Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles with the message today, I'll be preaching from
the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians 2. And the title of the message
is Preaching Christ Crucified. Preaching Christ Crucified. Over
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, the Apostle Paul had shown that the
mission of God's ministers and the passion is to preach the
Lord Jesus Christ in the glory of His person and the power of
His finished, accomplished, redemptive work to a lost world. And he
was telling the Corinthian believers here that they need to focus
on the mission of the church. Now, I know today, especially. There are churches who get involved
in so many things, activities, and so much charitable work,
and soup kitchens, and things like that. Well, my friend, there's
nothing wrong. We need to be charitable. We
need to help when we can help. But we need to understand, if
we believe the Bible, that the mission of the church is to preach
the gospel. The Great Commission, Christ
said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Preach the
truth. making disciples of men, and
understand that that has to do with preaching the gospel and
leaving the results up to God. So many people, so many religions
or denominations or societies who call themselves Christian,
they devise methods, human methods, to get people to hear them and
listen to them and to keep them in without preaching the gospel. And that's not what we are to
do. The Bible, if we preach and nobody
listens, then we're not given any authority or liberty to change
the message or the methods of the scriptures to get people
in. And that's a big problem today.
But Paul's telling the Corinthian church to focus on this, and
he tells them, he says, like over in 1 Corinthians 1.17, listen
to this. He says, for Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Why would Paul say that? Did Paul baptize anybody? Yes,
he says he did. But first of all, he's telling
them, number one, baptism does not save you. Water baptism. the ordinance of christian baptism
which is believers baptism understand not infant you people who baptized
infants that was just religion false religion i don't wanna
make you mad but that's just the way it is read your bibles
paul said baptism doesn't save you baptism is a water baptism
is a confession of a one who has already been saved by the
grace of God, based upon the blood and righteousness of Christ.
Now that's what baptism is. It's a confession where believers
confess their faith in Christ by immersion. And the reason
it's by immersion is because they're claiming that when Christ
died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he arose again, I arose again. And that's what baptism
is. But he also said that to the
Corinthian church because they were taking pride in who baptized
them. Oh, I was baptized by the great
doctor, Reverend Dr. So-and-so. Well, big deal. That
doesn't matter. There are people who'll go to
what they call the Holy Land. My friend, there's no Holy Land
today. I understand that. There's a lot of history in Israel.
They'll go over there and they say, well, I was baptized in
the River Jordan. Well, so what? The issue of baptism
is not where or who baptized, where you were baptized or who
baptized, it's Christ. That's what we have to understand.
It's an identification and a public confession of my salvation totally
by God's grace in Christ. Look to Christ. All these religious
things that people get diverted with, just take your eyes off
Christ. And so Paul said in 1 Corinthians 117, for Christ sent me not to
baptize, but to preach the gospel. And what is the gospel? It's
the revelation of the glorious person and the finished work
of Christ called the righteousness of God, which is the entire merit
of his whole work of redemption as the surety and substitute
of his people. And listen to what he says in
1 Corinthians 117. He says, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should
be made of none effect. What he's talking about there
is preachers who will change the wording so as not to offend
people. Oh, you can't tell people that.
Well, what if it's in the Bible? You see, here's the thing about
it. I do not want to offend any of you who are listening to this
program. But I don't have the authority or the liberty to change
the book here, to change the words of God, so as not to offend
you. If you're offended at the word
of God, then your issue is not with me, it's with God. And you
need to understand that. I mean, the disciples told the
Lord that when he was speaking to the Pharisees. They got upset
and they said, Lord, you offended them. And Christ said, blessed
is he who's not offended. This is the gospel. This is good news to a sinner.
But now if you've been spending your life trying to be saved
by your works, this gospel will tell you your works are evil
in the sight of God. And that's offense. John chapter
three and verse 19 talks about that, how the light is coming
to the world and men love darkness and hate the light. And that
light is Christ and the gospel of salvation in him. You see,
when it comes to salvation according to the Bible, there is, listen
to me now, there is absolutely no place for the works of men
to intervene as to attaining or maintaining salvation. The
works or making a sinner righteous or acceptable to God. The work
of righteousness and acceptance before God, the work of attaining
and maintaining salvation is all in Christ and what he did
on the cross to put away the sins of his people and to bring
forth righteousness which is imputed, charged, accounted to
them. The works of believers are the fruit the effect, the
result of the power and the goodness and the grace of God in Christ. The works of believers do not
earn them anything from God. They testify to the glory of
God. Do you understand that? So Paul
says in verse 18 of chapter one, for the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is
the power of God. Now when you hear the preaching
of the cross, what is that? That's the preaching of the death
of Christ as fulfilling all conditions of the salvation of his people,
and listen to me, securing their salvation under glory. Christ
did not die for those who perish. Those who are perishing, he mentions
here. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to them. And down
in here in verse 23 of chapter 1, he says, we preach Christ
crucified under the Jews, a stumbling block, and under the Greeks,
foolishness. But under them, verse 24, which are called, that
is powerfully, invincibly called by the Spirit in the new birth,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom
of God. Now look over in chapter two, preaching Christ crucified. In verse one, Paul writes, and
I brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. Now
what Paul's talking about there, he didn't use man's eloquent
language Again, that would remove the offense of the cross, and
he didn't use the wisdom of men. Now, when we preach, when a preacher
preaches the testimony of God, you understand that is the ultimate
wisdom. But when he uses human wisdom
to try to hone that message to a point where it's not offensive,
It tickles the, it scratches the itching ear and draws a crowd. How can I get, you know, here's
one thing. Let me say something. We're sent
to preach the gospel. The moment a preacher or a minister
or an evangelist thinks within himself, what can I do to get
more people into the church? He is going against the Bible.
Now that's true. What are we commanded to do?
Why do we have this TV program? It's to preach the gospel to
the lost. The results are up to God. Listen,
if you come to faith in Christ, it's not going to be because
of my eloquence or my wisdom or my drawing power or anything
like that. it'll be because of the power
of God unto salvation. The gospel has been made the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. That's
God's work. Preachers are to preach the gospel.
So he said, I didn't come in any human way with human wisdom
and human words. Verse two, listen to what he
says. For I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's all, that's my message.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now Paul's not talking about
just repeating words. Jesus Christ crucified. I've
seen signs outside of churches that say, we preach Christ crucified. And you go in and hear the message
and you hear anything but that. Paul's not just talking about
a historical person. Jesus of Nazareth. He is talking
about a historical person. because there was a person named
Jesus. What does that name mean? He
shall save his people from their sins. He was born about 2000
years ago in his human nature. That's his humanity. He is God
in human flesh. He walked this earth with his,
he grew in wisdom and stature. And then when he was about 30
years old, 29, 30 years old, he began a public ministry and
he walked with his disciples. He performed miracles. He preached
the gospel. He was arrested, falsely accused,
taken and beaten and tortured, put on that cross. He actually
was put on a wooden cross and he died. He suffered unto death.
He was buried. He arose again the third day
and he ascended unto the Father in heaven, sat down at the right
hand of God. That's the historical person.
He was all of, this is history. But Paul's not just talking about
history. It's more than history. This
is redemption for the people of God. This is salvation for
the people of God. This one person, God in human
flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His work on that cross to
die for the sins of His people is the salvation of all the Old
Testament saints, believers. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, keep
on going down all the way through. And this one act in history,
this is the central act of redemptive history right here. Everything
was meant for this. And to this, Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. This is the salvation. He is
the salvation of all New Testament saints, believers, sinners saved
by grace. Even those which haven't been
born again, or haven't been born yet, and those who haven't been
born again yet. He's their salvation. It's all
conditioned on Him. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And it's not, listen, it doesn't
stop at his death because the one whom Paul's talking about
here has risen from the dead. Paul was talking about a living
savior, not a dead martyr. Paul's not looking for his tomb.
You know, there are people today who are looking for the tomb
and they think they found the tomb. There's probably three
or four places. What if you do? Leave it alone. We serve, if
we're believers, we serve a risen savior. He is alive. He's not dead. Over in 1 Corinthians
15, Paul talks about the gospel as how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scripture and how he was buried and how
he arose again according to the scriptures. So this is salvation
through the one who died and who lives again for his people. But Jesus Christ and him crucified,
what does it mean? It means, listen, over in the
book of Daniel, it talks about how the Lord Jesus Christ died
or Daniel in prophecy in Daniel chapter nine. And let's read
that. What does it mean, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified? Listen to what Daniel said in
prophecy. This was probably around 500
years before, four or 500 years before Christ actually came into
the world. But it's always been this way,
even from the beginning. And he says in verse 24, listen
to this. He's talking about 70 weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city. Now that's 77, which we would mathematically go down to 490
years, but that's about how long it took in God's determined purpose
to send Christ. And here's what he says. First
of all, verse 24, to finish the transgression. What finished
the transgression? What's a transgression? That's
sin. Transgressing the law. Sin is transgression of the law.
Well, Christ, John wrote in 1 John chapter 3, was manifest. That
is, he actually came and made himself known to put away our
sins, to remove the transgressions. And so he says he finished the
transgression. In other words, he's the one
who satisfied justice. It goes on in Daniel 9, 24, and
to make an end of sins. In other words, he brought sin
to its end. He satisfied the debt. You see, that's one of
the things about sin. Sin runs up a debt to God's justice,
and that debt has to be paid. Well, who's going to make an
end of that sin? Who's going to pay that debt?
Well, Jesus Christ crucified. That's what Paul's intending
here. It's what he preached. Christ paid the debt in full. Jesus paid it all. And I mean
all. He didn't pay part of it and
then leave some of it for me to pay. I hear some people say,
well, he paid for my past sins, but not my future sins. Well,
if that's the case, then you're doomed. you will perish eternally. Because let me tell you something,
you cannot pay for your sins. I heard a preacher one time years
ago, he's talking about David, King David, and the great sins
that David committed when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. And when he had her husband Uriah
killed and he tried to hide it. And the preacher's whole message
was talking about how David paid for his sins. You know, David,
his life from then on was turmoil. His kingdom, his family, it was
turmoil. His oldest son, Absalom, trying
to kill him, take his throne. And that preacher was talking
about how David had to pay for his sins. Well, that's the wrong
language. David wasn't paying for his sins. He was suffering
consequences for sin. as we sometimes do. But my friend,
the only thing that'll pay for sins is the blood of Jesus Christ. Those who perish, they're not
paying for their sins because they can't pay for it. That's
a debt we cannot pay. Only Christ could pay that debt.
Only He made an end of sin. Look back at Daniel 9 24. He
says, and to make reconciliation for iniquity. That has to do
with reconciliation with God. God reconciles his people unto
himself. Peace made between God and sinners
and upon what basis, Daniel 9 24, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. Now, if we're gonna preach Jesus
Christ and him crucified, we have to preach everlasting righteousness
in Christ. You see, in order to be saved,
we have to have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
justice. And the only way I can have a
righteousness like that is to be found in Christ. You see among
men, there's none righteous, no not one. We don't have righteousness. Our best works cannot make us
righteous. Our sincerest attempts at religion,
in prayer, baptism, whatever, cannot make us righteous. Paul
wrote in Romans 10 in verse one, he said, my heart's desire and
prayer for God, to God for Israel is it that they might be saved
for they are ignorant of God's, they're sincere. He said, I bear
them record. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. And he said, they being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own,
that is by their works, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law, the fulfillment, the perfection of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it." In other words, if you're a believer,
Christ is your righteousness. That's what He's saying, you
don't have any of your own. And so in Daniel 9, 24, he says,
to seal up the vision in prophecy, that's all the Old Testament
visions and prophecies, Christ is the fulfillment, and to anoint
the most holy. Some translations say the holy
place. What he's talking about is a
reference to the Old Covenant tabernacle and the temple, in
the mercy seat, Christ is the fulfillment of that. If you wanna
see the glory of God, Look to Christ. If you want to experience
the presence of God, look to Christ. Now back over in 1 Corinthians
2.2, Paul writes, for I determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What he's saying here is this.
All knowledge of salvation, all knowledge of a right relationship
with God, all knowledge of a godly life, obedience, good works,
is grounded upon, founded in, and centers around this one great
truth, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I had a fellow tell me one time,
a preacher, I asked him, I said, do you preach the gospel every
time you preach? And he said, well, no. He said,
if it's in the text, I do. You know, that's not the way
to go. Paul's saying, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And here's what I'm saying. Whatever
subject I'm preaching on, if I'm talking about Christian obedience,
I still must preach the gospel because preaching obedience without
preaching Christ, I told somebody one time, I said, it's like having
the best car that you can buy but there's no gas in it to drive. What inspires Christian obedience? The obedience of a Christian
is to be motivated by grace, love, and gratitude, not by law
now, not legalism, not a mercenary. You see, mercenaries, they work
for money. They're trying to earn their
keep. The obedience of a Christian
is to be motivated by grace, love, and gratitude that can
only be found in Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from
the dead. Before I take the first step
in acceptable Christian obedience, I must realize that Christ is
my righteousness. That I'm already saved and secure
and right with God based upon what Christ accomplished on the
cross. And I have nothing to recommend
me unto God in myself. And everything that I do in seeking
to obey God is to be done in light of that truth so that my
obedience becomes an act of gratitude. Seeking not to draw attention
to myself or praise for myself, but to draw attention to God
and His glory. You see that? So whatever subject
I'm preaching, I must do it in light of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. So Paul, he says in verse three,
he says, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much
trembling. That's Paul talking about himself. Verse four, my speech and my
preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
what? In demonstration of the spirit
and of power. Verse five, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. You
see, If anybody comes to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works through my preaching, I don't have anything to brag about or
boast about. Somebody says, oh, he's brought
3,000 souls to the Lord. No, you didn't. You might have
been the signpost that God used to point them to Christ, but
God's the one who brings them, not the preacher. He's led this
many, listen, it's the Holy Spirit who leads them to the Lord. We're
just the signpost. I used to use that illustration,
you know, when we first moved down here to Albany, my wife
and I, we'd take our kids and we would travel back to Kentucky
where I'm from originally. And the closer we'd get back,
the boys would keep asking me how far, how far, you know, how
much more time. And we would get to that signpost
that was the city, that named the city that we were from. But we wouldn't stop and hug
the signpost or praise the signpost or anything like that. We wanted
to go on to the city, go on home. That's what we would talk about.
And that's what it is. You know, John the Baptist was one of the prime examples of
that. He told them, he said, I'm not the Christ. Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. He said, don't look to me, don't
follow me. The Bible says they heard John preach, but they followed
Jesus. That's what they do. John even
said, he said, he's, he said, I'm not even worthy to stoop
down and untie his shoes. And then he said, I must decrease. Christ must increase. And that's
what Paul's saying. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.