HF114 - The Proclamation of a King
To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date: Mon, March 17, 2004
Subject: Bible Study HF114 - The Proclamation of a King
Hebraics,
We were crossing a mountain range to get to a village on the border of Honduras and Guatemala. I began asking the Lord what He wanted me to say to the village people. (I've found this is the quickest way to get an answer.) No sooner had I made the heart prayer, that I had this impression; "Tell them that you are an ambassador from the kingdom of God, and that you have a message from the King."
Something did happen in the village that evening that I'll share about later in the study. I want to use this incident as a backdrop for the following study. (This study is not about the priesthood of the believer. It has to do with the preacher of the gospel.)
This is Bible Study HF114 - The Proclamation of a King.
The gospel is not simply a story about God's power to save through the cross. The gospel is actually the saving power of God itself. This is why people get saved under the influence of preaching. And this is why Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Rom1:16)
While we know that the term gospel means good news, or glad tidings, what we may not always realize is that the preaching of the gospel involves the heralding the kingship of Jesus Christ. The God-called preacher is a 'herald.' He is a public crier. His job is to announce to his listeners that God's King has been installed. This official announcement calls for an allegiance to the King.
Because the preacher holds an official work in the kingdom of God, we have this admonition, "How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!'" (Rom10:15) When Paul said, "How will they preach unless they are sent?" he is drawing attention to an official herald or a spokesman for the King.
This is a factor that isn't always understood. While all God's people have the right to testify to their salvation in Christ, and can minister in many ways, not everyone is given the task of being a herald of the gospel, that is, not in the true sense of the word.
The herald has to be approved. It is required that he have the message right. Once he is approved, he then can be given an appointment as a herald for the King. And when the herald speaks, the voice of the King is heard. (This is not to glorify preachers. It has to do with understanding the role of a preacher.)
Paul said, "For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts." (1Th2:4) Notice that the gospel in this sense is a sacred trust. But it is only given to the herald after a heart examination is completed.
In another place the apostle says, "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. For this [testimony] I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." (1Tim2:5-7) Notice that Paul divides his calling into three areas, preacher, apostle, and teacher.
With regard to the preacher, I realize the term 'herald' may seem a bit confusing, but it really does describe the job of a God-called, God-equipped, and God-sent preacher.
The first herald of the gospel in the New Testament was John the Baptist. It says, "Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" (Mat3:1)
The term 'preaching' is kerusso (kay-roos'-so). Kerusso means to be a public crier, a herald, to proclaim an official message. It carries the idea of formality. In the case of Jesus Christ, the preacher is the herald of a message that carries in it the very power of heaven to change in the hearts and lives of believers. The message is God's message. The change can only take place where an allegiance is made to the King. Jesus spoke of the final end time sign, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end shall come." (Matt24:14)
Thus we hear Jesus tell his apostles, "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear [kingdom] fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give it you." (John 15:16)
What Jesus said to the original apostles, He said also to Paul. Ananias said to him, "The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth." (Act 22:14)
The apostles were chosen and then appointed to be heralds for Christ. They were to be official representatives of the King. (Ambassadors.) Because of their unique calling, they could ask the Father for whatever they may need to accomplish their work. They were only to ask in the name of their King, Jesus, and for the sake of His kingdom. Every God ordained preacher afterwards is also a herald. They, too, can ask the Father for whatever they may need to accomplish His work.
It is the preaching of the gospel that Satan fears the most. Martin Luther said, "The Devil does not mind the written word but he is put to flight whenever it is preached aloud." When C. H. Spurgeon was asked to write a defense on the gospel, he said, "The gospel does not need to be defended. It is like a caged lion. Just turn it loose and it will take care of itself."
So the herald of the gospel is a man with a message. He must understand it. He must not corrupt it. He is responsible for its proper delivery. This is why one of the most urgent warnings in the Bible has to do with those who distort the gospel of Jesus Christ. To add anything to the Kingdom message, or to take anything away from its simplicity, is to place one's self under condemnation.
The apostle said, "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!" (Gal1:8) James added that God's people are not to take to themselves of being many teachers, because the teacher will receive the greater condemnation. (James 3:1)
The herald of the gospel is not a kingdom builder for himself. He has one responsibility and that is to announce the King. Paul said, "For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me." (1Co9:16,17)
Stewardship speaks of the management of another's property. All true ministers of the gospel have been given a stewardship in which they hold responsibility for. But they also have the authority that comes with the stewardship. This means that God Himself will supply the herald (minister) with whatever he may need, or with whatever he may ask the Father for, for the sake of Jesus Christ.
The pulpit ministry has always been a fearful place for me. (I say this truthfully.) Some folk have an itch to be in the pulpit, but that was never my case. When the Lord first began releasing to me more responsibility with regard to preaching, I would write across my sermon notes, 'Preach without offense.' I was afraid that I would damage someone through my own ignorance, and yes, even my own arrogance. (Ignorance and arrogance usually have to be worked out of the young preacher.)
But it has been nigh forty years now since I first stood before a people and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a difference forty years can make. In all this I still stand amazed at what happens in the preaching of the gospel. I stand in awe at how the Lord works through the heralding of the message. What a joy to see hearts and lives changed simply through the proclaiming of King Jesus.
Now for the old Indian --- The peoples gathered until the building overflowed. Men sat in the windows. There was no room left to sit down. The door was crowded with people. Little children were everywhere. When I opened my mouth, I said, "I come to you not as an ambassador of the United States, but as an ambassador of the kingdom of God. And I have a message for you from the King."
That's when it happened. At that moment awesomeness settled on everyone. All eyes were fixed on me. Then I began sharing the message of God's Son. The gospel was working deeply. The voice of the King was being heard. (Yes, Christ Himself speaks to the people in the preaching of the gospel.) As I brought my message to a close, the old Indian man stood up and began walking towards the front. He was coming to pay allegiance to the King. He wasn't the only one, but he was the one that had my total attention.
It was as though the Lord was allowing me to see how the gospel works. Paul explained it this way; "For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." (1Th2:13)
Let's consider a couple of Scriptures that speak to the issue of preaching. Paul tells us that the gospel is a living message in that the very voice of Jesus is heard in it. He said, "So faith [salvation faith] comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Rom10:17) The term for word here speaks of a living voice, or an utterance. It includes the idea of a command. The command is to be obedient in accepting God's King. There is no other Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ alone is the King and Lord of all the earth.
Then we have this from the Lord, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd." (John 10:16) How will the sheep hear His voice? They will hear His voice primarily in the proclamation of the message of His kingdom.
To round out this part of the study, let me add one more dimension to the proclamation of the King. In the preaching of the gospel the voice of the King is heard. Paul calls this the power of the gospel. This is why Satan fights so hard to keep the message from being preached. He knows that the moment the voice of the King is heard, and the moment a person believes and confesses allegiance to King Jesus, he, that is, Satan, is put out of business.
Paul says that when a person hears the proclamation of the gospel, and believes, that is, gives a heart allegiance to the King, there is a transfer that takes place. And Satan knows that all a person has to do to be saved is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and confess Him as Lord and Christ. Paul said, "For He [the Father] rescued us from the domain [authority] of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Cf. Col1:13,14)
And so forty years later I've seen countless numbers of people come into the kingdom of our King and Savior. I've baptized untold numbers. And, yes, I've seen miracles and healings without number. But the greatest miracle of all still remains the same. It is the miracle of the transfer that takes place through the proclamation of God's holy King.
That’s it for now. The study is open. What are your thoughts?
The Lord bless you,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.christianchallenge.org/
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)