My text will be found in verse
18. For the preaching of the cross,
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved it. It what? The preaching of the
cross. The preaching of the cross, it,
the cross, is the power of God to us who are saved. The preaching
of the cross is the power of God unto us which are saved. And the Apostle Paul, writing
to this church at Corinth, he starts out by confronting them
of a sin concerning preachers, concerning apostles. He says
to them in verse 12, he says, Now this I say, that
every one of you saith, I am of Apollos, and I am of Cephas,
or I am of Christ. In other words, they enjoyed
hearing particular men preach. They enjoyed, one person said,
I like Paul. You know, he's real, he delves
into the deep things of God. I like Apollos. He's got such
a beautiful voice. I love to hear him preach. And
some were so pious, say, oh, I'm of Christ. These probably
didn't even come to worship. But he says this, this is a sin. This is a sin to prefer one man
of God over another. Why? Because we are all ministers
of the same gospel. We are all ministers of the same
gospel. Now this was not a warning or
a rebuke to the lost people. This was not a rebuke to the
false church. But this was a rebuke to God's
church. To true children of God. To the elect, to those who were
redeemed, bought with the blood of Christ, called by the Holy
Spirit, quickened to life and faith in Christ, this error and
sin about preference of men is common, is it not? I know it's common to me. I know
that's a sin of my heart. When I hear certain men preach,
I enjoy hearing certain men above others. Why? Because that's just
flesh. Instead of listening to the preacher
and his gifts, rather listen to the message. It's the message
that's all important. It's not the man. It's not the
man. I tell you this, I confess that
some men have more gifts than others. Some are used to preach
the gospel all over the world in many churches. Some men are
capable of writing great works, great books. I have many books
in my library. And some men are greatly capable
and other men, not so much. Some men are influenced all over
the world, but some men are just called to a local assembly. Some
men are just within the sphere of their own community or the
place where God has them. But what are we? Regardless if
God uses us all over the world or whether He uses us just for
a local assembly, what are we? We are nothing but ministers
of the gospel and servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now should your faithfulness
to hear the gospel and support the work of the ministry be based
on the gifts of the man preaching? No. No. Should the skill of the man preaching
be the basis of your faithfulness? Or should your faithfulness to
support and hear the gospel be based on your obedience to Christ? Your love for Christ. That should
be your faith. That should be why you're faithful. If you're
faithful to serve in the ministry, if you're faithful to attend
the worship and to support the ministry, if you do it for the
preacher, you're going to do it for only a short period of
time and you're going to get tired of that. No. We do it out of love for Christ. You should be here to hear His
voice and not mine. You should be here to hear the
voice of His Spirit speaking to you rather than hearing me. If that's all you hear today,
you'll walk out of here the same way you came in. You won't be
blessed if that's what you came to hear is me. There's nothing
to hear. I'm not that good. But I'll tell you what, if you
hear Him, it'll be worth your while. If you hear Christ, it'll
be worth your time and effort. Now, there are many things that
men will not fully agree with. We know this in the worship of
Christ. Some men may differ on future
things. Some men may disagree on the
manner of worship. But I'll tell you this, everyone
who believes in Jesus Christ, we may disagree on frivolous
things. But one thing we do not disagree
on, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ being the sum and
substance of the worship. Now this morning you saw in your
bulletin that I had three songs prepared, but I only sang two.
You see, I'm not really hung up on number of songs or anything
like that. If we use a piano, sometimes
Cheryl don't know a song, we'll sing it. What was it? Acapulco. Acapella. We'll sing acapella. So it doesn't
bother me. That manner of worship is not
important. What's the center of this worship service? It is
what I am doing right now, preaching the gospel to you. That is the
sum and substance of worship. This is the sum of worship, that
we should preach the gospel. And Paul said, you should be
of one mind about this. There should be no divisions
among you. I don't care who it is that stands up to preach.
When he preaches the gospel, you should hear him. You should
hear the voice of your Savior, not so much the voice of the
man preaching. When you get some, you know what,
if you deliver to me a nice bottle of wine, I don't care what the
bottle looks like if it tastes good. You see, I'm concerned
more about the taste. I really wouldn't care about
the bottle. I'm just a bottle. I'm just a vessel. And I'm pouring
out to you the wine of the Spirit. It is the Word of God. See, Paul,
he says this, listen to what he says in verse 17. For Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Now, as believers
in Christ, this is a Baptist church, so baptism holds a great
manner of importance in our worship, doesn't it? Our obedience. Baptism's
important. When our Lord Jesus gave the
commission to His church, He said to us, Yet you should baptize
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. But notice what goes before that. That you should
go into all the world and teach all men Baptizing them. You see, they must first hear
and believe before they're baptized. Baptism has no significance without
hearing the gospel and believing on Christ. You must have that
first. Otherwise, you just get a good
bath. Not even a good bath. There's not even soap. So, this
matter of baptism is important. But preaching takes preeminence
over baptism. In Mark's gospel he said, Go
you into all the world and preach the gospel, whosoever believeth
and is baptized. You see the order? Preaching,
believing, baptism. So baptism is important. You
should be baptized. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you have not confessed Him in baptism, you should. Why? Because that's obeying Christ's
command. That's just a confession. When
you are baptized, you are confessing Christ before a public. This matter of coming to the
front, that's a modern foolish tradition of confessing the Lord
by coming to the front. Nowhere do you read that in Scripture
at all. How do you confess Him? By baptism. So baptism is important,
but Paul says significantly important, significantly more important
than baptism is preaching. Preaching. I said this before, the scripture
in Romans 10 says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. But how shall you believe on
him whom you have not, what, heard? Well, how do you hear? How shall they hear except They
preach. And how shall they preach except
they be sent? You see, there's a necessity.
There's a means by which God uses to save sinners. It is through
the preaching of the gospel that He uses. It is His tool that
He uses to make the Word effectual to your heart. What are preachers? We are nothing but servants of
Christ. Man, I'm not here, obviously I'm not here for the wealth,
right? I'm not here for the fame, am I? No. I care for none of
that. What am I here for? I'm here
to preach the gospel to you. That's it. That's my whole purpose.
That's my sole purpose for being here. This is my sole purpose
for living, is to preach the gospel. That's it. I have no
other reason to be here. We have one purpose, to preach
the gospel. Over in Ephesians, Ephesians
chapter 4, the apostle says this, that God gave gifts unto men.
What are these gifts that He gives to His people? Look at
this in verse 11. He said He gave some apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.
Now there are no more apostles, the prophets are gone. Evangelists,
this is a matter of opinion, some say evangelists are missionaries,
that sounds good, but these evangelists, I believe, were the ones who
had power given to them of the apostles. You remember the transference
of power that the apostle gave to, like, Philip. But Philip
could no longer transfer that power to anyone else. And so what are we left with?
Pastors and teachers. They're both the same. That's
what I'm doing. I'm preaching to you. I'm pastoring
you. I am teaching you the Word of
God. And these are the gifts for the
perfecting, the maturing, the equipping of the saints for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of the church.
And I tell you, all you who hear and are born again of the Spirit
of God, who believe on Christ. I tell you, I would gladly baptize
you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the authority of Christ. But we are not called first and
foremost to do that. I'm called first and foremost
to preach the gospel to you. And notice this. The apostle
says this. He said he came to preach the gospel, but not like
this. He said, not with the wisdom
of words. lest the cross should be made
of none effect. The gospel we preach is truly
the wisdom of God. But I am not to add my own wisdom
to it. I'm not to add my own... My opinion
and your opinion amount to nothing. You can have... Well, I don't...
I don't care. Your opinion and my opinion are
nothing. The Word of God is everything. If God says it, it's true. Let God be true and every man
a liar. God's true. So we who preach
the Word are not here to add anything to the Word. We're not
here to decorate it. That's what man wants. They desire
you to put up things to make them feel good. I'm not here
to make you feel good. I'm not here to entertain you.
I'm not an entertainer. I'm here to do one thing. Declare
the gospel to you. I'm just here as a voice crying
in the wilderness. That's all I am. A voice. And
nothing more. I am an ambassador for the King
of glory. And I do not add my word to His. His word takes precedence over
every other word. His word is preeminent. And so when I say I come not
to preach with wisdom of words, I come to preach as plainly as
I can to you. Every time I preach, I want to
make it as simple so when you walk out of here, you can say,
well, duh, I knew that. I want it to be so plain that
none of you, children included, would misunderstand what I'm
saying. I want it to be plain. That's what the Apostle said.
I came to preach, and I came to preach plainly, without complexity. Very simple. Therefore, I plainly
declare such truths to you as the sovereign election of God. I plainly declare unto you and
tell you the truth, that before all things, listen, before all
things anything was made, God in His sovereign purpose chose
an elect people for Himself. He chose some of Adam's race
and gave them to His Son. And His Son, He purposed to be
their Savior. And Jesus Christ came into the
world, and by His blood and righteousness accomplished their redemption.
And the Holy Spirit comes to them at the appointed time, and
He reveals to them the gospel. He gives them life. He gives
them faith to believe in Christ. This is the power of God. That
salvation is of the Lord. Did anybody misunderstand me?
Salvation is of the Lord. It's not of you. It's not of
me. It's of Him. I'll tell you, if He'll save
you, you'll be saved. If He won't, you'll be damned.
Is that plain? I come to preach plainly. I know there are enemies that
hate this gospel that I've just declared to you. Even because
they desire to add some work to Christ's finished work. For any man to try to explain
away the gospel. Now listen, I'm going to send
you to a place. Listen, go over to Romans chapter
9. Go over to Romans chapter 9. I want to make, this is plain
and simple. This is not complicated. Verse 11. Talking about two men. Two men born to the same woman.
Twins. Not physically, but they were
twins. They were born at the same time.
It said for the children. being not yet born, neither having
done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. He said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved. but Esau have I hated." What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is it unjust for God to do that? God said before these children
were born, having done anything, God said, I've loved the one
and hated the other. Now you say, well, that's not
fair. You're telling me then that God
is not righteous. That God has made some mistake.
Is God unrighteous to do this? No! God forbid He's not unrighteous
to do this. For He saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, It is not of him that
willeth, nor him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And some men would try to explain
this away. Well, they say that God loves all men without exception. That Jesus was sent to die on
the cross for the sins of all men. But only those who exercise
their free will, only those who do the works of God, only those
who stop doing this and start doing this, those who try to
obey the law, only those then who exercise their will and do
good works, these are the ones that God loves. And He just loves others less. Friends, this is man's wisdom.
That's not God's wisdom. This makes the cross of Christ
useless to secure the soul of any. But we preach. Listen to me. I preach a successful Savior. A successful Savior. The cross
was a successful venture. The success of the cross of Christ
to redeem his elect is what we preach. Though hated by men,
we must preach, not with words of man's wisdoms, but in boldness
and plainness of speech. This is what our purpose for
you this morning is to preach the gospel of God by the power
of the Holy Spirit, to plainly declare unto you the preaching
of the cross. Now this word here, go back to
your text. This word here, for the preaching of the cross. Now looking at one of the revised
versions of Scripture, this could also be translated for the word
of the cross. The word of the cross. Friends, there are not many words
of the cross. There's only one word of the
cross. In other words, there's only one gospel. There are not
many. There are not many Gospels, there
is only one. As there is only one God, there
is only one Gospel of God. As there is only one atonement
for sin, there is only one Savior for sinners. Jesus Christ, the
only means by which God can be just and justify the ungodly,
is by this one Savior. I tell you, I can tolerate and
I should tolerate weaker brethren. Isn't that right? Scripture tells
us that. Weaker brethren. There's some
men who say, well, you know, I don't think you should eat
this or drink this. And I say, you know, I'm at liberty.
I feel like I can eat and drink anything. But you know what,
for conscience sake, we wouldn't want to hurt someone who has
a defiled conscience, who would think that would be sin for them.
And Paul said, I would eat no meat. If it offends you, I would
eat no meat. So we can tolerate weaker brethren,
right? We should, because we love them. But one thing I will not tolerate
is another gospel. One thing you should not tolerate
from me or any other man is another gospel. There is only one gospel. Look what Paul said to them who
came into the church of Corinth, or Galatia. Go over to Galatians
chapter 1. Look what Paul said. These men
came in preaching circumcision. They said, Jesus is good. You
believe in Jesus? That's good. But you need to
add to it circumcision. Just one thing. You need to add
one law. That's all. And what did he say about them?
He says this in verse 6, I marvel that you are so soon removed
from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel. Listen, which is not another? But there be some that would
trouble you, and that would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though
we, or an angel from heaven, preach another gospel unto you,
than that which we have preached unto you, let him go to hell."
That's what Paul said. Let him be accursed. Let him
go to hell. That's plain language, isn't
it? If anyone preaches another gospel
to you, that person should be accursed from you and you should
never listen again. Never. Then that which we have preached,
don't you think it's important then to figure out what gospel
is true? Let me give you a measuring stick
how to figure out which gospel is true. Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory for this salvation?
God or man? I tell you, if you put your hand
to it, you defile it. God must receive all the glory
for salvation. All the glory. The other gospel, which is not
another, is the message of salvation by works, and especially salvation
begun by grace and finished by works. Believe, and let me be plain
in my speech, so that the cross of Christ is not useless to your
souls. All those who preach freewill
works religion are liars. Do you hear that? I want to make
sure everybody understood that. Everyone who preaches freewill
works religion are liars, and they should not be heard. They
preach another gospel, they preach another Christ, they preach another
cross. All those who preach that Jesus
Christ came and died for all of the sins of all men, but whose
blood and redemption only covers those who exercise their free
will and continue in obedience in church traditions or law,
they are preaching another gospel. I tell you, free will works religion
is the choice poison. of the enemy of God, to defile
the pure gospel of God's grace. You know, when God told Moses
to build an altar, He said, I want you to take stones, and I want
you to put those stones together and pile them up, and you build
me an altar. But don't put a tool to it. Don't
put your hand to it. I don't want you carving the
stones. I don't want you touching the stones. I just want you to
put them as they are. He said, the day you put your
hand to it, you ruin it. And I tell you, if you put your
works or your will to the salvation of Jesus Christ, you've ruined
it. You've defiled it. You've put your defiled works
and you've mixed it in. It's no good to your soul. Salvation
comes by grace through faith in Christ alone. Christ alone. We preach the cross of Christ
and declare unto you a successful atonement. When Jesus Christ
hung upon that cross, listen to me, He actually accomplished
salvation. He didn't make it possible. He
actually did it. He did it. That's what I'm declaring
this morning. The cross of Christ was an eternal
purpose of God. I was reading some foolish article
that would try to make God to be a failure. Matter of fact,
that was the title of it. God is a failure. I tell you that the cross of
Christ was not God's second plan. It was always His first. The
love of God. The love of God is as eternal
as God is. Just as God's justice is eternal,
God's faithfulness is eternal, God's sovereignty is eternal,
so is God's love eternal. And He has said to His people,
I have loved you with an everlasting love. Now, when did this love
begin? Can you point at a specific time
and tell me when God loved Jacob, when it actually began? If you
can, then God changed. And we know that God's immutable.
We know that God doesn't change. So God's love, being eternal
and immutable, has not and will not change. So then all who God loved, He
still loves and He will forever love. Now do not confuse God's compassion
with His love. I tell you, God is truly long-suffering
and compassionate. You who are without Christ this
morning, you are breathing because of the compassion of God. You're breathing because God's
compassionate. God's been long-suffering with your wickedness. But don't
confuse that with His love. There are some of Adam's race
who God is not just bearing with, but He actually loves. Because
He adopted them from eternity. He adopted them to be His sons,
predestinated them to be His sons. So then, having given all
of His predestinated sons to His Holy Son, putting them in
union with Christ, Even as God purposed Jesus should be the
surety of His elect, so Jesus at the appointed time
came into the world to accomplish their salvation. Complete salvation of all those
who are given to Him is what God purposed. Matthew 1.21 Thou
shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Is that not plain speech? Jesus,
Jehovah, saves. He shall definitely save... Who? His people. From what? Their sins. Now, is that complicated? It's
not complicated. Over in John 6, the Lord reveals
this message of the cross. The salvation, successful salvation
of the cross. Remember, He fed those 5,000
men out of compassion. He had compassion on them. They
were hungry, He fed them. Then He turned His back on them
and left them. And they came to Him only because
they wanted their bellies filled. Some of you want Jesus because
of what He can do for your body. That's it. What He can do for
your job or your career or your family or your this. He can get
you out of trouble here or get you out of trouble there. You're
not worried about sin or judgment. You're just worried about the
body. You're like these people. They're just worried about the
belly. That's it. And they said this, What can
we do that we should work the works of God? Should I exercise my free will?
Are you telling me to just exercise that, that how I'm going to get...
Am I going to do this? This is the work of God. No.
Am I telling you that you just need to do better? No. You can't. Who hasn't tried to
do better and only failed? Jesus said, this is the work
of God. This is not something you can do for God. This is something
God must do for you. This is the work of God, Jesus
said, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. Faith is simple
to understand, impossible to do. I tell you, look and live. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not talking about acknowledging
these truths. Anyone could acknowledge these
truths. I'm talking about rest your soul
on Jesus Christ and His blood alone. That's simple to hear. It's simple to understand. But
you can't do it except God do it for you. I tell you to behold the Son
of God, who was made flesh, dwelt among us, submitted Himself to
the law, and obeyed it. Look to Jesus Christ, the High
Priest, who offered Himself a substitute for sinners on the cross. As
God determined before the world that His Son should be crucified,
even so He was crucified, and risen again and exalted to the
right hand of God. And when He was on that cross,
listen to me, He took all of the sins of His people on Himself.
The Lord God imputed those sins to His charge. And He bore the
wrath of God on that cursed tree. That's what He was doing there.
He was hanging between God and man, suffering the vengeance
of hell ten million fold. He bore the guilt of our sins
on that cross, and God unleashed all hell on Him. He made Him
to be sin, and God's justice crushed His flesh. And yet the
pure and sinless blood of the Son flowed from His wounds. And
God says, I accept that as payment. I accept His payment for sin. When justice was freely satisfied,
the Lord Jesus on that cross, before he expired, before he
gave up the ghost, said this, it is finished. It is finished. This is the preaching of the
cross. It is finished. It is finished. That's another word for preaching
of the cross. Victory. Because Christ carried away our
sins, all the sins of His elect. He was victorious. He was triumphant. He actually redeemed His people
from all their sins. You realize this, that I was
redeemed 2,000 plus years ago. I was redeemed. Now, I didn't
know it until He came and revealed it. But I tell you, my sins were
already gone. even before I knew it. Behold, the Son of God, now risen
in human flesh, and He is ruling and reigning
over all things, even now." You realize that, that Jesus
is not waiting to reign? Boy, that's good news. I look
around me and I see chaos. But it don't matter what I see.
I know where He is. He is ruling over all things
even now. For what purpose? What is He
ruling over things for? Why is this thing going the way
it is? Because He is saving His people. That's what He's doing.
All of those sheep, he said, other sheep that I have which
are not of this fold, them I also must bring. And he is moving
all things after the power and counsel of his own will. To do
what? To save his people. How? Through
the preaching of the gospel. That's what he does it by. This
is the means he's chosen. It's not the means we would have
chosen. This is not the means men love to hear. They want to
be entertained. I'm here to preach to you. And I preach to sinners. If you're not a sinner, you will
not hear this. You will have no interest in
this. I preach to helpless sinners
who cannot save themselves. I preach to those who are completely
void of any hope or power in themselves. And then I tell you, to Christ. Knowing you have no power to
look. I tell you to look, even as Ezekiel
preached to the dead bones. He said, God said, can these
bones live? He said, you know! You know,
God, if these bones can live, because you got to give them
life. Can these bones live? Thou knowest, O Lord! Speak to
the bones. That's what preaching is. Speaking
to the dead and waiting for God to give life. The will of God is that Jesus
Christ, my friends, should lose nothing. Why do you think I do
this? Why do you think I continue to do this? Because I know this, not one
of Christ's people will be ever lost. They will all come to hear. Jesus said that Himself. No man
can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him. If
you're going to come to God through Christ, it must be the work of
the Father. He must do it. And I tell you,
He will do it. Because He has loved you. He
has redeemed you. And He shall call you. And if
He's called you, He'll keep you. This is the gospel of the cross. It is a message of success. And
this cross is for sinners who have nothing. No power, no worth,
no righteousness, no right to claim anything from God but hell. But this is the glory of the
cross. That reconciliation has already been made. What do you
do? Nothing. Nothing. What do I need to add? When you get invited over, that's
the first thing you say, right? What can I bring? What can you
bring? You can bring your filth. You
can bring your sin, and you can lay it at his feet. And I tell you, everyone who
believes, has already everlasting life. You have it. You have it because He already
gave it to you before you came. Isn't that something? It was
yours, prepared for you. And in that time of love, He
drew you with His own power. So who gets the glory in this
preaching? God gets all the glory. That's how you know this message
is true. The apostle says, the preaching
of the gospel of the cross of Christ is to this world foolishness. But to us that are saved, I know
this, it is the power of God. The only reason I believed and
still believe is the power of God. The only way I'll keep believing
is the power of God. Why? Verse 29 in our text says
this, that no flesh should glory in His presence. Didn't I just
tell you that? I just told you that. I just
told you that. No flesh should glory in His
presence. But of Him are you in Christ. Who of God is made unto us. Wisdom. How is it that you know
that you should come to Christ? Well, God made Him to be wisdom
for you. He is our wisdom. He is our righteousness. How are you going to be accepted
with God? How is it that you should be made righteous? God
made Him my righteousness. Sanctification. Oh, there's a
confusing one for this world. They're all running around trying
to sanctify themselves. They're all running around trying
to sanctify themselves by obedience to the law. I'm not doing that.
God made Him my sanctification and my redemption. That according
as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That is the preaching of the
cross. and our glory in it. Paul said,
I don't brag about anything else but the cross of Christ. Why?
It's successful. It's done. My salvation is complete. And I rest in Him. Now, may the Spirit of God take
that and put it in your heart. That's my prayer. If you're his,
I know he will. I know he will. May God add the
blessing to his word.