The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lasser Bradley Jr. Please get Thousand tongues to see my great redeem. It must Bye. The glories of my government. The triumphs of his This is Lissere Bradley Jr., inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace.
Yeah. Is a splendid vanity and pride? Yeah. Bearing that my Lord was crucified, knowing that it was for me he died on God. Mercy that was great and grace was free.
Whoa. And there was multiplied to me. Yeah. Where my burden soul come in. Bow again to Jesus.
Now I gladly own him as my king. Yeah. My raptured soul can only see God. There was rain and grain. one Yeah.
AHHHHHHH And there was not Say bye. To be There were burdens all from liberty at Oh, the love that true salvation splash. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Whoa. The mighty gold that God did spend and bring mercy there was grace and grace was Yeah.
There was wanted by two. We bear the burdens of liberty. I want to take time. Yeah. Each of you who have written us recently.
I received so many kind letters after I announced on the air that I had a birthday. Birthday cards, and it's impossible for me to respond to everybody who has written. For one thing, if I tried to write you you couldn't read it, because my writing has gotten ferocious in my Old age, I can't read it myself, but I want you to know I appreciated every card, every particular words of encouragement from people who told me that they've listened to this broadcast all their life and that you. They have been blessed by the messages, by the truths that we have preached, and that's most encouraging.
So I would like to say to all today, we need to hear from our listeners on a regular basis and have your support to be able to stay on the air. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45217. And if you'd like to make a donation online, you can go to our website, and also there, you can read the Baptist Witness. Listen Jesus thee we sing, Love of life eternal spring. Uh-huh.
By the way. He's a Alone held the rock and corners store. Tears from thee salvation flow. is the ransom sinner knows Why so when he sees? It's born.
Oh praise Hey, Tears from these ovation flow. is the ransom sinners. Oh For Christ our God is me. When he sees Just ball. None shall glory in.
By sight of the labours there so bright. Oh good. And we shall know living Faith from God must follow shall be thy love with thee. We redemption. Glorious King.
This will be The song. Above praise to Jesus, living Lord. Today we bring you the first part of a message entitled Preaching Jesus. sermon was preached a few years ago, and I made reference in the introduction to the fact that when we dedicated our new auditorium several years ago, I selected this theme. Because I believed that that needed to be our focus: preaching Jesus.
So as the sermon begins we are referring to the fact that we had considered various options and come to the conclusion that this was the subject that was appropriate. Ultimately decided to be able to do it. that the most appropriate theme I could present. was to select as my subject. Preaching Jesus.
My text was Acts chapter 5, verse 42. And daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Now these are the early church We're constantly being persecuted. God was working mightily among them. The sick were being healed. The gospel was being preached in power. And so they had Uh the apostles in prison.
And I can't help but think that the authorities of that day must have been a bit frustrated. Because Generally, when they put these men into prison, The Lord delivered them. And it was on this occasion in Acts chapter five. Here they are in prison, and the authorities meet together the next morning deciding what they're going to do with them, and so they send down there and say, Well, go get them. And they go down there.
and said, the prison door was locked and the guards were standing out front. But to sell the vapor. They were gone. The angel of the Lord had visited them and brought them out. I think that same thing happened to Peter.
And in a little different scenario, it happened with Paul and Silas when the Lord sent. The earthquake. And of course that again must have been upon a frustration. Putting these Men in prison, and by morning they had baptized the jailer.
So God was at work.
Now Well they discuss this matter.
Some wanted to Be very forcible in trying to bring a complete end to their effort. And Gamaliel, a leader among the Jews, said: Now, wait a minute, we need to back off here a little bit. If God is in this, it'll prosper, and we're not going to be able to stop it. And if He's not, it'll die anyway.
So you'd think that since they were going to follow his advice, they would just say, well, We'll see you later. No, they decided they would beat them first.
So after they had beaten them, They set them free. And instead of these followers of Jesus Christ, Caving in. And saying The suffering is too much. We were constantly being threatened, we were being beaten, we're being imprisoned. No, what did they do?
They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And then daily. In the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. They spoke in the temple where people were assembled, and they would have, no doubt, a sizable audience. They spoke in individual houses.
Paul spoke at a later time at Mars Hill. They spoke? wherever there was a door of opportunity.
Sometimes people get kind of setting their mind about the Siton. The scenario and the pattern that must be followed if one is preaching Jesus. Yeah. Well Certainly, they preached in the public places.
Sometimes they were standing up. Jesus preached sitting down. It's not so much the posture of the body or the setting where one has arrived to preach, but taking advantage of the opportunity. I've talked to people who've gotten a little hung up about what kind of posture you ought to be in when you pray. I've been to churches where they felt Anytime prayers offered.
You've got to kneel. But That's fine.
Sometimes you feel like that's exactly where I need to be. I feel my own weakness. I want to be on my knees when I pray. But it's all right to pray standing up. I thought about Jonah when he was in the belly of the whale.
I don't think that he was standing up or on his knees either one. He was probably flat on his back, but he prayed a powerful prayer because it went all the way to heaven and the Lord heard it.
So, it's not so much the posture of the body, it's the attitude of the heart. And these went from house to house and in the temple, and they were preaching. Jesus. As it's That was my subject 21 years ago. We have tried.
through the years to be faithful. In making That message. The emphasis. the center of everything we talk about. Whether we're looking at the prophecies and the types and shadows in the Old Testament.
Or looking at the plain declarations concerning the life and ministry of Jesus in the Gospels, or the doctrines that are set forth in the epistles. to preach. Jesus Christ. In these past 21 years, we have done a series going all the way through the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 1 verse 18 says that in all things he might have the preeminence.
So in preaching that epistle, we've been preaching Jesus. We went through the book of Philippians. Chapter 2 and verse 9 says, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. We preach through the book of 1 John. Chapter 3, verse 23 says, And this is his commandment that we should believe on his Son, Jesus Christ.
Currently, we're going to the Gospel of John. John chapter 20 verse 31 says, But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. And oh I hope that you've enjoyed this study in the Gospel of John as much as I have.
So many marvelous and beautiful things brought to the forefront about our Savior Jesus Christ. Starting with the declaration of his exalted position in chapter one. Going on with his conversation with Nicodemus in chapter three. In chapter four, seeing him going there to talk to the woman at Jacob's well. A most unusual occurrence because he was a Jew and she was a Samaritan, but he had gone there to visit her and call that wayward woman.
into a relationship with himself. to see him as he talks about the fact that he's the bread of life and the water of life. And we see him delivering those declarations concerning his coming into the world and the purpose of it, that he came down from heaven not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. And on it goes. These things written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name.
Preaching. Jesus. That's what they were doing in the apostolic days. That's what we want always to do. preaching Jesus Christ.
when we're preaching the gospel. We're preaching Jesus.
Now, there are some things that are called the gospel today, which in fact are not.
Somebody comes on the scene and says, God has a great plan for your life. Would you like to learn more of the details so that you can be happier and more contented? You may be currently in something of a mess, and Jesus can straighten it all out. It's not a message of health and wealth and prosperity. It's not a message about good works.
laying out a plan as to what you must follow and what you must do. in order to obtain salvation. It's not a message that points to the baptismal pool and says, if you will be baptized, Baptized, your sins will be washed away. It's not a message that says if you will join the church. have your name on the church roll that it will then be inscribed in heaven.
No. It is the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. It is a message. to sinners. Jesus In Mark chapter 2, verse 17 says this, They that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick.
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Now, so many have strayed in this time. I mean the idea that in order for a church to grow and prosper, you've got to make people feel comfortable. You want to make them feel good about themselves. You don't want to confront them about sin. You don't want to talk about specific sins.
You don't want to call for people to repent. Just help them to feel good. But Jesus said, He came. to call sinners to repentance. To call them to turn from their sin, to acknowledge their sinfulness.
They that are whole, not that anybody in reality is whole and is sufficient, but they that feel themselves to be whole, like the Pharisee who prayed and said, I thank thee that I'm not as other men, I'm not unjust, I'm not an extortioner, fast twice in the week, give tithes of all that I possess. That man didn't think he was sick. He didn't think he had a problem. He felt like I had it all together. If that happens to be your frame of mind...
Then the things we talk about Regarding the message for sinners. It's not going to be appealing to you. But Jesus came to minister to, to call, Not the righteous. But sinners to repentance. And then the Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 1.
Verse 15, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to do what? To save sinners of whom I am chief. Paul felt himself to be the greatest of sirs. He had persecuted the church. He had consented to the death of Christians.
That grieved him greatly to recall it. But this is the faithful saying. Jesus Christ came into the world. Not just to make life easier, not just to set an example, not just to be a good teacher. He came.
to save sinners. When Paul was preaching at Mars Hill in Acts chapter 17 and verse 30, He said, In the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. The fact is, God commands it. If you have not repented, if you have not acknowledged your sinfulness before God, come before Him in humility, ask for mercy as the publican who smote upon his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The fact is, God, the sovereign God who is the creator of heaven and earth, commands you to repent.
This gospel is a message centers. It is the message that Christ died for sinners. Here's a declaration of it. Romans chapter 5, verse 6. For when we were yet without strength, In due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
That's the kind of people he died for. If you say, I'm not all that bad, you're excluding yourself from this. But if you see I am a sinner. The commandment of God is summarized in this: Jesus declared it. That you're to love the Lord God with all your mind, heart, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.
If you have any sight at all, of what you're like. Where your mind, where your heart is, what your attitude is, how you have focused on self. You've wanted your way. You haven't considered what's going to be pleasing to God. And then if there are Difficulties that you encounter.
They have a little inclination to get upset with God. I talked to a young man some time ago. I asked him what kind of relationship he had with God. He said, Well, to tell you the truth, we're not on very good terms right now. I'm pretty upset with him.
And he told me about some events in his life that Or Indeed. Heartbreaking. But because God had not protected him from such troubles. He's angry at God. Who are we?
As little fallen creatures of the earth, to get up on our high horse and tell God we don't like the way He's running His business. Say, I can't understand it, and so if God doesn't explain it to me, I'm unhappy. See, we are sinners. Ungodly. Alienated from God.
breakers of his law. But Christ died for sinners. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yea, prayer adventure, for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
That's an amazing thing, isn't it? Have you really? Give thought to that. Why? Would Jesus Christ die for me?
Give his life. Shuffer. The anguish of Calvary. Having sin put upon him, the father turning his back on him. Why would he do that for you as a sinner?
What? Remarkable love. What amazing grace. Paul summarizes the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you received, and wherein you stand.
By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received: how the Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, according to all of those Old Testament prophecies that declared He was coming and He would go to the cross, He would lay down His life and suffer for us, so it was according to the Scripture, and that He was buried and that He arose again the third day according to the Scripture. Here is the The gospel. The message. Paul preached.
It was just The fundamental truth. He said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Now obviously that didn't mean that he never dealt with another topic. Because the apostle writes extensively about many practical issues and many fundamental doctrines, but the point is. All of it was connected to Christ. This is he what he says. This, he says, is what I'm determined to do.
I'm not going to be sidetracked. I'm not going to go down some other road. I can assure you that over the many years in which I've labored in the ministry, I've had numerous suggestions made. Other times I've received admonition and counsel and instruction that have been tremendously helpful. But I have gotten volumes of materials that people send me through the mail.
Sometimes it's a book, sometimes it's a packet of information, sometimes it's handwritten and. I'll try to Give it a little glance, but so often you don't have to read past the first paragraph to tell where it's going. I'd say, if I'm going to spend the next couple of hours reading something, I'm going to read something better than this. And I've had all kinds of suggestions. Preacher, you know, if you could just see this point, if you could just go down this road, if you could just take up this topic.
But I've always prayed, Lord, help me to stand with the Apostle. I determine to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. I don't want to get off the track.
Some develop their Theories that are extremely difficult to understand.
Sometimes When a person sends me one of these packets, it's it's got charts. It's got diagrams, it's got colors, it's got maps. And I look at that and I'm like Lord, I'm thankful the gospel isn't that complicated. I I I never have been good at um reading directions and knowing how to put something together. Emily used to bring home a flat box sometimes with a toy and say, Here, this needs to be assembled.
I never could understand one of those things. It was always fine. Whole A and Tap B and nothing ever fit. And uh I told her if we're going to give these kids some toys, bring it already put together. I'll pay extra, whatever it is.
I don't want to have to try to assemble something.
So when somebody gives me one of these diagrams, And you've got to follow this error and that error and match this color and that. I just go back. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. I'm thankful that we can just preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And then there's some who arrive at their Particular view of some issue, and they insist: if you don't agree with me on this, we can have no fellowship.
You know, I'm I'm thankful for Christians. with whom I may not agree on every point, but I can appreciate them and love them. When I started on the radio sixty years ago, There were very few daily programs, very, very few. And very few programs of any kind where men were preaching the sovereignty of God and preaching the message of grace. But when I can turn on the radio here in our city several times a day, And here men like John MacArthur and RC Sproll And um Various ones that Their message thrills my heart.
And they're preaching Jesus Christ and they're preaching his grace. I may not agree with them on the issue of baptism or on various other points, but I'm thankful Jesus Christ is being preached. I listened to Alistair Begg one day this week when I finished that message. I said, I love that million that that That was so powerful. That was so wonderful as he exalted the name of our Savior Jesus Christ.
We want to Be able to. Appreciate Wherever we find one that loves Jesus Christ. If we don't see alike on every point, we can still love them in Jesus Christ.
So this gospel is is a message concerning Jesus Christ, the fact that he came to save sinners. It it is a message that calls men to come to Christ. Jesus stood in John chapter 7 verse 37 and says, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scriptures hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
So, somebody might say, Well, preacher, I have to admit that when you get into some of the doctrinal issues and certain aspects of Scripture, it's challenging for me. I know some of you have No Christian background whatever. You were brought up in pagan religions. And so when you're hearing some of these things, it's for the very first time. And some of it may be a little challenging to absorb.
But When Jesus says, he that is athirst, let him come. Oh, how precious are those words. Are there thirsty souls here this morning? Are you one who has been convicted of your sin and you know that left to yourself, you would come into the final wrath and judgment of God and suffer forever? And you would love to drink of that water that refreshes and satisfies.
Jesus says, let him that is athirst come. And then when he was talking to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, he said, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And the people in that day had been bitten by the serpents, and the Lord said, You make a serpent out of brass and put it up on the pole and say, The one that looks will live.
Now somebody might have said I don't understand how that's going to work. I'm not going to look till you can explain the details of it. In fact, I'm afraid that I'm such a distance that maybe I'm too far away and come up with all kinds of reasons why they're not going to look. It just said The one that looks. It's going to live.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Maybe a lot of things about it you don't understand. But he says, he that believes. has eternal life.
So Make your life come to thee. On me I call Thou art my hope and leave Jesus. The gospel is indeed good news. the thirsty soul is invited to come and drink. That one who feels his great need and sees himself to be a sinner is told to look upon Jesus Christ.
Even as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, the Son of Man was lifted up. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. The gospel is the message of Jesus Christ, salvation through Him, by His free and sovereign grace. I hope that you will write us, and until next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Ah, so free.
Straight. For each day, I can Jesus. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder Lessere Bradley Jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45217.
Unto the thing. Mm-hmm. Be thou my voice upward, my footsteps lead out of the voice in through the heavenly day right with thy love.
