The Spirit of God tells us in
the fourth chapter of Ephesians of the ascension gifts of Christ
to his church. Gifts given to his church by
the ascended Savior. Apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors, teachers. Apostles, of course, being those
men selected of God, succeeding the prophetic office, identifying
Christ as the true Messiah with spiritual gifts limited to that
age, spiritual gifts of understanding, of healing, miraculous powers,
speaking in tongues and so on. Those gifts ended with the apostles.
And then he gave some prophets, prophets. but there are no prophetic
offices in the church. Well, that's referring to Old
Testament prophets. No, these are ascension gifts of Christ,
prophets. Prophets are men gifted of God
with the best distinct abilities and distinct understanding in
the time in which they live and the necessary message. They're
men God raises up to be voices for his church and voices to
guide and strengthen and help preachers along the way. I'm
confident that's the case. Brother Henry Mahan, for me,
all of us, in his day, in our day, God raised him up just in
a distinct, distinct way. And then the pastors, teachers,
not pastors and teachers, pastors slash teachers. These pastors,
are the teachers in the assembly where God has put them. Other
men serve under them. Other men serve with them. But
the man responsible for the teaching in every local church is that
man God has set over the church as pastor. And then God gave
evangelists. Today we think about evangelists
as fellows who go from church to church, don't have any responsibility.
I have a half a dozen sermons, I preach them around the country
and they go back and prepare a half a dozen more and preach those
around the country and collect offerings and whoopee. No, those
are just users. Let it sink in. As I said, the
word would just utter contempt. That's not an evangelist. That's
an evangelist. Evangelist in the New Testament
sense of the word is missionary. Man who is gifted of God, uniquely
gifted of God, to go about establishing gospel churches and establishing
pastors in those churches, leading them, training them, guiding
them. That's an evangelist. Of all
the gifts, none more demanding on the man than that work of
the evangelist, the missionary. He abandons family and life where
he is and goes somewhere else. And he spends his life in places
other men wouldn't want to live. And usually is sort of isolated
from others and not well known, not properly respected. In God's church, let us make
known to such men. our love and appreciation for
them and our support for them. Brother Cody Groover has been
serving with his father and mother and his wife in Medina, Mexico,
how many years now, Brother Cody? 21 years, can't be that long,
can't be that long. And he, I know a good bit about
the whole thing, but he had a good job. I mean a good job. He got paid for not going to
work. All the time he had to go in
when they had trouble. I'd text him, maybe he'd play
golf with us and go out and eat. Oh, I got to go in for a few
minutes. That's a good job. And he took his wife and family
down there and how God has blessed the work. We thank God for you
and thankful for you being here. He's going to come and bring
the message. Good morning. Open your Bibles
with me, if you will, to the book of 1 Corinthians. Thank
you, Pastor, for having me speak at this conference. It's a real
joy and a real privilege to be here with you this morning. The
Apostle Paul is, let me just talk to you about this for a
moment. The Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. And
these are believers. The Lord had raised up a church.
And believers, just like you and I who trust
in the Lord this morning, we've been given a new nature. But
we still have that old Adamic nature. And we're still in the
flesh. We still sometimes behave in
ways that is very fleshly. And these believers at Corinth,
they were dividing over men, over preachers. Some said, I'm
of Apollos. Some said, I'm of Paul. Some
said, I'm of Cephas. And the apostle Paul wrote to
the church and said, Christ is not divided. I didn't come preaching
myself and I didn't baptize anybody in my name. You didn't believe
because you believed because Paul preached to you. You didn't
believe because of Paulus. You didn't grow because of Paulus
preached to you. You believed and you grew because
of God or you and Christ Jesus. The Lord sent me to preach the
gospel. Look here in verse, I'm jumping
over and I want to get straight to my message. For Christ, verse
17 says, 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. This is our charge. This is what the Lord
sent His church to go and preach the gospel to every creature.
Preach the good tidings. Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is the gospel. There is no other gospel. But
my text is found here in verse 18. For the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness but to us which are
saved, it is the power of God. Now this is where I'm gonna stay. First I want us to consider this
word. The word preaching is word, the
word of the cross. Stop and think for a moment.
What a blessing that God would speak What a blessing. How could you
know God? How could you know God? God dwells
in light which no man can approach into. God is holy. How could you know God? God is
spirit. How could you know God? You can't even know what's going
in the mind of the person sitting next to you. How could you know
God except God speak? God speak. What a blessing. that
God would speak. God could not be known except
that he has revealed himself in his word. And this word says
the word of the cross. The word of the cross. It is
the word. This is the second thing I want
us to consider. This word is the word of the
cross. It's the word from eternity.
It's the word from eternity. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It's the word of
God from eternity. This is the word, in other words,
this word, it did not have its beginning in time. This is the
purpose of God. God so loved the world that he
gave he gave his son. before there was ever a sinner.
He's the lamb slain. And if a lamb is slain, it's
slain to put away sin. Is that not so? He put away the
sin of his people and his decree and his purpose before there
was ever a sinner. When he put his people in Christ,
and Christ became the surety, and Christ became the substitute,
God put away the sin of his people. Now that's just too much for
me to be able to understand and much less to explain, but this
is what the word says. Listen, it's not only the word
of God in eternity, it's the word of God in the beginning
of creation. Man was created and it wasn't
long, man rebelled against God, sin, and the first word The word
of promise is the word that the seed of the woman would bruise
the head of the serpent. It's the very first promise of
the Redeemer. It's the word from the beginning of time. It is
the word throughout all time. In the Old Testament, figures
and types were given. The word of God was given to
the nation of Israel. But that's the only word from
God. The nations, the heathen nations
were left in their idolatry. Without God, without hope in
this world. And it's the same message until
the end of time. The Lord said, this gospel will
be preached in all the world. Then comes the end. It's the
same message. Till the end of time. In other words, this message
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the same yesterday, today,
and forever, as He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The third thing I want us to
consider in this passage is the word of the cross is a singular,
singular word or singular message. It is the only message. It is
the only message spoken by God. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
We have no other message. There's not many messages. There's not many different ways. That's the inventions of men.
They say, well, it doesn't matter how, just as long as you're sincere. That's not it. There's only one
name given among men whereby men must be saved. the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's only one way that God
may be just and the justifier of the ungodly. Jesus Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to
the Father but by me. It's the same, the singular message. It's the same message to Jew
and to Greek. It's the same message to learned
and unlearned. It's the same message here in
the United States as it is in Mexico and to the furthest part
of the world. It's the same gospel, the same
message. Now, what is the content? Those first things I said was
that it is the word, how blessed we are. It's the word of God
from eternity, from all time. And it is the singular message. But what is the message of the
cross? What is the content? What is
God saying? When He hung His darling son
on the cross, what is God saying? Well, now, if you don't hear
anything else, hear this. Here's what God is saying. Behold
the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Behold. Fix your eye on Him. And there's
no way we can exhaust all there is to be said and all that is
said. by this message of Jesus Christ
and him crucified. But I want to point out a few
things. First, this is what we see at the cross. God is holy. God is holy. God is God alone. There is no other God. There
is no competition for supremacy. He is the only God. Lord said this, to whom will
you liken me? Who are you gonna make me equal
to? Who are you gonna compare me to? There's none other, no
one else. There's none like me, says the
Lord. I declare the end from the beginning
and from ancient times of things that are not done, saying, my
counsel shall stand and I will do my will. He's the only sovereign,
only potent, Tape, did I say that right in English? He's the
only, he's the king. There can be no rebellion in
his dominion. He is alone. That word holy, only God is holy. Only God is
holy. There's none other. Satan. Lucifer said this, I'll be like
the most high. No, you won't. No, you won't. He fell from his former habitation
and was reserved in chains of darkness to the day of judgment.
There's none like God. Adam, when Adam was created,
he was created in the likeness of God. As a man, you would want
him to represent you. Just evolve man. This is if there
was somebody that you'd want to represent that would be Adam
He was created perfect holiness But Adam sinned You know you
were represented by Adam. Thank God you were represented
by Adam because Christ is the surety for his people he put
all all his people in in subjection and rebellion in Adam that he
might have mercy on all his people in Christ. But there could be
no rebellion to his dominion. Adam, Satan came and said, God
knows you're not going to die. He said, when you eat this fruit,
you're going to be like God. You're going to know the good,
good and evil. You're going to be like God. And that's what
man thinks he is today. He thinks he's like God. He thinks
God is like him, therefore he's God. You think that I'm like
you, said the Lord. There's none like God. There's
none like him. Sin, in its essence, is rebellion
against God's holy will, God's revealed will. Sin, in essence,
is rebellion against God's will. And the fool, the scriptures
say, the fool has said no, God. That is a fool to say no God,
no to God. Listen, this is a great, great mystery,
but when the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, was made
sin for us, he who knew no sin, he was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. When he was made sin for us,
God condemned sin in the flesh of his darling son, the Lord.
The sin of his people, the sin of his people, God condemned
in the flesh of his darling son. Why? The law couldn't save us. For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son,
the word was made flesh, the creator of all things equal with
God, the Father, God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit. God
sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us. The law that demands our death
had to be fulfilled. And we have to have obedience
to that law, perfect obedience. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ was
made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. His perfect obedience. I said
the essence of sin is rebellion against God's will. The Lord
Jesus Christ, when He came into the world, He said, Lo, it is
written of Me, and the volume of the book is written, I come
to do Thy will. He always did that which pleased
the Father. He is the Holy One. And it's
by His obedience, by His perfect obedience, He always believed
God. As we heard last night, it's
the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ that saves His people. We believe
in Christ in order to be saved by the faith of Jesus Christ
and not by the works. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified in His sight. That rebellion, that sin, all
the sin of His people God made him to be sin, and in
his flesh condemned sin, put away the sin of his people. Boy
that is, what a word, what a word of the cross is there. Your sins
are gone. He put away the sin of his people. God is holy. You know the Lord
Jesus Christ when he was crying in agony on the cross, he said,
why hast thou forsaken me? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He trusted God. Never ever doubted. Never ever had a doubt. And he
said, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You know what the answer
is? It's found in the next verse.
Thou art holy. Thou art holy. We see the holiness of God. God
is holy and God will punish sin. God will punish sin. We see the
word of the cross speaks of the necessity of the atonement, the
necessity. The Lord Jesus Christ said, as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, it is so necessary,
even so the Son of Man must be lifted up. that whosoever believeth
in him should have everlasting life. Man, as I said, we are
sinners. Sinners by birth, by practice,
by choice. God's chosen people in Christ
are born into this world dead in trespasses and sin. Dead to
God, do not know God, cannot know God, do not want to come
to God. Don't think that we're inactive
though. Don't think that man by nature is born in sin, is
inactive. He walks. He walks in this disobedience. Man cannot atone for his sins. Man cannot put away his sins.
What is a man going to give exchange for his soul? If he gave the
world, he'd lose his soul. Man cannot atone for sins. God is just and must punish sin
wherever it is found. But bless God, Romans 321, if
you will turn with me there, says that the Lord Jesus Christ
in this word of the cross. Is the righteousness of God revealed? But now the righteousness of
God without the law. That is, without you having to
do the law because you can't do it. Christ did it. He's the only one. But this is
manifested. This is what God is saying right
now to every one of us. It's manifested being witnessed
by the law and the prophets. It was testified in the Old Testament
that Christ would fulfill righteousness and put away the sins of his
people. It's witnessed in the Old Testament and in the prophets.
Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference.
And that righteousness of God is unto all, it says. You believe, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the reason you believe is because God chose you. The reason you
believe is because the Holy Spirit regenerated you. The Holy Spirit
was, the love of God was shed abroad in your heart, a new creation. And that righteousness, that
holy nature, well we don't, We look inside
and that's the wrong place to look. But we look inside and
that's all we see is sin. And that's right. Because in
this flesh, there's no good thing. No good thing. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by
His grace through the redemption, the word on the cross, the necessity
of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God has set
forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare
God's righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
God's righteousness, God's justice, that he might be the just and
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. The necessity of the
atonement without the shedding of blood. Remember, I said at
the beginning that God's people, this is a message from eternity,
but it had to come to pass. It had to come. Christ had to
come into this world and actually establish righteousness. I didn't
start this thing. He had to come into this world
and establish righteousness because without righteousness, without
justice, without obedience to God, perfect obedience, none
will be before God, no man, no flesh. Now the word of the cross
also reveals the wisdom of God, all the wisdom of God. God shows
in his wisdom that he found a way. He found a way in where he might
be just and the justifier of all those that are found in Christ
Jesus that one that hung on the cross. His law is established by His
obedience. His righteousness, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is our righteousness. He is our
righteousness. First Peter 318 says, for Christ
also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God. And the only way you're gonna
come to God is if you're just as righteous, just as holy, just
as just. The justice of God. Being put
to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. We see number
four, the love of God. The love, oh, the love of God. God so loved. God so loved the
world, you know what that means. It means those that he loved. It means those that he loved.
He said, Jacob have I loved, he so have I hated. It's blasphemy to the character
of God to say that God loved every man and woman and child
that has ever existed in this world. If God loved everyone,
and is evident by the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
that hell is a real place. We know hell is a real place.
Torment is a real place. If God loved everybody and some
are in hell, what good is the love of God? But listen, all
that God loved, He saves. And He's gonna take them to Him,
to be with Him. But listen, the emphasis here
is this. The emphasis is God so loved. God so loved. This is showing
the love of God. He so loved his people in Christ
Jesus that he gave his son to be made sin, to die on the cross. God commended his love towards
us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the
ungodly, for the ungodly. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. We see number five, the merciful
God. God is merciful. God has not
dealt with you. You trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know God hasn't dealt with you according to your sins. We
know that God has not dealt with us according to our sins this
morning. What are the wages of sin? Death,
not just a little death, eternal separation from God. But God
put all the sins of his people. He was made sin. the Lord Jesus
Christ. He had not dealt with us after
our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. He left the
angels without a representative, without a redeemer. He has left
multitudes, multitudes of this world in the darkness of their
ideology, their own thoughts and imaginations about who God
is. But oh, how merciful he is to
his people. We see the grace of God. What
would cause God? Do you see the grace of God?
What would cause God to give his darling son? Nothing's found
in us. Nothing's found in this world,
but in his own heart, in his own purpose, his own grace, and
it was given to us before the foundation of the world. Oh,
the grace of God. The message of the cross is this,
look and live. Look and live. You see, the Lord
Jesus Christ is not hanging on the cross anymore. He died, but
he made satisfaction. Is that not the message of the
cross? He was taken down and buried three days and three nights,
and on the third day he arose victorious. Why? Because God
is satisfied. He has put away the sins of his
people. There are no more. The Holy Spirit gives witness,
I'll remember their sins no more. I like to think I have a good
memory. But I know God has the infinite memory. But he says,
I'll remember their sins no more. Why? They're gone. They're gone. He is risen. He is risen. Now, two things, briefly. This
is the message, like I said, we can go on and on and on. The
word of the cross. To you that believe, oh, what
a sweet word. What a sweet word, it's the only
word. How foolish the person who rejects the word of the cross. How foolish. It says in our text,
foolishness to them that perish. You're rejecting, rejecting The
only hope, the only means. How foolish the person that says,
no, God. No, God. This message is considered
foolishness to those that do not believe because they're still
believing the lie. They're still believing the lie.
I'm like God. I'm like God. False religion
That's what they teach people. You're like God. You see, anytime
a person makes deals, I heard, the only way you're gonna worship
a God is if God is shown to be sovereign. You're in His hand
and you're not doing a deal. This is, The reason they reject
the message is because they believe they're like God. They still
believe the lie. They say, I'm not that bad. I'll make my own way. I'll make
my own way. I do not need the blood of a
lamb. I'm not that bad off. But God
says, behold the Lamb of God. There's no other way. There is
no other salvation. But to you that believe, the
word of the cross, that's the word of your salvation. That's
what it says in Ephesians 1 13, we heard this last night. In
whom ye also after that you heard, you were put in Christ in eternity.
You were put in Christ in eternity. But then the gospel came. This
word of the cross came one day. Crossing your path. and the Holy
Spirit. You know, we use this term, it
resonates with me. It resonates with me. You know
why God's people receive God's Word? Because the Holy Spirit
creates a new life. Creates a new life. The Apostle
John said, you have an unction from the Spirit. What is that?
Christ in you. The Holy Spirit, if any man hath
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. But the Holy Spirit
gives testimony. This is the Word, this is the
truth. And you believe. You don't believe in order to
be born. This is something mysterious, miraculous, that is done by God
the Holy Spirit. Through the preaching of the
Word, not apart from it. But the preacher doesn't get
the glory and the person sitting down doesn't get the glory. They're
just as surprised as anybody else, I believe. I didn't before,
but I know I believe now. I can't do anything about that.
I didn't decide to believe. I just believe. After you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, this word of the cross. The gospel
of your you were sealed. With that Holy Spirit of promise,
this message. is to you the power of God. To
as many as received him, received this message, he gave the power
to become the sons of God. Ah, brother, it doesn't now appear
what we're gonna be, but we are the sons of God. I heard last
night, and I was just so happy to hear it. Because you're sons,
he sent his spirit. Religion's got that all backwards. Don't you give thanks to God
for his word. To you that believe it's the
power of God, the wisdom of God. May the Lord bless his word. Thank you brother, thank you.
I said what I did introducing Brother Cody, because I want
you to have high esteem for God's servants, and particularly missionaries. You young men who think about
preaching, pastoring, and older men who are still thinking about
it. You think, well, I've got to take care of my family. How
do I take care? Family's got to come first. No.
No. No. We serve God. with our lives,
with our families, making everything subservient to the will and cause
of our Redeemer. And I'll tell you what I have
never observed. I'm 66 years old. I've been preaching
the gospel of God's grace for nearly 50 years. I have never
observed any man give himself to the cause of Christ and his
family suffer for it. That's right. I've never seen
it happen. I've just never seen it happen. The cause of our Redeemer
deserves everything. Brother Cody, how long has your
dad been in Mexico? Sixty-four. Sixty-four. No. Since 1964. Nineteen sixty-four. That's a long time ago. Fifty-two
years. Fifty-two years. How many churches
has he had down there? Over the years. Over the years. Ten. got churches, reached a school,
and God has used the man remarkably. He's used him remarkably. His
children are all here. Not all of them, but two older
girls, and they were just kids when you went down there, weren't
you? Just kids. Except they're a little older than they want
you to know. And Mother Eric is Desta's son. Where's Jimmy? Over there, if
you haven't met Walter Groover, if you meet him, that's Walter,
just a little younger. He told me last night, he said,
Walter's like you, he's lived an assisted living all his life. And he's third generation. Now you stop and think about
what I just told you. Serve Christ. with everything. That's the third generation.
Gospel servants in this household. You got big shoes to fill, buddy.
And he fills them well. All right. Lindsey, come listen
to him. Thank you, brother.