Preaching the Good News of Christ Crucified!


Once when I was traveling in southern England, I went to what was supposed to be a gospel church in order to and in hopes of hearing the glorious gospel of God’s grace in Christ. As the service began, hymns were sung that were very scriptural and everything conducted in a respectable manner. My heart could not wait to hear of Christ and His glory. When the preacher began to preach, his message centered on how bad he was, the evil of his own heart, the wretchedness of sinners. All of this may have been true but there never was any “Good News.” No gospel “glad tidings” of mercy and salvation in Christ. As a matter of face, very little of Christ and His work at all!
This is often the case with writers and preachers but it is just not scriptural. They glorify unbelief! They write or preach as if it is a good thing to live in darkness, doubt and despair. They sometimes say, “I only despair in myself.” Yet, God has not told us to look to or in ourselves! We are to look to Jesus Christ the Light! It will always be darkness, doubt and despair looking to ourselves and our feelings. I realize and know from experience that the believer will have dark days, fits of unbelief and be found at times in despair. But that is not the tenor of our lives. Unbelief is just that, unbelief! It is sin, not to be glorified but recognized for what it is and condemned. To not believe God, what He says, is sin. The scriptures call upon us to believe God, to trust Him, to delight in what He’s done, to rejoice and be glad. Why?
Because He has made Christ the Light to be light to us! He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. It is the light that reveals His mercy, grace and the gift of righteousness to us in His beloved Son. We are loved with an everlasting love, chosen by grace in Christ, redeemed by His blood and called to Christ in faith by the Spirit of light. He has forgiven us our sins and blessed us with all spiritual blessings. We are to walk in His light and the light of His word. In Christ there is no darkness. “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” [EPHESIANS 5:8]. Believing God is not presumption, it is FAITH!

-Gospel report by preacher Gary Shepard
Sovereign Grace Baptist church of Jacksonville, North Carolina USA
Please find enclosed link to audio Gospel sermons & Contact Info:

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