Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Corinthians chapter one. Excuse me, 1 Corinthians chapter
two. 1 Corinthians chapter two. In verse one, Paul writes, and
I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with the excellency
of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God."
Paul said, I didn't come preaching to you with great oratory skills. You're not going to hear great
oratory skills this morning. Just not. Paul said, I didn't
come to you trying to impress you with any worldly wisdom that
I have acquired or obtained. Friends, I don't have any worldly
wisdom to share with you. Just don't have any. Paul said, I came to you declaring
the gospel. I came to you proclaiming the
testimony of God. Isn't that what he said? I came
to you preaching. That's what that means. My words
were simple. My words were plain. My words
were easy to understand. Now I know Paul was preaching
because it says that he was. That he was declaring the testimony
of God. That's what preaching the gospel
is, isn't it? It's declaring the testimony
of God. It's declaring what this book
says. This book is God's Word. This is the Word of God. If you
don't believe that, I don't have a message for you this morning.
I just don't. If you don't believe this is God's Word to you, sinners
and believers, believing and unbelieving, then I don't have
any hope to give you. None whatsoever. The Hebrew word here for testimony
is evidence. Paul's testimony was evidence. You see, we preach what we've
experienced. We preach what we've evidenced. That word testimony means also
to witness. Paul said, my preaching is evidence
to the truth. He said, I am myself a witness
to the gospel of Christ. I'm a living testimony to what
God can do for a sinner. And He was. And you know what?
So am I. You tell some of my old classmates
what I'm doing now, and you watch them gulp and sweat and hiccup
and everything else. He's a preacher? Him? Preaching is being ready to give
testimony. It's being ready to stand witness.
It's being ready to provide evidence to the gospel message that we
declare. Friends, the gospel message I
tell you all the time is Christ and Him crucified. And I believe
that when Paul said, for I am determined not to know anything
among you, save or accept, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, Paul
not only meant that he himself was determined, he was himself
determined not to know anything or preach anything among sinners,
but whether or not they knew Jesus Christ. And Paul was also
determined that they knew that Christ was crucified and that
they knew why He was crucified. And it all has to do with substitution. I was thinking this morning,
again, you're not going to hear anything new this morning. And
yet you just keep on coming. I believe it was Chris Cunningham
who said not long ago that we could title every message we
preach, Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. I was also thinking
this morning, I've been back about six years, That's roughly
640 messages Sunday and Wednesday that I've preached since I've
been back. So this could be called Jesus Christ and Him Crucified,
part 642. Because it's the same message. God in the flesh must put your
sin away. Did you hear what I said? God
Himself must put your sin away. He's the only one that can. What
was the heavenly angel's message from heaven at Christ's birth?
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior. We need a Savior. Which is Christ
the Lord. God has sent us a Savior. His coming is about salvation.
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sin. When the Lord began preaching,
what was His message? The Lord Jesus was a preacher.
And He said, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that
which is what? Lost! It's a faithful saying
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Are you a sinner? I've got hope for you. After our Lord died, rose again,
ascended into heaven, was received up into glory, the Holy Ghost,
God's Comforter, came down. Christ promised that He would.
And He came down, and the whole burden of the apostles' preaching
was repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ. For the, what? Remission of sins. You see what this is all about?
It's all about our sins. He said, you shall receive the
Holy Ghost. Well, friends, the message from
God to chosen sinners is repent. Believe on Christ. Be baptized
in His name. That's how you receive the Holy
Ghost. That's how you receive the Spirit
of Life. In Acts chapter 5 verse 42, we're
told of the apostles that they daily, daily in the temple and
in every house ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Do you know why? Because He's
the message of life. He's the only hope that a sinner
has. Do you see that your hope is in Him and Him alone? Jesus
Christ was their message. It's the only message that saves.
And the one thing that Paul fixed his eye, his heart, his whole
soul upon was the very thing that he desired to communicate
to all the Lord's people, and that was Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Who Christ is. What Christ did. That's what we preach. Who is
Jesus Christ? He's God. What did Christ do? He died on
the cross. to put away the sin of His people.
Oh, we can just flippantly say that folks, do. Oh, I believe
in Jesus. I believe He died for our sins.
Do you? Do you really? Do you see sin as what you are? Oh, this is the message that
was worthy of all acceptation. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. And beloved, He humbled Himself. He condescended to becoming a
man. For God to become a man? What
a stoop that was! But He didn't stop there. He
condescended to death. The Scripture says even the death
of the cross, the death of a criminal, the death of a convict, Being
found in fashion as a man. God. This is talking about God.
Being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself. You better
believe He did. To become a man. And He became
obedient unto death. What a condescension. Even the
death of the cross. Philippians 2. How could we preach
anything else? This was the reason Christ and
Him crucified was Paul's message. It's the only way that a sinner
can be justified. It's the only way that God can
remain just. It's the only way that God can
be both a just God and a Savior. For a sinner to claim that he
can do anything, something, anything for that matter, that would in
any way accommodate or recommend them to God. is blasphemy against
Christ and Him crucified. It really is. You see, to preach Christ and
Him crucified is to preach man's inability. It's to preach that
no man can come to Christ. Christ had to die for the elect
in order for them to come. That's to preach Christ and Him
crucified. To preach Christ crucified is to preach men and women's
unwillingness to come that they might have life. Well, I'm willing
to come. If you are, God made you willing. God said you will not come that
you might have life. God has to make you willing.
When? In the day of His power. You were unwilling until God
made you willing. To preach Christ crucified is
to preach that man's will is in bondage to his nature. What
does that mean? Well, it means that man is dead
spiritually. It means that a dead man has
no will. It means that a man's will is
dead in him. I can't put it any simpler or
plainer than that. You know, my father died in 1996
and he hasn't willed to do anything since. Why? I'm not trying to
be morbid, it's true. It's so basic and true that it's
sad that people don't believe it. He's dead. He has no will. His will is in bondage to his
nature, which is dead. Men refuse to believe that they're
spiritually dead. You ask them. And they'll say,
well, I'm not perfect, but I'm not that bad. Well, that proves
they're dead. I'm not dead, David Clare. I
may have used to be, but I exercised my will. I let go and let God.
I gave Jesus my heart. I made Jesus my Lord. And Jesus
Christ and Him crucified says, you have no will. You have no
ability. You didn't exercise anything.
You didn't give anything to Jesus. We have no life or will to exercise
anything. We can't keep the Ten Commandments. Well, I never murdered anyone.
Have you hated someone without a cause? I've never committed adultery,
never cheated on my wife. Have you ever looked at a woman
in love? How about this? You can't keep
any of God's law perfectly. The law is weak through the flesh.
Guess whose flesh that's talking about? Ours. The law was never given for you
and me to keep. The law was given to show us
we couldn't keep it. Let me say that again. The law
wasn't given for me and you to keep. It was given to show us
our inability of keeping it. The law was our schoolmaster
to teach us some things. To bring us to Christ. That's
what it says. Has the law of God brought you
to Christ? That's what it was given for.
Paul said, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. In Romans
7, Paul said, I had not known sin, but by the law, he said,
I would have not known lust, except the law had said, thou
shalt not covet. Yes, the law makes us aware of
our sin, but the law can't save us from our sin. Because we can't keep it. The
Gospel is not about us keeping it. The Gospel is about Christ
and Him crucified. And that's how Christ died for
our sin. It was according to the Scriptures. He kept the Law
perfectly for us. That's what this book teaches
us from front cover to back. How did Christ die for our sins?
According to the Scriptures. Turn with me to Romans chapter
3. If you would. Romans chapter 3. Look at Romans 3 verse 20. Listen to
what Paul says here. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight and God's sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Verse 21. But now the
righteousness of God without the law was manifested. Now that
should be of some interest to us because we've got to have
the perfect righteousness of God in order to be reconciled
to Him. So it says, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Friends, substitution is what
Moses saw, the prophet saw, Christ and Him crucified in the law
of God. That's what the Old Testament sacrifices and Sabbath days and
all that pictured the Lord Jesus Christ. God's righteousness without
the law is manifested. Do you have any idea what good
news that is? Verse 22, even the righteousness
of God Which is by faith of Jesus Christ. By His faith, not yours.
By the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe. For there is no difference. For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Friends,
all of us by nature are lost. How can some be saved? Right
here, verse 24. Being justified freely. by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation,
an expiating victim, the only one who could put our sin away. That's what He's saying there.
Through faith in His blood to declare His, Christ's, righteousness
for the remission of sins. Do you see how our sin is paid
for? By the righteousness of Christ. And that's what we preach. We
preach the righteousness of Christ for the remission of sins. And
that's the only way that sin, past, present, and future can
be put away. That's the only way that the
sins of the Old Testament saints could be put away. They saw Christ's
blood. They saw Christ's righteousness
in the types and in the pictures of Christ in the Old Testament.
And they believed in and on Him through what they saw. I cannot
tell you how much I have learned going through the book of Genesis
and the book of Exodus about things that we see in the New
Testament. The Bible is an amazing book, friends. I suggest you
read it. Study it. I really do. According to verse 26, preaching
is to declare, Paul says, I say at this time, His righteousness.
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus." Believing in and on Christ is the only way we can
be saved. Trusting in God the Son and what
He alone did on Calvary's cross is the message of redemption.
Christ and Him crucified is the only way that God can be just
and justify you and I, the ungodly sinners that we are. Now I want to endeavor to show
you that according to God's Word. I want you to see your need of
Christ. I really do. And I want to see my need of
Christ again and again. And that His death on Calvary's
cross is the only way that God can justly save you, and at the
same time justify you before His holy law. Turn with me to
Hebrews chapter 10, and I won't turn you any place else, but
I want you to see this. And I pray that it will be a
comfort to you. Hebrews chapter 10 beginning
in verse 1. Aren't you glad we have the Bible
and we can open it and look at these things together? I seen a video not long ago. Someone told me about it and
then I saw it about these young kids in China or somewhere getting
Bibles. They were crying and weeping,
and we just take it for granted. I think all of us have three
or four Bibles laying around in our home. What a blessing,
what a blessing it is. Look at verse one, Hebrews 10.
For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not
the very image of the things, The law can never, with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make
the comers there unto what? Perfect. Got to be perfect. Got to be perfect. Good's not
good enough. It's got to be perfect. Now, here we see that the Old
Testament Law, the Law of the Ceremonies, the Law of Sacrifices,
the Law of the Tabernacles, Priesthoods and Commandments, I think 613
of them in all. They cannot make a sinner acceptable
before God. None of them. None of these 613
laws can ever justify a sinner. They cannot make a man acceptable
before God. They can't make him perfect.
And perfect is what we must be to be accepted. The law has brought
with it a shadow. A shadow of good things to come.
Now stay with me. Who's going to dote, adore, treasure,
cherish, worship a shadow? You know, I don't take pictures
of my grandchildren's shadows. I take pictures of them. I hang
their pictures on my refrigerator, not negatives of them. The Law was and it had a shadow
of good things to come. But the Law with the sacrifices
in the Old Testament Scriptures could never make a man acceptable
before God. Do you hear what I'm saying?
That's what he's saying here. The law with its sacrifices,
those sacrifices that they offered year by year, sacrifice after
sacrifice, can never, with those sacrifices, make the comers thereunto
harping. These good things that were seen
of Christ in the gospel, that were seen in the law of God in
the Old Testament, they were seen as good things to come. These good things that were seen,
that were to come, though not clearly discovered or fully enjoyed
in the Old Testament times, they were pictures and types of good
things to come in Christ. That's exactly what they were.
The Law only was a shadow. It didn't provide the perfect
image of Christ. It just provided a shadow of
good things Good things that would come in,
by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Preaching the law is
not preaching the gospel. Preaching morality, preaching
good works, not preaching the gospel. Preaching religious duties,
that's not preaching the gospel. Telling folks how to live, that's
not preaching the gospel. How can I tell somebody how to
live when I can't live right? when I can't live perfectly before
God. Am I anyone to give anyone advice
on how to live? No, but God is. God is. The sacrifices and these sacrifices,
the Old Testament law, pictured and typified, were not the very
image. They were not the exact image,
but they were a shadow. They were a picture, a type of
God's design, God's blueprint of Christ and His substitutionary
work and sacrifice that was to come. And we look in those Old
Testament types and pictures and we say, boy, there's one
coming. There's One coming who's going
to put all my sin away. And that's a good thing. That's
a good thing to come, isn't it? Why must Christ come? Because
the law could not, it was not able, it could or can never,
according to verse 1, make the comers thereunto perfect. And
perfect's what we've got to be. Key word, perfect. Verse 2, for
then would they have not ceased to be offered, because that the
worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of
sins. Now if the law could make the
sinner perfect, then these sacrifices wouldn't have had to be continued.
That's what the writer here is saying. They had to be continued. Why? Because those animal sacrifices
would never take away the first sin of the ones who offered them. Could not make them perfect.
That's why they had to be continued. They weren't effectual. They
weren't effective. They were just pictures and types
of good things to come. Good things to come. If we'd
been purged from sin, we'd have no more conscience of sin. And
we'd have no more guilt of sin. When sin is truly removed, friends,
the guilt of sin is removed with it. All those Old Testament sacrifices
did was remind sinners that they were sinners. There was a remembrance
of their sins every year. Verse 3, but in those sacrifices
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. Now
that word remembrance means recollection, a reminding, a bringing or calling
to mind, a memory of Their sins came about every time they relived
offering these sacrifices each year. And you can just imagine
how that's like. You know, the Greek word for
remembrance, I like to do these little word studies, but the
word is anamnesis. And it's basically the opposite
of our English word amnesia. Amnesia, as you know, is a partial
or full loss of memory. And the Greek word here, anamnesis,
means the remembrance of everything. The remembrance of every sin.
They could not not remember their sin. And with that came the guilt
and it came the conscience of sin. I suppose the worst thing
about past sin is the remembrance of it. But the gospel declares
that in Christ we have no sin to remember. Or more importantly,
for God to remember. The law says you're a sinner. That's all the law can say to
you. You're a sinner and you shall be damned. But the gospel
says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The Gospel
says Christ came to seek and to save that which is lost. The
law says, pay me what you owe me, or I'll put you in hell. But the Gospel says, deliver
him from going down to the pit. I found a ransom. There's a Redeemer in the Gospel
of Christ. There's a big difference in the
Law and the Gospel, friends. Look at verse 4. It's not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. It's not possible. Not possible
for them to take away sins. It's not the same blood. It was
man that sinned, and it's man that must pay. The law says you've
not continued in all things written in the law to do them. Therefore,
you're cursed. Christ has redeemed us. Isn't
that sweet to hear? He's redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. And that's exactly why
our message is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Yes, it's not
possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin.
And I tell you this every week. Do you believe it? Are you tired
of hearing it? What have we seen thus far? Well,
we see that the law is just a shadow. It's just a picture and a pattern
of good things to come. The good things that Christ brings. The law can never make one perfect. It's all right here in these
few verses. It's not possible for the blood
of bulls and goats to put away sin. Our options have dwindled
down to just one way, and we see that in verse 5. Look at
it with me. Here we have the announcement
of the gospel. Wherefore, when He cometh into
the world. That's the gospel right there.
that God Himself come into the world. God took on flesh and
blood and came into the world to save sinners. Read on. Christ says, sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not. Concerning sacrifice and offering,
God said, I won't have it. It's only a shadow. God said, I won't accept it.
It's got to be offered again and again and again. God said,
I want nothing to do with it because those sacrifices can
never ever make their comers there unto perfect. So what does
the Lord say? He says, but a body thou hast
prepared Me. What does the Lord do? He takes
upon Him that body. And He worked out a perfect righteousness
for His people. And God's going to provide that
perfect righteousness that you and I must have in order for
us to be accepted of God. You see, only a perfect man can
redeem man. When men and women offered those
sacrifices, the same sacrifices year after year, they never ceased
to be offered. Offered again and again. That'll
cover you for a year. They never could satisfy. There
was no sorrow from the sinner with the sacrifice. There was
no repentance provided with the sacrifice. There was no faith
offered up with the sacrifice. They were more like payments
than repentance. Just like the works of man's
hands today. The issue's never been about
what we do or don't do before God. In Mark chapter 7, men's
preaching, their casting out devils, and many other wonderful
works that the ones who did thought to be wonderful. And God called
their works, works of iniquity. And God called them workers of
iniquity. So it's not what you do. Lord,
Lord, have it we. That won't do it for you, friends.
The Lord Jesus told them, O foolish men, you build your house upon
the sand. But those who hear these sayings
of mine are likened to wise men who built their house upon the
rock, and that rock's Christ, friends. And that house will
not fall that's built upon Christ, the sure foundation. Now look
at verse 6, "...and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou
hast had no pleasure." God had no pleasure in those burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin. None. You know why? They were
only a shot of good things to come. The sacrifices were ineffectual. Pictures and types of what Christ
was to come and do. Those sacrifices could never
make the ones they were sacrificed for perfect. They only reminded
those who made the sacrifices that they were fallen sinners. And made them even more conscious
of their sin. It wasn't possible for the blood
of bulls and goats to take away sin. Friends, God the Father
prepared a body for God the Son. This is the only way you and
I could be redeemed. I'm talking about Emmanuel here. God with us. This man, the man
Christ Jesus, representing all the elect children of God, came
to this earth to do what God commanded Him to do, and He did
what we could not perform. Christ came to do what God required. and provide what we couldn't
supply. We can't provide. And that's exactly why God sent
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned
sin in the flesh. Have we figured this out yet?
We must have Christ in order to be redeemed. We've got to
have Christ do for us what we can't do for ourselves. It's
called substitution. How do you feel about that? Look
at verse 7, Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the
book it's written of me, to do thy will, O God. And above, when He said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law,
Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first that He may establish the second." Now, what is the
first here that He taketh away? I'm only going to keep you a
minute longer. What is the first that He taketh
away? Well, He takes away the Old Testament priesthood. He
takes away all the Old Testament ceremonies, all the sacrifices,
all the Sabbath days. away all these pictures and types. You see, you don't need a picture
when you have the person. You don't need a pattern when
you have the person. You don't need a type when you
have the fulfillment of it. Christ said, I came to do Thy
will, O God. He takes away the first that
He might establish the second. Friends, God's only pleased with
His Son. This is My beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him. Listen to Him. Oh, it's enough, friends,
that Jesus died and that He died for me. and substitution. Jesus Christ has made to me wisdom. He's made to me righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. All I need. As the old chorus
says, all I need. Jesus Christ is all I need. Look
at verse 12, I'll finish. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. The work's finished. It's done.
"...from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His
footstool, for by one offering He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified." You see, the good things that the law
had a shadow of have come. Did you hear that? They've come.
He's come. He has come. And there is a way
now that there's no remembrance made of sin. It's put away as
far as the east is from the west. You can't get any further away
than that. Our sin cannot be remembered by God. You want to
know why? Because we don't have any. That's the best answer I
can give you because it's the right answer. For by Christ's
one offering, He hath done what? Perfected, for how long? Forever, His people. And that, my friends, is the
gospel and the truth. May God enable you and I to believe.