Open your Bibles, if you would,
to 1 Corinthians 2. And we'll read one verse in 1
Corinthians 2. It'll be verse 2. It says, Paul wrote this to the
Corinthian church. He said, for I am determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, Paul also wrote these words. He said, for we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord. Therefore God's preachers were
sent to preach Christ. So when we preach the gospel,
we preach Christ and him crucified to our hearers. And it's not
our business to enact laws for believers to follow, but it's
our business to preach Christ. It's not our business to regulate
the lives of man, but to feed their souls. And we're not to
present the husks of intellectualism, or the myths of mysticism, or
the stones of useless doctrinal speculation, or the poison of
heresy. God's servants come preaching
by the grace of God, and by his power and his power alone, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only savior of sinners. Here
are three things, when we preach the gospel, here are three things
which is in every gospel message. Three things we proclaim when
we're preaching the gospel of salvation in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ. When we preach the gospel, we
declare, ruined by the fall, that man is depraved, that he
is fallen. and that he has no way to save
himself. Number two, we preach redemption by the blood of Christ.
The only salvation for sinners is found in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ and his shed blood. And then we preach regeneration
by the Holy Spirit of God. You must be born again. And that's
by God's power. That's not by so-called human
will. Now we have a will, but our will
is chained to our nature, and we will always choose sin, and
we will never seek God unless we're made willing in the day
of God's power. So number one, ruined by the
fall. The word of God declares that both Adam and Eve, the first
man and the first woman, sinned against God. First Eve, then
Adam, and Eve was first in the transgression as she was beguiled
and deceived by the old serpent, the devil. And then what happened,
he had persuaded her to eat of the forbidden fruit. However,
it was by Adam's transgression and sin that death entered into
this world, not by Eve's, because Adam is the federal head of all
of mankind. So when he partook of the forbidden
fruit, the world and all of humanity was plunged into sin and death.
and under the wrath of God. Romans chapter 5 verse 12 says
this, wherefore is by one man, that's Adam, sin entered into
the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. Now, when Adam sinned, we all
sinned in him, representatively. And we all became sinners. Adam's
sin was legally charged and imputed to all humanity. As the scripture
declares of humans, all have sinned, and every one of us have
sinned. There is not a person breathing air on this earth who
hasn't sinned. The only one who never sinned was the one who
was sent from heaven, who was the seed of the woman, and his
name is the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's God in the flesh. But
every son and daughter of Adam, we're all just a bunch of dirty
dog sinners. That's what we are. That's what we are. Oh my. Scripture
declares now the wages of sin is death. So the payment, the
wages there, talks about Roman payment for a soldier. That's
our due reward, beloved. Our due reward for our sin is
death. That's why everyone dies. Because
we're all a bunch of sinners. And when Adam sinned, we all
died spiritually. He was physically still alive,
but spiritually He fell, and we all fell in Him. Therefore,
we are born into this world dead in trespasses and sins, and we're
all sinners by birth, nature, and choice. And the sin and fall
of our father Adam also made a way for the display of God's
glorious, superbounding grace in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. See, God wasn't just going to plan B here. No. No. In order for there to be
a Redeemer, We must fall. And Adam willfully took of that
fruit, didn't he? Oh my. Think of this. Had there
been no fall, there would be no salvation. Had there been
no ruin, there would be no redemption. Had there been no sin, there
would be no Savior. Had there been no Savior, we
wouldn't have been able to sing songs such as this. There is
a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty
stains. If there was no Savior, we wouldn't
be able to sing Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I once was lost, oh so lost,
but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. Praise be to God. marvel at the
fact that before there was ever a sinner, there was a savior.
God's son, the word of God. Oh my. Number two, we preach
redemption when we preach the gospel. All human beings were
made sinners by Adam's disobedience, so all God's elect have been
made righteous by Christ's obedience unto death. as He redeemed all those who
the Father gave Him by the shedding of His precious blood. Now, I
didn't know that when I was born, that I was one of His elect,
and neither did you. But God knew. And God had chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, and God had sent
his son to redeem us at Calvary's cross, and then God sent the
Holy Spirit, and he regenerated us, gave us faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. What comes first, faith or regeneration? Regeneration, you must be born
again. You never believe without being born again. And faith is
a gift of God, not a works, lest any man should boast. It's beautiful,
it's wonderful. And so how were we redeemed?
Oh, by the precious blood of Christ. Listen to this in Hebrews.
I mean, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 14 and 15. How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? And for this cause he is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, remember,
he's our substitute, for the redemption of the transgressions
that were under the First Testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. Oh! Oh! My! Now God doesn't count us pure
by any of our wicked works. No, we're just a bunch of dead
dog sinners, aren't we? No, and he will not bend his
law on justice. to save His chosen people. No,
His justice must be satisfied. His law must be satisfied. Oh,
and by the wondrous works of His amazing grace in Christ,
He makes His chosen righteous by the obedience of His Son.
Oh my, His representative, who has fulfilled all righteousness
in the room and place of God's people. And by the sin atoning
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, shed in His precious blood, to
ransom our eternal souls, God's justice has been satisfied. For we were crucified with him,
Romans 5, 19, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,
we fell in and out of. So by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. Oh, all God's people are righteous
in the eyes of God through Christ Jesus. So marvel, marvel at that
verse. Marvel at this verse, speaking
of Christ, giving himself for the believer. I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. In the life which I now live,
in the flesh I live, by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Oh my! God has loved us in Christ
with an everlasting love, beloved. And he sent his Son and gave,
and Christ gave himself for me, each believer can say. I'm crucified
with Christ. Oh my! And in the last point,
whenever we preach the gospel, we preach regeneration. You must
be born again. Our Lord told Nicodemus that
in John chapter 3. In a new birth, God the Holy
Spirit makes every chosen redeemed sinner a new creature in Christ.
2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. Therefore, if any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. And that new man created in us
is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Oh my! Created in righteousness,
true holiness. That new man That new man is
not going to be righteous and worthy of heaven someday. No,
listen to this. He was created in righteousness,
beloved. Oh, and true holiness. Therefore,
the believer in Christ is right now qualified for heaven in Christ
Jesus our Lord. All because of Christ's perfect
righteousness. His perfect righteousness. Because
we have been made righteous by redemption and regeneration.
All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are meat. That's qualified
in the Greek to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
and light, Colossians 1.12. If I'm in Christ and Christ is
in me, I'm truly and really righteous. So perfectly righteous in Christ,
even though I'm still a sinner, so perfectly righteous in Christ
that God accepts me. all because of Christ, all because
of being clothed in His perfect righteousness. And we're worthy
of heavenly glory in Christ. We're worthy of eternal life,
all by Christ's perfect, sin-atoning work, beloved. Oh, my. Yes, we who who live in hope
of eternal life, we have a good hope through grace, beloved.
A confident assurance of hope. Because we're worthy of heaven
only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Because
His perfect work His perfect work, beloved, and we're born
again by God, the Holy Spirit's almighty power, and given faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, right? For by grace he
is saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Oh my. With his sinless garments on,
I am as holy as God's Son. And I talk to you, sinner friends,
flee to Christ. Trust the Son of God, because
He's the only refuge for sinners. He's the only refuge for your
soul. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Trust Christ in His righteousness.
Oh, trust Christ and the righteousness of God is yours. Forever there
is only hope for sinners that are in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is only redemption in Christ. There's perfect righteousness
in Christ. There's eternal life in Christ. There's eternal salvation
in Christ. And there's eternal safety in
Christ from the wrath and justice of God. And God says to the poor
and, again, blood-washed believers who are in Jesus Christ and washed
in his blood, oh, listen to this. Listen to what he says. When
I see the blood, that's Christ's blood, I will pass over you. Oh, my! Our sins are all forgiven,
and we're accepted in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so we say, praise the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.