I would have you to turn back
in your Bibles to the book of 1st Corinthians. The book of 1st Corinthians,
let me read verse 17 and then we'll read verse 2 through 5
of the second chapter. Verse 17 says, 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. And then in the second chapter,
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 power. that your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. I want to speak
to you this morning on the subject, Knowing Christ, Knowing Christ
and Him Crucified. The Apostle Paul here says in
the 17th verse that he was not sent of God to baptize. He said, for Christ sent me not
to baptize. Now Paul was not in any way,
shape, or form minimizing the importance of baptism. And he
certainly was not saying that baptism wasn't an ordinance of
the church. But he was saying that his commission
that he received from God was not just to go out into the world
and see how many people that he could baptize. See how many
people that he could get into the waters of baptism. Now, Paul
said that he had baptized some folks in verse 16. He said, and
I baptized the household of Stephanus. And besides, he says, I know
not whether I baptized any other. He had said in verse 14, he said,
I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius.
There was only two of you, he said, in the church at Corinth
that I had anything to do with their baptism. But he said, Christ
sent me not to baptize, But, he said, my commission that I
received from the hand of God, the commission that I received
from heaven, the commission that the Spirit of God in me sent
me on was to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
to do that not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made of none effect. Paul said, I just simply went
out as God led me and I preached the cross. Now Paul said, and
this is so important for us to understand in verse 3 of the
second chapter, he says, I was with you in weakness and in fear
and in much trembling. Now nobody knows exactly what
that feels like. Nobody knows that by experience. but a preacher of the gospel
that has no ability, no special talent of their own, but must
lean upon the presence of God and the Spirit of God and the
power of God to be able to preach a sermon, be able to preach the
gospel of God's saving grace. Now Paul says, I was with you
in weakness. I was weak when I was in your
presence. Sometimes it may appear that the preacher is quite strong,
that he speaks rather boldly and courageously the gospel,
but brother, sister, inside we are often in great weakness. And Paul says, I was with you
in fear. Now this fear that Paul had was, I'm sure, fear of the
enemies of God, even though he knew God was with him and God
had pledged His support and His help to sustain him in the midst
of trials and difficulties. He said, I was quite fearful
at times when I stood before you there in Corinth, because
I didn't know, you see, what would befall me. And then he
went on to say, and in much trembling, I was with you with much trembling.
Paul said, my knees shook when I stood before you to proclaim
the gospel. When I stood before you, when
I got up in front of you people, my knees shook and I trembled
all over because of the awesome responsibility that had been
placed upon me and because I knew that your eternal salvation depended
upon you hearing what I had to say, and you believing what I
had to say. And Paul said, I knew that you
could do either, you could do neither of the two, without God
being present, and without God blessing the Word, and without
God using it in your hearts. If God didn't do a work in you,
I knew that you people would go to hell. I knew you'd be lost.
for all eternity. And this is such an awesome responsibility
that a preacher often trembles and is often very shaken by this
great responsibility. And then in verse 4, he said,
my speech and my preaching, he says it was not with enticing
words. He said, I'm not to preach the
gospel with wisdom of words, because if I do so, then the
cross will be emptied out of its power to save. I want to
preach the cross simply. I want to preach the cross with
words given to me by the Holy Spirit in my heart. I want to
speak words whereby men's souls can be brought out of bondage
and be brought into life. I want to speak in the power
of the Holy Spirit. That's what Paul was saying here.
He says, I want to speak with words that God will give me,
words that, not enticing words of man's wisdom, but words that
are in demonstration of the Spirit and power. Words that come from
the Spirit And words, when they go forth, there's unction in
them. There's power in those words. Now, beloved, most of you are
aware of the fact that because of what we are by nature, that
we must hear from God. God must intervene on our behalf. God must give a word to the preacher. There is a word that will unlock
the condition of our souls and discover it to ourselves. There's
a Word that'll make you realize what you are and what you need. There is a Word that if that
Word be spoken to your heart, it'll be to the salvation of
your soul. There is a Word, if it comes
from God, will do a mighty, mighty work in your very person and
turn you about and set you on your way, take you out of the
road to hell, out of the broad way that leads to everlasting
destruction, and will set you on the road to eternal glory.
There is a word. Will you hear that word? Well,
I tremble lest you should not hear it. I tremble this morning
lest you should not hear from God and you should finally perish. I tremble at that. I tremble
that we should ever get to the place where that we're not concerned
about God's people or those that sit under the sound of our word
that they do not hear from God in the word when we preach. It's
not enough just to hear the Bible. You must hear from God in the
Word. Jesus says that the hour is coming
and now is when the dead shall hear my voice and they that hear
shall live. And so you must hear the voice
of the Spirit of God in the Word and when you hear the voice of
the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to you and speaking life-giving
words to you. The words that I speak unto you,
Jesus said, they are life. They are life. The words that
I speak unto you, they are life. And so when Jesus speaks, you
will live. So I think this morning, that
if we would seek a true standard for gospel preachers, that we
must go back here to this example of the Apostle Paul. And any
preacher that does not feel like Paul felt about this, and any
man who does not have a great burden upon his soul for the
souls of men and women who are lost, the souls of boys and girls. My friend, they're not like the
Apostle Paul. Paul had a great burden for men's
souls and he was a standard for gospel preachers. I think that
the writings and the practices of the Apostle Paul as he preached
and ministered in the Gentile world demonstrate here what kind
of a man he was and demonstrates the fact that he was of God,
a man sent of God. Now his message was Christ crucified. He said, I determine not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now, beloved, this was a determination
of his soul. He said, when I come among you,
I want to preach Christ as that one who was hung on a gory tree.
I want to preach Christ as one who was nailed to a cross. I
want to preach Christ, the one who was lifted up, the one who
was lifted up and hung on a tree. Christ crucified is the power
of God unto salvation and you must know him as a crucified
Savior. Christ crucified is the power
of God. Paul said in Romans 1 and verse
16 that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and to
everyone that believes it. And to everyone that believes
it, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Christ crucified
is the object of men's faith. It's the object of the faith
of God's elect. Everyone here believes in the
crucified. All of us who are saved, all
of those who are hoping in the Lord for eternal salvation, we
all believe in a crucified Savior. We believe in one who was nailed
to a tree. We believe in one who suffered
the spear wounds in his side. We believe in one who bled out
of those five wounds that was inflicted upon him. We believe
in one who expired on a cross, one who died there suffering
the vengeance of God on our behalf. We believe in a crucified. He is the object of our faith. It's Christ alone who is the
object of the faith of true believers. Now you know, there are so many
things that could be said right here. that Jesus Christ alone
is the object of the faith of true believers. You know, in
this religious world, there are so many things that confuse simple
souls. There are so many people in this
world that have never been able to sit under a ministry where
the Lord Jesus Christ was set forth as being the only acceptable
sacrifice that was ever made in this world which would please
and satisfy a thrice holy God. No one, it seems in our day and
time, as we hear preachers, it just seems that there's so few
of them. I wouldn't say there's none, but there's so few preachers
that are setting forth a plain message that it's Christ alone. Christ alone. And you must be
shut up to that. Jesus says, I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Jesus
says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come
to the Father except he come by me. I am the way. Not one of the ways, I am the
way. And if you get to the Father,
you've got to come through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
way. The crucified Christ is indeed
the object of the faith of true believers. And Christ crucified
is the source of the believer's comfort. I like to think about
this because, you know, we all recognize that we're such sinners. We all know something about our
frailties and our weaknesses. We all know about our failings
and we fail so many times. We often stumble and fall. We
often look at ourselves and are in a state of dismay at what
we see inwardly and what we see outwardly, even as to our being
conformed, as it were, to the Word of God and the truth as
we know it. And we're all failures. We recognize
that. But beloved, we know that that's
the very meaning of the cross. The very meaning of the cross,
the purpose of the cross, the reason for the cross is because
you and I are failures. And we have to admit that. We've
got to submit to that. And if we can come to the place
where we see that, that that's the reason why God hung his son
on a cross is because we are all failures. We're fallen people
and we're sinners. And the only reason God hung
him up there on that cross was because we were ruined in the
fall. We had no ability to restore
ourselves and to lift up ourselves and to bring ourselves up. We had no ability to do that.
And so God hung his son on a tree and Jesus was crucified and died
the death. of that cross in order that we
might be restored and that we might have salvation. And so
if you ever find any comfort, if you ever find out who you
are, if you ever find out how big a sinner you are, if you
ever figure out and find out how ruined you are in a state
of nature, being born into this woman, are born into this world
of a woman and you come into this world the Bible says you
come in speaking lies from the womb you come into this world
and your nature is bent towards sinning and you're biased toward
evil and sin and you come into this world and if you ever understand
what you really are the only place you'll ever get any comfort
believing in a Savior crucified, a crucified Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only place you'll
be able to find any comfort. And you'll be miserable if you
find out how great a sinner you are. You'll be miserable until
you trust a crucified Savior. And when you trust Christ, then
your misery will be taken away because you know then that God
saw you in your ruined state. God saw you in your condition. God looked upon you and God had
mercy upon you. He pitied you. And so he sent
his son to the cross to pay for your sin so he could accept you
into his family. And those that believe on him,
those that are able to trust him, They become members of God's
living family and they are saved and they are comforted. But that's
the only comfort there is in this world for those sinners
who have been enlightened. Now a sinner who's never been
enlightened then you know he can go on about his ways in the
world and he can take him a bottle of beer or he can take him a
big slug out of a fifth of whiskey or something like that or he
can take him a maybe a go out here and get him some marijuana
or something like that and he can get high a little bit and
he and he keeps on going through the world just just just as it
were uh... just uh... you know uh... Staggering
back and forth, but he just keeps on going But he's a miserable
soul headed for hell And there's just one way to escape that and
that is for that individual to be enlightened See what he is
and then to hear the message of the good news of the gospel
that Christ has been crucified Hung on a gory tree and he paid
the price for our redemption now Christ crucified Also, let
me say this is the motive, is our motive, it's the motive of
a believer after somebody has come to know Christ and they've
been converted, they've been saved, it's the motive, their
motive for serving the Lord. I don't know whether you understand
this or not, but we need a motive to do what we ought to do in
this world. We need a motive. now there are
preachers that always trying to prime the pump as it were
getting people to do things wanting people to serve wanting people
to take jobs they got big buildings and they've got they've got a
lot going on don't you see and they gotta run it kinda like
they run the bank downtown or some big business is operated
and they gotta have people to serve people to do things And
so they've got to motivate the people. And so sometimes, I've
heard of it, you have too, I've heard of motivational speakers
get in some high-powered, I know back east there and back in my
early days, I attended a few meetings where they had, they
just called in a special preacher that had a unique knack for taking
up an offering. That's right, I'm telling you
the truth. That preacher was known all over the country as
one who could take up an offering. I mean, he'd always get a good
offer. He'd get money that people didn't even know they had. He'd
get it out of them. He had a way. And I've heard
people say, I heard old Brother Barnard say one time after a
fella had got up to take an offering, and Brother Barnard said, it's
a good thing I didn't have any money. If I'd had money, this
guy would have had it. Because this guy, he had the
ability to get it out of you. He could do that. Well, now beloved,
let me say this to you this morning. That for true believers, true
believers, and if you ever hear anybody get up like that, and
they're trying to fleece the sheep, or they're trying to shear
the sheep, And they've got all kinds of ways in which they go
about this. And if you ever get about trying
to twist your arm to get you to do something, you just remember
these remarks that I'm making this morning. And here I want
to make this remark. And this is what I want you to
keep in mind. There is one motive for believers
to do what they ought to do. One motive. And that is because
they love the Christ. that laid down his life on their
behalf they love Jesus Christ and if a man won't do what he
ought to do because he loves Christ and because he knows that
God has given his only begotten son as a gift to him to spare
him everlasting burnings If a man won't do it because he loves
Christ, you give it up. Don't you twist his arm and get
him some other way because what he does won't be of any use to
you or anybody else and it certainly won't be accepted of God. The
only motive, listen to me, this is the reason why God's people
don't have to have their arms twisted to give what they ought
to give, what God has blessed them with. And they don't have
to have somebody always taking a fork and poking them all the
time to get them to do what they ought to do. All they've got
to do is think about he that was rich, how he became poor,
and through his poverty, they have become rich, spiritually
speaking. And if that don't get the job
done, forget it. There ain't no need of getting
up and saying, pass the plate around, and the plate comes back,
and here's a few dollar bills in there, and what color's the
dollar bill? What color? What color is it?
What color is the dollar bill? Green. And the plate comes back
with all this green stuff in there. And one preacher out there, and
I kind of got this story a little bit mixed up, but he came back
with a lot of nickels in it. And that was back in the days
when they had the buffalo on the nickels. And the plate was
full of those nickels with the buffalo on them. And so he sent
the plate back. He said, I want a little green
stuff in here for these buffalo to eat on. So he wanted some
dollar bills in that plate for the buffaloes to eat on, you
see. But the point I'm making is this.
If a man has to have his arm twisted, then he's missed the
point. The point is that our Savior
laid down His life. in our room instead in place.
The point is that Christ, He gave all. He was rich when He
left heaven. He came down here to this world
and He was poor. He became poor because of you
and I. The only reason He was down here
was because God loved His people and the only way we could be
with Him in heaven is for Jesus to come down here and supper
in our place. And so Jesus came down here and
he became poor. He became poor. You know the
Bible says that foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests,
but the son of man didn't have a place to lay his head. He didn't
have any place to lay down his head. Jesus I'm talking about. And you know that the Bible says
that he made the world, he made everything in it. He made the
world. But when he came into this world,
he became poor. He became poor. And after he
became poor, then he was numbered with the transgressors. The Lord
Jesus was numbered with the transgressors. That means that God took his
spotless son who never committed a sin, who had come down from
heaven, And God laid upon him all of my guilt, all of my sin,
all of my failings, all, God laid it upon him and charged
it to him. Charged it to Jesus and he wasn't
guilty of anything. But he became sin. He became
sin. God legally constituted him to
be sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And the way that God has saved
His people is that He gave Jesus for them. And the reason we love
Him, the reason we serve Him is because Jesus laid down His
life for us. that's the reason and that's
the only acceptable morning and if you need anything else if
you need anything else you're never going to get it from this
preacher i'm not gonna wind up i'm not gonna try to twist your
arm get you to do anything but if you love christ you'll do
what you ought to and you'll mind your business and you'll
try to walk with god and you'll you know i don't mean you're
going to be perfect long ways from it you're gonna fail all
the time we all do We're all sinners and we got a nature that
loves sin. Our old natures, our fallen natures. We know that and we accept that.
But the motive for doing what God wants you to do is not some
reward way out there in eternity, not pie in the sky, by and by.
No, no. My friend, the motive is you
love Christ. He laid down his life for you.
He suffered in your place. He was crucified in your place. Now we've said and we've tried
to make this clear that Christ crucified gives life to dead
sinners. Christ crucified is the food
for the soul. Jesus said that I am that bread
that came down from heaven. I am that bread. God sent me
down, I'm the bread of life. And he that eateth of me shall
live forever. And those that drink of me, he
said, I'm the water of life. And they that drink of me shall
never thirst. So the Lord Jesus is this one.
Now Christ crucified, he revives, and he refreshes, and he rejoices
the hearts of God's elect. Now beloved, listen to me. I
came in here this morning, and believe you me, I needed to be
revived, and I wanted to rejoice a little bit. I wanted to rejoice,
and I wanted to be refreshed. This is a stale world we live
in. There's not much in it to rejoice about. There's not much
in it that revives the heart, especially for a child of God
walking in this wilderness, this desert land. This is a world,
and we've often heard it described as a world that's no friend of
grace to help us on to God. And so I wanted to be refreshed
and revived, and so I thought, well, Christ crucified is what
will refresh the heart. That's what will revive the heart.
That's what will light a fire under you. And that's what will
cause you to begin again, to sing the praises of God from
the bottom of your heart and your soul. Jesus, Jesus died
for me. Christ crucified is the cure
for man's care, and it's the remedy for whatever ruin has
come into your life because of sin. It's the cure for your care. And so Paul said, I'm determined,
I'm determined to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified to you. Now, beloved, I want you to think
a little bit with me. I was thinking about a couple
of verses, a couple of passages over in the Gospel of John. I'd
like for you to turn over there with me, if you will. John chapter
12. And here's some blessed verses that I want to share with you.
In verse 32 of the 12th chapter of John, Jesus says, And I, and
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
me. Now this scripture, I know in
this verse, look at verse 33, he said, this he said signifying
what death he should die. If the Lord Jesus be lifted up,
that means if he be lifted up upon a cross, that means if his
life is taken from him on a cross, if men take him, and we know
the Bible says that he was crucified, by the hands of wicked men, but
he was delivered up to the cross by the determinate counsel of
God. God delivered him up, and he
was lifted up between heaven and earth on a cross. And he
said, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw men. And the men he is speaking of
here is of course those that the Father had given to Him.
John chapter 17 and John chapter 6 makes this crystal clear that
the men that are going to be drawn to Christ by His being
lifted up are those that were chosen by the Father and were
given to the Son in that everlasting love gift from eternity. And
the people answered him, in verse 34, we have heard out of the
law that Christ abides forever and how sayest thou the Son of
Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? You see,
these men had read the Old Testament where that Christ abides forever
and uh... they could not reconcile how
he could be lifted up on a cross be put to death and uh... because the old testament said
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree and they could not
understand how he could end up on a tree be crucified and yet
be the Christ how could this man he said who is this son of
man The Son of Man must be lifted up. Who is this Son of Man? He
can't be the Christ and be lifted up on a tree. Then Jesus, in
verse 35, said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with
you. Speaking of himself, Walk while you have the light, lest
darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whether he goeth. While you have light, believe
in the light, that you may be the children of light. Now you
see, beloved, what is called for here is if God gives you
the light concerning Christ, who He is, He's the Son of Man. He's the Son of Man. Now listen
to me, there's nobody saved by believing in the virgin birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody that is saved believes
in the virgin birth. But that virgin birth alone will
not save you. It is a Christ lifted up that
will save you. Now it's not the cross on which
Jesus was hanged that saves you. It is the Christ that was hung
on that cross. Over it, let me show you this,
let me illustrate this to you, 1 Corinthians chapter 10. If
you would turn there please, 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And here we read in verse 4,
it talks about Moses and about the children of Israel coming
out of Egypt. and how that uh... let me just
read those first three verses moreover brethren I would not
that you should be ignorant how that all of our fathers were
under the cloud all passed through the sea all baptized into Moses
in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spiritual
meat now that spiritual meat here in verse three is talking
about the manna which came down from heaven and that manna is
a type of Jesus who is the bread of life And so here Paul says
they all ate the same spiritual meat. Now look at verse 4. And
they did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that
spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Now you remember the story. You
remember the story about Moses taking a rod and striking a rock. and the water came forth out
of the rock. Now they were desperate and the
water that came forth out of that rock was life-giving. It
was life-sustaining. That's what it was. It was a
water which flowed out. There was a stream of water that
came out of the rock. Now listen to me. Listen to me.
Think with me a moment. The life was not in the rod. The rod must strike the rock
But the life and the water was not in the rod, it was in the
rock. And Christ, listen to it here,
he says, and that rock was Christ. It was Christ. And so beloved,
the cross that Jesus was hanging on, that's not the issue, it's
the one hanging on that cross. Christ is life. Christ is the water of life. And so you must drink of Jesus
Christ. And don't be thinking in the
terms of that wooden cross. You think of the terms of Him
that was on that cross. He was God. I said everybody
that's saved believes in the virgin birth. But the virgin
birth believing in that alone won't save you. It's a Christ
on a cross. It's a crucified Christ that
saves men's souls. Let me show you this clear out
of John chapter 3. Turn back to John chapter 3 and
look at this if you will. Beginning with verse 14 of John 3. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. Now you remember this story in
the time when the people had greatly sinned and the Lord sent
the fiery serpents among the people. And there was a brazen
serpent. The Lord commanded that it be
lifted up. And that serpent, that brazen
serpent was lifted up there in the wilderness. And if men who
were bitten and the bite of the serpents was a type of sin and
the ruin that comes on men because of their sin. And if they would
just look to that serpent, they'd be healed. They'd be healed.
Now listen to this, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. He must
be put on a cross and lifted up. Then look at this verse,
that whosoever Like there in the wilderness when that brazen
serpent was lifted up, whosoever would look, all they had to do
was look. That's all they had to do, was
just look at that brazen serpent. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, should not go to hell, should not come into the
judgment, should not perish, should not go off and suffer
the second death. and be burned forever in the
lake of fire. Listen to this, but have eternal
life. Jesus said, I must be lifted
up that whosoever believeth in me would not perish but have
everlasting life. Now that's what Jesus said. And
so don't you see that a Christ crucified is the cure for your
ruin. It's the cure for your ruin,
a Christ crucified. And if you're here this morning,
and you're under the sound of my voice, listen to me. If you
were there in that congregation of the children of Israel in
the wilderness, and you'd been bitten by one of them fiery serpents,
and there was a cure, here it is, that serpent lifted up on
a pole, you'd look, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you look? Why,
I know you would look. You would look, and you'd be
healed. And I'm telling you, Christ has
been lifted up. And He is lifted up. I'm lifting
Him up right now. I'm lifting Him up. I'm lifting
Him up before your soul. All you must do is look. Look
to Him. Look to Him. Look to Him. And
Jesus said that if you believe, if you believe that He died for
you, He said you will not perish, but you'll have everlasting life.
You'll have everlasting life. Here's a poem and I'm through.
I once was lost, but now I'm found, and by God's grace, am
heaven bound. My only hope, my only plea, is
when he died, he died for me. That's my only plea. And I wish
this morning I wish this morning, or I pray this morning, that
everybody in this room could say that when they leave here
today. I wish you could say that. That when he died, he died for
me. I'm going to believe that. I'm
going to look to him crucified, just like those children of Israel
looked to that brazen serpent that was lifted up. I'm going
to look to him, a Christ crucified. I'm going to know a Christ crucified
in my place and I'm going to believe on him and I'm going
to serve God out of love for him who became poor and has made
me rich in that that I now have eternal life. You know I believe
that God is here in our midst this morning. I believe the Lord
is speaking to souls And I do hope that those of you that know
the Lord will bathe this message in your prayers, and those who
have heard this word today, that God will save them. I hope that
you'll pray and ask God to use this simple, simple, plain message
on knowing Christ crucified today to save some poor sinner here
in this building. Let's pray. Father, in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, oh how we thank thee, how we praise
you today for the message of the good news of the gospel. Would you use this word? Would
you bless this word? Would you do it for Jesus' sake?
Would you do it, our Father, for the gospel's sake? Would
you do it in order that one of these for whom Jesus died would
not perish but have everlasting life? Oh, cause, cause one to
look today. I pray it in Jesus' name and
for His sake. Amen.