“But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.” 1 Thessalonians 2:4
Is your pastor speaking to please God? The next question must be does your pastor speak of a sovereign God? Does he expound on how God has chosen a remnant and has given them to Jesus Christ before the world began? Does he speak on how God has foreordained, called, and justified the lost, all on his own? Does your pastor tell you that God calls sinners and none can come unless God does call them? Does your pastor speak about the Holy Spirit doing this calling? Does your pastor give God all the glory and expects none in return? If your pastor is not adhering to these truths he is preaching to please man and not God. He has either never learned the truth about God or he refuses to teach the truth. There is only one truth and that is that God is SOVEREIGN and needs nothing or no one to accomplish His blessed will. He does not need you to make a decision for Christ; He does not need you to do anything to be saved because the truth is salvation is of the Lord and only of Him. It is God who changes the leopard’s spots and the Ethiopian skin color. It is he who can do as he please with His own creation, leaving us no right to ask “what doest thou”. It is men like many pastors who refuse to hear or to preach the truth as it is written because the truth has been changed into a lie, and the lie is more pleasing to the carnal ear. "Who changed the truth of God into a lie..." Romans 1:25. These men would rather preach how a sinner who is at enmity with God, who’s heart has been shut-up by Satan and cannot be changed on their own, who has NO ability to make a decision for Christ, and would rather worship a rock rather than a Sovereign God. This is what Paul called worshiping the creature rather than God. "and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator...". Romans 1:25 If your pastor does not preach on the sovereignty of God then he is preaching to please man rather than God. He is preaching to please your heart and not Gods. He is more worried what you think of him than God does. A preacher of truth will put his faith in the Gospel, he will allow the gospel to work its way and he will allow the gospel to bring the sinners to Christ. God says it will: is He wrong or right? Paul said in Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." If the gospel is the power of God then how much does God need us? It is only our job as pastors to preach it to the world and to leave everything else to God and His power. If your pastor is not leaving salvation in the hands of God then he is not preaching to please God. A pastor who deserves praise are those who preach truth, and those who are preaching truth is preaching about how God is sovereign. How God elects, how he predestinates, how He calls, how He saves, how He concludes everything on His own, how He builds the church, and how He supplies the churches. The sovereignty of God means that everything is in Gods hands and we can do nothing on our own. However, listen to your pastor and hear how he never gives God credit for much of anything and he will not tell sinners that their eternal destiny is in the sovereign hands of God. The rivers are turned by the power of God and so is the sinner’s heart. Go ahead and listen to your pastor and teachers and see if what they preach is truth and if it is not, then you do not have to settle for less than the truth. Truth is the only way to worship God. John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Don’t ever, and I mean ever let any man tell you that God cannot change a man’s will, that is the most anti-sovereign God quote out there and it is a total lie!
