If you would, turn with me to
1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. I, not too long ago, saw where
someone wrote online that the Spirit of God moved in such a
supernatural way at their church service. that the worship was
so anointed that they never got around to preaching. Most folks
in religion today really have no clue as to what true worship
is. There is no true worship apart
from true preaching. True worshipers worship the Father
in spirit and in truth, the truth of God's word. What many refer
today to the spirit of God is not the Holy Spirit, but just
mere personal emotionalism of the flesh. And if I may be blunt,
modern day religion doesn't know what true worship is. They obviously
don't know what truth is if they never get around to preaching
it. They don't have a true understanding of the Spirit of God, for God,
Scripture says, is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must,
and I repeat, must, worship Him, God, in Spirit and in truth. Sadly, today, preaching is given
a backseat in most religious circles. And true gospel preaching
is pretty much unheard of anymore for the good news that God has
for sinners seems to be nothing anymore, but just a springboard
to the so-called deeper things of God. I had a man tell me that
one time. He said, now that you have an
understanding of salvation, you need to move on into the deeper,
more glorious things of God. But I ask, what can be deeper
and more glorious than God-saving, unworthy, wretched sinners? Music and entertainment has replaced
true gospel preaching. Religion has removed the very
means, now listen, They've removed the very means that God is pleased
to use to save sinners. What could be more tragic than
that? Even when men do preach, there's
something critically missing. And that's the gospel. That's
good news of how God saves sinners. So what is preaching? A lot of
folks have different ideas about what it is. It's not true preaching
if it's not preaching the gospel, I know that. I've heard hundreds
of men preach in my lifetime that never preached the gospel.
That's what Paul said. He said, woe unto me if I preach
not the gospel. The gospel has everything to
do with how wretched and depraved sinners can be reconciled to
a holy God. That's the issue. That's the
issue. If you don't tell men and women
the good news of how God saves sinners, then you have not preached
the gospel. Here in 1 Corinthians 1, look
at verse 21. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom, the world by worldly wisdom,
by man's wisdom, not God's wisdom, the world by their own so-called
wisdom, knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. What men think to be
foolishness is actually the very wisdom of God. In the wisdom
of God, it pleased God by what men and women think to be foolishness,
which is what natural men and women think preaching to be.
God saves them who believe by the gospel message of Christ
and Him crucified. That's what the gospel message
is. The good news of how God can
save sinners and reconcile them to Him who is holy and righteous. and yet angry with the wicked
every day. There's something missing now.
There's something missing in modern day preaching and it's
how God is going to deal with sin. God is too holy to just
excuse sin. God's justice is too strict just
to look the other way. Sin must be punished. The wages
of sin is death. The gospel message is how God
can remain just and still justify the ungodly. And if you answer
that question, then you've preached the gospel. You know, folks today
everywhere sing amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me, but they don't really believe that they're wretches.
Matter of fact, some of the modern day hymnals have changed the
words of amazing grace to amazing grace, how sweet the sound that
saved someone like me. I read one version that said,
saved and set me free. But that's not what Mr. Newton
wrote. You see, Mr. Newton knew that he was a rich
and it took amazing grace to save him. The same amazing grace
that it takes to save you and I. unless God divinely intervenes
in amazing grace and teaches men and women that they really
are riches, which means miserable, by the way. They will never have a need of
Christ, the Redeemer. The Lord said so in Revelation
3, verse 17. He said, because thou sayest,
I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.
Boy, that describes a lot of folks I know today. They don't
have need of anything. They're rich, they're increased
with goods. And Christ says, and knowest not that thou art
wretched. and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. Do you know what kind of person
that sounds like to me? That sounds like a beggar. Sounds
like the Lord is describing a beggar. But unless God shows you, you'll
never see that that's what you are. A beggar who must beg for
mercy. A mercy beggar. And that's what's
missing in today's preaching. Our Lord said in John chapter
16 verse 8, when He, the Spirit of Truth has come, He will reprove,
He will convince, He will convict the world of sin. Where is mankind's
sorrow and conviction for their sin? Men and women's fallen condition
is not being preached and sinners aren't being told that God is
holy and just and he will by no means clear the guilty. They're not being told that the
soul that sinneth, it shall die. And you can change the words
of old hymns like amazing grace, but you can't change the word
of God. You can't change your heart. Sin is what you and I
are, and we sin because of what we are. We're sinners. We've
all come short of the glory of God. All of us. There's none
righteous. No, not one. Isn't that what
God says? The religious world has not been
convicted of sin. They've convinced sinners that
God loves them. They've convinced men that Christ
died for them. But Christ came into the world
to save sinners. And if you don't see that, you'll
never be saved. Christ came to seek and to save
that which was lost. And if God don't show you that
you're lost, you will forever remain that way. You'll never
have a need of a Savior. The angels told Joseph, thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their what? Their sin. Sin. That's the issue. In order to
be reconciled to God, our sin has to be dealt with. Our sin
has to be punished. Christ came to save sinners from
something. What was it? He came to save
them from their sin. And preachers convinced sinners
of His willingness to save. And thanks be to God, He is willing
to save. I rejoice in that. I love to
hear it. He delights to show mercy. He's
plenteous in mercy. But where are the true servants
of God that are warning men and women of God's willingness to
punish sin? He will by no means clear the
guilty, not without a perfect sacrifice, because it must be
perfect to be accepted. That's the gospel message. Where
can sinners find such a one as this? Question is, are you interested? They can only find salvation
in the one that God has provided. And God has provided himself
as a sacrifice. His name is Jesus Christ. He is God in the flesh. And only he can save his people
from their sin. There's only one, one, only one,
just one mediator between God and man. And he's the man Christ
Jesus. Men and women don't understand
what sin is. There's a large Baptist church
here in town that just called a new pastor. And I was curious. I got on their website and listened
to him. And as I listened to the first
10 or 15 minutes, I'm telling you, I was greatly surprised.
He was rightly declaring God's hatred of sin. I was just amazed. I'm like, looky here, could it
be? Could it be? I rejoiced until he defined the
sin that God hated. He began to talk about smoking
and drinking and chewing. I kid you not, he mentioned all
three of those things. But is that what God really hates?
What was Paul struggling with when he cried in Romans chapter
7, O wretched man that I am? Paul was struggling with that
old man of flesh that dwelt within. He said, what I want to do, I
don't do. He said, the evil that I don't want to do, that I do.
He said, I know that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. He was
talking about what was within. In his flesh dwelt no good thing.
He was talking about his will. He said, for to will is present
with me. He wanted to do right. You know
what? So do I. I really want to do
what's right. I don't want to be displeasing
to God. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. That's the issue. I see another
law, Paul said, in my members, warring against the law of my
mind, bringing me into captivity and bondage. To what? to the
law of sin, which is in my members. And Paul said, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Now you answer that question
and you've preached the gospel. You see what the issue is here,
friends? Only the Lord Jesus Christ can deliver you. And why
would we preach anything else? It's the sin within our flesh
That's enmity against God. That's what the carnal mind is.
That's what Paul said. It's enmity against God. That word means hostile. Hostile
to and against God. Sin is hating God and His Christ
without a cause. There's no cause that any should
hate the God of glory. Salvation is God loving us without
a cause. And that's what's missing today
in preaching, the gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Look at verse 22. He says, for
the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. Now
here we're given two groups of people in this verse, the Jews
who very well represent religion. Religion is always looking for
a sign. You ever noticed that? Religion
is always looking for proof. Believers don't walk by sight,
they walk by faith. Faith is the evidence of what?
Things not seen. Secondly, the Greeks represent
the world and the world's wisdom. You know, the men and women of
this world, they think they've got God figured out. But look
at verse 23. Paul says, but we, but we preach
Christ crucified. And unto the Jews, it's a stumbling
block. And unto the Greeks, it's foolishness.
Now listen, preaching Christ crucified is a stumbling block
to religious folks. It always has been. Those who
seek after a sign, it's a stumbling block. And it's foolishness to
those who think that they have figured God out. What is a stumbling
block and foolishness to them? Well, the correct question would
be, who is the stumbling block in foolishness to them? It's
Christ and Him crucified. I'm speaking of the Christ that
we preach. And He's still a stumbling block
to the religious and He's still foolishness to the wise of this
world. But then we're told of a third
group here that are described in verse 24. and they are called
the called. But unto them which are called,
called of God, called effectually out of darkness into God's marvelous
light, called out of both the Jews and the Greeks, the religious
and the world, and to these that are effectually called, look
at what it says, Christ is the power and the wisdom of God. Our gospel's not a what? Our
gospel is a who? Our gospel is Jesus Christ, and
he's both the power and the wisdom of God. That's the only kind
of savior that can save you. In order to be saved and reconciled
to God, we must be given wisdom. We must be given righteousness. Ours is filthy rags. We must
have sanctification. We must be set apart and made
perfect. We must have redemption. And
look at verse 30. All those things are given unto
us by God for in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. All those things. Jesus Christ
is salvation. There's proof of it right there.
And that's what preaching Christ is. It's preaching that Jesus
Christ is made unto us everything that God requires. Everything. You know, men preach on God's
willingness to save everybody, but they don't mention anything
about men and women's unwillingness to come to Christ that they might
have life. The Lord Jesus said just that,
you will not come to me that you might have life. Why are
men so proud of their will? They will not come. They will
not come. And just so you don't misunderstand
me, I understand that God's servants are to comfort God's people,
but you can't comfort someone over their sin if they've never
been disturbed over it. I know that preachers are exhorted
to encourage sinners, but you can't encourage someone in Christ
until they've first been discouraged over their sin and their inability
and their unwillingness to come to Christ. Men today are crying,
peace, peace. What does the scripture say?
Well, there is no peace. There is no peace. Men and women
are being prayed up who've never been brought down. Men and women
are being filled who've never been made empty. Men and women
are being given hope who have never been without hope. And
men and women are, through false preaching, being exalted, who've
never been humbled. And it's just a fact. Men and
women are being saved that have never been lost. And false religion
sings amazing grace to those that see, but have never been
blind. And false religion sings amazing
grace to those who are found, but have never been lost. Religion
preaches grace to those who have never been guilty. Brother Mahan
used to say that the Holy Spirit never takes a sinner to Mount
Calvary that he doesn't first take him to Mount Sinai. God
shows us what we are and when he gives us eyes to see amazing
grace, then we see that we need a savior. Because we cannot do
what we must in order to be saved. Many times I've been asked, it's
pretty much a question that I'm always asked. What kind of doctrine
do you believe in and preach? Well, I don't believe in a doctrine.
I believe in a person. I don't preach a doctrine. I
preach Christ and Him crucified. Look at chapter 2 here in 1 Corinthians,
verse 1. Paul 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 or except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
friends, is the testimony of God. The substitution of Christ
is the good news for sin. God's law is too strict for us
to keep. God's justice is too just for
us to satisfy. Now, do you believe that? God's
standard is God is too high to be kept by us. There's only one
way that you and I can be saved, and that is if God himself takes
our place. It's just that simple. That is,
if God keeps his own law in our stead. If God satisfies his own
justice for us. That's it. It's called substitution. Only God can meet the standards
that God requires. So my only hope of redemption
is Jesus Christ and him crucified. And that's the message that we
preach. Now, let me quickly give you five things that it is to
preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now I won't keep you long. First,
to preach Christ and Him crucified is not to preach the cross of
Christ as an afterthought. It's not a mere solution that
God came up with to correct a bad situation. There was a Savior
before there ever was a sinner. Before Adam fell, Christ was
ordained, appointed, and designated to be the Redeemer of sinners.
He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Yes. Men with wicked hands have crucified
the Lord of glory, but men only did what God determined beforehand
to be done. And Christ was delivered into
men's hands by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Acts 2.23. And the relationship
between Christ and His people goes back before Calvary, goes
back before Mount Moriah, where Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed. It even goes back before the
Garden of Eden. It goes back into the Council
Halls of Eternity. You see, Christ is the surety
of an everlasting covenant. His priesthood is an eternal
priesthood, having no beginning or end, just like that of Melchizedek. The crucifixion of Christ was
no afterthought. It was no backup plan. Oh, I
remember one time almost falling out of my chair, I heard a man
say that God was sovereign, and before he didn't even put a comma
in the sentence, and he said, and when Adam sinned in the garden,
he had a backup plan. And I'm like, how can you say
God is sovereign and had a backup plan? Does a sovereign God need
backup plan? No, sir. No afterthought with
God. It was the divine will and purpose
of God. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. For God hath from the beginning,
Paul said, chosen you into salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. God chose us in Christ before
the world began, before he ever spoke the world into existence.
Christ was the savior of his people. Secondly, to preach Christ
and Him crucified is to preach Christ as the fulfillment of
all the Old Testament Scriptures. The death of those Old Testament
sacrifices pictured the death of Christ. The shedding of blood
of those sacrifices pictured the putting away of our sin by
Christ's blood. Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. Christ was buried and rose again
according to the Scriptures. The Old Testament Scriptures
were all that they had when Paul wrote that. From the first promise
in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, when God said, The seed of woman
will bruise the serpent's head, until the very day that John
stood in the river Jordan and said, Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. Every promise, every
prophecy, every picture, and every type announces the death
of Jesus Christ on the cross. How do you preach Abel's sacrifice
apart from the cross? Cain brought his best and was
rejected, but Abel's sacrifice, there was a shedding of blood.
And God had respect under Abel and his sacrifice. Does that
not picture the shed blood of Christ? How do you preach the
substitution for Isaac upon Mount Moriah without the cross? God
will provide himself a lamb for burnt offering. How do you preach
the Passover in Egypt without the cross as its fulfillment?
When God sees the blood, he'll pass over you. Paul said, Christ,
our Passover is sacrifice for us. When God sees the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ upon one of his elect, he's satisfied,
and he passes over them in wrath and in judgment, and says, enter
in, thou good and faithful servant. How do you preach the brazen
serpent without preaching Christ and Him crucified? You can't
do it. We've been bitten by the fiery serpent called sin and
we have to look to that pole, to that serpent hanging on the
pole to be saved. Moses cried, look and live. And
that's what true preachers cry today. Look to Christ and live. He is life. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have eternal life. All of these things point to
Christ on the cross. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the message. How do you
preach to smitten rock? that poured out water unto life,
that rock was Christ, that was smitten out, and out of Him flows
what rivers of living water. How do you preach the lamb that
was killed and the atonement that was made as the blood was
sprinkled on the mercy seat without preaching the cross? What does
it mean that He was wounded for our transgressions and that He
was bruised for our iniquities? What does it mean that the chastisement
of our peace was laid upon Him? What does it mean that by His
stripes we are healed? It means nothing unless you preach
Christ and Him crucified. Thirdly, to preach Christ is
to preach the virgin birth and the incarnation of Jesus Christ. You know, every December, folks
like to talk about the virgin birth, and they set up their
nativity scenes, and they put baby Jesus in the manger, and
they talk about Him being born of a virgin, and they don't even
know why a virgin birth is necessary. Do you know why a virgin birth
was necessary? The one that died on the cross
to be our Redeemer had to be the Son of God and he had to
be God the Son. The death of an ordinary man
would do nothing or no good. for sinners. He was not born
of man, but born of God. And the scriptures tell us, behold,
a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin.
And the Lord himself shall call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted
God with us. This is God. God had to die on
the cross to put away our sin. And if Christ is not virgin-born,
friends, then He's Joseph's son, and also the son of Adam. And
He can do us no good, if that's the case. If that's the case,
His crucifixion and death on Calvary is worthless. But it's
not, because the Scriptures declare that in the fullness of time,
God sent His Son. his son, and to the world, made
of a woman, not of a man and a woman, but of God the Spirit
and a virgin. And he was made under the law
to redeem them who were born under the law. Fourthly, to preach
Christ crucified is to preach a sinless substitute. The righteousness
and the holiness of God can never be provided by one who does not
uphold the perfect law of God in every jot and tittle. God can never be satisfied with
any who cannot satisfy His holy justice. Christ was made to be
sin. He knew no sin. He was made to
be sin that we might be made the righteousness of God. And
He didn't know any sin. He did no sin, yet He was tempted
in all points as we are, yet without sin. When we preach Christ
and Him crucified, we're declaring that Christ died as the perfect
substitute for sinners, having no sin of His own for which to
die. And lastly, to preach Christ
crucified is to preach Christ as a risen Savior. Here, in a
very short time, we get back into the Easter season again,
and it's always kind of humorous to me when folks say, I bet you're
really going to be busy the next few weeks. No, we don't do any
Easter plays or cantatas or put on any concerts. We just preach
the gospel like we do every week. But we do rejoice all the time
in a risen Savior. You see, you cannot arise from
the dead unless you first die. There has to be a death before
there's a resurrection. And the angel at Christ's tomb
said, why do you seek the living among the dead? He's no longer
dead. He's alive. He's risen. Who is
he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that is risen again. Who is even at the right hand
of God. who also maketh intercession
for us. And if Christ did not rise from
the dead, I'm telling you, our preaching is vain, and our faith
is vain, and we're yet in our sins. But He has risen. He is risen by the death of Christ. We clearly see that Jesus Christ
is the perfect substitute who died on the cross and was buried. And he's been raised by the power
of God. And he now sits at God's right
hand. In all power and majesty and
he's ruling and reigning all things by the counsel of his
own will. That's who died for you. And
in doing so, friends, He fulfilled all that God required of us.
He's our representative. And God has accepted His perfect
work of righteousness for us. And there's nothing that needs
to be added to it. That's why you can rest. As we
saw last week, it's finished. There'd be no crown without a
cross. There'd be no kingdom without
a cross. There'd be no substitution without
a cross. There'd be no salvation without
a cross. And because Christ died the just
for the unjust, you and I are now able to come boldly You know,
that just doesn't even sound right, does it? That we can come
boldly into the throne of grace before God Almighty, holy and
just as His name? Yes, we can. Not because of any
work that we've done, but because of the perfect work of righteousness,
work wrought by Christ for us. Upon the merits of His shed blood
and perfect work of righteousness that He finished for us, we come
boldly before God's throne. And we ask to find help for those
things that we so desperately need. And I'm telling you, in
closing, this morning and every time I stand to preach, I am
determined, I'm determined, not to know anything among you but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And because of that, I ask you
this simple question in closing. What think ye of Christ? What
do you think of Him? Do you see whose son He is? May
God enable you to trust in Him as your perfect substitute, your
perfect sacrifice, and your perfect surety for sin.