I Corinthians chapter 1, verse
23. But we preach Christ crucified. But we preach Christ crucified. Paul, back here in verse 17,
said, God sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. You know, we're such extremists,
we have so little understanding of this great book. The Apostle Paul is not minimizing
the place of baptism. He's not minimizing the importance
of baptism. We just get carried away in our
way. We go forth saying, well, Paul
said he, God didn't send him to baptize, but preach the gospel,
so it must not be very important. The Lord commanded his disciples
to make converts and baptize them. He sent them forth to to
make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He said, you preach the
gospel, and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
And the apostle Paul was baptized. Ananias preached the gospel to
him and insisted that he arise and be baptized and wash away
his sins. That's what Scripture said. And
Paul taught in Romans 6 the meaning of baptism, bared with Christ
in baptism, risen with Christ to walk in newness of life. Well,
what's he saying here? Well, he's saying that the primary
business of the preacher is to preach the gospel. That's what
he's pointing out. The primary business of the preacher
is not to baptize. It's not to administer ordinances.
It's not to marry people or even to bury people. It's not to be
taken up with the business of religion and the business of
the church. The primary business of the preacher
is to preach the gospel. That's what Paul said. He's not
minimizing the place of baptism nor the importance of baptism.
He's dealing with preaching, and when it comes to preaching
the gospel, baptism, the Lord's table, church business, all of
these things have to take second place. That's what Paul said.
God sent me to preach the gospel." That's what the apostles said.
In the early church, when difficulties—there was a pretty good-sized congregation
there at Jerusalem, and there arose some difficulties between
some of the folks, and Peter said, look out among you seven
men of good report and full of faith and full of the Holy Ghost
that we might appoint over this business. And we'll give ourselves
to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Not that the Apostle
Peter wasn't concerned about the unity of the Church. It wasn't
that he wasn't concerned about the fellowship of believers.
It wasn't that he wasn't interested in the business of the congregation.
It wasn't here that Paul wasn't interested in men following the
Lord in baptism. He was, but he said this thing
of preaching the gospel is first and foremost. And everything
else, if something has to suffer, let it not be the preaching of
the gospel. If something has to be placed in second place,
let it not be the preaching of the gospel. And that's what he's
saying in that verse. And then he said in verse 17
also, not with wisdom of words. This preaching of the gospel
is not to be done with eloquence and enticing words of man's wisdom
and showy oratory. Lest men be taken up with our
persons. Lest men be taken up with our
gifts. with our knowledge, wisdom, and
Miss Christ. Look down here at 1 Corinthians
2, and this is a great danger here. Any man who stands before
others and instructs, preaches, or teaches, he has to be mighty,
mighty careful that he preaches not himself, but Christ. And I, brethren, verse 1 of chapter
2, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony
of God. I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with
you in weakness and fear and much trembling. And my speech,
now watch this, and my preaching was not with enticing or persuasive
words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and
the power. And there's a reason for this.
Verse 5 says that your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of men, in the logic of men, in the arguments
of men, but in the power of God. We preach not ourselves. We're
not preaching our place, we're not preaching our position, we're
not preaching our faith, we're not preaching our wisdom, we're
not preaching our denomination, we're not preaching our persons,
we're not preaching our opinions. I hope we're preaching Christ. I hope we're preaching Christ.
Christ sent me not to baptize, although I'm interested in me
and being baptized. I'm interested in men remembering
the Lord's death at the table of the Lord. I'm interested in
the church, he said, prospering, and the people joined together
in a unity of spirit and fellowship, in missionaries being sent. I'm
interested in all of those things, but my primary purpose and duty
and responsibility, if everything else suffers, is to preach the
gospel. And that's our business as a
church, to see that the Gospels preach. And it's your business
as an elder or a deacon to see that the Gospels preach. And
I think maybe perhaps we ought to get just a little bit, a little
bit more, a little bit more open about this thing and dealing
with those who are not preaching it. You don't want to hurt men's
feelings, I know that. I don't like to hurt anybody's
feelings. I don't like to be critical. I don't like to listen
with a critical ear. I want to have a forgiving spirit,
a kind spirit, a warm spirit, a loving spirit. You do. But I don't know but what we
maybe ought to be frank and open and honest in dealing with men
about this thing of preaching the gospel. How'd you like my message? What'd
the old man say to the preacher? It was a very poor sermon. Why,
he said. I studied, I prepared, I had
the illustrations, I had the doctrine, but he said you didn't
have Christ in that message, and it didn't benefit anybody. And my eloquence, my intellect,
I'm just as afraid of intellectual Calvinism as I am, rank Arminianism. See, so I'm scared to death of
that which freezes and that which men can't understand and that
which is a show of man's wisdom. I don't know why we can't write
and preach and witness in language that can be understood so that
the cross of our Lord is not just covered up with all of our
words and doctrines and theology. That's what Paul's saying here,
persuasive words of man's wisdom and logic and arguments, and
he's smart and he wants all of us to know it, you know. But
we wind up knowing he's smart and not knowing Christ. We wind
up impressed with him and go away hungry, not knowing the
Redeemer. How prone men are to look everywhere
but to Christ. They will. They'll look everywhere
but to Christ. It takes all the power of heaven
to shut a man up to Christ. In spite of all you can do, he'll
look somewhere other than Christ. He'll look to you. He'll look
to your church, your baptism, or your doctrine, or your system
of doctrine, or something. He'll look to something. It takes
all the strength and power of God Himself to shut a man up
to Christ. He says here in verse 18, For
the preaching of the cross is to them who are perishing foolishness,
sheer nonsense. The preaching of the cross is
to them who are being saved, the power of God. the power of
God to convict and to convert, the power of God to change, the
power of God to bring a man to see Christ and to love Him, the
power of God and the wisdom of God. The preaching of the cross is
the wisdom of God. I see in how God can be just
and justify the ungodly. I see in the cross the wisdom
of God, how He can be righteous and merciful, how He can be truth,
and yet gracious, how God can be just and yet justified, how
God can satisfy and reconcile Himself, put away the enmity
and receive the enemy. It's the power of God, the sufficiency
of Christ's blood is able to cleanse me from all sin, able
to atone for all my guilt, able to put away all my iniquity,
and able to justify God in His righteousness, the power and
the wisdom of God. Oh, yeah, it'll be to those who
are perishing, sheer nonsense, but to those who are being saved,
they'll see in it the power of God and the wisdom of God. He
said in verse 23, and to the Jew, to the religious Jew, an
offensive thing, a stumbling block. The Jew has a zeal for
God, the Jew talks about acceptance with God, the religious Jew talks
about a righteousness with God. But that through his own righteousness,
that through his own works, that through his own efforts, not
by a cross, not by a cross, not by a hated cross, not by the
death of Calvary, It's a stumbling block, it's an offensive thing
to the religious man. And to the Gentile, it's just
nonsense. That's what he said in verse
23, to the Gentiles, it's foolishness, it's idle dreaming. Whoever heard
of such a thing? Verse 24, but to those who are
called, those who are enlightened, those who are taught of God,
those who are regenerated by His Spirit, those who are given
eyes to see, their sin, their guilt, their need, their inability,
God's righteousness, God's holiness, God's truth. Those who are given
eyes to see, those who are called, the preaching of the cross is
to them the wisdom of God and the power of God. And we preach, he said, verse
23, Christ crucified. Now, wait a minute. When the
apostle Paul He talks about preaching Christ crucified. Now, he's dedicated
to it. He's dedicated to it. He's dedicated
to the study of it. He's dedicated to the understanding
of it. He's dedicated to the proclamation
of it. He's dedicated to the preaching
of the cross at the expense of everything else. I preach Christ
crucified. Now, when he says that, Does
Paul mean that we only preach the death of Christ on the cross?
That's all he preaches. That's what he's preaching of
the cross, Christ and Him crucified. When he says, God forbid that
I should glory. Now listen to me. And we are
extremists. We just, we can't see the, we
can't see the forest for the trees. If we could stand back, we'd
see the vastness and beauty of the forest, but we'd get right
up against an old oak and that's all we can see is that oak. We'd
see one thing at a time. And if we're not careful, we
won't present and represent God as He ought to be presented and
represented. Brother Mews said he's surprised that the church
has done so well in spite of such poor preaching. And I guess
that's why, when Paul says, God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross, does he mean that he doesn't glory in the incarnation
of Christ? He doesn't glory in the eternality
of Christ? He doesn't glory equally in the
sinless life of Christ? I'm saved by his death and by
his life. He doesn't glory equally in the
resurrection of Christ, the exaltation of Christ, the second coming
of Christ. If we don't stand back, if we
don't stand back, and if we're trying to, if we're setting out
to prove a point at the expense of all other points, we'll just
misrepresent the Lord. And there's no need for that.
If I'm going to teach election, there's no need of appearing
to preach that nobody's responsible. If I'm going to preach preservation,
there's no need for me to carry it so far that people get the
idea that there's no need for them to persevere. If I'm going
to preach divine calling, there's no need to present it in such
a way that men sit back and wait till they hear a voice and will
not respond to the call of Christ. If I'm preaching the cross, I know we don't go in for celebrating
Christmas and the birth of Christ and Easter, the resurrection,
as the world celebrates it. But I'm telling you this, if
he wasn't born, he wouldn't have died. But if he's not raised,
if he's still in the grave, I'm in trouble. So you can't, you can't, if you're
not careful, if you're not, if you're not careful, everybody,
you see, if we go out, especially standing up here, and I've said
it so many times, I know you're tired of hearing it, but the awesome responsibility
of handling this book. Paul said, who's sufficient for
these things? And we've got to have some sort
of Holy Spirit direction and leadership. If we're going to
deal with men's souls, they're delicate things, they're valuable
things. It's all he's got. He's put in
your hands all he's got. He's put in your hands all he's
got. It's worthy of dedication, isn't
it? Christ crucified. Let me tell
you something. Let me give you six or seven
or eight things here. When I preach Christ crucified,
I'm preaching Christ our surety. I'm saying this, that the relationship
of Christ and His redeemed ones, The relationship of Christ and
his redeemed ones goes back to the counsels of God in eternity.
The cross is no new message. His death on the cross is no
sudden decision. His death on the cross is planned
and purposed and decreed from all eternity. He's the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. His blood is the blood of an
everlasting covenant. When I preach Christ and Him
crucified, I'm not preaching an advent or an event that happened
two thousand years ago. I'm preaching an eternal happening. He is the charity of an everlasting
covenant. His blood is the blood of an
everlasting covenant. Yes, I'm chosen in Christ, but
I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Yes, I'm loved in Christ, but I was loved in Christ before
the morning stars sang together. Yes, I've been accepted in the
Beloved, but I was accepted in the Beloved when the Beloved
was alone with God. And all of that on the basis
of his sacrifice, Christ crucified. God's always considered us in
the light of Christ crucified. God has always loved us in the
light of Christ crucified. The moment Adam sinned, I say
this unto you, having some understanding of the absolute holiness of God,
the moment Adam sinned, God would have cast him into the darkness
of all darkness immediately had it not been for Christ and Him
crucified. That's so. God looked with Adam
and looked upon Adam and God looked upon us in Christ before
the foundation of this world. That's right. We preach Christ
crucified. We glory in the cross. We glory
not in an event of some recent years. We glory in an eternal
event. Christ crucified. And the song
in heaven is going to be unto Him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood. He said, I saw as it were a Lamb
that was slain, seated on a throne. Whether He's on His throne or
wherever, it's the Lamb slain. That's where the power is, that's
where the atonement is, that's where the redemption is, the
Lamb slain. So when Paul says, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross, When he says the preaching
of the cross, when he says we preach Christ and Him crucified,
he's not just talking about one act of the Redeemer on Golgotha's
hill. He's talking about Christ's eternal
surety, the Lamb slain from the foundation. I'll tell you something
else. When we preach Christ crucified, we preach Christ the Messiah.
The message of the Old Testament is the message of the cross.
Every prophecy, every promise, every type, every shadow is of
a crucified Redeemer. That's how Christ is presented
in the Old Testament, a crucified Redeemer. Moses and the brazen serpent,
that's Christ crucified. The smitten rock, that's Christ
crucified. The Passover lamb, that's Christ
crucified. The woman's seed in Genesis 3,
verse 15, bruising the head of the serpent, that's Christ crucified.
The atonement as the great high priest slew the lamb and took
the blood under the veil and put it on the mercy seat, that's
Christ crucified. The preaching of the cross is
no new message. Turn back to Romans chapter 1
verse 2. Listen to the Apostle Paul as
he identifies the gospel here. He says in verse 1, I'm separated
to the gospel of God. In verse 2 he said, which he
promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Turn to Acts 10. Listen to this.
This is one I want you to look carefully at. Acts 10 verse 43. Now watch this, in Acts 10.43,
to him give all the prophets witness. What prophets we're
talking about there? We're talking about Moses, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophets, that through his name, whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Without the
shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. That's Christ
crucified. There's no new message. The preaching
of the cross is no new message. The message of the whole Old
Testament is the cross. The Messiah is promised, stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted, bearing our transgressions in
His body. By His stripes we're healed.
So when I preach Christ crucified, I'm preaching Christ, the eternal
surety. I'm preaching Christ, the Jewish
Messiah. the promised Redeemer. The one
who is typified, the one who is shattered, the one who is
prophesied, the one who is promised, is the Lamb slain. And then when
I preach Christ crucified, turn to Matthew 1.21. I'm preaching
Christ virgin born. Christ virgin born. That angel
came to Mary and Joseph and told them that she would have a child. And that angel said in Matthew
chapter 1 verse 21, And she shall bring forth a son, this virgin,
who has never known a man. And thou shalt call his name
Jesus, Savior, for he shall save his people from their sins. There's
the cross. Even at the announcement of his
birth. He's born crucified. He's born
destined for the truth. For this cause came out of the
world to this hour. But my friends, if Christ is
not virgin-born, He's not the Son of God. If Christ is not
virgin-born, He's not without sin. If Christ is not virgin-born,
He's not the promised Savior. If Christ is not virgin-born,
His death on the cross is as worthless as the thief who died
next to Him. So when I glory in the cross
and when I preach the cross, I'm not just preaching the one
act. Without that incarnation, without that, this holy thing
conceived in you is born of God, the Son of God, the virgin-born
Son of God. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel,
God with us. This is God in the flesh. Boy, I'll tell you, I glory in the fact that in the
fullness of time God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made
under the law to redeem them that were born under the law. You don't have to close one eye
to preach the gospel. You don't have to stop up one
ear to be true to the gospel. You don't have to cut all the
strings off your fiddle, just know which one to play. Christ incarnate has to be, if
there's going to be a cross. If there's going to be a cross,
a body has now prepared. People are seeing in His body
where that body comes from. And then Christ crucified is
Christ the sinless one. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. Let
me show you something here. in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. Now listen, it emphasizes this
so strong. He made him to be sin for us.
That's good, that's great, that's important, that's preaching.
But don't leave out this next line, who knew no sin. Because
I'll tell you this, justice could never be satisfied by one who
does not honor the law. Righteousness could never be
provided for one who does not uphold the law. The suffering
Savior has to be, must be, the sinless Savior. This is the strength
of His offering. This is the efficacy of His offering. Who He is and what He is. That's
the strength of it. That's the efficacy of it. He
hath made Him to be sin for us and every honest man. And every
thinking man and every wise man is going to say, who is he? Who is he? Now this is what I
don't understand about the world in general. I can understand
it about children. I can understand this about you
come along and you say to a child, there's a heaven, there's a hell,
and there's a God. Now, if you don't want to go
to hell and you want to go to heaven and believe on Jesus, He died
on the cross for you, would you accept Him and put out the hand,
yes, I'll accept Him. I can understand a simple-minded
child, and children don't misunderstand me, and I'm not questioning your
wisdom and so forth, but you have to know, if a fish has grown to be four
feet long, he's passed by a lot of hooks without opening his
mouth and swallowing one, you know. If one can get out of about
this size, he'll usually make it. And we sometimes, when we're
young, we swallow things that we think about when we get older.
We pass it by two or three times, circle it, and look at it, and
weigh it, and measure it, and so forth, before we just grab
it. And so, you older people, I don't understand how you swallow
things like that. Why you don't sit down and say,
now, this Jesus you say that can save me, who is He? This
Jesus, you say, that you want me to trust, where did He come
from? This Jesus, you say, that can
save me from my sin because He died for me, what does He have
that any other Jesus doesn't have, any other man doesn't have?
What makes Him able to save me? You see what I'm saying? Why
don't men sit down and say, now come on preacher, you say, just
believe on Jesus, well tell me, who is this Jesus and where did
he come from and what's different about him, what's different between
him and Mohammed or him and Confucius or him and Buddha or him and
some other great religious leader? Just sit down there now and tell
me about this Jesus. And that's what Paul is saying
here, he's saying, He was made sin for us who knew no sin. He knew no sin. He was with the
Father in the beginning. He is. He and the Father are
one. He is the perfect one. He's the sinless one. He's the
holy one. He's the Son of God. He's God
in human flesh. He's our eternal surety. He's
our eternal representative. He's God's eternal elect. He's
the firstborn. of every creature. You see that? And he has the sufficiency and
the efficacy and the power to save because of who he is. His
blood can cleanse because of whose blood it is. It's God's
blood. God purchased the church with his own blood. It's not
just belief either. It's I know whom I have believed.
And so we preach Christ crucified. We've got to deal with thinking
men and women. And we've got to clear up these
questions. Well, who is He? And where did
He come from? And what did He do? And why did
He do it? And why is God satisfied with Him and not with me? And
how can His blood put away so many sins? And how can His perfect
life impute righteousness to so many? And how can these things
be? And it's the preacher's responsibility
to put forth some kind of foundation for a man to put his foot on
and believe and find in that some hope. Christ the sinless
one. Then when we preach Christ crucified,
we preach Christ the risen one. Look at Romans 8, verse 34. Listen
to it. Who is he that condemned him? Now listen here, wait a minute
Paul, you are challenging heaven, you are challenging hell, you
are challenging earth, who is he that condemns it? You better have some backing
for that. You better have some reason for that kind of boldness. I have never seen such boldness.
You tell me you are the chief of sinners, less than the least
of all the saints, a blasphemer, injurious, a persecutor. And
here you are, Rabbi, and look all over the place and to heaven
and all over earth and down into hell and challenge anybody to
condemn you? What's the basis of your claim?
Here it is, it's the fourfold pillar of the whole church. Christ
died, but that ain't all. He rose again. He rose again,
and that ain't all. is even at the right hand of
God. And that ain't all. He maketh
intercession for me. Huh? That's how he can be so
bold. That's how he can be so bold.
Why, he says, who can lay anything to my charge? I challenge anybody
to condemn me. My Lord died. It's Christ that
died. It's not just the man. It's Christ,
the God-man. It's Christ that died. It's not
just the religious leader, it's the God-man. It's the anointed
one, the appointed one, the elected one, the honored one, the exalted
one who died for me. And He didn't just die, He rose
again. He conquered death, hell, and
the grave. And His resurrection says the
Father is pleased with what He did. His resurrection says the
Father accepted what He did. His resurrection said, the Father
has in my place instead honored what he did and took him to glory
and set him on his right hand. And not only that, but he calls
my name. Peter, you're in for some real
trouble, Peter. Satan had desired you, and he's
going to sift you. Oh, Peter, you're going to weep
bitterly. He's going to take you over a
rocky road. He's going to take you through
a dark valley. He's going to take away your
comfort. He's going to take away everything.
He's going to sift you just like a man sifts wheat and chaff. But I've prayed for you. and
everything is going to be all right, because I prayed for you. Paul said, if Christ be not risen,
our preaching is vain, your faith is vain, we relied on God, the
dead rise not, you are yet in your sins, and everybody of all
men, the believer is most miserable. So I got the glory and the resurrection. I got to stand at that open tomb
and hear that angel say, He's not here! He's not here! Believe me, He's not here! Don't look for the living among
the dead because He's not here! If He's there, if He's there,
tragedy of tragedies, if He's there, my preaching is vain.
If He's there, your faith is vain. If He's there, I'll always
be there. But He's not there. He's risen. And that's, the cross means nothing
without the resurrection. It means absolutely nothing. It's as if He hadn't died at
all if He'd be not risen. It's the tragedy of all tragedies
of all time that such a good man had to die for nothing if
He'd be not risen. If He'd be not risen. And then
Philippians 2, run over there just a moment right quick. Christ
crucified, what is it? Christ the surety, Christ the
Messiah, Christ the sinless one, Christ the virgin born, Christ
the risen one. And bless your heart, Christ
crucified is Christ the exalted one. Like Brother Barnard said,
if he is where God says he is. If he is where God says he is. that everything else God says
about him is easy to believe. If he's not where God says he
is, then everything else that's said about him is a lie. That's
how important is the ascension. If my representative, Jesus Christ,
if my federal head, Jesus Christ, if my surety, if my guarantor,
if my redeemer, is where God says He is, at the right hand
of God, at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. That's the place of love, acceptance,
power, glory, lordship. That's everything at the right
hand. And if He's there, then everything else anybody says
about Him has got to be so. You see what I'm saying? It's
got to be so. He's got to be who he says he
is if he's where he says he is and where God says he is. And
let's see what it says here in verse 9 of Philippians 2. Wherefore, it says in verse 8,
he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore, God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name. You can't pronounce a name. His name is not above it. Michael,
above it. Moses, above it. Abraham, above
it. Gabriel, above it. The world,
the universe, nations, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome, America,
above it. The New Jerusalem, above it. His name is above everything.
And let me tell you something, He died for me. That's something. And He died
for me. And He died for me. And then last of all, John 14. Now, our Lord was talking to
His disciples here. He was going to leave them. He
was going away, He said. They were sorrowful, heartbroken,
disturbed, depressed. And how did He comfort them?
Do you know how He comforted them? How He strengthened them?
How He prepared them for the world's frown? How He prepared
them for the world's hatred? How He prepared them for such
an impossible task as to go forth with a hated message. How He
prepared them for what they were going to face. He says, I'm coming
back. I'm coming back. I'm not going
to leave you alone. I'll be back. Look at verse 1. He says, Let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you." What's Christ doing
on that right hand? Preparing a place for you. He made the place possible by
sacrifice. He makes it certain by His exaltation. Verse 3, And if I go and prepare
that place for you, I will come again. and receive you unto myself,
that where I am there you may be also." I will come again. We preach Christ crucified. We
have to preach the coming King to claim what He purchased. That's right. He's coming again
to possess what He purchased. A man goes into a store and pays
money for an object and then goes off and never comes back
to get it? Not very important to him, is it? He's a foolish
man with his money. But he goes in and he picks out
an object of affection, an object of love, and he pays for it.
And he says, I'm coming back to get it. And our Lord came
down here. He loved this object from the
foundation of the world. He set His affections upon us
with an everlasting love. He chose us from among men. And
He came down here and what a price He paid. He laid down, He suffered
not only starting from His birth, it was privation and poverty
and persecution from His birth. Even to the garden of Gethsemane
when He cried, I'm going to die under the weight of this burden. even to the cross when they spit
upon Him and nailed Him there. He shed His blood and died and
was buried by way of the tomb. He came out and went to glory. And He went there unto the holiest
of all in the presence of God and laid down the purchase price
on the mercy seat of glory. Paid for His possession. Paid for the one He chose. paid
for it with his blood and his sweat and his tears and his life.
He sat down and he's been pleading and praying and presenting his
sacrifice and his wounds and his words of love and mercy. And he's coming back to get it
someday. He redeemed not only my soul, but my body. And he's
coming back to get it. He said, I'm coming back. And
when He comes, He's going to raise these vile bodies, and
He's going to present us before His Father's throne. The riches
of His grace is going to be magnified by the trophies of His grace.
So brethren, when the Apostle Paul comes to us and says, we
preach Christ crucified, he's talking about Christ and
all that he is, author and finisher of our faith. And when he glories
in the cross, he's glorying in God's purpose. The preaching
of the cross is not the preaching of a block of wood like that,
you know, or even one act. The preaching of the cross is
the preaching of Christ crucified, which includes who he and what
He did, and why He did it, and where He is, and what He will
do. It's Christ, His person and His
work. Our Father, anoint these words
with the power of Thy Spirit. Use the message for Thy glory
and Thy praise. Teach us. Give us wisdom and
understanding. And O our God, Help us to preach
in the power of Thy Spirit, Christ in Him crucified. That the faith
of Thy people shall not stand in the wisdom of men, but in
the power and wisdom of God. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.