Why Do We Preach the Gospel?

My text today will be taken from
the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 1. I'm speaking on this subject,
why do we preach the gospel? Why do we preach the gospel?
Paul said, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also you have received and wherein you stand. Now, preachers and preaching
are not very popular today. And there's a good reason for
this bad reputation. Most preachers do not preach
the message of their master. And most preachers do not manifest
the character of their master. And therefore they've earned
a bad reputation. And preachers and preaching are
not popular. And it's deserved in many cases. And this is the reason. They
don't preach the message of their master. and they don't manifest
the life and character and behavior of their master. It was said
of the apostles that people took note of them that they had been
with Jesus. They acted like Christ and they
talked like Christ. And then I hear people use this
cliche, don't preach to me, don't preach to me. When they feel
like someone's dealing with a moral issue or a religious issue or
a righteous theme, They say, don't preach to me. I don't like
to be preached to. And then many churches have played
down the role of the preacher. They have played down the place
of preaching. They've replaced it. They've
replaced preaching and the preacher with Sunday school programs,
musical programs, religious organizations, social work, and all of these
other things. Back in New Testament days, the
church was built on the preaching of the word. In the days of the
Reformation, in the days of Edwards and Whitefield and Luther and
Spurgeon and Calvin and these men, the church was built not
on organizations, not on entertainment, not on music, but on preaching. You can take the average television
program, and if it's an hour program, it'll be 45 minutes
of music and entertainment and and asking for money and giving
away prizes and about 15 minutes of preaching. You see how that
they've played down the role of preaching? You can turn on
your radio and listen to a religious radio program and they'll sing
for 25 minutes and maybe they'll have 5 or 6 minutes left over
for preaching. Now what I'm saying is true.
We've played down the role of the preacher and the place of
preaching and good reason for some of it. Preachers aren't
saying anything. They aren't preaching the Word of God. And
they're not walking like preachers ought to walk, and living like
preachers ought to live. Some of them are religious hucksters,
they're making merchandise out of the people, using the people. It's like Jeremiah said, they
eat the fat of the lambs, and they wear the wool of the lambs,
but they don't feed the lambs. And that's not right. But in
the Word of God, the preacher is a dominant figure. In the
Word of God, the preaching of the gospel is the most important
work in the Bible. That's right. For example, the
one sent to prepare the way of Christ, John the Baptist, was
a preacher. Scripture says in Matthew 3, In those days came
John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and
saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. John the
Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, was a preacher. Our Lord himself
was a preacher. In Matthew 4, 17, from that time,
Jesus began to preach, and to say, repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. Christ was a preacher. And then
in summing up, our Lord, in summing up his Messianic mission, when
he was down at Nazareth on the Sabbath day preaching to that
group of people in Luke 4, when he summed up his mission, his
Messianic mission, this is what he said, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor, to preach deliverance to the
captives, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." In those two
verses summing up his Messianic mission, three times he uses
the word to preach. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, he hath sent me to preach, to preach, to preach. In Mark
3.14, the first work given to the apostles Listen to it, was
to preach. And he ordained twelve that they
should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach. Not to sing, to preach. And then
in Mark 16, 15, the great commission, when our Lord had been crucified
and buried risen, he spoke to his disciples before he ascended
to the Father for the last time. And he said to them, Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel. And he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be
damned." In 2 Timothy 4, verse 1 and 2, Paul charged young Timothy,
Timothy, I charge you before God, preach the word. Preach
the word. I charge you before God, preach
the word. And then in Romans 10, 15, how
beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel. of peace, the gospel of peace. How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach it, that dare to preach it, that are bold to
preach it, that are courageous to preach it, that are studious
in preaching it, rightly dividing the word of truth, steady to
show thyself approved unto God. So I declare unto you, and I
know the opinions of this world regarding preachers and preaching,
and as I said, they deserve it. They've earned that bad reputation.
They deserve every word that's been said. But I say that the
opinions of this world have not lessened the importance of God's
true preacher, if you can find one. And it has not lessened
or dimmed the glory and necessity of true preaching, if you can
find any. It's still important. The preacher
is a dominant figure in the Word of God, and preaching is important
work. You know, the songwriter says,
change and decay all around me I see. O thou that changest not,
abide with me. People say time changes everything.
There's some things time doesn't change. Time hasn't changed the
fact of sin. Man's still a sinner before God.
Time hasn't changed the way of salvation. Christ is still the
sinner's only hope. Time hasn't changed God's word.
God's word's still the same. from Genesis to Revelation, God's
way of saving men through the cross, the way of Calvary has
not changed, the gospel still, the power of God, the salvation,
why have we changed our approach? Why have we quit preaching? Why
have we quit studying? Why have we quit going forth
declaring the Word of God to men? Why are we trying to entertain
sinners on their road to hell? And we've quit preaching. God
chose by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believed. Why
have we tried to change God's way? It's still the way of God,
to send his people forth to preach. Now, I'm a preacher, and I'm
going to give you four reasons today why I preach the gospel. I have four reasons why I preach
the gospel. Now, this may surprise you, the
order in which I put them. But now this is the order in
which I feel they're put in God's word. This is the order of importance
as far as preaching is concerned, the word of God is concerned.
First of all, I preach the gospel for the glory of God, for the
glory of God. The old catechism used to say,
you Lutherans out there and you Presbyterians, look at your catechism.
The first question on those old catechisms reads this way, what
is the chief end of man? What is the chief end of man?
And the answer comes back, to glorify God. To glorify God. Listen to the word of God. Whatever
you do in word or deed, do all for what? The glory of God. I am the Lord, he said, that
is my name, and my glory I'll not give to another. He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Let not the rich man glory
in his riches, nor the mighty man glory in his might, but let
him glory in me, saith the Lord, that he knows me. That no flesh
should glory in his presence. I'm challenging you, whatever
we do, whether it's singing or preaching or teaching or praying
or whatever, it must first be motivated by a desire to glorify
God. or it's selfish and sinful. If
we're trying to build a large Sunday school for our own glory,
in order that we might report our big numbers, if we're trying
to build a large building in order to attract the attention
of the multitude and say, look what a fine auditorium, a fine
building, if we get up to sing before congregations and say,
now I hope they like my voice, I love to hear people brag on
my voice, I love to hear them tell me what a beautiful voice
I've got. and what a fine preacher I am, and what a good church
we have. That's sinful. We're to sing
for the glory of God. We're to preach for the glory
of God. We're to give for the glory of God. Do you give your
offerings in order to see your name in the church bulletin,
or do you do it for the glory of God? Are you kind to your
neighbor in order to hear somebody say, you sure are a fine man,
or do you do it for the glory of God? If whatever we do, if
it's not for the glory of God, it's sinful. They went out there
to hear John the Baptist in the wilderness, and somebody said,
who are you? He said, I'm just a voice. Now, he could have said
a whole lot. He could have said, first of
all, that he was supernaturally born. His mother and daddy both
were way past the age of bearing children when he was born. Secondly,
he was the anointed forerunner of the Son of God. He could have
said that. And then Christ said of him, there's no man born of
woman greater than John the Baptist. But he didn't say that. Who are
you? You give preachers today an opportunity to tell you who
they are, and they will. You pick up the newspaper, here's
the greatest messenger of the hour. Here's some fellow who's
been in prison and now he's in the pulpit. Here's dope addict,
drug peddler, now preacher of the gospel. All these credentials
we've got. John, who are you? Just a voice
in the wilderness, crying, make way for the Lord. Well, John,
are you the Christ? No, I'm not the Christ. I'm not
worthy to stoop down and unloose the laces on his shoes. I must
decrease and he must increase. When Isaiah, that great prophet,
saw the glory of God, he said, woe is me, I'm undone, I'm a
man of unclean lips. I wonder how many folks we'd
get to come out and hear us preach if they put in the paper, here's
a man of unclean lips going to preach for you next Sunday. And
then when Daniel saw the Lord, he said, my beauty melted into
corruption. They did what they did for the
glory of God. Paul called the gospel the gospel
of his glory. His glory, not the glory of the
church, the glory of God. Not the glory of the minister,
the glory of God. The gospel of his glory. In the
gospel his love is glorified. Herein is love, not that we love
God. He loved us. God commended his
love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Could we with ink the ocean fill,
and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth
a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, till right the love
of God above would drain that ocean dry? Nor could the scroll
contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky, O love of God. The gospel glorifies his love.
God so loved the world that he gave his Son. That's what we're
preaching, that his love might be glorified, that his mercy
might be glorified. Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. Show me your glory. And God said,
I'll make my goodness pass before you. That's my glory, my goodness. I'll be merciful. To whom? I
will be merciful. I will be gracious. To whom?
I will be gracious. God's mercy is glorified in the
gospel. When we preach the gospel, we
preach the glory of his love and the glory of his mercy and
the glory of his righteousness and the glory of his justice.
In the gospel, we see how God can be just and justify the ungodly. Why do we preach? We preach for
the glory of God. And in that way, if you're preaching
to ten or to ten thousand, it doesn't matter. because you're
there for the glory of God. If God puts you down in a pagan
mission field surrounded by a few naked natives, or if he puts
you in the first church of New York City, it really doesn't
matter, because where you are, you're there for the glory of
God. You're not looking for any praise or any glory, you're doing
what you're doing for God's glory. That's why we're All right, here's
the second reason. Now listen to me. Why do we preach?
Paul said, I preach the gospel to you. I preach secondly because
God commanded me to preach. He said in Mark 16, 15, to his
disciples, here they are gathered about him, Judas has committed
suicide. There are 11 of them, Peter,
James, John, the rest of them, and Christ, before he ascended
to the Father, he looked at them and he said, now you go into
all the world and preach the gospel. That's my commandment. That's your orders. I heard a
preacher say one time, if I couldn't win a soul to Jesus every week,
I'd quit preaching. Well, I wouldn't. Old Noah went
120 years and couldn't win one, but I bet he didn't quit preaching.
Because, my friends, the results have nothing to do with the commandment.
I'm commanded to preach, whatever the results. I've gotten a commandment
from God to preach the gospel. He said in Ezekiel, listen, Ezekiel
2, verse 3, listen to this. God said, Ezekiel, I'm sending
you to the children of Israel. You will preach to them, thus
saith the Lord. Whether they hear or whether
they refuse to hear, they'll know that a prophet has been
among them. That's your orders. Listen to
Ezekiel 3, verse 4 through 7, mark that down, Ezekiel 3, 4
through 7. Ezekiel, go to the house of Israel. And preach to them. They will
not listen to you, for they will not listen to me. But you go
preach to them. Now that's why I preach. God
said you go and preach the gospel to every preacher. What if you'd
have been the preacher Ezekiel at that time and God had come
to you and said, now you go and preach to those people over there,
they're not going to pay attention to you. They're not going to
hear a word you say. But you go preach to them. Are
you a faithful servant? If you are, you'll go preach.
You won't ask your master to tell you the reason behind his
plan and his purpose and his will. You'll just say, Lord,
you command me and I'll obey. One time Samuel, the Lord came
to Samuel and he said, Samuel, Eli's two sons have violated
my law and I'm going to kill them. And Eli came to Samuel
and said, Samuel, the Lord's been talking to you, hasn't he?
Samuel said, yes, sir. He said, what'd he say to you?
Samuel, what did he say to you? Well, Eli, I'd rather not say.
Well, now, you tell me what God said, or may whatever God said
happen to you. And Samuel looked at him and
said, well, Eli, God said that he was going to destroy your
sons. And you know what that old man said? Now, we'd better
learn to talk this way. It's the Lord. Let him do what
he will. The ability or the inability
of the sinner does not stay the preacher. We're commanded to
preach. One day God let Ezekiel out on
top of a mountain and let him look down in a valley. And there
in that valley there had evidently been a great battle because there
were a lot of bones there. It happened a long time ago.
The bones were bleached and parched and burnt in the sun and covered
with sand and picked dry by the birds. God says, Ezekiel, you
see the bones? This is in Ezekiel chapter 37,
I believe. He said, you see the bones? Yea,
Lord. Can they live? Well, Lord, you know. I can't
make them live. They can't give themselves life.
Well, Ezekiel preached to them. Now, that's a strange commandment,
isn't it? But you know what Ezekiel did? He started preaching. He
cried, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. That's why
we preach. We're commanded to preach. You know why? We're commanded to preach because
what we preach is a commandment. All men are commanded to praise
God. Psalm 150, verse 6 says, Let
everything that hath breath praise the Lord. And you out there listening
to me this morning and this evening, when the program is heard in
your area, you're commanded to praise God. In Acts 17.30, all
men are commanded to repent. God has commanded all men everywhere
to repent. All men are commanded to honor
the Son. Listen to John 5.22. The Father judges no man, but
hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should
honor the Son as they honor the Father. All men shall stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. All men shall give an account
of themselves before God. Therefore what we preach, we
preach to all men, and we preach by divine commandment. Whatever
the results, whatever the results, whether men hear or don't hear,
we preach for the glory of God, and because we're commanded to
preach. All right, thirdly, we preach also that sinners might
be saved. Now listen to Romans 10, beginning
with verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thine mouth Jesus
to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. My friend, if you believe that
you are a sinner, and that God, by grace, sent his Son into this
world, born of a woman, born under the law, made under the
law, to redeem you from the curse of the law, and his Son went
to the cross and bore our sins in his body on that tree, and
there he died, that God might be just and justify the ungodly.
And he was taken down from that cross, having suffered death
and hell and judgment for all who believed, and was placed
in a tomb and rose again. and ascended to the right hand
of God. If you confess, if you believe in your heart and confess
with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, thou shalt be saved. For there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. The same Lord over all is rich
unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you are in need, call.
If you are a sinner, call. If you want mercy, call on God,
on the name of Christ. Now watch And 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? That's why I preach. It says
in 1 Corinthians 1.21, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. We preach the gospel of Christ,
for without the gospel a man is not going to be saved. You
can't trust an unrevealed Christ. You say, I believe Christ died
for my sins. How did you find that out? You
heard somebody preach it, or somebody teach it, or somebody
read it. You say, I believe Christ died
on the cross, was bared and rose again, ascended to the right
hand of God, where he is our mediator and intercessor. How
do you know that? Well, you heard somebody preach it. God had chosen
by the foolishness of preaching, not the preaching of foolishness
now. but the foolishness of preaching. And why is it called the foolishness
of preaching? Because it's foolishness to them
that perish. The preaching of the cross is
foolishness to them that perish, to them who are perishing. What
I'm doing is foolishness. But to those who are saved, what
I'm doing is the power of God, because what I'm doing has an
effect upon you. You heard it, not because I said
it. Paul said, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God.
This is in 1 Thessalonians 1, 4. Knowing, brethren, beloved,
your election of God, for our gospel didn't come to you in
word only, but it came to you in power, in power. Now, that's how the gospel must
come. If you're going to be convicted of sin, converted to Christ,
if you're going to see Christ as the Redeemer, the gospel's
got to come to you, not in my arguments. That's the reason
it doesn't do any good to debate the gospel. People write to me
and want to debate. There's no use in that. Debating
is argument. We're not here to convince men
of anything. We're here to proclaim the word
of God and depend on the Holy Spirit to convince men of the
truth of it. Christ said when he has come,
the Holy Spirit, he will convince the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. I can't do it. You can't do it. The Holy Spirit, that's his work,
to convince people. May he not pass you back. May
he not leave you to your own reasoning and logic and arguments
and your own thoughts, but may he reveal to you this word. We
preach that sinners might be saved. We know that the word
of God is necessary. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. 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? How shall they hear without a
preacher? How shall they hear But it's the Holy Spirit who
gives life. It's the Holy Spirit who quickens
this word and makes it more than just words, but makes it the
seed of life. The word of life. Of his own
will begat he us with the word of truth. We are begotten again
unto a living hope, not by the corruptible seed, but the incorruptible
seed, the word of God. That's how we're begotten. The
Holy Spirit's the agent. The word of God is the seed.
Christ is the life. Then fourthly, we preach for
the glory of God. We preach because we're commanded
to preach. We preach that sinners might
hear the gospel and be saved. And we preach that the believer,
you the believer, might grow in grace and in the knowledge
of Christ. You don't know how important
honest, sincere, true, God-sent preaching, you don't know how
important it is to you. you believers, that you might
grow. And you don't know what a sin
it is, my preacher brethren, not to feed God's sheep. You
don't know what a sin it is to let people, well, can you imagine
a mother starving a child? Well, you say they ought to put
her in jail. If she doesn't put food on the table and feed her
child, that his bones might grow and his body might grow, she
should be punished. What about preachers that don't
feed God's sheep, that get up in the pulpit with no preparation
and no study and no courage and no boldness and will not teach
the word of God, who don't even read the word of God on the Lord's
day? Could we say they're not feeding the children of God?
And they are the shepherds? Can you imagine a shepherd not
taking the sheep out to the pasture to eat? And we are the shepherds
of God's people, and we're not giving them the word of God.
Somebody said in one of my messages one Sunday, I used 55 verses
of scripture. I hope I can use that many every
message, because it's the word of God that God uses that you
might grow. Listen, in 1 Peter 2, verse 2,
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.
Paul exhorted the elders at Ephesus, feed the church of God, feed
the church of God. And God put apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors and teachers in the church that the believer
might grow and develop and mature. And after he's been saved 10
or 15 or 20 years, he might be a young man or an elder in Christ,
having a foundation to stand on, knowing what he believes
in his heart. He's been taught. I hope you'll
join us again for the broadcast this same time over this station.
Until then, Henry Mahan bidding you a very pleasant good day.

Why Do We Preach the Gospel?

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Why Do We Preach the Gospel?

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