Open Public Witness & Testimony Psalm 40:9-10

Text: “I have preached righteousness (Christ’s righteousness) in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest.” 

                                                                                                                        Psalm 40:9.

Good morning, ‘Great Congregation’ Christian!  Having heard the Gospel of Christ and Him Crucified for the Salvation of sinners, by God’s Sovereign grace, you have received faith to believe and doubly receive Eternal forgiveness and Eternal Salvation in Him.  Praise God it is so. 

However, after having personally received Christ and His Eternal Salvation – you are now solemnly commanded to go forth and to preach the Gospel of Salvation in Christ alone to what is referred to in Scriptures as ‘the great congregation’: all precious souls throughout the world with whom you come in personal contact or influence. 

You and I are God-ordained preachers/teachers of God’s way of Eternal Salvation in and through the one-time Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary.  What a Divine purpose we are graciously given!  Lord, help us to be obedient to Thy Word.  Amen.

“Neither is there Salvation in any other: for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”      (Acts 4:12)

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo (look, and understand) I AM with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”  (Matthew 28:19-20)

The message of God’s Salvation to and for ‘His people’ that Jesus taught His disciples and us, is exactly the same message of Salvation in the coming Messiah that God sent Moses to preach/teach to the Jewish nation in captivity down in Egypt, thousands of years earlier.  There is only one Gospel message, of Eternal Salvation found in ONE Person – the Lord Jesus Christ.  Praise and all glory to His Holy and lovely Name!

“And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou has spoken unto Thy servant: but am slow of tongue.  And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth?  Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind?  Have not I the Lord?  Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”  (Exodus 4:10-12)

The Lord God has taught me, your humble servant in Christ, the message of His Salvation grace.  I am this day seeking to preach/teach God’s message to you, out there throughout ‘the great congregation’.  Will you believe and receive the Word?

Verse 9.  “I have preached righteousness. You and I have no personal righteousness, for we are natural sinners, and willful sinners continually.  Thus it is clear that the ‘righteousness’ we are commanded to preach/teach is Christ’s Holy righteousness, and the fact that His perfect righteousness has been imputed (put to the Eternal account) unto all whom he has chosen to believe and receive faith and place full trust in Him and His Sacrifice at the Cross.  Our message?  ‘Ye must be born again!’ (John 3:3-8)

“Verse 9.  I have preached righteousness. It is Jesus Who speaks, and he speaks of Himself as a Preacher.  He was a preacher, and a great preacher, too.  He was great:

“1. In Genuine Eloquence: All the handmaids of the choicest rhetoric ministered to Him as He spoke.  His mind touched the minds of His auditors on all sides.

"2. He was Great in Knowledge: Many who have an astonishing command of words, and who can use their words with astonishing rhetorical adroitness, spoil their influence by their ‘lack of knowledge’. They go blundering onward when they attempt to think for themselves or to guide their hearers into fields of thought which have not been tracked by minds of the pioneer order.

“3. He was Great also in Goodness: There is a greatness in goodness, and the greatness of goodness is an important element in the greatness of a preacher.

“4. Greatness of Essential Dignity: Another element still in the greatness of Jesus as a Preacher, consisted in the greatness of His essential dignity.  He was God as well as man.  Such was Christ as a Preacher.  True He was more than a preacher; He was likewise a Pattern, and a Priest, and a Propitiator; and as pattern, priest, and propitiator, He stands alone without a peer.  But He was a Preacher, too, and as a Preacher, He has never had, and never will have an equal.”  (Condensed from James Frame, 1869)

“…Never man spake as this Man.”  (John 7:46)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by Him (Jesus Christ); and without Him was not anything made that was made…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”  (John 1:1-3; 14)

This is that same Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father, Who commands you and I to preach His Gospel message of Eternal Salvation through His Atonement Sacrifice for sinners at Calvary’s Cross.  We are called to preach/teach/reach ‘the great congregation’ – all the nations of the world who will hear and receive God’s gift of vital faith and be Eternally redeemed by Christ’s sinless Blood.  Listen to the Master’s command: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.  He that believeth (believes and continues to believe) and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”  (Mark 16:15-16)

Thought: What are we actually doing to fulfill Christ’s command to ‘Go’ and to ‘preach’ the Gospel to ‘the great congregation’ yet unsaved, today? Go do it, Christian!  And the Lord will go with you!  (Acts 1:8)