By the way, good morning. Good
to see you. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. My proposal
is, to read this chapter, and then
when we get to verses 23 and 24, we want to spend some
time carefully looking at some statements in those two verses.
1 Corinthians chapter 1, We'll begin at verse 1. May we pray? Lord, thank you for letting us
gather in this place this morning Thank you for your goodness and
mercy shown to us all the days of our life, allowing us to live
to this present hour. Lord, we come this morning begging at your throne of grace that we could find grace and
help to our souls in regard to seeking a genuine God-blessed
assurance that those of us who claim to
be believers in Christ, Lord, that you would show us
if that is actually the case. This book is full of people who
profess to know you. And before the passage is ended,
we know that they could not know you. For indeed, they have a
different religion than the religion of the Bible. The religion of heaven is a religion
that is all about Jesus Christ and him crucified. And in this
chapter of Holy Scripture, we have this very theme in front
of us in countless expressions to be found in this one chapter
alone. But Lord, we confess That if
you do not teach us what is in this book, no man can teach us. You have to have something more
than a human being like ourselves declaring the gospel. And yet
your word plainly teaches that we are to declare it. And that
you do bless the efforts of men going above and beyond them.
to speak the word of life to dead, helpless, dying, doomed,
damned sinners. And so we ask for your aid and
your help. We don't claim to be many and
we don't claim to be much. But we claim to be followers
of the Lamb of God. Lord, please, Come in our midst this morning.
Make this time a holy time indeed. We beg in Christ's dear and precious
name. Amen. All right, chapter 1, verse
1, 1 Corinthians. Paul called to be an apostle
of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother,
unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus, with all that in every place
call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours."
Now, there are many interesting things already in those verses,
but this morning we cannot spend our time on each verse as we
read, so we've got to move ahead. I wish you didn't have to. Verse
3, Grace be unto you and peace. from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul the apostle is penning this
letter. in no gift, waiting for the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the
end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ." A day of judgment. That such sinners as we are by
the grace of God in Christ may be blameless. in the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 9, God is faithful by whom
you were called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the
same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that
you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. For it has been declared unto
me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you." Now this I say that every
one of you says, says, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of
Peter, and I'm of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified
for you? Or were you baptized in the name
of Paul? I thank God I baptized none of
you except Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had
baptized in my own name, and I baptized also the house of
Stephanus, Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
Verse 17, 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 foolishness, absolute foolishness. But unto
us who are saved, this cross, this gospel of Christ and his
cross, it is the power of God. For it is written, I'll 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? Has 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 It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Now what's foolish about preaching? It is both the method and the
message. Verse 22, For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks, or you might say the Gentiles, seek
after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them who are called,
divinely called of God, both Jews and Greeks, Christ turns
out to be and is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. And in reference to verse 29,
you cannot charge God with foolishness. But this is what people say about
this book. It's for fools. It's nothing
but a pack of foolishness. The foolishness of God is wiser
than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For
you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. We sometimes dream ourselves
before we die to become millionaires. If this verse is true, we ought
not be thinking like that. But I have the same thoughts
you do. Sometimes I can tell myself if I'd go win that hundred
and some million dollar lottery, you know, that's on the table
right now in North Carolina, I'd be the most generous man
ever to have won anything. But I'm scared to death that
won't be the case. Therefore, you can't win unless
you buy a ticket, and I ain't bought one yet. I ain't saying
I can go all the way to the grave without that, but I'm sure going
to try. But in this 26th verse, that little tiny phrase there
that says, not many mighty. I forget her name, but one of
the queens of England in the 1800s, somebody asked her what
she was. She was a professing believer.
They asked her what she was thankful for. She said, I'm thankful for
the letter M. Not many mighty. Without the
M, it would say not any mighty. No kings, no rulers, no powerful
people. But that's not what it says.
It says, not many. Verse 27, but God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty, and base things of the world and things which
are despised has God chosen? Yes, and things which don't even
exist, which are not. to bring to nothing things that
are. And there's plenty of Bible illustrations
for that last phrase. And here's the end of that series
of verses, particularly 26 through 28. For this reason, you notice
the punctuation at the end of verse 28, it's a full colon. That no flesh, should glory in
God's presence. Not mine, not yours, not anybody's. Believer or unbeliever, no room
to glory in our flesh. Now verses 30 and 31. But of
him that is of God are you in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Christ is all of that. And if he's not all that, then
you can't have him. He's all our wisdom. He's all our righteousness. He
is all our sanctification and He is all our redemption. Now,
why is God so careful to make statements like that that seem
to exclude so many people? How come He would do this? Here
it is, verse 31, that according as it is written, he that glories,
let him glory in the Lord. Now, if you haven't been to church
in the last 50 years, This ain't a typical example. About 99.9% of the churches in
Hornet County this morning are building up people. Not building up God, they're
building up people. Not lifting Christ up, they're
lifting people up. That's a heavy giver. Teaches
so many years in a Bible class. tithe, you know, on and on and
on and on. Those things aren't worth bringing
up in church. It's not worth our time. God
intends that the Lord Jesus Christ alone receives all the glory. And you can't fumble and coddle
with people at the expense of robbing the glory of Christ. Because that's what it is. And
today's religion are experts in it, and it ain't apt to change
anytime soon. Alright, coming back now to this
chapter. We're going to take verses 23
and 24. Let's read those again. But we preach Christ crucified,
Unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them who are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God." And that's just as much true now as it was when Paul
penned these words. Now, we've got to hurry. I've
got too much ground to cover. I don't know if I can do that,
but I'll go as far as I can. My title is, We Preach Christ
Crucified. By way of introduction, there
are only two attitudes that one can take concerning the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 18, The preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness. To say that a man
wearing human flesh was put to death on a literal cross, that
this is how sinners are saved? Absolutely. That's the only way. It's got nothing to do with the
shape of the cross, what kind of wood it was, or anything else.
It's who was on that tree. That's what matters. For the
preaching of the cross is foolishness. It is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us who are saved. Oh, it is the power and the wisdom
of God. So this attitude toward the cross,
has to be one of two things, either absolute foolishness or
indeed the power and wisdom of God. There's no in-between. You can't say, well, I think
foolishness to this degree. No, it's either or. That's the
only way you can have it. That's the only way this chapter
will let us have it. It is the power and wisdom of
God. Why is the preaching of the cross
of Christ foolishness to them that are perishing? Here are
just a few reasons why that is. Number one, because the preaching
of the cross deals with a subject That by and large, men have no
interest. And in fact, the entire human
race has no interest. And until God moves on our soul
and our heart and gives us a desire, we won't be interested either.
So we cannot say that we're saved because we sought God. No, we
sought God because He sought us first. You've got to keep
this in order or your theology just has to go out the window.
It deals with a subject in which we as human beings have no interest. Well, you say, it talks about
salvation from sin. But I kind of think I'm not a
sinner. Therefore, this gospel is not made for me. And you're
dead right if you're not a sinner. You don't need saving. You can
just walk all the way into heaven. But you'll never get past the
gate. The only gate you'll ever get past is the one to hell.
Because Christ is himself the gospel. Secondly, This gospel is despised
because it does not recognize human merit. But rather, drags it into the
light of the broken law and cries, Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Here are a couple of
statements in our Bibles. I'm going to read them to you.
And I can't trust myself to say I'm
going to tell you where I got this from when I finish reading
it. But I doubt I'll do that like
I should anyway. Here's the first one. He that
believes on Christ is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned
already. because he has not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light has come into the world, and men love darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone
that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest
his deeds should be reproved. But he that does truth, he that
doeth truth, comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God. You can find that in John chapter
3, verses 18 through 21. There's another one to lay right
beside that one. Now we know that whatsoever things
the law says, it says to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before
God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified." You said that to us in the Bible
class plain as day. I mean, you can have what people
would call a good degree of righteousness about yourself. For you see,
they don't know what righteousness is. And they don't know what
you are and what I am. Sinners! Hell-bound sinners! By the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. Number three, this preaching
of the cross is foolishness to those that perish. When we confess
our need for the cross, it is nothing less than what I'm about
to tell you. We take God's side against ourselves
and against all human righteousness, every last single bit of it. And yet it clings to us like
glue. This book says as plainly as
words can say it in the third of Romans, none righteous, none
good, no, not one, not a one, not a single one. Romans 10.4,
for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. Psalm 119, verse 128, Therefore, I esteem all your
precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every
false way." We hate false religion. We hate false professions. We
hate false testimonies. You can't have words like this
in your Bible. and fall for this junk. How on
earth did we live to be so old before God opened our eyes? Because
it pleased Himself to do so. That's all I can tell you. It
sure ain't nothing in me. Now, just in case you're lazy
like myself, I want you to turn to that 119th Psalm Verse 128. I want you to look
there. I opened to it. Of course, I've
got a marker there, but I opened to it the first time. One turn. Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in our Bibles. It has something like 176 verses, and in every one except
one, there is a synonym for the Word of God, the gospel of Christ,
the grace of God. But this 128th verse, If I recall correctly, in November of 1981, this is
one of the first statements that I read from this pulpit. Therefore,
I esteem, I value all your precepts, all of God's teachings, every
last one of them, Concerning all things. To be right. To be right. But that's just
half of it, and that ain't the biggest half, perhaps. Now listen
carefully. Here's the closing statement.
And I hate every false way. And when you're around your friends
who are of other religious persuasions than our own, Don't give them to think when
they're talking about their God or trying to tell you something
that happened at church yesterday. Don't deceive them by telling
them, oh, that's wonderful, that's nice. It ain't wonderful and
it ain't right. And it's not nice. It's a pile of manure. Plain
and simple, that's all it is. And if you tell them it looks
good enough to eat, there's something wrong somewhere. But we live
in the midst of a religious world, Baptists all around us, Methodists,
Presbyterians, you name it, it doesn't matter. It's all one
and the same. It is a gospel that cannot save. It's the gospel where the preacher
says, well, God's done all he can do and now it's up to you.
I'm telling you, if that's true, let's just go home and play golf
or sleep or whatever, because we're wasting our time. Number four. Now, smarty me, I had my place
marked at 1 Corinthians. I just pulled it out. I didn't
mean to. But I can find it again. There
it is. Number four, why the preaching
of the cross is foolishness to them that perish. The cross is
foolishness because it declares the righteousness and the justice
of God. Now please, you can't help but
hear it on the news, the radio, the TV, the newspaper. Frequently,
I don't know how frequently, but justice simply is not served
when some crimes are committed. People are allowed to go free
who need to be incarcerated or put to death. The cross is foolishness because
it declares the righteousness and justice of God. God has to
be just. If He is not just, He is not
God. You name a single attribute that
belongs to the Holy Trinity, and you take that away, and they
cease to be God. Now, we can leave out a lot of
things that have a flaw here and a flaw there, and a weak
brain, and all this kind of stuff. Not God. Oh no. How can God be just and still
justify him who believes in Christ Jesus? Let me read it to you
out of Romans chapter 3. To declare, I say at this time,
God's righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier
which believes on Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law? The law of works.
No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith, are you listening? Without the deeds
of the law. Without our obedience. Without
our faithfulness. Everything hangs in the balance
on Christ being. His faithfulness. His love for
his people. The sacrifice on Calvary's tree. I'm telling you, when Christ
said on that cross, it is finished, the justice of God was forever
satisfied. Not for everybody, but for all
of Christ's sheep, all of his bride, all of his church, every
last one of his people. Are you one of them? I can't
tell you. You'll just have to find that out as you listen to
the preaching of the gospel. Let me read you this. No, I just read you that one,
I believe. Yes. Thank you very much. Number five.
If we cannot see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, if we cannot
see the infinite holiness of God, Then we cannot see the need
for the cross of Calvary. The preaching of the cross is
foolishness to us unless God performs a miracle of grace in
our soul and causes us, against our will and yet with our full
consent, causes us to believe and trust Christ. Now I've got
to move on. We're not finished yet. Oh my,
it's not even quarter till. Let me get some paperwork out. There we go. Now these are little
tiny sheets. We can go through these pretty
quickly, but sometimes I might get bogged down. Second question. Why the Lord
Jesus died on the cross? What does the Bible say as to
the reasons that Christ died on Calvary's tree? Why? First of all, that the scriptures
might be fulfilled. The cross is all over the Old
Testament. My goodness, how about that tabernacle?
altar, that holy of holies. The trail of blood that led to
the cross began in the garden of Eden when God killed animals
to clothe Adam and Eve and then put them out of the garden. Outside the garden, their son
Abel brought a blood sacrifice to worship God. Now this angered his brother
Cain so much so that he killed Abel because he hated this gospel
that is all of grace, all of Christ, and cannot be true and
cannot help a sinner unless Christ's blood is shed in the process. Thirdly, further on in the Old
Testament, we come now to the book of Exodus, the blood on
the doorpost in Egypt. The night that God sent that
final plague on the Egyptians, on the Egyptians that every household,
the oldest son would die. And the only thing that protected
the children of Israel in their houses was to put blood on the
doorpost and on the level. And God said to them, when I
see the blood, I'll pass over you. Well, how could He do that? He didn't pass over any of the
Egyptians. Because the persons whom He passed over are showing
their confidence and their belief in a Savior that is to come and
actually shed His blood. and literally do away with all
of our sins. But until that generation, that
day arrives, these people must see their Savior in these representations
of Him. Such as Noah's Ark, for example,
is a picture of Christ. Christ is our Ark. I mean, I'm
sure I was exposed to everything in church. At least the first
18 years of my life. And I bet you I didn't miss a
Bible school or a Bible class or anything else. And I never
heard these things, never heard them, never knew them. Didn't
know that's what they meant. So the blood on the doorpost
in Egypt is a picture and type of the blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And it follows an unbroken line. of atonements and Passovers until
Christ, our Passover, died on the cross. Here's your verse
of Scripture. For by one offering, Christ has
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Hebrews 10.14. Alright, Roman Numeral 2, Edward.
First one was, the Scripture must be fulfilled. And it is
still being fulfilled and will until this world is no more.
Second thing now, Christ died to redeem us from all sin. How else shall we be redeemed
if not with his blood? 1 John 1.7, For by one offering
he is perfected forever, them that are sanctified, He died to redeem us from all
sin. All of it. All of it. Number three. Our Lord died to
be Lord, Lord of Lords and King of Kings. These are his titles. This is his position. And in
Romans chapter 14 and verse 9 it reads, For to this end Christ
both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of
the dead and the living. And again in Philippians chapter
2, And being found in fashion as a man, Christ humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore, God has highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. My, what words
indeed! He died to be Lord. To be Lord. Number four, he died
that God may be just and justifier of him who believes in Jesus. And we've already read enough
scripture on that to certainly prove it very clearly for sure. We move now to number five, Roman
numeral number five. He died to show the riches of
God's grace. I'll read you Ephesians 2 and
verse 7. Or if you want to, I'll wait
for you to find it. Y'all might be getting a little
too comfortable. You have to use these cells up
here, you know, a little bit or they take a nap on you. Ephesians 2, verse 7. Our Lord died to show the riches
of God's grace. And here it is in Ephesians 2,
7. That in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus! Christ died to show us the riches
of God's grace in Him. He's the end of God permitting
man to fall. Christ is the end, as well as
the beginning, and everything in between. It is the end of
Christ coming into this world in the flesh. He came one time
and He's not coming back until judgment day. And this world
will be no more. But we'll stand before that great
throne of judgment. And God will, in Christ, will
met out that which we deserve. Believers alone. Followers of
Christ alone can be said to receive the merit and blood of Christ,
but they certainly shall. Number four, it is the end of
the cross and redemption. Suppose, for example, that God
were to come into this world as of this period of time Have another son, immaculately
conceived in the womb of a virgin, and if he ain't virgin-born,
he ain't no Savior. And if he ain't virgin-born,
he ain't no God. Just get that plain and clear
to start with. So that God comes again into
this world and puts His Son to death again? And he's buried
and rises again the third day? What does that mean if he has
to do this? It means the first one was not
enough. And I'm telling you, that's some
of the worst blasphemy ever to fall from men's lips. That Christ
on the cross, once for all, forever, ain't enough. Oh, my soul. I'm about to let something slip.
I better keep reading. God has prepared grace and glory
in Christ and it is fully displayed to any who wish to see. All you do is take this Bible
Start in Matthew's Gospel and read all four Gospels if it takes
you a year or however long it takes. Don't just read it. Read it over and over. Study
it. Beg God to help you. You don't
want a lousy preacher trying to tell you what to believe,
do you? Oh, the Spirit of God is invaluable. He alone can teach
us. This glorious truth. Shoot, I
was a preacher a long time before I even knew what the gospel is,
or what it meant for Christ to go to the cross and die. Alright,
I'm down to my conclusion. I've got five minutes. Grace is a provision for people
who are so fallen that we cannot lift the acts of divine justice. But God must be just. Remember
that? So corrupt that we cannot change
our own nature. We can't make ourselves good
because we're incurably bad. And it takes more than a preacher,
more than a high-powered evangelist to change you, my friend. It
takes the triune God of heaven and earth. And that, and that
alone, gives life to dead sinners. This grace is a provision. I've lost my train of thought. Let me see. People who are fallen cannot
lift the acts of justice. So corrupt they cannot change
their own nature. So opposed to God they cannot
turn to Him and will not turn to Him. So spiritually blind
we cannot see Him. Read John chapter 9. So spiritually deaf that we cannot
hear him. So spiritually dead that God
himself must open our graves and lift us into the resurrection. Well, that's what I've got to
say on the precious cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.