If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We'll
be looking at verses 1 through 5 this evening. And I've entitled
this message, Our Determination. Our Determination. And we're
going to see this with what Paul says in verse 2, what he determines. And what Paul determines is what
every gospel preacher, what every believer in Christ, what every
church of God determines to do. 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 except this, except this, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, and I was with you in weakness, and in
fear, and in much 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 for this cause, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of man. not stand in the power of the
preacher, not stand in the ability of the preacher, but where? In the power of God. Your faith
should stand in the power of God. Now, the apostle in chapter
1, he first of all exposes the foolishness of exalting preachers. This church desired to exalt
preachers. They said, I'm of Paul. The others
said, I'm of Apollos. And he exposes in chapter 1 the
foolishness of this. And he reveals this, that preaching
is necessary. Preaching is necessary. Verse
21 of chapter 1, For after that the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believed. He shows the necessity of preaching
the gospel. It is God's means of saving the
elect. And he plainly displays that
those who preach it and those that believe it are nothing.
Look at chapter 3 and look what he says of himself and of Paul
as preachers. If you go over to chapter 3 and
you look and he says, verse 5, he says, who's Paul? Who's Apollos
but ministers, servants? whom you believe, even whom the
Lord gave every man. I planted and polished water,
God gave the increase, so neither is he that planteth anything,
and he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase." So
what does he say about preachers? He says they're nothing. They're
nothing. They're just vessels. They're
ministers. Sin of God to do one thing. Preach the gospel. Preaching
is necessary. But what are preachers? They're
just vessels. They're nothing. You know, we
who preach the gospel have no power to save anyone. Tonight,
as I preach this gospel, I know that there are some who are dead
and trespassing sin. I have no power to save you. Neither did Paul, neither did
Apollos, neither did any other preacher. We have no power. Therefore, the preaching of the
Gospel is chosen of God for this purpose, to abase man. You see, I have no power to save
you, and you have no power to save yourself. What does that
make us? Nothing. We have no power, we
have no ability. You see, this Gospel, The reason
God chose this means is to abase man and to exalt himself. You see, the gospel reveals the
perfect weakness and depravity of man so that no one is able
to boast in merits, works, or will to have anything to do with
their salvation. That's why God chose it. He chose the gospel to preach
the gospel exalts God. And we preach this, that salvation's
of the Lord. Look what he says in verse 30
of chapter 1. This is exactly what he says.
He says, But of God are you in Christ Jesus. Are you in Christ
Jesus tonight? Well, who put you there? God
did. Not the preacher, not yourself. God put you there. And what did
He do when He put you in Christ? God made Him unto us, what? everything. To us who are in
Christ, Christ is everything. He's our wisdom. He's our righteousness. He's our sanctification. He's
our redemption. He is everything. If we're saved, it must be by
the sovereign will of the Father that put us in Christ. If we
are saved, it must be by the perfect work of Christ. if we
are called and experience the salvation of God. It is by the
power of the Holy Spirit. By the power of God. If you continue,
listen, you continue to believe. That's the power of God. It's
not your power. I'm not here preaching your power,
your ability, and I'm not boasting in mine. The preaching of the
gospel abases us both and exalts God, salvations of the Lord. Listen to what Paul said in 2
Thessalonians 2. Verse 13, he said this, We are
bound to give thanks always to God. Who gives thanks? He gives
thanks to God. For who? For you, brethren. I
thank God. Why do you thank God for them?
Because God hath from the beginning chosen you. to salvation. You're saved because God chose
you to it. God purposed you to be saved.
And here's the means, through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. Now, what's the means by which
you are sanctified by the Spirit and believe the truth? Here it
is, whereunto He called you by our gospel. It's the means by
which God calls the elect to the obtaining of what? The glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, he writes in our text
back over in verse 31, chapter 1, he says this, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. You
see, so then all the glory belongs to God. And so now in our text,
now having seen that there's nothing in preachers, See, there's
nothing in you, yet God chose this means of preaching the gospel
to save His people, so that he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Salvation's of the Lord, that's
the message. And so Paul here, the apostle,
he calls his brethren to a practical remembrance. Now he calls them
to their experience. He said, I told you that the
preaching of the gospel is necessary, and preachers are nothing. The
gospel is very plain. God gets all the glory. Now I'm
going to call you because you remember this is exactly what
you experienced. He calls and look at our text,
verse 1. He said, I, brethren, remember. He calls and says,
I want you to remember this, brethren. Listen. When I came
to you, how did I come? How did I come when I came to
you? I came not with excellency of speech or of the wisdom of
man declaring unto you the testimony I didn't come in excellent speed
or wisdom, but what did I do? How did I come? What did I say?
I declared unto you simply the testimony of God. He came preaching,
not with great oratory skill. He came preaching, not with the
wisdom of man. Now listen, this church, Corinth
was the center of earthly wisdom at this time. It was a center
of Greek philosophy. It was a place where men loved
something new. They loved the deep and profound
wisdom that's hard to be understood. It was hard to be understood.
They loved it. They loved it. They relished it. And Paul said,
I came to you with none of that. I didn't come to you to debate
with you. I didn't come to tickle your
ears with Greek philosophy, wisdom of man, but I did come doing
this, declaring the testimony of God. I tell you, there's nothing
more needed in our day than for God to send men to do this one
thing, declare, listen, declare plainly the testimony of God. simply, plainly declare the testimony
of God with plainness of speech so that nobody can misunderstand
what we're saying. My determination every time I
preach is that you understand me. I use very simple words on
purpose so that everyone is able to understand my speech. I don't
do this to degrade you. I do this because it's necessary
that you understand. Now, Paul could have made one
of the greatest arguments ever. He was a very learned man. He was very studied in philosophy
and religion. In fact, you know, the Book of
Romans is... Lawyers used to use the Book of Romans. Used
to. I don't know if they do this anymore. Lawyers used to use
the Book of Romans to learn how to build an argument. That's
how great the Book of Romans is. Paul was a learned man. But
Paul says, when I came to you, I didn't come to you like that.
I didn't come to you with excellent speech or wisdom of men. Matter
of fact, how did I come? I came in weakness and fear and
much trembling. My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words. He came to them preaching, not
boasting, not trusting in His own abilities. He came not with the authority
of man, not with the wisdom of man. But
His power and His authority rested in this. I have the testimony
of God. I have the Word of God. The flesh puts much emphasis
on preacher's ability, don't it? They say, well, man, that
guy, you know, I got a loud voice. I got a loud voice. And some
people say, man, I like that loud voice. And some people say,
well, I just can't stand that loud voice. You know what? It
doesn't matter. You see, some people say, well,
you know, you sound like you've got authority. My loudness has
no bearing on my authority. If a man come up here and speak
very softly, And he declared the testimony of God. He has
just as much authority as me who is loud. What does that have
to do with anything? Nothing. Just because a man speaks loud
doesn't mean he has authority. Does he have the testimony of
God? So we don't place any emphasis
on a man's ability. We think if a man has the ability
to persuade men, oh, that's a good... If you get a salesman up here
and you put him behind a pulpit, they think he's great. Why? Because
he can convince men to do things. Listen, though, if a man convinced
you of Calvinism, believe me, somebody else would come along
and convince you of Arminianism. Why? If you're persuaded by man,
then what are you trusting in? The testimony of man. If you're
trusting in the ability of a preacher or the power of the preacher,
then your salvation rests on his authority, on his ability. Listen, but if God ever speaks
to you, what's the authority of your salvation? It's God. It's God. How in the world do you know?
that God will accept you? Based on what authority do you
have that God will accept you? Testimony of God. I know God
will accept me because that's God's testimony. That's God's
Word. It's Christ that died. His blood
atones. His righteousness clothes me.
He made me acceptable. How do you know that? That's
a testimony of God. There's your authority. If a man doesn't preach
the Word of God, he has no authority. If he's preaching creeds, if
he's preaching confessions of faith, then he has no authority. The authority is the Word of
God. That's the authority. That's
what Paul said. He said, I didn't come with you,
man's wisdom. I came to you preaching God's Word. I'm determined to
do it. He said, I came in this way and
this manner on purpose. Look what he said. He said, for
I determined. I didn't do this on accident.
I came this way on purpose. I determined. Here's the counsel
of God in a phrase. The whole counsel of God, the
whole testimony of God is right here. Listen, I determined not
to know anything among you except this, Jesus Christ and him crucified. That, my friend, is the testimony
of God. In one phrase, it's the whole
thing. This whole book is brought down
into that one phrase. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
When Paul was at Ephesus and he was fixing to go off and he
was going to die and not see them again, he said this, I want
you to bear witness to me I have not shunned to preach unto you
the whole counsel of God." What is he saying? Exactly what he's
saying right here. He's telling these people, you
remember when I came to you what I do. I preach to you the testimony
of God, the whole counsel of God. What is it? Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. It's all. It's all. He says in chapter 1 of verse
23, he says the same thing, we preach Christ crucified. In Galatians 3 in verse 14, he
said, God forbid that I should glory except in this, the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sum of the ministry of every
man's sin of God is this, preaching is necessary. And the only means
God will use to save His people is preaching, and this is the
message, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the message
of every gospel preacher. Not just one time, every time. Not just on Sunday, on Wednesday,
or Tuesday, or whenever he preaches. This is all we preach. I remember a man asking me that,
he says, is that all you preach? I said, yes. He never came back.
But he understood something. He did understand something.
I got one message. Here it is. Jesus Christ him
crucified. And I could preach it from any
book in this Bible. Why? It's the whole counsel of
God. It's the whole counsel of God. Now, what does Paul mean
by this short description? How can this one phrase encapsulate
the whole counsel of God? Does He mean that we preach about
the cross every time? I tell you, the cross is in every
message I preach, isn't it? But, you know what, I don't go
to the end of Matthew and just preach that one section of time,
right? I don't just preach that one
subject, but that subject is throughout the whole Scripture.
I tell you that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, listen, the
whole history of man hinges on that one moment in time. You
see, the whole history of man before was moving toward the
crucifixion of Christ. And everything since the crucifixion
of Christ points all the way back to that point. It is the
center of all history. Matter of fact, the center of
all eternity. is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Why? Because all the salvation
of men depend upon it. Without that one moment in time,
there would be no salvation for anyone. We know that all Scripture is
God-breathed, and that we have in our hands the whole counsel
of God, and Paul is saying that all Scripture, all truth, all
Scriptural teaching is understood, entered into, and experienced
in the light of the cross of Christ. All Scripture. All Scripture
is in that one moment. All Scripture. If any man will set up his tent
at the cross of Christ, it is from there he may be able to
understand the person of Christ and the work of Christ. If you
just look at that, you'll be able to understand everything.
If you can see that, you can see everything. You can see the holiness of God.
You can see the justice of God. You can see the mercy of God.
You can see the righteousness of God. You can see the salvation
of man, you can see the depravity of man. You can see the work of the Spirit,
you can see everything if you just camp there. It was at the cross this scripture
was fulfilled. Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Where? At the cross. David wrote
that a long time ago, didn't he? What was he talking about? He was talking about Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That's what he was talking about.
Oh, that men would read the Scriptures aright and see that the whole
counsel of God's in that one phrase. And listen, you understand
that one phrase? You understand everything. You
can understand the whole book if you understand that phrase,
that truth. Jesus told those disciples walking
on the road to Emmaus, they were confused. They didn't understand.
They didn't understand. They said, we thought he was
the Christ. We thought he was the one, and
he's dead. They wasn't walking with him. They thought he was
dead. And he said, why are you so sad? What's wrong with you?
And they told him, and he said, old fools, and slow of heart
to believe, listen, all that Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things in His glory? See, I link everything that was
said before to that one thing. Ought not Christ to have suffered
any in His glory? And what? Beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, He expanded unto them all the Scriptures. What? The things concerning Himself. The whole Word of God testifies
of Jesus Christ and His redemptive work on the cross. Christ is
the key to all knowledge and salvation, and He is the key
to understanding the Word of God. Without Him, without His
work, you don't understand anything in this book. So anyone that neglects to preach
Christ and Him crucified, I'm warning you. Exactly what the
Lord Jesus Christ warned His people in His day, He said, Woe
unto you, lawyers. That's all you are, a bunch of
lawyers. bunch of liars. For you've taken the key of knowledge.
You've taken the key of knowledge out. You enter not in yourselves,
and them that were entering in you hinder. If you take Christ
and him crucified out of the message, you've taken the key
away from everything. He's the key to everything. His
work. Now I want you to see that. That's
Now I'm going to show it to you. I've just told you what it is.
Jesus Christ and crucified is all we're to preach. Why? It
encapsulates the whole counsel of God. Now I'm going to just
show you it's the whole counsel of God. First of all, let's see
this. When we preach Jesus Christ and
crucified, we must preach the eternal counsel of God. That's
what I'm telling you. When we preach Christ crucified,
we are preaching the eternal counsel of God. Now we know this, that whatsoever
God purposed to do in eternity comes to pass. Isn't that what
he said? He said, remembering the former
things of old, for I'm God and there's none else. I am God and
there's none like me. Why? Declaring the end from the beginning. From ancient times, the things
were done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and what? I will
do all my pleasure. Do all my pleasure. This is the
eternal declaration of the sovereign counsel of God, and it must stand,
here it is, that God chose Christ to be the surety of His people.
That is the eternal counsel of God that must stand. He chose Christ to be the representative,
the high priest of all His people. How do you know that? Ephesians
chapter one. Look at it. Ephesians chapter
one. It's one of our favorite passages for a reason, isn't
it? It's so full of the eternal counsel of God. Ephesians chapter
one declares that all the elect were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. God gave them to Christ, put
them into union with Christ. so that they might have all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Him, according as He had chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy without blame before Him, and love having predestinated
us on the adoption of children." How? By Jesus Christ. Look at
verse 11. He says, in whom? In Christ. We've obtained an inheritance. All those spiritual blessings,
we've 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."
Listen, who first trusted in Christ? Who first trusted in Christ?
Now, people say, well, that's Paul. Paul didn't first trust
in Christ. Matter of fact, he was the last
apostle that trusted in Christ, wasn't he? All the apostles trusted
before him. Who's he saying? God trusted
in Christ. Behold, the glory of God was
to put his trust in Christ. This is the eternal counsel of
God. This is why Christ was chosen, because God trusted him. With
what? The salvation of all his people
and his glory. He trusted Christ with the salvation
of his elect and his own glory. And the eternal purpose of God
not only trusted in Christ to accomplish our salvation, but
also decreed the means by which he would save them. Didn't he
say that? Look at verse one again. He says, having predestinated
us unto adoption of children by Jesus Christ." He determined
it should be by Jesus Christ, but he also determined the means
by which Christ would do it. Verse 7, "...in whom we have
redemption through his," what? Blood. It was always that Christ
should be crucified. This is the eternal counsel of
God, that Christ be your representative and that Christ die for your
sins. What are we saying? Jesus Christ
and Him crucified is the eternal counsel of God. Why do you think John said this?
He is as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Because it was the eternal counsel
of God that Jesus Christ and Him crucified should be our means
of salvation. Second of all, the message we
preach plainly declares the depravity of man. Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. You know what that tells us?
Man is absolutely depraved. Our preaching of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified must of necessity preach the utter fall of man. The Word of God tells us that
our Father Adam represented us all. and that when he fell into
sin and died spiritually, we all died in him, wherefore, as
by one man. Romans 5, 12, wherefore, as by
one man. Sin entered in the world and
death by sin. What's the result of this? So
death passed. Death passed on all men. Four. Why? Why is that newborn
baby born dead in sin? Four. all have sinned, including
him. That newborn child that has done
nothing sinned. When? He sinned when his father
did. He sinned when his representative
did. The Scriptures tell us that Adam
was a representative man. Even so. Even so, Jesus Christ, by the
eternal counsel of God, was made a representative man of his elect
people. Adam was a figure of him to come,
Romans 5, 14. Therefore, Jesus was also called,
in another place, the second Adam. Now, why was it necessary? Listen to me. Why was it necessary
that Jesus be the second Adam? Why was it necessary that the
Son of God should come into this world? and be a representative
of anyone, even because Adam's fall was
perfect, was complete. The fall of the first Adam was
absolute and utter ruin and death upon the whole race. If it wasn't,
then Christ would not need to be representative of anyone.
There would be hope for you, without Him. If there was some
life in you, if there was some righteousness in you, then the
hope of your salvation would rest with you, and He would not
need to come and die. But because there was no life,
no hope in the elect, therefore, Jesus must be their representative
and come to die for them. Scripture says, In Adam all died.
There is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all going out of their way. They're all together
becoming improper. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. Therefore, listen, by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh, no flesh be justified in his sight. Why, the law can
only expose sin. It cannot help you keep from
sin. It cannot keep you from sin.
It cannot save you. None will ever be saved by their
works or by their will. None will be saved by their merits
or their religious ceremonies. You know, religion is mixing,
they do this all the time, mixing grace and works. No one is ever
saved by grace and works. You're either saved by grace
or you're saved by works. You can't be saved by both. And I tell you this, no man's
saved by works. That's the scriptures. What is it? Remember Uzzah? Remember
Uzzah? David brought that Ark of the
Covenant back. And that priest Uzzah, that Ark of the Covenant,
that Ark stumbled, and that Ark began to wobble, and it seemed
like it was going to fall off. And Uzzah, with all of his heart,
I don't doubt that he was sincere, didn't want that Ark to fall
on the ground. And he put his hand up to steady
the Ark, and God killed him. You put your hand to the work
of Christ, and God will kill you. You mix your works with His,
and God will kill you. When Moses was commanded to make
an altar, you remember he said, you make an altar of earth. He
said, you pick up those rocks and you pile them up, and if
you put a hammer to it, you defile it. If you try to shape those
rocks in any way, you defile it. If I take this gospel of
Jesus Christ and Him crucified and try to shape it and mold
it the way I want to, I've defiled it. If I somehow make salvation something
you do and what Christ did, I've defiled the whole thing. I've
put my hand to it, and it's cursed. So when we preach Christ and
Him crucified, we must always preach this, the total, absolute
depravity of man. How do I know man is depraved?
Because the Son of God must have come into this world to be His
representative. That's the only hope. That's
the only reason Christ had to come, is because man was hopeless. It was by Adam's sin and death
came. Even so, came upon all the elect that God had purposed
to save. Therefore, seeing the elect were
born dead in sins, Unable to save himself, what did he do?
He sent Jesus to be the Christ. So when I say Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, what am I saying? I'm showing you that man was
depraved and Christ, Jesus must be the Christ to represent His
people. He must come in the flesh. He
must become the second Adam. Paul in that chapter 5 of Romans
says, Therefore, by the offense of one judgment came upon all
men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon the justification of life. Listen,
For by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. So by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. So preaching
Christ and Him crucified. We know why sin entered into
the world. We know how it entered. It was
according to the purpose of God. That's why sin entered in the
world. According to the purpose of God. Why? So that God, through
Jesus Christ, might receive all the glory and praise for your
salvation. He did it for His own glory. We preach Jesus Christ, Him crucified. We see the depravity of man.
Now, our message of Jesus Christ, Him crucified also declares the
holiness of God, doesn't it? It declares the holiness and
justice of God. When Adam fell in the garden,
he lost all righteousness, all ability. But God never lost His
right to demand perfection. Men say, Well, that's just not...
I can't be holy. Well, that's just not fair. No, it's just. It's just. God did not lose His right to
demand perfection. The soul that sins, you listen,
it shall die, whether you like it or not. Why? Because God is
just. Curses everyone that continue
with not in all things written in the book of the law to do
them. God's Word is plain that every
sin of every sinner must and will be punished. Why? God is just. God is just. God's justice demands payment,
and it will have it. It will have it. David wrote this in Psalm 24. He said, Who shall ascend unto
the hill of the Lord? Good question, isn't it? You're
going to meet God. Listen to me very carefully,
you're going to meet God. And David said, how are you going
to meet God? How are you going to stand before God? Who shall
stand in that holy place? And you listen, he gives the
answer so you're not confused. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, perfect in work, in thought, in deed. He that hath clean hand, perfect
words, and a perfect heart, who hath not sworn deceitfully, he,
this is the only one, shall receive the blessing of the Lord, and
the righteousness from God of his salvation. So then who can
be saved? Who can be saved? Who will be
able to be accepted by a just God? Well, this is the message
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Listen, He that hath clean hands
and a pure heart, who's that? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, He
alone hath clean hands and a pure heart. Only those then who are
made white by His work, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Only
those made white by His work at Calvary shall be accepted
by a just God. How? This is the message of substitution. that God made Christ to be surety
for all the elect, and at the appointed time He came in flesh
to represent them. Today I want you to look to Jesus
Christ. Right now. Listen, this is my
message. Jesus Christ. When you see Christ,
what do you see? You see God and man. That's who
He is. He is God and man. and He is
the only Redeemer of sinners. Jesus Christ and what? Him crucified. All the Word of God foretold
of His coming, He is the seed of the woman that she crushed
the head of the serpent. He was pictured by Abel's sacrifice
and by the Passover lamb. He was pictured by the temple,
the altar, and all the sacrifices. They all pictured Him. But in the prophecy of His person,
It was also revealed that he was the Son of God. The Son of God. David said, The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make
thine enemies thy footstool. Jesus then, when he questioned
those Pharisees, he said, How is it that this is David's son
and David's Lord? They couldn't answer that, because
they didn't know that he was God and man. This one we preach. When I say
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I'm preaching God. God, very
God. John said, In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus Christ is God. But according to the covenant
of grace, the Son of God, being our representative must also
become the son of man. And so at the appointed time,
God was made flesh. God was made flesh. No man of Adam's seed could ever
honor God's law except this, that God himself should do it. Therefore, God must become man
so as to obey the law for righteousness. He became the seed of the woman.
And what did he do when he did that? He escaped the corruption
of the father. He escaped the corruption of
Adam by being the seed of the woman. And by his nature, he
could only do what pleased God. Could you imagine seeing him
just walking and talking and always pleasing God by what he
said and what he thought and what he did? It was so foreign
to everyone around him. He was God manifest in the flesh
who honored the law of God, and by this, listen, for us, Jesus
Christ obtained the righteousness of God. Just as Adam, he sinned
for me, Right? He sinned, and his sin was counted
as mine. Even so, the righteousness of
Christ is counted mine. It's counted as all the elect. He merited the righteousness
of God for all his people. So when I say we're preaching
Jesus Christ, what are we preaching? We're preaching God manifest
in the flesh. He had to come. We were depraved. We were lost. We were dead. Therefore,
Jesus Christ must come. The word spoke of him coming.
Who? God manifest in the flesh should
come and obtain righteousness for his people. But that was
not all, was it? No, his work must of necessity
satisfy God's justice. He did obtain an active and passive
righteousness for all his people, but justice... justice does not
demand obedience. Justice demands blood. Justice demands blood. Without
the shedding of blood, what is it? There is no remission. What if you were to, at this
moment, forever be righteous? You didn't sin anymore right
now. You suppose by doing that you would enter into heaven?
No, because what about all the sin before? Justice demands payment
for that. It not only demands you to be
righteous, but it also demands payment for sin. And so we preach the eternal
covenant of God's grace purpose that Christ should die for the
elect. And now as we look at that point
in time when Jesus hung upon the cross, we see the fulfillment,
the fulfillment of God's purpose. And so I determined not to preach
anything unto you except Jesus Christ, and that by his death
he forever, perfectly, completely, and absolutely satisfied the
justice of God. You want to know where God was
satisfied? It was that moment when Christ
died for your sin. God was completely satisfied
with his death. Justice was satisfied. When you
see the cross of Christ, I want you to see the justice of God.
Then I want you to see the justice of God satisfied. Satisfied. Paul says in Hebrews 12, Hebrews
10, but this man is different than any other man, any other
priest. Why? After he had offered this
one sacrifice for sins, he sat down. on the right hand of God, forever
expecting His enemies to be made His footstool, for by His one
offering, He hath perfected forever, perfected forever, perfected
forever them that were sanctified. Them were set apart by God in
eternity, given to Him in eternity. Jesus Christ obtained their righteousness.
Jesus Christ, by His one offering and death, forever satisfied
the justice of God against all their sins. Forever. He perfected
them. When were you perfect, Scott?
You were perfect when He died. You were perfected forever. Behold the glory of God then
in the cross of Christ, that the spotless, sinless Son of
God was crucified. He was hourly beaten and marred
more than any man. He was pierced in His head, His
hands, and His feet. But all this suffering only pictured
the greatest suffering, when God made the sinless Son of God
to be sin for us. It was there that all my sin, all my sin was made It was there He bore the reproach of my sin. If you want to see how God views
sin, you better look at the cross. When God found sin in the only
one He loved, He killed Him without mercy. What do you think he'll do to
you if he finds sin in you? But in that moment, when Christ fully paid the justice
of God, when God's justice could not ask for one more ounce of
suffering, when God's justice says hell was quenched, By His
blood, Jesus said this, so you and I can understand it. He said
this, it's finished. What does that mean? That means it's finished. All
that He purposed to do, He did. He purposed to pay for the sins
of His people by dying on that tree and He said, finished. Justice is forever
satisfied. You will never see God satisfied
with anything you do. God was only satisfied with what
He did. And then I can only be satisfied
in what He did. I can only find peace there.
I can only find comfort there. I can only find assurance there,
where Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Jesus Christ, my representative.
Jesus Christ, my righteousness. Jesus Christ, my redemption.
Jesus Christ, my payment for sin. I can only find peace there. I can only find acceptance there.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's the whole counsel of God.
It's the whole message. But God wasn't satisfied just
to show you His death satisfied justice.
He showed you even more clearly by His resurrection He was satisfied.
Peter said this, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you've taken by wicked hands and crucified
and slain. Whom God hath raised up, having
loose the pains of death. Why? Because it's not possible
that He should be holding of it. Why? There's no more sin
to hold Him. The resurrection proves what
Christ said. It's finished. And the resurrection
proves it. He's raised from the dead. Behold,
we are righteous. The righteousness of God was
fulfilled by His obedience. The wrath of God was satisfied
by His death. And the resurrection proves it.
Resurrection proves it. Lastly this to preach Jesus Christ
and crucify. We must preach the effectual
call of grace and keeping of the Saints Our God having purposed our salvation
in election by the cross of Christ from eternity now Accomplish
that salvation He must then effectually work it in every son Every elect
sinner God will effectually work this salvation into them. When
he told Nicodemus, you must be born again, what was he saying?
He wasn't giving Nicodemus something to do. He was telling him what's
going to happen. He said, the wind blows where
it listeth, and you can hear the sound of it. You can't tell
where it's coming. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus,
you must be born again, and you will be born again. Everyone
who is chosen, everyone who is in Christ will be born again. They must be. It's a divine decree. They must be born again. It must
come to pass. How will it come to pass? Well,
this, friends, is the work of the Spirit. Go back to your text
there. He hath come in excellency of
speech, determined not to know anything but Jesus Christ, the
testimony of God, Jesus Christ, him crucified. And I was with
you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my speech
and my preaching was not enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power." If you are saved, it is not because
of the preacher. Preachers are necessary. They
must preach one message, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But if you're ever going to actually
believe, it must be by the power of the Spirit of God. I'm determined to preach this
gospel to you always, plainly as I possibly can. that salvation
is found in one person, Christ Jesus, and one work, Him crucified. That's what the whole testimony
of God says. It's all of it from the beginning has been testifying
of this. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. Do you believe? That's the power
of God. You know, when you believe, do
you feel power? I mean, do you feel powerful when you believe?
No, you don't feel anything, do you? It's not a matter of
feeling. Do you believe? Do you know whom
you have believed? Do you rest solely in His redemptive
work and His perfect righteousness? Friends, that's the power of
God under salvation to everyone that believes it. That's a demonstration of the
power of God is that you believe. Now, listen to this. Here's another
demonstration of the power of God that you keep believing. How many of us have been tempted
away to not believe? Oh, sometimes my faith feels as nothing but
unbelief. Why do I still believe on Jesus
Christ and Him crucified? It's the power of God. The power
of God. Verse 5, I preach to Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, verse 5, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. That's why I preach
Christ, so that your faith should be in Him. I want you to look
to Him. I want you to believe on Him. I want you to trust Him. Why? It's the whole counsel of
God. If you understand Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, you understand this book. You understand the
providence of God. You know that? You may not understand
exactly how this is going to work together for your good,
but you know it will. Why? You know whom you have to
believe. And when those disciples, you
remember they were, Jesus said, are you going to go away too?
You know what they said? They said, to whom shall we go? They didn't say, to what should
we go? They said, to whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life. They understood Jesus Christ
and New Christianity. They understood it. They believed
Him. Do you believe Him? Well, that's
the power of God. Jesus Christ, Him crucified,
I pray that you will believe on Him and His work. Our gracious Father, dismiss
it with Your blessing and mercy. Pour out Your Spirit upon us.
I pray for grace and power of Thy Spirit that You would give
life to the dead and comfort the living. Encourage and strengthen
your people to continue and determine to preach this gospel, hear this
gospel, and not compromise. That all the glory may redound
to Christ. I pray that you do this for your
own glory in Jesus' name.