Good evening. I invite your attention to 1
Corinthians, chapter 2. 1 Corinthians, chapter 2. Thirty-five years ago this very
week, two Calvinistic Baptist preachers
were listening to the gospel being preached in a little chapel
on Pi 7 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And the Lord was pleased
to save both of them that week on this thirty-fifth anniversary.
And tonight, both of those men are preaching to you. And I thank the Lord for Tim
and his church. They've supported my ministry
for many years and indeed sponsored me when I went to St. Lucia and
needed a sponsor. It's such a pleasure to be here
with him tonight, 35 years later. And I doubt that Hart's hymn,
Come Ye Sinners, was ever sung any prettier than we heard tonight. And about 26 years ago, I heard
Mike Bartram sing for the first time, and I think he's better with age. Same good songs. The longer I live, the more I
appreciate old friends. I've had so many that started
out with us many years ago, and we've lost some. Some left us. Some have carried their banners
for the last time in the battle, and the Lord has called them
on home even recently. But I'm delighted to be here
tonight with you, and I hope the Lord be pleased to meet with
us who have gathered in the name of His Son. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or wisdom declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. that your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. I've been blessed on St. Croix
to have a man to preach for me from time to time. And I think the Lord's been pleased
to teach him a good number of things in the time that I've
been there. I know it's made quite a difference
in his preaching, both in content and in manner. But a few days he stood behind
the pulpit and he said, all over this island are men claiming
to be preaching Christ. But if we all were on trial for
preaching Christ, would there be enough evidence to convict
us? That weighed heavily on my heart. I spent many years in religion,
claiming to preach Christ. And I think that even after I
learned the gospel and the Lord was pleased to save me, I know
good and well I've missed it many times. A lot of times I've come out
of the pulpit and realized I could have stayed home that day. A lot of times I thought I was
preaching Christ and completely missed it. But I do hope that if I'm ever
on trial for it, there is enough evidence to convict me." And
Jesus Christ assures His ministers that those trials are coming.
He says, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you,
delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought
before kings and rulers for My name's sake, but it will turn
out for you as an occasion for testimony. And repeatedly in
the book of Acts, we can show you instances in which the Lord's
apostles were brought before synagogues and synods and councils
and put on trial. For what? We think you're preaching
Christ. On one occasion, they brought
them in and they said, we constrained you and forbid you to preach
Christ. Now what are you doing? And lo
and behold, that man just gets up and preaches another message.
Well, you asked him what he was doing. That's what we do. We preach Christ. Anytime the
opportunity is given, what do you believe? It's Christ. We
preach Christ. What do you preach? Preach Christ.
And I would hope that when we are on trial, and the trials
are coming, that there is enough evidence to convict us of it. The same has continued since
the day of the apostles, because we read that Antichrist Babylon
is drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of
the martyrs or witnesses of Jesus. Many of our brethren have died
for simply doing nothing more than what you just heard Tim
James do a moment ago, and hopefully what you're going to hear me
do. Religion is drunk with our blood.
We are forbidden to preach Christ and we are enticed to preach
something else. And most of us could be successful
at it in the eyes of the world. But I would hope that He who
commanded me to go into the world and preach the gospel to every
creature will find me in the pulpit preaching what I'm supposed
to be preaching. Paul says, I determined not to
know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I would hope that that is
the testimony against me when I'm on trial. for what I claim
to have preached. And the trials are coming. And
the trials are going on. What happens when today's ministers
stand on trial for preaching Christ? Well, it's observed. Because now comes the first defendant. His name is Incidental Mentioner. The Antichrist says to him, Sir,
Jesus Christ declared that all the scriptures speak of him.
He says that if you will search the scriptures, you will find
they all speak of him. And his ministers imitate his
example. When beginning at Moses and in
all the prophets, they expound in all the scriptures the things
concerning Jesus Christ. That's what a gospel preacher
does. He goes to Genesis 1-1 and finds
Christ. He goes to Genesis 1-2 and he
finds Christ. He goes to Genesis chapter 2
and finds Christ. He goes to Genesis 3 and finds
Christ. He goes to the books of the history.
He goes into the Psalms. He looks in the Proverbs. He
finds Him in the Song of Solomon. All the prophets witness and
testify of Him. He's in the Gospels. He's in
the Acts. He's in the Apostles. And when
you close this book, the very last verse is what? It's Christ. But you, Mr. Incidental Mentioner,
you had this great gift of being able to preach expositorily all
through the Bible and never mention Christ unless you couldn't get
around it. And we've heard you preach the
doctrine of the Scriptures, and we've heard you expound the truths
of God's Word, but Christ was only incidentally mentioned. I find nothing in your preaching
that offends me," Antichrist says. You may go, I release you. Now comes the second defendant.
His name is Ecumenical Facilitator. Antichrist says to Ecumenical
Facilitator, Jesus Christ stood before us and He declared, I
am the way, and I am the truth, and I am the life, and no one
goes to the Father except through me. His Holy Spirit declares
that there is one God and one Mediator between men, and it
is the man Christ Jesus. And His creatures have the audacity
to stand up and declare, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name
given among men under heaven by which we must be saved except
the name of Jesus Christ. But you, Mr. Ecumenical Facilitator,
I have found you willing to compromise everything you believe in order
to get along with others. And every time you found someone
in a new religion, you tried to find something good in that
religion so you could get along with them. You'd give up Christ if you could
get along with others, and you did. And you did. I release you because you're a very useful
pawn for me. Now comes the third dependent. His name is political activist. Antichrist says to political
activist, you are one of the most remarkable men I ever saw
in my life, Reverend. One day The people usher Jesus
into Jerusalem, throw their palm fronds before Him and say, Hosanna,
blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. They're ready
to crown Him King in a moment. And you, Mr. Political Activist,
in the name of God and religion and truth, the very next day
have them calling for His crucifixion. What a wonder you are. Not only
that, In the name of defending God, truth, and religion, you
demanded that a murderer be released in the place of Jesus Christ,
and yet you claim to be a preacher of Jesus. What a wonder you are! Well, we all know you're not a preacher of Christ,
and no one believes you are, no sensible person. We know you
take that title reverend and wear your cloth just to promote
your cause, but you're useful to us and so we let you do it.
We're glad to have you do it. I am looking for the man who
shuns politics. I am looking for the man who
says God also is highly exalted Jesus Christ and given him the
name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and you evidently are not
the man. Indeed, when Jesus Christ came as King of Kings and Lord
of Lords, you Oh, wonder that you are, took the enemies of
King Herod and the enemies of Pilate the procurator who despised
each other but showed them they had a common enemy in Jesus Christ
and they joined the forces together against him. What a wonder you
are. You're free to go. And I'll gladly march with you
in your next political activist march as well. Now comes the
fourth defendant. His name is Moral Reformer. Antichrist says to him, when
Jesus Christ was on this earth, he declared that the inward part
of man must be cleansed before the outward part can be cleansed. He declared that this inward
cleansing was done only by His own blood. He looked at you and
He described you as whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful
outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. He said you also outwardly appear
righteous to men through your moral reformation, but inside
you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. And I have no objection
to the Jesus you preach. He's just a good moral reformer
like all the others who have come down the path. You try to get people to be good
citizens. You try to get wives to be submissive
to their husbands, and husbands to love their wives, and you
try to get fathers to quit provoking their children to rap, and children
obeying their parents, and servants and masters get along. Why, it's
just a good get-along world you're trying to get, and that's fine
with us. That's fine with us. So go on
out and reform these morals. Because
as long as they think they can morally reform themselves into
God's kingdom, they'll never see themselves as degenerate
sinners in need of a Savior who does more than reform. You're free to go. And I'll be
glad to speak at your next Moral Crusade or Family Life Conference. Now comes the fifth defendant.
His name is Sanctimonious Legalist. And Antichrist says to him, Sir,
a preacher of Christ declares that Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to every one of them who believes. One of these gospel preachers
who used to be an eminent lawyer and a partner in your legal practice
reported of your sort that they, being ignorant of God's righteousness
and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
to the righteousness of God. Well, thank you very much, because
as long as you can make me unrighteous, they will not be looking to Christ.
By the way, That holier-than-thou attitude looks very becoming
on you, and your rags of self-righteousness
are always acceptable attire in my court, you may go." Now comes the sixth defendant.
His name is Sabbath Enforcer. Antichrist says to Sabbath Enforcer, Jesus Christ called the weary
and heavy laden to come to Him. And He says, I'll give you rest
for your souls. His Holy Spirit says that when
men come to Christ, they enter into His Sabbath. And He tells
them that when they ventured into the Sabbath of Christ, to
let no man judge you regarding Sabbaths. Well, bless your heart,
you love Moses far more than Christ. And you don't believe the Christ
that Moses preached. And you love your law far more
than God's grace. And you've told folks that rest
for your soul is not enough, but rest for your body is what's
important. And you tell them you get it
one day of the week. And the only problem that you
have is get three of it together, you can't decide what day that
is. But that doesn't matter neither. And you tell folks, yes, you
must judge people regarding Sabbaths. So everything God says about
it, you've thrown out. You're quite a wonder yourself. sending men away from Christ,
their rest, and trying to find it in Sunday of the week. You're free to go, Mr. Sabbath
Enforcer, and your father, sanctimonious legalist, must be very proud
of you. Next comes the seventh defender.
His name is Free Willer. Antichrist says to him, Sir,
Jesus Christ declares, My counsel shall stand and I will do all
my pleasure. His preachers declare, Oh Lord
God, there is nothing too hard for you. But you come along and
just preach the opposite. You claim that your Christ loves
everyone alike. You say He's doing everything
He can to save everybody. You say He's powerless and helpless
to save or otherwise help mortals unless they exercise their free
will to let Him do so. This Jesus you preach is standing,
begging, wringing His hands, and just wishing somebody would
let Him save them of their own free will. That pathetic Christ you preach
is not the omnipotent Jehovah. Furthermore, it is documented
that you went to hear Jesus preach one day after He fed a few thousand
people, and when He contradicted your free will and said you were
not willing to come and could not come and no man could come
unless the Father drew him, you got offended and walked away.
I'm proud of your sort. I'm proud of your sort. And then
when he got up and told you that your father is a devil and the
deeds of your father you want to do, you tried to kill him.
That's commendable. That's commendable. I am not
at all concerned about that helpless Christ you preach. You're free
to go because I take special delight in you. Now comes the
eighth defendant. His name is Baptismal Salvationist. And Antichrist says to him, Sir,
when seeking sinners come to a minister of Christ, they say,
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And you
have the audacity to say, that's not enough. You're not saved
until you're baptized. Christ's preachers declare that
baptism is not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the
answer of the good conscience toward God. But you come along
and say, not true! Because the filth of the flesh
is removed in baptism, and baptism is not the answer of the good
conscience, but the way of getting one. Christ's preachers teach that
Jesus Christ washed us from our sins in His own blood, but you
say, not true! For sinners are yet unwashed
until I put them in the water." Jesus Christ says regeneration
of sinners is the work of His Holy Spirit, but you say, not
true! Men are not born again until
I baptize them. You give a whole lot of lip service
to Christ and His church, but you say nothing that would make
you guilty of preaching Him. You may go. Now comes the ninth
defendant. His name is Proud Sectarian. Antichrist tells him, Sir, everyone
here knows you want to give lip service to Christ. Your real
passion is exalting your church over all others, and exalting
your ecclesiastical creeds and confessions and traditions over
God's Word, and your true church over Christ the truth, and you're
free to go, Godspeed. Now comes the tenth defendant.
His name is Self Preacher. Antichrist prepares to address
him, but before he can, Self Preacher speaks. Sir, my name is Self Preacher, and
I'm the Archbishop of all these fellows who have come here before
you today. Our motto is, we preach ourselves,
not Christ Jesus the Lord. 2 Corinthians 4 and 5 in the
revised standard perversion. You have found fault with none
of these men who have come thus far before you, and the same
will be true of all the rest. I'll save you the trouble, because
everything you found acceptable with these men is true also of
alter color. charismatic confuser, and faith
healer, and miracle worker. I'll save you the trouble. I'm
their archbishop. My name is self-preacher and
we all preach ourselves. All these ministers are from
the synagogue of Satan, not the church of Christ, and none is
the preacher of Christ you seek. All these preachers who have
stood before you thus far are exactly what you sent them to
be. False apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. Satan's ministers
who transformed themselves into ministers of righteousness. I'll save you the trouble, Mr.
Antichrist, and tell you that the man you seek is the one who
preaches Jesus Christ always and only from all the scriptures. And he has the audacity to say
that these other defendants preach another Jesus, he says, and a
different gospel. The man you seek is the one who
says, We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. Where is he, thunders Antichrist? And all the above-sighted defendants
point their fingers to that man and shout in unison, There he
is! His name is Gospel Preacher. Gospel Preacher, I call you to
the stand. What is your defense? When they point their finger
to gospel preacher, I hope they're pointing to me. And you, you,
you, you, you, you, and all the rest of you gospel preachers.
I hope that when all the preachers of this world, preaching a false
gospel in another, Jesus point their finger of accusation at
the gospel preacher, I hope it's one of ours. I do. Hope it's
me. Hope it's your preacher. And this is my testimony. Sir,
as Paul the Apostle says, I determined not to know anything among you
except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's all I want to know among
you tonight, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I have no desire
to know what these other offenders have declared before you and
what you already know of them. They speak what they know and
I speak what I know and I cannot speak what they know because
I do not know what they know and they do not know what I speak.
We speak what we know. It suffices me to know that no
one was ever saved through the gospel that they preach. It suffices
me to know that the lake of fire will be thickly populated by
their number and their sort. Hell will be full of people who
are morally reformed, politically active, enjoying their Sabbaths, rejoicing
in the law, glorying in their self-righteousness, bragging
about their true church. Their Baptist conventions will
have a convention every year in hell and never miss it. Never
miss it. Their denominational assemblies
and their synods, when they've had their last meeting
on this earth, will have the next one in hell. Religious as they can be and
devoid of Christ. Jesus Christ said of him, not
everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom
of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders
in your name? And Jesus says, I will declare
to them, I never knew you'd depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Indeed, sir, it is my opinion,
private opinion of course, but it is my opinion that the lowest,
most damnable place in hell is reserved for this sort, this
sort, men claiming to be preachers of Christ and denying Him in
preaching else. Contrary to them, I shall endeavor
to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Jesus is His name. And a good name it is. His name
means Jehovah is salvation. And God His Father gave Him that
name when He sent Him into this world. You shall call His name,
Jehovah is Salvation, because He's Jesus and He will save His
people from their sins. God the Father gave them a people
before the foundation of the world, chose them in Christ,
predestined them in Christ, presented them to Christ, and Christ assisted
them in Himself before time began. came into this world, representing those people, fulfilling
God's law in their place instead. And then He prays just before
He dies, Father, I have kept Your Word, and every one of those
whom You have given to Me, not one of them is lost. My name
is Jesus. And I have done what I was sent
to do. I preach that Jesus. I preach this Jesus who is Jehovah
my salvation and Jehovah my Savior and I preach Him to you tonight.
His name is Jesus. Christ is His title and office. It means anointed one. And he
is the one anointed by God the Father to subdue the nations
to himself. God the Father has looked down
from heaven and seen that the wicked have risen and rebelled
against him and said, we will not have this man to rule and
reign over us. They have risen against Jehovah
and against his anointed. And so the Father says, God's
son, go down and subdue them. I'm going to put you on the throne
of Zion. I give you a decree. I send you
forth conquering and to conquer. And I subdue the nations." That's
what he's doing. That's what he's doing. He subdued
me. I bowed to the knee. Every one
of us will bow to the knee, either voluntarily or involuntarily,
but the knee will be bowed. And he will be owned. as Jehovah Almighty, the Anointed
of God. And I come to you tonight declaring
to you this Christ, and I say to you, be wise, ye kings, be
instructed, you judges of the earth. Kiss the Son, lest ye
be angry. Blessed are all those who put
their trust in Him. I preach the Christ. I preach
the Anointed One. is the means by which Jesus Christ
has accomplished God's eternal purpose for the salvation of
His people. The sins of God's elect were
laid upon Christ, He became sin for them, and on Calvary's cross
He suffered and died in their place instead to redeem them
unto God. And I tell you this, Mr. Antichrist, He used your preachers to accomplish
this rebellious act. He used your preachers to raise
the masses against him. He used your preachers to make
Herod and Pilate best of friends and nail him to a tree. And you crucified Him. And in so doing, you fulfilled
God's eternal purpose for the salvation of His people by the
determinate counseling predestined will of God. He's made your religion a pawn
for His glory. And I preach that, God. I preach this Jesus, and I realize
that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing. Your other defendants have just
amply proven that. But to us who are being saved,
it is the power of God. Therefore, I determined not to
know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And since I am on trial for doing
so, I hope there is enough evidence to convict me. And I hope, my friend, you believe
this gospel that I preach. Some wise men of opinion boast
and sleep on doctrine sound. But Lord, let not my soul be
lost on such enchanted ground. Oh, may my feeble aim be now
to live on him who died. and not on earth desire to know,
but to Jesus crucify.