← Back to sermon library

Good evening, everyone. You can 
turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1, please. 1 Corinthians 1. As you're turning there, many 
of you may have read letters regarding updates for and prayed 
for the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies. On their seal 
or on their logo, they have a number of things written, and one of 
the things is a Latin phrase that's translated into English. 
The preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God. recognizing 
the importance of a seminary to train, to empower, to instruct, 
to prepare preachers of the Word of God, they take that quote 
from the Second Helvetic Confession. The preaching of the Word of 
God is the Word of God. They realize the importance of 
the preaching of the Word. Ron Baines, a dear brother who 
has recently passed away, wrote these words. He says the statement, 
that the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God is 
not equating the normativity of the Word of God with the act 
of preaching. This would leave us with two 
normative standards. Rather, the Word of God alone 
is normative, and preaching is instrumentally the Word of God. 
As the normative Word of God is faithfully exegeted and proclaimed, 
the preaching of the Word becomes the instrumental means that the 
Holy Spirit uses as He causes the faithful to hear the very 
voice of God. These sorts of acknowledgements 
are taken from the Word of God that sets before us the importance 
or the primacy of the Word proclaimed, the very truth of God spoken 
forth by preachers of His Word. And one of those texts is in 
1 Corinthians 1. And so let's read 1 Corinthians 
1, 18-25, with a view towards regarding the importance of preaching. 1 Corinthians 1, beginning in 
verse 18, For the message of the cross is foolishness to those 
who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the 
power of God. For it is written, I will destroy 
the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding 
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the 
scribe? Where is the disputer of this 
age? Has not God made foolish the 
wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God 
the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God 
through the foolishness of the message preached to save those 
who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks 
seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews 
a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those 
who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of 
God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God 
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Amen. Well, let us pray. Heavenly 
Father, we thank You now again Be gathered here and engage in 
this act of worship, the preaching of Your Word. Help us again, 
Lord God, by Your Spirit to remain attentive. Help us, Lord God, 
to be focused upon Your Word's proclamation, that we might rejoice 
in Christ Jesus the Lord, that we might rejoice in our salvation. And Lord God, that You would 
work by this act of worship to strengthen Your saints, to save 
sinners, that you might be glorified. And we pray all these things 
in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen. Well, hopefully 
you never think it's self-serving for a preacher to preach about 
preaching. We come to the Bible and we're 
confronted very frequently, very often by this reality that the 
preaching of the Word of God is primary. It is the case that 
the proclamation of Jesus Christ is that proclamation whereby 
sinners are saved, then no doubt we are to hold in high regard 
proclamation. We are to hold in high regard 
preaching. because it is through the preaching 
of the Word that the so-called wisdom of the world is dashed 
to pieces and destroyed, and that the so-called foolishness 
of God, which is greater than the wisdom of men, is exalted 
and set before the minds of men as that which is primary, and 
that which is centered around Christ Jesus and Him crucified, 
Him risen, Him exalted, and Him being the King of men. Notice 
in this passage, we have the proclamation of the Word of God, 
the preaching of the Word of God, set forth as that which, 
again, brings to an end the wisdom of the world. We want to notice 
four things here as we move through this passage, sort of just keying 
in on a few phrases of the Apostle Paul here that brings to the 
fore the importance of preaching. And the four things that we're 
going to do are these. We're going to notice first Preaching 
is the divinely ordained means of bringing sinners to saving 
faith. Secondly, preaching is the divinely 
ordained means of building Christ's church. Thirdly, preaching has 
Christ as the sum and substance of its purpose. And then lastly, 
preaching has the cross as the apex of its content. Notice, 
first off, preaching is the divinely ordained means of bringing sinners 
to saving faith. You notice the language of the 
Apostle Paul here. First off, he describes preaching 
in verse 18 as the message of the cross. We haven't yet gotten 
to point four. We haven't yet arrived there, 
but preaching, first off, is being used here. The language 
being used to describe preaching is the message of the cross. 
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but 
to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is 
written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing 
the understanding of the prudent." You see, the wisdom of this world 
is not that wisdom which saves, is it? We cannot arrive at eternal 
life. We cannot gain some sort of favor 
before God. We cannot arrive at the eschatological 
glory of being with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with all 
the saints and with all the heavenly hosts singing praises for eternity 
by the wisdom of the world. We are not brought into a saving 
relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not brought to 
the bliss of heaven through the wisdom of the world, but rather 
we are brought to the reality of everlasting life and salvation 
through, by the means of, the proclamation of Jesus Christ. 
Notice in v. 20, where is the wise? Where 
is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this 
age? Has not God made foolish the 
wisdom of this world? It's very interesting, as Christianity 
grows, as Christianity in the early church, and in these beginning 
years of the proclamation of Jesus Christ, as Christianity 
grows, and as the Lord adds to the church, the apostles go out, 
the disciples of Christ go out, and they proclaim the riches 
of Christ, and the Lord adds to the church those who are being 
saved. We see Christianity growing. 
The report then comes of all of these being brought forth 
from darkness to light, from deadness to life, through the 
proclamation of Jesus Christ, but where is the wise? Where 
is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this 
age? Where is the wise, the scribe, the disputer of this age? Where 
are their proselytes? Where are their numbers being 
brought forth to salvation and everlasting life? They're nowhere. The scribes are nothing. The 
so-called wise are nothing. The so-called disputers of this 
age are nothing. The proof of that is seen in 
that God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. And the 
so-called wise, the so-called scribe, the so-called disputers 
of this age, they're rendered as dumb before the actual wisdom 
of the living and true God Who puts their wisdom down by that 
which is true wisdom, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the 
point of the Apostle Paul here. True wisdom, true power, does 
not come through the world's so-called wisdom, but it comes 
solely and alone through the triune God Who reveals true wisdom 
and power through the Lord Jesus Christ. Preaching is the divinely 
ordained means of bringing sinners to saving faith. As we now read 
verse 21, that's brought into greater clarity. Notice in verse 
21, For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom 
did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of 
the message preached to save those who believe. You see, we are not to call the 
day of preaching a day of small things. You know, there's a reason 
why it is to be seen as a colossal tragedy, as a horrible thing, 
when God, according to His hot and holy and wholesome justice, 
removes the preaching of the Word and calls it a famine. If it is divine justice that 
is seen in revoking and removing the proclamation of the truth, 
the proclamation of the Word of God, if that is wholesome 
as a curse from the hand of God, then conversely, is it not to 
be seen as the highest blessing when we are able to gather around 
the church of the living God and engage in the act of preaching? 
Engage in this act of worship, the preaching of the Word, not 
because of the preacher, but because God has ordained the 
means of preaching as that means whereby He brings forth dead 
sinners to life through Jesus Christ the Lord. We are to count 
the day of preaching not as a day of small and low things, but 
as a day of high and heavy things. God using this, ordaining this, 
as that means by which He brings forth dead sinners to life. A 
number of passages ought to jump to our minds, but you can turn 
back a little bit to the left to Romans 10. Romans chapter 
10. Hopefully you know the passage 
that I'm going to. We're going to pick up reading 
in Romans 10.10 as we are remarking after the fact that preaching 
is the divinely ordained means of bringing sinners to saving 
faith. Notice in Romans 10.10, For with the heart one believes 
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made 
unto salvation. For the scripture says, whoever 
believes on him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction 
between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to 
all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name 
of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him 
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in 
Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without 
a preacher? You see the logic here as Paul 
is opening this up and bringing this to bear upon his audience. The statement in verse 13 comes, 
whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And 
then this logical progression of argumentation follows. How 
then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? 
So, how are they to call upon this Lord if they have not believed? And how shall they believe in 
Him then of whom they have not heard? So, sinners need to hear 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In order to call upon the name 
of the Lord, they need to be those who are believing. In order 
to believe, they need to hear. And in order to hear, they need 
a preacher. How shall they hear without a 
preacher? And how shall they preach unless 
they are sent, we read. This is Calvin on this language. 
It is a proof and a pledge of divine love when any nation is 
favored with the preaching of the gospel. Do you get that? Do you feel the weight of that? 
It is a proof and a pledge of divine love. when any nation 
is favored with the preaching of the gospel. That is why it 
is the opposite of a famine when the gospel is proclaimed in a 
nation and in a city. It is a feast. There is an abundance 
of food in that place where the gospel is being proclaimed. You 
think about this, kids, if you went into a restaurant, and you 
sat down, and you're hungry, perhaps you've worked all day. 
Kids can work, you should be working a little bit. You go 
into a restaurant, you've worked all day, you're starving. The 
waitress, waiter, comes up to you, and you say, I'd like to 
order, and they interrupt you, and they say, sorry, we're out 
of food. stomach grumbling, you're weak, 
you need sustenance, our bodies need food. You go back the next 
day, sorry, and you die. Eventually. No food. It's a famine. There's absolutely no food. You 
cannot be fed, and if you are not fed, you will die. Well, 
let's transfer this argument to the high and holier things 
of gospel proclamation. Imagine. Imagine such a place 
and such an instance and such a season where there is no proclamation 
of the Word of God. Not only, yes, will believers 
not have that feeding that they need, that normative means, that 
means of grace whereby the strength of our faith is grown by the 
Holy Spirit, the risen Christ, gifting us with His Spirit through 
the proclamation of the Word, that we might grow in the grace 
and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. But think about unbelievers. There is no food whereby they 
can taste of and come to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. There 
is no intake of the revelation and the truth and the glorious 
things of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember the invitations, the 
Old and the New Testament. Come, buy, and eat. Why would 
you spend your money on that which does not satisfy? Come 
buy and eat, but imagine there is a famine of that reality. We are to count the day of preaching, 
the hour of preaching, the season of preaching as a high and heavy 
thing. We are not to see it as that 
which is lowly, and that which is small, and that which we can 
take or leave. As Christians, we are to see 
the glory in it. And because of this fact that 
it is the divinely ordained means of bringing sinners to saving 
faith, Calvin would go on to say at the point of Romans 10, 
it is enough for us to bear this only in mind that the gospel 
does not fall like rain from the clouds, but is brought by 
the hands of men wherever it is sent from above. The preaching 
of the Word of God is the Word of God. You know, on this instrumentality, 
on it being a means of God bringing forth dead sinners to life, the 
second Helvetic Confession goes on to say, inward illumination 
does not eliminate external preaching. For He that illuminates inwardly 
by giving men the Holy Spirit, the same one by way of commandment 
said unto His disciples, Go into all the world and preach the 
Gospel to the whole creation. And so in Philippi, Paul preached 
the Word outwardly to Lydia, a seller of purple goods. But 
the Lord inwardly opened the woman's heart. And the same Paul, 
after a beautiful development of his thought in Romans 10.17, 
at length comes to the conclusion. So faith comes from hearing, 
and notice this, and hearing from the Word of God by the preaching 
of Christ You see what the Helvetic Confession does there at the 
point of Romans 10.17 where it says, So then, faith comes by 
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It argues for the fact 
that when the Word of God is faithfully proclaimed, it is 
as if Christ Himself is preaching to the congregation. That's why 
Paul could tell the Ephesians that Christ came and preached 
to them. that the One who is Peace Himself came and preached 
to the Ephesian Christians. Christ never went to Ephesus, 
but by virtue of faithful apostolic witness and attestation to the 
glorious riches of Christ, it was as if Christ Himself was 
there proclaiming the riches of His glorious Gospel. The Helvetic Confession already 
noted the practical example in Acts 16, where proclamation comes, 
and Lydia, that seller of purple, is brought forth from deadness 
to life in Christ. If you ever want to have some 
interesting side reading, you can read John Gill on Acts 16-13, 
because he goes on for what seems like pages about what the selling 
of purple means. I think it's one of the longest 
sections on a verse that I've ever read of John Gill, and I've 
read a lot of Gill, and he's just waxing eloquent on the theology 
of the color purple, and how Lydia probably dyed it from shellfish, 
the blood of shellfish, and all these sorts of things. But you 
see, here's this Lydia, down by a river. If you've been here 
for our preaching on Philippians 2, 5 to 11, We've made some mention 
occasionally of the various things going on in the history of Philippi 
and that sort of thing. Well, Acts 16, the Apostle Paul 
is in Philippi and he's preaching. He comes to Philippi and they 
get wind, if you will, of the fact that they gather together 
down by the river, the Jews, in order to pray and meditate 
upon the Word of God. Now, that river is most likely 
the River Krenides, which used to be the name of Philippi before 
Philip II of Macedon rolled in and changed it to Philippi. And 
so these faithful Jews are down at the river praying and meditating. 
And Lydia, she's either a Greek proselyte to Judaism, or she's 
a Jew herself. But nevertheless, she's down 
there as a seller of purple, as a faithful Jew, going about 
the business of what Jews do. There's no synagogue in Philippi, 
so she's down at the river. But you see, she's in unbelief. 
She has not yet come to a knowledge of this Christ, the glorious 
King of kings and Lord of lords who died for sinners and rose 
again. And so Paul comes and he preaches Christ to her, and 
we read the report. The narrative is that the Lord 
opened her heart to receive the things spoken by the Apostle 
Paul. You see the utility of the preaching of the Word. how 
important it is, the primacy of it. It is that means that 
God uses to bring forth dead sinners to life. What's an application? 
What can we gain from this? As we rehearse the importance 
of preaching, what is an application here? If preaching is the divinely 
ordained means of bringing sinners to saving faith, then this is 
an application. You're to pray for preachers. We need our prayers. When Pastor 
Butler and I and whoever's opening worship comes up here, and in 
the course of that time of worship, which is prayer to our Triune 
God, and we ask for God to bless the preacher, that's genuine 
and that's real. When we append that or when we 
include this reality that the preacher does not lean upon his 
own understanding and strength, that's true and that's real. 
Pray for your preachers. Pray for those who preach here. 
Pray for those who preach anywhere. Because it is by that divinely 
ordained means that God brings forth sinners to saving faith. There's a number of things that 
we could note in the context here. And if you find your way 
back to 1 Corinthians, notice that there's something of a difference 
of medium that contrasts the preaching 
of the Word with other things, other methods, if you will. Notice, 
again, beginning in verse 21, In the wisdom of God, the world 
through wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness 
of the message preached to save those who believe. Notice, for 
Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach 
Christ crucified. You see the contrast here. We're 
discussing the means, the glorious and divinely ordained means of 
the preaching of the Word. It's contrasted here to the Jews 
who request signs, and the Greeks who seek after wisdom. Preaching 
of the Word of God comes as that divinely ordained means. It's 
not the signs that the Jews seek after. Remember though, in their 
dealings with the Lord Jesus Christ, the veracity of Christ 
as the Messiah was attested to them by Christ doing miracles 
and signs and wonders. That's the argument of the Apostle 
Peter in Acts 2. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested 
to you by miracles and signs and wonders, which He did in 
your midst, as you yourselves also know." The Jews saw signs. They sought after signs, but 
you see, they didn't really like the signs. Jesus ultimately brings 
them to this point, and He says, you will not get a sign except, 
or the only sign that you will get is the sign of the prophet 
Jonah. Just as Jonah was three days 
and three nights in the belly of the giant fish, Christ Himself 
will be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth. 
That's the sign. Gospel verity will be the sign. And how did that sign come to 
the minds and to the ears of those Jews? It came by the proclamation 
of the Word. That's what Pentecost was. The 
Word of God. The Word of Truth. Coming to 
these who sought after a sign. And the Greeks seek after wisdom. 
You see, the Greeks perhaps, they thought that true knowledge 
and true salvation, if you will, after that idea, comes not by 
the proclamation of this Messiah massacred upon Calvary's tree. True wisdom comes from the human 
mind, the human eye, observing the natural world, contemplating 
after our own observation that the human mind can somehow bring 
itself to salvation for lack of a better term. You see, that's 
why we have the importance of revelation. The importance of 
the Gospel proclaimed. You see, man can look from when 
he's brought forth from the womb, if he lives 120 years, he can 
look upon the natural world and contemplate the natural world. 
And of course, he's never going to come to a knowledge of our 
God and of His Christ. Yes, the law of nature testifies 
that there is a God. It shows that there is a God 
who is to be feared, trusted, and worshipped, and served with 
all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. But the acceptable 
way of worshipping that God is revealed by the Holy Scripture. And the only way of coming to 
saving contact with that God is through the Christ proclaimed 
through the act of preaching. The wisdom of God. The folly 
of man. The wisdom of God. The reality 
of preaching as the primary means, as the important medium of the 
Christian religion was seen at the time of the Reformation as 
well. At the time of the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church, and 
the centrality of the Mass, the blasphemy of the Mass and transubstantiation, 
where the pulpit was a lectern off to the side and dead center 
was the altar, where they would, in their carnality and in their 
blasphemy, sacrifice Christ in an unbloody sacrifice upon the 
altars of Rome. Another medium that was prime 
at the time of the Reformation as well were the radical reformers 
who repudiated everything Catholic, and a lot of things truly Protestant, 
and instead of preaching being primary, it was perhaps direct 
inward illumination from God. Our forebears, though, the Protestant 
Reformers, saw what the Scriptures set forth. The centrality of 
preaching. The centrality of the pulpit. No statues, and no bedecked crosses, 
and no graven images. Why? Because it's by the proclamation 
of the Word that sinners are brought forth from deadness to 
life. You see, the preaching of the Word served Among many 
other things, it served the reality of the Second Commandment. I don't want to go on about history 
the whole time here, we're going to move on in a second, but there 
were a couple times in history where Christians came up against 
the worship of icons, or the use of icons in churches, statues, 
or three-dimensional images, or two-dimensional images, as 
aids to worship. Seeing it rightly as a violation 
of the Second Commandment did the Reformers in the 16th and 
17th centuries, but even prior to that, they opposed it at the 
point of Christology. But at the time of the Reformation, 
the proclamation of the Word of God served to dash to pieces 
violations of the second commandment. This is Calvin, and hopefully 
you can enter in with me here on the importance of preaching 
in dashing to pieces violations of the law of God. If we just 
think about this for a second, the first commandment. That I 
am the Lord your God who brought you from out of bondage in Egypt. You shall have no other gods 
before me. You shall have no other gods before me. What serves 
that commandment? The proclamation of the one and 
only living and true God, doesn't it? If we were to go through 
every commandment, we would see that the proclamation of the 
Word of God serves to drive the force of all of those commandments. 
Pedagogically, that is, to drive the sinner to Christ. At each 
and every point, the preacher of the Word of God comes, and 
he drives the wholesome holiness and righteousness and justice 
of all of those ten words to the point where the one hearing 
can feel the weight, if you will, of the righteousness and the 
holiness of God, the immensity and the purity of His law, the 
reality that He stands condemned before that holy God and before 
the purity of the law, and that the only way of salvation is 
Jesus Christ the Lord. But you see, after that, not 
but, but as well, not only does the proclamation of the Word 
serve that pedagogical use of the law to drive sinners to Christ, 
it no doubt serves the civil use as well, but the normative 
use. How did the reformers come up 
against all of these graven images and icons in churches in the 
16th and 17th century? By forcing upon the minds of 
men the reality and the weight of the proclamation of the Word. 
Paul declares, Calvin wrote, that by the true preaching, of 
the Gospel, Christ is portrayed in a manner crucified before 
our eyes. He's quoting Galatians 3.1 there. You can read that on your own 
time. But the Galatians never laid their eyes upon Christ. 
But what he's saying here is that the proclamation of the 
Word is such that it comes with the weight of clarity that those 
who are hearing the Word proclaimed about this Christ, it is as if 
He is clearly crucified before their eyes. He goes on to say, 
of what use then were the erection in churches of so many crosses 
of wooden stones, silver and gold? if this doctrine were faithfully 
and honestly preached. Christ died that He might bear 
our curse upon the tree, that He might expiate our sins by 
the sacrifice of His body, wash them in His blood, and in short, 
reconcile us to God the Father. From this one doctrine, the people 
would learn more than from a thousand crosses of wood and stone. As 
for crosses of gold and silver, it may be true that the avaricious, 
that is, those who have greed for riches, give their eyes and 
minds to them more eagerly than to any heavenly instructor. What's the point there? See, 
the heart of natural man wants to keep everything before his 
eyes. The heart of sinful man wants 
to keep everything before his eyes save for Christ and Him 
crucified. He doesn't want to hear this. 
He'll have a bedecked and bejeweled cross before he'll hear the Word 
of Christ and His cross proclaimed. the importance of the preaching 
of the Word of God. Secondly, preaching is the divinely 
ordained means of building Christ's church. It's the same text. This 
is intimately connected. But you see, not only is it the 
divinely ordained means of bringing dead sinners forth from deadness 
to life in Christ, but it's also the same divinely ordained means 
for building Christ's church. What do you think Christ has 
in mind besides the fact of His own oblation, His own sacrifice 
that He was about to give upon Calvary's tree? But remember 
in that instance in Matthew 16 where He asks His disciples who 
they think that He is after they have already answered who other 
people think that He is. Who do you think I am? Who do 
you say I am? Christ says, Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God. And He gives that promise to 
the church that I will build my church and the gates of Hades 
shall not prevail against it. Understand and know and be safe 
in your assumption that Christ has in mind that when He ascends 
to the right hand of the Majesty on High, He will send forth preachers 
of the Word to proclaim the riches and the excellencies of Himself. 
In Mark 16, notice what we have there. In Mark 16, preaching 
is the divinely ordained means of building Christ's church. In Mark's account of the Great 
Commission, we have in verse 14 of Mark 16, later he appeared 
to the eleven as they sat at the table, and he rebuked their 
unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe 
those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to 
them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized 
will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. 
You see here the first commission, if you will, that commission 
prior to his ascension that he gives to the disciples and You 
must understand that this serves the previous promise that he 
made to build his church, that I will build my church and the 
gates of hell will not prevail against it. Go into all the world, 
he commands, and preach the gospel to every creature. It is the 
means that God uses to build his church. Do you know that 
there is an intimate connection between that and the prophecy 
in Daniel 7? Remember what's going on in Daniel 
7. We alluded to it, I think, last week in our preaching on 
Micah 5. In Daniel 7, there's the prophecy 
concerning the four kingdoms and then a final kingdom. So, 
I get the five kingdoms. We have the lion of Assyria Babylon. We have that giving way to the 
bear of Persia. That giving way to the leopard 
of Alexander the Great and the Greeks. And then that giving 
way to this final and fourth and terrible beastly kingdom 
that has this iron beast with the deadly teeth. But then we 
read after that, that the conquering kingdom which shall not fade 
away is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we read, culminating 
in verse 13, I was watching in the night visions, and behold, 
one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. And 
He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before 
Him. then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that 
all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion 
is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His 
kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed." How is that kingdom 
built and how is that kingdom spread? But through the instrumentality 
of the preaching of the Word. The Holy Spirit, no doubt, as 
that effectual means that is joined with the instrumentality 
of the Word, that uses the instrumentality of the Word to spread forth the 
glorious riches of Christ and to build His Church. This prophecy 
of this Kingdom that destroys that fourth and final Kingdom 
this conquering kingdom, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
which shall not pass away, the King, prior to His ascension, 
gives a commandment, and the commandment is, go, preach the 
Gospel. The importance, the primacy of 
the preaching of the Word. What's an example of this in 
the book of Acts? Well, the whole book of Acts 
is an example of this. When you come to the book of 
Acts, the whole book of Acts is an example that preaching 
is the divinely ordained means of building Christ's church. 
What happens on the day of Pentecost but this? If you turn to Acts 
2. And you all know what happened 
on the day of Pentecost, don't you? Peter. Peter proclaims richly 
the Christ who lived, who died, who rose again, who is the ascended 
King, who sent forth the promise of the Spirit that they were 
beholding, and that all who believe on Him will have everlasting 
life. And it comes to this point in 
Acts 2.40, and with many other words He testified and exhorted 
them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. then those 
who gladly received His Word were baptized, and that day about 
3,000 souls were added to them." See, the proclamation of the 
Word of God for the building of His church. What can we take 
away from this as an application? We've already noted, pray for 
preachers, And I don't want to have this 
sound strange to your ears, and I wasn't just trying to rhyme, 
but also pay for preachers. Not pray for the Word of God 
because come buy and eat without money and without price. But 
preachers, the proclamation of the Word of God requires the 
people of God, in fact, to such a point to such a point that 
the preaching of the Word of God requires people to provide 
physical sustenance and money in order that the proclamation 
of the Word can go forth victorious. This is such a reality that Paul, 
in his second letter to the Corinthians, can bring forth the example of 
Christ as coming down from the pinnacle of richness and riches 
to this lower ignominy of shame and poverty so that we, in our 
poverty, might be made rich in order to argue for the Corinthian 
church to give for the churches in other areas, so that the proclamation 
of the gospel can go forth to the uttermost parts of the earth. 
So we are to pray and we are to give support. We are to pray 
and as we are able, we are to give so that those who are, in 
fact, the confession of our faith speaks something to this with 
regards to the church of Christ and with regards to the duty 
of Elders. Notice in, notice, you don't 
have a copy of the Confession, but notice in chapter 26 in verse 
10, the work of pastors being constantly to attend the service 
of Christ in His churches, in the ministry of the Word and 
prayer, with watching for their souls as they that must give 
an account to Him, It is incumbent on the churches to whom they 
minister, not only to give them all due respect, but also to 
communicate to them of all their good things according to their 
ability, so as they may have a comfortable supply without 
being themselves entangled in secular affairs. I smile, but 
brethren, I don't want you to get the wrong impression here, 
but we are to provide support to those who preach the Gospel 
of Jesus Christ. Why? So that the proclamation 
of the Gospel can go forth. Imagine just for a moment, if 
preaching hinges upon the exegetical precision and proper proclamation 
of the Word of God, the preaching of the Word of God is the Word 
of God only insofar as the Word of God is being accurately preached, 
then we ought not to have preachers, we ought not to have pastors 
tangled in secular affairs, stealing them away from the time needed 
to preach the riches and the excellencies of the Word of the 
living and true God. Thirdly, preaching has Christ 
as the sum and substance of its purpose. Preaching has Christ 
as the sum and substance of its purpose. Notice back in 1 Corinthians 
1. What is the language first off 
in verse 22? For Jews request a sign, and 
Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block, 
and to the Greeks, foolishness. But to those who are called, 
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom 
of God. So, preaching is the divinely 
ordained means of bringing sinners to saving faith. Preaching is 
the divinely ordained means of building Christ's church. But 
you see, it is only effectual preaching if preaching has Christ 
as the sum and substance of its purpose. So much so that in 1 
Corinthians 2, as we move along, we see here in verse 2, For I 
determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ 
and Him crucified. and then later in 1 Corinthians 
2 and verse 15 as well. But the point here is preaching 
has Christ as the sum and substance of its purpose. A Christless 
proclamation is no proclamation at all. Now, your mind might 
be working here a little bit. Well, what about What about the 
proclamation of the book of Esther? Or the proclamation of spending 
some time in the book of Deuteronomy? Make no mistake that when we 
say Christ is the sum and substance of preaching's purpose, We're 
not saying that an explication of Deuteronomy is unwarranted. Of course it is. It's the Word 
of God. But remember what the Word of God is and what it isn't. 
First, what it isn't, it's not this book of 66 books haphazardly 
slapped together, just some ancient and dusty tome of antiquated 
truths. But rather, what do we acknowledge 
the Bible to be? But that Word from on high that 
has as its central message and as the trajectory of the whole, 
Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of men. Spending 
time in Deuteronomy is spending time in Christ, because when 
we get to the New Testament, what do we have but the opening 
up of the Old Testament to show that the Old Testament promised 
Christ to come, and the New Testament testifies that He has. That's 
borrowing the words of, I think, William Perkins. I would have 
to check my references, but I think that's what he said. You get 
the point from Luke 24, though. We've noted this before, make 
no mistake, that Luke 24 is an absolutely vital passage of Holy 
Scripture for understanding the scope of the whole, which is 
to give all glory to God. where in the Scriptures we find 
a consent of all the parts document that has this as its primary 
target, a scope of the whole, to testify to Jesus Christ, the 
One who comes in the fullness of the times to give Himself 
for guilty sinners. Luke 24, Christ Himself says, 
the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms all spoke concerning Me. You know, it's such a reality 
Christ is the sum and substance of preaching's purpose, that 
one Baptist of old, Nehemiah Cox, has said something like 
this, that in all our search after the mind of God in the 
Holy Scriptures, we are to manage our inquiries with reference 
to Christ. He is the scope of the whole, the target, the trajectory 
of the Word points to this One who comes and who in the mind 
of the Apostle Paul is the sum and substance of proclamation's 
purpose. I love when we get to certain 
passages in the Pauline epistles where we have stuff like this 
in Colossians 1. Speaking of preaching having 
Christ as the sum and substance of His purpose, Paul in Colossians 
1 preaches much concerning the full divinity, the full humanity 
of Christ, the fact that in Christ are all the treasures of wisdom 
and knowledge. And then we get to this glorious 
statement in v. 28, Him we preach, warning every 
man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present 
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. See the importance of the centrality 
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the church's proclamation? A Christless 
proclamation is no proclamation at all. It is Christ who is preached 
by the Word that is the divinely ordained means of bringing sinners 
to saving faith, because what is the only way to saving faith 
but through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Acts 5.12. The 
reality that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only Savior given among 
men. The only Savior by which we have 
salvation. Preaching has Christ as the sum 
and substance of its purpose. What's a practical example of 
this? We already read from Acts chapter 
2, 40 and a little bit following. But remember what preceded that. 
What does Peter do when he opens up his mouth on the day of Pentecost? Which, remember, is an absolutely 
marvelous instance of the grace and the strengthening power of 
God. Because only 50 days previous, he was denying the very Christ 
that he proclaims on the day of Pentecost. Don't you see a 
glorious example of the empowerment that God gives by His Spirit 
to proclaimers of the Word? Peter, before the patio interrogations 
of a servant girl, can't own Christ, and yet 50 days later 
on the day of Pentecost, before a multitude of sinners, before 
a multitude of unbelieving Jews, He opens up His mouth, and with 
great boldness and great courage, He proclaims, the riches and 
the excellencies of Christ. And that's our point when He 
opens His mouth on the day of Pentecost. It is a Christ-full 
message. This man attested to you by miracles 
and signs and wonders which God did through him in your midst, 
as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determined 
purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have crucified by lawless 
hands. But that same Christ God has 
raised from the dead. He did not seek corruption, but 
He has arisen victorious. Christ is the sum and substance 
of preaching's purpose. And what's an application that 
we can take from that reality? One of the things is to know 
Him, to learn about Him, to read your 
Bibles and to understand. You know, on this point, we've 
been preaching through the book of Philippians, and we've noted 
Hopefully not to the point of exhaustion, we can never exhaust 
the truth of God, but hopefully you're not tiring of learning 
of Christ from that small hymn in Philippians 2. We have the 
deity of Christ, the full deity of Christ, He's perfect Godhead, 
and the full humanity of Christ, He's perfect manhood, yet without 
sin. The knowledge of those two things, 
that He is fully God and fully man in one person, for our salvation, 
is absolutely necessary. You see, there were those in 
the early church, and they're around today, no doubt, who, 
if they rejected the divinity of Christ, then salvation was 
affected, not just because they rejected the divinity of Christ, 
but the scheme of salvation was affected. They were called by 
other names, but they were called adoptionists. And when they stole 
away from the reality of the Person of Christ, His divinity, 
what filled the gap in salvation, or what replaced salvation, was 
obedience to the Law. Because you see, this Christ 
was not divine by virtue of being equal with the Father, but this 
Christ gained His divinity by the performance of the Law, so 
you too must enter into. eternal life and be divinized, 
if you will, by obedience to the law. You see how our knowledge 
of Christ affects how we'll think concerning salvation? If we reject 
the deity of Christ, then we tear down the glorious reality 
of the holiness of God, the perfection of His law. The law is dropped 
down to a point where we, weak and feeble in our humanity, can 
still nevertheless obey its every precept and be just like Christ, 
exalted by the Father. No. No. This one, equal with the Father, 
comes down. Perfect in Godhead. Takes on 
perfect manhood. And He gives His life for guilty 
sinners. The perfection of His obedience 
unto the law in the stead of all those who believe. And taking 
upon Himself the law's curse in the stead of all those who 
believe by bearing the wrath of God in our stead upon that 
tree. We are to know him the prayer 
of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1 15 and following we won't go 
there right now but what a place that we have where the Apostle 
Paul prays and One of the repeated themes is that those for whom 
he is praying, Ephesian Christians, those for whom he is praying 
would have an understanding and a knowledge and this surpassing 
grasp upon the reality of the riches and the excellencies of 
Christ and the redemption of the sons of men. We are to have 
an understanding and knowledge and a wisdom. We'll close with 
this observation. Fourthly and lastly, preaching 
has the cross as the apex of its content. Kids, apex simply 
means the highest point. Preaching has the cross as the 
apex of its content. Notice, if you can find your 
way back to our passage, 1 Corinthians 1, what is the language of the Apostle 
here? But language that exalts the glory of the cross. Sounds 
strange, doesn't it? Exalting the glory of the cross. 
Why? Because the cross was an implement 
of torture, shame, ignominy. The most abject, abasing humility. And yet, as Christians, we lift 
it up as the apex of preaching's content. Notice the Apostle Paul 
again in v. 21. Well, first off, remember 
in v. 18, for the message of the cross. And then v. 21, for since in 
the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased 
God through the foolishness of the message preached to save 
those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks 
seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. to the Jews 
a stumbling block into the Greeks' foolishness. You see, remember, 
the Jews could not endure a crucified Messiah. That's the language 
of Spurgeon preaching on Galatians 6.14. The Jews could not endure 
a crucified Messiah. They looked for pomp and they 
looked for power. They couldn't endure this one 
executed upon a Roman gibbet. But you see, in that is the wisdom 
of God. In Christ upon a cross, bloodied, 
beaten, defeated, but not really defeated. In that is the wisdom 
and the power of God. Jews look upon that and they 
see scorn. He's a man of sorrows, acquainted 
with grief. We do not esteem that. We do 
not esteem Him. They sought after pomp and power. They wanted a messiah of political 
and social victory. A conqueror who would dash to 
pieces the Roman armies. All those sorts of things. One 
who sweeps in upon a white steed. But actually he does for Christians. 
Remember, he's the one who rides upon a white steed. Victorious 
and true. But you see, the Jews wanted 
not a bloody messiah upon Calvary's cross, they wanted a messiah 
of their own making, a messiah of their, folly of their own 
opinion. Jews to Jews, Christ was a stumbling 
block. Spurgeon in that quote would 
say something to the effect of, are all our washings and all 
our ceremonies, are these all to be put away and nothing remain 
but a bleeding savior? And Paul's answer is absolutely. 
All of those washings, all of those ceremonies, all of those 
mosaic institutions had in them, while virtuous and while ordained 
by God for their particular purpose, wrapped up in their purpose was 
that they pointed forward as shadows, as copies to the true, 
the Lord Jesus Christ who would come in the fullness of the times 
and bring to an end those things which pointed forward to Him. 
Jesus Christ, our Savior, preaching has the cross as the apex of 
its content. When Paul says here, it's a striking 
statement in 1 Corinthians 2, for I determined not to know 
anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If 
he has already said that in that, in Christ crucified, is true 
wisdom and true power, then this doesn't surprise us, does it? 
For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus 
Christ and Him crucified." We have practical examples like 
that in the preaching of the book of Acts. 
The cross is not absent from the book of Acts. Some scholars, 
in their revisionist treatment of the book of Acts, like to 
steal away the reality that the cross is a central element of 
preaching in the book of Acts. We already noted, but only briefly, 
the fact of it being in Acts 2. But in Acts 5, we have the 
cross there as a central reality. Notice in Acts 5, at verse 30, 
we have these words. But Peter, backing up to verse 
29, and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God 
rather than men. The God of our fathers raised 
up Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. You see, this 
would have come as with the weight of a multitude of daggers to 
the heart. of these unbelieving Jews. And remember that the two-edged 
sword of the Word of God cuts two ways. In the book of Acts, 
we have those examples brought forth where the Word proclaimed 
cuts to the heart. And one response wrought by the 
Spirit of God is that they cry out, Sirs, what must I do to 
be saved? What must we do to be saved? 
Here, or in other instances, we have the reality where the 
word comes and they're cut to the heart, but it's a different 
cutting to the heart. And it results in men frothing 
at the mouth and being caught up in venomous and murderous 
rage and putting, for example, to death. a person such as godly 
Stephen. But you see, this would have 
cut to the heart because Peter's proclamation contains the cross 
of Christ, the God of our fathers, raised up Jesus whom you murdered 
by hanging on a tree. The very thing that is the salvation 
and the only salvation of men, the cross of Christ, He uses 
here as a dagger in order to drive them to the realization 
that they were complicit in the murder of the Son of God's love. And that the weight of that proclamation 
would bring them to bend a knee to the King of kings and to the 
Lord of lords. They cried out, may His blood 
be upon us and our children. The Apostle Peter here uses the 
weight of the proclamation to show them at the point, not only 
did they violate that word which speaks to murder, but they exercise 
the horrific reality of transgressing that law upon the Prince of Peace. The cross of Christ is brought 
as a dagger to the heart. Proclamation, the cross of the 
Lord Jesus Christ is at the apex of preaching's content. And we'll 
close with this application, and that is we should be like 
Paul. Now, I know when we've been preaching through the book 
of Philippians, we've been noting that Christ is set forth as the 
chief exemplar for his people. He's not only an example, the 
saving work of Christ is first and foremost that which saves 
sinners to the uttermost. But he's also an example. As 
well, though, Paul and the Apostles are examples of those four Christians, 
and we are to follow after such as the Apostle Paul. In Paul's 
letters, we have the striking reality that what is at the heart 
of the Apostle Paul's proclamation is Christ and Him crucified. We are to be like Paul. Where 
might we have an example in the Bible that we can sort of use 
as our point of application to be like the Apostle Paul? God 
forbid that I should boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. The cross is the crux of our Christianity. The cross 
is the apex of Christian proclamation. Paul, Spurgeon wrote, did not 
blench before the sharp and practical reply of the conquerors of the 
world. He trembled not before Nero and his palace, whether 
to Greek or Jew, Roman or barbarian, bond or free. He was not ashamed 
of the gospel of Christ, but gloried in the cross. He determined 
to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. His motto, 
we preach Christ crucified. He had the cross for His philosophy, 
the cross for His tradition, the cross for His gospel, the 
cross for His glory and nothing else. If you're here tonight 
and you're Christ's, rejoice in the cross. The day of preaching 
is a day of high and heavy things. If you're here tonight and you 
don't know Christ, seek after the cross of Christ because it 
is only there that we have salvation. It's only in the doing and the 
dying of the Son of God and in His rising again that we have 
salvation. Everyone who believes on Him 
shall have everlasting life. You know, don't leave here tonight 
without closing with Christ, without owning Him as Savior. 
It is possible only with God to have each and every one who 
draws breath in this room to leave these two doors singing, 
Hallelujah, what a Savior. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you shall be saved. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, 
we thank You for time in Your Word. We thank You for time in 
worship. We rejoice in our Christ and 
in His cross. And we thank You that You did 
send Him in the fullness of the times. Born of a woman born under 
the law to redeem those who are under the law we pray Lord God 
that you would help us to rejoice in Christ to Rejoice that we 
have heard the good word of proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ at some 
point by Your spirit and word you brought us forth from deadness 
to life by the reality of Christ in him crucified And we pray 
that you would help us to own our Savior to rejoice in him 
and to live each day Bringing glory to you and bringing honor 
to the Lord Jesus Christ And we pray in His most precious 
name. Amen.