Why Do We Preach to You

I'm very sorry to say that preachers
and preaching are not very popular in this day. And most preachers have earned
their unpopular rating. Most of them deserve it. They deserve the wrath and the
anger of their generation because they've neither preached the
message of their master nor have they manifested the character
of their master. And many people today use the
term, don't preach to me. When they feel that someone is
dealing with a moral issue or a righteous theme, don't preach
to me. It's just something I don't like
about people preaching to me. And preachers have earned that
reputation. They deserve it, because they have not manifested
the character of the Master, nor have they preached the message
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's regrettable, but many churches,
and probably I could say most churches today, have played down
the role of the preacher. They have played down the role
of preaching. And most churches today are seeking
to build their organization not on the preaching of the Word,
but on Sunday schools, on special music, on social work, and organizations
within the church, and even missionary programs. But in the Word of
God, and this is our rule of faith and practice, in the Word
of God the preacher is the dominant figure. in the Bible. And preaching
the gospel is the most important work, and really the central occupation
of the church, preaching the gospel. Let me show you that.
Turn first of all to the book of Matthew, chapter three. In
the third chapter of Matthew, the one who was sent to prepare
the way of Christ, the forerunner of Christ. John the Baptist was
a preacher. That was his job, to preach.
It says in Matthew 3, beginning with verse 1, In those days came
John the Baptist preaching, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and
saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this
is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaias, which is Isaiah,
saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight. The one who
came to prepare the way for Christ was a preacher. And then if you
look at Matthew 4, just over one chapter, Matthew 4, 17, our
Lord was a preacher. The Master 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. And then if you'll turn to Luke
chapter 4, when our Lord went back to Nazareth, the place where
he was brought up, when he spoke in the temple In summing up his
mission, in summing up his messianic mission, he said this in Luke
4 verse 18. Now listen carefully. This is
Christ speaking to that great throng of people in Nazareth,
in the synagogue, summing up his mission. And he says in verse
18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor, that is, the poor in spirit. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach. Three times he says, The Lord,
the Spirit of God, is upon me, he hath anointed me to to preach,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Turn to Mark chapter
3. Now when he chose his twelve
disciples and sent them forth, he sent them forth, first of
all, to preach. In Mark the third chapter, verse
14, the scripture says, And he ordained twelve, Mark 3, 14,
that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth
to preach. And then the first, after our
Lord was crucified and bared and rose again, the first commission
that he gave to his church, in Mark chapter 16, verse 15, he
said to his disciples before he ascended back to the Father,
he said to his disciples, Go ye into all the world, and what?
And preach the gospel. Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." That's
your commission. That's what I'm sending you to
do. And then when Paul charged young Timothy, he called Timothy
a son. talked about being Timothy's
father in the ministry. When he wrote to young Timothy
in 2 Timothy chapter 4, and I want you to look at this, in 2 Timothy
chapter 4, Paul writing to this young minister, 2 Timothy 4 verse
1 and 2, he says, I charge you, I charge you before God. I charge you therefore before
God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word."
And then in Romans chapter 10, and this will be sufficient on
this point, introducing this message, in Romans chapter 10,
verse 15, Paul writes, And how shall they preach, except they
be sent, as it is written, quoting Isaiah, How beautiful, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. So I declare
unto you the opinions of men and the behavior of false preachers,
and I regret it. has not dimmed the glory of true
preachers and true preaching. The opinions of men and the behavior
of false preachers, and when Elijah stood on Mount Carmel
he was outnumbered 350 to 1. But the opinions of men and the
behavior of false preachers have not lessened the importance nor
dimmed the glory of true preachers and true preaching. God has still
and sent men to preach the gospel, to preach the gospel. Now, I
preach the gospel for four reasons. I want to give you these four
reasons. And I believe that every God-called and God-anointed and
God-sent messenger, minister of the gospel, will have to agree
with these four reasons. I believe that they would readily.
And I put them in this order, and this is the proper order.
First of all, we preach, we preach for the glory of God. That's
the first reason. Now, the old catechisms, the
Westminster, which is from the Presbyterian churches, and the
Heidelberg from the Dutch Reformed and Protestant Reformed, and
different ones, the Anglican, all of them start with this question. What is the chief end of man? What is the chief end of man?
For what reason was man created? And for what reason does he now
exist? And the answer is to glorify
God. To glorify God. That's the chief
end of every man, to glorify God. And the Apostle said, whatever
you do in word or deed, and is that not preaching? Is that not
worship? Is that not our church services?
Is that not our singing? Is that not playing the instruments,
directing the music? praying, reading the scripture,
whatever you do in word or deed, do it for the glory of God. That's got to be your motive.
If that's not your motive, whatever you do in your giving, in your
witnessing, whatever you do in word or deed, do it chiefly,
primarily for the glory of God. Not to miss hell, not to gain
heaven, for the glory of God. not to show your righteousness
or prove your piety or even to keep the commandments. Do it
for the glory of God. That's the cheap end of every
man, to glorify God. Let me show you some scripture
on that. First of all, in Isaiah 42. Now let's turn to these and
look at them. In Isaiah 42, why do we preach? To glorify God. In Isaiah 42,
verse 8, the scripture says, I am the Lord, that is my name. My glory will I not give to another,
neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are
come to pass, and new things do I declare. Before they spring
forth, I tell you of them. Sing unto the Lord a new song,
and His praise from the end of the earth. You that go down to
the sea and all that is therein, the isles and the inhabitants
thereof, Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their
voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit. Let the inhabitants
of the rocks sing. Let them shout from the top of
the mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare
his praise in the islands. Let them give glory to God. Turn, if you will, to Jeremiah
chapter 9, the next book over, Jeremiah the ninth chapter, And
let's begin our reading with verse 23. Look at this one carefully. Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 23. Thus saith the Lord, Let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me. that I am the Lord, which
exercise lovingkindness, judgment, righteousness in the earth. For
in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Let him glory in the
Lord." Brethren, the first cause of preaching, the first reason
for preaching, is to glorify God. And Paul said in 1 Timothy
1, 11, the gospel I preach is the gospel of God's glory. the gospel of God's glory. If
men hear us or do not hear us, if men believe us or do not believe
us, if men join us or refrain from our assembly, let us glorify
God. The gospel is the glory of His
love. When I was pastor of a church
in Chattanooga, Tennessee, going to school, I pastored there almost
three years before I came back to Ashland That was the first
time that I'd ever had a missionary come and preach for me. We had
this missionary from the Sudan interior of Africa. His name
was Paris Reedhead. Paris came and preached for us,
and he gave an illustration that I have never forgotten. It's
one of my favorites, because it magnifies the love and the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He really preached that Sunday
morning for the glory of God. He said he was out in the jungles.
They had left the camp and they were going deep into the jungles
to find some people to whom they might preach the gospel. And
they had a line of natives, had one in front clearing the way,
and Paris was following him, and then they had four or five
more bringing their equipment, the recorder and things like
that which they had, the tracks to distribute. And they were
going through the jungle, and as they walked along, he said
he heard a voice. up ahead, someone crying in the
native tongue, help me, help me, won't somebody help me? And he said when he heard that,
he quickened his pace and told the men to come on, let's go,
and they ran as quickly as they could, and he came to the person
around the bend that was crying, help me. And he said, sitting
there on the ground was a man in the last stages of leprosy. His face was nothing but just
one open ulcer. The flies were covering his face.
You could see just slits for eyes and an open place for a
mouth, but the rest of it was scales and sores, and he was
holding up long, bony arms, and the fingers had already been
eaten off. Nothing but ulcers and sores, and you could see
his ribs. He was almost dead, Paris said,
and he was lifting those stubs up in the air and crying through
that opening in that sewer. Oh, somebody help me. Somebody
help me. And Paris said, I stood there
and looked at him, and I thought in my heart, that's what God
sees when he looks at me in my flesh and in my sin, with all
my greed and my pride and my lust. and my hatred and my malice
and all of the sins of my heart, that's what God sees. The flesh,
the corrupted, depraved flesh, that's what God sees when he
sees me. And yet he in his health, he
in his holiness, he in his purity came down to this earth. He said,
as I stood there and looked at him, I thought, this is what
Christ did. He reached down to me where I was, and He put His
holy, clean hands upon my rotten stubs, and He lifted me, and
He pressed my diseased, corrupted body against His, and my faith
against His, and He took my disease and gave me His health. He took
my sin and gave me His holiness. He took my corruption and gave
me His purity. He took my place and gave me
His place. Do I know anything about that
kind of love? Do I know anything about that kind of mercy? Do
I know anything about that kind of grace? The Father's thing
from my mind right now is to take that man's place and give
him my place, and yet that's what God did for me. And when
we preach, we preach the glory of His love, for God so loved
the world that He gave Himself, He gave His Son, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life." Here
it is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and
gave Himself for us. We love Him because He first
loved us. And when we preach, we preach
the gospel of the glory of His love. Oh, love of God, how rich,
how pure, how measureless, how strong. it shall forevermore
endure the saints' and the angels' song. Could we with ink the ocean
fill, and were the skies of parchment made, and every stalk on earth
a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of
God above would drain that ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. When we preach, 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. That's our first charge, to glorify
God. Whatever we do, in word or deed,
to glorify God. And whether we preach to one
or one thousand, let us preach for the glory of God. Let us
not preach the dignity of man. Let us preach the glory of God. That's why we preach. That's
why we preach. The glory of His love and the
glory of His mercy and the glory of His grace and the glory of
His justice. Let God be true and every man
be a liar. Here's the second reason why
we preach. I want you to turn to Mark 16,
verse 15, and look at it carefully. Mark 16, 15. We preach, first of all, for
the glory of God. And then we preach secondly,
because we are commanded to preach. We are commanded to preach. Now,
the first reason is for the glory of God. Noah preached for the
glory of God. Isaiah preached for the glory
of God. You know, let me show you a scripture
over here in the book of 2 Kings. I want you to turn over there
and look at this. It's 1 Kings, chapter 18. I want
you to look at this very carefully. You know, when Elijah stood on
that mountain, Mount Carmel, and when he had this conflict
with the prophets of Baal to prove who God is and who is the
true and living God, the prophets of Baal went through all of their
ceremonies and all of their shenanigans to try to get their God to answer
by fire. Of course, he didn't answer.
Elijah stood for it. and prayed a 63-word prayer. That's all, a 63-word prayer.
First of all, he covered that altar with water, bucket after
bucket after bucket of water. And then he stood forth in 1
Kings 18, verse 36, and offered this 63-word prayer. Listen to
it. And it came to pass at the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet
came near and said, God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it
be known this day that thou art God." What is our motive? Lord, we want to have a bigger
church than the church down the road, so people will know that
we're doing Your will. Lord, we want to have a bigger
denomination than the denomination down the road, because we want
people to know that this is where God is. Lord, we want you to
bless our gathering now, and we want you to bless our young
people, and we want you to bless all of these things, because
we want everybody to know that we're really getting the job
done. That's not what Elijah prayed. He said, Let it be known
this day that thou art God, and that I am thy servant, and
that I have done these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord,
hear me. that this people may know that
thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their hearts
back again." What's that next line say? Then the fire of the
Lord fell. I believe, I believe we can get
the right motive. I believe this preacher in his
heart, not just words, but in his could get the right motive. I believe if these people could
get the right motive, that when we come to the house of God,
that when we come to preach, that when we come to sing, that
when we stand to pray, that whatever we do, we do it for the glory
of God, I believe the fire would fall. Now secondly, Mark 16.15,
Our Lord said unto them, Go ye Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. I preach because I'm commanded
to preach. Now brethren, I want you to listen
to three things, and I'll never say three more important things
about preaching what I'm about to say. Now I know today that
effective and effectual preaching is measured by the results it
gets. You pick up your newspaper, you pick up the average Christian
literature, and they say, see what a great job we're doing?
We had a thousand decisions. You see what a great preacher
we have as our pastor? He went out, he had a thousand
decisions. That's proof that he's a great
preacher. All right, now listen to me.
I'm going to say three things. Number one, our willingness to
preach is not determined by results. Our willingness to preach and
our eagerness to preach and our desire to preach is determined
by command, not by results. Now you listen to me. Turn to
Ezekiel chapter 2. Now you turn over there. Ezekiel
chapter 2. You need to look at this. In
Ezekiel the second chapter, beginning with verse 3. Now this is important. Why do we preach? We preach because
God commanded us to preach. In Ezekiel chapter 2 verse 3,
And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of
Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me.
They and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto this day.
They are impotent children, they are stiff-hearted. I do send
thee unto them, and I shall say unto them, Thus saith the Lord
God. And they, whether they hear, or whether they will forbear
for their rebellious house, yet shall they know that there's
been a prophet among them." Whether they hear you or not, they're
going to know one thing, that God sent them a messenger. Now
look at chapter 3. He's not through. Chapter 3,
verse 4, And he said to me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the
house of Israel, and speak my words unto them, Are it not sent to a people of
a strange speech and a hard language of people who don't know what
you're talking about? You're sent to the house of Israel, a religious
people. You folks know what I'm talking about. I'm not talking
a strange language. When I say turn to the book of
Ezekiel, you know where it is. When I say turn to the book of
Mark, you know where it is. When I say Christ died on the
cross, you know it. You saw it on TV last night.
When I say he rose again, you know it. I'm not coming to a
people of strange speech, I'm not coming to a people of a hard
language, I'm coming to religious people. Now he said, I'm sending
you to them. Now listen to the next line. Not to many people of a strange
speech and a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand,
surely had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened to
thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee. For they won't hearken to me.
For all the house of Israel are impotent and hard-hearted." I'm
sending you. Now listen to this command. Son
of man, I'm sending you to the house of Israel. You go preach
my words. You go tell them what I have
to say. Now they'll understand what you're saying, but they're
not going to hear you. They're not going to listen to
you. They won't listen to me. They won't hear me. Well, Ezekiel,
my boy, said, Well, Lord, now wait a minute. Here, hold on
a minute. If they're not going to hear me, why should I go?
If they're not going to believe me, why should I go? If they
won't hear you and they won't hear me, then why are we wasting
our time? Brethren, the servant of the
Lord does not question the wisdom of God. God said, Ezekiel, you
go preach. They won't hear you, but you
go preach. And my friends, that's the second
reason why we preach. for the glory of God, and secondly,
because we're commanded to preach. We're commanded to preach. And
we're not commanded to get results. We sow another plant, another
water, another plow, God gives the increase. Salvation of the
Lord. And the second statement, now
listen to this, our willingness to preach is not determined by
ability on the part of man. Now turn to Ezekiel 37. Now this
is very important, Ezekiel 37. The Bible teaches that sinners
are dead in trespasses and sin. The Bible teaches that men without
Christ are dead spiritually. Dead spiritually. Now listen
to this, Ezekiel 37 verse 3. And he said to me, First of all,
the Lord set Ezekiel out overlooking the valley of dry bones. You
know the setting here. And he said to me, Son of man,
can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou
knowest, thou knowest. And again he said to me, Preach
to them, prophesy to these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. Ezekiel came and looked over
this valley of dry, dead, bleached, parched bones, and God said,
can they live? And he said, Lord, I can't make
them live, and they can't make themselves live. You know. He
said, well, son of man, preach to them. Preach to them. So we preach not because we know
that there's some ability on the part of man to respond, not
because We are preaching, we go to get results. We preach
because God told us to preach. God commanded us to preach. Whether
men hear or forbear. Whether men refuse or submit. Preach! That's your command.
Actually, the third thing, watch this. We are commanded to preach
and we preach a command. Now I want to show you this.
First of all, in Psalms 150. Now listen to this scripture.
Psalm 150. We go forth, a preacher goes
forth with the message of the Word of the Lord. He goes to
a town or to a community or to a city or to a church or a tent
or a cathedral or somewhere, and he's standing up to preach.
Do you know that every person in that town is commanded by
the Word of God to praise the Lord? Somebody says, well, Christians
ought to praise the Lord. Every man ought to praise the
Lord. Christians ought to worship God on the Lord's Day. Everybody
ought to worship God on the Lord's Day. Listen to this, Psalms 150,
verse 6, the last word in the book of Psalms. Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord. That's what the Scripture says.
That's what is commanded by God. Let everything that hath breath
Do you know that God commands all men to repent? We don't go
forth with this word, won't you please repent? If you feel obliged
to do so, would you now repent? Do you know you're commanded
to repent? That's what Scripture said. God commands all men everywhere
to what? To repent. Do you know that the
Word of God commands all men to honor the Son? Turn to John
chapter 5. Look at this. In John 5, verse
22, they say Christians ought to honor the Son, ought to believe
the gospel. In John 5, verse 22, listen to
this. The Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. All men. All men
are commanded to praise God. All men are commanded to repent.
All men are commanded to honor the Son. For Jesus Christ, the
Scripture says, is Lord of the dead and the living. And we know
this. It is appointed unto men once
to die, and after that the judgment, and we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. And every man shall give an account
of himself to God. All right, the third reason,
quickly, why do we preach? We preach for the glory of God.
We preach because we're commanded to preach. Now thirdly, turn
to Romans 10. We preach that sinners may be
saved. In Romans chapter 10, now listen
to this, in Romans 10 verse 9, now listen carefully to Romans
10 verse 9. that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth Jesus to be Lord." Now our Savior came down here
to this earth and took on Himself a human body. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. He became a man. As our representative,
as our federal head, He met the law and obeyed it. He went to
the cross of Calvary and died in our place. He was buried and
rose again. He's our substitute, He's our Savior. He went back
to the right hand of God, where He's our advocate, our mediator,
and intercedes for us. Now, if you shall confess Him
with your mouth and believe in your heart, God raised Him from
the dead. He said, Thou shalt be saved. Whoever you are, Jew
or Gentile, black or white, male or female, old or young, if you'll
believe the gospel, go into all the world and preach the gospel.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. Look at verse 10. For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. There is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. The same Lord over all is rich
unto all that call upon him. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now you get that? Whosoever,
that's a big word. shall call out of need, out of
a broken heart, out of guilt, out of sin, on the name of Christ
the substitute, Christ the Lord, shall call upon him, shall sue
for mercy, shall petition for grace, shall be saved." Now look
at the next verse. How are they going to call on
him in whom they have not believed? Why send missionaries over there
to the people in Mexico, or the people in South Ireland, or the
people in France and Spain, the people in Africa, how are they
going to call on him in whom they haven't believed? How is
a man going to call on an unknown Christ? Whosoever shall call
shall be saved, just like whosoever shall look to the brazen serpent
shall be healed. Whosoever shall eat of the manna
shall be filled. shall drink to the water of life,
shall never thirst. But how are they going to know
who the water of life is? If any man enter this door, he
shall go in and out, and find pasture, he will be saved. But
how is he going to know who the door is?" And read on. And how are they going to believe
in him of whom they have not heard? And how are they going
to hear without a preacher? Now, you circle that verse right
there, that's important. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord," not a Lord, not a God, the Lord, the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Just one name,
that's the name of Christ. Other foundations can no man
lay than that which is laid, Christ the Lord. I am the door,
he said, he that entereth in some other ways, a thief and
a robber. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to
the Father but by me. How are they going to know who
he is and what he did and why he did it? Without a preacher. And 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse
21 says, God hath chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. And Romans chapter 10 verse 17,
look at it, Romans 10, 17, So then, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. All right, the last reason now.
Why do we preach? We preach for the glory of God.
We preach secondly because we're commanded to preach. We preach
thirdly that sinners might be saved. God sent the gospel by
preachers that sinners might be saved. That's how sinners
are convicted of sin. by the preaching of the Word
of God. That's how men see who Christ is, what Christ did, why
he did it, by the preaching of the Word of God. Now last of
all, we preach that the redeemed might grow in grace and in the
knowledge of Christ. Now look at 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter
2, verse 2. As newborn babes, now in the
kingdom of God there are babes in Christ, there are young men
in Christ, and they're full-grown, mature believers. We grow in
grace. Sanctification is a progressive
work. We grow in knowledge. You don't
make a profession of religion and then you know everything
about the Bible in the next week or two. It takes a lifetime of
study and a lifetime of growth. As we grow in grace, we grow
in love, we grow in faith, we mature in Christ Jesus. He said
when he went back to glory, he put in the church apostles and
prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers that the
man of God might be perfected, that he might mature, that he
might grow in grace, that he might not be cared about by every
wind of doctrine that comes along. Most church members are unstable
because their preachers aren't preaching the Word of God. You
go to the average church, and a preacher gets up and reads
a verse of Scripture, and puts his Bible down, and starts talking
about the beautiful sunrise. Or he's talking about the trouble
in Vietnam, or the trouble in Korea, or the trouble over in
Lebanon, or the trouble in Peru, or somewhere else. Or he starts
talking about the trouble on our streets, or the trouble in
Washington, or the trouble with society, instead of taking the
book and saying, now you turn to this verse, and this verse,
and this verse, and this verse, and let me show you what God
says to you. The trouble in Washington doesn't bother me near as much
as the trouble in my heart. And the trouble in Washington,
or the trouble in the Near East, or the Far East, or any other
place, is not as important to you as the trouble in your home,
and the trouble in your hearts, and the trouble between you and
a holy God. And the enmity which the Communists has for us doesn't
bother me. It's the enmity between us and
Almighty God. That's what we need to do something
about. And the folks don't know anything. And when a wind of
doctrine comes along, some fella like this moon fella comes along,
and he blows a breath of false doctrine, they just go sweeping
away. Or some divine healer comes along,
they go sweeping away. Or somebody who claims to speak
in tongues, and they go sweeping away like the chaff which the
wind bloweth away. But when a man is grounded on
the Word of God, and grounded on Christ, and can give a reason
for the hope he has in his heart, and he knows what he believes
because he knows, thus saith the Lord, he's not going to be
unstable. Some of you have been in church
all your lives and you don't know two verses of Scripture. You couldn't find the book of
Jude if it was going to shoot you between the eyes at sunrise.
You couldn't find the book of Jonah, the book of Amos, or the
book of Hosea. Furthermore, you don't even know
what they say. And it's your pastor's fault. That's whose
fault it is. It's right here in the pulpit.
That's where the error is. The pastors have not fed the
sheep. They've eaten the fat and they've
worn the wool of the sheep, but they haven't fed the sheep. And
God's got a crow to pick with them, too. They're going to give
an account at the judgment, and we preach the Word of God, that
people may grow in grace and grow in the knowledge of Christ,
that they might be mature believers, that they might get their feet
on the rock, and that they might have peace in their hearts and
joy in their hearts, that they might know what they believe
and whom they believe and why they believe. Now, there are
people right here in this community that can survive without God.
Well, that's their business. There's no place in their hearts
for the word of God. Christ said, My word has no place
in you. Now, if you can get along without
God, that's your business. There's some people who give
lip service to God. They give lip service to Christ.
Christ said, These people draw nigh to me with their lips, but
their hearts are somewhere else. Their hearts are on the world.
Their hearts are on the vanities and possessions and luxuries
of this world. That's what they're interested
in. I know a man can't live in this world without having some
interest in his business. I admire a man that gives concern
to his business, and whatever he does, he does it diligently.
I believe a man who gets a job to work for another man ought
to put in eight hours of conscientious work. I believe we ought to be
devoted to our jobs and to our families. But Christ is first. Christ is first. And there are
those here to whom Christ is first, and they can say with
David in Psalm 119. Turn over there just a minute
and let me show you something. Psalm 119, beginning with verse
9. Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according
to thy word. Verse 10. With my whole heart
I have sought thee, O Lord, let me not wander from thy commandments.
Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against
thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. With my
lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have
rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches. I will
meditate in thy precepts and have respect to thy ways. I will
delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy words.
Read that 119th Psalm. It has to do with the Word of
God and the place of the Word of God in a believer's heart.
So to those who are interested in the Word of God, to those
who are interested in growing in grace and growing in the knowledge
of Christ, I direct my ministry to you. I preach that the believer
might grow and develop in the things of Christ. I believe you
men and women who've been saved a year or two years or three
years, who've known the Lord five or ten or twenty years,
ought to be more mature than those who obeyed in Christ. I
believe you ought to know more about the Word of God. Let me
ask you a question. You say you're a Christian, you're a believer.
Have you grown in love? Do you love God more than you
used to? Do you love people more than
you used to? Have you grown in joy? Have you grown in temperance
and the ability to restrain yourself? Have you grown in faith?" He
said, no, I hadn't grown a bit. Well, this is the food by which
you grow right here. That's where it is. The more
you read this book, the more it's preached to you, the more
you study it, the more you'll grow in grace. You've got to
have life first. You've got to have Christ first. But if He's
in there, you'll love His Word. You'll love it. That's bowing
prayer. Our Father in Heaven, we preach. How thankful we are that You
called us. All of us here, given us a ministry.
It's not my ministry, it's thy ministry. It's our ministry. We preach. You enabled us to. You gave us a message to preach.
You gave us a people who loved the preaching of the Word. You
brought sinners to a knowledge of Christ through the preaching
of the Word. And we thank thee and praise thee. And, O Lord,
bless the message as it goes forth. Anoint it with the power
of thy Holy Spirit. Let thy name be glorified. Let
all the earth know that thou art God. Magnify and glorify
and exalt thy precious name. Make Christ real to our hearts.
Reveal him to every person here. Let us see that this world, this
life, this flesh is all vanity. The only thing is to know Christ
and the power of his resurrection. to win Christ and be found in
Him, to have fellowship with Him and fellowship with His people. Teach us, O God, we pray, in
the name of our Savior. Amen.

Why Do We Preach to You

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