A Sermon by Alexander Dyce Davidson
1 Corinthians 2:2. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
These words carry us back to the time when the Apostle resolved to go to Corinth to preach the gospel, when he was considering how he would most effectively discharge the duties of the Christian ministry. There was something in the circumstances of the Corinthians that must have made it somewhat difficult for the Apostle to decide what particular method might secure for the truth the greatest influence among them. When the gospel was first proclaimed to the Corinthians, their city was the seat of knowledge and luxury. All those pursuits which most involve imagination and taste flourished there under the fostering hand of wealth and refinement. To gain the ear of the Corinthians and make an impression on their hearts, one would need, it might seem, to proclaim truth with all the graces of eloquence.
As Paul journeyed towards that city, he might well ask himself, How am I to get access to the hearts of a Corinthian audience? Will they listen to such plain, unadorned statements as I have made to others about the way of salvation by a crucified Redeemer? If my labours among them are to be successful, must I not try to meet their prejudices, and conceal those parts of the truth which are most likely to prove offensive to them? But Paul knew that, underneath the glittering surface of polished society, there were depths of depravity which the human eye could not measure, that the wisdom on which the men of this world pride themselves is foolishness in the sight of God, and that the blood of Jesus is the only way in which the human soul can be purged from the guilt and defilement into which it has sunk. Remembering these things, he determined to know nothing among the Corinthians “save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified”.
And how necessary it is for those who are now entrusted with the sacred office of ambassadors for Christ to do so! In the midst of the difficulties and temptations to unfaithfulness which assail them, how necessary it is for them, at the very start of their ministries, to entrench themselves within the ground marked out by the experience of such a man as Paul!
You will see that the text concentrates all the topics which come within the range of the Christian ministry in this one topic: “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified”. This was the great subject of Paul’s preaching and must therefore be the leading theme of all who are commissioned to turn men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. In the remainder of this discourse I wish to show that the preaching of Christ crucified is precisely the great topic which meets the necessities of mankind. By making known the Redeemer in His death and sufferings for sin, and pressing Him on the acceptance of our fellow creatures, we adopt the only plan which can be pursued for promoting their well-being both in time and in eternity. At the risk of being charged with often repeating the same things, and of having the gospel represented as false, we must, like Paul, be determined to know nothing among our people but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
1Abridged from Lectures and Sermons by Alexander Dyce Davidson (1807-72). This was the first sermon Davidson preached, on 8 May 1836, after moving to the West Church. He spent his entire life in Aberdeen, ministering first in the Church of Scotland and, after the Disruption, in the Free Church.
1. The preaching of Christ crucified is the great doctrine suitable for man as a guilty being in God’s sight. Scripture testifies that this is the natural condition of the human race, and conscience corroborates its testimony. “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” It is unnecessary to multiply quotations; no one can look into the Word of God without finding in it the strongest statements about man’s guilt. Some imagine that this guilt is only contracted by positive violations of God’s law; on the contrary, it adheres to us as a consequence of Adam’s breach of the first covenant. We bring it into the world with us, but we augment it by our actual transgression of God’s commandments; yet we cannot remove it by any obedience of ours.
This point concerns each of us closely. Many people believe that mankind is placed simply in a state of probation in this world: if they discharge their religious duties – secret prayer and church attendance – and act towards their fellow creatures with tolerable honesty, they have nothing to fear, because God is merciful and gracious, and Christ has died for sinners. In other words, they hold that no one will be condemned at last but the most heinous and obstinate offenders – those who have set at nought divine and human laws. Is it possible, they ask, that individuals who have passed through life quietly and inoffensively, who have displayed so many amiable qualities, are to lie under the wrath of God? Yes, this is what the unerring record of the God of truth declares. There are indeed differences in the amount of guilt, but we are all guilty, on account of Adam’s transgression, and therefore liable to punishment. The Bible finds us in a guilty state; it does not cast us into it.
Think of your solemn circumstances: God Himself charges you with guilt – guilt which no acknowledgement of yours can change, and no future action of yours can atone for. Yet the execution of the sentence is delayed for the present. Death, which brings the soul to God’s tribunal, seems at a distance at present; there seem to be visions of happiness, almost endless, between you and the threatenings of Scripture and the trump of the archangel. But these visions will pass away: death will come, judgement will come, the sentence will come, and the punishment of guilt will come, to all who have refused God’s gracious invitations.
What is the duty of the ambassadors of Christ in these circumstances? Are they to try to gain the applause of their perishing fellow creatures by displaying from week to week the depth of their learning, and the extent of their researches, while the great matter of reconciliation with God is left altogether untouched? Are they to make flattering statements to please those who listen to them, when this will only make their spiritual slumber more sure? Are they to set before them only the requirements of the law, as if the deeds of the law could justify them before God – as if those requirements should not bring guilt home to everyone’s conscience, compelling him to feel that he needs a remedy? No, in dealing thus with those committed to their charge, they would either be saying, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace,” or they would be tormenting them before the time.
What remedy are they authorised to propose? Just what Paul brought to the Corinthians: Jesus Christ crucified. Look to the suffering Redeemer, and you at once see justice avenging the broken covenant and mercy going out towards offenders. Does the law denounce a curse against everyone who does not continue in all things written in it? That curse was executed upon Christ, for it is written, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree”. Was death threatened as the penalty of the first transgression? Christ submitted to death, and endured the penalty instead of His people; so the question now is, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is Christ that died.” Is a sentence recorded against every soul of man that does evil? Christ has removed the handwriting that was against us, and has taken it “out of the way, nailing it to His cross”.
Do our consciences reproach us for past sins, remind us that there is a day of reckoning, and force us to anticipate future wrath? Christ’s sufferings for sin disarm the conscience of its power, for there is “no condemnation to them that are in Jesus Christ”; and “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Is death clothed with terror to the guilty soul, bringing it in to a state where God must be met face to face, and where punishment will no longer be delayed? Christ has destroyed death and him that had the power of it; He has enabled His people to say in the dark valley: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The knowledge of Christ crucified is precisely what man as a guilty sinner needs to receive. If we ask those who appreciate that knowledge how they obtained their peace of conscience and hope in God, they will answer that it was by being brought to believe that their sins were transferred to Christ and that He atoned for these sins on the cross. They were thus convinced that God no longer had any controversy with them, but was well pleased with them for the sake of Christ’s righteousness. Is this not your experience, if you have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before you in the gospel? Was it not the apprehension of Christ reconciling God to man, and man to God, by the blood of His cross, that erected the foundation on which you could build your hopes for eternity? Was this not what dispelled the cloud that cast a gloomy shadow over your greatest enjoyments? Is this not what you cling to as your hope in all the trials of this life? And if you were asked what should form the beginning, the burden and the end of a Christian ministry, would your answer not be: “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified”?
2. The preaching of Christ crucified is the only doctrine suitable for man as a being who must be raised to holiness if he is to be fitted to enjoy God. We cannot number the declarations of Scripture that we must be born again before we can dwell in God’s presence. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” “Evil shall not dwell with Thee. The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight; Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity.” Yet, even if the Word of God had not spoken so explicitly, we might have concluded that, defiled by sin, the human soul could neither relish the society or the enjoyments of the blessed spirits who surround God’s throne.
How is holiness to be transfused into a soul dead in trespasses and sins? The question is all-important. If in an ordinary case we wished to bring a disposition into someone’s mind, we would point to the excellence of that disposition, and produce the best examples we could find of it. Will this plan succeed in urging the claims of holiness upon mankind? No, describe holiness as you will; speak of its beauty, dignity and excellence to the human heart alienated from Christ; and your efforts will be as unavailing as if you presented the finest combination of colours to the blind, for, the Scripture says, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God”. Or if, using an example to gain your end, you take the character of God, who is holiness itself, your attempt will be equally fruitless, for the very purity of His nature – His abhorrence of sin, and His righteous determination to punish it – makes Him an object of terror and hatred to His creatures.
Is it possible, you may ask, that God is an object of terror and hatred to anyone? Yes, “the carnal mind is enmity against God”, and the language of the unrenewed heart is, “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have, if we pray unto Him?” Are these striking passages from Scripture not verified by experience? Is anything more painful, to a man ignorant of Christ, than to think of God as the God of holiness and justice? Is there any thought he is more anxious to banish from his mind?
Holiness then will not be produced in man by any description of it, or by exhibiting God’s character, the only perfect example of it. Will he be driven to cultivate holiness if we work on his fears? No, set before him all the solemnities of the judgement to come and the terrors that await the wicked; urge the truth as powerfully as possible that, unless men depart from their wickedness and cultivate holiness, these torments will be theirs for ever; but the only effect will be to fill them with deeper enmity against the holy God.
How then can holiness be brought into a soul dead in trespasses and sins? As previously, the answer is to be found in the text: the preaching of Christ crucified. Bring the truth to bear on the mind that God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son a ransom for sinners, and let this truth, by the working of the Spirit, be believed, and you provide at once for the production and growth of holiness. When God’s justice is seen to vindicate itself in the agonies of the Redeemer; when the truth of God is contemplated enforcing on Him, to the very letter, the punishment threatened on account of sin; when God’s holiness is seen shutting up the streams of divine complacency from the Beloved of the Father because the iniquities of His people were laid on Him; God’s character assumes a new aspect.
The sinner, who used to regard God as his enemy, looks on Him as his friend; he is melted by God’s goodness when he sees Him not sparing His own Son, but giving Him up to death for the guilty. The root of enmity is destroyed and he, who could neither be softened by eloquence or subdued by fear, is led captive by believing the truth that God is reconciled to him through Christ crucified. Then he habitually delights to think of God. As he formerly tried to banish God from his mind, he now strives to keep Him constantly before him. He delights to feel God’s presence with him; instead of saying, Depart from me, for I desire not the knowledge of Thy ways, he says, “My soul thirsteth for God, my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God”. He values the Scriptures, which reveal God’s purposes and His will; he values prayer as opening up a channel through which he may hold communion with God, and the other ordinances of religion as presenting so many means of raising his soul from earthly things toward God.
Thus the desires are banished which had dominion over him when the old nature was supreme, and are replaced by others more congenial to fellowship with God. His tastes and habits acquire a new, heavenly colouring; his affections are set on the things of God. Briefly, sin is mortified within him, and the image of God is gradually impressed on his soul. Such is the transformation effected by the believing reception of the truth that Christ suffered for the sin of His people, thereby magnifying the law and satisfying the justice of God and opening up a way by which He might give vent to His love in consistency with all His perfections. The resemblance to God generated in the souls of His people on earth is what qualifies them for the happiness of heaven; without it they cannot see God, and could not be happy even if they were admitted to His presence. When you reflect on this, you will surely once more admit that the beginning, the burden and the end of the Christian ministry ought to be: “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified”.
3. The preaching of Christ crucified is the only subject suitable for impressing a man with his duty. Man is constitutionally active, and the Word of God describes the duties he is to perform. Now the performance of these duties are a test of the genuineness of his religious profession; the growth of holiness in the heart is indicated by the fruits of righteousness in the life. So it is a most important question how man may most effectively be influenced to comply with God’s commands. The methods are various: we may speak to his fears, describe the punishment of disobedience, and warn him, as he values his immortal soul, to keep to the paths God has marked out in His Word. Such an argument may partially succeed with some; they may abstain from certain sins and perform certain commanded duties.
Or we may address his pride, pointing out the dignity that always attaches to virtue. Perhaps this line of argument may lead some to obey God’s law to a degree. But will this obedience be as extensive as it ought to be, or will it be acceptable to God, who sees the secrets of the heart? To God it cannot be acceptable, because it does not proceed from love to Him. If you have not yet been converted, I appeal to your conscience: Does the amount of outward duty you render – be it prayer, or deeds of kindness – come from any desire to glorify God? Or is duty in general a burden to you? Everyone who knows his heart will acknowledge that this is a true picture.
Now there is only one way to overcome these tendencies and bring men to delight in their duty. It is to receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour. When the sinner is once convinced that God loves him and that, instead of consigning him to everlasting misery, He has sent His Son to die for him, so that through His death the gates of heaven might be opened, he asks how he can show his gratitude to his Redeemer. He then regards the law, not as the imperious dictates of a master who has no care for his servants’ happiness, but as the gentle requirements of One who has loved them. The question no longer is, How can I do these things, denying myself pleasures, while others are free to enjoy themselves as they please? but, Can I ever do enough for Him who for my sake endured the cross, despising the shame? It is not a constrained but a willing service that the children of God render, because such service is the fruit of love and gratitude, not of fear.
It has often been asserted that it encourages sin if we make Christ crucified the chief topic of preaching and set forth faith in Him as the instrument of the sinner’s justification before God. To assert this, however, reveals deplorable ignorance of the Bible and of the human heart. The Bible declares, in innumerable passages, that men are justified, not by the deeds of the law, but by faith in Christ. And it reveals ignorance of the heart, for how would you be most likely to bring an individual to comply with your wishes even when you were absent. Would you seek to tie him down by terror? You may succeed when you are watching him. Love, on the other hand, will influence him whether you are present or absent, and under its power he will even strive to anticipate your wishes.
Love then is the principle by which God binds His people to obedience. He presents the Saviour to them bearing their sins in His own body on the tree, and tells them to believe that His anger against them is pacified for Christ’s sake. Receiving this truth kindles in them a corresponding love to God. The believing soul begins to ask, “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits?” He rejoices to have an opportunity to testify his gratitude to Him that bought him with His blood, and he abounds in holy obedience. Christ crucified is the theme which pacifies the guilty conscience, secures growth of holiness, provides for the discharge of duty. Therefore it should be all in all, to ministers and people. Once more let me ask you: Should this not form the beginning, burden and end of the Christian ministry?
By the grace of God then, as I am accountable to Him for discharging the stewardship He has entrusted to me, I purpose, like the Apostle of the Gentiles, to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified – to hold forth the Redeemer as the only ground of the sinner’s hope and sanctification, and providing, by His sufferings and death in the place of the guilty, the only motive that can effectually induce men to live, not unto themselves, but unto God. I am well aware that the preaching of Christ will here, as elsewhere, arouse the opposition of some. Wedded to their sins and determined to enjoy, as they express it, the hour while it lasts, they reject the Saviour’s entreaties and His servants’ warnings. But we must not allow their opposition to turn us from our path; and if they are resolved to treasure up wrath to themselves against the day of wrath by despising God’s offered mercy, we are equally resolved that their blood shall be upon their own head.
I am also aware that when a minister of the gospel makes Christ crucified the leading topic of his ministry, and interweaves it as far as possible with every other topic he presents to his people, he runs the risk that people will think he lacks variety. But when, almost every week some are in church for the last time, I do feel that ministers of Christ ought every Sabbath to speak to sinners about Christ’s salvation. They should not always use the same language, arguments and illustrations, but the same great truth must be pressed: “It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”. Can a Christian minister find any other truth which, in all circumstances, so suits this purpose?
When called to awaken an obstinate sinner from his deadly lethargy and flee from the wrath to come, what weapon can I use to reach his heart but the truth that Christ submitted to the cross for sinners? The terrors of the law will never soften the heart apart from the proclamation of the love of God in Christ. But that love, when felt through the influence of the Spirit, will draw forth the tears of penitence and the fruits of holiness from those who appear most hopeless to the human eye. When I am called to administer hope and comfort to the doubting believer, where shall I find an argument to remove his doubts, to invigorate his hopes, and to send him on his way rejoicing, unless I draw it from the fact that He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, shall with Him also freely give us all things?
When I wish to arouse people to deeds of sympathy and plead the cause of the poor who have nothing to help them, or of the heathen who are perishing for lack of knowledge, whence shall I select the views that will most readily excite Christian benevolence, except from the fact that Christ, who was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich? When I am called to fortify those whom God has been pleased to afflict, either with sickness or trials, and to address to them the lessons of patience and quiet submission to His will, where shall I find an argument for my purposes so fit as this: Christ also suffered, the just for the unjust?
When I am called to see a fellow creature lying on a deathbed, and to encourage the soul in that trying hour, what comfort can I give, but what flows from the love of the Redeemer? What hope can I point to but the fact that His atonement extends even to the chief of sinners? And when I am called to sympathise with the bereaved, whose earthly friends have died with the well-grounded hope of a glorious resurrection from this state of sorrow, sin and trial, where shall I find consolation if not here: Jesus who died rose again and will come again to change the vile bodies of His people?
And now, while it is the duty of every Christian minister to preach Christ crucified, let me remind you that it is your duty to believe on Him. This is the commandment of God, that you believe in Him whom God has sent.