Salvation In Christ Alone

My subject today is salvation
in Christ alone. I'd like for you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter
2. I'm going to read with you the
first five verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And Paul is writing
here and he says, Brethren, when I came to you, I came not with
excellency of speech, or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony
of God, the gospel of God. For I determined to know nothing
among you except Jesus Christ 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
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God." Now, the city of Corinth was a city of people
who admired oratory and eloquence. It was an age of intellectualism,
philosophers, much human wisdom. And Paul was entering that great
city to preach to these people. Now, the temptation would exist
in any man's mind. It would go something like this.
He would say to himself, now, these people have been hearing
the great orators. And they had. The city of Corinth
was a city of orators, intellectualism, philosophers, people who were
educated. And a man going there to preach
to them, would think along this line. He'd say, well, they've
been hearing these great orators. If I would be a match for these
people, then I must speak with great effect. I must speak with
poetical eloquence. Or he would think something like
this. These people are very educated. They're very wise people. If
I'd be a match for their philosophers and for their intellectual people,
then I must demonstrate my wisdom. and demonstrate my knowledge.
And these people are philosophers, and they understand the theories
and the principles of religion. If I would appeal to them, if
I would appeal to their philosophical minds, then I must also demonstrate
my thinking ability and my eloquence and my intellectual powers. After all, and this is the way
human nature reasons, after all, We must win the confidence of
people and the approval of people and the admiration of men if
we are to influence them for Jesus Christ. Now, my friends,
this is natural reasoning, but this is nothing in the world
but the deceit and subtlety of Satan. Paul wrote again to this
church at Corinth, and he says, I'm afraid lest Satan in his
deceitfulness and in his subtlety should take your minds away from
the simplicity of Christ. And both preacher and people
must steer away from this type of reasoning. No, sir, when Paul
entered this great city, when he contemplated going into the
city of Corinth to preach the gospel, this is what he said. While going to that great city
of learning and philosophy and orators, he said, it's my firm
determination It's my firm determination. I am determined not to know anything
among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. For this I
know, if any of you are brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ, if any of you are brought to a living vital union with
God Almighty, it's not going to be through excellency of speech. It's not going to be through
man's wisdom and man's logic and man's reasoning. It's not
going to be through enticing or persuasive words. If any of
you are brought to a vital union with a living God, it's going
to be accomplished by the Spirit of God and by the power of God
using the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the
reason he said this. He said, when I came to you,
I came not to you with eloquence of speech. I came not to you
with enticing or enticing and persuasive words of man's wisdom.
But I came to you in the demonstration and power of the Holy Spirit
that your faith should not stand in man's wisdom, but in the power
of God. And brethren, when I came to
you, I came in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, determined,
determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Now, Albert Barnes once said this, this should be the resolution
of every preacher of God. This is his business, to preach
Christ and him crucify. It is not the preacher's business
to be a politician. It is not the preacher's business
to be a philosopher. It is not the preacher's business
to be a scholar, nor a community leader, nor a jokester, nor an
entertainer. It is his business, it is his
glory, it is his divine calling to preach the good news of salvation
through Jesus Christ the Lord to sinful men. God's preacher
will not be ashamed of that humbling message of ruin by the fall,
redemption by the blood, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. I believe that an honest, God-called
preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be guided by three
things. I believe every honest God-called preacher of the gospel
will be directed in his ministry by three things. First of all,
he will preach what God's Word declares. When God sent these
Old Testament prophets, he would say to them before they went
to the people, declaring to them, thus saith the Lord. Thus saith
the Lord. When Paul wrote to young Timothy,
he said, Timothy, preach the Word. Preach God's Word. Give attention to reading and
to doctrine. Present to those people the Word
of God. We want no new revelation. We
want His revelation. We want no new truth. We just
want His truth. We want no dreams and visions.
We want a thus saith the Lord. My friends, it's plain in the
Scriptures. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. And if a preacher wants his hearer,
to come to the Father, he's going to have to preach the way, and
that way is Christ. And Peter wrote, And we know
that we're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver
and gold from our vain conversation received by tradition from our
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish or spot. So if the preacher wants his
hero to be redeemed, he's going to have to preach the blood of
Christ. Thus saith the Lord. And then secondly, He'll be directed
by this. He'll be guided by this. He'll
not only preach the Word of God, but the preacher who is called
of God and sent of God will preach what he believes in his heart.
I've heard men say, well, I believe such and such, but I don't dare
preach it because it would offend people and it would divide the
church and it would cause trouble in the church. I believe this.
God's Word teaches this. I believe it. But I can't preach
it to my congregation. because it would divide the church
and it would cause trouble. Nonsense. That's nonsense. A man of God will preach what
he believes, whatever the cost. It doesn't matter what it costs
him. He cannot preach except that which he's seen and that
which he's heard and that which he's experienced. And like the
apostles, they declared, it's better to please God and to honor
God and to hear God than to please men. Paul said, if I please men,
I'm not the servant of Christ. Men who really believe the gospel
will die for the gospel, if that's what it takes. I remember reading
a story from church history. It made a great impression upon
me. When King Henry VIII was in power, there was a chaplain
in the royal court by the name of Hugh Latimer. Hugh Latimer,
later on, was burned at the stake. He died for what he believed.
He was a faithful minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Gave
his life for the gospel which he preached. But anyway, while
he was still ministering in the court of Henry, it was his task
one Sunday morning to preach to the court, to Henry and to
all of his captains and all of his leaders of state and the
people of the crown. There was a great host of people
gathered in that royal hall to hear Chaplain Hugh Latimer Hugh
Latimer stood that Sunday morning and he preached. He preached
man's total ruin. He preached the sinfulness of
the flesh. He preached God's power and sovereignty. He preached God's grace through
Jesus Christ. He preached salvation by the
blood, not by human works. He preached God's mercy through
Christ. He preached holiness, the holiness
of the life of a believer. And when he finished, the king
was angry. And the old preacher departed, went down to his quarters,
and someone came down there. The king sent one of his men
down to see him. And the old preacher was sitting
there, and the messenger of the king said to Hugh Latimer, Henry
VIII was angry. The king was angry because of
your message. And he sent me down to tell you
that you must realize before whom you stand. You stand before
the sovereign, his sovereign majesty, Henry VIII, who has
the power to take your life and destroy you. Now he, the king's
going to give you an opportunity next Sunday morning to speak
again. And he feels sure that you'll correct some of these
observations that you've made in your message this morning.
And the messenger left. Well, next Sunday morning, the
court was assembled again. Powerful sovereign monarch Henry
VIII was sitting on his throne surrounded by all of his people
and this great old warrior of the gospel, this man called of
God to preach, Hugh Latimer, stood in front of the sovereign
majesty Henry VIII and he said as he opened his sermon, I've
been told that I am to be permitted to speak again this morning to
correct some of the observations that I made in my message last
Sunday morning. And I've been reminded by His
Majesty, Henry VIII, that I should remember, before whom I stand,
that I stand before the sovereign, royal majesty, the King of England,
Henry VIII, who has the power to take my life. And he said,
I'm aware of that, but I'm also aware, before whom I stand, the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords, His sovereign majesty, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who not only has the power to destroy my body,
but to destroy my soul in everlasting hell. And I must preach what
he sent me to preach. I must preach it. Not only because
he commanded me to preach it, but because I believe it in my
heart. And he went right on and preached
the same message that he preached the Sunday before. Now a man
of God, called of God, sent of God, will preach what God tells
him to preach. And he'll preach it whatever
the cost, because he believes it. Not only because God sent
him to preach it, but because he believes it. And thirdly,
a man of God who is sent of God will preach what men need to
hear. Now this is important. The preacher who is in tune with
God, and who is in tune with his congregation, will preach
what the people need to hear in that day. He knows what they
need to hear. God reveals it to him. He knows
what his congregation needs to hear. He's going to preach a
contemporary message. He's going to preach a message
dealing with the issues. He's not going to avoid the issues
and skirt the issues and preach on something that is not applicable
to his congregation. God does not send a messenger
to men on the brink of hell to recite poetry and to entertain
them in their dangerous position. But he sends that messenger to
cry, flee from the wrath to come. Save yourself from this perverse
generation. It's an alarming message. And
then God Almighty does not send a messenger to religious Pharisees
to brag on their flesh, and to brag on their works, and to brag
on their self-righteousness. But He sends a messenger to deal
with their need, to deal with their problem, and to cry, O
ye whited sepulchres, you appear beautiful to men on the outside,
but on the inside you're full of dead men's bones. Who hath
warned you to flee the wrath to come? God does not send a
messenger to preach the dignity of men, but the greatness of
God. God does not send his messengers to preach the dignity of the
flesh, but the power and greatness and glory and sovereignty and
grace of Almighty God to the miserable, to the guilty. What
shall I cry? He said, cry, O prophet, cry,
O man of God. He said, well, what shall I cry?
The answer comes back, cry, all flesh is grass. And the goodliness
of man is the flower of the field. The grass withereth and the flower
fadeth because the Spirit of God bloweth upon it. But the
word of God abideth forever. Yes, a man who is sent to preach.
And Paul was going to this city of eloquence and this city of
philosophy and this city of intellectualism, this city of political power.
And he said, I'm determined. He could have known other things.
He was one of the most educated men of his day, one of the most
brilliant students of his day. He'd graduated from the highest
university of his day. He'd sat at the feet of Gamaliel,
but he'd been called of God, and he'd been anointed of the
Holy Spirit, and he'd been sent of God to preach the gospel.
And intellectualism is not the gospel. Enticing words of man's
wisdom is not the gospel. Philosophy is not the gospel.
The gospel is Christ and Him crucified. And he said, I am
determined. I am determined. And Paul met
these three requirements. He preached, thus saith the Lord.
He said, when God saved me, I went to Arabia. And I stayed there
three and a half years. And God taught me the gospel.
He taught me his word. And then he said this. He believed
the gospel. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed to him against that day. He believed the gospel.
Peter and James and John, the other men, said, we must preach
what we've seen. We must preach what we've heard.
We dare not preach anything yet. And then Paul knew what men needed
to hear. He knew. He said, I'm determined to know
nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's
what you need to hear. Guilty sinners need to hear about
the pardoning grace of God. Guilty sinners need to hear about
the mercy of God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
That's what they need to hear. They need to hear Christ died
for sinners. Moreover, brethren, Paul said,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached to you, and
which you received, and by which you're saved, and wherein you
stand. This gospel is Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. And he was buried and rose again
according to the scriptures, and he ascended and is seated
at the right hand of God, interceding for us according to the scriptures. Now I want to draw three conclusions. in bringing this message to a
close, in wrapping up this message on salvation in Christ alone,
Christ in Him crucified. I want to draw three conclusions,
and I want you to listen to this, and take notes on it if you'd
like to. First of all, if Christ, the Son of God, the living Lord
of glory, came down here to this earth, sent by the Father, and
died for my sins, if Christ died for my sins, how great must be
my sins. how great must be my sin. If
it took the death of God Almighty in human flesh to put away my
transgressions, oh, how great must be my transgressions. Paul
realized this. He cried, oh, the exceeding sinfulness
of sin. Have you ever viewed your sins
in the light of Calvary's cross? I don't believe a man can see
the greatness of sin except he sees it in the light of the death
of the Son of God. Now, we've seen our sins in the
light of Sinai's law. We've seen our sins in the light
of that perfect law of love, that perfect law of holiness
and purity. And as we see our sins in the
light of God's Ten Commandments, we're made to cry with Isaiah,
I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean
lips. We realize our sins in the light of the law of God.
And we're convicted of them. God's law that says, thou shalt
have no other God before me. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
We see our sins in the light of this holy law of love and
righteousness and holiness. And we're made to realize that
we're great sinners. But also we see our sins in the
light of conscience. That's right, in the light of
conscience. The things I would do, I do them not. And the things
I would not do, I do. And we're made to cry with Paul,
O wretched man that I am. My conscience felt and owned
my guilt and plunged me in despair. We see sin, not only in the light
of Sinai's law, but in the light of our conscience. And our conscience
smites us and grieves us and convicts us. And we're made to
cry, O wretched. man that I am. And then we see
our sins, we view our sins in the light of God's love. Sin
against law is one thing, sin against love is greater. And
I see how good God's been to me, how good God's been to you. His loving providence has given
me blessing upon blessing. Just take the blessing of being
born in this nation to be an American. That's the blessings
of God's loving providence, to have food, and clothing, and
shelter, and health, mercies of God, more than can be numbered. We have the mercies of God upon
us, more than can be numbered. And I have to cry with David,
who am I and what is my house, that we should be so favored
by God Almighty. All of His loving providence
and gracious, tender care. Oh, how He's blessed us. And
this convicts us of our sin. We ought to love Him more. We
ought to praise Him more. We ought to exalt His loving,
gracious name more than we do. We ought to be delivered from
ingratitude and an unthankful heart. But nowhere do I see my
sins like I see it when I stand at Calvary's cross and I see
the Son of God dying for my transgressions, for my iniquity, the chastisement
of my peace upon Him. There the perfect Son of God
is spit upon and hated and humiliated. Crucified there the Son of God
is besieged by the forces of hell There the Son of God is
turned over into the hands of wicked men There the Son of God
is dying under the wrath of the father. Why? Because of my sins. Oh How God must hate sin How
God must hate sin somebody said God hates sin worse than he hates
hell Because he built hell to punish sin How terrible must
be our sins if they sent Christ to the cross. Oh, can it be upon
that tree the Savior died for me? My soul is thrilled, my heart
is filled to think He died for me. But if you want to see sin,
and the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the awful evil of sin,
and how God hates sin, don't go to Sinai's Mountain. We have
to go there first, that's true. Don't go to the court of human
conscience. We're there often. And don't go even. Don't go even
to the loving providence of God. And we need to go there. But
go to the cross. And sit down. And realize who
it is dying on that cross. And why he's dying on that cross.
For my sins. For your sins. How God must hate
sin. Now the second observation, conclusion
is this. If Christ died for my sins, how
great must be God's love for sinners. God so loved. Now think about this. We recite
this verse of Scripture. It comes so easy because we've
committed it to memory, but for God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son. He gave the jewel of heaven.
He gave the choicest diamond of heaven's glory. He gave His
Son. God so loved, He gave You'll
never know the love of God for sinners until you understand
the cross of Calvary. The death of the Son of God.
Have you ever been to Calvary? Have you ever looked with your
heart at that cross? What love! What mercy! I see God's love in creation.
You know, David exclaimed, how wonderfully I'm made. How wonderfully
everything's made. Made by the loving kindness and
hand of God. Scarred by sin, marred by sin,
yes, but still, retaining a measure of his image, beautiful. The
love of God to give us what he's given us in this world, even
though marked by sin, look how beautiful it is. That's love.
I see God's love in predestination. Oh, that covenant of mercy, that
covenant of grace that would not let a world go to hell, that
determined to save a people out of Adam's race for his glory,
to save a people out of Adam's race for the glory of his son.
God, in his covenant of mercy from before the foundation of
the world, chose a people to make them like Christ. That's
love. The love of the covenant. The love of predestinating mercies.
And then I see God's love in providence. Through many dangers,
toils, and snares, I have already come. His grace brought me safe
thus far. His grace will lead me home.
Keeps me day by day. Meets my need day by day. His
loving providence. And I see His love in that. I
see His love in my conversion on my Damascus road to hell.
He called me. He arrested me. He stopped me. He revealed Christ to my heart.
The love of God in conversion. He would not, O love that would
not let me go. I cast my weary soul on thee. But if you want to see the love
of God, You go to Calvary. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were good people? No, sir. Friends of his? No, sir. Someone to whom he was
obligated? No, sir. Enemies. Enemies. Enemies in your mind. Strangers,
foreigners, without God, without hope, traitors, God-haters. While we were enemies, Christ
died for us. Oh, the love. that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span at Calvary. Christ, the eternal Son of God,
Christ, the omnipotent God of glory, Christ, the well-beloved,
only begotten Son of God, died, was humiliated, cursed, despised,
rejected, nailed like a common criminal on a cross. for my sins,
for my sins. Not for his, he had none. I stand
amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and I wonder how,
how he could love me, a sinner condemned unclean. How marvelous,
how wonderful, and my song shall ever be, how marvelous, how wonderful
is the love of God for me. He took my sins and my sorrows,
he made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and there he suffered and died alone. How marvelous, how wonderful
my song shall ever be. And it won't be any other song.
It won't be with enticing words of man's wisdom. It won't cover
up the mercy and the grace and the love of God under intellectual
clichÃ©s and words of enticing, man's enticing words of wisdom.
It'll be just this. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is the love of God for me. In closing, If Christ died for
my sins, how sure is my redemption? If he bore my sins, I don't bear
them. If he died my death, there's no death for me to die. If he
paid my debt, I don't owe it. If Jesus Christ suffered in my
place, then the justice of God and the righteousness of God
is fully satisfied. Can you find a better way? God
says there's none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. Can you find a more certain way?
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him freely give us all things? You'd like
to have this message on cassette tape, you write to me. It's available. Be happy to hear from you. Till
next week, Henry Mahan, bidding you a very pleasant good day.

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