Sermon # 213          Series: Isaiah

 

Title:  CHRIST THE PREACHER

Text:  Isaiah  61:1  “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted.”

Subject:  The Preaching of Christ.

Date: Sunday Evening – June 4, 1995

Tape # R-44

 

Introduction:

 

I realize that preachers often have huge egos and that we have a terrible tendency to take ourselves too seriously – I mean by that, we often think we are far more important than we are.  Elijah was not the lost prophet to imagine that he was fighting God’s battle alone.  But, having made that acknowledgement, I want you to understand this – The noblest calling, the highest honor, the greatest work, the most enabling privilege and labor that can be given to any man on this earth is that of preaching the gospel!

 

 

1.  Gospel Preaching is God’s ordained Means of Grace By Which He Calls Out His Elect and Gives Then Life and Faith in Christ.

 

 

NOTE:  Ezekiel could not make the bones live but he could  and did prophecy – and through his word God caused the bones to live!

 

2.  The Gospel Ministry is the Ascension Gift of Christ To His Church.

 

 

It is my prayer and desire that our God might be pleased to call some of you young men to this great, great work of preaching the gospel.

 

Here is the highest honor that could ever have been put upon the ministry of the Word – God Almighty the Lord of heaven and earth made his Son to be a Preacher!  One of the old writers said, “God had only one Son, and he made a preacher of him.”  Tonight, I want to talk to you about Christ The Preacher.  My text is Isaiah 61:1.

 

Proposition:  The Lord Jesus Christ, as a Preacher, is the perfect example of what a preacher ought to be, ought to do, and ought to preach.

 

Let me show you 5 Things in Our Text.

 

I.  The Lord Jesus Christ, as a man was made a Preacher by the Special Anointing and Call of God.  “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach.”

 

As it is written of God’s high priests, so it must be said of God’s preachers – “No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God.”  (Heb. 5:4).

 

I don’t know how to explain it, but I know that if a man has the anointing of God upon him for the work of preaching the gospel he knows it and the people to whom he preaches know it – If any man is called of God to preach the gospel he will be…

 

A.  Prepared by God.

 

 

B.  Placed by God – (Paul and Barnabas – Peter, James, John)

C.  Provided for by God – (Take no Purse).

D.  Protected by God – (No man shall lay his hand upon thee….).

E.  Promoted by God – (No Self-Promoters – God knows where to find).

F.  Preserved by God – (“To whom shall we go?”)

 

II.  The Lord Jesus Was Earnest and Diligent in His Work.

 

He was always at it.  No matter where he was, or what he was doing, he was always preaching.  This was his calling.  He pursued it incessantly.  He liked it.  He honored it.

 

A.  He preached in the streets and in the synagogues.

B.  He performed miracles, so that they might be pictures of what he preached.

C.  He sometimes rested and prayed, but only that he might be strengthened to preach.

D.  He casual conversations were some of his best sermons.

E.  He preached in the beginning of his ministry and he preached at the close of it from the bloody tree!

F.  He sent his disciples out to preach; and just before he ascended back to heaven, he told them to keep on preaching (Matt. 10; 28:18-20).

 

“He lived the Prince of preachers.  He died and became the Theme of Preachers.  He lives again and is the Lord of Preachers.”  (C.H. Spurgeon).

 

III.  The Message He Preached Was Exactly The Same As That Which All God Ordained Preachers Preach.

 

 

Do not ever imagine that our Lord’s ministry was the vogue, ambiguous, offend none, help none, pleas all preaching of your modern “clergymen.”  Oh, no!  His doctrine was crystal clear.  He preached…

 

A.  Ruin by the Fall – (Matt. 15:19).

B.  Redemption by the Blood – (John 3:14-15; 12:32).

C.  Regeneration by the Holy Spirit – (John 3:3-8; 6:63).

D.  Rest through Faith – (Matt. 11:28-30).

E.  Righteousness by Imputation (Matt. 5:20).

F.  Resurrection – Glory (John 5:28-29; 11:25).

G.  Restoration through A Substitute (John 14:1-3; 17:22-24).

 

The Lord Jesus preached the gospel.  He always preached the gospel.  He never preached anything else.  He never stooped to peculiar, political, or even moralistic themes.  He preached free grace for guilty sinners!  It is not our business to preach morality, ethics, and rules of duty, but grace!  “We have not so much to declare what men ought to do as to preach the good news of what God has done for them.  (Spurgeon).

 

If I could get the ear of every gospel preacher in this world, I would say to him, “Stick to the gospel.”  There is enough in the gospel of Christ to absorb a man’s thoughts, dominate his emotions, inspire his heart, rebuke his sin, and fill his life!

 

·         Romans 1:15-16

·         I Corinthians 2:2

 

If he who knows all things preached only the one thing needful, his servants, who know nothing of themselves, will be wise to do the same!

 

IV.  The People To Whom The Son of God Preached The Good Tidings of Grace are Called “The Meek.”

 

If you read Luke’s translation of this word, you will notice that he calls the meek “the poor.”  The various commentaries and translations indicate that it might also be translated “the humble” – “the afflicted” – “the Gentle.”  The Meek are a people who…

 

·         Who have no lofty thoughts of themselves.

·         Who are troubled and tossed about with sin.

·         Who are driven from vain hopes.

·         Who know their sin and feel the terror of God’s wrath.

·         Who cannot help themselves.

·         Who Join the publican before God.

 

There is in Christ mercy for the meek, grace for the guilty, and righteousness for the ruined.

 

V.  The Object and Design of Our Lord’s Preaching Was “To Bind Up The Broken Hearted.”

 

·         Isaiah 40:1-2

 

Is there a broken-hearted soul in this place?  If so, this Savior is for you, this gospel is for you.  Are you broken-hearted because…

 

·         Your Heart will Not Break?

·         You Have No Repentance?

·         You Cannot Grieve over Sin?

·         You Have No Deep Sense of Sin and Conviction?

·         You Cannot Keep God’s Law?

·         You Cannot Pray?

·         You Have Found All the Cisterns of the World Broken Cisterns?

·         Your Life is Ruined?

·         You Have No Peach?

·         When You Hear the Gospel, You Are Not Moved?

·         Your mind is overwhelmed with Blasphemous Thoughts?

·         You fear you have Committed the Unpardonable Sin?

 

Whatever it is that breaks your heart – Christ came to “heal the broken-hearted.”  He whose heart was broken for sinners knows how to heal broken-hearts for sinners.

 

Application:  Bring your broken heart to Christ.

 

·         Like The woman with the Issue of Blood.

·         Like The Canaanite Woman.

·         Like Mary and Martha.

·         Like The Dying Thief.