Knowing Christ Crucified

But I invite you to look here
this morning. I want to, if I can, speak this
morning on the subject of knowing Christ and Him crucified. Knowing Christ and Him crucified. Now, in verse 17, Paul said in
chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians, he said, 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 verse 2 of chapter 2, he says, for I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, knowing
Christ crucified. Now, if we would seek a standard
for gospel preachers, I think we must go back to the example
of the Apostle Paul to the example of the Apostles. Now particularly,
I think that we should look at the example of the Apostle Paul
because it seems to me that both the writings and the practices
of Paul to the Gentiles, we know that he was the preacher sent
of God to the Gentiles, demonstrate the message which every gospel
preacher must preach. I think Paul had the true mind
of God and the right concept of the mission that God sends
every gospel preacher on, and that is to preach Christ crucified. Now when this man, Paul, came
to Corinth, he said, I determine not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now to be sure, there are those
in the religious world today, who I call religious traditionalists,
who soon get tired of hearing the message of Christ and Him
crucified. They get tired of hearing that.
And some preachers that I know of. have written articles or
preached sermons on, there's more in the Bible than Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And to me, this shows their littleness
of mind and heart. They want to hear people do what
they call practical messages which serve to increase their
self-righteousness, or they want to hear prophetic messages which
have no heart-piercing power, or a church message, a message
on the church which exalts their denomination, which exalts the
Baptist denomination. And they like to hear the Bible
called the Baptist book. Well, that's all right with me.
I wouldn't find fault with that. But nevertheless, there are people
that are not interested in just hearing. They get tired of hearing
the message of Christ and Him crucified. Now, I fear for men
who are tired of hearing this message. For God, I believe,
will be tired of them in the day of judgment. Christ crucified
is the message which was preached by Paul and the other apostles. I'm convinced of it. This was
the message that pricked the hearts of men in apostolic days
of the vanity of self-righteous tradition and ritualistic Judaism
and superstitious paganism. This is the message that destroyed
all of that in the days of the apostles. Now, and this is the
message which I think which must be preached today. This is the
message which we must be occupied with as the servants of God,
and this is the standard. by which a preacher must be judged. Does he declare God's message? Does he know Christ and Him crucified,
and does he preach it? Well, look, if you will, carefully
here at verse 17, because Paul says here that Christ sent him
not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Now, I want to make
it clear, because We know that baptism is a very important subject
and we believe that it's one of the two ordinances of the
local church. Paul here was not belittling
baptism and he was not insinuating that baptism was unimportant
and that it was insignificant. That was not his object here
in this verse. Now, he had said that there were
some in this church who had said that they were Apollos and Others
who said they were a Cephas, and some said they were a Paul,
and others said they were a Christ. And Paul asked the question,
he said, well, were you baptized in my name? Was I crucified for
you? Well, certainly not. And so Paul
went on to say, well, you know, he says, I'm glad I didn't baptize
any of you. Or I didn't baptize, he said,
none but the household of Stephanus. And he said, I don't know for
sure whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel. And so I believe that Paul here
is setting forth the main issue, the critical issue. but to preach
the gospel. Now Paul had come to this great
city of Corinth, a city of learning, a city of philosophy, a city
of great human wisdom, a city of professors and books and learning,
and a city of debaters. They were debaters of all things
here in the city of Corinth. And Paul is stating when he says,
I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, he is stating here that he's not going to be
drawn into their ways. That he's not going to be drawn
into their philosophies and their debates. That he was not going
to be influenced by them or enter into their speculation, their
philosophies or human reason and their logic. That he wasn't
going to get caught up in that. That wasn't his business, that
he was not called of God to reason with men and to philosophize,
but he was called of God. He had a message and he was duty-bound
to preach this gospel. He was under-born to preach Christ
and Him crucified. He was determined to preach among
them nothing but this one message which the Lord had given him,
which he had received not by man or from man, but by the revelation
of God's Spirit in his heart. Now this was a determination
of his soul, brethren. This is what He determined and
He sold. He said, I determine. This is the determination of
my heart, of my innermost being. I determine that I'm not going
to know anything. I'm not going to get caught up
with prophecy when I'm among you. I'm not going to get caught
up with baptism and other things. I'm going to preach Christ and
Him crucified. Now then, this is and must be
the constant theme of every gospel preacher. Now there are many
whose sermons that I've heard and listened to and read who
have, I think, very little, if anything, to do with the Lord
Jesus Christ and with him crucified. They call themselves gospel preachers,
but I think that many are just mere moralists. They talk much
about morality and good works. They spend much time and effort
cutting off the many branches of sin, but they never lay the
axe to the root of the tree. They preach up good works, but
they don't know what a good work is. Jesus said, this is the work
of God. that you believe on Him whom
He has sent. And the only way I believe to
promote that good work is to preach Christ crucified. That's the only way to get sinners
to believe on Him who sent the Lord Jesus Christ into this world.
Now, it's not our business to merely reform the lives and the
manners and the morals of men. That's not our business. And
I'm not here as somebody who's a watchdog, somebody that just
simply looks after you and tries to keep you straight in the various
paths of life. That's not my business as a preacher
of the gospel. It is our business to preach
Christ and Him crucified. Now if ever If ever, now you
listen to me, if ever a sinner is made to see Christ crucified,
his life will be reformed. Will it not? His life will be
reformed. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5
and 17 that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things are passed away and
behold, all things become new. And so it's when the sinner,
when he hears this message of Christ and Him crucified, and
he's enabled by the Spirit of God to see the Lord Jesus hanging
on the tree, being crucified, lifted up in His place, in His
room instead, it is then that the life of the sinner will be
changed. It's then that his life will
be reformed. So I say to every man who stands
in a pulpit and dares to open his mouth to men, in the name
of God, either preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, preach Christ
and Him crucified, or do not preach at all. It'd be better
if you preach nothing than if you preach mere moralism or if
you preach to men and women that they ought to have better manners
or that they ought to be just better people socially. That
is not the gospel and that won't save anybody's soul. It's Christ
and Him lifted up. It's Christ crucified that saves
a believing sinner. Do not talk about preaching the
gospel if you don't preach the gospel. Now, if you do preach
the gospel, then talk about it all you want to. Paul said necessity
was laid upon him not to preach, but to preach the gospel. Yea,
he said, woe is me if I preach not the gospel. Well, what is
that necessity which is laid upon us? Well, I believe it's
the call itself. I believe that God calls men
and burdens them with this message of Christ and Him crucified. If a man be truly called of God,
I will defy that man to withhold himself from this business of
preaching. He must preach. Now listen to
me, we don't need preachers that may, preachers that might, preachers
that will preach. We need preachers that must preach. And a man isn't any good to a
church. He's no good out here in the
world in trying to be of some good for God in this world unless
he must preach. Unless he says in his own soul,
woe is me if I preach not the gospel. Necessity is laid upon
me. I must preach Christ and Him
crucified. And also we need church members.
alike, not that may or might or will, but must live the gospel
out in their lives. Live lives becoming to the gospel
of the grace of God. Now listen to me, my friend.
If you don't feel this necessity, if you don't feel that you must,
If you don't feel that there's something that is pressing you
in this direction, then my friend, you'll never be faithful to God
and you'll never be of use to those around you. Well, let's
get back to Christ crucified because this is the message which
God owns. I believe it's the message that
God owns. Now, Christ crucified is the
power of God unto salvation. If God's going to save a sinner,
it's when this message is proclaimed and when it's preached. And there's
where God executes His power. There's where God demonstrates
His power in changing and bringing to life Men that are dead folks
that are dead in sin and folks that are bound by the chains
of sin This is where God breaks them is when he owns the message
of Christ crucified as it enters their heart Christ crucified
is the object of faith. I would point you to nothing
else but Christ crucified and tell you to believe in him and
I believe he was lifted up, don't you? Listen to me, my friend,
I believe it's that, that which saves the sinner. And I tell
you this morning that Christ crucified is the object of faith,
and Christ crucified is the source of the believer's comfort. You
see, my friend, if we ever had eyes open and if we are experienced
people in the things of God, if we ever learn anything, as
far as the Word of God is concerned, we'll see that the comfort of
the children of God is wrapped up in the message of Christ crucified. That's where we get our comfort.
What's going to keep me out of hell? It's Christ and Him crucified. What's going to give me acceptance
before God? It's Christ and Him having paid
the debt of my sin on the gory tree. What is it that's going
to give me a pillar for my head in the day when I'm laying down
to die? It's the fact that Christ was
crucified for me, that He died in my room instead and my place. Now, if you can find no comfort
in the Lord Jesus Christ, I think it's because you simply do not
know Him. If you can find no comfort in
Christ crucified, then it's because you don't know Him. Christ crucified
is the motive for all true Christian service. Why would a man want
to serve God? He serves Him because the Lord
Jesus Christ was willing to go up to Calvary and to die there
for Him. Christ crucified is the reason
we preach. It's the reason we sing. It's
the reason we serve the Lord. Christ crucified. Now if you
need some other motive, then I simply believe you're not a
Christian. I believe it's enough motive to do whatever you can
for the glory of His name is that He died for you and that
we live not for the world and not for the things of the world
but unto Him who died and rose again. The Lord Jesus Christ. Christ crucified gives life to
dead sinners. Christ crucified is food for
the soul. It's food for the soul. Christ
crucified revives, it refreshes, and it rejoices. the hearts of
God's elect, those that are chosen of God. Christ crucifies the
cure for a man's care and is the remedy for man's ruin. I'm determined, Paul would say,
not to be moved from this blessed employment. I'm determined that
nothing is going to sidetrack me because here's the answer
to all problems. Christ and Him crucified. We
preach Christ crucified. Now, it's not merely that we
state that he was nailed to a tree, that he died, was taken down
and laid in a barred tomb and that's it, church dismissed.
That's not all that I'm talking about. That's not what's involved
in what I'm talking about here this morning. No, if we preach
Christ and him crucified, I believe that we'll preach the attributes
and the character of the God who gave birth to the cross.
We must do that. We do not just leave the cross. We certainly do not when we go
back before the foundation of the world and talk about God
purposing and planning a salvation. When we talk about God choosing
a people for the glory of his name, we don't do that because
He was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He goes clear back. There was
a cross in the heart of God when he chose a people. I mean, he couldn't have chosen
them if it hadn't been for Christ. And so we don't, listen, we don't
leave the message of the cross when we're talking about election.
No, we don't. We don't leave them because the
Lord Jesus Christ was the number one elect of God. He was the
chosen surety and we do not leave the doctrine of divine election.
I'll have a little more to say about that in a minute. And we
take that cross up there in the purpose and plan of God and we
see in that cross all the attributes of God who determined to save
sinners. Look there in the 24th verse
of 1 Corinthians 1, but unto them which are called both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. I'm talking about the attributes
and the character of the God who purposed to save and the
God of the cross who gave birth to the cross. His eternal power
and wisdom and His holiness, His mercy and His love and His
justice and His righteousness. We preach all of that when we
preach Christ and Him crucified. His sovereignty will and must
be preached. His eternal covenant, His eternal
purpose, His eternal will. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
was delivered up to the cross. by the determinate counsel of
God. It was the sovereign will of
God that nailed the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross. You cannot
preach the cross of Christ without preaching the sovereignty of
God because His death was not an accident. His death was ordained. It was predestinated. It was
planned. His death was purposed. because
the Lord delivered him up. He was delivered up by God's
determinate counsel, slain by the hands of wicked men. Now
we preach, also when we preach Christ and him crucified, we
preach who he was. We preach who he was. Now his
death would have meant no more than the death of any other criminal
or any other man if he had not been the eternal son of the living
God. It's who he was. that gives weight
and efficacy to His death. My friend, listen. The Lord Jesus
Christ had no sin. He was the spotless Lamb of God. He was the Son of the Living
God. And He came into this world and
He kept the law of God perfectly. And when He died on that cross,
He was not dying for His own sin. He was dying for sinners
chosen of God, those for whom He was to pay the ransom price. The Lord Jesus Christ I'm talking
about. I'm talking about the God-man. I'm talking about the Son of
God. This is who He was. And when we preach Christ crucified,
we preach that. And then if we preach Christ
crucified, we preach this unchangeable, this eternal, the conquering
love of Jehovah to the sheep that he determined to save. Now
I like this because my friend, listen, there are some things
here that we make an issue out of. There are some people, some
preachers, who say, well, we don't make an issue of the doctrines
of grace. Well, my friend, we make an issue
here of the doctrines of grace. We make issue out of very little
of anything else, but we certainly make issue when it comes to the
doctrines of grace, and we stand for these things. Now listen
to me. If you were to look back in John chapter 10, I'd like
for you to do that. Look in John chapter 10, and
let's look here at verses 14 through 17, where it says, the
Lord Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep,
and am known of mine. As the Father knows me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep of
the sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must
bring and they shall hear my voice and there should be one
fold and one shepherd therefore doth my father love me because
I lay down my life that I might take it again Now the Lord Jesus
tells us plainly here in verse 15, He says, I lay down my life
for the sheep. And so when I preach Christ and
Him crucified, I preach that, like we said, the eternal conquering
love of God Almighty to the sheep that He determined to save. The
Lord Jesus loved us and He Died for us here in his love not that
we love God But that God loved us and gave his son to be a satisfaction
for our sins Christ Jesus died not at random not as an example
But he died as a substitute a sin offering Matthew 121 says thou
shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from
their sins now then If we preach Christ and Him crucified, we
also preach justification without works. Now in John 3, turn back
to John 3 if you will, these are simple verses, but I want
you to look at them. Verses 14 through verse 16. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
into the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now if
you notice there in verse 14, he says, As Moses lifted up the
serpent of the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. Now, my friend, I want to say
and I boldly assert to you this morning that no man, no woman,
no boy, no girl is ever saved by believing in the virgin birth. You're not saved simply believing
in the good life which the Lord Jesus Christ lived. No, you say,
well, I believe Jesus was a good example. Well, he was indeed
a good example. You say, well, I just believe
he was born of a virgin. Well, that's wonderful and that's
fine. But my friend, listen to me this morning. When we preach
Christ and him crucified, we preach that men and women are
justified by believing that he was lifted up. And I want to
drive that home to you this morning. You must believe in Christ crucified. And you must know Him as a Christ
that was crucified. Not just as a Christ who was
born of a virgin. Not just as a Christ who lived
a good life. But He's known and He must be
known by the child of God as a Christ lifted up because he
was lifted up between earth and glory in order to save our souls
and he died on that cross and Paul said I don't frustrate the
grace of God if righteousness come by the law Christ is dead
in vain pointing to the fact that when he died on that cross
that was that which gave salvation and justification to the Lord's
sheep to the Lord's people. So I don't frustrate God's grace.
The message of the grace of God is Christ crucified! And that's
the answer to your sin! That's the answer to all your
debt to God is Christ and Him crucified. No justification apart
from a Christ lifted up! And this Christ was lifted up.
It's faith in a Christ lifted up that's saved. Suffering the vengeance and the
wrath of God Almighty in your place. Have you ever saw that?
Have you been unable to see that? If you have, then my friend,
you are justified this morning. You are ransomed. You are redeemed.
You are saved. You are a child of God. If you've
been unable to see that. Now when we preach Christ and
Him crucified, we also preach the preservation and the perseverance
of the saints of God. How can we comprehend all that
took place on Calvary? How can we go back into eternity
and see that God purposed and planned to send His Son into
the world? And then to look at the Word
of God and turn the pages of the Bible and see how that he
prophesied and pictured and typed and patterned how he pointed
to the Lord Jesus Christ and how that he testified in his
word as to what the Lord Jesus Christ was to do. He'd come into
this world to bring in everlasting righteousness, to put away iniquity,
and to save his people from their sins. He went to the cross. We know the Bible testifies that
He did. And the forces of hell converged
on Him when He went to the cross. The wrath of men and of God was
poured out upon Him, upon the cross. He drank the very bitter
dregs of the cup of divine wrath and indignation. crying as he
died, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now all is
over, and Christ is there in glory seated at the right hand
of the Father, and he begins to look around for his sheep.
He looks around for his sheep, and there's a vacant chair, and
there's another. Where is his sheep? Where is
his sheep? Well, They fell away. They perished. You mean after
all of this, the sheep of Christ perished, fell away, some little
weak sheep of Christ slipped through the hole of all of this? The suffering, the agony, the
sweat, the bloody cross, they fell away? I beg your pardon,
my friend. I beg your pardon. The scripture
says in Isaiah 53 that he shall see of the travail of his soul
and shall be satisfied. I say that he will not fail nor
be discouraged. Isaiah tells us again that he
will not fail, that he will not be discouraged, that every one
of his sheep will be at last in heaven. Will there be one
empty place in heaven? Well, the poet said, no, not
one, no, not one will one be missing whom God has chosen.
No, not one, no, not one. There is not a sheep that shall
err miss heaven. No, not one, no, not one, not
one to Christ the good shepherd given. No, not one, no, not one
shall be missing in eternal heaven. All God's people will enter into
a pure and eternal heaven. All the sheep of Christ will
get there. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
redeemed them. We preach a redemption that redeems. When Christ was on that cross,
He did something. He redeemed His people. We preach a ransom that ransoms. We preach a salvation that saves. We preach Christ crucified. Now I'll tell you this, and I
mentioned just a minute or so ago about this pillar, about
this soft pillar for a weary head when the journey is over.
And maybe some of us are tired now, maybe we're tired now, but
my friend, listen to me, the knowledge of this world and all
of it, all of the knowledge of this world, And everything that
this world has, wisdom, riches, influence, popularity, they can
never give you no peace. They can never prepare you to
exit this world. They never can. Listen to me. They cannot get you past the
graveyard or past the judgment, cannot give you an entrance into
God's kingdom. Everything the world's got, it
all fails when it comes down to the dying hour. It can be
of no value, no use to you when you're going to meet a thrice
holy God in the judgment, when you must stand before God, before
an assembled world, before the judge of all the earth. There
isn't anything in this world that can do you any good. You're
about to die and leave this world, breathe your last breath. And
there's only one thing that can give you, listen, if your heart,
your mind, your soul is filled Not with all the Bible knowledge
that you've accumulated through the years. Because there's a
whole lot of people, you know, and I want to say this because
I believe it to be the truth that Christ crucified is the
essence of all Bible knowledge. Hear me out. You say, well listen,
I know that there was only, I know there were three wise men and
not two. I know where Cain got his wife. I know where you can
find submarines in the Bible. I know where you can find airplanes
in the Bible. I don't care how much you know about the Bible,
if you don't know Christ and Him crucified, you don't know
anything about the Bible. And I'll also tell you this,
that Christ and Him crucified is the essence of all spiritual
knowledge too. You say, I'm deeply taught of
the Spirit. Do you know Christ and Him crucified?
You say, well listen preacher, I'm a little deeper than most
people. Do you know Christ and Him crucified? If you get past
that, you've gone too far. You've got to come back to this.
This is the essence of all spiritual knowledge. Christ lifted up. Christ dying in our place. If
your heart, your mind, your soul, in the hour of death, in the
time of your departure, in the time you're fixing to leave this
world and leave everything here, and you're going off into eternity
that you know very little about, if your heart, your mind, your
soul, and your appreciation is for, and if your understanding
is filled of Christ, then your head will lie softly on the pillar
because that is the hope, that is the confidence, that is the
faith, that is the expectation, if you please, of God's elect
of believing sinners, Christ and Him crucified. Now I'm not
determined, for I am determined not to be sidetracked I know
this is difficult for a lot of people to understand. Why does
somebody want to just preach that? Why do they preach that
all the time? Why are they always preaching
up Christ on the cross? Why are they always declaring
that there's no hope outside of Him? Well, I'm going to know
Christ and Him crucified among you and among whomever, and especially,
I'm going to know it right here, if I can, by the grace of God,
I'm going to beg God to show me Christ and Him crucified in
here. Now, do you know Him there? Do
you know Him in your heart? Do you know Christ and Him crucified? That's the question this morning.
I leave you with these words, the words of the poet. He says,
I once was lost, but now I'm found, and by God's grace I'm
heaven-bound. My only hope, my only plea, is
when He died, He died for me. May the Lord be pleased to bless
these words and give you remembrance. of them, both now and forever. Father, in the name of Jesus,
bless and use and own this message this morning, Christ and Him
crucified. And Father, we pray that thou
be pleased to work in the hearts of every one of your dear children
here and comfort them and give them Our Father, a grasp of this
truth, especially our Father in these dark and dreary and
difficult times, and liberate all of them to speak of their
hope and to be able to answer any that ask them a reason for
their hope. And may they do it with meekness
and fear, knowing that we cannot presume upon the grace of God,
but we must make our calling and election sure. Grant us,
our Father, to work out the salvation and that you have worked in us.
To the glory and praise of your name, do all things without murmuring
and disputing. We pray it for Jesus' sake, in
his name, amen.

Knowing Christ Crucified

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Knowing Christ Crucified

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