The following message was preached
by Daniel E. Parks, pastor of Sovereign Grace
Church in Great Falls, Montana. The text for this message is
1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 2, in which Paul the apostle,
speaking for all faithful gospel preachers, declares, I determined
not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
The title of this message is, Guilty of Preaching Christ. Every preacher should ask himself
this question. If I were on trial for preaching
Christ, would there be enough evidence to convict me? Jesus
Christ assures His ministers that such trials are coming.
He tells them that 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. Examples of this
from the apostolic era are found in the Acts of the Apostles.
The same has continued from that time, for Antichrist's Babylon
is drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of
the martyrs or witnesses of Jesus. So, what happens when today's
ministers, claiming to preach Christ, are on trial facing that
charge. Suppose all professing ministers
of Christ and preachers of his gospel are brought to trial before
Antichrist. How many would be convicted by
the evidence? Now comes the first defendant. His name is Incidental Mentioner. Antichrist tells him, Sir, Jesus
Christ says the Scriptures testify of Him. One would therefore expect
a preacher of Christ to follow His example when, beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning Himself. But when you expound
Scriptures and explain their doctrines, you only incidentally
mention Him and often do not mention Him at all. I therefore
find nothing in your preaching that greatly offends me. You
are no threat to me. I therefore release you." Now comes the second defendant. His name is Ecumenical Facilitator. Antichrist tells him, Sir, Jesus
Christ says he is the only way to the Father in heaven. The
Holy Spirit says Christ is the only mediator between God and
men. Christ's preachers declare salvation
is in Christ's name and in none other. But I find you willing
to compromise everything you claim to believe in order to
cooperate with other religions, for you find much in them that
is agreeable with your own. I release you, for compromisers
like you are useful pawns for me." Now comes the third defendant. His name is Political Activist. Antichrist tells him, Sir, we
know that Jesus Christ and his apostles did not identify with
the political party nor engage in political activism. And we
know that political activists opposed him to his death. And
we know that you assume the title reverend and dress yourself in
religious garb only to lend credibility to your political cause in the
eyes of the gullible. Believe me, sir, no sensible
person mistakes you for a preacher of Christ. I am looking for the
man who shuns worldly politics and preaches Jesus Christ. You
definitely are not that man. You may go, and feel free to
let me speak in your next political function. Now comes the fourth defendant.
His name is Moral Reformer. Antichrist says to him, Sir,
Jesus Christ preached that the inward part of men must be cleansed
before their outward part can be cleansed. and that this inward
cleansing is done only by his own blood. He also describes
your sort as whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful
outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. And he says you also appear outwardly
righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and
lawlessness. I have no objection to the Christ
you preach, for you present Him as but a good moral example for
immoral people to emulate when they want to reform themselves.
And as long as they think they have sufficiently reformed themselves
in God's eyes, they will not view themselves as degenerate
sinners in need of Christ to be their Lord and Savior. You
are free to go. And feel free to include me among
the speakers at your next moral crusader seminar. Now comes the
fifth defendant. His name is Sanctimonious Legalist. Antichrist says to him, Sir,
Christ's preachers declare Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone who believes, one of them formerly an eminent lawyer
in your legal practice, says 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.
Thank you for encouraging men to produce self-righteousness
instead of looking to Christ for divine righteousness. You
also may go And I want you to know you look sharp in your holier-than-thou
attitude and robe of filthy rags. Now comes the sixth defendant.
His name is Sabbath Enforcer. Antichrist says to him, Sir,
Jesus Christ says that if the weary and heavy laden come to
him, he will give to them rest for their souls. His Holy Spirit
says that when men do so, they enter into Christ's Sabbath,
and He tells them that they must afterward refuse to be judged
by Sabbatarians, because Christ is the true Sabbath. But you
deny all this, so convincingly that your followers refuse spiritual
rest in Christ for physical rest in some day of the week. Such
a rejecter of Christ cannot be a preacher of Christ. You are
free to go, and give my regards to your father, sanctimonious
legalist." Now comes the seventh defendant. His name is Free Willer. Antichrist says, Sir, you say
your Christ is doing all it can to save sinners. but that it
is helpless to do so unless they of their free will let it do
so. You say your Christ made atonement
for all people without exception, but that its atonement is worthless
unless they of their free will make it so. Your pathetic Christ
is therefore not the omnipotent Jehovah who says, My counsel
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure Furthermore, it is
documented in John 6, verses 60 through 66, that your sort
deserted Jesus Christ when He exposed the inability of your
free will and declared your need of God's sovereign grace. I am
not at all concerned about the Christ you preach. You are free
to go, for I take special delight in you. Now comes the eighth
defendant. His name is Baptismal Salvationist. Antichrist says to him, Sir,
Christ's preachers exhort sinners to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you will be saved. But you say, not true, because
the believer in Christ is not saved until he is baptized. Christ's
preachers declare baptism is the answer of a good conscience
toward God But you say, not true, because baptism is the means
of obtaining a good conscience toward God. 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 from their sins
until they are baptized. Jesus Christ says the regeneration
of sinners is the work of the Holy Spirit. But you say, not
true, because men are not born again until I baptize them. You give a whole lot of lip service
to Christ, but you say nothing that would make you guilty of
preaching Christ. Now comes the ninth defendant. His name is Proud Sectarian. Antichrist tells him, Sir, everyone
here knows you also only give lip service to Christ. Your real
passion is exalting your church above all others, and exalting
your ecclesiastical creeds and confessions and traditions over
God's Word, and exalting your true church over Christ the truth. You also are free to go, and
Godspeed. Now comes the 10th defendant.
His name is Self-Preacher. Before Antichrist can address
him, he says, Sir, I am the Archbishop of all who say we preach ourselves,
not Christ Jesus the Lord, as it is written in 2 Corinthians
4, verse 5 in the revised standard perversion. You have found fault
with none of them thus far, and the same would be true of the
rest of their number, including Arminian's soul winner, altar
caller, charismatic confuser, and all the rest. All these ministers
are from man-made religion, not the Church of Christ, and none
of them is the preacher of Christ you seek. They are all what you
sent them to be, false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into apostles of Christ, Satan's ministers who transform
themselves into ministers of righteousness. The man you seek
is the one who preaches Christ always and only from all the
scriptures and says these other defendants preach another Jesus
and a different gospel than the Jesus and gospel he preaches. The man you seek is the one who
dares to say, we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the
Lord. Where is he? Thunders Antichrist. All the above sighted defendants
point their fingers to the man and shout in unison, there he
is. His name is Gospel Preacher. Antichrist then says, Gospel
preacher, I call you to the stand. What is your defense? I hope
all the other professing ministers have pointed to me and to your
minister. This would be my testimony. Sir,
as Paul the Apostle says, I determined not to know anything among you
except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I have no desire to know what
those other defendants know. It suffices me to know that no
man was ever saved through what they preach, and that the lake
of fire will be thickly populated by their sort. Jesus Christ Himself
said of them, 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 then I would
declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who
practice lawlessness. Contrary to them, I preach Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Jesus is His name. for He will
save His people from their sins. His people are all whom His Father
chose in Him unto salvation before the foundation of the world,
and gave unto Him for their safekeeping. Jesus Christ declares that He
has indeed saved every one of them, and that none of them will
be lost. Truly He is. Jehovah is salvation
by His name. Christ is his title and office,
for he is the one Jehovah anointed to be king of the nations and
to bring them under subjection to him. He has sent me to tell
you, therefore be wise, O kings, be instructed, you judges of
the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear and rejoice
with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry,
and ye perish in the way when his wrath is kindled by the little. Blessed are all those who put
their trust in Him. Crucified is the means by which
Jesus Christ has accomplished God's eternal purpose for the
salvation of His people. The sins of His people were laid
upon Him, and on Calvary's cross He suffered and died in their
place instead to redeem them unto God. Jesus Christ succeeded
in saving all His people for he shouted in glorious victory
with his dying breath, It is finished. Now, sir, I realize
that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, as the other defendants have amply proven, 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 preaching
Christ, I hope I have presented enough evidence for you to find
me guilty. And I hope, my friend, you believe
the message of this gospel preacher. as he declares the good news
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.