw him again convicted
by the Word of God. But he never knew it till that
time. Never dawned on him when I was preaching. He'd been listening
to me preach a year or more. Never dawned on him till the
Word of God. We don't preach in vain. But
we must preach boldly. We must preach boldly. We must
tell people what we're saying and tell them according to the
Scripture. That's what Paul says, he said,
I suffered, I was shamefully entreated, I ran into a lot of
contention, but I was bold in God to speak unto you the gospel
of God. Bold. Alright, thirdly, verse
3. And our exhortation, our preaching,
was not of deceit. Now this is important here. We're
not seeking to deceive or trick anybody. No, sir. We're totally honest. Paul said,
our exhortation is not of deceit, it's not of uncleanness, it's
not of guile. What's he mean by that? He said,
I'm totally honest with all men in the preaching of God's Word.
We're not politicians. We're not religious promoters.
We're not moral crusaders. We have no money to raise. We
have no budget to meet. We have no quota to fill. We
have no organization to support. We have no man to please. We're
God's servants who are sent to preach the gospel of His Son
as it is to men as they are. Not deceiving anybody. Not tricking
anybody. Our twofold motive is the glory
of God and the salvation of His sheep. And we seek to leave no
name. No monuments, no memoirs. We're preaching to our generation
and our generation alone. So we have no reason to deceive
men, no reason to practice guile. That would defeat our purpose
because our preaching is for the glory of God and the salvation
of His people. Somebody came to me the other
night and they said, Have you heard about this effort
to get religious broadcasters off the radio and television?
Well, I've been hearing about that for years. This is no new
thing. But it seems to be gaining some
momentum. And I've given it a lot of thought.
What if I don't believe they're going to be able to do it freedom of speech. In other words,
a person, a radio or television station can sell time to whomever
they wish. And if you have the money, you
can buy time, whether you're church or organization, whatever
you are, you can buy time if you have the money. We buy time,
we pay for it. But what if, somehow, they could
take all religion off the television, off the radio? And I'm all over
that a little bit. And I thought, that might be
a good thing. Now what? Now listen to me. Might
be a good thing. Because most of it is foolishness. Most of it is contrary to the
Word of God. You know that most of it is not
true to the Scripture, not true to the Gospel, not true to God.
But if all of it was off the air, and people had to go back
to the Bible, and back to a pastor, and back
to a teacher, and get away from all this influence and noises
and voices that are going on television and radio, it just
could be a great blessing. That's right, it could be. And
it'll be alright if God works it that way. His elect, they're
going to hear His Word. They're going to seek it out,
search it out, find it. That's right. His elect are...
Alright, let me go on. Verse 4. But we're not deceiving
men. Our exhortation is not of deceit.
And verse 4. But as we were allowed of God...
Now watch this. To be put in trust with the Gospel. We preach the Gospel as a sacred
trust. Paul said, God has trusted me
with the Gospel. Oh, what an awesome, awesome
responsibility. I think sometime when my children
leave town and leave Doris and I in charge of their children,
what an awesome responsibility. Someone brings you, and all of
you go through this occasionally, someone brings you their child.
especially a little child, and says, now we're leaving town
for a week, and I want you to take care of my child. What a
responsibility! You feel such a responsibility,
don't you? Taking care. You want it to eat
right, you want it to sleep right, you want it to have the best
of everything, you want to safeguard it, you want to watch over it,
you want to protect it, you want it... All these things, just
your whole time is taken up with the care of that little one while
the parents are gone. Paul is saying here, God allowed
me, but as we were allowed of God, to be put in trust with
His gospel. Oh my! Turn to a couple of Scriptures. Turn to 1 Timothy. And he has
a lot to say about this. 1 Timothy 1, verse 11. Here's that verse I quoted a
while ago in 1 Timothy 1, 11. According to the gospel of the
glory of the blessed God. That's what that says. which
was committed to my trust. What a responsibility. I was having dinner with a preacher
and his wife, two preachers and their wives, in North Carolina
recently, and one of the pastors was an old man, been a lawyer
a long time, and his wife, about my age or a little younger maybe,
The other pastor was a very, very young man, just in the ministry
a year or two. And the older pastor's wife turned
to me and she said, what words of wisdom do you have for a young
preacher who's just starting out like our friend here? Well, I wanted to say, I didn't
say because I knew she wouldn't understand me. I wanted to say,
get out if you can. Now, if you can, you see what I added?
I wouldn't say that because she wouldn't understand. Get out
if you can. It's too big a responsibility of any man. Too much, too much,
too heavy. Isn't that right, John? Too heavy.
Without God, But I told, I said, we're working
on that. He and I are talking, we're visiting
every day and we're talking about these things. But oh, if a man
who starts out on this path could realize what a responsibility
the glorious gospel of the blessed God has been committed to my
trust. He's turned it over to me to
preach it. Old Barnard used to say, be careful
what you say. Somebody just might believe you. And it better be true. That's
a heavy responsibility. I tell you, look at 1 Timothy
6. 1 Timothy 6, verse 19 and 20. I know you know what I'm
saying. You know what I'm trying to say.
Responsibility. It's heavy. What an awesome,
awesome task to tell men about God. In 1 Timothy 6, 19, "...laying
up in store for ourselves a good foundation against the time to
come, that they may lay hold on eternal
life." Oh, Timothy, Timothy, Timothy. Keep diligently, faithfully,
carefully that which is committed to your trust. Church, elders,
it's committed to our trust, this gospel. Committed to your
trust. And avoid profane, vain, babbling,
In opposition of science, falsely so-called, stay with the gospel.
Stay with the gospel. Wherewith some professing have
erred concerning the faith. And grace be with you, because
you've got a tough road. Grace be with you. See, isn't
that awesome? This is some chapter in how do
we preach the gospel. We don't preach it in vain. We
preach it boldly, boldly in the face of suffering and contention. We're not out to trick anybody. We don't preach the gospel out
of deceit or guile. And God's put in our trust He
put in trust His gospel. Look at verse 4, "...even so
we speak, not as pleasing men..." Our motive is not to please men,
"...but God, who tries our hearts." That's who we're seeking to please. I honestly can say, when I prepare
a message like these messages today, You prepare that message first
seeking what God would have you preach, and what God would have
you preach for the good of His people, to bless His people,
help His people, glorify Christ. Certainly not trying to please
anyone. I hope we can please men. Don't you hope this pleases?
It's the truth. I hope it gives you pleasure. But that's not our motive, to
impress people. Because he says in verse 5, now
watch this, neither at any time use we flattering
words, as you know, nor cloak of covetousness, God is my witness. What does that mean? Well, Paul
is saying this, we don't use smooth, flattering words to brag
on this flesh, and praise individuals in order to gain their support. We don't cater to any person's
flesh for personal profit. That's covetousness. And God
will not bless this. We want men and women to love
Christ, and if they love Christ, they'll love us. We want men
and women to hear the gospel and love the gospel, and if they
love the gospel, they'll come here with us. Isn't that right? But don't try to get them to
love us first by flattering words, and then they come in and they're
unhappy with what they hear. To walk with Christ and then
walk with us. But he said, we don't use, that's
not our method at all to use flattering words to cover up
a covetous spirit. God is my witness. And look at
verse 6. Now this is interesting here. Nor of men sought we glory,
neither of you. Not even you, our faithful friends. We're not seeking glory of anybody,
even of you, nor yet of others. We're not seeking our personal
glory. Turn to John 5 a minute. brought these serious charges
against the Pharisees, those preachers in Jerusalem. In John
5 verse 39, there's about six or seven charges he brings against
them here. He says in verse 39 of John 5,
you search the Scriptures. For in the Scriptures you think
you have eternal life, and there they which testify of me." Now
here's the first charge. And you won't come to me that
you might have life. And then he says, I receive not
honor from men, but I know you. You have not the love of God
in you. That's what he says to these false preachers. You won't
come to me and you don't have the love of God in you. Now look
at the third one. He said, I've come in my Father's
name and you receive me not. Let another come in his own name,
and him you will receive." And then he said in verse 44, how
can you believe? Which receive honor one of another,
and seek not the honor that comes from God only. And that's what
he's saying over here. Paul is saying in 1 Thessalonians
2 verse 6, not of men sought we glory. Neither of you. nor yet of others."
And then this is interesting here. He said, now, when we might
have been burdensome, we might have put pressure on you as the
apostles of Christ. Paul had an office. Paul had an office. He was an
apostle. And he could have put pressure
on people to do certain things. But he wouldn't do that. He said,
I wouldn't become burdensome to you even as an apostle. I
want to show you an example of that where he carried that out
over here in the book of Philemon. Turn over there to Philemon a
minute. You remember he wrote to Philemon, Onesimus the runaway
slave had been converted and Paul wrote to Philemon and told
him he was sending Onesimus back to him and for him to receive
him. Now he says in Philemon, Verse 8, Wherefore, though I
might be much bold in Christ to enjoin you, to command you
to do what is right, I couldn't command you as an apostle. Yet I'm not going to do that.
Verse 9, But for love's sake, I rather beseech you, being such
a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. In verse 13, he said, concerning
Onesimus, verse 13, whom I would have retained with me, I might
have kept him here. I could have kept him here. I'm
an apostle, you know, he said. I could have kept him here, that
in your stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel,
but listen, without your mind, without your approval, I would
do nothing, that your benefit, your blessing, your gift, Your
kindness should not be of necessity, but willingly." You say, how
do we preach the gospel? Back to the text. We don't seek
glory. And we don't preach authoritatively
as apostles of Christ. We preach this gospel so men
will respond willingly. Not of necessity, but willingly. Because God moved the heart.
You see what I'm saying there? God moved the heart. I could
have been, he said, I'm an apostle, and I could have been a burden.
I could have used the pressure of the office, but I wouldn't
do it. But rather, I've got to quickly
close, listen, but rather, verse 7, we were gentle, gentle. Now I want you to see the illustration
he uses here. How do I treat you and preach
to you down in Thessalonica? As gentle among you as a nurse
cherisheth her children. As a mother nurses a baby. That's the illustration here. A mother takes a little child
in her arms. Loves a child, that's what he
says in the next verse, being affectionately desirous of you,
I was willing to have imparted unto you not only the gospel,
but my own, that word soul is life, my own life. But as a mother picks up that
child, if the child's hungry, she picks up that child and gently,
kindly nurses that child, feeds that child. And he says, that's
the way I preach the gospel. As gentle as a nurse cherisheth
a child, and loving you, affectionately desirous of you. Verse 9, verse
8, being affectionately desirous of you. Desirous of what? That
you know Christ. That you love Him, that you come
to Him. I was willing to impart it to
you, not only the gospel, but my own life, because you're dear
to me. Now here it closes. You remember,
brethren, that our labor and travail, for laboring night and
day, and what he meant is he worked with his hands in many
of these new places where Paul went. Corinth, Thessalonica,
he was a tentmaker. And to keep from being chargeable
unto any of you. He didn't want anybody to think
that he preached the gospel for money. He didn't want that charge
to be brought against him, so he took nothing from the Corinthian
church and nothing from the church at Thessalonica, but he worked
day and night, labored day and night, making tents to pay his
own way, and those with him. because he wouldn't have that
charge brought against him that he was a covetous preacher. But
he said in closing, now what we preach unto you, the gospel
of God. One question, what is the gospel
of God? We'll turn to Romans 1. What
is this gospel? Romans 1, verse 1, 2, and 3. And here's the summary. It says, Romans 1 verse 1, 2, and 3, Paul,
a servant, a bond slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated to the gospel of God, in parentheses, which he promised
to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his
son. Now lift out verse 2. Just lift it out. That's a parenthetical
statement. Identifying what he's talking
about here, the ancient gospel. Verse 1 and 3, Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the
gospel of God, concerning his son. That's what the gospel is
concerning, his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the
Son of God. with power according to the spirit
of holiness by the resurrection of the dead by whom we by Christ
we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among
all nations for his name among whom are you also the call of
Jesus Christ how we preach the gospel I hope that's a blessing
let's bow for prayer Father, we thank you for your
word. I pray tonight you take this
message and the word which we've read and glorify thy name, glorify
our Lord Jesus Christ, magnify his grace in every heart, all
that we with anointed eyes might see him. that we with ears opened
by thy Spirit might hear him speak through his word, and with
new hearts might love him. Lord, may this pulpit ever reign
with the glorious gospel of our God concerning your Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ. Use us for your praise and for
your honor, for I pray in Christ's name for his sake. Amen.

How Do We Preach the Gospel?

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How Do We Preach the Gospel?

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