I want us to go to school today. I want you to listen very carefully
to some things that I feel impressed to say to you about the preacher's
theme. The preacher's theme or the preacher's
message. Now, the thought that gave birth
to this message, when I prepared this message, this was what I
was thinking. I am concerned that my generation
the people who are living on this earth at this present time,
especially in America. I am concerned that my generation
is not hearing from the pulpit what they need to hear. Now I'm
just convinced of that. We have many preachers, many
preachers. We have much preaching going
on from the pulpit, the television, and the radio today, but very
little preaching. is concerning the vital issues,
the things that people must and need to hear. They must hear,
they need to hear. Now the preacher's theme, that's
the title of this message, and that's what I want to talk about,
the preacher's theme. The preacher's theme is set forth
in the book of Psalms, chapter 40, and if you have a Bible,
turn with me to Psalm 40, And I'm going to read verses 7 through
10. Now, you listen to this. Psalm
40. Now, it's David who writes here.
This is David speaking. But this scripture, according
to the Apostle Paul, applies to and was written about the
Lord Jesus Christ in Hebrews 10. Now, many of you who know
something about the Bible will recognize immediately that this
is the scripture that Paul quoted in Hebrews 10 in reference to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to it. In Psalm 40
verse 7, now you turn over there, it says, Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. Do you recognize the scripture
now? Sure you do. In Hebrews 10, I believe it's
verses 9, 10, 11, 12. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O God." Now remember,
David's writing this. David, the sweet psalmist, the
son of Jesse, the king of Israel, is writing this. And what he
writes, he writes of himself. He's speaking in the first person.
He's speaking out of his own heart and his own experience.
He was a preacher of righteousness. He was a prophet of God. He was
a leader of the people. He declared the message. God
spoke to the people through David. But he's speaking of Christ.
He's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is written, Yea, thy
law is written in my heart. Now watch it. I have 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. I have declared thy faithfulness. I have declared thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness. I have not concealed thy truth
from the great congregation." Now here the preacher's theme
is set forth in my text in no uncertain terms. He says, I have
declared thy righteousness. I have declared thy faithfulness,
I have declared thy lovingkindness, I have declared thy salvation,
I have declared thy truth." Now, if we can somehow, every one
of you, this preacher too, if we can somehow get hold of these
words, get hold of these five words, we'll understand the preacher's
mission. We'll understand the preacher's
message. We'll understand the preacher's
theme because it has not changed. And the importance of these words
are seen, first of all, in who writes them, and secondly, to
whom, in the person to whom they're assigned. Now, first of all,
these words are written by David. I cannot emphasize strongly enough
that these words are written by David. He said, Lord, I have
declared your righteousness. I have declared your faithfulness,
your salvation, your lovingkindness, and your truth to the great congregation. This is David, the chosen of
God. God sent Samuel down into the
home of Jesse to anoint a king. And Samuel, by the orders of
God, anointed this man David. And God said of David, I have
found David to be a man after my own heart. Do you know he
said that twice in the Bible? And there's no man in all the
world, in all of Scripture, in all of history about whom God
ever said that. Called Abraham his friend. He
said of John the Baptist, he's the greatest man born of woman.
But of nobody did God ever say what he said about David. I have
found him to be a man after my own heart. The heart of God and
the heart of David beat as one. And this is David, the exalted
king. Actually, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Messiah, God's son who came into the world, was identified
by these words. He's the son of David. Our Lord
said, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And everybody
replied, the son of David. So my friend David declares here,
David, and it would do well for us to listen. David declares
his theology. You can't improve on it. David
declares his theme. You can't improve on it. David
declares his message. And what's more, he gives these
words through the lips of the Apostle Paul, greater meaning,
greater meaning, by the fact that Jesus Christ himself fulfilled
them. That was his message. Christ
the preacher says my message, I have preached thy righteousness.
Lo, I come, in the volume of the book is written of me, to
do thy will, O God. Thy law is written within my
heart. I have declared thy righteousness, thy faithfulness, thy salvation,
thy lovingkindness, and thy truth. Now I'm saying that I can do
no better as a preacher of the gospel in 1984. than to preach
what David, servant of God, preached. I can do no better, child of
God, preacher of the gospel in 1984, than to declare what Jesus
Christ, my Lord, Son of God, preached. And that's my theme. Five-fold theme. That's my message. And I'm going to deal with it
one at a time. Now, what's he talking about? He said, O Lord,
I come. In the volume of the book that's
written of me, I come to declare thy truth, to declare thy truth. Thy word is hid in my heart,
and I have declared thy righteousness, and thy faithfulness, and thy
salvation, and thy lovingkindness, and thy truth. That's my message.
David said, that's my message. And when Paul came along and
wrote Hebrews 10, he said, this talking about Christ, this talking
about the Son of God, this talking about the Messiah, this was his
message. This was his gospel. Now let's look at it one at a
time. First of all, David said, I have preached thy righteousness
in the great congregation. I have not hid, I have not concealed
thy righteousness. Now my friend, let me be, what
I try to do all the time, let me be as plain as I can on this
subject. God himself is a righteous God. God is holy. The scripture says,
Holy and reverent is his name. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high
and lifted up, and his train filled the temple, and the seraphims
about the throne cried, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. God's law is holy and righteous. God's kingdom is righteous. His
angels are called holy angels. Heaven is called the holy heavens. The tabernacle is called the
holy of holies. Our Lord's Bible is called the
Holy Bible. It said the Lord is in His holy
temple. When the priest came into the
tabernacle written across his forehead was holiness to the
Lord. Our God is infinitely, unchangeably,
unapproachably holy. God is holy, essentially holy. But what the Apostle is talking
about here, Paul talking about Christ, David talking about himself,
When he says, I have declared thy righteousness, he means by
that not only has he preached God in his holiness and righteousness,
but he is preaching also the righteousness and holiness which
God in his mercy and grace has provided for his elect in the
obedience of his Son, Jesus Christ. There's a righteousness which
God not only has, essentially, being God, But there's a righteousness,
a holiness, which he has purposed, which he has provided, which
he has given, which he has worked out through the obedience of
Christ for you and me who believe on Christ. Now, that's the righteousness
that he said, I preach. And that's what I'm trying to
preach to you. Without holiness, no man will see the Lord. Our
Lord said, except your righteousness exceeds. The righteousness of
the best man who ever lived on this earth, you shall in no way
enter the kingdom of God. You've got to have a righteousness,
and it's got to be not yours, but God's righteousness. I have
declared God's righteousness. In 2 Corinthians 5, 21, it says,
He was made sin for us who knew no sin. Christ knew no sin. And He was made sin for us that
we might be made. the righteousness of God in him,
in Christ. That's the righteousness that
David said, I preach. That's the righteousness which
the Lord Jesus said, I preach. Paul said, oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law and shot full of holes and filthy rags
in God's sight, but the righteousness of God, which is in Jesus Christ. That's what Paul's writing about
in Romans 5, 19, when he said, As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. If we're going to preach all
the counsel of God, if we're going to preach that which is
profitable to men, if we're going to preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ, we're going to have to preach the righteousness of God. And that's not only saying that
he's essentially and perfectly and unapproachably holy, but
he has provided for us in the obedience, in the person and
work, in the merit, in the death of his son. He has provided for
us a righteousness, a righteous covering, a righteous cleansing,
a righteous standing before the Lord. He has given us that holiness. which allows us to come boldly
into his very presence, not only now, but in eternity. We've got
to preach it. I have preached thy righteousness,
thy righteousness. And then he said, I have preached
thy faithfulness. God is faithful. God is unchangeably
faithful, immutably faithful. He abided faithful. Listen to
these verses. I am the Lord, I change not.
Now, I can't say that, and you can't say that, and no human
being could ever say that. You can't say, I change not.
Well, you may change in the next 30 seconds. You can't say... God is the only one who can say,
I change not. I am the Lord, I change not.
Jesus Christ is the same. Is the same. Yesterday, today
and forever, He does not change. The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance, without change. Whatever God has done,
He is doing. Whatever He is doing, He will
do. God does not change in His purpose, in His program, in His
covenant. He does not change. God is the
same. He's the same. We change. Swift
to its close ebbs out life's little day. Earth's joys grow
dim. Its glories fade away. Change
and decay in all around I see. O thou who changes not, And he's
the only one who does not change. Abide with me. I'm preaching
an unchanging God. I'm preaching the faithfulness
of God. Now, I know a lot of preachers,
most preachers preach the faithfulness of men. Stay faithful, be faithful,
keep faithful, keep the faith. But what I'm emphasizing, and
men do remain faithful, and men do, by the grace of God, remain
in the faith. But I'm preaching this. His faithfulness,
not yours. His faithfulness. He's faithful.
God is faithful. He will not change. He said,
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. It's not your fault you're not
consumed, it's God's fault. Because He is faithful to His
purpose. He said in Isaiah 46, 11, I have
spoken, I'll bring it to pass. He said, I have purposed it,
I'll do it. God's the only one who can say
that. You can't say that. You can say this, and I hope
by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. God is faithful
to His purpose. He said, I have spoken it, I'll
do it. I've purposed it, I'll bring it to pass. I change not.
God is faithful to His covenant. Listen to this, Jeremiah 32,
I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I'll not turn away
from them to do them good. Romans 8.29 says, Whom He did
foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son. Whom He predestinated, He called. Whom He called, He
justified. Whom He justified, He glorified. Why? God be for
us who can be against us. God is faithful to His covenant.
God is faithful to His Son. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, Christ said. And him that cometh to me I'll
in no wise cast out. God is faithful to His Word.
Abraham believed God. He was fully persuaded that God
would do all that he promised. Paul stood on the deck of that
sinking ship and he said, Sirs, be of good cheer. I believe God. It shall be exactly as he told
me. My friends, God is faithful.
And that's the hope that a believer has. That's the assurance and
confidence that a believer has. A true believer He does not have
hope in himself or confidence in himself. As Paul said in Philippians
3, we are the circumcision, we are the true Israel who worship
God in the spirit, who rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. But I'll tell you this, you can
have confidence in God, in His purpose, in His covenant, in
His promise, and in His Word. He is faithful. And that's what
David is saying, and that's what our master said. I have preached
thy righteousness, purchased and provided. I have preached
thy faithfulness. God is faithful. God is faithful. And then thirdly, he said, I
have preached thy salvation. David, don't you mean our salvation? No. No, he didn't. He said, thy
salvation. I have preached thy salvation.
And he rightly called it God's salvation because the gift of
God is salvation and eternal life. It is the gift of God. Jonah said in Jonah 2, 9, salvations
of the Lord. In Psalm 51, 12, David said,
O Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. And in Psalm
3, verse 8, he declares, Salvation belongs to the Lord. And in Psalm
37, 39, he says, The Salvation of the righteous is of God. My
friends, Salvation is not what we have done for God, and not
what we have done for ourselves, or not what we have done with
God for ourselves, but Salvation is what God has done for us in
His Son. Salvation is a gift of God. One
great old preacher years ago preached one of the greatest
outlines I've ever read on the subject, Salvation is of the
Lord. And he said this, what I'm saying is that the whole
of the work whereby a corrupt fallen sinner is saved and delivered
from his bondage and slavery of sin and darkness and depravity
and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son and made an
heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ and made perfectly
conformable to the image of God's Son. I'm saying that the whole
of that work from beginning to end is of the Lord and of Him
only. And no man makes any contribution
to it in the slightest degree. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
of the Lord in its origination. God planned it. God purposed
it. God ordained it. God thought
it. It's of the Lord in its execution,
in the fullness of time. He sent His Son into the world.
We didn't send up there for Him. He sent His Son into the world.
It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. Yes, wicked men nailed Him
to the cross, but they did what God before determined to be done. salvations of the Lord in its
execution, it's of the Lord in its application. Paul said, God
who separated me from my mother's womb was pleased to reveal His
Son in me. God revealed His Son in me. God
the Spirit regenerated me, God the Spirit quickened me, God
the Spirit convicted me, God the Spirit granted repentance
to me, and God the Spirit granted faith to me by the Word of God,
and God the Spirit keeps me for salvations of the Lord in its
sustaining power. We're kept by the power of God
through faith, not by our faith, but through faith. We're kept
not by our faithfulness, but by His faithfulness. We're kept
by the power of God. Through faith, not apart from
faith, not without faith, not in spite of faith, through faith.
And salvation is of the Lord in its ultimate perfection, written
across, emblazoned, someone said, across the skies eternally will
be salvation is of the Lord. That old leper came to Christ
and fell on his face and worshipped Him and he said, if you will,
you can make me whole. If you will, you can make me
whole. We got that backwards now. We're
going to the center and we're saying, if you will, if you will,
you can get God to make you whole. If you will, through cooperation
with God, you can be made whole. No, sir. The leper said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me whole. And then that publican
in the temple said, Lord, you be merciful to me, the sinner.
And then the thief on the cross said, Lord, you remember me when
you come into your kingdom. I have preached thy salvation.
We better put the emphasis where it is. Men cannot save themselves. One day the disciples asked the
Lord, they said, who then can be saved? He said, with men,
it's impossible. It's impossible. But with God,
all things are possible. So we're going to have to turn
our eyes away from the pew, and we're going to have to turn to
heaven and say, Lord, if it please Thee in this day, send mighty
conviction mighty Holy Spirit conviction, and break men's hearts,
and bring them to Christ, for salvations of the Lord. And then
he said, I preach thy lovingkindness, thy lovingkindness. Psalm 51.1,
David said, Lord, have mercy on me according to thy lovingkindness. According to thy tender mercies,
blot out my transgressions. Herein is love, not that we love
God. He loved us. Ephesians 2 said,
talked about what we were, you know, following the lust of the
flesh, and the pride of life, and the lust of the eye, and
we were children of wrath, even as others, following the prince
of the fire and the air. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us. Even when we were
dead in sin, have quickened us together with Christ. Romans
5, 8 says, But God commended His love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. My friends, I preach
the love of God, the loving kindness and tender mercies of God Almighty. I preach that He loved us first,
and we love Him because He first loved us. The love of God, how
rich, how pure. How measureless, how strong,
it shall forevermore endure, the saints' and angels' song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment
made, and every man on earth a scribe by trade, to write the
love of God above would drain that ocean dry, nor could the
scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. His
love is everlasting. His love is infinite. His love
is unchanging. His love is to guilty sinners,
and He pardons the guilty. Our Lord said, Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
Let's preach the justice of God, but let's preach also the mercy
and love of God. Let's preach the holiness and
righteousness of God, but let's preach to fallen sinners the
love of Christ. I'll tell you, the Father is
portrayed in no more wonderful fashion than when he stood out
there that day and waited for the prodigal son to come home
and fell on his neck and kissed him in love and forgiveness. And I'll tell you the shepherd
is presented in no greater light than when he left the 99 and
went out there in the wilderness and hunted the one lost sheep.
Love, the love of God, thy lovingkindness. And then David said, I have not
concealed thy truth, thy truth. And let Paul speak for every
true preacher. I have kept back nothing profitable
unto you. I have not shunned to declare
unto you the whole counsel of God, the truth. What is the truth? What is the truth? Well, in one
word, condensed to one word, The truth is Christ. Our Lord
Jesus Christ said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. All scriptural truth is related to Christ. And if we
preach the truth, we'll preach Christ. And if we preach Christ,
we'll preach the truth. It is said of some, they're ever
learning and never coming to knowledge of the truth. Why?
Because Christ is the truth. The preacher's theme? God's righteousness,
God's faithfulness, God's salvation, God's loving kindness, and God's
beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Now, I'd like for the cameraman
to put the camera on some books that I have written. These are
called Bible commentaries, and I've been writing them for years.
on the 21 epistles in the New Testament and these books are
printed over in England by evangelical press and we're selling them
in this country they sell for a dollar and a half each, there's
a book of Romans and then there's a book there with 1st and 2nd
Thessalonians and 1st and 2nd Timothy and then the book of
Galatians now these books are written primarily for Sunday
school teachers, or Bible class teachers, or home Bible study
courses, they're written, you know, most commentaries are so
heavy, so deep, that it's hard for the average person to read
them. Well, I've condensed it, and I've put these, these, and
it's a verse-by-verse study, and I've put these verses in
common, plain, everyday language, finding the meaning of the verse.
And if you'd like to have these three books, if you'll send five
dollars, that's what it cost us to to get them from England
and to send them to you. Five dollars, not a piece now,
they're a dollar and a half a piece, but they're five dollars for
all of them. All three of these books, send
them to you for five dollars, that'll take care of the postage.
If you'll write to me, the announcer's going to give you the address
in just a moment, but if you'll write to me, I'll send you these
books by return mail. We've just gotten a new supply
of books in this week, and we'll mail them to you. Also, this
message I just brought on the preacher's theme, It's on a cassette
tape, along with a message I brought last week on why did Christ die. These two messages are on the
same cassette tape. That tape sells for $2. You'll
send a donation, we'll mail you the tape. Also write and ask
for the books if you'd like to have them. They're $5 for all
three. Until next Sunday, at this same
time, I bid you a very pleasant good day.