What Shall I Preach?

Now let's turn in our Bibles
to Ephesians chapter 3. I'm confident that the Apostle
Paul asked this question many times, How shall I preach? How shall I preach? Because he
was a humble individual. Paul readily confessed his weakness
and his unworthiness and his insufficiency, for he said, Who
is sufficient for these things? On one occasion he said, I am
the chief of sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, and you're looking at the chief sinner. That's what
he said. You're looking at the chief blasphemer. You're looking at the chief persecutor,
the chief rebel. You're looking at public enemy
number one. He meant that. The songwriter
wrote these words, My sins, my sins, O the bliss of that glorious
thought. My sins, not in part, but the
whole, are nailed to the cross, and I bear them no more. Praise
the Lord. It's well with my soul, but my
sins. Paul saw his sins. He wasn't
busy looking at the sins of other people. He was looking at his
sins. And he said, I am the chief of
sinners. You're looking at the chief sinner. And then in our text, verse 8,
look at this verse here, verse 8. Unto me, who am less than
the least of all the saints. This was no false modesty. No hollow hypocrisy here. The Apostle Paul really felt
his inability. He really felt his lowliness.
He really felt his unworthiness. Unto me is this grace given,
unto me, who am less, not the least of the saints, but I'm
less than the least of all the saints. O Lord, ought to be our
prayer, deliver me from pride. Deliver me from self-confidence. He who is least in the kingdom
of God is our senior. He who is least in the kingdom
of God is our elder. Paul the Apostle did not know
the pride of modern-day preachers. He didn't know the pride of modern-day
religionists and soul winners. He was always like Mary at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. He didn't just
say these things. I'm less than the least of all
the saints. He felt these And then on another occasion, listen
to this. This is language we don't even understand, let alone
use. I am not fit. I am not fit to
be called an apostle. That's what he said. This verse
of Scripture, he said, I am the least of the apostles. I am not
fit to be called an apostle. Now you and I feel our qualifications
are sufficient for most any task. We are aware of our talents.
We're aware of our ability, but not the apostle Paul. I'm not
fit to be called an apostle. Those who know the most about
the grace of God, I find, those who know the most of their own
unworthiness and their own sinfulness, those who know the most about
God's holiness, think the least of themselves. John the Baptist
said, I am not worthy. to sit down at his feet and untie
his shoes. That's how low down I am, John
the Baptist said. Then the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians
2 chapter 3 said this, I preach to you, oh I preach to you, I'm
the chief of sinners, and I'm less than the least of all the
saints, and I'm not fit to be called an apostle. I'm not sufficient
for these things. I lay no claim to any sufficiency
or merit or ability. And I preach to you in weakness,
I preach to you in fear, I preach to you in much trembling." Now
why did Paul stand before the congregation in the pulpit in
fear and trembling? He didn't fear men. He wasn't
afraid of anyone. He didn't fear death. He didn't
fear what men might do to him. Then why did he stand there in
fear and in trembling? I think for three reasons. Number
one, because of the greatness of his theme. The greatness of
his theme. He was dealing with the kingdom
of God. He was dealing with the redemption
of men's souls. He was dealing with the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he cried out, who is sufficient
to deal with these things, to put in words these unspeakable,
unsearchable riches? Then he stood in fear and trembling
because he knew the depravity of men's hearts. He knew the
deceitfulness of his own heart, and he knew that without the
Holy Spirit of God, these words which he spoke would be just
that. Oh, he said, the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Eye hath not
seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart
of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him.
The natural man receiveth not these things, their foolishness
to him. It takes the Spirit of God to
reveal these truths, these mysteries, this gospel. Paul was aware of
that. He stood in fear and trembling,
lest God should pass us by. and not visit us in his power.
And then he stood in fear and trembling because of the righteousness
of God. He said, I know what they're
doing. In their zeal for God, they're going about to establish
their own righteousness. And when I get through preaching,
I want men to be so fairly stripped that they'll not lay claim to
even a thread of personal righteousness, but they'll look to him who is
the righteousness of God. Death is coming. Judgment awaits. Eternity will keep us. We need
the righteousness, the pure, holy righteousness, the spotless
righteousness of His dear Son. So I'm sure Paul asked this question.
I know I judge that from these words. I'm the chief of sinners.
I'm less than the least of all the saints. I stand before you
in fear and trembling. I'm not fit to be called an apostle.
But there was one thing I'm confident never troubled the Apostle Paul.
There's one thing about which he was never perplexed. I never
found Paul in any of his writings asking this question. What shall
I preach? He says in verse 3, look at Ephesians
3 verse 3, God made known by revelation unto me the mystery. God revealed it to me. In verse
7 he said, God made me a minister. I didn't take this work upon
myself. I'm not here because I chose
to be here. God revealed this mystery, this doctrine of substitution,
this righteousness of Christ, this sin sacrifice and offering. God revealed it to me and God
made me a minister. I wasn't made a minister by men.
made a minister by God. And he says in verse 8, and God
sent me to somebody. God sent me to you Gentiles.
God sent me to you Gentiles. By revelation, God made known
to me the mystery. I didn't learn it in school.
I didn't get it handed down from generations past. God taught
me the gospel. And God made me a minister. God
Almighty set me apart, He ordained me, He anointed me, and He sent
me to somebody. And He sent me with a message
that I should preach. God sent me that I should preach. What, Paul? Listen. The unsearchable
riches of Christ. That's what He sent me to preach.
From His first sermon to His last sermon, He determined, He
said, to know nothing among those people to whom He was sent, except
Jesus Christ and him crucified. I want this message this morning
to follow three points. It will be easy for you to remember.
What am I to preach? Paul said, God revealed a message
to me. God put me in the ministry and
God sent me to somebody with a message. And that message is
the unsearchable riches of Christ. In these three points, number
one, who am I to preach? He said, I preach the unsearchable
riches of the wonderful denomination called Baptist. I preach the unsearchable riches
of that great, great nation, America. I preach the unsearchable
riches of that great, great stone tablet called the law. No, sir. He said, God sent me to preach
among you Gentiles a person. the unsearchable riches of Jesus
Christ. It was this glorious person of
whom Paul delighted to think. It was this glorious person of
whom Paul delighted to preach. Oh, he preached the doctrines,
but he didn't preach them apart from Christ. The Apostle Paul
preached the law, but he didn't preach it apart from Christ.
He preached the church, but he didn't preach it apart from Jesus
Christ. I wonder Do not many preachers
make the mistake of preaching the doctrines instead of preaching
the Savior? Charles Spurgeon said, The doctrines
of God's Word are a golden throne upon which Jesus Christ sits
as King of kings and Lord of lords. And the mark of a true
minister of Christ is that he preaches not himself, but Jesus
Christ the Lord. I read a story the other day
about a man called Annio Pallario. Annio Pallario lived in the 16th
century. He wrote a book entitled The
Benefits of Christ's Death, and it was condemned by the Roman
Church. He lived in Rome, Italy. The book The Benefits of Christ's
Death was condemned by the Roman Church, and it was burned. They lost all trace of that book
until the 18th century, when a copy was found in London, England.
Someone had saved a copy and took it to London, and they reprinted
it. But Annie O. Polario was brought
before the judge on the orders of the Pope. And as he stood
before the judge, the judge looked at him and said, Annie O. Polario,
I'm going to ask you three questions, and I want you to answer them.
Here they are. What is the first cause of salvation? What is the second cause of salvation? And thirdly, what is the third
cause of salvation? Now they thought that he would
surely say something for the glory of the Church, that they
might let him go. He was a popular man. He'd written
a book that the people liked, though they'd taken it away from
them. But they gave him an opportunity to say something for the glory
of the Pope, something for the glory of the Church. And they
asked these three questions. What is the first cause of salvation?
What is the second cause of salvation? What is the third cause of salvation?
Annie O'Pilario stood tall before that judge and he said, Your
Honor, the first cause of salvation is Jesus Christ. Your Honor,
the second cause of salvation is Jesus Christ. Your Honor,
the third cause of salvation is Jesus Christ. And they bound
him and put him to death. And my friends, I delight in
justification by faith. I hope I'm never moved from that
great thing. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Four times the word of God declares
that just shall live by faith. But my friends, Christ is the
justifier. Jesus Christ is the object of
that faith. It is His blood that cleanseth
us from all sin. There's a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath
that flood, lose all their guilty stains. There's a sense in which
I might say, I'm not saved by faith, I'm saved by Christ. Faith
brings me to Christ. Faith puts me in touch with Christ. But it's Christ that saves. It's
Christ that enables God to be just and put away my sins. It
is Christ that enables God to be righteous and forgive me of
my sins. It is Christ Jesus that enables
God Almighty to be holy and yet be merciful. Christ is the Savior,
not faith. I think many of us destroy ourselves
with worry and doubt and fear because we keep trying to find
out how much faith we got. I don't think I've got enough
faith, preacher. I know you don't. You'll never have enough faith,
but you've got enough Christ. He's able to save. Your faith
can't save you anyway. It's Christ that saves. And then
I delight in sanctification. The whole purpose and process
of sanctification, though, what is it? The whole purpose and
process of sanctification is not to make me clean and empty.
The whole purpose and process and sanctification is to conform
me to the image of a person. I don't want an empty vessel,
I want a vessel full of Christ. I don't want a vessel sitting
on the shelf there and everybody comes by and says, it's pretty,
it's clean, it's holy, it's spotless, it's stainless, yet it's empty
too. The whole purpose and process of sanctification is to make
us like Christ, is to conform us to the image of a person.
And we can talk of holiness, we can talk of obedience, but
to be like Christ is still the sweetest way to preach sanctification. Sin is a terrible, terrible evil.
But I want to show you something. Turn to John 16. In the 16th
chapter of John, sin is a terrible evil. But nowhere is it expressed,
that is, what sin is, like it's expressed in John 16, 9. Listen
to this. John 16, 9. Sin. Sin. We preachers, when they preach
on sin, they take the poor old drunk in the gutter and they
say, look at that awful sin. Or they go to the prison and
pick up the rapist or murderer and say, ìLook at that awful
sin!î But you know how John describes sin? In John 16, 9, ìOf sin the
Holy Spirit shall convince the world of sin, because they believe
not on me. Because they believe not on me. He that believeth not the Son,
the wrath of God abideth on him. He believes not the Son. He that
believeth not the Son shall be damned. He that believeth not
the Son hath made God a liar. That's the greatest sin this
side of hell, is not to believe on the Son." A fellow came to
George Whitefield one time and started confessing his sins.
Oh, he talked about all the things he had done, and the old preacher
just sat there and listened to him. And after he had confessed
one of his awful sins, the preacher said, Man, he'd think up something
worse, and he'd tell him the old man sat there and looked
at him and said, says, that's all. And he'd think of something
a little worse, you know. He wanted to really shock that
old man. He told him something else. He said, that's all. And
the young man said, well, preacher, isn't that enough? He says, no,
sir. You haven't confessed yet. the sin that's really damning
your soul and separating you from a holy God. He said, What
on earth's that? He said, You don't believe on
the Son of God. You don't believe on the Son
of God. I know we overlook that and we
make it very minute and very small, but it is the sin of sins. It's the granddaddy of all sins.
He does not believe. Paul preached the resurrection,
but there's no resurrection apart from Christ. You can't talk about
the dead coming forth without Christ. He said, I am the resurrection. There's no spiritual, eternal
life without Christ. I am the life. Paul said, if
Christ be not risen, you're yet in your sins. If Christ be not
risen, those who sleep are perished. He is the resurrection. We can't
preach the resurrection without preaching Christ. That's the
missing note in present-day preaching. The church is His church. He
said, I'll build my church. The church is His body. The church
is His bride. The ordinances, the Lord's table.
He said, this is my body. This is my blood. To the artist, he's the altogether
lovely one. To the architect, he's the chief
cornerstone. To the baker, he's the living
bread. To the bride, he's the bridegroom.
To the builder, the sure foundation. To the carpenter, he's the door. To the doctor, he's the great
physician. To the farmer, he's the seed,
the sower, the lord of the harvest. To the floors, he's the rose
of Sharon. To the judge, he's the true and
faithful witness. To the lover, he is the beloved.
To the guilty, my advocate. To the merchant, he is the pearl
of great price. To the reporter, he's glad tidings
of great joy. To the philosopher, the wisdom
of God. To the preacher, the word of
God. To the sailor, the anchor of
my soul. To the sculptor, he's the living
stone. To the servant, he's the good
master. To the sheep, the Lord is my
shepherd. To the soldier, he's the captain
of my salvation. To the statesman, he's the desire
of all nations. To the student, he is the truth. To the theologian, he's the author
and finisher of my faith. To the prisoner, my deliverer. To the sinner, he's my savior. That's who we preach, the unsearchable
riches of Christ. That's what Kent Clark was talking
about Friday night, Jesus preachers. Jesus preachers. Now the second
question, quickly, the question is what? What do I preach? I preach a person. What do I
preach? I preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. That's what
he said in our text, Ephesians chapter 3. God Almighty revealed
a mystery to me. God put me in the ministry. God
sent me to someone and told me to preach to them the unsearchable
riches. The riches of Christ which we
preach are unsearchable. Job said, can you by searching
find out God? Can you find out the Almighty
to perfection? It's high as the heavens, what
can you do? It's deeper than hell, what can
you know? Don't you know I think of this
when I'm preparing a message? Don't you know as I sit at my
study and open the Bible and say, God give me a message for
Sunday morning, Sunday night, for the television, for the Wednesday
night prayer service, and this verse comes, what can you know?
It's high as the heavens, what can you do? It's deeper than
hell, what can you know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth and broader than the sea. And here you are, a
little old finite, fallible, foolish individual, trying to
put into words that which is unsearchable, and because you're
so poverty-stricken for a vocabulary, they're unspeakable. Who can
put the grace of God in words? Who can put the mercy of the
God of the universe in words? Who can describe with a poor
human tongue the beauties of Jesus Christ, the glories of Jesus Christ?
We've got to try, though. God sent us to preach the unsearchable,
unspeakable riches of Christ Jesus, His riches. And I jotted
down a few that come to mind, the riches of his love for poor,
unlovely, undeserving wretches like you and me. Back during
the French Revolution, they rounded up the enemies. They put them
in a great big compound, prison, with wire fences around it, and
they were picking out the most dangerous of the of the prisoners
to execute them, to send them to the guillotine. There was
a father there, a quiet man, relatively unknown, who had a
son who was quite outspoken. They had the same name. The father
and the son had the same name. They had nothing against the
father. They didn't even really know the son. They just knew
a name. This name was on the list. this enemy of the people
was on the list, his name was there. And they came out to call
out the names of the people who would go to the guillotine, and
they stood before that mob of people, and they'd call a name,
and a people would step out, and they'd call a name, and a
man would step out to go to the guillotine. They came to this
boy's name and called it out. And the father reached and grabbed
him firmly by the arm, and he said, And the father stepped
out in the place of that boy and came out and stood in front
of them and said, I'm the man you want. The boy stood back
there in silence and the father went to the guillotine. Here,
here is the unsearchable riches of his love. He took my place. When the Heavenly Father called
my name for execution and called my name for judgment, the Lord
Jesus Christ stood forth and said, Here am I! And he took
my transgressions and my iniquities and my sins and my sorrows and
my sicknesses and my diseases in his own body, and with his
stripes I'm healed. Oh, I preach the unsearchable
riches of pardon for the chief of sinners. Our Lord came to
save great sinners. There's no sin, he'll not pardon.
There's no guilt, he'll not cleanse. Though your sins be double-dyed,
he said, red like scarlet, red like crimson, I'll make them
as white as the snow. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
pardon for great sinners. The unsearchable riches of comfort. How sweet and comfortable are
his words. So often I come with a with a
trembling heart and a trembling soul and get up and read the
Word. The voice of God speaks peace. He says, ìLo, I am with
you. Lo, I am with you. It is not your work you do, but
mine, I am with you. It is not your glory you seek,
but mine, I am with you. It is not your praise you seek,
but mine, David said, though I walk through the valley, this
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. He's with
me. He's with me. He'll never forsake
his own. The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. I am the Lord. I change not.
Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. I'm the one who
doesn't change. You change, but I don't. The
unchanging God, the immutable God. Let this be words of comfort. He doesn't change. And though
we do not believe, He abideth faithful. For the unsearchable
riches of His glory, God will wipe all tears from their eyes. There's not going to be any more
death and sorrow and crying. There's not going to be any more
pain, He said, because I make all things new. God sent me to preach not your
faithfulness, but His. His. God sent me not to preach your
position and place and prominence in the kingdom, but His. God
sent me to preach the unsearchable riches of His love, the unsearchable
riches of His grace, the unsearchable riches of His pardon, the unsearchable
riches of His comfort, and the unsearchable riches of His glory. That glory is going to be His
glory. And I'm going to share in His
glory. And I'm going to bask in the
sunshine of His glory. And we're going to have such
a spiritual, redeemed nature that we're going to want Him
to have all the glory. People talk on this earth about
crowns because they're infants who like toys, but mature believers
talk about His crowns and His glory and His reward. Behold,
my reward is with me. Third question, why? Why do I preach? Who do I preach? Christ, the unsearchable riches
of Christ. Hallelujah, what a Savior. I
preach what? His unsearchable riches. Why? Why does the Lord commission
and send me forth to proclaim the unsearchable riches of another? Suppose, I don't know any real
wealthy people, but suppose I met one of these multi-billionaires. And he hired me, he employed
me as a messenger to go forth over the city of Ashland, over
the state of Kentucky, and tell everybody how rich he is. Well,
if I came before you and I stood up here and I said, now my friend
who hired me has more money than all the banks, he has more money
than all of the organizations, the factories and industries,
my friend is very rich, and you'd sit out there and say, well,
so what? Why should I care? What's that
to me? What's that to me? I don't care
how rich your employer is, but suppose I should stand before
you and say, my employer, my boss, is very, very rich, and
he wants to share it with you. All of you who desire to share
in his riches may do so." Oh, now that's different. That's
different. My employer is very wealthy. He is the most wealthy man in
the universe, and he wants to share his wealth, his riches,
with you, bankrupt beggar, out there in your rags and disease
and poverty. In your hunger and thirst and
weariness and disease and pain, He wants to give you His riches. He wants you to be an heir of
His, and a joint heir with His only begotten well-beloved Son. Boy, all the beggars listen. You know, but folks that are
rich and increased with goods, they think they're rich as the
boss is, and they're not going to listen. But everybody who's
bankrupt, he's going to tune his ear into that word. Everybody
who's spiritually broke, poverty-stricken, he's going to say, tell me about
it. Tell me about it. How can I partake of his riches,
and what are these riches? Turn to Romans 2, verse 4. Romans
2, verse 4. In the second chapter of Romans,
verse 4, Paul said, "...despisest thou the riches of his goodness?"
His forbearance, His long-suffering, not knowing that the riches of
His goodness lead you to repentance. That's what He's going to share
with you. He's going to be patient with you. He's going to be long-suffering
with you. He's going to be gentle with
you. And He's going to lead you to repentance. Or he'll do it
in his good time, and he'll do it in his own way, and he'll
do it so that he'll get all the glory. He'll take you by way
of the place of separation down to the creek where Gideon's forces
went and lapped up the water. But he'll do it. He'll bring
you to that place of emptiness. He'll bring you to that place
of repentance in his own time. That's the riches of his goodness.
Turn to Ephesians 1. Listen to this. Ephesians chapter
1, verse 7. Verse 7, "...in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of his grace." The riches of his grace he's
going to share with you in giving you forgiveness of all your sins
and redemption from all your iniquities. I'll read the rest
of them. Romans 11, 33 says, "...all the
depths of the riches of his wisdom." the wisdom of God in redemption
through Christ, the wisdom of His righteousness, the wisdom
of His justice, the wisdom of His holiness. He's going to make
you to know that wisdom. And then Colossians 2 verse 2
says that your heart might be comforted unto all the riches
of full assurance. Read that sometime. You want
assurance, confidence in Christ, access to the throne? Want the
doubts and fears to be removed? He talks about giving you the
riches of full assurance. We're supposed to doubt ourselves.
We're supposed to put a question mark on our faith. We're supposed
to put a question mark on our obedience, our righteousness,
but not on Him. He is our assurance. He is our
confidence. This is the riches of full assurance.
And then 1 Timothy 6, 17 says, don't trust in uncertain riches. That's the riches of this world,
the material possessions, they're going to fade away, God's going
to destroy them. But trust in God, now watch this,
who richly gives us all things to enjoy. Now we need to learn
how to enjoy the things God gives us and not exploit them, exaggerate
them. Get them out of their proper
perspective and place. But God wants you to enjoy all
things. That's what he says. You don't
trust in uncertain riches, but trust in God who richly gives
us all things to enjoy. This is his world, and it's ours
in him. He made this world. He created
all things. He did it by Christ, in Christ,
through Christ, for Christ. And I'm in Christ, and what He
made is mine. He richly gives me all things
to enjoy. And then Romans 9.23 says that
He might make known to you the riches of His glory. When all my labors and my trials
are o'er, and I'm safe on that beautiful shore, just to be near
the dear Lord I adore, that through the ages will be glory for me. To behold Him in His glory, to
enter finally into His rest, to rejoice in the presence of
and with the redeemed of all ages, that's going to be the
riches of His glory. God sent me The chief of sinners,
less than the least of all the saints, not fit to be called
an apostle, in fear and trembling, to tell you about the unsearchable
riches of his Son that he wants to share with you. That's his
desire. The Lord is plenteous in mercy.
The Lord delights to show mercy. Fill my cup, O Lord. Fill my
cup. Our Father, we pray Thou would
take the word and make it more than the words of a man prepared
and spoken, but make it to each of us Thy word and Thy message
to our hearts to meet our particular need. Minister to us in this
hour how good it's been to be in the house of the Lord. how
refreshing and sweet and pleasant it is to be with these whom we
love in Christ Jesus, and to gather and seek Thy face, and
to call upon Thy name, and wait to hear from Thee. All of Thy
children in Thy service are more worthy and the one thou hast
called to speak to us. But it's not the man who speaks,
it's God who's spoken. So Lord Jesus Christ, whom we
preach and lift up and magnify, that all might know him, and
look to him and rejoice in him. We thank Thee for Clint's visit,
thank Thee for the fellowship we've enjoyed together, and we
pray as he goes on his way that Thou would bless him, prosper
him according to Thy will, not only spiritually but materially
and physically and in every way. Make him a blessing to many more
people. As the love of Christ burns in his heart, enable him
to sing for the glory of the Lord Jesus. We thank Thee for
this weekend together, and we ask Thee to bless the service
tonight. Give us a word. Speak to us again. And those
who journey today, give them journeying mercies, our protective
hand. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.

What Shall I Preach?

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