I would like you to turn in your
Bible this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter
2, and let's read beginning at verse 1. 1 Corinthians chapter
2 at verse 1. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus 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 of power." That is, Paul saying that he
preached the truth, the testimony of God, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but rather in the power of God.
The power of God there In salvation is Jesus Christ, in Him crucified. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that will hear it and believe it. I want to bring
you a message this morning on preaching Christ and Him crucified. Preaching Christ, preaching Christ
crucified. Now, I make no apologies for
preaching the person the person of Christ, that is, God manifest
in the flesh, the God-man mediator. I make no apology for preaching
who Christ is, nor do I make any apology for preaching the
finished, successful, priestly work of Jesus Christ, that is,
Jesus Christ crucified, Christ putting away the sin of God's
people by the sacrifice of Himself. Every time I've given opportunity
to preach the gospel I want to preach a message concerning the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God calls His preachers
to do this without fail. We've read in our text here,
Paul said, I'm determined to declare unto you the testimony
of God, and then he defines that as saying Jesus Christ, His person,
Savior, Mediator, the Christ, the anointed of God, and Him
crucified. Christ being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. This is God's sacrificial
lamb. Every time I'm given opportunity
to preach, I want to do this without fail. Paul said in the
same epistle in 1 Corinthians 9, 16, Woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. Now, not all preachers
would agree with this. Some say if Christ is in the
text, I'll preach it. If not, I will not preach it. Others might argue, well, people
need more than the gospel. They need instruction in holy
living and obedience. We must realize that any preaching
on any subject without Christ and Him crucified, without the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ, is no more than
vain babbling, the salt that has lost its savor. There is
a necessity in preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified when
you talk about any subject in the Bible. You talk about love.
Well, we see the love of God manifested in Jesus Christ crucified. When we talk about forgiveness,
forgiving one another, we're to forgive one another even as
God, for Christ's sake, for Christ being crucified for the sin of
His people, as God has forgiven us, we should forgive others.
Now let me give you several things considering Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Without Jesus Christ crucified,
worship becomes meaningless. We read in the Scripture, Fathers
seek as such to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Any worship without the truth
of Christ, His person, His priestly work, crucified, is meaningless,
even idolatry. If it doesn't identify, if our
worship and our preaching does not identify and distinguish
the God of redemption, who saves sinners by His sovereign grace
in Jesus Christ crucified. It's through His blood sacrifice.
We're justified freely by His grace, but through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. How is righteousness established?
Well, God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. So without Christ crucified,
our worship is meaningless. Secondly, without Christ crucified,
obedience to God is no more than dead works and fruit unto death,
because it cannot be motivated by the grace of God, and gratitude
for all which God has freely given to us in Jesus Christ crucified. Now, my obedience unto Him is
motivated by gratitude and love. We are constrained by the love
of Christ. Our obedience unto Christ is
out of our gratitude for Christ dying in the room in our stead,
justified, delivered for our offenses, and risen again to
justify us. Without Jesus Christ crucified,
obedience becomes nothing more than dead works and fruit unto
death. Thirdly, without Christ crucified,
faith has no foundation or substance, nor any proper object. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again because He justified us. Faith is always objective. Faith looks to the exalted, victorious
Redeemer. Saving faith always looks to
Jesus Christ crucified and exalted. Faith grows in grace as we look
to the Lord Jesus Christ having put away our sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. We grow in grace as we understand
more of how Christ put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. We desire the sincere milk of
the Word that we might grow thereby, seeing Jesus Christ crucified
as all of our salvation. Fourthly, without Jesus Christ
crucified, repentance and sorrow over sin becomes no more than
legal, natural conscious conviction that genders sinful doubts and
unbelief, the sorrow of the world that leads to death. You see,
my friend, the only ground of true repentance is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. crucified for our sin, sacrificed
for our sin, and exalted, having put away our sin, that he might
grant and give repentance to those for whom he died. So our repentance counts everything
but loss, that we might win Christ and be found in him. Without
Christ crucified, there would be no repentance. that looks
away from everything but to the Lord Jesus Christ. Fifthly, without
Christ crucified, peace, assurance, and confidence becomes no more
than mere self-righteousness, presumption, and it causes the
sinner to look elsewhere and not to Christ alone. Without
Christ crucified, we have no peace with God. We have peace
with God only through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Without Christ crucified, we'd
have no assurance. He's called in Scripture the
surety of the everlasting covenant. He is the very guarantee of our
salvation, because He finished the work. Without Christ crucified,
we could have no confidence of our salvation. The confidence
we have, we worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and we have no confidence in the flesh. Our confidence is
totally in Christ crucified. Christ establishing the ground
of our salvation, bringing in an everlasting righteousness,
and justifying us by His grace. All the promises of God in Christ
Jesus are certain and sure. We have an everlasting covenant
of grace, ordered in all things, and it's sure, and this is totally
summed up in Jesus Christ crucified. Number six, without Christ crucified,
the Scriptures are veiled and locked as far as any real saving
understanding is concerned. How can we possibly understand
the Scriptures at all if we don't see them fulfilled in Jesus Christ
crucified? We read that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures. He is the very Lamb of God that
fulfilled all the law of God. He said in Matthew chapter 5,
I didn't come to destroy the law. I came to honor and satisfy
the law of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is a fulfillment
of every type, shadow, and picture all throughout the Old Testament. The Old Testament says someone
is coming. The New Testament says the Lord
Jesus Christ has come and has finished the work that God gave
Him to do. Our Lord said in John chapter
5 that the Scriptures testify of Him. They all give verification
of Jesus Christ crucified as God's Lamb, God's sacrifice to
put away sin. Now you see how important it
is that we preach, we preach, we preach Christ, but we must
preach Christ crucified. That is Christ the only sacrifice
for sin, Christ the only reason and hope of salvation, is that
God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made to bear the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ crucified. Lastly, without Christ crucified,
we are nothing, can do nothing, and will end up as nothing. You see, the foundation of eternal
life is Jesus Christ crucified. Christ is our life. Any preaching
on any subject that leaves out or misses the gospel message
of Christ crucified is not worth preaching, and it certainly is
not worth hearing. My friend, be determined to know
nothing, as Paul says here, I am determined to know nothing among
you but Jesus Christ in him crucified. Jesus Christ crucified is our
wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. Everything God has for any guilty
sinner is found up, found and bound up in that covenant, everlasting
covenant of grace, in the Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd,
the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. My friend, that is our salvation.