Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse
17, the Apostle Paul wrote, For 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." Now let me ask us this question. What is the gospel? What is the gospel? He said, Christ sent me not to
baptize, but to preach the gospel. What is the gospel? A man or woman is gonna get up
on Sunday morning and go somewhere to hear the gospel. What is the gospel? He answers that question right
here, he said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ." The cross of Christ. Verse 18,
he said, for the preaching of the cross. The preaching of the cross. Verse 23, he said, but we preach
Christ crucified. If a man does not preach Jesus
Christ crucified, he's not preaching the gospel. Paul said in chapter 2, verse
2, for I determined not to know anything among you save or except
for Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The preaching of the cross. A man can preach on any subject
he wants to, but until he preaches Jesus Christ crucified, and until
he explains to men and women what that means, he's not preaching
the gospel. The gospel is the cross of Christ. It's the fiber and the foundation
of everything that we read in God's Word. This Word of God talks about
giving. How do we deal with that? How
do we deal with that subject? We deal with it in light of everything
that Christ gave on the cross. The Word of God talks about forgiveness. How do we deal with that subject? We forgive one another as God,
for Christ's sake, forgave us. Now there are two main questions
I have for us this morning. How do we preach the gospel of
the cross? What is the gospel? It's the
cross of Christ. But how do we preach the gospel
of the cross? How do we deliver this message
of the cross? And what is it to preach the
cross? I titled this message, what is
it to preach the cross? What is it truly to preach the
cross? First, I want us to answer, how
do we deliver this message? How do we do it? Verse 17, Paul
wrote, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel, not with wisdom of words. Paul said this gospel is not
to be preached with wisdom of words. Nobody understood this
better than him, nobody. Look over in Matthew chapter
4 with me. Verse 18 says, And Jesus, walking
by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter,
and Andrew his brother, casting Annette into the sea, for they
were fishers. Not scholars, fishers. You know, our Lord could have
chosen anybody. There were scholars in those days. Our Lord came
here and began his ministry and he called 12 apostles and he
did not walk into the temple to call his apostles. Isn't that
interesting? He went to the seashore. And he saw Simon called Peter
and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they
were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make
you fishers of men. And they straightway left their
nets and followed him. And going on from thence, he
saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his
brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And he called them, and they
immediately left the ship and their father and followed him. Now look at Acts chapter 4 with
me. This is Peter and John. They were brought before the
rulers and the scribes and the high priest. Verse 7 says, And
when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power
or by what name have you done this? Peter told them in verse 10,
be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that
by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand
here before you whole. He's preaching the cross of Christ,
isn't he? They wanted to know, by what
authority are you doing these things? He said, Jesus of Nazareth,
the one you crucified, the one God raised from the dead, he's
preaching the cross of Christ. And verse 13 says, now when they
saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they
were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. And they took
knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. And beholding
the man which was healed, standing with them, they could say nothing
against it. They immediately could tell by
the way these men talked that they didn't go to school for
this. Their words were ignorant and unlearned. And they marveled. How do these men know this? Why would God use these men? Why these men? Well, back in 1 Corinthians 1,
verse 17 says, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest, lest you should be taken up with
my wisdom. and not with the cross of Christ. God is not going to allow anything
to stand in the way of the cross of Christ. No man is going to
get the glory that is owed to the cross of Christ. Verse 19
says, 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? Now as I just said, Paul understood
this better than anyone. He was a learned man. educated in religion. And there's
nothing wrong with education and the ways of this world, the
things of this world. We need doctors, we need nurses,
we need architects, we need accountants. But God is saying right here
that man's wisdom plays no role in the cross of Christ. No role at all. Man's wisdom
has no part in the cross of Christ. Look at Acts chapter 22 with
me. This is Paul speaking, and in verse 1 he said, Men and brethren
and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now unto you. And
when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them,
they kept the more silence. And he saith, I am verily a man
which am a Jew born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought
up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according
to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous
toward God as you all are this day." Paul was in seminary. Gamaliel was his teacher. Now
Philippians chapter 3, Paul said in verse 4, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss. for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." Loss means detriment, it means
damage, it's all damaged. He said, I counted all dung,
all that learning, all the religion, All the money I spent on it,
all the time I gave to it, it's all dung. It's all worthless,
it's all useless. I had to undo every bit of it,
that's what he's saying. He said, I've suffered the loss
of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship
of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
He's saying none of that stuff meant anything. The only thing
that matters is that I might take part in the cross of Christ. John the Baptist felt the same
way, didn't he? They asked him, what's your name?
He said, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't matter. Where are
you from? What are your credentials? None of that means anything.
I'm just a voice. That's all he said. He wouldn't
tell them anything about himself. He said, I'm not worthy to tie
his shoes. So what is the gospel? It's Jesus
Christ and him crucified. How do we deliver this message
of the gospel, this message of the cross? Not with wisdom of
words. with simplicity. With simplicity. It has been said that our Lord
almost always spoke with one, two, or three syllable words. That's it. Small words. Men, religious Pharisees, they
love using big words. They love that. There's a word,
called post-millennialism. That word has seven syllables
in it. Listen to what our Lord said.
Listen to the syllables, the plainness, the simplicity. This
is what he said to sinners. He said, come unto me. all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." I'll give you rest. Isn't that
so simple? You don't have to sit and spend
time trying to figure out, what is he saying? What is he saying? Oh, he's so clear, he's so plain,
he's so simple. Come unto me. Who? All ye that labor and are
heavy laden. Why? Because I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. Back in our text, back in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 17, Paul wrote, For 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. For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish It's just foolishness. It's too
simple. It doesn't tickle the mind. Foolishness. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. Now the preaching of the cross
is the gospel. We are not to deliver that message
with wisdom of words, lest we should muddy that message, confuse
that message, and the cross of Christ should be made of none
effect. But our last question this morning
is, what is it exactly? What are we telling men and women
about it? What is it to preach the cross? How do we preach it? Simply not
with wisdom of words, but what is it? What are we saying about
it? I want to take a few minutes and go through the word of God
here and show you a few scriptures. And in these scriptures, we will
see what it is to preach the cross. What do we preach about
this cross? Here's the first one. Turn with
me to Galatians chapter five. Galatians five verse 11 says,
and I brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, Why do I yet suffer
persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. The offense of the cross. To
preach the cross is to preach the offense of it. Do you know
why Christ had to go to that cross? He had to go to that cross. Do you know why Christ had to
go to that cross? It's because had He not gone
to that cross, every single man and woman on this earth would
run straight into hell. It's because all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. It's because there is none
that doeth good No, not one. Isaiah said, all flesh is grass,
and but for the cross of Christ, we would all be burnt up. To
preach the cross of Christ is to preach the sin that put Christ
on that cross. That's what it is. That's the
offense of the cross. It's to preach the sin that put
Christ on that cross. Every single person on this earth
was born dead in trespasses and sins. But here's the truth of
the cross. And here again is the offense
to men and women of the cross. Christ didn't die on that cross
for every single person in the world. Every person has sinned,
but Christ didn't die for every person who sinned. He died for
all that the Father chose, all that the Father gave to Him,
all that the Father put in Him. He died for His elect. And the scriptures are so clear
on that. People hear that though and they say, that's not fair.
No, it wasn't. It was not fair. Christ didn't
deserve one ounce of the sin that was laid on Him. But He took it willingly. He
had mercy on many. A number that no man can number. So thank God for the cross of
Christ. Thank God for the cross of Christ. All right, now look at Galatians
6, verse 14 says, But God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world." To preach the cross is to preach
the Christ of it. Lord means He's God, Jehovah. Jesus means He is man. The one who hung on that cross
was God. The one who hung on that cross
was man, 100% man. Christ means the union of both. Only God could accomplish what
needed to be accomplished on that cross. But only man could
go to that cross. So Christ came. God became a
man. A man endured that cross, the
only man that could, the God man. Just because he's a man,
that doesn't make him any less God, not one bit. Just because
he's God, it doesn't make him any less man. God was manifest
in the flesh. And he was manifest for one reason
only. it was to endure that cross.
That's the whole reason he came. Now look at Ephesians 2 verse
16. It says, and that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby. To preach the cross is to preach
the reconciliation of it. Man is so sinful. Man is so vile
and so wicked. Far, so very far from God we
could not far be. Ephesians 2 verse 12 says that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. That's terrible. Man was nothing but rebellion
and enmity against God. There was no hope for man. So
God became a man. And He went to that cross. And
He paid for the sin of every sinner that God chose to put
in Him. And He did it, verse 16 says,
that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby. and came and preached peace to
you, which were afar off and to them that were nigh. For through
him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore
you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God." To preach the cross
is to preach the offense of it It's to preach the Christ of
it. And it's to preach the reconciliation of it. Philippians chapter 2
verse 8 says, Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. To preach the cross, is to preach
the death of it. The death of what? Death. That cross was death. That's
what I deserved. It was death. But Christ put
away death in that cross, through that cross. It's the death of
sin and the death of the grave. It has all been abolished through
that cross. In the cross of Christ, death
is swallowed up in victory. That's what the Word says. O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ went
to that cross, He went to battle with death, and death lost. And
now he says, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
die. Never. Colossians 1 verse 20
says, and having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him
to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven. To preach the cross
is to preach the owner of it. It was His cross. A man or woman might say, oh,
He was hung on my cross. No, He was hung on His cross.
If it was not His cross, then I'm in trouble. If He was not made to be guilty,
then I'm in trouble. You see, He was made sin, my
sin. He took my sin off of me and
He laid it on Himself. He bore it. He wore it. He became me. To preach the cross
is to preach the substitution of it. He rightfully died with
my sin on Him. Colossians 2.14 says, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His
cross. His cross. To preach the cross
is to preach the offense of it, the Christ of it, the reconciliation
of it, the death of it. the owner of it. And here's the
last one, in Hebrews 12, verse 2 says, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. To preach the
cross is to preach the joy of it. Joy? Everything we just said
about it, why joy? Here's why. It's finished. The battle is over. It's finished. There'll be no more war. It's
finished. The end of all conflict. It's finished. And Jesus Christ
is Lord. There's no more work to be done.
What must I do to be saved? Nothing. Christ finished it on
that cross. Now just rest in Him. Until next
Sunday morning, may our Lord bless His word to our hearts.
You have been listening to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like
a copy of this message or to hear other messages of Sovereign
Grace, you can write to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin
Street, Kingsport, Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website
at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.