Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1, our text is going
to come from Matthew 16, where our brother just read. And we're going to read here
in 1 Corinthians 1 in just a moment, but I want to just talk to you
this morning. I want to just talk to you. Rather than this message being
delivered point by point, rather than a formal outline, so to
speak, I have something that I just want to say to you. Preaching is communicating to
people. If we can't communicate, it doesn't
do any good. I'm gonna get up here and say
my points and sit down and nobody listens anyway, that was no good.
So, I pray the Lord will help me to just say something to you. Now, in a moment, in a few moments,
we're gonna read from 1 Corinthians 1, but in 1 Corinthians 9, the
Apostle Paul made the statement concerning the ministry that
he had been given, concerning the message he preached. He said, I'm not shadow boxing. That's what he said at the end
of 1 Corinthians 9. His exact words were, I'm not as one that
beateth the air. I'm not practicing, that's what
he meant. I'm not pretending. I'm not putting on a show. This is not a theatrical performance
that we need to get together and rehearse and make sure that
everybody is pleased with the performance. This is, it's not
what this is. Paul said, I am fighting a warfare
in this. I'm pressing toward the mark.
That's what he was saying. He said, I'm running with this
message. Run. That's what he said. I'm
running with this message. And he said, I'm not running
with uncertainty. I know who this message is from. And I know who this message is
to. And he said, I'm going to do
everything that I can to deliver that message. He said, that's
my calling. Called to deliver a message. But he said, while I do it, I'm
going to keep my body in subjection. I'm going to remember who I am.
I'm going to remember what I am. That's what he was saying. I'm
a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm just a servant. I'm just a pawn. And he said, I'm going to remember
my frame. I'm going to remember my place. I'm going to remember whose hand
this is truly in. As I sit here thinking about
the fact that I'm about to stand up and speak, my hope, my rest, my peace is
in the fact that I know whose hand this is really in. It's
not in my hand. Paul said, the lot may be cast
in my lap, but I know who the whole disposing is thereof. So he said, I'm gonna squash
all my pride. I'm gonna keep my body in subjection. I'm gonna squash self-righteousness. I'm gonna squash vain glory. And he said, the reason that
I'm gonna do that is because after I have preached to you, I don't want to find myself to
be a castaway. That's happened to men. Now you think about that. That
was the apostle Paul, the man who wrote half of the New Testament.
That's something that most people don't think is a possibility
for anybody. Most people don't think anybody's
going to be cast away. He said, I don't want to find
myself to be a castaway. The average person would say,
what are you even talking about? You're a preacher. You know,
you'll hear people say that. Now he's a preacher, which means
he's on a level above everybody else. You're an apostle. What are you talking about? Really,
Paul? You think that's even a possibility? You know what his response would
be? Oh, wretched man that I am. Really? A wretched man? Really? Paul took his calling, he took
the issue of ministering the gospel to sinners. That was his
calling. And he took that issue as an
eternal life or an eternal death issue. What if this is the last
time I ever preach the gospel? Or really, what if this is the
last time you ever hear the gospel and then go into eternity? Paul pressed the message he was
given. He pressed it to sinners because
he knew firsthand that if sinners like him did not come to realize
the truth Man is so blinded by lies. There's so many lies going
into his ear, he can't hear the truth. His ears are plugged with
lies. And Paul realized that if man
did not come to know the truth of the gospel and the truth of
salvation, without seeing the truth concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, without bowing the knee to Christ, He knew that men and women were
destined to spend an eternity in the damnation of hell. I don't even like saying that. Separated from God. We can't
imagine what that would be like. Separated from His glory. Separated
from His mercy. You know what quality of life
all men and women live on this earth? Because of the restraining
mercy for His people. The whole world gets to reap
some benefits of that. Paul, because of that, he could
not just idly stand by, even though he knew, he knew that
salvation was completely of the Lord. He knew that God the Father
had hand-selected every soul that would be saved. He knew
that. He knew Christ had particularly
redeemed, died for on purpose, saved on purpose, every soul
the Father selected. And gave to him and he knew that
the spirit would call every single one of them. And I know that
too. I know the spirit. Thank God for the father, the
son, and the spirit who will call his people. Paul knew the spirit would go
get them. Every single one of them. He
knew that none of them would be lost. All of them would be
preserved to glory, but here's the thing. He didn't know who
they were. God did, but Paul didn't. And because God said that it
pleased Him to apply all of this to His people through the preaching
of His Word, because God said that, Paul couldn't idly stand
by. watching men and women walk out
into eternity holding on to nothing more than the lies of false religion. It's rampant. And that's all
that men and women are holding on to. The foolish, wicked lies
that are being preached in pulpits concerning a God who is no God
at all. They're preaching a God who is
no God at all. He is so wimpy. He needs your
help. He needs your permission. He
needs your pity. He needs your money. That's no
God at all. They're preaching a salvation
that is no salvation at all. Now, if you'll do this, this,
this, and this, and if you stop doing this, this, this, and this,
you'll be saved. No salvation at all. Preaching a security that is
no security at all. Paul said, I'm not playing games
here. Don't you love it in the book
of Acts when he went to Mars Hill? He got to this place called
Mars Hill and there's all these idols. They were worshiping all
of these different gods and they had the sun god and they had
all these different gods. And he came to one and saw it
said to the unknown God, just in case we missed one. Paul said,
that's the God I'm here to tell you about. The God that man naturally
does not know. He said, that's the God you must
know. It's not playing games. This is life and death. This is life and death. Now, with, I sincerely pray,
humility. I sincerely, sincerely pray,
humility, acknowledging my own insufficiency. Who is sufficient
for these things? I'm not. But I say the exact
same thing with Paul. I say that with him. I feel the
same way he did. I am not here this morning to
shadow box. I'm just not here to waste anybody's
time. This is a busy world, a busy
life. I'm not here to waste anybody's time. I'm not here to put on
a show. Well, I tell you what, he puts on a good show. He holds
my attention. I'm not here to put on a show. We are not here to do the good
deed for the week. Well, let's go ahead and get
that done. Gotta do that now. Let's get this over with so we
can go back to some real living. We're not here to just remind
ourselves, just so I can remind myself and remind everybody else
that, yep, I'm part of the Christian club too. I want us to see the truth. I want
us to see the truth about God. I want us to see the truth about
us. I want us to see the truth about
Christ. I want us to see the truth about salvation, what truly,
truly saves a person. I want us to see the truth of
the gospel. The truth of the gospel. My prayer
is that after we see it, I pray God will give us faith to believe
it. I do. Now let's begin by hearing
the truth of God's word concerning men, salvation, eternity, Let's
hear what God has to say about it. Let's read through a few
scriptures. Right here in 1 Corinthians 1, this is talking about salvation,
the call of salvation. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26, it
says, For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh Not many mighty, not
many noble are called. Not many wise men after the flesh.
Our Lord said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent
and has revealed them unto babes. And right here, Paul said, not
many wise men are called. Not many mighty and not many
noble. It's mainly just the low, nothing
sinners. It's usually just those in the gutter, pretty much. And verse 29 said, it's that
no flesh should glory in His presence. So He said, many are
not called. Many people think that salvation
is dependent on whether or not we accept it. Many people believe that salvation
is dependent on whether or not we accept it. Now, the offers
out there, what are you going to do? That's not so. Salvation is dependent on whether
or not God calls us to it. And he said many are not called.
Now turn over to Matthew 19. Matthew 19, verse 23. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the
kingdom of heaven. And again, I say unto you, it
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples
heard it, they were exceedingly amazed saying, Who then can be
saved? So out of the mouth of our Lord
Himself and out of the mouth of our Lord's Apostle, the Word
of God tells us concerning salvation that not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble,
not many rich are going to be saved. To that, the disciples
said, well then Lord, who is going to be saved? Who then can
be saved? To see even more clearly what
our Lord has to say about this, go to Matthew 7. Matthew 7, 13, it says, enter
ye in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in
there at. Because straight is the gate
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. And this is just such
a, just such a stark line to me. He said, and few there be
that find it. Are we hearing the truth of what
God has written in His Word? Men and women are holding on
to a false religion lie that God loves everybody and everybody's
saved. And then they go out into eternity
with their false message and the false hope and they're only
to be confronted face to face with this right here. Look at
verse 21. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my
father, which is in heaven. And we're about to see what that
is. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. We are dealing with a holy God. Holy, holy, holy. He will punish
our sin. He will punish us for our sin. Hebrews 10 verse 31 says, it
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
And it is. It is. Seeing this will cause
a sinner who knows he's a sinner. Somebody who really knows he's
a sinner. Seeing this will cause a sinner to say, don't tell me
any more lies. Don't tell me any more lies.
I don't want to hear any more lies. I need to go into eternity
with the truth. I mean that. I want to go into
eternity with the truth. Tell me the truth about this
holy God that I'm going to have to stand before. Tell me the truth about what
will appease His justice against me. Tell me the truth about what
will pay my sin debt and wipe my slate clean. Tell me the truth about the only
hope of salvation that I have. Just tell me the truth. Well, here it is. In the words
of our Lord Himself. Go with me to Matthew 16. Matthew 16 verse 24, Then said Jesus unto His disciples,
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find it. Our Lord said in John 14, six,
I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh unto the father,
but by me. In John 10, he said, I am the
door. If any man is going to enter
in, it is only going to be by me. Right here, he said in verse
24, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and
take up his cross and follow me. Me. Now, what does this mean? This is what it means. It means
it's His will, not mine. It's His way, not mine. It's His work, not mine. Salvation is in His hands, not
mine. The ball is in His court, not
mine. It's His decision, not mine. It's whatever He decides to do,
not what I decide to do. Let's read this very carefully
again. Verse 24, Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man
will come after Me, if any man desires to come into My kingdom,
if any man desires to enter into My glory, if any man desires
to inherit eternal life, He said, Let him deny himself. Let him deny his own will. Let him deny that he has a free
will to do anything before God. You'll hear men all the time
stand up in pulpits and say, now you need to exercise your
free will. Not if I want to come after Christ,
I don't. I don't have a free will. My will is bound by sin. The only thing that my will can
do is sin against God. It's bound to that. Only one
man has a free will. Those places that have free will
in their name, you know, on their building, they do well to put
Christ's in front of it. Only one man has a free will
to do whatever he's pleased to do. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. I deny my will. I don't trust my will. I can't
hope in my will. I don't have a will. I deny my
will. I deny my way, whatever I think
the way of salvation is. Everybody seems to have their
own way. Everybody does. You ask somebody,
what's your way of salvation? They'll say, well, my way is
dedicating my life. I'm going to dedicate this whole
life. Everything I'm going to do is just for the Lord. That's
my way. I'm going to dedicate my life.
You ask this one over here, well, what's your way? And they'll
say, well, my way is baptism. I got baptized, and if you want
to be saved, you need to get baptized. Then you ask somebody
else, well, what's your way? And they're going to say, well,
my way is speaking in tongues. Well, what's your way? And they'll
say, well, my way is confessing to a priest. If God ever opens the eyes of
a sinner to the truth, that sinner will deny all of those ways. All of them. He will deny every
way that involves the work of man, the hand of man. And He'll
say, there's one way. There's one hope, there's one
life, there's one payment, and that's the blood of Christ the
Lamb. Christ made that payment to God. by Himself without me. I completely deny myself in it. I deny myself. He did it without
me. He did it before me. He did it without me. I deny
my will in it. I deny my work in it. I deny
any payment, any part, any addition. in my redemption before God,
in my salvation before God. I deny myself. I don't promote myself. I don't condone myself. I deny
myself. Verse 24 says, Then said Jesus
unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross. That means crucify himself. That does not mean, well, somebody's
gonna have to carry the load. I might as well be the one to
do it. I'm gonna take up my cross. Doesn't mean that at all. Somebody has to bear that burden,
it might as well be me. That doesn't mean that at all.
To take up my cross means I condemn myself. I judge myself. I'm my own judge. I convict myself. I sentence myself and I slay
myself. David said in Psalm 51, he said,
I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me
against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest
and be clear when thou judgest. He said, I condemn myself before
you. Whatever you decide to do with
me, you justified in it. You're right in it. I deserve
to die. But because of that very thing,
this was David's cry to the Lord. He said, please have mercy on
me. In the blood that you shed for
sinners. This is what I have to say about
myself. I'm a sinner. So would you please have mercy
on me in the blood that you shed, not for the righteous, but for
sinners. Because you shed it for sinners,
I acknowledge to you that's what I am. I'm a sinner in need of
mercy. He said, if you purge me with
hyssop, the hyssop that was dipped in the blood, He said, I'll be
clean. He said, if you wash me in the
soul cleansing blood of the lamb, I'll be whiter than snow. That's
what he was doing in Psalm 51. I beg, I'm a beggar. I beg, I plead, I cling to, I
cast my all on the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
it is to follow Him. You wonder, what does it mean
to follow Him? It means cast your all on Him. On that cross, I follow Him into
it. This is my hope that I was there
with Him. In that grave, I follow Him.
This is my hope that I was there with Him. In His resurrection,
I follow Him. This is my hope, that I was raised
with Him. I follow Him. Verse 24, Then said Jesus unto
His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his
life, whoever tries to save his own life, Whoever tries to work
works in order to save his own life. Whoever tries to help Christ, he says he's gonna lose it. Whoever
will save his life shall lose it. Christ is the way. Christ
is the only way. Christ is all of the way. And
whoever God reveals that to and causes that person to fall at
the feet of Christ, just humbly fall at the feet of Christ, begging
for mercy because of His judgment. I beg for mercy because of His
judgment. I beg for life because of His
death. Verse 25 says, whoever will lose
his life for Christ's sake, Whoever God gives that conviction to,
if a person does that, it's God who wrought that in them. When that day of judgment comes,
when that question is asked, why should I have mercy on you?
Why should I let you come into my kingdom? If God has put this
cry in the heart of a sinner, for Christ's sake. Why? For the blood of Christ's sake. If that's all that a sinner has
before God, then that sinner's going to be saved. Say that. Believe that. Plead that. Plead that. This is a real God. This is a
real God on a real throne. Every eye shall see Him. Plead that. for the blood of Christ's sake.
Why? For the blood of Christ's sake.
Just say Christ. When you are scared to death,
if you find yourself in a moment before the throne of God, just
say Christ. What's your hope? Christ. What's your plea? Christ. What's your righteousness? Christ. Whoever pleads Christ is going
to find life. Whoever loses his own life and
slays his own life and cries, not my works, his only, is gonna
be saved. Now, we only have one hope. I hope
that every age can understand this. I hope all ages will be
able to understand this. Old and young, we only have one
hope. We only have one hope, and that
is mercy in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Deny everything
but that. When it comes to your doctrine,
when it comes to everything, deny everything but that. Crucify everything but that. cling to and believe on and hope
in and trust in the blood of Christ alone for all of our salvation
and it will come to our souls. In Luke 18, I'm done, but in
Luke 18, our Lord gave the parable of the Pharisee and the publican.
And that Pharisee was boasting of everything he did and what
a good church goer he was and all those good things. And the
Lord said, not justified. You know, but I look like a believer. I'm doing all the not justified. That publican, that sinner, that
sinful man, wouldn't lift up his eyes to heaven, only smote
on his breast, crying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. God said, justify. Justify. Plead mercy in the blood
of Christ alone, and you'll be saved. Add anything to it, add
any hand in it, any part to it, and you'll ruin it. Christ alone. Christ alone. Okay. Let's all
stand together.