PREACHING is a subject to which the inspired Apostle Paul frequently reverts in his writings, and, as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles and elsewhere, he himself was continually engaged in this particular service, in love to his Lord and precious souls, and for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God. No man ever preached the whole counsel of God with more clarity and divine unction and authority than he. And as he states in 1st Corinthians, chapter i., verse 17: Christ sent him to preach the Gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. And from this statement we conclude that he was primarily concerned with presenting, to Jews and Gentiles alike, the very substance of the Gospel of Christ, namely, the cross of Christ. The whole counsel of God was related to this in the great end of preaching, even the salvation of sinners and the building up of the Church in the most holy faith. The preaching which deals with the cross of Christ as its central theme may be a stumbling block to the Jews, and legalists and pharisees in our own time, and may be foolishness to the Greeks and to the worldly-wise philosophers and scientists of to-day; yet in face of all this the apostolic declaration must stand for the gospel ministry, viz., “We preach Christ crucified” (I Corin. i. 23).
Wherever, in our land, there is a true minister of the Gospel, that man preaches “Christ crucified” to all kinds and classes of sinners who come under his ministry. He preaches to them as ruined by the fall, entirely corrupt by sin, laden with guilt, under the wrath and curse of God, and on the way to death eternal. Christ crucified is the only hope of salvation for such in the grace of God. As was said of Paul and Silas in Philippi, “These are the servants of the Most High God, who show unto us the way of salvation.” Christ Himself preached to the woman of Samaria, an immoral and ignorant sinner.
In preaching “Christ crucified,” the minister of the Gospel undoubtedly handles the great truths of the Person of Christ, as the Son of God in human nature, of His life, humiliation and actual sufferings and death on the Cross at Calvary. That He was nailed to the Cross
and, ultimately, bowed His head and gave up the ghost, with all the other solemn and associated historical facts, will also come within the scope of preaching “Christ crucified.” But along with these profound realities, and in addition thereto, preaching “Christ crucified” inevitably involves the asserting, teaching, and expounding of the precious doctrines inherent in the amazing fact of “Christ crucified.” For example, that He laid down His life for His sheep, that is, for His people, who were given to Him by the Father, out of the world, that He would redeem and save them from their sins. “Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.” “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me” (see John, chap. xvii). And in another place it is said of Christ and His people, as distinct from all others, ” . . . Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end” (John xiii. 1). And so Christ gave himself to be crucified for those given to Him before the foundation of this world was laid, whom God foreknew and predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. Then again, there is the truth of the imputation of the sins of His covenant people to Christ Himself. “The Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. liii. 6); “and he bare the sin of many . . .” (Isa. liii. 12); “for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corin. v. 21). And was he not called Jesus, for he would save his people (not the whole world) from their sins? And further, “Christ crucified” includes His priestly office and function, in that His being crucified, was indeed the offering up of Himself a living sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and to reconcile sinners to God. “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (Heb. ii. 17). And, “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. ix. 26). And many other truths and glorious doctrines there are, inseparable from “Christ crucified,” and which of necessity will be embraced in the faithful preaching thereof.
Now, there are two vital matters which are recognised and borne in mind by the Spirit taught preacher of “Christ crucified.” And the first is, that the Lord alone knoweth them that are His elect and covenant people, who are destined to be effectually illuminated in the knowledge of “Christ crucified,” through the preaching of the Gospel. And so the preacher holds forth the Redeemer to all under His ministry, as they who are lost and need salvation. The second matter is this, that they who are sent to preach the Gospel with a proper sense of their relationship to it and to God, are wholly dependent upon the Person and power of the Holy Spirit, to convince sinners of their deplorable and lost state under guilt and condemnation, and to reveal the suffering Saviour to such effectually and savingly. It is when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes that sinners will be convinced of sin;
enlightened in the knowledge of “Christ crucified,” renewed in their wills, and enabled and persuaded to believe in Christ in the exercise of a saving faith upon Him. This faith is not of the volition of the natural man; this faith cannot be possessed or exercised at the whim of the unrenewed will and heart of any sinner. It is the gift of God, and it is of the operation of the Spirit of God in the heart, through the Word of God. And, reader, consider and remember this, that the sinner is not “born again” by the Spirit after he or she believes upon “Christ crucified”; but that it is the regenerated sinner, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who believes upon “Christ crucified.” And, consider the following words carefully: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (I John, v. 1). There are preachers, and beware of them, who unobtrusively teach that the sinner has ability to believe, and when he does believe, then following upon this, the sinner is born of God. This is dangerously erroneous. It is by reason of the fact, in experience, that as a sinner is born of God, by His Spirit, he is then enabled to believe that Jesus is the Christ. And thus his believing, with suitable evidences of true believing, is evidence of his having being born of God. This Scriptural teaching contradicts and exposes the dangerous Arminian doctrine so rife to-day among many who have the appearance of being what is called evangelical; and who hold and teach that the sinner has a will to “decide” for Christ, when he will and if he will, apart altogether from any consideration, in the first instance, of the need of a totally depraved sinner being regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit first of all.
Paul preached “Christ crucified” at Antioch of Pisidia with two entirely different results. On the one hand, the Jews “. . . spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming” (Acts xiii. 45). And on the other hand, more especially regarding the Gentiles in this city, “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts xiii. 48). Man, left to his own natural heart, will despise and reject “Christ crucified,” and will reveal in manifold ways that he is an enemy of the Cross of Christ. And others, as great transgressors as their fellow beings, on account of being ordained in the counsels of heaven to eternal life, are in God’s determined time and circumstances brought under the saving power of His Spirit and enabled to believe upon “Christ crucified” unto their salvation. And thus, in preaching a crucified Jesus, the power of sovereign grace is outstanding and the sinner needy, and Christ Himself is all.
Now those who are indeed blest with a spiritual, precious and saving faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and have thereby tasted that the Lord is gracious and a sin forgiving God, they are a living people spiritually, and require their soul hunger and thirst to be provided for and satisfied. And, therefore, one of the greatest means which God has ordained by which to nourish His people, is the ordinance of the Gospel of “Christ crucified.” Did not Paul express himself
thus to the Corinthian Church: “For I am determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified?” (I Corin. ii. 2). The glories of the suffering Redeemer constitute the feast of fat things full of marrow, and of wines on the lees, well refined, which when the mouth of the soul of the child of God is opened to receive and feed upon, nourishes the needy soul and begets growth in grace and in the knowledge of Christ Himself. And deep, sweet, satisfying, and sanctifying experiences arise from this. The soul is humbled and Jesus glorified. Then as to the practice, life and conduct of such, knowledge will be taken of them that they have been with Jesus. And so with an eye to the edification of believers, the true ministry of the Gospel declares, “We preach Christ crucified.”