From the Pen of Paul

What is Gospel Preaching According to the Bible?

Gospel preaching is not being "politically correct;" it is not "winning friends and influencing people." It certainly is not pleasing men. Paul wrote in Galatians 1:10, "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." Gospel preaching is not "tickling ears." "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (II Tim. 4:3-4). Those who seek to "tickle the ears" of their hearers preach fables and not truth according to Paul. And this passage also shows us that preaching the gospel is not preaching fables or fiction. Gospel preaching does not consist of jokes, funny stories, experiences; it is not book reviews nor reviews of magazine or newspaper articles.

Then what is gospel preaching? It is preaching "all the counsel of God." In reminding the Ephesian elders of his work among them, Paul wrote, "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:26-27). Gospel preaching is distinctive preaching. God's people have always been different from those who are not God's people; God's people have always been distinctive. In II Chronicles 7:14 God spoke of "My people, which are called by my name." They were distinctive; their name distinguished them from others. The same is still true today; God's people are to be different or distinctive. And the message of God, the gospel, is to be distinctive from any other message or any doctrines of men. In I Corinthians 14:7-9 Paul wrote that even things without life give a distinctive sound; he used the pipe, harp, and trumpet to prove his point. If the gospel is no different from other messages—if it does not have its own distinctive message—then why preach it at all? Where's the power? It is the opinion of this writer that the beginning of liberalism was when gospel preachers quit preaching the distinctive gospel of Christ. I remember vividly attending nearly a hundred gospel meetings one year in the 1960s and most everything that was being preached could have been preached in any denominational church in the land and every one would nod in agreement. Little distinctive preaching was being done. God's plan of salvation was not being taught; the importance and distinctive nature of the Lord's church was not being preached; it was not "politically correct" to point out that anything was wrong. As a result we got watered down messages which basically didn't teach anything distinctive; the church of our Lord quit growing because we were not giving them any reason to be a member of the Lord's body. And eventually this evolved into full-blown liberalism including fellowshipping the denominations and worshiping in a number of unscriptural ways. Little or none of these things would have been practiced prior to the 1960s. Why is it that in the 80s and 90s when we would go out and preach, we would hear, "I haven't heard preaching like that in a long time?" I am convinced that we have a lot of young married couples in their 30s and 40s who have never heard the plain, distinctive message of the gospel. That is the reason when preachers do preach the message of the Bible in a distinctive way, that they believe it is "ugly" and "unkind." They simply do not know what gospel preaching consists of. How sad! One of the main reasons that the church is not growing today is because there is not much seed being planted (Luke 8:11).

Gospel preaching is the preaching of "sound" doctrine. All preaching, all doctrine is not sound. Paul wrote of "any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine" in I Timothy 1:10. That which is contrary to sound doctrine is that which is opposed to sound doctrine. Paul also urged Timothy to "Hold fast the form of sound words" (II Tim. 1:13). He spoke of a time when folks "will not endure sound doctrine" (II Tim. 4:3). To Titus, Paul speaks of "Sound speech, that cannot be condemned" (Titus 2:8). In giving the qualifications of elders, Paul wrote to Titus that they are to be "Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayers" (Titus 1:9). And again in Titus 2:1 Paul exhorted Titus, "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine." Unless the doctrine is "sound" it cannot produce Christians. (more next week)
—Paul Wilmoth

From the Preacher's Viewpoint. . .
Notes and Quotes

There is a lot of religious pretension these days—people pretending they are Christians. The modern church is making it easier for them to pretend. They can maintain their old preferences, manner of speaking, and way of dressing. Men have contrived ways of praising and worshiping that are more easily embraced by people who do not have new hearts and spirits. Gatherings are tailored for the spiritually ignorant, and great care is taken to avoid anything that would offend someone who loves the world and is wrapped up in its ways—someone who is not holy or is not of this world.

But after all is said and done, the people occasionally have to face the commandments of God and of Christ. They may even get the idea in church that something is actually expected of them—that some things are acceptable and other things are rejected. When this moment comes, it is like eating bitter herbs for the pretenders. They can raise their hands, weave back and forth, and get that melancholy look on their face, but they have no appetite for a God who dictates how they think, what they can say and do, and the company they can keep. Oh, those who love the Lord do not look at Divine requirements in that way. That is because they love God's Law, no matter what it says. His commandments are "not grievous" (I John 5:3) to them. They "live by every word of God" (Luke 4:4) and find great delight in doing so. But the pretenders—well, that is another story. Like a child with lima beans they are willing to try a little bit of God's word, but only a very small portion, and only once in a while. Are we happy when such people come into our presence? Are they representative of spiritual beginners? Indeed not! They are an example of those who are alienated from the life of God. That is why the things of God are so bitter and unpleasing to them. Sometime before the day of judgment, the church must decide not to make a place for those with no spiritual appetite. There certainly will be no room in heaven for them—those pretenders.
—Blakely

Mr. Blakely has hit the nail right on the head in this article. Read and meditate on it.
—Malcolm L. Hill