What Is It to Preach Christ Crucified?

As I read this chapter and prepared
these messages, the thought occurred to me that there is at least one way that
I can be like the Apostle Paul. Now, he was an apostle of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm not and never will be. I'm a servant
of Christ, called to be a minister of the gospel, separated unto
the gospel. But there were only twelve apostles,
and I'm not an apostle. In that way I'm not like Paul.
Secondly, he was a writer of the inspired scriptures. The Word of God tells us that
holy men of God moved as they wrote the scriptures. And all
scriptures are God-breathed, given by inspiration of God.
And Paul the Apostle wrote, we believe, fourteen of the twenty-seven
books or epistles in the New Testament. I'm not an inspired
writer of scripture. In that way, I'm not like the
Apostle Paul. There are no revelations, new
revelations to date, none. This book says if anybody adds
to the words of this book, God will add to him the plagues written
in the book. This book says if they speak
not according to the word of God and the prophets, there's
no light in them. So I wouldn't even attempt to
add anything to this word, it's complete. Thirdly, the Apostle
Paul had unusual gifts, as did all of the Apostles. Though John
the Baptist did no miracles, not at all, never performed a
miracle. And yet, our Lord said he was
the greatest man born of woman. And yet, he was the forerunner
of Christ. And yet he was the last of the
Old Testament prophets. And yet he was filled with the
Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. Never spake with tongues,
never raised the dead, never healed the sick, never did a
miracle. He just preached Christ. That's
right. Well, Paul the apostle had these
gifts, and many of the apostles did, and many other early believers
and preachers did. They were able to preach the
gospel in other languages. They were able to perform great
miracles, had great power. God gave them these credentials,
these gifts, as a witness, to bear witness to the fact that
he sent them. When the Word was completed,
when the last book was written in the Word of God, the gifts
were of no use. The only proof a man needs today
that he preaches the gospel and speaks for God is the gospel
he preaches. That's all. He doesn't need to
prove that he's a servant of God by doing some sort of unusual
miracle or some unusual act. In Kentucky somewhere, I read
about it, don't remember where, but they're looking, people are
gathering to see a stature cry, a person who believes God doesn't
need anything like that today. No miracle, no healing, nothing
like that, because the Word's completed. In that regard, I'm
not like the Apostle Paul. I don't have any, I can't heal
anybody. And fourthly, but Paul was, he
was first and foremost a preacher of the gospel. of our Lord Jesus
Christ by his own testimony. Look at chapter 1, verse 17. Here's Paul writing, 1 Corinthians
1, 17, right across the page. 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. Look at verse
22. For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
unto the Greeks foolishness." Look at chapter 2, verse 2. "'For
I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ,
and him crucified.'" Now, Paul was first and foremost a preacher
of the gospel. That's what he was. That's what
I am. And that's what I do, preach
Christ. Now, he came to Corinth. Look
at verse 1. Paul came to this city, Corinth,
and he said, brethren, and I, brethren, when I came to you,
I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. Now, he could have Paul could
have come to Corinth and spoken to them on Jewish heritage, Jewish
customs, Jewish traditions. He was knowledgeable in all of
those areas. He said himself, does any man
have in the flesh whereof he can boast, I am over. He said,
I was circumcised the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews. concerning the law blameless,
I sat at the feet of Gamaliel, the greatest teacher of my day."
He could have spoken on those things. He could have preached
the law, the ancient writings, because he was a Pharisee. Paul
the Apostle was a member of the Sanhedrin. That's the highest
Jewish court. Think what he could have told
them. And then he could have conducted a healing campaign.
I mean a genuine healing campaign. Paul preached one time till after
midnight, and there was a young man by the name of Eutychus who
was sitting in the window. They were in a second upper room,
second floor of a building, and Paul was preaching. There was
a young man sitting over here in the window listening to Paul. His name was Eutychus. And Paul
preached a long message. He preached till midnight, the
scripture said, and Eutychus fell asleep and fell out the
window. Killed him. And of course they
all ran down there and Paul brought him to life. Now that's a real
healing campaign. Not like you see on television
today. He could have. I tell you another
thing he could have done, he could have preached his experiences. He met the Lord on the road to
Damascus. The Lord spoke out of heaven
to him. I know that. It's recorded here.
He was miraculously delivered from jail, from shipwreck, from
all of these things. The Scripture says he went to
the third heaven. He said, whether in the body
or out of the body, I don't know, but I went to the third heaven. I heard things. I can't even
tell you. It's not possible for me to tell
you. what I heard." He could have, couldn't he? When I came
to you, I didn't come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring
unto you the testimony of God. He could have. I'll tell you
another thing, he could have told about his accomplishments. Paul preached to kings, kings,
Agrippa, Felix, He was known in Caesar's court. Did you know
that? Paul was known in Caesar's court. He was the talk of the court.
He established churches. He wrote, as I said, 14 books
in the New Testament. But he tells these people at
Corinth, when I came to you, I didn't even mention those things.
For verse 2 says, I determined, I determined not to know anything
among you. save Jesus Christ in Him crucified."
The word determined there tells me two or three things. First,
it tells me this. When a man says, I determine
to do something, I determine to do something, what's the first
thing that comes to your mind? Well, there's a temptation to do otherwise. If I determine to do something,
that means there's a temptation to do otherwise. Because a man
does not determine to do something when he has no other choice,
does he? It's a temptation to do otherwise. And there's a temptation. If
a man gives his life to something, he wants somebody to know about
it. If he's successful, he'd like to tell somebody about it.
If he's this, that, or the other, if he can do certain things,
if he can... Well, he wants people to know about it. But Paul said,
Whatever the temptation to do otherwise, whatever the temptation
to talk about my travels, or my experience, or my accomplishments,
or my successions, or my friends, or my contacts, I determine,
I'm going to preach Christ. Second thing it suggests to me
is this, it suggests opposition. Opposition from somewhere. But
even in the face of opposition, even knowing, even knowing that
this message will not be well received, like someone may come to a preacher
and say, I don't agree with you. Well, you know, most people don't. Most people didn't agree with
the Master. Most of them nailed into a cross. Most people didn't
agree with this man here. They kept him in jail half the
time. Most people didn't agree with
John Bunyan. He served 12 years in prison for what he preached.
Most people didn't agree with Charles Spurgeon. He was ridiculed
in London newspapers the whole time he preached in London. Ridiculed. Most people didn't agree with
Calvin or Luther or Hux or any of them. Didn't agree with them. They
do now because they're dead. People used to call their sons
Duke and their dogs Calvin and Luther. Now they call their sons
Calvin and Luther and call their dogs Duke and Earl. It all depends on whether you're
dead or alive, you know, whether people believe what you're preaching.
So Paul, in the face of temptation to do otherwise, in the face
of opposition and trouble, he says, I'm determined to preach
Christ. Another thing it suggests is
this. If this man Paul, brilliant, all that he is that
we know about, If he determined to preach Christ, it suggests
to me the importance of his subject. I'm determined to preach Christ
and him crucified because of the importance of the subject.
Importance. The Son of God must be lifted
up. He must be lifted up. He must be lifted up in the Word. He must be lifted up on the cross. He must be lifted up in our preaching.
He must be lifted up in your thoughts and mind. He must. He must. Because a man's relationship
with God is determined by his relationship with the Son of
Man. What think ye of Christ, whose Son is He? Well, what is
it to preach Christ and Him crucified? Paul says, I determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
What does it mean to preach Christ and Him crucified? Well, I do know this. Preaching
Christ and Him crucified is not to give lectures and read papers
on the great preachers and leaders of the past. I know that. It
is not preaching Christ and Him crucified for me to spend my
time promoting the purity of the local church, or the great
doctrines of grace, or even the inspiration of the Bible. I stand
here this morning and argue for the inspiration of the Bible,
though important it is, the infallibility of Scripture. But if I spent
my time on that point, the infallibility of Scripture or the inspiration
of Scripture, I'm not preaching Christ and Him crucified. He's
not preaching Christ and Him crucified. Now listen to me,
when our messages are taken up with prophecy. I got a letter
from a man this week, he watches our television program in California,
Sacramento, and he wrote me a letter and he said, you don't preach
on hell enough. He sent me a sermon on hell, suggesting I preach
it. Next month I won't be preaching
on hell either. I don't believe the preaching
of hell is preaching Christ and Him crucified. I don't believe
it helps anybody. I really don't. Preaching Christ
and Him crucified is not preaching on hell. It's not preaching becoming
absorbed with the social issues of the day. Brother man, what
have you got to say about abortion? What have you got to say about
electing good men to office, the flag and country and constitution
and all of these things? Well, I have some opinions. motivated
by what I believe about God and His Word. But that's not preaching
Christ and Him crucified. I'm going to give you four or
five things. This is preaching Christ and
Him crucified. Let me tell you what it is. This
is what Paul preached. Number one, to preach Christ
and Him crucified is to exalt and magnify and lift up The glory
of his person. The glory of his person. The
glory of his person. Paul said, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. It's Christ
that died. Who he is? Who he is? The angels at his birth stood
out there on the Judean hillsides and they said to the shepherd,
we bring you Good tidings of great joy which shall be to all
people unto you is born this day in the city of David, the
Savior Christ the Lord." And God hung a star up over that
manger and directed the wise men to his Son, the glory of
his person. The Father, when he came to be
baptized of John the Baptist, the dove flew down out of heaven
and rested upon his shoulders. And the father spake and said,
This is my son. This is my son. The Pharisees
said, He's the carpenter. God said, He's my son. They said,
He's a winebibber and a gluttonous man. The father said, In whom
I'm well pleased. They said, He's a devil. The
father said, He's my son. This is my son. My beloved son!" The demons fled at his presence. They said, we know who you are.
They don't know who you are, but we know who you are. You're
the Holy One of God. Have you come to torment us before
our time? We know who you are. The ocean
calmed down at his bidding. The waves and wind obeyed His
will. The graves gave up the dead when
He spoke. The sun hid its face when He
died. The heavenly host announced His
resurrection. He's not here. He's risen. And
when He ascended back to heaven, they said, He'll come back again
with clouds and glory. Then as he ascended to the Father's
throne, the heavenly host in unison sang, Lift up your head,
O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and
the King of glory is coming in. Who's this King of glory? The
Lord of hosts is the King of glory. I'm not preaching some pitiful,
defeated reformer. I'm preaching the one of whom
the Scripture says, listen, "...his Son, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom he made the worlds, who being in
the brightness of the Father's glory, and the exact image of
his person, who upholdeth all things by the word of his power,
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right
hand of God." majesty on earth. That's who He is. He never failed. He can't fail.
What He came to accomplish, He accomplished. And I'm not trying
to generate out of audiences and congregations where I preach
any pity for Jesus. He told those who followed Him
to the cross and wept and lamented His sufferings, He turned and
said, don't weep for me, weep for yourselves, for your children. Don't waste your tears over the
remedy, weep over the disease. Don't weep over the cure, weep
over the cause. Don't weep over Him who never
left the bosom of the Father. who reigned even on a cross,
O the glory of his person, he Lord." Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. You don't need a degree in theology, a doctor of theology, to know
when a preacher is preaching the glory of his person. You listen to him. Listen to
how he talks about the Lord Jesus Christ. How he refers to him. He's not Jesus. He's the Lord. He's the Master. He was Jesus. He was, for a time, made in the
likeness of our flesh. He was, for a time, humbled Himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
But He's Lord, and the disciples never called Him anything but
Lord. Never. Never. He said, you call Me Lord, and
you say, well, so I am. They called Him Master. And I
hear these preachers talking Jesus this and Jesus that. I want to say, call him Lord. If you knew him as Lord, you'd
call him Lord. Now in the four Gospels, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, they often refer to him as Jesus, and the
reason is they wanted to specially identify, I'm talking about the
son of Joseph and Mary, Jesus of Nazareth. That's who we're
talking about. But when they addressed Him, and when they
spoke of Him, they called Him Lord. That's right. What is it to preach Christ and
Him crucified? Secondly, it's to preach not
only the glory of His person. See, He doesn't need me. I need
him. I wish we could get that across
to folks. For God Almighty to think upon
me requires a condescension. When I consider the heavens,
the work of thy hands, what is man that thou art mindful of
him? Secondly, it's to preach the
excellency of his character. What did the apostle write, Paul,
say about Jesus Christ, our Lord? He said this, He, God the Father,
hath made Him, Christ the Son, to be sin for us who knew no
sin. He knew no sin. He had no sin. The excellency of His character.
Now listen to me. Abraham was a friend of God,
but Abraham wasn't without sin. Moses was the meekest of men,
but Moses was not without sin. David was a man after God's own
heart, but David was not without sin. Mary was favored of God
and bore the Christ child, but she was not without sin. John
the Baptist was the greatest man to live, but he was not without
sin. Paul was the cheapest apostle,
but he was not without sin. There's only one man who ever
lived on this earth without sin, and that's the God-man who knew
no sin. Oh, that we might understand,
this right here, listen to me, that we might see and understand
that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was not the death of an
example, it was not the death of a martyr, Nor was it the death
of a reformer, nor was it an offer of appeasement and peace. The death of the God-man, the
second Adam, who, like the first Adam, was a representative of
federal head, of people in his loins, but who, unlike the first
Adam, was perfect. Did you get that? This man, the
second Adam, that's what he's called, the second Adam. The
first Adam was of the earth, earthly. The second Adam is the
Lord from heaven. And like the first Adam, he was
a man. Like the first Adam, there was
a people in his loins. Like the first Adam, he represented
his people. Like the first Adam, he was sent
of God to represent. as a federal head of people.
But unlike that first Adam, this second Adam was without sin.
Not a spot, not a stain. He did love God with all his
heart. Adam was supposed to, but he didn't. This man did. This man did keep the law. Adam
should have, but he didn't. This man did obey God. This man,
Adam, the first Adam, didn't. This man is without sin. The
first Adam was not. This man for his people stood
before the law, and stood before the holiness of God, and kept
it in every jot and tittle, and imputed unto his own in his loins,
and given to him, and laid in his hand, he gave them a perfect
righteousness and holiness before God. What they lost in that first
Adam was restored in that second Adam. And he not only stood before
God's law and perfectly obeyed it, but he stood before the sword
of God's justice and took it into his heart and soul and died
as a substitute, as a sacrifice, as a sent-off. And he said, it's
finished. You see, we preach the glory
of his person. And we preach the excellency
of His character. He came here on a mission. He came here having been given
a work to do. I finished the work You gave
me to do. Father, glorify Your Son now
that Your Son may glorify Thee. I finished the work You gave
me to do. When did He give it to Him? Before
the world began. I finished it. He restored all that we lost
in Adam, He restored. All that was taken away, He gave
back. Made us perfect. He was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. By stripes we're
healed. Accepted in the Beloved. Fallen
in Adam, restored in Christ. Dead in Adam, alive in Christ. Sinful in Adam, holy in Christ. Rejected in Adam, accepted in
Christ. Thirdly, what is it to preach
Christ? It's to preach the power of His blood. Now please listen
to this. The power of His blood. Young
people, you listen to this. The word blood occurs in the
Bible over 450 times. 450 times. The first blood ever shed
on this earth. See, God made the world. Made
the garden, put the man in the garden, multiply and replenish
the earth, have dominion over all things, subdue the earth.
There was to be no death, there was to be no blood shed, not
even of the animals, not in any way. And Adam fell. And when Adam fell, He realized
he was naked, and he tried to cover his nakedness with fig
leaves. He tried to cover his nakedness with his own effort,
by his own effort, by his own ingenuity. Well, one thing about
fig leaves, they will decay and fall off. Not permanent. It won't cover. It doesn't satisfy
the justice of God. God said the soul that sinneth
has to die. Sin has to be paid for by death.
When a man dies, he sheds his blood. So when Adam and Eve stood
there naked, God slew an animal. First blood, first death was to cover Adam's nakedness.
God slew an animal, shed its blood, took its skin, and covered
Adam. And right then, the very first
moments after the fall, God showed Adam To cover your sin and nakedness,
the innocent has to die. The innocent has to suffer. And
then the first sacrifice that we have any knowledge of in the
Bible was Abel's sacrifice. There were sacrifices before
Abel because Abel was a grown man. His father offered sacrifices,
but the first one we see is a lamb slain, bloodshed. You see, God
says this, I've given you the blood upon the altar to make
an atonement for your soul. And it's not blood, it's not
even the blood of Christ Himself that saves. The word blood indicates
death. You follow me? That soldier that
drove the nail into the hands, they said that the nail went
in here, some say it went in there, I don't know. Well, when
that soldier drove that nail, blood came out. You know, when he hit that nail,
that blood spattered all over him in his face. The blood of
God, God-man, actually got on that soldier. Well, this superstitious
age would say, man, oh, to have the actual blood of God wouldn't
do you any good. When they were down there at
the base of the cross, when he was hanging up there on the cross,
blood was streaming from his side, and they were down there
casting lots for his garment. You know the blood was everywhere.
But when we talk about the blood of Christ, when we talk about
the cross of Christ, and this is one of the... we're a superstitious
generation. Paul said we preach Christ and
Him crucified, we glory in the cross. Now listen to me, not
the cross on which He died. You could find that cross and
touch it and put it up here in front of the church and gather
around it and it would only serve to condemn you. Idolatry. The blood of Christ, actually
His blood wouldn't do you any good. When we talk about the
blood, we're talking about the person and work, the death of
Christ. When we talk about the cross,
we're talking about the work of Christ. He came here in the
flesh to satisfy justice. He obeyed God. He went to the
cross and died and shed His blood like all those animals down through
the years died and shed their blood as pictures of the Lamb
of God, as types of the Lamb of God, patterns of the Lamb
of God. He died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. As a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, he opened not his mouth. And what that sheep is showing
in its quiet submission and surrender. Someone told me when you take
a sheep and cut its throat, it just lies there, you know, and
you just cut its throat. It never struggles or fights
or, like a tiger, eats you alive. But it's willing, and Christ
was willing. And the animal died, its blood was shed, and that's
substitution. We deserve to die, He died for
us. We deserve the wrath of God,
He bore it for us. So what I'm saying to you is
this, the blood of Christ, when we say the blood of Christ, we're
talking about the life of Christ, and the death of Christ, and
the sacrifice of Christ, and the substitutionary work of Christ.
And let me tell you, There's no sin so black. There's no guilt
so great. There's no life so wicked. There's
no heart so evil. There's no past so corrupt that
his blood cannot cleanse it, purify it, make it white as snow. His blood. But when Paul speaks
of the blood, he does not refer to the actual blood. When he
talks about the preaching of the cross, he's not talking about
the actual cross. He's talking about the whole
of his work. from eternity past to eternity future. You see,
at the right hand of God, He intercedes for us. Listen to
this. At the right hand of God, He intercedes for us. He's there
in our place. God looks on Him and receives
us. What is there about Him? His
blood was shed. His blood. He's there, and the
Scripture says, His wounds are still in His hands and feet,
showing that He died. Alright, last and I close. What
is it to preach Christ and Him crucified? Now listen to this.
Look at the next three verses. Verse 3. Paul said, I preached
Christ and Him crucified. Verse 3, I was with you in weakness,
in fear and trembling. We're just men like you. My speech
and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and power," watch this now, "...that
your faith should stand." That your faith should stand. Brethren,
do you know for a person to believe this gospel, to actually believe
it, is as great a miracle as you can imagine. It's a miracle. if a person actually
believes this gospel. It's a miracle. And that your
faith should stand, now watch this, not in the wisdom of men,
but that your faith should stand in the power of God. God's power
to create is seen in the universe. God's power to sustain his creation
is seen in his providence. God's power to rule is seen in
his purpose. God's power to save is seen in
his Son. That's where it's at. And your
faith should stand, not in our wisdom and argument and persuasion,
but in the power of God, power of His Word, power of His blood,
power of His grace, power of God. I believe that Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, I believe this message. This message enables
God to be just and justify. This message glorifies God. Listen
to me. This message is the same gospel
Abraham believed, Moses, David, all the great believers of the
past, they believed this message. Same message, substitution.

What Is It to Preach Christ Crucified?

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What Is It to Preach Christ Crucified?

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