1co 09v16 Necessity Is Laid Upon Me
"NECESSITY IS LAID UPON ME"
I Corinthians 9:16
Sometimes people question
whether or not God's servants should always preach the gospel of Christ. I know
several men who have even been slandered with this glorious reproach -
"All you ever preach is the gospel." What a blessed charge to be laid
against God's servant! Never could my most malicious enemies make me happier
than to charge me with such a sacred employment. I will gladly bear it.
"For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity
is laid upon me: yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel." Having
been entrusted of God to preach the gospel of his grace and glory in Christ, if
I fail to do so, I am a lost man (Ezek. 33:8).
I preach the gospel FOR THE GLORY OF GOD. Nothing so honors and magnifies the Lord our God as the preaching of the gospel. God reveals his glory in the gospel. In the gospel of Christ all the attributes of the eternal, triune God are brilliantly displayed to sinful men.
I preach the gospel FOR THE SALVATION OF GOD'S ELECT. "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." The only way God ever has saved, or ever will save a sinner is by the preaching of the gospel.
I preach the gospel FOR THE CONSOLATION, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND EDIFICATION OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD. Nothing comforts a troubled heart, but the gospel. Nothing truly encourages faith, obedience, dedication, and submission to Christ, but the gospel. Nothing will truly edify a believing soul, causing him to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, but the gospel. The gospel of Christ convinces men and women how to live, what to do, what not to do, what to seek, and what to shun, and it gives them a reason to do so.
I preach the
gospel BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT I HAVE EXPERIENCED. By the gospel, my heart
has been broken and healed. By the gospel, I am rebuked and comforted. By the
gospel, Christ has become precious to my soul and the world has become vanity.
By the gospel, I live. By the gospel, I grow. By the gospel, I hope to die.