Turn with me once again to 1
Corinthians 2. I'd like to read these first
five verses once again. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, And he's talking about his initial coming into the city
of Corinth. We're going to read about it
in just a moment in Acts chapter 18. I came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined, I made this
my resolve, not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ
and him crucified." That's what we just heard sung about. And I was with you in weakness. and in fear, and in much trembling. One always liked to hear him
preach like that, not with some cocksure arrogance, but in weakness,
in fear, in much trembling. Verse four, in my speech, in
my preaching, was not with enticing words. Now whenever you're marketing
a product, you want to entice people to buy that product, You
want to package it in such a way as it's appealing. And Paul said,
when I was with you, I didn't do that. I didn't try to use
enticing words, trying to make this appealing to the flesh. My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, complete reliance on the Spirit of God
and the power of God to make what I said effectual, and here's
why, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but
in the power of God. Now Paul is speaking of his initial
entrance into Corinth. Let's read about it in Acts chapter
18. Corinth was in Greece. It was
a Greek city, but by Paul's time it was under Roman control. And
it was a large city. It was a city of culture. It was a center of education
and economic trade. It was a very big city that Paul
had gone into in Acts chapter 18. And we read beginning in
verse 1 of Acts chapter 18, After these things, Paul departed from
Athens, the capital of Greece, and came to Corinth, another
city in Greece under Roman rule, and found a certain Jew named
Aquila, born in Paltus, lately come from Italy with his wife
Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart
from Rome. All Jews were kicked out of Rome
at this time, and he came unto them, Paul knew them. Verse 3,
and because he was of the same craft, tent makers, he abode
with them and wrought, for by their occupation they were tent
makers. Now let me make a comment about
this. Paul did not preach to live. It was not his occupation. It
was not his paycheck. He demonstrates this to us by
at this time he was making tents with Priscilla and Aquila. He did not preach to live. He lived to preach. To preach the gospel. And he
demonstrates that at this time. Verse 4. And he reasoned in the synagogue
every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And you can be sure that this
reasoning and persuading was from the scriptures. And he went
into the synagogue at this time and his audience was largely
Jewish in this Gentile city. That's where he began. Verse
5. And when Silas and Timotheus
were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed, constrained in the
spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Oh, for this holy restraint today. He testified to the Jews that
Jesus was Christ, verse 6, and we see their response to his
message. And when they opposed themselves
and blasphemed, he didn't try to say, well, let
me say what I said in a different way and maybe you'll hear. No,
what did he do? He shook his raiment. and said
unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I'm clean. From
henceforth I'll go unto the Gentiles. And he departed thence, and entered
into a certain man's house named Justice, one that worshipped
God, whose house joined hardly to the synagogue. And Crispus,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord. With all
his house, there was a different response. And many of the Corinthians,
hearing, they believed. And were baptized. Now, he goes into this heathen
city, and many of the Corinthians, hearing what he said, Scripture
says, they believed. And what happened as a result
of their believing? They were baptized. They confessed Jesus
Christ in Believer's Baptism. Verse 9, Then spake the Lord
to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and
hold not thy peace, don't hold anything back, put it all on
the table, For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee
to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city." Now what
an assurance. Paul hears from God himself,
I have much people in this city. There's a lot of the elect here.
Now you don't be afraid. Don't keep anything back. You
preach the gospel clearly. Verse 11, and he continued there
a year and six months. Eighteen months Paul stayed in
this place, didn't go anywhere else. Eighteen months teaching
the word of God among them, and that is the beginning of the
church at Corinth. Now let's go back to our text.
1 Corinthians chapter 2. Paul reminds them of how he first
came to them. Verse 1, And I, brethren, when
I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech, flowery
rhetoric. He didn't attempt to dazzle people
with his words, nor of wisdom. Philosophy. I didn't come that
way. Declaring unto you the testimony
of God. Now look in verse 3. Now remember God had given him
this assurance. I've got much people in this
city. Nobody's gonna hurt you. You don't hold your peace. Speak
the gospel. I'm with you. Nobody's gonna
hurt you. He's given this assurance. Now, if the Lord said that to
me, I think I would feel pretty confident in getting up and preaching. But look what Paul says about
his attitude toward the people when he was preaching. Or toward
God, actually. I shouldn't say toward the people,
toward God. He said in verse 3, and I was with you in weakness. I was so conscious of my own
weakness. Not some kind of cocksure, arrogant
attitude, but I was painfully aware at this time when I was
preaching of my own personal weakness. That's a result of
me being a sinful and a stupid man. Now that's what Paul says
about himself. I was with you in weakness, and
I was with you in fear. I fear misrepresenting God. And you know, I can say with
honesty, I'm more afraid of that than I've ever been. I have anxiety
about preaching the gospel. I don't want to preach my words. I don't want to give my opinion.
I want to give the absolute Word of God and it scares me to death
lest I don't do that. I was with you in fear. And he
says, I was with you in March trembling, scared to death. He said my only purpose was to
preach the testimony of God. Now what is the testimony of
God? He said, when I came I didn't come with flowery displays of
rhetoric and philosophy. I came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom. I came simply presenting the
testimony of God. What God himself bears witness
to and testifies. Now what is the testimony of
God? Hold your finger there in 1 Corinthians 2 and turn to 2
Timothy chapter 1. This is the message that Paul
came to Corinth with. He says to Timothy in verse 8
of 2nd Timothy, chapter 1, Be not thou therefore ashamed of
the testimony of our Lord. Now, here's the message he came
with, the testimony of the Lord. the testimony of God. This is
what he came into Corinth preaching. Do not thou therefore be ashamed
of the testimony of our God, nor of me, his prisoner, but
you be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who hath saved us. Now he begins with God. He saved
us. If we're saved, He saved us. Salvation is what? Of the Lord. Now he came into
Corinth with this testimony. He saved us. And he called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of
our Savior, Jesus Christ. And here's what he did, who abolished
death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher
of the Gentiles, for the rich cause I also suffer these things.
Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed to him against that day. Now he came into Corinth
preaching this message, the testimony of God. Back to our text. He says in verse 3, And I was
with you in weakness, in fear, and much trembling, distrusting
my own ability, my own understanding, dreading the thought of running
when I had not been sent. Verse 4, and my speech and my
preaching, and this is so important, please listen carefully. My speech
and my preaching was not with, what's that word? Enticing. Enticing words. of man's wisdom. Now in marketing, you package
your product in order to entice men to buy it, don't you? You
want it to look good. You want it to taste good. You
want it to be appealing. You want to present it in such
a way that people will say, I want that, that's for me. Is that the way the gospel is
to be preached? That's death to gospel preaching. If I'm preaching the gospel in
such a way as to make it appealing and attractive to you, so that
you'll want to buy that. That is death to gospel preaching. That is a neutering of the gospel. It's a removal of the power. Now look back in chapter 1, verse
17. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
not to give results, not to gain converts. Now, don't you rejoice
when you see someone confess Christ in baptism? I love to
look at the way everybody's looking. Every time we baptize somebody,
everybody's rejoicing right with them, thinking, I wish that was
me in there. Again, how we rejoice to see
people confess Christ in believers baptism. That is not saying we're
indifferent about that, but Paul said, Christ didn't send me to
baptize people. But what? But to preach the gospel,
not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should
made of none effect. If I try to entice men, if I
use wisdom of words, if I try to market the gospel and package
the gospel in a way that will make it less offensive and more
attractive to men, what have I done? I've made it of none
effect. I've deprived it of its power. You know, there's so many examples
of men using the wisdom of words for the preaching of the gospel,
but the first thing that I actually thought of was the way men try
to present the atonement of Christ. Now you can do this with any
doctrine of the scripture, I realize that, but the first thing that
came to my mind is the way men try to package the atonement
of Christ in a way to make it more pleasing and more enticing
to men. Now you take the atonement of
Christ. Now listen to me real carefully. Christ died for who? Who'd he say? The sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. Other sheep I have, which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring, and there shall be one
fold, and one shepherd. In that same chapter, some people
said, how long do you make us to doubt? If I be the Christ,
tell us plainly. He said, I told you. But you believe not, because
you are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep. Hear my voice and follow me. My Father which gave them me is greater than all. And no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. My Father and
I are one. Now Christ's atonement was for
his sheep. There's no questioning of that.
I was listening to a man recently and he was saying regarding the
atonement of Christ. He said the worst word ever used
with regard to the atonement of Christ is limited. limited atonement. He said no
worse word could have ever been chosen to describe the atonement
of Christ. Now, what that is, when a man
uses a statement like that, he said Christ died. And here was
his statement. Christ died for those who believe. I agree with that. He did die
for those who believe. But what was the man saying?
He was trying to present the gospel in such a way as where
the offense was removed. He didn't like the term limited
atonement. Now somebody says, well I don't
either. I mean the Bible, it's not in the Bible. Well neither
is sovereignty. That word's not in the Bible.
Do you not like that word? The word Trinity's not in the Bible.
Do you not like that word? I mean, it's something that is
taught. Now, understand this, with regard to the atonement,
unless you believe in universal redemption, that Saddam Hussein,
and Osama Bin Laden, and Adolf Hitler, and Judas Iscariot, and
Paul, and Peter, and John will all be in heaven, joining hands,
because everybody's going to be saved by the death of Christ,
unless you believe that. and believe that all people without
exception will be saved because Jesus Christ died ultimately.
Unless you believe that, and some people believe that way.
But unless you believe that, you do believe in some form of
limited atonement. You believe the atonement is
limited by man's will or God's will. Your understanding of the atonement,
you believe in a limited atonement. You either believe that the scope
of Christ's death was limited by man's will, whether or not
he accepts what he did, or you believe it's limited by God's
will. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Now, if you believe it's limited by man's will, you believe man's
will is the ultimate Savior. If you believe it limited by
God's will, you believe God's will, the work of Christ, is
the Savior. Now, men try and gloss over the
work of Christ with wisdom of words and market the gospel to
make it less offensive to the natural man. We naturally think,
well, I don't like it that Christ didn't die for all men. That
means he didn't give every man a chance. Beloved, salvation
is not by chance. It's by the purpose of God Almighty. And when Paul came into Corinth,
he didn't come marketing the gospel. He simply preached the
gospel. As a matter of fact, look at
the way his preaching was in chapter 1. Verse 18, For the
preaching of the cross, the doctrine of the cross is the word, is
to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. For it's written, I'll destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and I'll bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom, by its own
wisdom, knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, How that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to naught the things that are, that no
flesh should glory in his presence, but Of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, that according as is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now there's gospel
preaching, and then he says in verse 1 of chapter 2, And I, brethren, when I came
to you, That first time, I came out with excellency's speech
of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined. I made this my resolve. I wonder if you and I were on
board with Paul. That's what initially attracted me to thinking
about this passage of scripture. Am I truly in agreement with
Paul? Do I personally see such glory
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that I am not interested
in any other subject? Are you on board with Paul here?
Am I on board? Do I make this determination
that nothing even interests me save Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Have I personally seen such glory
in the cross that it eclipses everything else? determined. I made it my resolve. I made it my agenda not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I think it's interesting that
seminaries have been trying for years to improve on this with
new and more effective ways to reach the culture. Just preaching
Christ crucified is not enough. And it's only hurled them further
into the darkness of Egyptian night. Now this is Paul speaking. I determined not to know anything
among you. This is my only subject. Nothing
else is worth talking about. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, Paul, what about the moral quagmire
of our day? And this day is a moral quagmire.
You agree with that, don't you? Do you know what was worse in
Paul's day? The immorality that's going on today pales in significance
as to what was going on in Corinth. And he does not address that
issue. It's interesting, isn't it? He
does not address that issue. What about the corruption in
government? What about abortion? What about
gay marriages? What about the decaying and the
corruption of our culture? What about the drug epidemic
going on? You know, I read where Kentucky
is a whole lot worse than any other state with deaths because
of overdose with heroin and drugs. What about the problems of racial
tensions in our day? The horrible things that are
going on, what happened up in Milwaukee and all the Stuff going
on because of prejudice and racial tensions that have not let up.
What about poverty? What about the disadvantage that
creates for people because of poverty? And there are certain
demographics that don't get an education because of it. And
they're trapped in this vicious cycle because of poverty. Don't
you care about that? Of course I care about that.
I care about all these things. And I have strong convictions
regarding all of these things. What about the direction of public
education? What about the place the church
would have to influence culture and society and social mores? Now, beloved, I'm not indifferent
about these things. Not at all. You know, I read
that article this morning in the Herald-Leader about that
young man trouble for the UK football team, football season's
getting ready to start, and all the trouble he'd had, and his
house burning down, and them being homeless, and his dad being
thrown into jail, and what things that he's had to deal with, and
my heart went out to him to think about what that young man has
experienced, and I pray the best for him. It's not that we're
indifferent toward any of these things. Paul still said, I made this
my determination not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Now it's not that we're indifferent
toward these things. We better not be. But our job is not to make the
world a better place. Now, I want to be a good citizen.
I want to do everything I can to relieve poverty, the drug
epidemic, the sexual sin that goes on in our society. I mean, it's heartbreaking, but
our purpose is to preach the gospel. We're on the trail of
God's sheep, and the only thing that will do anybody any good
is the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul said,
I made that my determination. Not to know, not to esteem anything
as important, save this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, how many people have seen such
glory in Christ crucified that no other
subject is even important. Have I? Well, if nobody else did, Paul
did. And he made this his determination. Now here we have the person and
work of Christ as all that is to be preached. Did he say anything
less? He says to the church at Corinth,
when I came in to you, I didn't come with excellency of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. I made
this my determination. not to know, not to speak of,
not to esteem anything as important save this, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Jesus Christ, His Person, the
Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the only
Savior of sinners. How I love His name, Jesus. Jesus,
what a name! It's the Old Testament word for
Joshua. You remember how Moses couldn't bring the children of
Israel into the promised land? The law can never bring you and
I into heaven, only Jesus. The Savior, thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus
Christ, the Christ, God's anointed prophet, God bringing his word
to men. God's anointed priest. God bringing
men to himself through his priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
King ruling and reigning. I've determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ. But he didn't end there. As a
matter of fact, you can't preach His person without preaching
His work. I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. His person is not preached without
His work being preached. Amen. When Paul said in 1 Corinthians
1.18, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
it's literally the word of the cross. The doctrine of the cross. What the cross of Jesus Christ
has to say. Now would you please give me
your attention. Ask the Lord to enable me to
preach what ought to be said regarding Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. And ask God even right now to
give you hearing ears so that you hear the gospel. I want you
to listen like you've never listened before. What is meant by the
preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now the cross is the whole counsel
of God. The cross is the subject of the
eternities. It was the subject before time
began. and it'll be the continual subject in eternity. The cross is the most God-like
thing God ever did, and it's that which encompasses every
doctrine of Scripture. And it's what Paul said that
he determined to make his only subject. Now the Bible is a big
book, and it only has one subject. The Bible's a big book, and it
only has one subject. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And if you feel disposed to argue
against that, you're a stranger to what Paul said in Galatians
6.14 when he said, God forbid that I should glory. Save in
what? The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I could use any passage from
the scripture to preach the cross, but today we're going to confine
ourselves to the seven sayings of the Savior from the cross,
and I intend on doing this in six or seven minutes. I don't
want to begin my message right now because people say, You know,
this is not going to take long, but by the grace of God, I want
to preach the cross to you by the seven sayings of the Savior
from the cross. And I want you to look at each
one of these with me, and I'm just going to be very brief. Turn
to Luke 23. Now through these sayings of
our Lord from the cross, we're going to understand what the
cross means. Luke 23. Verse 34, Then said Jesus, and he was nailed
to the cross at this time, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Christ the Mediator. There's one God. There's one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. God will not speak to nor will
he be spoken to apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. And what you
and I desperately need is for him as our mediator to represent
us. Father, forgive Todd. Not just some general, generic
prayer. This is Christ's work as a mediator. Father, forgive
them. They know not what they do. Look
in Luke 23, beginning in verse Forty-two. And he, the thief on the cross,
said unto Jesus, Lord, I love that. He saw that one hanging
on the tree, and he knew who he was. He's the Lord. He's in absolute sovereign control
over everything. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. You're a mighty king. You're
not going to stay on that cross. You're going to come down. You're
going to accomplish everything you intend to do. And you're
going to come back as a mighty reigning king. Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, Today thou shalt Be with me in paradise. This is Christ speaking as the
king. When he died, he died not as
a helpless victim, but as a mighty reigning king whose will must
be done. And when he speaks to that thief,
he says, today, as a mighty king, my will goes, and I say, You'll
be with me in paradise. Turn to John chapter 19. The cross is about Christ's mediatorial
glory. The cross is about Christ's kingship. He died as a mighty king. Now look in John chapter 19,
beginning in verse 25. Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother. Can you imagine, ladies, seeing
your son nailed to a cross? She did. And his mother's sister Mary,
the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore
saw his mother and the disciples standing by
whom he loved, John, John never mentions his name. Isn't that
glorious? He always calls himself, not the disciple that loved Jesus,
but the disciple that Jesus loved. He saith unto his mother, Woman,
behold thy son. Then saith to his disciple, Behold
thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple
took her into his own home, Christ the Servant. Christ the Mediator, Christ the
King, and Christ the Servant. But this was his mother! Yeah? But he said regarding every believer,
Behold my brother, my mother, and my sisters, those that do
the will of God the same as my mother, and my brother, and my
sister. Even on Calvary's tree he was
serving his people. Behold your mother. Look in verse 28 of John 19.
After this, Jesus Knowing that all things were
now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I
thirst. Now this is Christ the man. Man sinned. Man must die. For Jesus Christ to be my mediator. For Jesus Christ to be my king,
for Jesus Christ to be my servant, for Jesus Christ to save me and
put away my sins, he had to be man. Great is the mystery of
godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And nobody thirsted like this
man did. Jesus Christ, the man. It was a real man with nerves
like you and I, with the pain of the nails going through his
hands and his feet. A real man hanging on Calvary's
tree. Jesus Christ, the man. Pilate said, Behold the man. Turn back to Matthew chapter
27. Verse 45, Now from the sixth
hour there was darkness over all the land. And at the ninth
hour, and about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice,
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabophanai, that is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me, Jesus Christ the substitute? At this time, as darkness had
covered the land. Can you imagine how everybody
was freaking out at this time? Nobody could see each other.
I mean, darkness covered the land. People were scared to death.
I have no idea what in the world is going on. They couldn't even
see me at the cross this time. All they could do is hear. And
what did they hear during this time of darkness? My God! My God, he wasn't permitted to
call him at this time his father. Now he said, Father forgive them,
but now, during the time of his substitution, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Now he knew the answer to that
question, because God was holy and he was made sin, but he wanted
me and you to ask that question. Why was he forsaken? Because
he bore the sins of his people. My sin became his sin. And listen
to me, listen to me real carefully. I deserve right now to be utterly
forsaken by God. Do you? And there's one reason
why I won't be. Because he was forsaken for me. Jesus Christ the substitute. You understand something about
the death of Christ? Listen to what he says from the
cross. He was a mediator. He was a mighty reigning king. He was a man. He was a substitute. He was a servant. And six, turn
back to John 19. I love this. Verse 30, when Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And the scripture points out
that he cried that. This wasn't a whimper. This was
a loud cry intended to be heard. It is finished. Christ the surety. We read in the opening pages
of the New Testament, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. It is finished. Mission accomplished. Everybody he died for was saved. Christ, the surety. And then lastly, turn to Luke
23 once again. Verse 46, And when Jesus had
cried with a loud voice, speaking of it as finished, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost. Now he died like nobody has ever
died. You know death, Death is a reminder
of how ridiculous free will is. I'm not going to die. Oh? What can you do to prevent it?
Death is a reminder to us that human free will is a myth. But
here is the one person who said, Death, I give you permission
to come and take me. And Christ actually died. And his death was like no other
death because in his death he accomplished something. He accomplished
the full salvation of his people. And he said, Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit. Turn back to our text in 1 Corinthians
2. Why is all this, Paul? Why do you preach nothing but
the cross? of Christ, 1 Corinthians chapter
2, verse 5. Here's why, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Let's pray. Lord, I ask in Christ's name that you would give by your grace everybody in this room a sense of the glory of Jesus Christ
and him crucified. And Lord, Deliver us from preaching anything
else, from believing anything else, or knowing anything else. Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Lord, cause us to be captured,
taken captive by the glory of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In His name we pray. Amen.