Christ Sent Me to Preach the Gospel

I am taking my text today from
the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 17, in which the Apostle
Paul wrote, now listen to these words carefully, For Christ sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Now, my friends, the word of
God gives a prominent place to the preaching of the gospel.
When the word of God describes the ministry of John the Baptist,
the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, the miracle child who
came to be the forerunner of the Redeemer, the Messiah, when
it described his ministry in Matthew 3, verse 1, it says,
In those days came John the Baptist preaching preaching in the wilderness
of Judea, and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand." Even our Lord preached the gospel. He was a preacher.
It says in Matthew 4.17, from that time, Jesus began to preach,
and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. After our
Lord had died on the cross and rose again and appeared to his
disciples, before he ascended back to the Father, He assembled
the disciples before him, and these were his parting words.
He said to these disciples, All authority is given unto me in
heaven and earth. Go ye, therefore, and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. You go and preach the gospel." And then in Romans 10,
verse 13, the scripture says, shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent?" You see, the word of God gives a prominent place
to the preaching of the gospel. John the Baptist, the forerunner
of Christ, was a preacher. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he,
in then the book of Luke, chapter 4, when he spoke to the congregation
at Nazareth, he said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he hath
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. This is one of the
things the Messiah came to do, not only to deliver the captive,
to set the prisoner free, to give sight to the blind and an
ability to walk to the lame, but to preach the gospel to the
poor. And how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed, except they hear? And how shall
they hear without a preacher?" Now, in 1 Corinthians 1.21, the
Scripture says it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believed. In 1 Corinthians 15.1, the Apostle
Paul said, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, in which you believed and where
you stand, and by which you are saved, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you." Paul preached the gospel. And then
in Titus chapter 1, verse 3, the scripture says, God hath
in due times manifested his word. How? Through the preaching of
the gospel. God has manifested his word through
preaching. And Paul said, this preaching
is committed unto me. according to the commandment
of God our Savior. So the Bible gives a prominent
place to this thing of preaching the gospel. Now I believe every
believer, every true believer, weeps over what's taking place
in our day. I believe every true believer
is sad as he observes what is happening today. The whole religious
world, now you listen to this, this is true. The whole religious
world is making every effort, every effort possible, to do
away with that which God has ordained to manifest his word
to reveal his Son and to save sinners, and that is the preaching
of the gospel. The religious world is doing
everything in its power to do away with the preaching of the
gospel. There's so little. ministry of the word going on
in this day. So little preaching of the gospel.
We are ordaining and educating and hiring every kind of minister
in the world except the minister of the word of God. We have ministers
of music, we have ministers of education, we have ministers
of visitation, we have youth ministers. Where are the ministers
of the word of God? Where are the preachers of the
word? In the sixth chapter of Acts, there was a problem in
the church between the Grecian and Hebrew widows about the giving
out of daily food. And the disciples gathered the
church together, and they said, it's not right for the ministers
of the Lord to leave the preaching of the gospel and wait on tables.
Therefore look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full
of faith, full of the Holy Spirit, and appoint them over this business,
this material business, this physical business, and listen
to what the apostles said. And we will give ourselves to
prayer and to the ministry of the word. Oh, today we have organized
Sunday schools. We have organized training unions,
we have youth fellowship, we have missionary circles, we have
ball teams, we have church suppers, we have counseling services,
we have family planning centers. We have relegated to the scrap
heap. We have relegated to the scrap
heap that which God has ordained, that which God Almighty himself
has appointed for the salvation and growth of his people and
the growth in grace and knowledge of Christ of his church, and
that is the preaching of the gospel. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Christ said
to his disciples, go and preach the gospel. Even our master came
preaching the gospel. How shall they hear without a
preacher? And God had chosen to reveal
his word, to manifest his word by the preaching of the gospel.
What are we doing with it today? It's practically been cut completely
out of our religious services. We have music and more music
and more music. We have choirs of every age.
We have more and more announcements. Take the average church service.
It's made up of music, it's made up of announcements, it's made
up of recognizing of visitors and recognizing of people and
prayers for the sick, raising money for all kind of projects
and causes. The services of the church have
a lot of everything in the world, but what it ought to have, and
that's the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the gospel of
Christ. And sad to say, the pastors today do everything but what
God called them to do, and that is preach the Word. The pastors
today are church visitors, they're club members, they're board members,
they're solicitors for every humane cause, they give devotions,
they marry the young, they bury the old, they visit the sick,
they're busy doing everything under the sun except what God
called them to do, and that is to study and to pray and to preach
the Word of God. And I'll tell you, all we need
for revival in our churches and in our homes and in our own hearts. All we need for revival in our
time, all we need for the blessings of God in our time, for the salvation
of sinners in our time, not the making of profession. I mean
real redemption, real salvation. All we need for that in our time
is not more music, it's not more organization, it's not more ball
teams, it's not more entertainment. What we need is a return to the
preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what God will
bless. He said, My word will not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that whereunto I have sent it,
the preaching of the gospel of the Son of God. You know, I've
heard that little saying all my life, the little cliché. It sounds beautiful, it's just
not true. But I've heard this all my life.
I had rather see a sermon than hear one any day. I'd rather
one walk beside me than merely show me the way." Now, that sounds
beautiful. That's real, real sentimental. And I guess that promotes human
morality and human righteousness and these things. But let me
tell you this. This is not the way God saves sinners. He does
not save sinners by example. No, sir. A man's got to hear
the gospel. The scripture says the gospel
is the power of God unto salvation, not a good life, not a meritorious
life, not human righteousness, the gospel. He hath begotten
us again with the word of truth, the gospel. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Men aren't saved by seeing you,
they're saved by seeing Christ. Men aren't brought to Christ
by seeing you and seeing your example and seeing your conduct.
They're brought to Christ by hearing the gospel and seeing
the Savior, seeing the substitute. And I know what men mean by that.
I know that, like James says, show me your faith without your
works and I'll show you my faith by my works. Yes, I can show
you my faith by my works and I can justify my faith by my
works. And I can show you the genuineness
of my faith by my works, and I can show you the seriousness
of my belief by my works, but I can't show you Christ by my
works. I have to preach the gospel to
you to show you Christ. You're going to have to see Him
in His Word. You're going to have to hear who He is. and what
he came to do, and why he came to do it, and where he is now,
and how you can be brought into a living union with him. And
that's by the preaching of the gospel, not by the conduct of
people down here on this earth. This is why Paul said in our
text, 1 Corinthians 1.17, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to
preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made of none effect. I want to take these statements
one at a time, and all that we might return to the preaching
of the gospel. How many great sermons are preached
today? How many good sermons are preached
today? How many fair sermons are preached
today? How many average sermons are
preached? Not many. Not many. It's so difficult
in our day. We hear good music, and we have
a... Preachers are good promoters,
and they're good organizers, and they're good entertainers,
and they're good... toastmasters and they fellowship
good, but how many of them preach? Preach the gospel. Lift up Christ. Exalt and magnify the Sovereign
Redeemer. Listen to Paul. Christ sent me
not to baptize. Now Paul's not discounting the
importance or place of baptism. He got the same commission that
all the other apostles received. Go ye and make disciples of all
nations. baptizing them in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. But what
he's saying here is this. God didn't send me as my primary
business and main concern to baptize. He sent me to preach
the gospel. Not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel. That's my main concern. That's
my main interest. That is my God-given task, to
preach the gospel. Not to organize churches as the
primary purpose of my coming, but to preach the gospel. Now,
my friends, let us sing praises to God. The psalms, those are
the hymns of the church. The psalm is the hymn book of
the church. And we sing, let's sing praises to God, and let's
worship the Lord, and let us observe the table of the Lord,
and let us baptize men upon the profession of their faith in
Christ. Let us exhort one another and encourage one another, but
our chief calling is to preach the gospel, to declare unto men
the glorious gospel of God's redeeming grace. And my dear
preacher brother, and my dear deacon and church member, let
me say this to you. Whatever is occupying the most
of your time, and the most of your effort, and the most of
your expense, God didn't send you to do that. God sent you
to preach the gospel. To preach the gospel. And all
of your excuses and logic and reasoning will not discount this
command. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel. That's what we're sent to do.
Preach the gospel. God sent me not to baptize, but
to preach the gospel. Now, there's not but one gospel.
There are not two gospels any more than there They're two gods. They're not two gospels any more
than they're two saviors or two heavens. He sent us to preach
the gospel. And he said, though we or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. There is but one gospel. And
I want to define that gospel for you, that gospel we're sent
to preach. First of all, it's the gospel of God. If you turn
in your Bible to Romans chapter 1 verse 1, the Apostle Paul said,
Paul, a bond slave of Jesus Christ, separated, separated to the gospel
of God, separated to the gospel of God. It's God's gospel that
we've come to preach. It's not the Baptist gospel or
the Methodist gospel or the Catholic message or the Episcopalian. It's God's gospel. That's our
message, God's gospel. He planned it before the foundation
of the world in his eternal counsel. He planned this salvation, and
he executed it. He sent his Son into the world
to be our Savior, to bear our sins. He executed it. He applied
it. God called us by his grace. He
sustains it, and he perfects it. It's God's gospel. That's
whose gospel we're preaching. We have a message from the Lord.
When God sent the old prophets back in Old Testament days, he
said, Go and cry unto the people, thus saith the Lord. God didn't
send us to take to bring our message or our word, but his
word, his gospel. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel, not a gospel, not some gospel, but the gospel.
There's just one. And it's the gospel of God, and
then secondly, it's the gospel of his glory. Paul called it
that in the book of 2 Timothy. He said it's the gospel of the
glory of God. The gospel of the glory of God. Of him are you in Christ Jesus,
who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
that as it is written, he that gloryeth, let him glory in the
Lord. This gospel which we preach gives
all the glory to God Almighty. All the glory for saving us and
cleansing us and redeeming us and pardoning us, all the glory
goes to God. None of it goes to the preacher.
None of it goes to the church. None of it goes to the sinner
himself. All the glory goes to God. I am what I am, Paul said,
by the grace of God, by the mercy of God. To God be the glory. Great things he hath done. To
God be the glory. And then this gospel is not only
the gospel of God and the gospel of his glory, but it's the gospel
of his grace. For by grace are you saved. What
is grace? It's unmerited favor. What is
mercy? It is favor that we do not deserve. Somebody said the definition
of mercy or grace is this, God giving us what we don't deserve.
And mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. The grace
of God, far by grace are you saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. Or Roland Hill, one of the great
preachers of the past, once made this statement. He said, every
sermon ought to contain three things. Every sermon, doesn't
matter what you're preaching on. If you're preaching on the
millennium, if you're preaching on the creation, If you're preaching
on the journey of Israel, or if you're preaching on the choosing
of the disciples, whatever you're preaching on, every sermon ought
to contain these three things. Ruin by the fall. Men ought to
be made to see what they are by nature, by birth, by practice.
Ruin by the fall. Secondly, redemption by the blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. If we do not preach redemption
by the blood, we do not preach Christ. If we do not preach Christ
crucified, we do not preach the gospel, and we ought not preach.
And thirdly, regeneration by the Holy Spirit. You have to
be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. Every sermon
ought to contain room for the fall, redemption for the blood,
and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. And if it doesn't contain
those three things, it ought not be preached. It's not by
works of righteousness that we have done, by which we're saved,
but according to his mercy. God has saved us by his grace. And then, fourthly, this gospel. It's the gospel of God, it's
the gospel of his glory, it's the gospel of his grace, and
it's the gospel of his Son. Now look back at Romans 1 again.
Paul, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, separated. to the gospel of God,
verse 3, concerning his son. That's what the gospel is all
about. The gospel is not, will you do this, or will you do that,
or will you do the other for God? The gospel is a declaration,
a proclamation of what Christ has done for us. It's the gospel
concerning a person, all right, but that person's not you, it's
Christ. The gospel says that God must
be just. And in order to be just and justifier
of the ungodly, Christ had to come down here and enable God
to be just by satisfying his justice, bearing the sins of
the sinner and dying his death. The Bible says that God must
honor his law. He must. Who shall stand in his
presence? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. You don't have them. I don't have them. Christ
had them. And as a man, he honored the
law in order that God Almighty might receive us. unto himself. The Bible says God must punish
sin. He must punish sin. And in order
to save us, redeem us, take us to glory, He has to punish our
sin, and He did it in the person of His Son. The Bible says that
Christ Jesus, our Lord, meets all the requirements of God on
the behalf of the sinner. He honors God's justice, He satisfies
God's law, He bears our sins, He satisfies God's He takes our
guilt. Romans 5, 19 says, by the disobedience
of one, Adam, we were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, Christ,
shall many be made righteous. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So Paul said, God didn't send
me to baptize, though baptism has its place, it is important.
It is a function of the church. It is an ordinance of the church.
It is a commandment of our God. That all who believe on Christ,
who trust Christ, follow him in baptism. But Paul said, that's
not what God sent me to do. He sent me to preach the gospel.
And you might talk about the things that we're doing today
and say, well, these are good things. All right, so they're
good things in their place. But I'll tell you, nothing can
take the place of the preaching of the gospel. All of these other
things just follow in line. The primary work of a preacher
is to do what God is telling him to do, and that's preach
the gospel, and a church also. That ought to be the center of
our worship services. That ought to be the center of
our midweek service. That ought to be the center of
our fellowship at any time, the preaching of God's word. That's
how God saves sinners. Now watch this in closing, one
final word. God sent me not to baptize, but
to preach the gospel, all for some preaching. preaching of
God's Word, a message from the Lord, not with wisdom of words. We don't need that. We don't
need that. Lest the cross of Christ be made
of none effect. What does Paul mean by wisdom
of words? Well, people today with great
swelling words and fancy phrases and religious clichés try to
take the offense out of the cross and the offense away from the
message. and the edge, the sharp edge
of the sword of God's word. Proud men do not like mercy,
so the preacher tones it down a little. Self-righteous men
do not like substitution, so the preacher tones it down a
little. The worldly wise do not like revelation, so the preacher
tones it down. And greedy men do not like holiness,
So the preacher takes the edge off the sword, and when he takes
the edge off the sword, it will not cut, it will not wound, and
it will not heal. Men with wisdom of words turn
the minds of the people away from the gospel of Christ to
other things. Attention is directed to the
preacher himself. Look at the advertisement for
the average meeting. Look at the advertisement for
the average church. Look at the report after the
average meeting, and who's exalted, and who's magnified, and who's
lifted up? The preacher, the church, the
denomination, the number of people who were there, the number of
professions that were made. All of these things are prominent
in the mind of the people. Not Christ, not the Redeemer,
not his mercy, not his grace. Attention is directed to the
preacher, to the doctrine, to the denomination, to the church,
to the ceremony, to everything but Christ. Our Lord said to
those in his day, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? When you leave your church on
Sunday morning, what are you thinking about? What are you
concerned about? What are you troubled about?
What are you seeking? Do you leave the preaching service
under the weight of sin? concerned about your inward sin,
seeking the mercy of God, rejoicing in the grace of God, rejoicing
in the crucified, risen, reigning, interceding Redeemer, do you
leave thinking about Christ? Or do you leave thinking about
the records that you've broken, or the number of people that
you had, or the temperature in the church, or the the clothes
the people are wearing, or the good music that you heard, or
the choir special, or talking about something the preacher
said, or a joke somebody told, I'm telling you this, we need
to return to the preaching of God's Word. Men with enticing
words and words of wisdom have turned the attention of the people
away from Christ to everything under the sun but Jesus Christ.
And it's sad and it's tragic. That's the reason God's not blessing.
I'm not surprised that God's not blessing. He's got no foundation
to build anything on. He's got no gospel to quicken
men's hearts with. And then last of all, men with
wisdom of words try to make the gospel acceptable to the natural
mind. Now, my friends, the gospel is
its own power. We don't need to explain the
gospel. We just need to preach it. The gospel is its own power. It's the power of God. That word
is dynamite, dunamis. The gospel is the dynamite of
God to salvation to everyone that believes it. It's its own
power. It doesn't need my aid. It doesn't
need my help. It doesn't need my assistance.
It doesn't need my reasoning. It doesn't need my argument.
It doesn't need my illustration. It's its own power. Just preach. Sinner? God Almighty is angry
with the wicked. God calls on you to repent, and
God calls on you to believe on Christ, and God sent his Son
to die on the cross for sinners, and if you don't repent of sin
and look to Christ and believe on him and bow to his Lordship,
you're going to feel the wrath of God. The gospel is its own
glory. It doesn't need us to dress it
up. We don't need to put our stained-glass windows and beautiful
flowers and the carpeted floors and all to make the gospel acceptable. It's its own glory. It's its
own revealer. It's its own light. It's the
sea that gives life. It's the water that quenches
thirst. It's the bread that revives, for Christ is the gospel. And
it will not fail. It shall accomplish that wherein
to God sent it. I dare you to begin this day
to preach the gospel. Quit apologizing for God. God
bless you.

Christ Sent Me to Preach the Gospel

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Christ Sent Me to Preach the Gospel

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