I'm reading from 1 Corinthians
2, verse 2. For I determined there was a determination,
evidently some temptation to do otherwise, or some advice
to do otherwise. or perhaps some pressure exerted
to do otherwise, that Paul said, I determine not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. We know that the
city of Corinth was a city of great learning, great human wisdom,
philosophy, all this sort of thing. And evidently the Apostle
Paul had some pressure exerted on him from somewhere to do otherwise than preach the
gospel of Christ. And he writes here, and he said,
I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. Now, some of my preacher brethren
lately have been accused of preaching the same thing every Sunday. That's what people say. I received
a letter this week from a young minister who said that a person
said to him recently, all you ever preach is the gospel. All
you ever preach is the gospel. This was also said two or three
years ago to Brother Scott Richardson. In fact, the person who made
the charge said, I have it right here in my Bible. I have every
one of your sermons, your text, your topic, and every one of
them is just gospel, gospel, gospel. Well, I ask you, my friend,
do you know anything better to preach than the gospel? Do you
know anything better to preach? Did not Paul say this, woe is
unto me if I preach not the gospel? You know what Paul said? He said
necessity is laid upon me, I must preach the gospel, woe is unto
me if I don't preach the gospel. Look across the page at 1 Corinthians
1.17. He said Christ sent me not to
baptize. Now he did baptize some, Crispus,
Gaius, the household of Stephanus. But he said, most of you didn't
baptize because God didn't send me primarily for that purpose,
to organize, to baptize. But to do what? But to preach
the gospel. That's why God sent me, Paul
said, to preach the gospel. In Romans 1.16, he said, the
power of God, the gospel is the power of God. The power of God
is the gospel, and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation,
to salvation. When a man is preaching the gospel,
he is preaching the very dynamite of God that is able to destroy
the forces of evil and save a sinner. He couldn't have a more important
subject. In 1 Corinthians 15, he said
to the church at Corinth, I have declared unto you the gospel
by which you are saved, wherein you stand. God bless. I say to this young preacher
and also to all who are accused, perhaps I'm accused of this,
all you ever preach is the gospel. Well, I say God bless the man
who preaches the gospel, and he will bless it. Our Lord promised
to honor those who honor his son. And then recently, this
came to my attention, a man attended a Bible conference. just two
or three weeks ago, and he was asked upon his return home, how
did you enjoy the conference, to which he replied, the messages
were the same old thing, the same old thing. How do I react
to statements like this? Well, to be perfectly honest
with you, I used to get mad, awful mad. Don't you still get
mad? Yeah, I still get mad. But for
the sake of my notes, the first thing, my reaction is this, after
getting over my mad. But the first reaction is this,
thanksgiving. I give thanks to God for these
men who dare stick to their calling in preaching the gospel. I thank
God. I'm glad he said that. Christ
is our theme. And I hope it ever will remain
our theme, Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. I hope if we have
a conference 10 years from now and people assemble here from
all over the country, I hope that when they leave they say,
well, we heard the same old thing, we heard the same old story.
I love to tell the story, don't you? There was a song written
years ago that goes like this. of the themes that men have known,
one supremely stands alone. Through the ages God has shown,
it's his wonderful, wonderful love in Christ. That's the theme. And so I say to that man who
returned home from the conference and his daughter-in-law said,
well, did you enjoy the conference? Same old thing. I hope by God's
grace years from now that that's still true. Same old thing. Christ
and him crucified. The second feeling is this. I
give thanks. I give thanks. The second feeling
is pity. I feel sorry for the man. And
I pity anyone, any religionist, any professing religionist. Listen
to me now carefully. I pity any religionist who is
not obsessed with, enamored with, and totally in love with the
Lord Jesus Christ. I feel sorry for any man who
cannot rejoice in Christ and Him crucified. I pity you, because
Christ is all and in all. That's what the Word said. Turn
to the book of Colossians a moment. And I know exactly what I'm saying
now, and I've carefully weighed this thought. I feel sorry for
anybody in this congregation. I pity you, because the primary
ingredients of grace is missing if you cannot rejoice in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you cannot rejoice in the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you cannot thrill
to your deepest soul when a man stands in the pulpit and talks
about the love of, and the grace of, and the mercy of, and the
obedience of, and the death of, and the resurrection of, and
the ascension of, and the glorification of, and the intercessory work
of Christ Jesus. Jesus, oh, how sweet the name. If I stood up here this morning
and I said, Jesus, O Jesus, O the Lord Jesus Christ, I tell you,
everyone who loves him and knows him ought to thrill at the very
expression of his name. I know this. If I got up here
this morning and you parrots sitting out there had one child,
one child, a little boy named Billy, and I stood up here this
morning in front of this whole crowd, I said, Billy Jones is
a marvelous, intelligent, well-disciplined, fine child. And I stood there
and talked about Billy Jones for 30 minutes. The grandparents
and parents said, keep it up, preacher, you're doing a good
job. That's right. Well, I'm talking about our Lord.
And those who love him and know him say, keep it up, you're doing
a good job. Don't talk about us. We're not worthy of mention.
But tell us about him. We love him. I'm telling you
the truth. And that's the reason I pity
him. In fact, I thought that conference to which that man
made comment was the finest preaching that I'd heard in a conference
anywhere. That's the way I felt. He said it was the same old thing.
Well, I'll have to agree with him. It was. But I thought it
was the most beautiful preaching I've ever heard. In fact, one
man, 60 years old, made this statement about that Friday of
the conference. Brother Joe Terrell preached,
Brother Marsha Montgomery preached, Donnie Bell preached, Brother
Kent Clark preached, and I preached that night, the closing message.
And a gentleman 60 years old said this with tears in his eyes,
this is the greatest day of preaching in my 60 years. Now, something
is wrong. If one man says, this is the
greatest day of preaching of my life, 60 years, and another
man says, I didn't get anything out of the same old thing, can
you draw some conclusions? Certainly you can. One man knows
Christ and hasn't missed him. Colossians 1 verse 16, listen. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. We're talking about Christ now.
And he's before all things, and by him all things consist, and
he's the head of the body of the Church who is the beginning,
he's the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have
the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell." He's talking about Christ. That's
the Father's. That's the Father's estimation.
Christ is all. So really, when a man makes a
statement, well, same old thing. I thank God. And next Sunday, you'll hear
the same old thing. If you love it, you'll rejoice. If you don't know him, you're
going to be weary. Mr. Spurgeon, let me tell you
a story. Mr. Spurgeon was preaching at the
Tabernacle one Sunday evening, where he had pastored so many
years, and he was preaching from Romans 5, verse 6, and here's
the text. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. This was on Sunday night at the
Metropolitan Tabernacle, the famous Charles Spurgeon was preaching,
his text was in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, and these
were his opening remarks. Listen. There is a doctor of divinity
here tonight who heard me preach some years ago. This Dr. Divinity has been back
to his dwelling place in America, and he has come here tonight
to hear me preach. I could not help fancying, as
I saw his face just now, that he would certainly think that
I was doting on the same old subject and harping on the same
old strains. that I had not advanced a single
inch upon any new domain of thought, but I was preaching the same
old gospel in the same old terms. If he should think that, he'll
be quite right. For I received some years ago
from my master orders to stand at the foot of the cross until
he returns. My master has not yet returned. But I mean to stand there until
he does. If I should disobey his orders
and leave these simple old truths, which have been the means of
saving so many sinners, I know that I could not expect his blessings. Here then I stand at the foot
of the cross, and I tell out again the old, old story stale
though it may sound to itching ears, and worn threadbare as
critics may deem it, but it is of Christ that I love to speak.
I love to preach Christ who loved me and lived for me and died
for me. I substitute our sin offering,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. I love to tell the story of unseen
things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love. And when in scenes of glory I
sing the new, new song, it will just be the old, old story that
I have loved so long. One preacher said one time when
he got through preaching on Christ and him crucified, He said to
a friend, well, he said, I'm a little unhappy because I didn't
finish my subject, I didn't finish my sermon. And the man looked
at him and said, Preacher, you were preaching on Christ and
him crucified. You could preach a million years
and you'd never finish that sermon. Another charge that I frequently
hear is this. Now, I want you to really listen
carefully. Somebody said, you preach the
same old thing all the time, the gospel. That's true. Another
fellow said, I came back from a conference and it was the same
old thing. Here's another charge that I
frequently hear, and I want you to give me your undivided attention. I know what I'm thinking, I know
what I'm saying here, but I'm not sure if I can present it
to you. I know that we must preach the
gospel. Now you think what we're saying,
the gospel. It's the gospel of God. It's
the gospel of God. He purposed it, he planned it,
he executed it, he applied it, he sustains it, he will perfect
it. The gospel of God. It's the gospel
of his free grace, grace, free grace in Christ. It's the mercy
of God to sinners. It's the gospel good news, glad
tidings of a person in his work, all that he is and all that he
did and all that he does and all that he will do, the gospel. It's the gospel of a perfect
righteousness, the fulfillment of God's holy law, and the gospel
of a definite and sufficient sin offering whereby we are perfected. It's the gospel of a reigning
king, prophet, priest, and king. I'm talking about the gospel
now, the gospel. People say, I know we must preach
the gospel, but then we must also preach practical godliness
and practical theology and practical things. Have you ever heard that
before? Come on now, have you? You know you have. Well, I sat
down with this letter from this young preacher, and he used that
word practical, practical. Now, you think what I'm saying.
Won't you listen carefully to me? I know we must preach the
gospel, but must not we also, but also, in addition to preach
practical godliness and practical things? You know what I did?
I did what you don't want to do. I looked up the word practical
in the dictionary. If you want to keep something
going, if you want to keep stirring, don't look up. Don't bother to
define what you're talking about. That's what keeps an argument
going. That's right. Don't define what you're talking
about. Don't look it up. Just keep on rambling. But two
things you don't want to do. If you want to keep something
stirring and keep an argument going and a division, don't use
your Bible and don't use a dictionary. Just say what you think. I looked
it up. And I want you to think carefully
what to say. Number one, according to Webster's dictionary, and
you buy you one or get you one, look it up yourself, the word
practical, the word practical means this, number one meaning,
that which is obtained through practice. or action such as practical
knowledge. This is what the word practical
means. Here's what we're saying. I know we must preach the gospel,
but we must preach practical godliness. And the word practical,
the first meaning means that which is obtained through practice
or action such as practical workable knowledge. Are you telling me
that the knowledge of God in Christ is not workable? It's
not workable? It's not a knowledge that's put
into action? It's not a knowledge that's put
into practice? Is that what you're saying? When
our Lord Jesus Christ said, This is eternal life, that they might
know thee, the only true God, that it's not a practical knowledge,
it's not a workable knowledge? It's not a knowledge, it's put
into action, it's speculation. Is that what you're saying? When the Apostle Paul said, Oh,
that I may know Christ and the power, the action of his resurrected
life. You know what he's saying? That
I may know Christ and the power, the action, the workable action
of his resurrected life, that I may be found in him. I'm telling
you this, if you know Christ in a gospel relationship, that
knowledge of Christ leads to action, not speculation. Listen to the second meaning,
the practical meaning. The word practical means the
application of knowledge to useful ends. the application of knowledge
to useful ends, and this is what they use, rather than speculation. Are you saying that the gospel
of God, the gospel of his grace, the knowledge of Christ is speculation,
and your rules of religion are workable? That the gospel is
not workable, that the gospel is not useful? That you've got
to get over here into some rules and regulations, and those rules
and regulations are useful and they can be used to better ends
in the knowledge of Christ, I disagree with that. Now, here's the shocker. Here's the shocker, as if that's
not enough. Number one, we're supposed to
preach the gospel now. It doesn't take you all day to
tell them about Christ and him crucified. Just tell them that
Christ came and lived and died on the cross and was buried and
rose again. Now let's get over here to some practical things,
some things that are workable, some things that are useful,
some practical knowledge that will lead to action, that will
produce results. I'm saying a love for Christ
will produce results. But here's the shocker. Practical
means given to actual practice, given to actual practice. In other words, men say this,
preach the gospel, then preach your rules of religion, for they'll
lead people to actually practice. My friends, I intend to actually
practice that wonderful love of Christ. I intend to actually
practice that wonderful grace of Christ. I intend to put into
operation and into action that wonderful life that I find in
the gospel of my Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Colossians 3, verse 4.
Listen to this. I'm saying this is the key. Love
is the key, a love for Christ, a knowledge of Christ. Colossians
3, verse 4, When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with him in glory. What is Christ? He's
not a theory. He's not a myth. He is our life,
our life. Here is a young lady, and here is a young man. And
this young lady falls in love with that young man, totally
enamored, totally obsessed with him. Totally obsessed. She sees in him all she wants,
all she needs. She sees in him her joy and happiness,
her present and her future. Now then, you don't need to sit
down and write out some rules for her. Now, if you love this
young man, you're supposed to think of him. She'll think of
him. If you love this man, don't forget his birthday. She won't
forget his birthday. She'll be thinking of his birthday
for six months before it rolls around. If you love this young
man, do thus and thus. My friend, she doesn't need a
booklet. She operates on the principle
of love for him. She thinks of him. Now, if you
love this young man, you're not supposed to date every Tom, Dick,
and Harry in town. Don't worry about that. She loves
him alone. She wants to be with him. She
doesn't care to be with anybody else. And I'm simply saying this,
that when a person comes to know Christ, when a person comes to
love Christ and to know him and to become obsessed with the Lord
Jesus Christ, and Christ becomes that person's life, he'll read
his Bible. Just like this young girl gets
a letter from that boy. Well, she doesn't lay it aside
and say, well, I'll look at it next week, you know. She'll read
it 10 times before the ink gets dry almost. Because she loves
him. She wants to feast on every word
he writes, every word he says. She loves his voice. She loves
him when she's visiting with her friends. I hear people say,
well, when we're, you know, when we're having a get-together,
we ought to talk about the Bible. We ought to talk about spiritual
things. This young girl goes over to a friend's house, visiting
with a friend. You know what she wants to talk
about? Her boyfriend. That's exactly what she wants
to talk about. And that's what she's going to talk about. If
she sees a new person, she shows him his picture. You see, that's
all motivated by love. And I'm saying that if people
ever love Christ, you don't have to say, well, now, let's not
talk about baseball or football or politics. Let's talk about
Jesus. Let's talk Bible. Let's study
Bible. Well, if you do it out of rules
or regulations, forget it. But if you do it because you
love the word and you love Christ, that's the proper motive, and
you're wasting your time teaching anything else. You say, well,
we believe the gospel. Well, we need some practicality,
some practical rules, some practical knowledge, practical godliness. Hogwash. Paul had all your practical
religion before God saved him. Turn over to Philippians. Let
me show you. Philippians. It's all based on love. You talk
about whom you love. You want to be with people you
love. You want to please the person you love. You want to
do the will of the person you love. You want to glorify the
person you love. That's just so. And when I preach,
I'm going to preach Christ until somebody falls in love with him.
I'm going to preach his eternality, his deity, his glory, his incarnation,
his righteousness, his death. His burial, His resurrection,
His reign, His intercession, His coming again, His glory,
His church, His body, His people, His bride, His feast, all these
things. And somebody, somewhere, sometime,
by the power of God, is going to see Him! They're going to
see Him, Charlie! They're going to hear Him! And
they're going to fall in love with Him. They're going to fall
in love with Him. And they'll drive a hundred miles
to hear somebody talk about him. They'll drive a hundred miles
to hear somebody glorify him. They're going to do it. And they're
going to serve him. They're going to want to be with
him. Paul said to depart and be with Christ. That's what I'm
interested in. I'm interested in being with Christ, which is
far better. It's just like that girl falling in love with that
boy. And man, I'm telling you, she wants to talk about him.
She wants to hear about him. She wants to be with him. She
wants to see him. She wants to read his letters.
She wants to talk to him. You don't know these young people
can talk on the phone for an hour and a half. Did you know
that? I mean, they can sit and talk for an hour and a half.
But not just anybody. That's exactly right. Love makes
you do some peculiar things. Peculiar things. And I'll tell
you, love for Christ will make you do some peculiar things,
too, what the world calls peculiar. But these people that have to
have everything plotted out for them and every step ordered and
little booklets to read on how to, how to, how to, haven't yet
fallen in love with Christ. They've missed him, flat missed
him. And he can't do them any good
anyway. Here's a fellow here in Philippians 3, verse 4, Paul
said, I, verse 4 of Philippians 3, he said, Though I might have
confidence in the flesh, if any man thinketh he hath worth, he
might trust in the flesh, I more. This boy is saved. I circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee. Concerning
zeal, you want to talk about zeal? persecuting the church,
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But
these things that were gained to me, I counted lost for Christ.
I got rid of every bit of my practical religion, and I fell
in love with Christ. Oh, I count all things but lost
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And I count them
but dumb, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness. that I may know him." You see, God in Christ reconciled
the world to himself. Now then, the center in Christ
needs to be reconciled to God. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. That's his love. His love for
us was so great, so infinite, so strong, that he gave his Son. Paul said, Be ye reconciled to
God. Lay down your shotgun. If you
fall in love with him, and he loves you, and you love him,
there's a relationship there that the world does not understand,
just like the relationship. But now, here's what's unfortunate. If she loves him, he doesn't
love her, or vice versa. He loves her, and she doesn't
love him. Some boys commit suicide, all that kind of folks. But I
know this. God loves me. He gave his son
to die for me. He loves me. He desires my best. And by his grace in Christ, I
love him. I love him. And that's a relationship
that only those who love him can understand. And it motivates
me. It's just like this thing of,
I told my class back there last Sunday about tithing. I just,
I have no use for it. I have no use for anything in
religion that's coerced. I have no use for anything in
religion that is a sense of duty that a man feels he has to do
for a reward or out of fear of punishment. Forget it. As I told
my class back there, I said, you fellows, do you think that
somebody has to tell you how much to spend for your wife's
birthday present? Her birthday is coming up tomorrow
or next day. And they come by the pastor's office and he'll
tell you how much to spend. 10% of your weekly salary should
be spent on your wife's present. You say, I'll spend all of it
if I want to. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. If you love
her, spend what you want to. But don't give me any rules and
regulations about, don't give me a day, don't give me a percentage,
don't give me a time to pray. Don't give me an assignment of
how many scriptures to read. Lord, give me love for Christ,
and everything else will be all right. Now, I'm telling you the
truth. It may not be understandable,
but it's the truth anyhow. And I'm saying this in closing.
There is no grace or fruit or purpose of God. Listen, there's
no grace, there's no fruit, love, joy, peace, temperance. And there's
no purpose of God relating to a believer, either past, present,
or future, which is not revealed in Christ. It's all in Christ. Everything God has for you and
me, everything God will make of you and me, everything God
requires of you and me, is in Christ Jesus the Lord. in his
person and work. There's nothing for the believer
as far as grace or fruit or purpose that's outside of Christ. It's
all in Christ. The more you know of Christ,
the more you grow in grace and knowledge of Christ, the more
you'll produce and manifest the grace and the fruit of God, the
more you'll understand his purpose for you. And I'll show you that just briefly.
The fulfillment of righteousness is in Christ. He said, suffer
it to be so, to fulfill all righteousness. Secondly, the example of righteousness
is in Christ. Would you learn to love? Go to
Calvary. Read the bulletin, the back article
on the bulletin tonight or this afternoon. Would you learn humility? Go to Calvary. Would you learn
mercy? Go to Calvary. Would you have
joy? Go to Calvary. Would you learn
obedience? He learned obedience by the things
he suffered. Would you learn to give? Go to
Calvary. And the motivation for righteousness,
one verse, and I'll quit, Ephesians 4.32. Turn over there a minute.
Ephesians 4.32. I want you to see this now. Ephesians 4.31 and 32. Now, preacher, what you need
to do is strike out at people who are bitter, and who have
hatred and anger and these things, and get a discipline committee
and go to them the scriptural way. If they won't hear you,
take two with you, and if they won't hear you, take the church
with you and discipline. Wait a minute, listen, Ephesians
4, 31. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away with all
malice. And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another. If you don't, God won't
give you a reward. If you don't, God will send you
to hell. Wait a minute, here's a motivation. Even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." There it is. Christ. Christ. Years I spent in vanity
and pride. Caring not, my Lord was crucified. Knowing not, it was for me he
died on Calvary. By God's grace, at last, my sin
I learned. And I trembled at the law I'd
spurned, till my guilty soul, imploring, turned to Calvary. Now I've given to Jesus everything. Now I gladly own him as my King. my raptured soul can only sing
of Calvary. You see what I'm talking about?
I hope you see what I'm talking about because it's so important. It's the difference in religion
and life. It's the difference, honestly,
it's the difference in knowing God and knowing theory. It's the difference in possessing
a person. and possessing a bunch of rules
and regulations and a religion that won't give you any rest
or peace or joy or hope of eternal life. It's Christ. And I think if I were to take
the time this morning to have different people to stand up
over this auditorium and tell about, they had religion. They
even had theology, and they even had correct theology, even Calvinistic,
and fundamental, and premillennial, and Baptistic, and all these
things. Had it down just cutting right.
And one day they met, Charlie, a person. A person. A person. Fell in love with a
person. Fell out of love with themselves and fell in love with
a person. They are motivated by that love for him. They see
him in all that they do. They think of him. They want
that relationship with him to be sweet and precious. They quit
bickering and arguing, and the fashion of this world has lost
its glow and its glitter, and it's all vanity. And they look
into his face. That's what happened to solitarsis.
And if that ever happens to you, religion will cease to be a miserable
thing, and attending church will cease to be a duty, and helping
with the collection will cease to be a responsibility, and all
these things will be motivated from a heart that loves Christ. That's all the difference in
the world.