We'll begin the message. We'll go to God in prayer again. I want to make mention of this. Joan Bach is a faithful listener of the gospel. She's in Seattle. I think it is, right, Joanne? Seattle. Is that the city? Portland. Portland. Sorry. Portland. And she has been diagnosed with cancer. I don't know much about, they posted what it was, and I can tell you what it was, but I don't think I can tell you what it is. I don't know, but they seem to have hope that it might be treatable, so pray for her. Pray that God be gracious to heal her body, but she is asking for prayer that God would use it. God would use it for his glory in the furtherance of the gospel And so, pray for her strength and comfort and healing. She is a wonderful encouragement to me. I hear from her often through letters she sends, Joanne, and very encouraged by her. She's very faithful to hear the gospel and to witness where she's at. So pray for her. Can you pray for Jean? She said she wasn't feeling well this morning. She wanted to be here, but the Lord has other plans. So I'll pray for her. And it's good to see Rick. Thank you. Thank God for allowing you to be here. And pray for others. I'm sure that there are others that are sick. Don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged. I'm sure that you have prayed for your family and your loved ones. I'm sure for years desiring them to hear the gospel and believe and trust seems to no avail. It seems like little hamsters running in a wheel as though we run as fast as we can and go nowhere. Be assured of this. If they belong to Christ, He will get them. And He doesn't need us. He doesn't, you know, we think we're so vital in this. We should be asking the Lord to use us and to allow us to minister and to declare the gospel to others, Who knows if we're a saver of life or a saver of death? It's not our business. God will save His people. He arrested me. In my madness. In my religion. In my Calvinism. He reached down and saved me. If he could do that for me, there's not one among your children and family and friends that is too far for his hand. So keep praying. Keep asking that God would be gracious to our families and our children. I ask your prayers for me as I desire to preach. When Paul says here in our text, these come in weakness and infirmities. I guess when I started preaching, I didn't know what that meant. The more I preach, the more I understand it. Weakness, infirmities. But I pray that the Spirit of God would accompany the message and make it and powerful to your soul. Pray for that. Ask God for it. Pray for those churches still without pastors. Am I missing anyone else that I need to mention? Tony and Deb, remember them in your prayers. Tony's pain as he broke his back this last month, so pray for them as they go through trying time. Let's go to him in prayer. Most gracious father, thank you for being gracious. Thank you for being merciful. Thank you for sending your son into the world. that he should obtain righteousness and redemption for us, so that we may be acceptable in your presence, that we may come and lay our petitions before you in Christ, as you have made him to be all our salvation, you have made us to be your sons, holy sons, saints. Father, I know we do not feel this in ourselves, seeing we still have the flesh, the old man, but by faith we come and lay our petitions before you in Christ, because of Christ. And Father, we beg this morning that you would open every heart in this place and fill it with your Word, with your Gospel, with your Spirit. And by the power of your Spirit, comfort our hearts. Encourage us. strengthen us in the gospel. Those that are suffering in the body, those who are suffering illnesses, we think of Joan and we think of others, Deborah and Tony, Jean and others who are suffering sicknesses. We beg you, Father, for grace to heal. To thee this is nothing but a word, but a A gesture in that direction, and Father, the sickness would flee. We fully believe and trust in your power to do this. But Father, we know this, that you are all wise, and you know what is good for your people. We pray, Father, that you would be gracious to comfort us in our afflictions, and set our eyes firmly upon Jesus Christ, The hope of our salvation is him crucified. I pray father that you would set our love and affection upon him who has risen and seated on the throne controlling all things. Father, forgive us of our sins and lead us in this worship. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Take your Bibles and turn with me to first Corinthians chapter two. I Corinthians chapter 2, I've entitled this message, A Preacher's One Determination. And our text is verse 2. The Apostle said, For I determined, I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now the apostle in chapter 1 reveals to us the necessity of preaching. Remember there was a division among them concerning preachers. They were setting men who preached the gospel above one another and Paul states the truth. Who are we? We are just vessels. are vessels that preach to you the word, but we ourselves are nothing. Christ is all. We don't set one another above each other. But everyone that preaches the gospel, Paul says this, we are sent. He says in verse 17 of chapter 1, For Christ sent me, not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. We're to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, not with the wisdom of the world. We're to preach the gospel, which is what? The cross of Christ. He says the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us, To us who've heard it, to us who believe on Christ, we know this, the Gospel itself is powerful because it is the Word of God, not because the preacher makes it powerful. We're going to get into that in just a minute. But the preacher doesn't make this powerful. It's the Spirit of God. It's the work of God. And God, by this Gospel, Paul declares, is meant to destroy the wisdom of the world. It's written. This is going to happen. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. What is this? But the destruction of false religion. That's all it is. God says the false religion is destroyed by the gospel. You preach the gospel, it's like light and darkness. When the light comes in, what can the darkness do but flee? You see, we don't debate. Light doesn't debate, does it? When you cut the light on, is it debating with the darkness? No, it doesn't debate the darkness. It declares. That's what we do. The gospel is a light and it declares the gospel. It doesn't debate it. And so it destroys the wisdom of the world. And we preach the gospel because it is the means God has chosen to save sinners. Verse 21 of chapter 1. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. This is the means. Now people argue with this all they want to. Again, I'm not here to argue this. The scriptures are quite clear. The light is very bright in this matter. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Why do we preach? It pleased God. Why not by divine lightning or something or some kind of overpowering vision? Why not that? Listen, it pleased God. That's the only reason. God could have done it any way He wanted to. But this is what pleased God. So we preach the gospel because this is the means. And what is the gospel? He tells us the reason why that no flesh should glow in His presence. We preach the gospel which is the power of God, so that no flesh should glory. There is no glory in the preacher and there is no glory in the hearer. You that believe, you receive no glory for believing. Why? You did nothing. Only thing that we did was sin. That was all we had. That was all we owned. in an act of divine mercy. You see, I wasn't looking for God when He found me. I wasn't looking for Him. The Scripture says, Seek the Lord while He may be found. But you know what the natural man, the Scripture says that there's none that seeketh after God. The Scripture commands me to seek, but I wasn't seeking. And yet in my not seeking, He found me. Therefore, Paul concludes this, but of God are you in Christ Jesus? You're in Christ Jesus. But of God are you in Christ Jesus? Man glories in his will as though his will puts him in Christ Jesus. No, God put me in Christ. who of God is made. Now this is without me. I didn't do this. I didn't have anything to do with this. God made him to be all my wisdom and all my righteousness and all my sanctification and all my redemption. Why? According as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So we see the necessity of preaching. We see the means of preaching. Why? Why preach? And why preach the gospel? What is that? Well, it's the word of God. It's the only means God's chosen, and God's going to destroy the false religion by it, and God's going to exalt himself by it. And so now we come to our text, and Paul begins this text, and he brings it to a very personal view here. Look what he says, he says, And I, brethren, when I came to you. He's calling them to remember, isn't he? He said, Remember when I came to you, you remember that? You remember when I came? How did I come to you? When I preached this gospel to you? How did I do it? He said this, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. declaring unto you the testimony of God. Paul came preaching. He didn't come with oratory skill. Now we read Paul's writings and we suppose that he had some kind of oratory skill. Paul said he didn't. So I don't know what we're going to make of that. You can speculate all you want to. Paul said, I didn't have any. Most people believe Paul had some kind of speech impediment of some sort. But he says here, I didn't come with that kind of speech, or of wisdom. Or of wisdom. Corinth was a place of great learning. Talk about a college town. This was a city built on philosophy. It was built on academic understanding and reasoning. It was a place where men loved to hear something new. Men always loved to hear something new. Deep and profound. And Paul said, I didn't come with any of that stuff. I came with none of those things. I did not come to debate these things with you. I did not come to tickle your ears with something new, some philosophy. I did not come but declaring one thing. What did he say? the testimony of God. That's what preachers do. We declare to you the testimony of God. I tell you there's nothing more needed today than to preach the testimony of God. Not the testimony of men. They do this all the time. Come up here and give your testimony. Who cares about your testimony? I came to declare to you God's testimony, what God says. This is what God says. This is what preachers are to declare, what God says, not what I think, not what I feel, not my opinion. but what God says, the testimony of God. There's nothing more needed. Now there's a lot of people that have great skill in speaking in our day. I mean they build universities to teach people how to speak and how to convince people, how to make an argument. We don't need that. What we need, we need plainness. I think I've been blessed, we have been blessed in this generation, I think you have some of the most plain spoken preachers. Since I was a kid, I believe I've heard some of the best preachers in this half of the century. Because there's just plainness. We need plain spoken preaching that cannot be misunderstood. Now Paul could have surely made great arguments, couldn't he? You read the book of Romans. The book of Romans You know that law school used to use the book of Romans to tell you how to build an argument. So Paul was not an idiot. He was a very educated, highly educated man. He could have come with great wisdom, but he said, I chose, I determined not to do that. He said instead, I was with you in weakness. Look what he says in verse 3, I was with you in weakness and in fear and in trembling and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. He came to them preaching but not trusting in his preaching. I'll tell you this, any preacher that trusts in his preaching is a fool. I don't trust in my ability, none of my abilities, to convince you of this. We boast in none of our ability to persuade men or to save the souls of men. We come like Paul, not with the authority of men, but this, the testimony of God. Testimony of God. Now the flesh puts a lot of emphasis on ability, doesn't it? I've heard people say, well, man, I like this preacher because he is bold. He speaks with authority. And you ask them what they mean. And pretty soon you're going to get down to this. He preaches loud and firm. What are you saying? Well, you're talking about the man's ability to speak. They put emphasis on man's ability. We suppose because a man has a forceful voice for speaking, he has authority and boldness. We think if a man has the ability to persuade men or convince men of some system of theology, that man's used of God. Listen, if a man persuades somebody of something, some other man can come along that has better ability and persuade him of something else. I've seen it. I've seen men be persuaded concerning the doctrine of grace and then some guy to come along and persuade them of something else. That's not the power of God. That's the power of man. If you believe because of the power of man, then your salvation is resting in the power of man. But when God the Holy Spirit persuades a man, he's persuaded. And there's nothing you can do to move him. I mean, let the whole world go against it. And if he is persuaded by the Spirit of God, that man will not move from Christ. He will not move from Christ. I don't care what evidence. They could dig up another book. They said, Oh, we found this ancient book and it testifies that Jesus was not a real man and blah, blah, blah. And we've got all this proof. You know, I say that I don't care. You're not going to convince me of anything. The spirit convinces us of this. And when he convinces a man, that man's convinced he's not going to be moved. I'm convinced of the sovereign election of the father, aren't you? I'm convinced of it. You're not going to move me from it. It's the testimony of God. Not just the testimony of God in this book. It's a testimony of the spirit of God in my heart. God has put it in me. It's a revelation. It's not just academic. It was academic. It can be moved. It's not. I believe in the election of the Father. I believe in the full, perfect, absolute redemption of the blood of Jesus Christ. That He actually redeemed His people from their sins. You're not going to move me from that. I believe that He rose from the dead and ascended to the throne of God and sent His Spirit into this world to save His people from their sins and He's going to do it. I'm convinced of it. I know it to be true. Why? It's the testimony of God and not of man. Therefore, Paul says, I came this way and in this manner, and notice what he says in verse 2, for I determined. This is not an accident. When a preacher comes to declare something to you, it's not accidental. We determine to do something. I am determined. And every preacher's sin of God is determined to do one thing. Same thing Paul is. Preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You know, Paul said, I didn't take the pulse of the church and figure out what you guys need. We didn't take a vote. I didn't look at your life and say, you know what, they need some marriage counseling in this church. Or they need some, I'm sure they probably did. They probably had a lot of problems in that church. Financial problems, maybe that church had a ton of, I'm sure it had a ton of financial problems. You know what Paul said? He said, I don't care about any of that. My purpose is this, to preach to you the cross of Jesus Christ. That's it. Now what is it meant when he says Jesus Christ and Him crucified? What does he mean by the testimony of God? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's the same thing that Paul said to the church of Ephesus before he was going off to die. He said, I have not shunned to preach to you all the counsel of God. Now what is Jesus Christ and Him crucified? It's all the counsel of God. That's it. It is all the counsel of God. Paul said in Galatians 6 the same thing, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the sum of the ministry of every man that is sent to preach. Our only message is Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now what does Paul mean by this short description? Now what I want you to understand is he doesn't mean specifically just the one event that took place at Calvary. Now the one event of Christ that took place at Calvary, I want you to know this, it is the hinge on which all time and eternity hangs. You understand we divide the whole amount of our time based on that one event. Do you understand that? B.C. and A.D. we divide it based on that one event. After his death. Before Christ and after his death. Do you understand? Everything before the crucifixion of Christ moved and pointed to the crucifixion of Christ. and everything after the crucifixion of Christ looks back to the crucifixion of Christ. Do you realize in heaven we are going to be looking back at that event? We are going to be praising the Lamb that was slain and has redeemed us to God out of every kindred, tongue, tribe, people. We are going to be praising Him for that one event, the crucifixion. But I want you to see when Paul says, I determined not to know anything save Jesus Christ, Him crucified. I want you to see that this is encompassing all of the counsel of God. Everything, when I preach the cross, I'm going to show you this testimony of God is all-inclusive. In this we see all scriptural truth and scriptural teaching is understood, entered into, and experienced by the light of the cross. All scriptural teaching can be taught from the cross. Everything can be taught from there. The whole counsel of God. Why? Because if any man would set his tent up at the cross of Christ, there he would see the person of Christ, wouldn't he? God and man. If you were to sit at the cross of Christ, you would see the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. You would be able to see the holiness of God, the justice of God, the mercy of God, the love of God, the wisdom of God. You could see it all right there. All of it. It was there, listen to this, it was there that mercy and truth met together. Where can mercy and truth? Truth is you should go to hell. Now that's a truth. The truth is every sinner deserves hell and God is just. That's the truth. But how can mercy and truth meet together? There's only one place, in the cross, in Jesus Christ. Oh, that men would read the scriptures aright and see that the whole counsel of God is in the cross of Christ. Isn't this what Jesus said about himself? He said when those disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24, our Lord said this, Ought not Christ to have suffered and entered into His glory? He said, Why are you moping around? Why are you so sad? Didn't you know this was the counsel of God? Didn't you know this was the will of God? Ought not Christ to have suffered and entered into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, what? What did He expound? Things concerning Himself. He didn't expound on their relationships. He didn't expound on how they thought or what they felt. their opinions or political things. No, he expounded, all the scriptures expounded point to one man and his work, Jesus Christ. So this morning, I want us to see the whole counsel of God here, the whole testimony of God. And as we look at this message of Jesus Christ, Him crucified, we're going to see the whole counsel. First thing, When we preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we are preaching the eternal counsel of God. The eternal counsel of God. Paul says in verse 7, But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, listen to this, even the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the world unto our glory. When we preach Christ crucified, we are preaching the eternal counsel of God. What do I mean by counsel? I mean will, His determination, His purpose. That's what I mean by that. Eternal counsel of God. Now, we know this, that whatever God purposed to do, He will do. Well, God declares this about Himself. Go to Isaiah chapter 46. It's a clear one. Isaiah chapter 46. In this book, in this chapter, God's separating Himself between the false gods and Himself. He said false gods don't have any power. False god can't do anything. False god, he needs to be carried. But notice what He says about Himself. Remember this. He said in verse 9, Remember the former things of old. For I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me. Now what makes a difference? Here it is. Declaring the end from the beginning. Did any other God do that? There's no other God that does that. From ancient times, the things that were not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. And this is the eternal declaration of God's sovereign counsel, even the election of Jesus Christ. The election of Jesus Christ. You see, Christ was chosen of God to be the Redeemer, the surety, the high priest and the offering for his elect people. Christ was chosen. Christ was chosen. Look at Ephesians chapter 1. This is the eternal counsel of God. We preach the cross, we preach the eternal counsel of God. Ephesians 1, we know this well, Paul blessing the father, he said, according as he, the father, hath chosen us, where? In Christ. See, Christ was chosen to be the refuge, the Savior of His people, and God chose His people and put them in Christ. When? Before the foundation of the world. And what was His eternal purpose? That His people that we should be holy and without blame before him, in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children." How? Listen to this, by Jesus Christ. When did He do that? Before the world began. This is the eternal counsel of God, that you should be saved by Him. Only by Him. To Himself. according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise and the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." God chose us in Christ, purposed that we should be holy and made holy by Him. Look at verse 11. It says, "...in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ." Who first trusted in Christ? The Father. The Father trusted the Son to save His people. He trusted Him. He ordained Him. It was God who trusted Christ with all the salvation of His elect children. And behold, the glory of God was put into the trust of Christ, and the full weight of our salvation was given to Him. You see, when I see the cross of Christ, what do I see? I see the eternal counsel of God unfolding. What God had already determined, Him to be my Savior by His death on the cross. When I look at the cross, I see that fulfilled. I see the eternal counsel of God, don't you? The eternal purpose of God was fulfilled by Him. The eternal purpose of God not only trusted Christ to accomplish our salvation, but also decreed the means by which we should be saved, even His cross. Remember what John says of Him in Revelation 13, verse 8, He was as a lamb slain when? before the foundation of the world. When I see and preach the cross of Christ, I'm preaching the eternal counsel of God, which Paul says, again, back in the text, he says in verse 7, the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the world unto our glory. That's what we preach. It's a shame what this religious world thinks about God. They think that somehow when Adam sinned, took God by surprise, and he had to come up with a new way. I don't know a God like that. That's not the testimony of God in this book. You see, Christ was always determined to be crucified. Isn't that what Peter said? Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You crucified, you did exactly what God determined before to be done. Matter of fact, that's what the church said in Acts chapter 4, I think it is. They did what was determined, when I see the cross of Christ, what am I seeing? I'm seeing the eternal counsel of God. Secondly, when I see the cross, when we preach the cross of Christ, we must preach the depravity of man. The depravity of man must be declared. Paul in this chapter, he declares this concerning the gospel of Christ. Look at that. In verse 7 he said what? It's a mystery. To who? The lost. It's a mystery. He says in verse 9, But it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. In verse 14 he says, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, For their foolishness unto him neither can he know them, because," listen, because he's spiritually depraved, he's spiritually condemned, he's spiritually judged. So when we preach the cross of Christ, we must declare the depravity of man. The Word of God tells us that the depravity of man began at the fall of Adam. That when Adam openly rebelled against God, The sentence of judgment fell on Adam, listen, and his race, all his race. Paul makes it very clear in Romans 5 verse 12, Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. The result, so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. Adam sinned. We all sinned. When Adam died, we all died. Why must we preach this? Because this is the truth, first of all. It's the truth. It's what happened. But second of all, we must preach this because how we were made sinners is the same way God is going to make us righteous. It was by a representative man we were made sinners. Even so, by a representative man, Jesus Christ, we should be made righteous. Adam was a figure of Christ. Look at that at Romans. Go back to Romans 5. I just quoted that verse. But let's look at this. And I want you to see what I just said according to Scripture. Romans chapter 5. And look at verse 19, For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. How were you made a sinner? By one man's disobedience. But notice this, So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Why was it necessary for Christ to be the second Adam? Must the Son of God represent and be made surety of some of Adam's race? Why must he die upon Calvary's tree, even because Adam's fall was complete? There was no other way. When I see the cross, I see this. I see the depravity of man is so great that there was no other way than God the Son should die. Religion says there's many ways to God. What is that but to spit upon the son of God? To say that his death was not really necessary. When I see the cross, I see the necessity of the cross. There was no other way. Paul said this, if salvation should come by the law, then that rightly, that's how it should have come. What was the problem? Depravity. None of us could have obeyed the law. None of us could come to Christ. None of us could save ourselves. In Adam all died. The fall was perfect. The fall was complete. There is none righteous. No, not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. They are all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Therefore, By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. The law is only the knowledge of sin. Can't help me. You see how fully depraved man is. There's no spark of life left in him. There's no spark of hope left in man. Paul says in our text, he says that man thinks it's foolishness, neither can he know them. I don't care how academic he gets, he can't know them. He's spiritually condemned. Dead. Therefore, by none of the law or deeds can we merit salvation. Matter of fact, if a man tries to put his work to Christ, God will kill him. I want you to know that. If you go to God with your works and the work of Christ, God will kill you. Remember Uzzah? Uzzah was a priest. David was carrying that ark the wrong way. God told him to carry it a certain way. He carried it on a cart. That ox slipped and that ark of the covenant began to slide off. And that man in all sincerity, with all of his heart, he tried to stop that ark from falling. And when he put his hand on it, God killed him. That's it. If you put your hand on Christ, God will kill you. Why? Because we are totally depraved. You know what I need? perfect Savior. Because I am totally depraved, I need a total salvation. And when I look at the cross, you know what I see? I see a total salvation. I see a perfect salvation that I don't want to put my hand to it. I don't want to put my hand to it. It's perfect. So by preaching Christ and Him crucified, we know why sin entered into the world, according to the purpose of God, so that Jesus Christ might be the perfect Savior. And He is. Thirdly, our message when we preach the cross of Christ, we preach the eternal counsel of God, we preach the providence of men, but we also preach the holiness of God. You know, when I see the cross, I see the holiness of God. Now, when Adam failed, he lost all ability to be holy. But you know what? God never lost His right to demand holiness. This is what men say, well, if man's lost the ability, then surely God would lower His standard. Nope. God never. can lower his standard. He is holy and he demands you and I to be holy. The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. That's what God said. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. So then how then can a sinner be accepted? If God is holy and we are absolutely depraved, how may a sinner be accepted? You see, this is the message of the cross of Jesus Christ. Who can be saved? David asked that question. In Psalm chapter 24, David asked this question. Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? That's a question, isn't it? Listen to this. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Now, I know this. That's not talking about me. That can't be talking about me. "...who hath not lifted his soul up to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing of the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." That's only speaking about one man, Jesus Christ. And this is the message of Jesus Christ, whom crucified, that he who hath clean hands and a pure heart, that He, by His death, makes us righteous, makes us holy. Isn't that what He said in the first chapter? He said He is all our wisdom, all our righteousness, and what? All our sanctification. God is holy and demands that we be holy. How then shall we who are sinners be made holy? God purposed that He should be all our holiness. So when I see the Lord Jesus Christ hanging upon the tree as the Lamb of God, we see this, that the sin of God's elect were put on Him. God hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. That we who only knew sin. could be made the righteousness of God in him. So when I see this, I see the holiness of God, don't you? When Christ died, He died under the justice of God. That's why He died. He who is God, manifest in the flesh, came into the world for the purpose of what? Dying! That's why He was made a body, that's why He was made a man, so that He could die. God could not die. But the God-man could. According to the covenant of grace, Christ was made a representative surety for His people, and He bore their sins in His own body on the tree. You want to see the holiness of God, you have to look at the cross. How did God treat His Son when sin was found on Him? Jesus said, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? What is He going to do if He finds sin on you? I see the holiness of God that punished His Son for our sins. In the covenant of grace, He fully satisfied the holiness and justice of God. Look at Hebrews 10. Look at Hebrews 10 and see the result of his suffering under the holiness of God. Look at the result. Hebrews 10, look at verse 9, we'll start there. He said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. honored the law so that he might establish the covenant of grace. Listen, by the witch will, the will of God, we are what? What are you? Sanctified. The will of God made you holy. God determined for you to be holy. How? Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Now, how many times do you need to be offered? Once. Isn't that astounding? I can't. Can you imagine living under that old dispensation where you had these sacrifices that were constant? You know, there were a minimum of two sacrifices a minimum. That's I would just say that there was probably when the when the thing was functioning as it should. There were multiple sacrifices a day. You know, I mean, those took away in none of them. They only pictured this one. So when I preach the cross of Christ, listen to this, I'm preaching that the holiness of God is completely satisfied. That we who believe on Christ, you are holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. He said every priest stand to daily ministering offering the same sacrifice and never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, what did he do? He sat down. It's done. Isn't that what Christ said when he died? He said, It is finished. What does that mean? Holiness of God was satisfied. Payment for sin was completely rendered. I'll move fast on these next ones. When we preach the cross of Christ, we must preach the effectual call of the Spirit. You can't preach that. You can't preach the gospel without understanding this. Everyone the Father chose, Christ redeemed. And everyone Christ redeemed will be saved. Without exception. Without exception. Without fail. That's not how we came into this world, is it? We came into this world like everybody else. Lost! There's no difference between the elect and those vessels of wrath. There's no difference by nature in any of us. The difference is the grace of God, the mercy of God, the will of God, the purpose of God, the death of Christ is the only thing that makes a difference. God has determined that we who are His must be born of the Spirit Oh God, look back at your text. Remember, He said, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for us that love him. Verse 10, But God hath revealed them unto us. How? By His Spirit. You believe this morning. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you rest your eternal soul upon the death, burial, and resurrection of that man, Jesus Christ? If you do, it is a direct result of the power of the Spirit to reveal it to you. You didn't learn this. You never would have known this. You never would have believed this had the Spirit of God not revealed it to you. So we know this, that salvation and faith is not a mere act of will or determination of man. It's by the power of the Spirit of God. That's why Paul said, look, I didn't come to you in this way. Look what he said, why he did this. He said in verse 4, My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but what? Power of God. Isn't this amazing that you that believe are born of the Spirit of God, you're quickened by the Spirit of God, you're given faith in Christ, and you are kept by the Spirit of God. I think this is comforting. You know, a lot of us who believe, we tremble and we fear because of this old man, we sin, we have feelings that are just horrible. I'll tell you what, I would long to feel saved a lot, but I don't. But you see, my feelings are not what keep me. I am kept by the power of God, by the Spirit of God. That our faith should stand in the power of God. How did you come to Christ? Was it by the power of man? By the power of will? Or was it by the power of the Spirit of God? And all who are in Christ, I want you to know this, you cannot be moved from Christ. This is what the This is what the cross of Christ teaches. If Christ has taken our sins and bore them away, if God is completely satisfied with Christ our Savior, will He ever then charge me with sin? Can He? You see how beautiful the cross of Christ is? The cross of Christ tells me that all my sins have been fully paid by the blood of Christ, and God will never twice demand payment for sin. Who shall in thy presence stand and match omnipotence, unfold the grasp of thy right hand, and pluck the sinner thence? You see why we determined to preach the cross of Christ? It's the eternal counsel of God. God always determined to save us by Christ and him crucified. We see it unfolding when Christ comes into the world. We see we see the depravity of man when when Adam sin, we see our depravity, we see our need. And then what God sends Christ and Christ fulfills the eternal covenant of God. He actually saves us. You know, the difference between a true preacher of the gospel and a false preacher is this. Success. Religion depends on the success of the preacher. True preachers depend upon the success of Jesus Christ. I totally depend upon the success of Christ. And those who are called, this is not accidental, man this is not This is on purpose. When God calls a person, he calls them on purpose. He calls them. They come. Could you do anything else? You that believe, can you do anything else? Do you want to you want to give up? You want to quit your faith? Anybody that believe want to quit faith or do you want more of it? What believer wants to say, I don't it's enough. I have enough faith. I'm all right. said no believer ever. I want more of Christ. I want more faith. I want more love. And I cannot be satisfied until I have Him. To me, Christ and Him crucified is all. It's all myself. all my life. You to believe, I know that's true of you. That's the power of God and not the wisdom of man. It wasn't a preacher. It's not me. Just a vessel. I told somebody the other day, if you're dying of thirst and somebody hands you a pitcher of water, will you thank the pitcher? You say, man, look at that beautiful pitcher. No. It's the water. It's Christ, isn't it? It's not the preacher. It's Christ. That's our determination. I pray God will bless this until you stand and be dismissed. Most gracious Father, dismiss us with your own mercies and kindness. Pour out upon your hearts and minds of your people, to set our eyes and affection and faith upon Christ and Him crucified. The sum of all the Scriptures, of all your eternal counsel and will, is the victory of Jesus Christ. I pray that you would even call the dead to life now, that they might believe and see their need of Christ and come to Him. By the power of your Spirit, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Bless you. I know you get new stuff.