I believe you're going to find
the message this morning to be interesting. I hope you'll listen
to the whole program, the entire message. I'm going to be speaking
from the book of Acts, chapter 20. Now, here's my subject. I'm
going to talk about preachers and preaching. Preachers and
preaching. And my subject is Paul the preacher. Now, the Apostle Paul was primarily
a preacher. I know he wrote Someone said
thirteen books in the New Testament. He organized churches. He gave
advice and counsel. But Paul was primarily a preacher. He said, God sent me not to baptize. He wasn't speaking against baptism. He knew that baptism was a confession
of faith in Christ. And he did baptize some people.
But he said, that's not why God sent me. He didn't send me to
baptize, to organize. But he sent me to preach the
gospel. That's what God sent me to do,
to preach the gospel. And on another occasion, he said,
Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. In other words, what
I'm saying is this. Paul was not a promoter. Paul
was not an entertainer. Paul was not a politician. Paul
was a preacher of the gospel of the free grace of God. That's
what he boasted in. That's what he said God sent
him to do. And that's what he declared that he was going to
do until he left this world, to preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ. And this, my friend, is our desperate
need today. The church doesn't need more
buildings. The church doesn't need more
singing. It doesn't need more ball teams and gymnasiums. The
church doesn't even need you. The church needs, the great need
today, is some men called of God, sent of God, and separated
unto the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's our crying
immediate need in this day. We've got entertainers, we've
got executives, we've got promoters, we've got everything in the world
in the pulpit except some preachers of the gospel of the grace of
God. Men who have been sent of God to declare the good tidings
of great joy, the glad tidings of God's mercy to sinners. Let
me ask you three questions. I want you to think about three
questions. Now, here's the first one. How
do we preach? How should a man preach? Humanly
speaking, I'm talking about. A man has to be called of God
and sent of God and given his message from God. But I'm talking
about how should we preach. May I answer that for you? I
believe a man, humanly speaking, must preach, first of all, out
of his heart, or out of his experience, or out of his own knowledge.
You can't preach Christ if you've never met Christ. You can't declare
the glory of Christ if you've never seen the glory of Christ.
This is what John said three times in the book of 1 John 1.
He said, that which we've seen, and that which we've heard, and
that which our hands have handled, declare we unto you. I'm telling
you what I've seen and heard, he said. Peter said the same
thing when they told Peter and the other apostles to shut their
mouths and don't preach anymore. They said, Well, we have to preach
what we've seen and heard. And I know that our preaching
comes from the Bible, but it's got to come from experience.
And we not only preach from experience and from the heart, but we preach
in sincerity. God help us. If we're going to
play games, let's play something else. Let's play Russian roulette
and not leave any empty chambers. You'd be better off than playing
with the gospel. You'd be better off than playing
with the preaching of the Word of God. compromising the scriptures. I'd rather play Russian roulette
with a full-loaded gun than to compromise the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Let's preach with sincerity,
and let's preach with plainness of speech. You know what the
Apostle Paul said? I didn't come to you with enticing words of
man's wisdom. I came to you preaching in the
demonstration and power of the Holy Spirit that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Now,
that's how we preach. Well, what do we preach? Let
me tell you this. What do we preach? My friend,
we preach. We preach Christ and Him crucified. That's our message. God sent us to preach Christ.
I'm determined, Paul said, to know nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That's our message. We preach
the gospel of the glory of God. Christ is our message. Now here's
the third question. Why do we preach? And that's
what I want to get on especially right now. Why do we preach?
Why do we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ? Why am I here right
now? And I'll give you three answers to that question. We
preach, first of all, for the glory of God. The apostle tells
us that whatever we do, in word or deed, to do it for the glory
of God Almighty. That must be our motivation.
I'll tell you this, why a man preaches will determine what
he preaches. If he's preaching to please men,
he'll compromise the gospel. If he's preaching to pack a church,
he'll preach entertainment and what men want to hear. If he's
preaching to get a promotion or get a bigger salary, then
he'll compromise the gospel. But if he's preaching for the
glory of God, he is not interested in what he gains, what men give,
or who comes. He's interested in one thing,
glorifying God Almighty. glorifying God Almighty. Now
that's our first reason, better be our first reason for preaching,
because why a man preaches will determine what he preaches. If
he's preaching to please men, he'll take the edge off, he'll
take the offense out of the gospel, he'll cut the corners, and he'll
compromise. But if he's preaching for the
glory of God, fearlessly and boldly and courageously determined
to glorify God, whatever the cost, if it cost him his life,
then he'll tell you the truth, because he's got nothing to gain
on this earth. He cares not what men think or
what men do. He cares one thing, what God
thinks. Well, we preach for the glory
of God, then we preach, secondly, why do we preach? We preach for
the conversion of his elect, his sheep. Paul said that in
2 Timothy 2.10, he said, talked about his sufferings and trials
and He'd been beaten and shipwrecked and stoned and scourged and all
these things, put in prison. But he said, I suffer these things,
but I endure all things for the elect's sake. That's why I endure
them. I endure them gladly, I endure
them patiently, I endure them for the glory of God, but I endure
them for the elect's sake, that they may hear the gospel, that
they may learn of Christ, that they may obtain the salvation
which is in Jesus Christ with eternal glory. But I'll tell
you a third reason why we preach. We preach to fulfill our responsibility,
our responsibility to all men. When Paul left the church at
Ephesus, I'm going to read it in Acts 20 in a minute, he said,
I am free from the blood of all men. I have not shunned to declare
unto you the whole counsel of God. I am free from the blood
of all men. I have preached to you the whole
counsel of God. I have kept back nothing through
fear of men, through seeking applause or favor, through covetousness. I have kept back nothing. I have
hid nothing. I have withheld nothing profitable
unto you. Therefore, if you believe and
are saved, I rejoice. If you do not believe and perish
under the judgment and wrath of God, You're fully responsible. I'm not responsible. My hands
are free, clean from your blood. I preach the truth to you. Now,
you think about those three things. You write them down. You study
them. If you're a preacher, you better give some attendance to
them. How do we preach? Out of experience, out of sincerity,
out of plainness of speech. What do we preach? Christ. That's
our message. Christ, the person and work of
Christ. Well, why do we preach? Why do you preach? because it's
a job, because it pays well, because it works easy, because
you're famous, for the glory of God, for the salvation of
his elect, and to deliver my hands and my soul from the blood
of lost men." Now, when Paul was leaving his friends at Ephesus,
Paul had preached to them, and now he was going to Jerusalem,
and they knew, and he knew, that they would see his face no more.
They knew, and he knew, that they would never again hear him
preach. They knew, and he knew, that
Paul was going to his death, and this was his farewell message. This was the last time these
people ever heard him preach. And it's interesting to note
the things that he calls to their attention, the things that he
says in summing up his ministry, in summing up his work among
them. He doesn't stand around and brag
about how many people he won to Jesus, how big, much bigger
the church was now than when it was when he came there and
what it was when he came, or the buildings, they built a new
educational building and a new gym and a new pastorium and sanded
the floors and the gymnasium and put a new coat of lacquer,
you know, and organized another Sunday school class. I want you
to listen to what Paul said. We're such foolish creatures.
We're talking about things that aren't worth a hill of beans.
And we need to get back to the Word of God. You know that Listen
to what Paul says. In Acts 20, verse 18, the first
thing he said. Now, he said, you won't see my
face again. You won't hear me preach again.
I'll never see you again. But I want you to know this.
While I've been with you, verse 18, I have served the Lord with
humility of mind. I want to know why is humility
of mind so difficult for us to learn and to practice. Now, I'd
like to know why. I'd just like to know what any
of us have to be proud of. John Newton once said, a proud
believer is the most inconsistent thing this side of hell, and
I believe that's so. Who maketh you to differ? What
do you have that you didn't receive? Listen to the Apostle Paul, I
am what I am by the grace of God. He said, well, I'm not worthy
to be an apostle. I was a blasphemer. I was injurious. I persecuted the church. What
right do I have to claim worthiness in preaching the gospel? Why,
he said, I'm less than the least of all the saints. Our Lord said,
a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above. What
on earth do we have to be proud of? I see these proud and cocky
and arrogant preachers. And I think, under God, what
right have they got to be proud? They ought to be the most humble
men in the world, to be gifted and to be trusted and to be sent
forth to tell people the good news of Christ. I have served
the Lord with humility of mind. I tell you this, we ought to
be conscious of three things, every one of us who handle the
Word of God. We ought to be conscious, first of all, of our own imperfections
and sins. That's exactly right. We need
to act Needn't act like holier-than-thou people, or pious people, or Pharisees. Richard Baxter once said this,
I preach as one who may never preach again. I preach as a dying
man to dying men. Have we learned that? Our own
imperfections, our own sins, and another thing we need to
remember, our gifts are all borrowed, they're not ours. They're His
who gave them to us. Do we have the ability to sing?
God gave it to us. Do we have the ability to preach?
God gave it to us. Do we have eyes to see and ears
to hear and legs to walk and hands to move? Do we have any
sense at all? Do we have any understanding
of the Scripture? God taught us. If it weren't for His grace,
we'd be babbling idiots. A lot of us are anyhow, you know.
But without His grace, we'd be nothing. We are totally dependent
on the Spirit of God. I tell you, it shouldn't be difficult
for a man to serve the Lord with humility. The thing that ought
to amaze every one of us is that God would even consider us, that
God would even have us, that God Almighty would even look
with favor upon us, that God Almighty would even let us take
a message to one of His children, that God would take such foolish
earthen vessels of clay and use them to give the water of life
to a thirsty sinner. Thank God. Paul said, we're nothing. We're nothing. He uses that.
He said, I'm not one whit behind the chief apostle, but I'm nothing. That makes a chief apostle not
much either. And then secondly, in verse 20,
he says this, I kept back nothing, nothing profitable unto you.
Now, my friend, watch this word profitable. I kept back nothing
profitable. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
It is not my place to censor the Word of God." Now, a lot
of preachers are doing that. But it's not my place to censor
the Word of God and feed people what I think is good for them,
or what I think they ought to hear, or what I think they ought
to know. Paul said, Timothy, preach the
Word. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. All Scripture
is profitable for doctrine. Somebody said, don't preach election
to sinners. Is it in the Bible? Then preach
it. All Scripture. Well, you don't preach sovereignty
to children. Is it in the Bible? Preach it
to children. Who are you to censor the Word
of God? Who are you to determine what a person ought to hear or
should hear or can hear? You're not God's private secretary.
Just preach His Word. If it's there in the Word, preach
it. That's what Paul said, I have not shunned to declare unto you
the whole counsel of God, I've kept back nothing profitable
unto you. Notice verse 27, I have not shunned,
I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now, he didn't say he preached
all the counsel of God. Not anybody knows all the counsel
of God. But he said, I haven't shunned to do it. What I know,
I preach. What God has shown me, I preach. What God has revealed
to me, I preach. What God has written, I preach.
What I know, I preach. I've not shunned to declaring
to you the whole counsel of God. None of us preach with the power
we desire. None of us preach with the compassion
we covet. None of us preach with the wisdom
we need. But I'll tell you this. May every
preacher be able to say, I have kept back nothing profitable
unto you, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of men. I read the story one time of
a preacher, true story, but the preacher's name was Dr. Geise,
G-U-I-S-E. He was pastor of a church over
in England 200 years ago. He was a very learned man, a
very educated man, a very pious man. And he pastored this church
for 20 or 30 or 35 years, and it was so dead. People didn't
have anywhere else to go. They didn't have televisions
or movies or newspapers or radios or automobiles, and everybody
went to church. But they just sat and slept under Dr. Geis'
ministry. He read his sermons. He was so
deep and intellectual. and dry and theological. And
this is true. One Sunday morning, he got up
to preach. And before he brought his written
thesis, he bowed his head to pray. And the old gentleman,
while he was praying, went blind. When he raised his head and opened
his eyes, he couldn't see. And he stood there before his
people, and he said, I'm blind. I cannot see. He couldn't see
his notes. He couldn't see his manuscripts. He stood there and
began to weep, and tears ran down his cheek. And for the last
time he preached to them, but he preached out of his heart.
And he told them about the grace of God, and about the mercy of
God for sinners, and about the death of Christ. You see, he
couldn't read that intellectual manuscript that he'd prepared
for the people. He just preached to them out
of his heart, out of his experience, the gospel of Jesus Christ, for
about 30 minutes in that congregation for the first time in years.
Heard the gospel with compassion and affection, and the people
wept, and some people were saved that morning. Came to the knowledge
of the gospel. They'd never heard it before.
And after he finished preaching, two of the deacons went up to
help him off the pulpit, one of these high pulpits, and they
were walking down the stairs, and one deacon was heard to say
to the other, what a shame. The old man didn't go blind twenty
years ago. Maybe we'd been hearing some
gospel all this time. Will we have to go blind to stop
reading dry, dead, intellectual manuscripts to people? Let us
not fear men. Let us not seek possessions and
applause. Let us have no desires for impressive
statistics and results. Let us preach the gospel, the
whole counsel of God. I ask you, my friend, is God
sovereign? Is He almighty? Is he omnipotent,
omnipresent, omniscient? Is he eternal? Preach it. That's
right, just preach it. Is man a fallen, depraved creature? Did he die in the Garden of Eden?
Did death and condemnation and judgment pass upon all men, both
imputed and imparted to them? Are they totally unable to think
anything holy, or do anything holy, or please a holy God, or
that without help, without strength, without hope, without God, dependent
on His sovereign mercy, is that so? Then preach it. Then preach
it. Is salvation by grace alone,
apart from works of any shape, form, or fashion? Paul said,
if it's by grace, it's not of works. If it's by works, it's
not of grace. Is it by grace alone? Then preach
it. Don't be afraid, don't compromise, just preach it just like it is.
The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
men, for by grace are ye saved through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Is Jesus Christ God Almighty?
I'm not talking about just a son of God, I mean God in human flesh. Then make it clear, preach it.
Is his blood effectual? Is it sufficient? Did it pay
for our sins? Does it redeem his people, all
who believe? Is our hope built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness? Then preach it. Is salvation
a new birth? Is it a decision or a new birth?
Is it regeneration or church membership? Is it regeneration
or a reformation? Well, if it's regeneration, preach
it. Is Christ the only mediator? Is there no purgatory? Certainly
not. Is Mary no mediator? Certainly not. Is no man in a
religious office infallible? Certainly not. Then preach it. Then preach it. Is Christ the
only mediator between God and men? Then preach it. Is baptism
by immersion a confession of faith in Jesus Christ? Is that
the way the early church baptized? Then preach it. Is the Lord's
table actually the body and blood of Christ, or is it representation,
symbolic? Then preach it. Does the Holy
Spirit dwell with all believers? If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. Then preach it. Will Christ come
again, literally, in the flesh, like He went away to receive
His people? Is there resurrection of the dead? Is there heaven
by God's grace and a hell under God's judgment? Then preach it.
We have no choice. This is God's Word, without fear,
without compromise, without seeking to please men. If I please men,
Paul said emphatically, dogmatically, I am not the servant of Jesus
Christ. And that's what I choose to be,
the servant, the bond-slave of Jesus Christ. He's my idol. He's
my refuge. He's my God. He's my wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. I believe God.
I believe the Word of God. If one page in the Bible is not
true, I'll throw it ever bit away. It's God's Word. A man lay dying one time out
in the Midwest. He'd been a member of a church
out there for many, many years. His pastor went to see him. He
knew he was dying. His pastor knew he was dying.
His wife knew he was dying. This was the last visit between
these two old friends. This man had been his pastor
for many years. And before he left the room and had prayer
with the man, he shook hands with him and he said, he said
to him as he looked him in the eye, both of them were broken
hearted, tears in their eyes, it was a sad party, but he looked
him in the eye and he said, Fred, are you saved? Are you saved? You know what that man replied?
He said, I am, if you told me right, preacher, because I believe
what you preach. Oh, what a heavy, humbling, responsibility
that's laid upon those who stand in the pulpit. God have mercy
if they compromise, and he won't. God have mercy if they're afraid
of men, but he won't. God have mercy if they're seeking
to keep their job and hold their house and family together. God
have mercy, but he won't. Hell's not too hot for a man
who will compromise the gospel out of fear. That's just so. Now Paul said, I've kept back
nothing profitable unto you, I've not shunned or declared
unto you the whole counsel of God. And then in verse 32 he
said, Brethren, I commend you to God. I commend you to God,
listen, and to the word of His grace, to His word, which is
able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them
that are sanctified. I commit you to God. Now don't
come to me. I can't save you. Don't come
to the altar. The altar can't save you. Don't
come to the baptismal waters, the water can't wash you. Well,
where shall I go? Go to Christ. Christ said, come
unto me and I'll give you rest. Look unto me and be you saved. We're getting, somebody's getting
between the center and Christ. We're shaking hands with men.
We're kneeling before men. We're making our profession to
men. We're making our decision at the hands of a man. Somebody
needs to seek the Lord, to look to Him. He's the Savior. He alone can redeem. He alone
can show mercy. He alone can make you whole. He alone can speak peace to your
heart. You have no peace. You haven't
dealt with Christ. You've been dealing with those
soul winners. Paul said, I commend you to God. And then I commend
you to the Word of God. We do men an injustice. Now you
listen to me. I'm going to speak frankly and
plainly. If you don't hear me, it's your own fault. We do men
an injustice to keep pressing upon them our booklets on how
to, how to be saved, how to be born again, how to get started
right, how to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. You know what
Paul said to these people? He said, I commend you to God
and to his Word. Why don't we lay our books aside
and tell people to bathe themselves in the Scripture? to bury their
faces in the Word of God. This is the true Word of God.
Our books on how-to, there's nothing in the world but the
deception with which we've been deceived. You don't need any
how-to books, you need the Word of God. He said, My Word will
not return void. Now listen, Paul said, I've coveted
no man's silver or gold or apparel. Verse 33, I haven't coveted anything
you've got. This world has a legitimate complaint
against pastors, preachers, churches, and evangelists who are forever
holding out their hands for a donation. It's got to be a million-dollar
enterprise. Religion is a multi-billion-dollar
business, and that's what it is, it's show business. And it's
become sickening, it's become disgusting to see preachers and
churches become professional beggars in the name of the Lord
God. It's so sad. We're selling records
and lapel pins and trinkets and religious toys and good luck
charms and overpriced books and Bibles. We're even selling bricks
and pieces of land to people who'll never see them. We're
organizing clubs and promising blessings, even healing and salvation
in return for a dollar. We're having candy sales and
bazaars and car washes and everything else for a dollar, and this is
evil. And I'm going to tell you the
truth. It's contrary to the word of God. If God does not and cannot
meet the need of his church and of his gospel and of his preachers
secretly by the free will gifts of his people, then we're not
his people and we're not in his will and we better close our
doors. That's the fact. You read the Word of God. He
says, My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches
in glory by Jesus Christ. I'm saying that this money-making
scheme of selling pens and books and overpriced Bibles and all
these things is not of God. God's way of supporting His work
is not to barter and to market and to sell. It's giving, giving,
giving out of the heart of the people. Willingly lovingly because
they love the gospel and God will meet the need of his church
and meet the need of his probe This is a ninth year of this
program. We've never sold a lapel pin or a record. We make these
tapes of the broadcast They cost two dollars to make them produce
them and send them and we send them to you for that But God
will meet our need. I know he will and if you want
this message, that's all you're saying $2 We'll make this tape
and send it to you and the one I preached last Sunday The title
of the message is, Paul the Preacher. Until next Sunday at this same
time, I bid you a pleasant good morning.