1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. I'm entitling the message from
the words found in verse 2, 2nd 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I quote
this verse probably every time, almost every time that we meet
together. The Apostle said, I determined
not to know anything among you save or accept Jesus Christ crucified. The Lord Jesus Christ and Him. Him. I need Him. I need Him crucified for me. Dying for me. Determined to preach
Christ crucified is what I'm entitling this message. You'll
find it on sermon audio on the internet tomorrow morning under
the title, Determined to Preach Christ Crucified. Now by way
of introduction, the Apostle Paul spent 18 months in this
city of Corinth. And he came there by the direct
order and decree of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Paul received
some opposition, he had thoughts of leaving Corinth, remember?
But the Lord said to him, don't leave. Don't leave. Matter of
fact, he said, you stay there a year and six months, 18 months,
and don't leave, and you stay right there doing one thing.
It's okay to make some tent on the side, but mainly you stay
there and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. When the Jews in that city rejected
the message of Jesus, Christ crucified when they rejected
Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ of God, the anointed Messiah
that came to save his people, Paul and Silas and Timothy. That's
a pretty good trio. I could sit and listen to that
trio, Paul, Silas, and Timothy preach Christ unto the Gentiles,
and many of them hearing the gospel, and this is a pattern
that God has established, hearing the gospel, believe the gospel,
they heard by God-given ears, they believed the gospel by God-given
faith, and they confessed the Lord Jesus Christ in believers'
baptism, not to be saved, They confess Christ because they were
justified by the Lord Jesus Christ. By him all that believe are justified
from all things, but you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. Acts 13, 38. Now the apostle
by divine inspiration of the written word of God by the Spirit
of God writes back to these dear believers in Corinth, aren't
you glad that he wrote this letter? Because this letter is relative
not only to them, but to us. It's written to believers. It's
relative for us today. I take this as a personal letter
from the heart of God, right directly to my soul. To my heart. Oh, and it warmed my heart. I
rejoice in it. It's written for every believer
in every generation, and all scripture is God-breathed, God-given,
God-inspired, that we might rejoice in Christ and know more of Him. Now, 1 Corinthians 2, let's work
our way down to verse 5. And we'll begin with verse one,
and I. And I, who am I? Paul called himself less than
the least. Paul called himself the chief
of sinners. Paul called himself, oh, wretched
man. And yet he rejoiced in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I, brethren, When I came
to you, came not with the excellency of speech, Paul could have been
a mighty orator, but he didn't come with great oratory of speech,
or he did not come, he said, I came not as a mighty orator,
I came not with the wisdom of this world, I came not, I came
not, but He did come this way, declaring something, declaring
something that we all desperately need to hear, that we all desperately
need to learn concerning the testimony of God. The testimony
of God. What would you consider the testimony
of God to be? I'm very interested in what the
testimony of God is all about. Now three things we can learn
from verse 1. The Lord sends out gospel preachers
where he will. The Lord sovereignly sends out
gospel preachers where he will. There were many cities that the
Apostle Paul simply walked right by, did not go there because
he was not sent. There were many sinners at the
apostles, many cities that the apostles simply passed by, but
Corinth was blessed to have a gospel preacher sent to them. Think of it. To have one sent
of God to that city to declare the testimony of God. What a
blessing that must be. And one of the greatest blessings
any city can have is to have a God-called, God-sent preacher. Last week we were on vacation. Bridget and I. And we spent some
time in a city in Georgia named Savannah. Savannah. It's an old
southern city. Many of the great preachers that
we have heard about and read about preached in that very city.
One of them of which we're most familiar with, George Whitefield. Y'all heard about George Whitefield,
credited for being the primary instrument God used in that great
awakening in this country way back in 1730. George Whitefield. But George
Whitefield, we actually saw the place where George Whitefield
preached in Savannah, Georgia back in 1740 through 1744. Looked at the building, I wanted
to stand in the pulpit. I tried to get in the building
because I wanted to come back and say I stood in the pulpit
where George Whitefield stood. But they had it locked up. I
shook the door, rattled the door, let me in. And they wouldn't
let me in. But what a great preacher of
the gospel. You can go on the internet and read all about him
on Wikipedia or he's all over the internet, even on Sermon
Audio. Some of his sermons have been recreated and preached,
the audio form of it, his written sermons. But I wonder if there's
any gospel preachers in that city of Savannah today. Think
about it. I don't know of one. There are
many old churches. There are many old buildings.
The church where George Whitefield preached was called the Mother
Church of Georgia. Christ's Church was the name
of it. But I don't know of anybody that's there today preaching
the message that Whitefield preached in his day, and that Spurgeon
preached in his day, and that Mahan preached in his day. Aren't we blessed to have the
gospel here in Zebulon? Where is Zebulon, Kentucky? I
mean, it's in the middle of nowhere. Yet God sent the gospel right
here because he had much people in this city. He had some elect here that had
to hear the gospel, that must hear the gospel. The second thing
I know is this, God's preachers are not sent to impress men with
their intellect. Notice Paul says, I didn't come
with excellency of speech. Now, he could have. He was an
educated, religious, Saul of Tarsus was highly educated. He
had a degree from the University of Tarsus. I mean, he was an
educated man. But he didn't know God until
he met the Lord Jesus Christ. He could have come with that
conceived speech. He could have come impressing those Greeks
with his philosophy of Plato and Socrates, but he didn't come
that way. God didn't send him that way.
And he said, I didn't come with the wisdom of this world, but
I did come this way, declaring the message of God, the testimony
of God. You see, the power of the gospel
is not in the clever words or fine ideas of men. The gospel
itself is the power of God in salvation. The word itself is
the power of God in salvation. We read in the book of Romans,
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it
is the power of God unto salvation. It's not my oratory ability. That's the power of God in the
salvation. It's the gospel itself that's the power of God under
salvation. Again, we read in the book of
Hebrews that the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper
than any two-edged sword. You see, it's the word itself.
I don't lend power to the word. I don't give power to the word,
whether I speak it in a loud voice or simply whisper the word. It's still the Word. You see,
the Word of God is the power of God unto salvation. So it's
not my clever words or fine ideas. As a matter of fact, those things
just distract from the message. Because what actually happens,
you end up being taken up with the creature's wisdom rather
than the power of God. rather than the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, God's servants who are
called of God come declaring the testimony which is the witness
of God. They don't come declaring their
own personal testimony. They declare what God has already
said from the Word of God. That's a very good definition
of what preaching is. What is gospel preaching? What
is it? Is it for me to stand up here
and tell you and give you my personal testimony? I mean, I
could tell you some pretty wild things and pretty strange. I could probably entertain you
for a pretty good while, but that's not my purpose. That's
not my business. I came here for one purpose,
to declare unto you the testimony of God concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. The good definition of preaching
is this, is simply declaring what God has already said. If I preach not according to
this word, it's because there's no life in me. It's thus saith the Lord. You know what is a preacher?
My dear friend Scott Richardson, years ago, he preached here and
many other places. He's with the Lord now. But he
has a good definition of what a preacher is. I've got a picture
of him in my study. Sometime go in there and look
at it. It's taken about a month or two before he died. He's all
wrinkled up and old and hanging and sagging. I mean his life,
his body is just frail and falling off. But Fr. Richardson says
this, what is a preacher? A preacher is a nobody. who tells
everybody about somebody who can save anybody. That's what
a preacher is. He's a nobody. John, who are
you? I'm a voice. I'm a voice of one
crying in the wilderness, behold, behold the Lamb of God that takes
away our sin. John could have said some flowery
things about himself. He could have said, you know,
my daddy was a priest. Zacharias? I had kind of a miraculous
birth. But he said, I'm a nobody. I'm
a voice of one crying in the wilderness, behold the Lamb of
God. You see, we don't make much of
the preacher. I hope we don't. I'm thankful
the Lord has sent us a gospel pastor, a gospel preacher, but
let's not elevate the preacher and let us not make much of the
preacher. It's the message that we're taking
up with. I mean, I'm just a vessel. I'm
just a earthen vessel. I'm like the mailman. Now we
have a couple mail people here that deliver the mail. And, you
know, they don't write the mail. They don't send the mail. They
deliver the mail. You know, I don't know my mailman's
name. I've got a new mailman. I don't
know his name. But I don't rejoice in the mailman,
but I do give thanks for what the mailman brings, because he
brings those vital documents that are sent by purpose to me. You see, I'm just a servant. I'm just a mailman. I just deliver
the mail. I didn't write it. I just deliver
it. I just deliver it. And that's
what Paul is saying here. But I came declaring unto you
the testimony of God. The testimony of God. The testimony
of God is all about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
look at verse 2. Testimony of God. Paul said,
I'm determined. He explains what the testimony
of God is. I determined not to know anything
among you save or except the Lord Jesus Christ and Him put
to death. Him put to death. Crucifixion. Crucifixion was a horrible way
to die. People today are still being crucified. Did you know
that? Many of the Jews in 70 A.D. when Rome came to destroy Jerusalem,
you know there were thousands and thousands and thousands of
Jews crucified. Crucifixion was a common way
for the Romans to punish those whom they hated. But Paul said,
I'm determined not to know anything among you except and say, the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul further explains to us what
the testimony of God is all about. Hold your place here. Find Romans
1. Romans 1, the testimony of God is all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the gospel of God concerning
Christ. Romans chapter 1, verse 1. You see, the gospel of God, now
think about this. Now listen to me carefully. The gospel is not about you.
Did you know that? It's not about us. Gospel about
him him Christ crucified Paul, a servant, Romans 1.1, Romans
1.1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God, there's the testimony of
God, the gospel of God, the testimony of God, what's it about? Which
he promised, afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning
his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made in the seed of
David according to the flesh, He's Jesus Christ, the promised
Messiah, the Son of David, the greater David, and declaring
to you, and declared to be the Son of God with power. The gospel
of God is concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, declared to be
the Son of David, the Son of God with power, according to
the Holy Spirit, by the resurrection from the dead. delivered for
our offenses, and raised again for our justification. The gospel
of God and the testimony of God is all about the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Now, to many, the message of
substitution and satisfaction through Christ's blood and death
is nonsense. They see no glory in it. That's
why Paul says here in Romans, or rather 1 Corinthians 1, verse
18, for the preaching of the cross, you see it? For the preaching
of the cross to them that perish, or who are perishing, is foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
oh, it's the power of God. Don't you see in Christ crucified
your sin put away? Don't you see in the Lord Jesus
Christ crucified a justifying righteousness freely imputed
unto you? Don't you see the Lord Jesus
Christ, Christ crucified everything you need to stand before a thrice
holy God, justified, robed in his righteousness, justified
in his blood, presented faultless before the presence of God's
glory with exceeding joy through the Lord Jesus Christ and him
crucified? Paul says here, Paul the Apostle
says in our text back in First Corinthians 2.2 that he's determined,
determined not to know anything among anybody except Christ and
Him, the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now before you
remember this man was also known as Saul of Tarsus, a religious
Pharisee. Before Saul of Tarsus met the
Savior, the Redeemer, this same man was determined to destroy
the name of Christ. Remember? Determined to stamp
out the name of Christ. But now, by the grace of God,
he's more determined to declare the gospel of God. Something
radically happened to that man, and you know what happened to
that man? He met the one whom he was Persecuting. He went from a persecutor of
the Lord Jesus Christ, a hater of the Lord Jesus Christ, to
preaching the very one whom he hated. How do you account for
such a transformation? You see, he was translated out
of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son
by His mighty power. Paul was made a servant of the
Lord by the power of God, and given a holy determination and
great zeal to declare the gospel of God, of which he said, it's
God's gospel who saved me and called me according to his own
purpose and grace, giving me in the Lord Jesus Christ before
the foundation of the world. Now, two things are given to
us here. in that declaration of the testimony of God that
Paul talks about here. And the two things are this,
who died and what he accomplished. Who died? Jesus Christ. Paul preached and declared the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just not that some Jew of
historical importance died on a cross. As I said earlier, there
were thousands of Jews who were crucified. It's who this man
is that gives eternal value to what he did. Who is this one
named Jesus of Nazareth? He none other than God incarnate
in human flesh. A real man and yet fully and
totally God. He remained what he was, God,
and became what he was not. flesh and dwelt among us. The Lord Jesus Christ was a real
man without controversy greater than the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. Think of it, God who inhabits
eternity inhabited a body of a man. The Lord Jesus Christ
And as the Son of God, as the God-man mediator, the Lord Jesus
Christ, as the sent substitute, dying the appointed death for
the appointed people at the appointed time, died a real death, suffered
in the flesh, suffered unto death. Why did He suffer? Our sin was
put on Him. And sin put on Him. When it was
found of God on Him, the wages of sin is what? Death. He died a real death. crucifixion, public execution. Paul declared the office work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, his priestly work, that is, by himself
he purged our sin and sat down on the right hand of the throne
of God. Our great high priest entered
at once to the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood.
He actually got something done. He actually purchased His people
and He's going to have what He bought. God bought the church
with His own blood. That's what we declare. A successful
redemption. A Savior who saves, a Redeemer
who really redeems with His own blood. We are redeemed with the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we say we preach
Christ crucified, it's more than saying that he died a horrific,
brutal death. It's declaring what his death
accomplished. It's just not that he died. What
did his death accomplish? You see, it accomplished all
of God's purpose. You remember reading in Luke
chapter 9 about the transfiguration? When the Lord was transfigured
before Peter, James, and John when He was taken up on that
mountain and transfigured before them, and His glory shined forth,
the glory of His deity, and there appeared with Him Moses and Elijah,
remember? And what did they talk about?
They talked about the death that He should accomplish. Oh, you mean his death accomplished
something? Yes, it did. It accomplished
the purpose of God. It accomplished salvation by
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. His death was not a meaningless
effort to save people, was it? His death wasn't to put all men
in a savable state to make salvation a possibility if they meet certain
conditions. That's not what He accomplished.
He actually saved His people from their sin. He actually accomplished
their salvation and justified them by His blood. Oh, aren't you glad that He said,
it is finished? He accomplished all of my salvation. I've got several things jotted
down here that I remind you of were justified by His righteousness
and His blood. Righteousness was justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are redeemed by His precious blood. Oh, redemption, what a precious
thing it is. We are redeemed with His precious
blood. We are reconciled unto God by
His death. He reconciled us. He is the propitiation,
the mercy seat for our sin. His atonement, His sacrifice,
which He laid down His life freely, voluntarily, By the decree of
God, His sacrifice is my atonement for sin. Here in His love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the sacrifice for our sin. You can have a seat right there
if you'd like to. Okay. His resurrection declares our
salvation is accomplished. Eternal salvation is by His resurrection
from the dead. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. You see, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
turn over here to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter
15. 1 Corinthians 15, 57. Thanks
be unto God. 1 Corinthians 15, 57. Thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have victory
over sin, victory over death, victory over hell, victory over
Satan. Because of the victory the Lord
Jesus Christ won for us. His death is not a defeat, is
it? His death is a victory. We have
victory. He said in the Revelation, I
am he that liveth and is dead, behold I am alive forevermore.
I have power I've been alive forevermore, I have the keys
of hell and death. He's exalted to give salvation to whom He
will. You see, I'm determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now look at verse 3 and 4. And
I was with you, back in our text, I was with you in weakness, Paul
was not a strong man physically. They said his appearance was
weak and contemptible. He was, I kind of get a picture
of him, he was a weak, bent, gnarled, ugly man to look at. Shriveled up. They said his speech was contemptible. His appearance and his demeanor
was weak. He says, I was with you in weakness,
and in fear, and much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. Let's look at a couple of scriptures.
Find 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 5, for we preach
not ourselves, 2 Corinthians 4, 5, we preach not ourselves,
But Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your servant for his
sake, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have
this treasure in earthen vessel that the excellency of power
may be of God and not of us. Now look back at 1 Corinthians
chapter 3 verse 5. First Corinthians 3 verse 5.
Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? But ministers
by whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to every man, I
have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth
anything, neither is he that watereth, but it's God that gives
the increase. The increase. So, My preaching, Paul said, I'm
a weak, feeble man, and my speech and my preaching was not with
enticing words of man's wisdom, but rather in demonstration,
now, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Now, I ask this question. How does a sinner, and that's
what I am, I'm a sinner, that's what I am, how does a sinner
preach the gospel in the power of God the Holy Spirit? You ever
consider that? I do because that's what I do,
I'm a preacher of the gospel. Well certainly not by physical
things or mental things, but rather by spiritual things. Most
people have the idea of preaching the gospel in the power of the
Holy Spirit is a lot of hollering and screaming and physically
moving and jumping up and down and all these things and they
say, oh man, oh man, he's really preaching. No he's not, he's
showing off. That's just flesh, that's all
it is, it's flesh. So how does one preach in the
power of God the Holy Spirit? How does one preach in the power
of God the Holy Spirit? It's simply this, by telling
the truth. of who God is from the Word of
God, of who we are from the Word of God, what sin is, what effect
sin has upon us, who the Lord Jesus Christ is from the Word
of God, what He accomplished, how does God save sinners? By
His grace. How does God keep us? By His
power. It's all about Him and what He
has done. That is declaring the gospel
by the Spirit of God. Because the Spirit of God gives
testimony to one thing. He'll take the things of Christ,
the things of Christ, and show them unto you. That, to this
end, to this purpose, verse 5 in closing. That, your faith. Now, do you have faith? Do you
have saving faith? There is a phony faith. Do you have saving faith? That
your faith should not stand or be in the wisdom of men, but
in the power of God. Now, saving faith has an object,
and it's not the wisdom of men. It is the power of God, and it's
the power of God personified. The power of God unto salvation
is the Lord himself. That your faith should only rest
upon and look unto the victorious Christ. Isaiah 45, the Lord declares,
I'm a just God and Savior, now look unto me and be you saved. True faith never rest upon a
false foundation. True faith never rest upon a
false fleshly foundation. It's never based upon feelings.
Well, I just, you know, I just, I just kind of feel like I'm
saved. You're deceived. Mark it down. Faith is not based
upon feelings. Faith is based upon a foundation. And that foundation is the Word
of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of the Lord. Faith is not based upon feelings. Remember what Martin Luther said?
Feelings come and feelings go. And feelings are deceiving. My want is the Word of God and
nothing else is worth believing. Is that right? True faith, God-given
faith, totally and completely looks to, rests in, and totally
relies upon the Lord Jesus Christ. True faith has a single foundation. Look right across the page in
1 Corinthians 3, verse 11. For other foundations can no
man lay than that which is laid. Well, you know what? Look what
it says there, which is Jesus Christ. And it's the Lord Jesus
Christ, exalted, crucified, exalted. God said, Behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation of stone and tridestone, a precious cornerstone. He that believes on him shall
never be ashamed, never be forced out, never be confounded. True
faith has a single, sure foundation and it's Christ. True faith has
a single and sure object. Faith is objective. Faith doesn't
look in here. All I see in here is
my sin. Faith looks outside of self to
Christ. Hebrews 12 says, looking unto
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. True faith has
a single and sure motive. What's the sure and single motive
of true faith? The glory of God. Abraham was
strong in faith, giving glory unto Abraham. Oh, I misquoted
that. Abraham was strong in faith,
giving glory unto God, being fully persuaded all that God
had promised. God has secured, finished. True faith has a single commitment. It's committing all of our salvation
to Christ. That's why Paul said, I know
whom I have believed. I'm persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. Well,
preacher, what have you committed unto Him? Everything. Everything
in my salvation is committed unto His faithfulness. True faith
rests upon the power of God. The power of God and the salvation.
Look, a couple pages over, 1 Corinthians 4, verse 20. For the kingdom of God is not
in word, not in word only, but in power. Remember when Paul
writes to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonica, he said, Beloved,
knowing your election of God, for our gospel came not in you
in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much
assurance. You see, true faith has a true
foundation, has a single and sure object, has a sure motive
and a sure commitment, and it rests upon the power of God.
Now, in closing, oh, may the Lord be pleased to give us faith.
Faith is a gift of God. It's not something that's native
to our wicked heart. Carnal mind receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God. Look at verse 14. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned. Oh, may the Lord be pleased to
give us true saving faith born of the Word of God. And oh, may
the Lord be pleased to give us grace in our heart to believe
Him and trust Him. When Jeremiah describes who the
cursed man is and who the blessed man is in Jeremiah 17, cursed
is a man that trusteth in the flesh, blessed is a man that
trusteth in the Lord. Oh, may God give us grace. to
trust Him and to trust Him more. Determined. I'm determined to
believe that too, aren't you? I'm determined to preach it.
And I'm determined by the grace of God to believe it. The gospel
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.