Thus saith the LORD



When the prophets of God spoke in the Old Testament, each distinctly declared what “thus saith the Lord.” Their message was only that which God said. The same must be true of God’s preacher in our day. We must preach what God has said. Paul instructed Timothy, “preach the word.” Preach only the word of God and all the word of God. It is not my opinion of what God has said, nor my ability to speak it, nor my illustrations to explain it but the words of God that He uses to save His people by revealing Christ to them and in them. Again Paul said, “we preach Christ crucified.” We preach Christ as He is set forth in the scriptures and what the scriptures say He has done.

Sermons today are designed to be entertaining, to cause no offense, to meet the approval of hearers and to reflect the learning and abilities of the preacher. Only the sermon that is full of scripture glorifies God and benefits the hearer. The scriptures are to be set forth in their context and in the context of the whole of scripture. “No scripture is of any private interpretation…” It is the holy scriptures which the Holy Spirit uses to make us “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (II Timothy 3:15). The word of God is the “sword of the Spirit” by which He probes and opens the minds and hearts of sinners. The preacher’s own words will surely return unto him void but God’s word will not and will surely as He said “accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

Most do not wish to hear only God’s word. Nevertheless, “he that is of God, heareth God’s words.” It was said of a faithful preacher of old, “Prick him anywhere and he flows bible..” Let me preach the gospel of God’s glory and grace shown to sinners through the cross-death of Christ which enabled Him to be just and the Justifier of all who believe. Such preaching is “unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.” May our preaching be for God first and let us leave the results to Him. May the testimony spoken by those who heard John the Baptist be mine: “John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of THIS MAN were true” (John 10:41).


-Gospel report by preacher Gary Shepard


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