Turn with me, if you would, back
to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1, I want to bring
your attention to three words for starters. I want to bring
your attention to more words as we go. Let me start by bringing your
attention to three words in verse 23. 1 Corinthians 1, the beginning
of verse 23 says, we preach Christ. We preach Christ. Now there are only two things
that can be preached. There are only two different
messages that exist. That's so, isn't it? There is
only two messages. Every church in this town, every
church in this nation, every church on this earth is preaching
one of two messages. One of two messages. It's either
Christ or men. And it doesn't matter what denomination
they call it. People want to know what denomination
are you? It doesn't matter what denomination they call it. It
does not matter what doctrine they claim. It doesn't matter what little
G God they identify with anywhere on this globe, if it's not Christ,
it's man. To be more specific, if it's
not Christ alone, it's man. If it's Christ and man, it's
man. If it's Christ and anything,
it's man. In order to preach Christ, it
must be Christ alone. Christ alone. That's why it can
be so confusing when you hear somebody, well, they're preaching
Christ. Well, is it Christ alone? Or
is it Christ plus something? Because if it's Christ plus anything,
it's man. Now I'm going to go ahead and
tell us that the only message that saves, the only message
that is true, the only message that is the gospel, and the only
message that saves is the message of Christ. The message of man
damns. It is a message of lies. It most
certainly is not the gospel. And not only does it not save,
it actually damns men and women. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
1. Galatians 1 verse 6. Paul said, I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, there's
not another one, but there be some that trouble you and would
pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you, then that which we
have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before,
so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto
you, then that you have received, let him be accursed. For do I
now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
So it's of critical eternal importance that we preach and hear and believe
the message of Christ, Christ alone. And I'm going to expound
on what that is, but if we want to get right to the heart of
it, if we just want to go straight to the root of the matter, all we have to do, if we want
to know whether the message we're listening to is Christ or man,
this is all we have to do, honestly. Listen to the message. That's
all you have to do. Just listen to the message. Is
it about Christ? Or is it about man? It is honestly
that simple. Is the preacher talking about
Christ? Or is he talking about man? Is
the emphasis of the message put on Christ? Or is it put on man? It's going
to be one of the two. You say, well, I mean, it's kind
of both. Then it's man. Does it have us thinking on,
as we listen to a man stand up in a pulpit, does it have us
thinking on and looking to, for salvation, I'm talking about
for salvation, Christ or man? What really is the focal point? is the object. Men and women
will listen to whole messages week after week on what man needs to do or how man
needs to be or how men can be better men and women can be better
women and how this is all up to you And you need to look to you,
because this is in your hands. And this is in our hands. And
if we all come together, there's no telling what we could accomplish. That's the message of man. Do
we hear man, man, man? That's the message of man. Men and women listen to that,
and it's just so sad to me. It's so sad to me. We've made
some real acquaintances that in our time of being here and
throughout my whole life, I've met people that my heart goes
out to them. I want so badly for them to hear
the truth of the gospel. I want so badly for them to hear
the message of Christ. But men and women, they're so
faithful, they go to a place and they listen to man, man,
man, week after week. And they don't have any idea
that they're listening to the message of man and missing the
message of Christ. They have no idea. And it's so
sad to me. It's just so sad. The story is
told of a couple many years ago, a man and a woman who traveled
to England. And while they were there, they
wanted to go hear Charles Spurgeon preach. They had heard about
him. They had read some of his writings. You know, they didn't have sermon
audio back then. You could read some writings,
but if you wanted to hear the man, you had to go hear the man
preach. And so they knew that he pastored that great metropolitan
tabernacle, that huge building. He preached to thousands of people
and they wanted to go hear him. So that Sunday morning that they
were there, they went to the metropolitan tabernacle and it
was so packed, they couldn't get in. And what a problem to
have. but it was so packed they couldn't
get in. So they went down the street
to another church. There was another one right down
the street. So they went down there and the pastor there was
a very well-educated man. He was very well-spoken and he
was very charismatic. And when it was over, the man
and the woman walked out saying to each other, what a sermon. My, what a sermon. Why? What a sermon. That night they went back to
Metropolitan Tabernacle and this time they got in. And they heard
Charles Spurgeon preach. And when the message was over,
the two of them were walking out with tears running down both
of their faces saying to each other, what a savior. My, what
a savior. Oh my soul, what a Savior. Do
we see the difference? By God's grace, by His goodness
to us, where is pride? Where is boasting? Christ alone. But by His goodness to us, I
humbly say and thankfully say, we preach Christ. We preach Christ. Now, what does
that mean exactly? How do we preach Christ? I want
to set forth five things that we preach in preaching the message
of Christ. If we're going to preach Christ,
these five things are going to be set forth. And to really show
the contrast, I want us to see the contrast. If we've never
really seen it, I wanna see the contrast of preaching Christ
and preaching man. I think I wanna say more about
man in this message today than I normally want to say about
man. But I want us to see this contrast. So as we go through
these five things, I'm gonna point it out. All right, what
do we preach when we preach Christ? Number one. We preach the person
of Christ. We preach the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Who He really is. Not who the
majority of people think that He is or assume that He is. We preach who He truly is as
He has declared Himself to be. And let's get right to the point.
Who is He? God. He is God. He is God Almighty. He is the greatest. He is the
highest. He is the sovereign over all
things. He is the judge of the quick
and the dead. Quick means living. He is the
judge of the living and the dead. Let me show you that. Go with
me to Romans 14. Romans 14, verse 10. It says, but why dost thou judge
thy brother? Or why dost thou set at naught
thy brother? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. Second Corinthians 5.10 says
the exact same thing. It says, we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. Verse 11 says, for it is written,
as I live, saith the Lord, capital L, lowercase O-R-D. That's the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this is quoting Isaiah 45
in the Old Testament. As I live, saith the Lord, every
knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
Who's he talking about when he says God? He said me. At the announcement of his birth,
the angel said, call his name Emmanuel because God is with
us. John chapter one says, the word
was God. and the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. 1 Timothy 3.16 says, without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest
in the flesh. Hebrews 1.8, God the Father said
to God the Son, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. John 5.22,
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto
the Son. In Revelation 1.18, Christ said,
I hold the keys of hell and death. What he was saying is this is
all in my hand. All in my hand. Here's what he
was saying. I'm God. That's what he was saying. Now
here's the contrast to that. That's preaching Christ. Here's
the contrast to that. Preaching man is when a man stands
up and says, this is all in your hand. Preaching Christ is what Christ
said about that. Preaching man is saying, you
have the ability to determine how this judgment's going to
go. What are you going to do with
Jesus Christ? We preach Christ. We preach Christ
for who He truly is. And the question is, what's He
going to do with us? Not what are we going to do with
Him? But what is Jesus Christ going to do with us? That's a
180-degree change, isn't it? So that's the first thing. We
preach the person of Christ for who he truly is. The almighty
sovereign God manifest in the flesh. Number two, we preach
the word of Christ. We preach the person of Christ.
We preach the word of Christ. We stick to the word alone. We preach the word. But more
specifically than that, we preach this Word as Christ. We preach this Word as it is. This is of Christ. He wrote this,
and these are His words, and they are only speaking of Him.
This is the Word of Christ. Every word in this book is speaking
of Him. This is the revelation of Christ,
the revelation of Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of everything
that this Word says needs to be fulfilled. Did you know that this Word says
in order to worship God and be accepted by Him, we have to have
a high priest? Well, where is He? Christ is our High Priest. He's
in the heavens. This Word says, honestly, it
says in order to worship Him and be accepted by Him, we have
to have an altar. Christ is our altar. This Word says we have to have
a Lamb. Until Christ came, they literally
ran out and got a lamb, an animal. They did not go stand before
God and worship God without going and getting a lamb. Why do we
not do it now? Christ is our lamb. It says that the law has
to be fulfilled. Christ is the fulfillment of
the law. Everything this Word has to say, every requirement,
every demand, it's all speaking of Christ. Go with me to Luke
24. Luke 24, verse 25. Then he said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
all of it, ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and
to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself." Verse 44 says, and he said unto them,
these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written
in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. Now watch verse 45. Then opened
he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. What did they understand in that
moment? It was all speaking of Christ. It was all speaking of Christ.
That brazen serpent on a pole, that serpent was Christ. Noah's
ark, that ark was Christ. The Passover lamb, that lamb
was Christ. The smitten rock, that rock was
Christ. We preach the Word of Christ. We don't preach this Word to
be of man. And we don't preach man to be
the fulfillment of the Word. Here's our contrast. We don't
preach the walls falling down at Jericho as a morality lesson
for man to persevere. That victory was Christ. Christ wrought the victory. Christ
has given us the victory in himself. We don't see man in this at all.
We really don't. We only see Christ. So none of these words are speaking
of and pointing us to man. All of it is pointing to Christ. We preach the person of Christ.
We preach the word of Christ, number three. We preach the work
of Christ. We preach the cross of Christ. What does that mean exactly?
This is what it means. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. The
contrast to that is preaching that salvation is of man. But salvation is not of man. It is not by the work of man,
not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to His mercy, He saved us. By grace are you saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We're His workmanship. It is
God which worketh in you, both to will and do of His good pleasure. Who? Christ, God. In order to preach the work of
Christ, we have to deny the work of man. And we most definitely do. We
do, we deny the works of man, because if we preach the works
of man, we would have to deny the work of Christ. And God forbid
that we deny the work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
the work of Him being the only mediator between God and men. The work of Him as our substitute,
standing in our place and bearing our judgment, bearing the punishment
of our sin, working the work of our redemption. cleansing
us, justifying us on the cross of Calvary. God forbid that we
deny His glorious work. Go with me back to 1 Corinthians
1. Verse 23 says, but we preach
Christ crucified. That's what we preach. We preach
Christ crucified. Back up in verse 17, Paul said,
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not
with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made
of none effect. That's the gospel, the cross
of Christ. Verse 18 says, for the preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. For the Jews require a sign and
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block
and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called
both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom
of God. And that's just so, isn't it?
Paul said in chapter two, verse two, I have determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So that means the work was His.
It was His. Salvation has never been and
it never will be the work of man. It's of the Lord. So we preach the true person
of Christ, We preach the word of Christ. We preach the work
of Christ. And number four, we preach the
accomplishment of Christ. We preach the success of Christ
in his work. Isaiah 42 said, he shall not
fail. He didn't. John 19.30 says, it
is finished. It is. Period. To stand up and preach that man
needs to add his work to Christ, here's the contrast. To stand up and preach that man
needs to add his work to Christ's work is to say it's not finished. When we preach man, that's what
we're preaching, it is not finished. It's to say Christ did not accomplish
what he set out to accomplish on the cross. And it's to say
we need to help him because he was unsuccessful in it. And that is blasphemy. And that's lies on God. Hebrews
10 says, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
he sat down on the right hand of God. And that means the seat
of his honor. That's what the right hand of
God means. He sat down on the seat of his honor. After he offered
that one sacrifice, he sat down. Why? It was finished. It was finished. By one offering
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And Hebrews
4 says we can now rest from all of our labors because God has
rested from His. It's over. It's finished. It's
done. It is done. He was successful
in the work that He set out to accomplish. When we preach Christ, we preach
the person of Christ. We preach the Word of Christ.
We preach the work of Christ. We preach the success of Christ. And therefore, number five, we
preach the glory of Christ. Look right here at 1 Corinthians
1, verse 30. It says, Are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. He is all. He is our all. He is God's all. He has earned all. He has all. Therefore, all the honor, all
the credit, and all the glory goes to Him." Now, the contrast. The contrast to that is man sharing
the glory and sharing the credit with Him. To that, do we not cry, God forbid? God forbid, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto Thy name we give it all. All the glory
goes to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's what it
is to preach Christ. And thank God by His grace, by His grace, because of what
He's done for us, Do we enter into what He's done for us? What
He's given to us? By His grace, we can say, it's
amazing to me, we can say, we preach Christ. We preach Christ. May that be said the rest of
our preaching days. As we take turns standing up
here to preach, may it be said, they preached Christ. for the rest of Kingsport Sovereign
Grace Church's days. May it be said, they preach Christ,
and they hear Christ, and they believe Christ. Christ alone, Christ alone, to
Him be glory forever. Amen. All right, Brother Eddie,
you come.