First Corinthians one I have
something that has been heavily laid on my heart for our Bible
study this morning. I pray it will be not only instructive. Normally I see a Bible study
as being a time of instruction, a time of learning. And. I pray that this will not only
be instructive, but I pray it will be a blessing to all of
us. I have titled this Bible study,
and I'm going to say this with great caution, but I've titled
this Bible study Preacher's School. And I don't mean for that to
sound presumptuous. I don't mean for that to come
across as arrogance. I do not see myself as being
qualified to teach a preacher's school. All I mean by giving that title
is I need to know this. If I am going to preach, I need
to know this. If any man is going to preach,
he needs to know this. And if any man or woman is going
to hear a preacher preach, okay, you all got up, got dressed,
got in your cars, drove over here, here we are. If any man
or woman is going to hear a preacher preach, he or she needs to know
this. I could have just as easily titled
this Hearer's School. But because of how our text is
worded, I've given it the title of Preacher's School. Our text
is 1 Corinthians 1, verse 23. It says, but we preach Christ crucified. If I am going to preach, do you
know what I need to know? We preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ. And we preach Christ crucified. Look with me right here at first
Corinthians 2 verse 2. For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's it. Look at 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 16. For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of. For necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. What is the gospel? What is the
gospel? Look at verse 18. What is my
reward then? Verily that when I preach the
gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ. Without charge, the
gospel of Christ, the gospel of Christ. Turn with me to Romans
1. Romans 1 verse 16, it says. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. The gospel of Christ. All right,
go with me here to one more. Mark chapter one. Mark chapter 1 verse 1, it says,
the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God,
the gospel is concerning Christ. Man, I want to tell the whole
world this. I want to tell the whole world
this, the gospel is concerning Christ. If we are not preaching
Christ, we are not preaching the gospel. There are many truths that could
be declared, but there's only one truth. There's only one truth. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
that truth is me. He said, I am the truth. So this morning, I want to let
it be known to myself. I want to let it be known to
you. I want to let it be known to every person I can reach with
this message, this Bible study, this message. If we are going
to preach, we must preach Christ. If we're going to hear, we must
hear Christ. I feel so compelled by this. I'm about to tell you some things
right here, and I mean this. This is so. Truths are not Christ. Christ is Christ. Doctrines are not Christ. Christ is Christ. Man's sin is
not Christ. Christ is Christ. False religion's
error is not Christ. Christ is Christ. Am I making
sense? We can declare all of those things.
But it's not Christ. Christ is Christ. We preach Christ. We preach Christ. That word preach
means to herald, to proclaim, to cry publicly. If our public cry is Christ,
then Christ will be what the public hears. If the public does
not hear Christ, then Christ is not our proclamation. And
this is what I mean by that. I know I'm making all these statements
and all that kind of stuff. Here's what I mean by that. There
are many men who think they are preaching Christ. And there are
many people who think their preacher is preaching Christ. Oh yeah,
he preaches Christ. Oh yeah. But they're not. They're not. They're just not. I've said before that if you
want to know whether a man is preaching Christ or not, all
you have to do is listen to the words that are coming out of
his mouth. That's all you have to do. Is he talking about Christ? Or is he talking about something
else? Is he talking about Christ? Or
is he talking about man? It's amazing how much man is
preached in pulpits. It's amazing. Years ago, there was a man who
everybody was trying to figure out whether he was preaching
the gospel or not. There was a moment there, and
as it turns out, he wasn't. He is not a true preacher. But
what was puzzling everybody was They would say things like, now
he preaches total depravity. You know, isn't that a doctrine
that's set forth in the word of God? I mean, he believes that
men and women are totally depraved sinners. I mean, ruined sinners. Why wouldn't he? All you have
to do is look inside yourself and you ought to see that. Everybody
ought to believe that. The issue is not that we are
totally depraved sinners, and we are. But the issue is not
that we're totally depraved sinners. The issue is the remedy from
that total depravity. The issue is the remedy. The focus is the remedy. All of the hope is in the remedy. Is it good enough to bring a
45-minute message on man's total depravity? Is it true that man
is totally depraved? Yes. Yes. Is it good enough to
bring a 45-minute message on total depravity? No, it is not.
No, it's not. There is no life in man's total
depravity. Truth as it may be. There's no
life in it. No life can come from preaching
man's total depravity or any other doctrine in and of itself. Life is in Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the life. I'm the
life. I am the life. Heralding man's
total depravity is not what will quicken dead sinners to life.
Heralding man's death, spiritual death, is not what will quicken
dead sinners to life. Heralding Christ is what will
quicken dead sinners to life. This thing is not about who and
what we are, this is about who and what Christ is, the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you've been around a while,
you've probably heard this statement. You don't need to spend your
time exposing the crooked stick. You ever heard that? Meaning
that crooked stick is the error of false religion. Okay. You know, they're wrong. Man
is wrong and they're wrong. And that doctrine is wrong. And
this doctrine is wrong. And let's spend all of our time
exposing this doctrine to be wrong. That's the crooked stick.
You don't need to spend your time exposing the crooked stick.
All you need to do is lay down the straight stick right beside
it. That straight stick is Christ. All you need to do is lay the
straight stick right beside it and everybody will see that the
crooked stick is crooked. Just preach Christ. Just preach
Christ. And those who are given ears
to hear, they'll realize I'm not hearing that in my house
of false religion. I need to hear that. So I'm going
to go to where I can hear it. I'm going to go to where that
message is being preached. It is the preaching of Christ
that gives life to dead sinners. It's the preaching of Christ
that gives eyes to blind sinners. People in false religion, false
religion's everywhere. It's everywhere. There's only
one truth. Any variation is a lie. And it's so sad, but men and
women and preachers are in false religion and so blind and so
deaf and so dead and so lost. But the preaching of Jesus Christ
is what gives eyes to the blind and ears to the deaf. It's the
preaching of Christ that will give men and women a correct
doctrinal understanding of all of these things. All right, here's
another saying that's been around for a while. Doctrine doesn't lead men to
Christ. Christ leads men to doctrine.
Have you ever heard that one? Preaching doctrine without Christ
is a dead message. You know, five points of Calvinism. Preaching doctrine without Christ
is a dead message even if it's correct doctrine. Preaching doctrine without proclaiming
the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will never lead
men and women to life, which is Christ. Again, he said, I'm
the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. But preaching Christ, preaching
who he is, preaching what he has done, preaching who he was
pleased to do it for, His cross, His accomplishment
in the cross, His glory in that cross, His life that He supplied
through His own death. If a sinner ever sees and hears
Christ, that sinner will hear all the correct doctrine that
he or she needs. Turn with me over to Philippians
chapter 2. Philippians 2 verse 5 says, let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. You know what that means?
Here's a little doctrine for us, okay? That means he's God. Who is Jesus Christ? God Almighty. God manifest in the flesh. He is the holy one. He is the just one. He is the one seated on the throne,
equal with the Father, equal with the Spirit. He said, if
you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Verse five, let this mind be
in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of
God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and
was made in the likeness of man. You know what that means? That
means he is gracious. He is so merciful. You see what
that says? He made himself to be. That means he is compassionate.
That means he is kind. That means he is loving. Verse eight, and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. of his own doing, out of the
goodness of his own heart, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Why did Christ die
on the cross? So he could make salvation possible?
No. Why did Christ die on the cross? So he could start the work and
then you can finish the work? No. Why did Christ die on the
cross? Here's the reason why. It's because
every soul on this earth, including all of us, was a totally depraved
sinner. A dead in trespasses and sins
sinner. Who did Christ die on the cross
for? Every soul that the Father unconditionally elected to save. Every soul that the Father set
his love on and chose to save. Why was it an unconditional election?
It's because every single soul on this earth was a totally depraved
sinner. They were all the same, all cut from the same lot, no
different, no different. Are we better than they? God
forbid, in no wise. It was unconditional on the part
of the sinner. The only condition that was placed
on God's election was the condition of Christ. All of God's people
were chosen in him. Well, what did Christ accomplish
in the death of his cross? He accomplished a particular
redemption specifically for every totally depraved sinner that
was unconditionally elected in him. That's the message we preach.
And that's the message that the Spirit of God will use to quicken
to life and to call every one of these particularly redeemed,
unconditionally elected, totally depraved sinners. What all this means is it's God, not man. It's Christ, not man. This is
what it means. When the gospel of Christ reaches
the heart and calls one of those sinners to say, this is God,
not man. When that spirit says, come to
Christ, stop coming to yourself and stop coming to the law and
stop coming to religion and stop coming to your good deeds and
stop coming to all those things. And you come to God almighty
manifest in the flesh. His name is Jesus Christ. When
that reaches the heart of a sinner, that sinner is coming. That sinner
is going to come to Christ. It is an irresistible quickening. Well, what if he doesn't want
to come? Oh, he will. God's people will be willing
in the day of his power. It's an irresistible call because
it's an irresistible love. It's an irresistible grace. And
it's one that will keep that called, redeemed, elect sinner
all the way to glory. When God does it, it's done. If the life of Christ is ever
given to a dead sinner, it's life all the way to the end.
All the way to the end. Now, when it comes to everything
that's written in this book, Christ is the answer. everything,
every law that has to be obeyed. You ever read in the scripture,
you know, it's the will of God that your sanctification, you
know, abstain from this and all this kind of stuff that when
you read this, you think, wow, that's a tall order. Listen,
that's why Christ came. That's why Christ came. Everything
that this book says we have to do, that's why Christ came. Every
judgment that has to be met. You know, this is very clear. You sin against God, this is
what's coming to you. The wages of sin is death. That's
why Christ came. He endured every judgment that
was coming to his people for his people. He obeyed every law that had
to be obeyed for his people, in the stead of his people. Why
was he here for 33 and a half years? He was living for his
people. He was dying for his people. He did all this for his
people. He wasn't an example, he was
his people. He lived the life he lived for
his people. He died the death he died for
his people. That's the proclamation. That's
the public cry every time. Look to Christ. What does look
to Christ mean? It means stop looking to yourself
and look to Jesus Christ. Look and live. That's what it
is to preach Christ. When we preach man, this is what
it sounds like. Now you better do better or you're
not gonna go to heaven, all right? You better straighten up, clean
up, stop your sinning. You gonna give your heart to
him? Are you gonna do this? That's preaching man. Preaching
Christ means you rest in the finished accomplishment of Jesus
Christ. He did it all. That's who he
was, that's why he came, that's what he accomplished for all
of his people. Everything that had to be done.
In Christ, everything is finished. From the cross, when he cried,
can you imagine what that sounded like? When he cried, it is finished. You know what that means? Tell
you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean it's not finished. It means it's finished. What's
finished? The salvation of his people.
Father, I finished the work you sent me to do. What was the work?
Redeem our people back to God. In Christ, everything is finished.
In Christ, everything is complete. It's Christ in the beginning,
Christ in the end, Christ everything in the middle. Christ, Christ,
Christ. of him, through him, to him.
Christ, now and forever. Amen. Amen. That's all I know
to say about that. It's Christ. Amen. All right,
you're dismissed.