Primacy of Preaching in the Presentation of the Gospel

Introduction: The Weariness of the Conference and the Subject of Preaching's Primacy

0:01 This sermon was preached on October 21st, 1985, at the Trinity Pastors Conference in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 If the essence of godliness is to be like God, then surely a sensitivity to our physical frame is not unspiritual, for the scripture tells us that our Heavenly Father knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust, and even as I have just looked from the face of a yawning preacher, I know that many of you men are weary, you had a full day yesterday and an even more full day today, some of you who came in today left early this morning to travel, and I think all of us, to use contemporary jargon, feel a bit punchy, and your elders here, or the elders here, are sorry. We are seriously contemplating whether in our conference next year we ought to call Monday night a night off for recuperation from the Lord's Day and the first day of conference, and we are open to your suggestions as well as seeking to be sensitive to these matters, but we are new at these things and we are feeling our way along, and yet on the other hand seeing so many of the faces of our own people who have come after a full day of work and yet eager for the word. One is reluctant. One is reluctant to disappoint and frustrate that kind of hunger.

1:36 So you pray with us as we plan the conference for next year that God will give us wisdom. But you are here, and the subject assigned by God's grace I wish to handle in your hearing is the rather lengthy subject of the primacy of preaching in the presentation of the gospel, and in the opening up and application of this theme. I have three simple but very vital assertions which form the structure of the message. I will make the assertion and then seek to demonstrate the validity of that assertion from the word of God.

Assertion 1: The Only Message for Salvation is the Biblical Gospel

2:19 And in a real sense, the first two assertions are both preliminary and in one sense qualifying assertions. So that when we come to the third assertion, we will be able to demonstrate the validity of that assertion which constitutes the heart of the message and the opening up of the theme in a very focused manner, we will then be able to put that assertion in a balanced context. The first assertion then in our study of the word of God tonight is this, the only message ordained by God for man's salvation from sin and its consequences is a message which will come to pass in the future. consequences is the biblical gospel. The only message ordained by God for man's salvation from sin and its consequences is the biblical gospel. Now in this assertion, obviously, I'm assuming, not stopping to prove or to demonstrate the universality of man's sinfulness and condemnation.

3:38 And it is against that backdrop that the only message ordained by God for man's salvation from sin and its consequences is the biblical gospel. I want you to turn with me, please, to Romans chapter 1, verse 1. Romans chapter 1, for one of the most explicit statements of this very fact found anywhere in the word of God. Paul begins this monumental epistle with the words, Paul, a bond slave of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. God has but one gospel, one gospel. Here it is called the gospel of God. And it is in connection with the proclamation, defense, and application of that gospel that Paul has been set apart by the God who called him into union with himself through the Lord Jesus and then designated him an apostle. He says that

4:58 this one gospel of God is the gospel that has its tap roots in the Old Testament scriptures. It is the gospel which he promised afore through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. And that gospel which has its tap roots in the Old Testament scriptures is a gospel which focuses upon the person and work of Jesus Christ the Lord. Paul concerns his son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, even Jesus Christ our Lord. No sooner does the apostle mention the gospel but what he takes us immediately into well-chiseled, well-defined, well-designed, well-designed, well-designed gospel. We find propositions about Jesus Christ and about the revelation of Christ made in history consistent with Old Testament prophecy. Now it is this very gospel concerning which he speaks in verse 16 of this same chapter and writes, I am not ashamed of the gospel, that one gospel of God has the power and

6:25 eternity be seen by me as my own total law and this one gospel of the Holy Spirit怎麼樣 dominion in the house of my second andistineized Calvary, but for this the yahweh is passing down of God with its tap roots in the Old Testament that focuses upon the person and work of Jesus Christ revealed in space time history I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it for it for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes and here in language that cannot be mistaken the apostle by the inspiration of the spirit informs us that the only message ordained by God for man's salvation from sin and its consequences is the one biblical gospel it and it alone is God's instrument for of power resulting in salvation to all who in faith embrace it now in first Corinthians chapter one the apostle gives us a distillation of those facts concerning the doings of the Lord Jesus

7:51 that are foundational to the content of that gospel and here from a little differing perspective he underscores the same basic truth that God has only one message ordained by himself for man's salvation from sin and its consequences first Corinthians fifteen one now I make known unto you brethren the gospel which I preached unto you which also you received wherein also you stand by which also you are saved you hold fast the word which I preached unto you except you believe in vain and here again in language that cannot be misunderstood the apostles says that receiving and retaining the gospel is essential to salvation he says it is by this gospel that you are saved and saved are saved having received it retain it you hold us to it and what is the central announcement of that gospel he tells us for i delivered unto you first of all that which also i received

9:18 that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures and then as a well-attested fact by credible witnesses that glorious truth has formed an integral part of the gospel now so convinced is the apostle of the mind of god on this matter that when some religious teachers came along to the churches in galatia and began to tamper began to mess up the content of the gospel preached by paul he writes in galatians chapter one some of the strongest language to be found anywhere in all of the word of god verse six of chapter one galatians one six i marvel that you are so quickly removing from him that called you in the grace of christ unto a different gospel which is not another gospel only there are some that trouble you and would pervert

10:36 gospel of christ but though we or and should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you let him be and then reaching into the grab bag as it were of his greek vocabulary he draws out the strongest word at his disposal to express divine displeasure the anathema the curse of god he says if anyone tampers with the content of that gospel preached to you let him stand remain under the divines and maldiction as if someone said now paul didn't you get carried away with a little excessive rhetorical heat he says no i didn't as we've said before so say i now again in the consciousness of what I am saying. If any man preaches unto you any gospel other than that which you received, let him be accursed of God. Now you will notice he doesn't care how sincere they may be. He doesn't care how earnest or persuasive they may be. If anyone campers with

11:59 the content of the one revealed biblical gospel, the curse of God is pronounced upon him. Why? Because the only message ordained of God and made effectual by God for man's salvation from sin is the biblical gospel. Now surely I trust there is no debate on that assertion anymore.

Assertion 2: All Believers Ought to Communicate the Gospel by Every Biblical Means

12:30 In this place tonight, if you have any question on that point, my friend, then I urge to go to scriptures and study them with the view to seeing if indeed God gives the slightest hint that there is any hope for you or any other fallen son or daughter of Adam, but that hope which is held out in the one gospel concerning Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners. Now my second assertion is this. All who have experienced the saving power of this gospel ought to use every biblical means at their disposal to communicate it to others. All who have experienced the saving power of this gospel ought to use every biblical means at their disposal to communicate it to others. it to others. Now, in making that assertion, I am not saying that all who have experienced the saving power of the gospel ought to go out on the nearest street corner and start preaching.

13:48 I am not saying that. Nor am I saying that all who have experienced the saving power of this gospel ought to cultivate the gift of a confrontational evangelist. There is nothing in the word of God that anywhere indicates that God confers upon every redeemed sinner a special gift of evangelism that enables that individual to give a winsome, convincing distillation of the heart of the gospel to another individual in a cold, turquoise, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, situation. And any preacher that tries to rub raw the consciences of his people, telling them that every one of them ought to be an efficient confrontational evangelist, is rubbing God's people's consciences raw with something other than scripture. I am not saying that. What I am saying is this. If we have experienced the saving power of the gospel, we ought to use every means at our disposal to save the gospel. And if we have experienced the saving power of the gospel,

14:56 we ought to use every means at our disposal to save the gospel. And if we have experienced the saving power of the gospel, we ought to use every means at our disposal to save the gospel. And if we have experienced the saving power of the gospel, we ought to use every means at our disposal to communicate that gospel to others. In the language of 1 Peter 3.15, we are to sanctify Christ always as Lord in our hearts, ready to give an answer to everyone who asks us of a reason of the hope that is within us, with meekness and with fear. We ought to be prepared to speak a word of testimony, to hand out a booklet that contains the gospel, to give a portion of scripture, to give a book, to give a tape, to lead a Bible study, to establish bridges of friendship that will make it natural for us to bring up the subject of the gospel or to invite someone out to a meeting. All I am saying is that consistent with our own growth in grace,

15:48 our own temperament, our own knowledge of the word, our own station in life, every person who has experienced the saving power of the gospel ought to use every biblical means at his disposal to communicate that gospel to others. And anything I have to say in my third assertion in no way is intended to undermine that second assertion. And that which lies at the heart of that second assertion is the summary of man's second great duty before the law of God to love his neighbor as himself.

16:28 And if you're loving your neighbor as yourself, then love for your neighbor demands that you do everything within your power consistent with your means and station in life to perform the highest act of love, which is to bring him the only message that can rescue him from sin and damnation.

Assertion 3: The Primary Means for Gospel Communication is Authoritative Verbal Proclamation

16:48 Evangelical law-keeping demands it. But now I come to the heart of our message in the third assertion, and I learned this just as clearly from my Bible as I learned the second. The primary means, not the exclusive, not the only, the prime means ordained for the communication of this gospel is its authoritative verb proclamation by an authorized messenger of Jesus Christ. The prime means ordained for the communication of this gospel is its authoritable verb proclamation messenger of Jesus Christ. And I have several lines of biblical evidence to demonstrate the validity of that assertion. First of all, in the commission given by our Lord as

17:57 recorded in the gospel according to Luke. Luke's gospel, chapter 24. Our Lord has poured out his soul unto death. He has risen from the dead. He has risen from the dead. He has risen from the dead.

18:17 He has spent many days with his own, appearing from time to time in their midst, instructing them concerning the things of the kingdom of God. And here we have Luke's record, one of our Lord's final utterances to his disciples. Luke 24 and verse 44. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you.

18:49 That all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their mind that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all the nations beginning from Jerusalem, ye witnesses of these things. And behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in the city until you be clothed with power from on high. In this passage, our Lord, by his own mighty power, and he as the great prophet of his church teaches with inward light, perception, and convincingness that the heart of the message of the Old Testament does indeed point to him as the one who had to die, who had to be raised from the dead, and then that the message of God's redemptive activity

20:17 in his death and resurrection must now be proclaimed among all the nations. And as he gives this instruction with reference to the content of the gospel, he then clearly underscores that there is a primacy to preaching as to the method of its communication. Notice verse 47. And that repentance and or unto remission of sins, and we have a form of the verb to proclaim in the capacity of an appointed herald that this message should be in his name among all beginning from Jerusalem. And so our Lord is into the very direct we commonly call the great commission, the primacy of preaching as his and his necessary instruction into the children in the 4th reading the 4th text which says that those who have received theстиge give them the Freedom of the Father

21:46 by faith and together with the Holy Spirit in the kingdom of God and in the glory of Christ and for that will be when Christ preached dad. That being said, the people of day are the people of doncaster when we praise Ashton Tiara It is not to be acted out. It is not to be written and sent out to be proclaimed. The messengers of the King knocks them out and sovereignly sets them apart and dows them with His Spirit and sends them forth in His name to proclaim the message.

22:48 And this same emphasis is found in the reasoning of the Apostle Paul in the passage that was read in your hearing. The assertion that the primary means ordained to the communication of the gospel is its authoritative verbal proclamation by an authorized messenger is not only seen in the Great Commission, but it is seen in the clear statement of the Apostle in his closely reasoned argument in Romans chapter 10. Pastor Bob Martin has already given you something of the drift of the setting of the passage and I'll read it to you. I'll not go back over that.

23:30 Suffice it to say that having declared this true biblical universalism, that is not that all men will ultimately be saved, but that all men, Jew and Gentile, can be saved if they will but call upon the name of the Lord, verse 12 of Romans 10. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all and is rich unto all, all that call upon him, for whosoever among Jew and Gentile shall call upon the name of the Lord takes up a line of reasoning that has four steps in it. And he does so in terms of four questions. Verse 14. How then shall they call they have not believed? There can be no upon him unto salvation unless shall they call they have not believed.

24:43 See the call. The faith born in whosoever shall call shall be saved. They call upon one in whom they do not believe. Which leads to a second question.

25:03 How can they believe him whom they have not heard? Notice the second question. And how shall they believe in him whom will be saved? They cannot call if they do not believe.

25:23 They cannot believe if they do not hear. So then he raises the next question.

25:31 And how shall they hear without a herald? And author of the king proclaims without a preacher. See his line of reasoning. Whoever calls will be saved.

26:01 But there's no calling in whom they have no faith. There can be no faith if they've not heard. They cannot hear without a preacher or a herald. And then his fourth question.

26:14 And how shall they? Occupy the position of an authoritative messenger, a herald.

26:28 Except God sends his servants. There will be no hearing of the proclamation by a herald. And if there's no, there will be no believing. And if there's no calling.

26:50 So Paul by this closely reasoned argument takes us from the necessity of a preacher to the salvation of the sinner. Do you see that? By that. By that closely reasoned argumentation.

27:05 He takes us from the necessity of a preacher to the salvation of the individual sinner.

Biblical Evidence for the Primacy of Preaching

27:16 And here we see then in this passage that Paul is assuming as well as asserting that the primary means ordained of God to bring men all upon the name of the Lord unto salvation is to hear the message of salvation preached by a herald, by one commissioned by the king to preach his word in his name, in his authority, and in the power and demonstration of his outpoured spirit. And that perspective here in this passage in the closely reasoned argument is buttressed by the apostle in the well-known words of 1 Corinthians 1. And I simply bring it in. As a supportive statement from the pen of the apostle. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18.

28:17 For the word or the message of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness. But unto us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning will I bring to naught. Where is the wise?

28:38 Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? And how has he done it?

28:49 Verse 21. For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God. It was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of and now we're back in that kairouks, kairouks, kairouks, family of words through the foolish translations have it foolishness of the preaching with the marginal reading the thing preached and they can't seem to decide why because the word into itself both lines of but a message that's what the kairouks is. It is the message of the gospel in the integrity of its content but it is that message that is communicated as a message from God is heralded and so ordained that which man call foolishness that which viewed in it eyes of folly that foolishness

30:15 of the fact in truth nothing drawn by the gospel art nothing drawn by the gospel art not by the mind acting out the gospel story not by the mind acting out the gospel story but simply treat with a kind of high hand and indifference the whole significance of the presence of that family of words russo kairouks the message preached to obliterate this biblical concept of the primacy of preaching as God's ordained means of communicating the gospel to any given generation. And this is not only a concept embedded in the commission of our Lord clearly demonstrated by the Apostle in the closely reasoned argument of Romans 10 affirmed by his statement in 1 Corinthians 1 but it's the assumption of the Apostle Peter as well

31:42 notice how he writes to the Christians of the dispersion in his first epistle as he describes God's gracious working in bringing them to faith he says he says in chapter 1 that the salvation that they have received the salvation that has brought them to faith in Christ the salvation that has brought them to a place of joy unbeatable and full of glory is a salvation verse 10 of 1 Peter 1 concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you searching what time or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them the salvation by which these elect of the dispersion were saved is that salvation that came to them through the preaching of the gospel that had its tap roots in Old Testament prophecy exactly the same gospel that Paul preached now he goes on to say verse 12 to whom that is to these prophets who couldn't fit together even what they were writing so that hermeneutical principle

33:12 that says the proper interpretation of any prophetic utterance must not exceed the consciousness of the prophet at the time that he wrote is sheer nonsense if you don't see this verse teaching that then it doesn't teach anything to whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto you did they minister these things now notice which things have been announced unto you through the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven which things angels desire to look into it's Peter's assumption that all of the blessings of salvation to which they have come described in the earlier verses blessings which have already been put to the test in the crucible of suffering are the blessings of that salvation which has its tap roots in the Old Testament scriptures but was a salvation that came to them in the context of preaching they ministered these things that have now been announced unto you through them that preached the gospel unto you and then he picks up that same basic theme in the latter part of the chapter he speaks of these believers or speaks to them in verse 22

34:40 seeing you've purified your souls in your obedience to the truth not telling us there how the truth came to them unto unfamed love of the brethren love one another from the heart fervently having been begotten again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides for all flesh is God who uses grass and the glory thereof is the flower of the grass the grass withers and the flower fails but the word of the Lord abides forever and this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you you see his assumption is that their experience of the new birth and their subsequent conscious enjoyment of all of the blessings of salvation in Christ came to them in the context of preaching and then if you want an interesting study and this is my final line of argument to demonstrate the validity of my third premise take the historical record of the book of Acts and go through and carefully analyze every recorded instance of individual or group or mass conversion and see what place preaching has in all of it see what place preaching has

36:08 a man who's recently written a book called shall we dance and the title is a little deceiving it should have a subtitle no we should not that's the conclusion he leads to but he takes up this whole question of whether or not we are free to maintain at least something of the substance of the content of the gospel but are at liberty to choose the method of communicating it in terms of the sociological and cultural factors of any given generation and responding to those who are saying that dance and mime and drama are not only legitimate but are necessary means of communicating the gospel to the lost and also expressing meaningful worship among the people of God when the author comes to some of his conclusions at the end of the book he makes a very simple but striking statement he begins a chapter with these words the church in its New Testament manifestation and expression he doesn't use that longer term but I'm using it for the sake of those to whom I'm speaking the church was conceived in a prayer meeting and came to birth in a sermon and then the author says maybe God was trying to tell us something the church was conceived in a prayer meeting and came to birth in a sermon and then the author says maybe God was trying to tell us in a prayer meeting and came to birth

37:37 in a sermon it was not conceived watching the printout from the church growth moves programmer it wasn't born in a clever manipulation of men's cities and emotions by drama and by music and by all it was conceived in a change of birth in a sermon you go through the book of the acts and you will find again and again and again and again luke's account of the progress of the gospel is an account of the blessing of god upon preaching oh yes i know the scripture says they that were scattered abroad upon the persecution went everywhere preaching the word one little summary statement that's all it said i'm aware of the passage that indicates that something sprung up up there in andy %HESITATION are not quite sure who did it needed to pass i'm fully aware of that i'm aware of those passages that indicate their call han Herrmann talib one gospel short and he did not hate on the car him into Mutter

39:05 also said in to them anything not whims big 我 thank you i did in step back to the acts which under there's This third assertion that the primary means ordained of God for the communication of this gospel is its authoritative verbal proclamation by an author and messenger of Jesus Christ. And one of the most fascinating passages along that line to me is that God gives us that detailed record of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch to let us know that even in most ordinary circumstances, I say it reverently, even a man devoutly reading his Bible needs a preacher. Now I have heard of people who have been converted by simply reading their Bibles. I'm not denying. But God gives us a record of a man who reads his Bible.

40:15 The prophet was speaking. Now if a man's reading his Bible that includes the New Testament, in a sense, he has his Philip at his shoulder. I know that. I'm fully aware of that.

40:34 And I am in no way saying God cannot be God and save men by the most extraordinary means and unusual things. But surely, brethren, you're reading the book of Acts. And you're reading the book of Acts. And you're reading the book of Acts.

40:50 And you're reading the book of Acts. And you're reading the book of Acts. And you're reading the book of Acts. But that God's primary means for the communication of his gospel is its authoritative verbal proclamation by an authorized messenger.

Practical Implications for Preachers: Clear Your Call and Know Your Identity

41:03 Well, if that assertion will stand the test of Scripture, what are the practical implications of this for us? Well, first of all, I want to make some positive implications for you preachers, my dear brethren. And I say that sincerely as I sat on the platform tonight and thought of speaking to you, my brethren, and reflected back on what I am by nature and where I deserve to be, a fresh sense of the unworthiness to address you, my brethren, swept over my own soul. And God knows I don't stand here with any sense that I have a right to.

41:44 But a stewardship is laid upon me. And I say to you, my brethren, Preacher, brethren, if you have any doubt as to the validity of your call to this work, spare no pains to clear up your call on scriptural grounds. If you're to speak the gospel with that note of authority as a herald, you must have no doubt that the king, if you're to speak in his name, must speak as one who stands under the canopy of his gracious call.

42:29 If there is any doubt, you must have no doubt that the king, if you're to speak in his name, must speak as one who stands under the canopy of his gracious call. If there is any doubt as to the validity of that call, spare no pains to clear up that doubt by scriptural means.

42:40 If you're convinced of that call, then I say in the second place, my preacher friend, never forget who you are. Never forget who you are. You say, who am I? I'm just so-and-so.

42:56 That's right. Who am I? I'm just this. That's right.

43:00 But listen, when you stand to open up this book, to declare the truth of the gospel, you are nothing less than an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself. And when you know who you are, and the reality of that identity in your position as a herald, something that is not a detached theological concept, but a present burn,

43:39 you will not fear men's faces. Then, you will not hang your head with timidity and somehow hope that in some way or another, someone will give you a hearing. You will speak as a man who both expects for your king.

44:00 Let me illustrate. I was preaching at a Christian college a few months ago, almost a year ago now.

44:10 And I stood up to preach the first morning, and I looked up in the back row of the balcony. And there a young woman sat, preening her tresses. Looking left, looking right, looking up, stroking her hair. She may as well have been looking down at me, thumbing her nose.

44:32 I got the message. She was saying, in essence, say what you want, crazy man on that pulpit, you ain't gonna get my ears. And I looked up at her and I waited. And she preened, and I waited.

44:46 Until I felt it was a waste of time to wait anymore, and I said, young woman on the last row, I said, I'm not here on a fool's errand. I'm here in the name and under the authority of my Lord, and I demand a hearing for his word.

45:02 She stopped her preening,

45:05 and she at least looked at me, and at least went through the motions of listening.

45:12 And the sermon was over, and a kid, no older than 18 or 19, came up to me, and said, Mr. Martin, who in the world do you think you are?

45:24 You have no right to expect that people will give undivided attention to your preaching. I said, young man, who are you to tell me what my rights are? Someone already has told me.

45:38 And that someone is the Lord who saved me and laid his hand upon me and commissioned me to be his mouthpiece. And when I speak his name, I demand a hearing for my king. Don't tell me what I have a right to expect. My master has preempted you.

46:00 Preacher, do you know who you are? This, simpering up to the pulpit with hands, in the pockets and shoulders slumped, begging people to somehow listen for a few minutes while you share a few thoughts. My friend, if that's all you've got to offer, get out of the pulpit!

46:21 Whether it is your sanctified temperament to speak in a quiet, intense gentleness, whether it is to be a volatile, excitable preacher, that's not the issue. The issue is this. Preacher, clear your call! And then know!

46:42 And when you stand with your mind and heart impregnated with the message of your king, a note of authority and certainty that your most violent opposer, though he won't admit it, will find an echo of God's amen in his own breast when you preach. That's the glory of being a preacher. You've got an amen corner in every man's conscience, even though he won't admit it.

Practical Implications for Preachers: Faith, Humility, and Dependence on the Holy Spirit

47:13 But that happens when the preacher knows who he is. And furthermore, my exhortation to you, my preacher friends, is not only clear up your call, go to your task in the consciousness of who you are, go to your task in faith that God delights to take the foolish and the weak and the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh shall glory in his presence. Give up all those stupid ambitions about being a great preacher. Give up all those carnal ambitions about being a clever and a unique preacher.

47:48 And give yourself to the ambition to be an accurate, passionate, loving, tender, earnest, interesting preacher of God's word.

48:04 And then go to your task believing. As Fox described that list in 1 Corinthians 1, the weak, the foolish, he called them God's five-ranked army of descending humans, with which he'll conquer the world. Hallelujah. You want to join that army?

48:24 You've got to be weak.

48:27 God don't take the muscle-bound. He said, I want the weak ones. God doesn't take the eggheads, think they know everything. He takes the foolish.

48:35 God doesn't take the hot shots who think the world's just waiting for them and God ought to wake up and, you know, get with it and know that he's just waiting in the wings to do God. No, he takes the things that are not. God's five-ranked army of descending human weakness. Yes, that's what God takes and impregnates their entire redeemed humanity with the message until it isn't just an exercise of mouth and head.

49:01 It is their whole being that is conveyed in the message.

49:08 They preach in the confidence that God who's ordained preaching to save those that believe will save even through their instrumentality. And then I say to you, my preacher, friends, not only clear up your call, go to your task in the consciousness of who you are, go to the task in the consciousness that God will be faithful to his purposes, go to your task in utter dependence upon the endowment of the Holy Spirit.

49:39 You see, it's a horrible thing when people believe in the primacy of preaching, but they have to suffer under unanointed preaching.

49:49 There's nothing worse than a church in which people hold to the primacy of preaching, and have to suffer through all that preaching that has no option in the life of God upon it. And that's why people have turned to other things. Unless we can say our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance or conviction. Unless we can say our speech and our preaching was not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, no one can say, I wonder people have been turned off to preaching.

50:27 I'm turned off to preaching that has nothing of that unction of God upon it, that dew of heaven. I can't explain what unction is, but I sure know what it is when it's resting upon a man,

50:45 and I sure know what it ain't when it isn't.

50:51 And oh, dear people, there is nothing like preaching the simple, earnest, clear proclamation of the Word, and in particular, the central, saving acts of Jesus Christ proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the most exciting, thrilling, humbling, glorious, awesome thing under heaven to hear preaching that is preaching in the power of the Holy Ghost. That's my word to you in a positive way. Clear up your call.

51:27 Go to your task in the consciousness, in the consciousness of who you are. Go to your task in faith. Go to your task, a man clothed with the Spirit. And to you, God's people, what is my exhortation to you?

Practical Implications for God's People: Pray, Bring Others, Plead for Preachers, and Resist Deviation

51:41 My exhortation is, if you believe what you've heard tonight, that there's only one message ordained of God to rescue men from sin and its consequences. And though you are endeavoring to use every means at your disposal to get that message to men, you believe, God has given a primacy to the place of the preaching of that message by His authorized messengers. Oh, dear people of God, if you believe that, that makes tremendous demands upon you. What are they?

52:15 First of all, it is to cry to God for those who preach to you, that they may be holy men, and men full of the Spirit of grace and of power, that every time they come, that they may come to open up the Scriptures, they will be men consumed with their message, conscious of their identity, prepared to pour themselves out, and if necessary, to die in the act of preaching. Pray that God will come upon His servants with His Spirit. Furthermore, make every effort as you try to bring the Gospel to men, by testimony, by tract, by booklet, by tape, by every means, by every other legitimate means, couple with that every effort to get them under the sound of preaching. Do everything short of knocking them on the head with a baseball bat and dragging them. Use holy guile. Love is enterprising.

53:18 Paul said, being crafty, I caught you with guile. There's a holy guile. Use all the holy guile you can muster to get them under the sound of preaching. How?

53:29 Ah, but you say they don't like preaching. That's all right. Get them under it anyway. God can change their liker.

53:36 God can take people who've come to gnash and send them home to weep. Luther said, you don't need to stand by the cage of a lion and prove it's a lion to someone who's a skeptic. Just open the door and let the lion out. You don't need to convince these people, first of all, of the primacy of preaching and the saving purposes of God.

53:59 Don't debate the issue. Just get them by the lion. Just get them by the lion. How many times in this place has it been the testimony of people who had no respect whatsoever for preaching?

54:14 Came under preaching, God riveted them to the pew with his word. And it wasn't long before their hearts were riveted to the cross in faith and love by the power of the Holy Ghost. And then, dear people of God, if you believe what you've heard tonight, not only pray for your preachers. that the Spirit will come upon them.

54:38 Not only make every sanctified effort to bring men under preaching, but I want to exhort you to two other things. Plead with God to raise up preachers. The last thing in the world this generation needs, wants, is the thing it most desperately needs. You hear me?

55:00 The last thing in the world it wants is what it most desperately needs. The irritated, passionate, Holy Ghost preachers of God's everlasting Gospel. As we had occasion to say in a worship service a few weeks ago, this generation's been conditioned to receive only cool communicators. You see, their image of communication is the prime time newscaster.

55:31 And the lens zooms in and he's framed out from his head halfway down to his tie. And you see his little mic clipped on there. And he looks into, and he looks into your face, and he can talk about 3,000 bodies were discovered today in Mexico City. And it is thought that before it's all over, 5,000 may...

55:51 No passion, no tears, no sob, no earnestness, nice, cool communication. Talk about the weather in the same tone that he talks about 3,000 dead. You perhaps have heard the record of that man who was newscasting right here in Newark after the first transatlantic trip of that German dirigible, the Hindenburg. And do you remember the story, some of you, how when it went to tie up at the tower, it burst into flames and in moments, bodies were dropping out of that burning wreckage and the poor commentator lost his cool and broke into tears and into uncontrollable sobbing while he was trying to comment. And I understand, though, I cannot verify this, that the man lost his job because, you see, he could look at burning bodies dropping out of a dirigible and forget that he was a newscaster. This age doesn't want men with passion, men who speak with authority, men who talk of God and sin and heaven and hell as though they knew what they were speaking of, and they speak in inflexible, right-angled, reinforced,

57:15 outrageous, sarcastic and high-prof Clyde and's proof. 12 änd가요 4 3 8 2 1 0 3 4 5 8 7 4 6 7 7 8 20 21 21 28 loyal citizen but my friend down in my heart of hearts i know it's hopeless i'll do it to keep a good conscience but i don't do it in any real faith that it's going to make any difference because the whole grassroots fabric of our nation has eroded which once conditioned his goal mighty preachers whose voice was heard and whose influence like leaven permeated the structures of the chambers of government and the halls of jurisprudence and the higher schools of higher learning and that's all gone dear people of god will you not cry to god to give this

58:39 generation what it most desperately needs but doesn't want and then you my final word to the people of god at least here at trinity and if you're from another place it's my word to you is you resist with every fiber of your being the slightest slightest deviation in the life of this church from the primacy of preaching as god's ordained means to communicate his gospel and if some smooth-talking preacher even if his name is albert n martin begins to try to move you from that perspective may god give you race to use every legitimate chadow voice and influence to radar back on your hind legs and skyline and i say that reverent lee it is crude commitment don't want a priest gotta spread reply and keep going right away did the and reply okay fine and all their goals will be shops такая Cruise and people will wear these shoes that they believe ... like more people have money Espero Fortully Suggest Allouls and go to trinity. . . . how you learn, cuandoよね tensions allow money, es como soldiers, sobre lo que conoce un

59:47 plank and every fiber and every block in those walls it has not man made some more to bless those things let this place be emptied and sell it to the odd fellows or sell it to the whoever that you resist anything that would move this church from its commitment but what you're doing is cutting its jungler vein because it's an insult to god that we can devise a better method than the one that he has ordained what an insult to his wisdom what an affront to his authority well that's what i wanted to say to you tonight may god write upon our hearts these truths

The Bottom Line: The Gospel Message for Unbelievers

61:13 perchance you've come amongst us much of what you've heard has gone over your head and you say i don't understand what the man's worked up about it must be something he feels pretty deeply my friend friend listen oh listen if you've come in and much of what you've heard is strange to your ears i'll tell you what the bottom line is all right in simple plain 20th century americanese what's in this book we call the bible is absolute final truth and it says things about you which if you knew and believed would make you tremble right now it says you're under wrath and condemnation from a holy god if you take that seriously it tells you some other thing that are glorious and wonderful that that god who has a controversy with you is the god who in jesus christ has conceived and executed a way whereby he can take sinners with whom he has a just controversy and welcome them into his favor and into his heart and into his home now and forever and it all focuses in a person called jesus who is god's eternal son who came to a cross by way of a virgin's womb and a perfect life and a perfect life and a perfect life and a perfect life and on that cross died the death we should die was buried and was raised from the dead and has been

62:37 taken back to the right hand of his father from whence he came when he went to mary's womb there he sits to make good every promise he ever made to needy sinners who will turn from their sin and flee to him you see that's the message which god has said is the only hope for people like you and me well if that's the only malady you say only message for our malady why would anyone want to tamper with that well you see there's a devil any hates god hates you and he wants to destroy you and that's why some of you been going to churches for years and you've never heard even that distillation of the heart of the gospel whatever reason brought you here tonight in your consciousness could it be god brought to you that you might say i cant denied that those things to make sense i must lay them to heart old friend Lay them to heart. And if there are questions, we're here to be of help to you. We're not here to do our thing and go our way. Take your Bible out.

63:40 Begin to read it. Ask God to show you the heart of its message. And God, grant that the Savior who excites us and makes us want to shout and praise Him as you heard His people in the singing tonight, grant that that Savior will become precious to you as you seek Him in the Word of God. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer: For Preachers, People, and the Primacy of Preaching

64:08 O our Father, we marvel at Your ways, Your ways that cut across the grain of human wisdom and all vaunted human pride and arrogance. Thank You that in the Gospel You have humbled us. In the Gospel You have come to us with mercy and forgiveness. And, O Father, we pray that, that You seal to our hearts what we've contemplated tonight concerning Your determination that preaching should hold so central a place in the outworking of Your saving purposes.

64:50 Bless these dear men of God who are here. Give them a new sense of their identity. May there be a new authority in their preaching. May they not be bullied by all of the influences around them, that would cause them at times to wonder, is there any use to go on just a plain old preacher?

65:12 O God, bless the truth to encourage and strengthen the hands of Your servants. And for Your dear people, who owe their life to preaching, blessed of the Spirit, make them courageous to resist any and every influence that would rob them of that very conduit of life to their souls. And may this place and the places in which our brethren labor for years and for generations to come, should our Lord delay His return, O that they may be centers of powerful, clear, anointed biblical preaching. And out of that, Lord, may every dimension of biblical church life be manifested and worked out to the glory of Christ, the great Head of the Church, hear us and dismiss us with Your blessing upon us, we pray in Jesus' worthy name. Amen.