I'm preaching this morning from
1 Corinthians 2, verses one and two. This is Paul speaking, and
he said, and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with
excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony
of God, for I determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified." I've entitled this message, Paul's
Resolve. He said, I determined not to
know anything among you. save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, the Bible's a big book.
Genesis 1-1 through Revelation 22-21, all inspired by God with
over 40 authors written over a period of over 1,500 years. And with regard to this whole
book, the Apostle Paul says, I've determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is my resolve
to have no other subject but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Usually if a preacher gets on
a hobby horse dwelling on some subject in the Bible, he does
so to the exclusion of others that are equally important. You can overemphasize one doctrine
to the exclusion of another doctrine. But here, Paul makes this statement
that in reality covers the whole Bible and includes every doctrine. I've determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is my only
subject. And in that being my only subject,
in reality, I preach everything in the Bible. Now, most preachers
would say they preach the cross, they preach Christ crucified.
I would say that if you would come to any preacher and ask
them, do you preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified? They'd say,
of course I do. I preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But
they know nothing of what Paul meant when he said, I determined
not to know anything among you. save Jesus Christ and Him crucified
because they'll say they preach the cross and they'll go on to
other things. They'll become politicians trying to promote
their brand of politics or they will say we need to teach people
how to live the Christian life. We need to preach against the
sins of society. We need to teach people how to
witness. You know, that in itself seems
dishonest, to teach somebody to witness. You are a witness
if you've seen something. If you have to teach somebody
to witness, there is a real problem. We need to influence our culture. stand against the sins of the
times. We need to fight against abortion. We need to fight against
pornography. We need to fight against substance
abuse. Now those things are indeed evil.
But if I spend my time preaching against the sins of society,
I am not preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If I am pushing
some kind of political agenda, I am not preaching Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. If that's what we're doing, trying
to affect the culture, we're not preaching Christ crucified. Now, have you and I made this
resolve? Do we understand what Paul meant
when he said, I've made it my determination? I've made it my
resolve to have no other subject but this, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. When the sun's not up, you see
the stars. But when the sun comes up in
its brilliance, you don't see anything else. And that's what
happens when someone sees the glory of Jesus Christ and him
crucified. Now, Paul said in the previous
chapter, in verse 22, for the Jews require a sign, and the
Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. That is the subject of our preaching. Christ crucified. Now unto the Jews, this is a
stumbling block. And unto the Greeks, this is
foolishness. The Jews require a sign. They
want to see something that makes them think what you're saying
is true. I need a sign to prove what you're
saying is true. I need to see your life to see,
I wanna see how you live to make sure that what you're saying
is true. I need a sign, something to show me. The Greeks, the non-religious
people, seek after wisdom, where you want wisdom to make this
world a better place. We want to have better hospitals
and better healthcare and fight against poverty and better education. We need wisdom to make this world
a better place. The Jews seek a sign. The Greeks
seek after wisdom. But Paul says, we preach Christ
crucified. Now unto the Jews, the religious
people, this is a stumbling block. You mean to tell me that you're
saved completely by what somebody else did? You mean to tell me
that you believe that simply Christ dying on a cross under
the wrath of God is everything God requires of me? Why, that'll
lead to sin, that'll lead to indifference. That won't change
anybody's life. And the Greek hears this message
and he says, that's foolishness. How's this gonna make the world
a better place? But Paul says unto them which are called, Not
everybody's gonna see this, but some will. And to them which
are called, called by God, called by his invincible, irresistible
grace. To them which are called, Christ,
the power of God, and Christ, the wisdom of God. Now when Paul is writing this
epistle in chapter two, verse one, he reminds them of how he
came initially into Corinth. You can read about it in Acts
chapter 18. Paul came in by himself and he stayed there 18 months. The Lord said, fear not Paul,
don't hold your peace for I have much people in this city. And
Paul came into this big city by himself and began to preach
the gospel. And he says in verse one, and
I brethren, when I came to you, he's talking about his first
entrance into Corinth. He said, I came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom. I didn't come with eloquent,
flowery speech and dazzling displays of rhetoric. I didn't come with
human wisdom and philosophy to impress you. I didn't come with
psychological tricks to manipulate you. That's what most preaching
is. It's manipulation. I'm not talking about true preaching. I'm talking about man's religious
preaching. It's trying to manipulate you
to get you to do what they want you to do. That's nothing more
than manipulation. For instance, an altar call.
What is that but a manipulation? Trying to manipulate people,
tug on them to get them to come down to do something to prove
God's done something for you. Paul said, I didn't come with
excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony
of God. Four, I determined not to know
anything among you. I made this my resolve, not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I made this my determination
to preach nothing else. Now, all Scripture can be interpreted
in light of this statement, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All Scripture points to that. And wherever I'm at in the Scriptures,
if I can't get to Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I've missed
the meaning of the Scripture. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Christ, God's
prophet, God's priest, God's king, Jesus Christ in Him. crucified, the most shameful,
ignominious death, stripped naked and nailed to a cross, I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
Now, does that mean I move you by graphic descriptions of the
sufferings, the physical sufferings and agony of Christ on the cross? Some years ago, there was a movie
that came out, The Passion of the Christ. And I didn't go see
it. And it's not because I'm not
moved by his physical sufferings, but the point of that movie was
to try to move us by his physical sufferings. I don't want to look
at a man dressed up like Christ anyway. To me, that's idolatry.
He's God. Don't make an image of Him. That
does not mean when I'm talking about preaching Christ and Him
crucified, I'm always giving graphic details of the physical
sufferings of Christ. And I don't want to diminish
His physical sufferings in any way, but it was His soul sufferings. Do you remember in Gethsemane's
garden, when He saw that cup that the Father was getting ready
to give Him to drink, He said, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. What was in that cup? The sins
of His people. He was going to be made sin. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For
He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God. in Him. I preach His soul sufferings,
who it is that suffered, and what He accomplished in His suffering. When He said, it is finished,
The salvation of everybody he died for was completed. Sin was
put away. Righteousness was established.
All my salvation, all my acceptance with God, all my hope is in Jesus
Christ, who he is, and him crucified, what he accomplished. Now Paul
goes on to say in verse three, and I was with you in weakness
and in fear. and in much trembling." Now,
when Paul's saying that, he wasn't saying, I was afraid of you.
He said, I was conscious of my own weakness, my own sinfulness. I was afraid of misrepresenting
God. I didn't want to give my opinion.
I wanted to give the very word of God. And anytime a man preaches,
that ought to be his attitude, not some cocksure, arrogant attitude. but weakness and fear and much
trembling. He said in verse four, in my
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. My speech was not with enticing
words and my marginal reading says persuadable words, manipulation. Using words to manipulate. Now when I preach, I want you
to believe what I'm saying. I wanna preach the truth and
I want you to believe. It's not like I'm indifferent
about that, but I'm not gonna try to manipulate you to get
you to believe the way I do. I'm gonna declare the truth and
trust God the Holy Spirit to take care of the results. You
can manipulate people. Here's an example. I could preach
to our congregation and say, somebody in this congregation
saw fit to cancel their vacation and give the money to missions.
And people would be moved by that. They would think, oh, I
need to do that. And in reality, that's manipulating
people, trying to get them to do what I want them to do. I've
already spoken of this, but an altar call is nothing but psychological
manipulation. Paul said, I didn't come with
enticing words of man's wisdom. using man's wisdom to dress up
the gospel and make it more attractive or less offensive. No, I didn't
do that. My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and power, trusting the power of the Holy Spirit
to make the word known. And here's why I did this, that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. If I can talk you into something,
somebody else can talk you out of it. But oh, if the very power
of God gave me the faith that I have, the same power that created
the universe, that faith will last. Now let's consider this
statement. I determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I want to
make six statements with regard to that statement, I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And I'm gonna use the word interpretation in every one of these statements. Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is the interpretation of the eternal purpose of God. God's got a purpose and that
eternal purpose is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We read in Revelation 13, verse
8, that Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now, before there was time, before
there was a creation, before there was sin, Christ was the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This is God's eternal
purpose. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The cross was not God's response
to Adam's fall. He didn't say, well, that messed
up, so I'll provide the cross to take care of the problem.
No, this is God's eternal purpose. This is the whole counsel of
God. God determined, God made the
universe so His Son could die on a cross. Christ dying on the
cross is the most God-like thing God ever did. And this is God's
purpose. This is His way of making Himself
known. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
is God's eternal purpose. I think of when the Lord said
concerning The cross, Father, the hour has come. The hour I
came into this world for, to die on a cross. You see, had
not Christ died on the cross, there would be no salvation.
There would be no glorifying God. Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
might also glorify thee. Now the cross is the reason,
the explanation, the purpose of every event. The cross of
Jesus Christ and him crucified is the whole counsel of God.
It's the object of faith. It's the object of repentance. Jesus Christ and him crucified.
is the interpretation of God's eternal purpose. Secondly, the
cross of Christ is the interpretation of God himself. God makes himself
known through Jesus Christ and him crucified. You and I will
not know God We will not know His character. We will not know
His attributes apart from Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a manifestation of all of the attributes of God. That's how important this is.
There's no knowing God apart from the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now let's think about what the cross declares with
regard to God. It tells us God's just. He's
going to punish sin. When sin was found on His Son,
God killed Him because God is absolutely just. He will not
sweep sin under the carpet. The cross tells us that God is
love. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son. The cross is a manifestation
of the wisdom of God. how God could make a way to be
just, absolutely just, and yet justify the ungodly. He's made a way to make me, an
ungodly sinner, perfectly righteous, having never sinned in his sight. That's the great doctrine of
justification. The cross is a declaration of
the sovereignty of God, On either side of Christ were two men. One he saved, the other he left
to himself. The cross is a declaration of
the power of God, how he can actually make my sin not to be
and make me to be perfect in his sight. Every attribute of
God, his purpose, his immutability, his infinite greatness is all
seen in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I repeat, The cross
is the most God-like thing God ever did. The cross is God making
Himself known. Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is an interpretation of who God really is. It's what God has
given us to tell us who He really is. Thirdly, the cross is the
interpretation of the true character of man. Here is how evil you
and I are. We murdered God's son. We nailed
him to a cross and watched him bleed and die. Now, somebody says, don't accuse
me of that. I wasn't even born when that
happened. Well, the scripture says, by one man, sin entered
the world and death by sin so that death passed upon all men
in that all sinned. When Adam sinned, I sinned. You
sinned. And when Christ was nailed to
a cross, you might not have been alive yet, but you would have
done it. Now somebody says, no, I wouldn't. Yes, you would. Yes,
you would. You may be all right with the
false Jesus that you can control, but the absolute sovereign Christ,
you would cry with everyone else, we will not have this man reign
over us. And when man is left to himself,
now I know we can be good on the outside, But I'm talking
about what God sees. What God sees. Man, me and you,
if left to ourselves and we're allowed to do what we want to
do, we nail his son to a cross because in reality, what we are
by nature is God haters. Somebody might wince and say,
I've never hated God. Well, I repeat. You've never
hated the God that you feel comfortable with, the God you've invented,
but the God of the Bible, the God who's absolutely sovereign,
and you're in His hands, and He can do with you whatever He's
pleased to do. He can save you, or He can damn you. And you have
no control in this. Salvation is of the Lord. That
God men hate, and they prove that when they nail Jesus Christ
to the tree. The cross is the true interpretation
of man. Don't tell me anything about
the goodness of man. I mean, I'm all for good deeds and good
works and treating people well and so on, but I know what man
is. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The cross is
the true interpretation of the law. Now, what do I mean by that? If there was one time when God
could have turned his back and not punished someone, it was
when Christ was on the cross. But the sins of God's elect became
his sins. He became guilty of those sins,
even though he's not the one who committed them, his people
did. But he willingly took them upon himself and God killed him. That's all the law does. The
law punishes. Somebody says, I try to keep
the law. Well, the problem is you haven't kept it. And if you
try to come into God's presence, or if I try to come into God's
presence on the basis of my own obedience to the law, all it
will do is kill me. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. And fifth, the cross is the interpretation
of the gospel. Hear Paul's words. God forbid
that I should glory. saving the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, all I have confidence in. Now, this is Paul speaking,
the man God used more than anybody else to expound the gospel, a
writer, an author of scripture, the chief apostle, the wise master
builder. He said, God forbid, may it never
be said that I would have confidence in anything but Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. God forbid that I should glory,
have confidence and rest in anything but what He accomplished on Calvary's
tree. I don't glory in my preaching.
I don't glory in my growth. I don't glory in my understanding.
I glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way I could be
saved is by what he did. I don't look to my faith. I don't
look to my repentance. I don't look to my efforts. I
don't look to my efforts to do battle with sin. I rest in the
Lord Jesus Christ. When he said it is finished,
My salvation was finished. Oh, salvation is only seen in
light of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And last, I interpret
Christian service by the cross. This was what Paul meant when
he said, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and
I unto the world. You see, law never produces love. The gospel does. The gospel of
Christ. All the law does is produce resentment. You know you can't come up with
what the law expects. But when you find out that you
cannot be more loved, you cannot be more accepted, you cannot
be more received, you cannot be more perfect, you cannot be
more holy, save what you are in the cross. You know what that
does? That makes you want to give yourself lock, stock, and
barrel to Him. That makes you be forgiving. That makes you take the lowest
seat in the house. That makes you willingly take
up your cross and follow Him. It's only the cross that does
that. Anything else is trying to earn your salvation. It's
only when you see the message of the cross that you no longer
attempt to earn your salvation because you've had it and you
serve with the motive of love rather than the motive of law
and a mercenary spirit. You're doing what you want to
do. The cross is the interpretation
of that. Now, isn't it beautiful? Paul says, I determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. May you and I see such glory
in the cross that from our hearts we say the same thing with Paul. I've determined not to know anything,
to esteem anything as important except for Jesus Christ and Him
crucified.