The Credentials of Gospel Preaching

Last week I spoke to you on the
subject, the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
This week I'm bringing you a message on the subject, the credentials
of gospel preaching. Now these two messages will be
on a cassette tape. If you'd like to have them, there's
a small charge you write to, but I'd like for you to have
them for your tape library or play for your family or for your
friends. These are important messages. Now here's today's
title. the credentials of gospel preaching. And our text, if you'll turn
in your Bible, will be taken from Romans 1, verse 1 through
6. Now, most people have a totally
wrong idea about gospel preaching, or about preaching in general.
My friends, gospel preaching is more than just a religious
ceremony. We sing a few songs, somebody
prays, we take up an offering, and somebody sings a special.
and make a bunch of announcements, and then some fellow with a loud
voice, or with a strong voice, or with good public appeal, is
expected to get up and preach a sermon. He's supposed to be
able to holler louder than a baby can cry. He's supposed to be
able to preach while people get up and go out and get a drink
of water, or go visit somewhere and come back. He's supposed
to be able to keep the attention of people who'd whole lot rather
sleep. who are there because they don't want to be there,
but because it's their duty and responsibility. This is the average
conception of preaching, but it's more than that. And I'll
tell you something else. Preaching, gospel preaching,
is more than just dry, dead, doctrinal lectures which present
facts taken from the Bible or from prophecy or from a denominational
handbook or a catechism or a creed to be debated argued or rejected
or accepted. Listen to me. True gospel preaching. True gospel preaching is declaring
the word of God. Thus saith the Lord. True gospel
preaching is declaring the message of God for this day. It's more
than just saying some words. It's more than just a dry lecture.
It's more than dead letter theology. It's more than entertaining sinners
on their road to hell. True gospel preaching, if a man
is truly preaching the gospel, he is preaching God's message
for this day, for this generation. True gospel preaching is God
speaking. That's right. That's what Paul
said. He said, we are ambassadors of
Christ. As though God himself, Christ
himself, did beseech you. as though he were preaching.
We crown to you, be you reconciled to God. That's what true preaching
is. Now a man may stand up and say some words in a church and
call it preaching, but if he's really sent of God, if he's really
preaching the gospel, it's God speaking. And that preaching
carries with it a call. It carries with it a command
from the living God to be heard. It's God speaking. to be received
and to be obeyed. I want you to listen to some
scripture. Will you listen a moment? In Matthew 3, verse 1 and 2,
there was a man sent from God whose name was John. Now, the
key to that is this. There was a man sent from God. There was a man named John. That
doesn't mean anything to you, does it? But there was a man
named John who was sent from God. And what did he do? Well,
it says, this John in those days came preaching. God sent him
to do what? To preach. When our Lord sent
his disciples forth, what did he say to them? He said, you
go into all the world and preach the gospel. That's what you're
to do. You're to preach the gospel.
Even our Master was a preacher. Our Master wasn't a screamer. He wasn't a hollerer. He wasn't
a fellow that stood up and entertained people with his knowledge of
the Bible. He was a preacher. But he preached
and began to say, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
You can understand what he was saying. He made sense. He taught the people as one having
authority. And then in 2 Corinthians 5.20,
the Apostle Paul says, we're ambassadors of Christ. We are
the ambassadors, the representatives of Christ. And then in Isaiah
55.11, our Lord said, my word shall not return unto me void.
it shall accomplish that which I please, it shall prosper in
the thing whereto I sent it." Gospel preaching is this, it's
God speaking. It's the message of God for this
day. It is God Almighty sending a man with his word, thus saith
the Lord, and he carries with it a call, he carries with it
a commandment to be believed and to be received and to be
obeyed. And the Bible, listen to me,
The Bible is full of warnings of the consequence of unbelief.
Now I'm not saying that everybody who's standing in the pulpit
represents God. Far from it. I'm not saying that
everybody who professes to be a preacher is speaking for God. Far from it. But you'll be able
to recognize God's message. You try the message by the word
of God. You try the spirits. Not every spirit that comes in
the name of the Lord is the Holy Spirit. But you try the Spirit,
ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you God's preacher, God's
messenger, God's ambassador. But the Bible is full of warnings
of the consequence of unbelief. Now, when our Lord sent these
disciples out, he said this to them. Now, this is vital. Listen
to it. Luke 10, 16. When he sent them out, there
were 70 of them, right? And he sent them forth to preach.
And this is what he said before they left. He said, He that heareth
you, heareth me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth
me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth
him that sent me, God Almighty." You see how serious this is?
I'll tell you what the Apostle Paul declared. He said when he
realized this, who is sufficient for these things? Who wants to
be a preacher? Who wants this burden? Who wants this responsibility? Who wants to stand in the pulpit
and look into the face of a group of people and say, what I'm saying
is not what I'm saying, it's what God's saying. What I'm preaching
is thus saith the Lord. This is God's message. And if
you hear me, you hear God. And if you don't hear me, you
don't hear God. And if you despise me, you despise Jesus Christ.
And if you despise Jesus Christ, you despise God the Father. That's
some responsibility, isn't it? But that's what the Lord said.
And in Hebrews 4 verse 2, the gospel was preached to them,
but the word preached to them did not profit them. Isn't that
tragic? The gospel, God sent a message. The gospel was preached
to them, the good news, the glad tidings, the glorious message
of redemption, of justification, by grace, the forgiveness of
sin, by God's mercy, through Jesus Christ, was preached to
them, but didn't profit them. He didn't help them a bit. Why?
Read on. Hebrews 4, 2. Not being received by faith in
them that heard it. They heard it with these ears,
but they didn't hear it with the heart. They heard the words. They comprehended the words.
They weren't dummies. They could hear what that man
was saying, but they didn't receive it by faith, and therefore they
could not enter in because of unbelief. And they perished,
a whole lot of them, in the wilderness. Those are the people he's talking
about. So you see, preaching is not just entertainment. And
it's not just a study in theology. And it's not just a fellow occupying
a particular place in a religious ceremony. If preaching is true
gospel preaching under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit,
at that given time, God is speaking. Now, if I'm sent of God, if I
am who I claim to be, if I am a messenger of God, if I've been
ordained not of men, not the empty hands of empty men laid
on my empty head, that's what Spurgeon called ordination. But
if I'm sent of God, and if the message I'm preaching is God's
Word inspired by the Holy Spirit, you are under a heavy responsibility
right now. Better turn the set off if you're
not going to listen, if you're not going to listen. He that
increaseth wisdom, increaseth sorrow, responsibility. To him
that knoweth to do his master's will, and does it not to him,
he shall be beaten with many stripes. That's what scripture
says. And preaching is not just a warning.
It's not just a threat. I hear many preachers preach,
and it sounds like they're going to beat folks over the head.
They threaten, they rebuke, they warn, they cry out, they bring
all of these terrible cautions and dangers, but it's more than
that. Preaching is a divine revelation. It's a revelation of God, a revelation
of His grace in Christ Jesus, a revelation of His mercy to
the chief of sinners. Our Lord was hard on religious
Pharisees. He wasn't hard on sinners. He
was a friend of sinners. They looked him up. He ate with
them and walked with them. You know what he said to that
bunch of religious Pharisees? He said, well, the publicans
and the harlots enter heaven before you. They said, well,
that man's going to be the guest of a man that's a sinner. Our
Lord was a friend of sinners. Our message is not just a threat,
a rebuke, a warning. a whip to drive men to a particular
walk or standard or law, it's the mercy of God to sinners.
Preaching is a revelation not only of God's grace, but of man's
need. When we get through preaching,
men ought to be able to see God in His glory and God in His holiness
and God in His mercy and God in His grace and God in His love.
And when we get through preaching, they ought to see themselves
in their sins in their need, in their emptiness, in their
inability, but in God's mercy, and in God's grace, and in Christ
Jesus. Paul's Book of Romans is preaching
at its best. I want you to turn now to the
Book of Romans, Chapter 1, and listen to the Apostle Paul, and
he gives us the introduction to gospel preaching, or the credentials
of gospel preaching. And I wish I could preach to
every preacher student in the seminaries and colleges all over
the United States right now, but this is the introduction
to gospel preaching. I've been doing it a long time,
30 years, and I know the credentials of gospel preaching. It's right
here in front of us, Romans 1 verse 1. Listen, Paul describes the
preacher, he describes the preacher's message, he describes the preacher's
Lord, and the preacher's congregation, right here in the first six verses
of Romans First of all, he describes the preacher. How does he describe
himself? Look at it. Paul, a servant, a bond slave. That's what that word servant
is, a slave, a bond slave. The true servants of God were
never fond of titles. Did you know that? About the
only title they ever wore was brother. They weren't fond of
titles and they weren't fond of worldly honor. I don't know
why people are today. Paul never called himself Dr.
Paul. Nobody else called him that either. He never called
himself Reverend Paul. He never called himself Bishop
Paul. He never called himself Cardinal. He never tagged any
kind of title on himself except this one. Paul, a slave. You see the difference? Paul,
a bond slave of Jesus Christ. That's what I am, a servant.
I'm a servant. He that would be greatest among
you, let him be what? Your servant. But today we're
fond of titles, we're fond of credentials, we're fond of worldly
honor, we're fond of being set apart. But these men called one
another brother. Brother. Not a reverend in the
lot, not a right reverend in the lot, not a doctor in the
lot. They were just bond slaves. You know where that came from,
bond slave? Over in the Old Testament, a
Hebrew servant would go into slavery and he'd serve for six
years. On the seventh year, he was free.
He was set free, he was permitted to leave. But, the scripture
says, if he did not want to leave, if he loved his master, and loved
his master's family, wanted to remain with him, he was to come
to the master and say, Master, I love you and I love your family,
and I don't want to leave, make me a bond slave. That's a willing
slave, that's a loving slave. That's a slave who wants to be
a slave. So they take him down to the door, and the priest would
bore his ear with an awl, and from that moment on, he was a
willing, loving bond-slave. Because he wanted to be. Freedom
was out there, but he didn't... The only freedom he wanted was
the freedom to serve his master. That's what Paul was. Paul described
himself a bond-slave. You know, they came to John the
Baptist, and they said, who are you? Well, brother, he could
have said some things, couldn't he? You know what the master
said about him? The master said, No man born of woman is greater
than John the Baptist. But John, what did he answer?
Who are you, John? I'm a voice in the wilderness,
crying, Make straight the highway for our God. Peter said in Acts
10.26, I myself am a man. They wanted to fall down in front
of him and worship him. And he said, Get up, I am a man. That's all I am. And Paul said
in Acts 14.15, We are also men of like passions with you. Richard
Baxter once said this, I preach as a dying man to dying men. Listen to what Christ said in
Matthew 23 verse 9. Call no man your father on this
earth. Call no man your father. One
is your father which is in heaven. Listen. Neither be ye called
master. One is your master, even Christ. And he that is greatest among
you Let him be your servant. So here's the preacher. He identifies
himself. No pretensions, no show, no titles,
no worldly honor. He's a bond slave. But he says,
I'm an apostle. And though he considered himself
a servant of Christ and considered himself least, the least of the
saints, less than the least, he said. Chief of sinners. But
he knew one thing. He knew God had called him. He
knew God had sent him. He knew God Almighty had ordained
him, and he said, I am an apostle. I'm an apostle. All right, look
secondly at the preacher's message. Romans 1, verse 1. Verse 1 and
2. Separated unto the gospel of
God. Now before this moment, Paul
had been separated to the law, to the ceremony, to everything
else. But now, this bondslave of Jesus
Christ was separated to the gospel. God sent me not to baptize, he
said. He wasn't minimizing baptism,
but he was showing what was important. God didn't send me to argue prophecy,
to distribute the elements of the sacrament or the communion.
to baptize, God sent me to preach the gospel. I'm separated to
the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's not minimizing these things,
He's putting them in their proper place. He said, I'm determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
I preach the gospel not with wisdom of words, lest the cross
of Christ be made of none effect. I'm with you in weakness and
fear and trembling, but I'm determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Paul played a one-string fiddle.
And that one string, and one tune, and one chord, was Christ
died for our sins. He found his hope in that, he
found his strength in that, he found his confidence in that.
The gospel, separated to the gospel of God. And here he identifies
that gospel. First of all, he says it's the
gospel of God. Not the gospel of the Baptist
Church, or the Catholic Church, or the Methodist Church, or the
Presbyterian Church. Gospel of God. God's gospel. Why is it
God's gospel? Well, he planned it. It's the
everlasting gospel. It's the gospel of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. It's the gospel of Him who's
the surety of an eternal covenant. It's the everlasting gospel.
And then it's the gospel of God, not only because He planned it,
but because He executed it. God sent His Son into the world.
That's why Christ came, because God sent Him. For God so loved
the world, He gave His Son. It pleased God to bruise Him.
Peter, talking to those folks who had crucified the Lord, he
said, yes, you with wicked hands have slain the Lord of glory,
but you did what the Father determined before to be done. That's what
the scriptures say. He carried out his will. It's
the gospel of God, not only because he planned it and he executed
it, but he applied it. Saul of Tarsus wrote this, he
said, God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me
by his grace was pleased. to reveal his son in me. God
revealed Christ to me. Salvation is not what I've done
for God, it's what he's done for me. He's revealed his son,
not just to me. Christ isn't a doctrine, he's
a person. He's revealed his son in me. And it's the gospel of
God, not only because he planned it and he executed it and he
applied it, but he sustains it. I'm kept by the power of God.
I'm not kept by my faithfulness and my determination and my dogmatism
and my resolution. I'm as weak as you are. And you're
as weak as the next fellow. We're kept by the power of God.
That's how we're kept. Under him who's able to keep
you from falling. You don't keep yourself and your
church doesn't keep you. God keeps you. Paul called this
the gospel of God. He called it the gospel of God's
glory. And I'll tell you a good test
of every song you sing and every message you preach, whether or
not it's the true gospel. Ask yourself this when you get
through with singing or preaching. Who gets the glory? Do you get
it? Do the people get the glory?
Or does Christ get the glory? Of whom are you in Christ Jesus? who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And
this true gospel, if a man's preaching the gospel, when he
gets through, people are going to say, praise the Lord, thank
God. Man's going to be brought down
to the foot of the cross, looking to Christ for his mercy. One
time a couple went from America over to England to hear Mr. Spurgeon. You know who Mr. Spurgeon
was. Everybody knows who Mr. Spurgeon
was. Perhaps the greatest preacher of the 19th century. Perhaps
the greatest preacher since Paul. More of his sermons have been
reprinted and read than any other one individual. But they went
to hear Mr. Spurgeon and his church was packed
out that Sunday morning. No way to get in. They secured
a ticket to get in that night. And that morning they went to
hear another preacher. And when that preacher finished preaching,
the man and his wife walked up the aisle and out the door and
down the steps, and the man turned to his wife, and he said, Honey,
what a sermon. What a sermon. Well, that night
they went to hear Mr. Spurgeon, and Mr. Spurgeon preached. And after the service was over,
the same man and his wife left the Metropolitan Tabernacle,
and he looked at his wife, and a tear glistened on his cheek.
And he said, Honey, what a Savior. What a Savior. You see the difference?
What a great sermon, what a great prayer, what a great song. Hallelujah,
what a Savior. And whatever I'm preaching, or
anybody else is preaching, the determination of whether or not
it's God's gospel, is He'll get the glory. And if we go out praising
the flesh and praising men, then it's not of God. because the
gospel humbles and it strips and it brings us down low in
the dust and makes us look to the throne of grace. All right,
now notice the next thing. He says it's the gospel of God
and he says it's the ancient gospel. There's no new gospel.
This gospel which we preach, look at verse 2 there, I believe
it is at verse 2, which he promised afore by his prophets in the
holy scriptures. This gospel we preach, there's
no new gospel. Jesus Christ did not begin to
exist in Bethlehem's manger. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He said, before Abraham was,
I am. That's right. They said, well,
you're not 50 years old. Weren't you born in Bethlehem?
You're not 50 years old. How old are you, 31, 32 years
old? He said, before Abraham was, I am. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And
all things were made by him, without him was not anything
made that was made. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. When he came in Bethlehem's manger,
he just laid aside his royal robes of glory and came down
here in human flesh. He just came to earth by way
of the virgin's womb. That was the route by which he
came. Christ came to this earth. It's the ancient gospel. The
Old Testament is the gospel in picture, promise. The New Testament
is the gospel in person. Then he calls it the gospel of
Christ. It's the gospel concerning his son. Concerning his covenant
mercies. All that we have in eternity
is in Christ. Concerning his redeeming grace.
We're redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold,
but with the precious blood of Christ. That's how we're redeemed.
In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, according
to the riches of his grace. And then in Christ we have mercy
and grace day by day, day by day. Brethren, he says, we have
boldness to come into the very presence of God himself. How? Through the veil, right into
the Holy of Holies, through Christ, because of Christ, because of
his blood. And then that which we shall
enjoy in glory, why in the ages to come he's going to gather
together all things in Christ that we may be one. He describes
the preacher's Lord. He says we preach not ourselves
but Christ the Lord, his human nature. He was made of the seed
of David according to the flesh. He didn't take on himself the
nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. He was made of a
woman. He came down here to this earth, bone of my bone and flesh
of my flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and took my
place as my representative before the law. And then he was declared
to be the Son of God. That's his divine nature. Whom
do you say that I am? Thou art the Son of God. The
scripture reveals his deity. Our Lord said in Hebrews 1.8,
Unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever. They took
up stones to stone him one day, and he said, Many good works
have I done among you, for which of these do you stone me? They
said, We're not stoning you for good works, but because you are
a man and you claim to be equal with God. And he is. And he is. I and my Father are one. Jesus
Christ is God Almighty. He is made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. He is revealed to be, declared
to be, determined to be the Son of God. by the resurrection from
the dead. And then Paul describes the preacher's
congregation. Now here's something I want you
to listen to a moment. Paul identifies believers. He
identified himself. He said, I'm a servant, I'm a
slave, but I'm an apostle. He identified the gospel. He
said, it's God's gospel. It's the ancient gospel. It's
the gospel of Christ. His crucifixion, his death, his
burial, his resurrection, his mediatorial work. And then he
identifies is Lord. He is the son of God. He is the
son of David. And he is deity in the flesh.
Then he identifies the believer. How would you identify a Christian?
Now be honest. You say, describe a Christian.
You know how most people describe a Christian? Most people would
identify a believer by what that man has done, or by what that
man's doing, or by what he's given up. But Paul doesn't identify
a Christian that way. He identifies a Christian by
what he's received. He says, we have received grace,
amazing grace. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. I've received grace. Grace to
repent, grace to believe, grace to walk in holiness and righteousness,
grace to forgive, grace to love, grace to show kindness, grace
to show mercy. I've received grace. I've received
faith. And he says, we've been called
of Christ Jesus, called out, and called to the Son of God,
called by the Holy Spirit. That's the believer. He's received
grace, faith, he's been called out. He's a special person. He's
a peculiar person. He's a holy nation. If you'd
like to have these two messages on the gospel, they'll be on
the same tape. The cost is three dollars. If
you write to me, the address will be given to you by the announcer.
Until next week, I bid you a very pleasant Good day.

The Credentials of Gospel Preaching

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The Credentials of Gospel Preaching

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