Then if you'll take your Bible and turn to Romans 10. And again, if you're using the Pew Bible, you find this on page 1,203. We'll read the entirety of the chapter, but then we'll especially be focusing our attention tonight on verses 14 through 17. So we read from God's word in Romans 10 as follows. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandment shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead, but what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed, they have, for their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses said, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation. With a foolish nation I will make you angry. Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. But of Israel, he says, all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. And again it is to verse 14 through 17 that we turn our attention especially. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Our congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to begin this evening by way of introduction with an acknowledgement that this is a somewhat unusual setting. The unusualness of the setting is not us gathering together for corporate worship. The unusualness of the setting is that you find yourself in the process of searching for a pastor. And there's a certain danger that I just want to acknowledge when you invite someone to preach, when you are in the midst of searching for a pastor, and the danger is this. The danger is that the pastor invited attempts to preach in order to impress. And I have sought in my preparations and even in my text selection to be very intentional in avoiding that danger. Because whatever else may be said of preaching, preaching should never, ever be done. with a motivation to impress the hearers. It's also a difficult situation for the guest pastor to know what text to pick. You're not making your way through a series of sermons as you ordinarily are in your home congregation. And you don't really know the specific pastoral situation or needs of the members of the congregation. So you might say you come in somewhat blind. So you don't want to try to impress and you're not really sure the spiritual atmosphere of the congregation. So as I considered these factors, I identified two things that I wanted to accomplish. And whenever I say that in the pulpit, I understand and I emphasize that the accomplishment of these goals is entirely dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit. But my two goals tonight are first, to assist you as a congregation, to minister to you as a congregation, to help you as a congregation in your process of searching for a minister of the word and sacrament by describing from the scriptures what you ought to look for, what a gospel minister is. But secondly, my goal as it always should be, is to exalt the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe that our text does both of those together in a wonderfully unified way. Romans 10 verses 14 through 17 give you as a congregation instruction and encouragement for what you should be looking for. with your next minister of the word and sacrament. And as it does that, it also exalts and lifts high the name of Jesus Christ, both in his person and in his work. So with those goals before us tonight, we turn to our text with this theme, a gospel preacher. Noticing first of all, who he is, and then secondly, what he does, and then third, why he does it. A gospel preacher, who he is, what he does, and why he does it. And I hope that as you follow tonight, and especially younger people and boys and girls, I hope that you see the simplicity of the message. I hope that you're able to follow along and go, oh, I see exactly where he got that from. Because it is, I believe, a rather straightforward message. Who is a gospel preacher? First of all, a gospel preacher is a man. We state this, for example, based upon the testimony of 1 Timothy 2, verse 12, where the apostle Paul says, and I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. And we need to be clear, especially to those who may not share our convictions, we need to be clear so that we are not misunderstood, that we firmly believe, in a certain sense of the word, of the equality between the two distinct genders. But in our day, we need to back up even more and say we are firmly convinced of the truth and the reality of two distinct genders. In the beginning, he created them. male and female, he created them. And against all of the waves of the Western cultural revolutions, we as a congregation, as a church, and by extension as a federation of churches, must take our stand upon the scriptural truths. But we understand that God created male and female in his image. that both the man and the woman bear the image of God. And so both the man and the woman have inherent value and equal value. And yet we hold to a biblical understanding of what is known as complementarianism, that God created the two distinct genders for differing roles. So to Adam he gave one set of instructions, you might say, and to Eve he gave another set of instructions, not that their instructions were contrary to one another, but their instructions were actually wonderfully united together. And when we follow the biblical pattern that is revealed so clearly within scripture, the result is, to a certain extent, harmony within relationships and harmony within society, but any time and every time that you go against the biblical norms, you will always find disorder and disharmony. And we must always appreciate our past and the beliefs of our forefathers because our federation of churches was established upon this re-understanding and this recommitment to the authority of the scriptures. and a proper interpretation of the Scriptures that did not fall prey to some type of radical contextualization that says, well, 1 Timothy 2, verse 12, well, that's one thing in the first century, but now we need to reinterpret that, given the social evolution of humanity. To that we said, and we say, no. The Word of God abides forever. So a gospel preacher must be a man. and he must be a man called by God. A gospel preacher must not be an individual who sought the office by himself, but rather a gospel preacher must be a man who was drawn into the office by God himself. And Reformed theology for quite some time has made a distinction between the internal call and the external call when it comes to office bearing, also as it applies to the office of the minister of the word and the sacrament. And both are necessary, it's not as if it's one or the other. And so God calls a man to the office of the minister of the word and sacrament by this internal call, by working within his spirit, by the Holy Spirit, this compelling necessity that I have to preach the gospel, woe to me. to echo the words of the Apostle Paul, if I don't preach the gospel. Now, this is not a spirit of haughty arrogance. This is not some type of self-congratulatory that, oh, I'm the greatest gift, I'm the greatest orator, I just have to be in the pulpit so everyone can hear how wonderfully fluent I am with my speech. No, the Apostle Paul says nothing of the sort. In fact, when he came, he came in display of weakness. And he acknowledges that the gospel preaching is foolishness to those that are the intellectual, astute ones of society. But when God calls a man to office, God places upon the spirit of that man a compulsion. and also a certain provision of the necessary talents to engage in the work of diligent study and the proclamation of the Word of God. And then this internal call also has providential openings to the office itself, which transitions us then to the external call, where a congregation, as they are also led by the Holy Spirit, acknowledge and perceives that this man has the call to office and also has the call to office within this local congregation. And as you go through this process of searching for your next minister of the word and sacrament, may you do so with something of the spirit and also the actions of the early church in Acts 1, verse 24. And they, that is the disciples, prayed and said, you, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen. And the context there, of course, is the replacement, you might say, of Judas. So there was to be a selection of another apostle. And you find the same thing happening when the early church instituted the office of the diaconate. There was this fervent prayer, Lord, show us whom you have chosen. And this prayer recognizes the sovereignty of God over the government of the church. and the wisdom of God over all things. And so a preacher is a man called by God, called by God to office. And we want to be clear and also brief, and we believe we can do both in this sub point, of what it is to be an office bearer. What does it mean that a man is called to office? An office is a placement into a position with a definite task. And a placement into a position for a definite task along with the endowment of the authority necessary to fulfill that task. And we can make an analogy here that ties into the administration of baptism. Cody and Brenda, by being given the gift of children, have by God been called to the office of parenting. Cody has been called to be a father. Brenda has been called to be a mother. And God has given them, as he has given to all parents, a very definite task. Raise these children in the fear of the Lord. Teach them the ways of the Lord. And when necessary, correct them and guide them back into the ways of the Lord. And God has bestowed to Cody and to Brenda, as a father and a mother, the authority to do that instructing and that correcting. And you can also then take that and apply it to the office bearer in the church. God takes a man and says to that man, go and preach the gospel. And God then gives to that man, when he is placed into an office, the authority to stand in the pulpit and say, based always upon the word of God, never should he stand in the pulpit and say, well, I have this idea, I have this thought that came to me, I have this extra biblical resource that I referenced, but the minister says, I stand in the pulpit, and with the word of God before me, and with a pastoral authority, I proclaim, thus saith the Lord. That's what it means to be called to the office of minister of the word and of the sacrament. So who is a gospel minister? A man called by God to a very specific office. Well, what then does he do? That's our second point of consideration. And that, of course, logically builds upon our first point. If a preacher is a man called by God to office, he, in that office, then preaches the gospel, teaches the gospel, and adorns the gospel. So first of all, the preacher preaches the gospel. A preacher preaches. Now you would think perhaps that this is very self-evident. And yet there are times in which it is not so self-evident. I remember talking to a man who in the office of minister said, I just don't really like to preach. And I remember I was dumbstruck. And this was years and years ago. I don't know if I was still in seminary, I think just after seminary. And I thought to myself, you're a preacher, but you don't like to preach. Now I don't want to give the false impression that preachers think we do a wonderful job preaching. It's not that. But above anything and everything, a preacher must be a man who preaches. I mean, imagine a woman saying, I really want to be a mother. I just can't stand children. You would go, I don't think that's going to work. I don't think those two go together. Now, you might appreciate a mother saying after the end of a long day that she's exasperated with her children. But to say, I want to be a mother, I just don't like children. I want to be a preacher, I just don't like to preach. A preacher should be a man who loves to preach, even as he recognizes his weaknesses in preaching. And what exactly is preaching? Preaching is the official formal proclamation of a message of a superior person by an inferior person who has been appointed. And the word picture in the New Testament especially is that of a town crier. Now we don't have them anymore because of the advancements that we have with technology. the spread of media and all of those types of things. But boys and girls, years and years and years ago, before you had newspapers and the radio and the internet and social media, if you needed to make an announcement, especially if you were the king and you needed to announce to a city something was going to happen, and especially that you were going to go to that city, you would send a town crier. And that town crier would go into that city and he would say, the king is coming. The king of the kingdom is going to come to this city on such and such a date, on such and such an occasion, for such and such a reason. Now therefore make ready. And the people perhaps would clean up their storefronts and scrub the streets, et cetera. But that's the whole idea. And that's picked up by the Apostle Paul when he talks about preaching. So preaching is this authoritative proclamation that the king of kings and the Lord of lords has come in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just. And you see, this is why preaching is contagious for the preacher. This is why they get somewhat animated in their preaching. This is why they get excited in their preaching, because we have the wonderful opportunity in a sin-devastated world, as the sin impacts all around us, including relationships, and as you see people dealing with the impact of sin, we have the wonderful opportunity to say, there is a king who has come with healing in his wings, and he has accomplished salvation, and he has accomplished redemption. There is forgiveness, there is reconciliation, there is peace. And this is what draws the gospel preacher into the pulpit, and this is what keeps drawing him back and back and back again and again and again, so that he can preach the gospel, that he can proclaim Jesus Christ has come to save sinners. And not only does the gospel preacher preach the gospel, he teaches the gospel. We read, for example, in 1 Timothy 3, verse 2, a bishop must be able to teach. And now, not to be overly technical, but where preaching addresses the whole of the person, The mind, the will, and the emotions. Now preaching should never play on a person's emotions. Preaching should never attempt to manipulate a person's will. But preaching should address all three elements of our person. But teaching perhaps is more specifically focused upon the mind and the communication of divine truth. And in our settings, this is usually done, for example, with a Bible study, with a catechism class, with a profession of faith class, and those types of venues, but the gospel preacher teaches, teaches the word of God. And he also does this as he engages in that crucial work of pastoral visitation, as he makes the calls to the hospital, as he goes to those who are mourning the passing of a loved one, as he makes bereavement visits, as he engages in premarital counseling, seeking to communicate the truth of the word of God to this young couple who are engaged to be married and who are about to set forth in a lifetime commitment in husband and wife. And all of those avenues, the gospel preacher, what is he doing? He's seeking to teach the gospel and all of his implications for the flourishing of God's people in covenantal life. So he preaches with all of the sanctified energy that he can muster in dependency upon the work of God, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he teaches, and then he adorns the gospel by his life. 1 Timothy 3 verse two, an overseer must be above reproach. Now the preacher is a sinner. The preacher is not perfect. But the office bearer, and especially the preacher, by God's grace, must be a man of moral integrity. And it is sad, and it is sobering, to hear the seemingly unending reports of ministers who fall into dreadful moral compromise and sin. And why is it so devastating? Because of the shame it brings upon the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and the devastating impact it has Because you know what happens when an office bearer through moral compromise is disqualified from office? Satan laughs. And the unbelieving world laughs. And you know what else happens sometimes? Sheep get hurt. Sheep get hurt. when the shepherd strays. The gospel preacher, by God's grace, must be a man of moral integrity, who loves to communicate divine truths to people, and who loves to stand in the pulpit and say there is a savior for sinners. His name is Jesus Christ. He was incarnate. He suffered, He died, He descended into hell as the vicarious substitutionary atonement, so that you might be justified by faith in Him. And He rose again from the dead, and He ascended into heaven, and He now sits at the right hand of the Father. So when the congregation gathers together on the Lord's day, as they're perhaps somewhat distraught with what they've heard throughout the week, as they've turned on their televisions to the endless news cycles and as they've opened up and scrolled social media and they come and they say, the world is falling, everything seems to be out of control, where are we going? The gospel minister is able to stand and say, Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. That's what the gospel preacher does. But why does he do it? That's our third point of consideration. Why does the gospel preacher, this man called by God to this unique office, why does he preach the gospel, teach the gospel, and adorn the gospel? He does so out of love, out of a pastoral love. And synonyms that perhaps expand upon that word of love is compassion, concern, care. The minister of the gospel longs to see His parishioners flourishing in covenantal life. He has a love for his people. Philippians 1 verse 8, the Apostle Paul says, for God is my witness how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. Now certainly some gospel preachers They have different personalities. Some interact more easily with people. Others maybe are a bit more reserved, but the gospel preacher must be a man who loves people. Loving people, recognizing that they are image bearers of God. And so when the gospel preacher looks upon his congregation, he must see pews filled with image bearers of God, persons who reflect something of God himself. Because of course there are all sorts of different people within a congregation, different ages. There are those who are young, there are those who are young adults, there are those who are what we would qualify in the middle years of their life, and then there are the more seasoned saints in their mature years, but the faithful preacher must be a man who sees all of them with a certain concern and a certain care, and is able to minister to all of them to a certain extent. As he preaches the gospel, as he teaches the gospel, and as he adorns the gospel, he must be a man who can look upon a toddler and give some biblical instruction to that toddler about the beauty of Jesus Christ. He must be a man who can talk to a young adult and point out with words of encouragement the way of life. He must be a man who can officiate perhaps at a wedding of a young couple and do so with joy and a certain attitude of celebration as he looks upon this young couple as they're exchanging their vows. And he has nothing but well wishes for them in their marriage, that they may enjoy the beauty of the gift that God has given them. But he must also be a man who can go to the nursing home. and sit by an aged person who perhaps is struggling even to retain the recollection of reality and minister the word of God in that context as well. He must be a man by God's grace, of course, with God's word, who can stand with a family around a casket and put their reality into an eternal perspective and remind them with warm words of comfort about the reality of eternal life and the resurrection of the dead. And he must do this out of love for his people, recognizing them to be image bearers of God, but also sinners and saints. I love a quote. I love many quotes, but this quote especially, you know what the gospel preacher is? He's just one beggar telling other beggars where he has found bread. A preacher is just a man called by God to this office to stand and base again upon the word of God to say, I am a beggar, you are a beggar, but I have found bread. and I need to tell you about it so that you also can find bread, the bread of life. Because the gospel preacher preaches out of love for his people, but he preaches out of love for his Christ. And this congregation is what really, really, really motivates the gospel preacher. Love for Christ. Boys and girls, maybe young people, have you ever talked to somebody who just loves something and all they can do is talk about it? Maybe a certain hobby that they love, maybe a certain sport that they love, and you listen to them and it's like every time you talk to them, they're just talking about basketball or football or their work. We have a joke in our family, and it's only funny because it's true, and the construction trades, as you drive around the area, certain tradesmen say, oh, I worked on that house, I poured that wall, I did that driveway, I roofed that roof, and on and on and on, because they love their work, they talk about their work. There's something of that same spirit amplified in the gospel preacher. Why do we preach about the Lord Jesus Christ? Because we love the Lord Jesus Christ. And why do we love the Lord Jesus Christ? Because of who he is. Eternally God. Fully God. Co-equal, co-essential, co-eternal with the Father and the Son and the Spirit. And yet, he is also fully man. And there's this wonderful mystery, God manifested in the flesh, that we love to stand and tell people about. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. And we have to tell others of his glory. Whoever will hear, whoever will listen, whoever will entertain us long enough to express something about the glory of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then enable us also to say a few words about his work, as they typically are structured in our Apostles' Creed, his steps of humiliation and his steps of exaltation. And why does the gospel minister love to proclaim this message? Because the gospel minister knows that this is the message that individuals need to hear for their own salvation. And that's where you find the Apostle Paul as we move towards a close. In verse 13, just prior to when he goes into our text about how will they call on him and whom they have not believed, he says in verse 13, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And there's something of a holy zeal when we're able to say that. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, there's a wonderful inclusion. Everyone, rich, poor, Jew, Gentile, free slave, male, female. And so the one message goes out across all demographics. But of course there's also this necessary point, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. And so along with the explanation of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done, there also comes in the earnest, the earnest call of the gospel to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ personally, to embrace him as your own Lord and Savior. Out of this wonderful exercise of repentance and faith. And so tonight, if these words find the ears of someone who's living in unbelief, whether that unbelief is indifference or ignorance or apathy, today, with much weakness, I readily acknowledge, but today you have heard of Jesus Christ. the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Savior of sinners. And you also now hear that you are commanded to call upon Him in faith. And the beautiful promise is, to all who call on Jesus Christ, they will be saved. Thanks be to God. Congregation, Now if Cornerstone United Reformed Church, I would submit to you based upon the authority of the word of God that a gospel preacher is a man called by God to the office of minister, of word and sacrament. That he has to preach the gospel, to teach the gospel, and adorn the gospel. And he is and he does do that out of love for his people. and out of love for his Christ. And whoever the man is, my earnest hope for you as a congregation and prayer is that the Lord would provide his man in his time. Amen. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, we thank you. We thank you that there is a gospel message, the gospel of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the good news that there is a deliverer, a savior. the good news that the word indeed has become flesh and has dwelt among us. And Lord, tonight, maybe for the first time for someone, but for all of us, by way of renewed appreciation, may we behold his glory. And may this congregation be well instructed in what a gospel preacher is, and would you continue to lead them and guide them and provide for this pulpit and all of the pulpits, we know that there are so many that are vacant, and the vacancies are increasing in number. Lord, the harvest is indeed white. Send forth the laborers, so that your Son, our Savior, might be honored and glorified. For Jesus' sake, amen.