Introduction: The man who preaches the Word of God is engaged in a work for which there is nothing sufficient but the power of God. All we need to know to be convinced of that is to have an accurate view of the need that preaching confronts. Preaching offers the gospel of God to a lost world that exists in a spiritually DEAD condition. THE NEED IS NOTHING LESS THAN RESURRECTION. ESV Colossians 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, (Col 2:13 ESV) That state of spiritual death is a state of SLAVERY in a DOMAIN OF DARKNESS. ESV Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ESV Titus 3:3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. (Tit 3:3 ESV) And the instrument for that resurrection is the Word of God. ESV 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ESV 1 Peter 1:23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; The other need that preaching confronts is the need for the development of the people who have been raised. The instruction of that people. The guidance of that people. The purification of that people. The protection of that people. The ongoing transformation of that people. ESV John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ONCE AGAIN, THE APPEAL IS TO GOD FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF GOD’S PEOPLE. The development and care of God’s people is explained by nothing less than DIVINE POWER — DIVINE ACTIVITY. THIS EXPLAINS THE MANDATE WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN. ESV 2 Timothy 4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. But how is the word to be preached? The Word of God is powerful, all by itself, but it is meant to be delivered, through human vessels, in a way that is a demonstration of the power of God. ESV 1 Corinthians 2:4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, What characterizes that kind of preaching? Paul is facing real opposition as he writes what we have in our text. *Paul is facing the attacks that come from unbelieving people and Paul is facing the attacks that sometimes come from confused immature believers. *The antagonists, those who have stirred the pot, are false apostles. He’s been forced to defend himself. And in the midst of that defense he has talked about the supreme glory of the new covenant. This is the ministry that he has been called to—to declare the glorious truths of the new covenant, which is to say, to declare the gospel of grace—to declare the glory of Christ. And THIS is how he commends himself. This is his proven worth. He preaches the gospel. And he will not be ashamed. Preaching the truth brings its own kind of conflict. Paul is facing it. But he will not be dissuaded. He will preach the Word of God as God means for it to be preached.