1 Corinthians 2, verses 1 to 5. And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with elegance of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God, For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling. and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirits and a power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. You may be seated. Let's join our hearts in prayer as we come to the preaching of God's word. Let's pray. Our Father, we do thank you for your word. Thank you that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Blessed are those who keep your testimonies, who seek you with the whole heart. And so help us to seek you in your word today. Help us to worship you as your people, as we hear your word preached, and help me to communicate clearly, effectively, and faithfully what you have revealed in holy scripture in this passage. Fill me by your spirit, and may I, as I'm preaching this text, preach in demonstration of the spirit and of power. And may you be pleased to bless in Jesus' name, amen. So with being away at a conference this week, I decided to preach a sermon that I preached in the past. I believe the only time I preached this sermon was actually at a church in Pennsylvania. but I wanted to preach this text this morning, a wonderful text about preaching and the Trinity and Paul's ministry and what his focus was in his ministry to the Corinthians and by necessity and by, or also as well, his ministry wherever he went, because Paul, of course, was a man gripped with the glory of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so the main point of this sermon is Paul declaring Trinitarian truth in Corinth. Paul declaring Trinitarian truth in Corinth. So my first point, declaring the testimony of God. First point, declaring the testimony of God. Second point, declaring Jesus Christ and him crucified. Declaring Jesus Christ and him crucified. My third point, declaring in weakness, fear, and much trembling. My fourth point, declaring in demonstration of the spirit and of power. And my fifth point, declaring so that faith is not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. So may God help us to understand this text and to apply it to our lives. So again, my first point, declaring the testimony of God. Paul, by the Holy Spirit here, as he's writing inspired scripture, reminds the Corinthians how he came to them when he came to minister to them the gospel of their salvation. And he says to this professing church, he calls them brethren, chapter 2, verse 1, And I, brethren, when I came to you, so he's describing to these now professed believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, what was the manner in which he came to them. I should probably say something about chapter one. Chapter one, a big theme of chapter one is the contrast between worldly wisdom and God's wisdom found in Jesus Christ. That's the big contrast in chapter one. A big contrast as well between what Jews and Greeks seek, who are unbelievers, and what Paul and his companions gave them. Jews demand signs, Greeks seek wisdom, worldly wisdom, but what did Paul and his companions do? But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews, he's a stumbling block. To the Greeks, he's foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. And so he's saying then that we preach God's wisdom in a world like Corinth that desired worldly wisdom. wisdom. And then he goes on at the end of chapter one to say, amongst the brethren, most of them were not noble or mighty or wise according to worldly standards. And God chooses the weak and the base things of the world for the purpose that no flesh should glory in his presence. But as chapter one ends, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. And that's where we pick up here again in Chapter 2. He now, in light of that, he reminds them, if that's all true, that worldly wisdom is wrong and condemned, godly wisdom is what we want, he reminds them that's the way he came to them from the beginning. He hasn't changed his ministry. He hasn't changed his methods. And so he says, And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. What he's not saying is he wasn't seeking to persuade people. What he's not saying is he wasn't trying to be compelling in the way he preached, because we know, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. That's what the Bible says, 2 Corinthians 5.11. So we do persuade, we do appeal, we do implore people on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. That's 2 Corinthians 5.20. So he was appealing with people and pleading with people and begging for people to come to Christ. But what he means that he did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, he means he was not going to give them what their cultural appetite wanted. He was not going to give in to worldly wisdom or just being a clever orator that sounded nice, but really was saying nothing true at all. He was not going to give in to that. He was not coming with worldly speech or worldly wisdom. Because there's a contrast, again, between God's wisdom, which is Christ, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, as chapter 1, verse 22, and worldly or human wisdom. So we see that contrast. Because even if you look at chapter 2, verse 6, if you have your Bibles, chapter 2, verse 6, He says, however, so after talking about how we're not Doing that, he says in verse 6, However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory. So Paul is not against wisdom. Paul is really for wisdom. But he is against worldly wisdom that does not honor Christ and seeks to elevate man over God. That's the wisdom that Paul is against. And so in that sense, he did not come to them in excellence of speech or in wisdom. He did not have a worldly message. He did not have a message that would tickle their ears. He did not have a message that would make them feel good about themselves in their sin. He had a message that was consumed with God, his glory, and divine wisdom. That's what Paul was about. And what did he do? So when he came to them, he came declaring to them, not with worldly wisdom or worldly excellence of speech, but he came to them in God's wisdom, declaring to them the testimony of God. That's what he came to bring, the testimony of God. God here, because we'll see Jesus and the Spirit, is God the Father. The Apostle Paul came bringing the testimony of God. His message was God-centered. His message was about God, His glory, His ways, His purposes. His message was about God. Because at the end of the day, the Bible is ultimately not about us, but about God. The Bible begins with, in the beginning, God. The Bible is all about the glory of God. And so he came to Corinth proclaiming a message that was centered upon God. These people did not want a message about the true and living God. That was not what they were asking for. But Paul's ministry was not about giving people what they asked for. His ministry was about giving people what they needed. And that was God-centered, God-glorifying preaching and teaching. And so he came declaring to them the testimony of God. And therefore for us, let me bring application now. At the pastor's conference, I encourage you to bring application throughout the sermon. So I'm trying to be a doer of the word. This is what true preaching must be. And this is what you must pray for, this is what you must pray for me about, this is what you must desire and grow an appetite for, is not preaching that's filled with many, many stories, not that stories are wrong in themselves, not many illustrations, even though they're not wrong in themselves, but if they're not focused on God and giving you a vision of the glory of God in his word, it's not really gonna help you. And so what you want to pray for and what you want to seek and what you want to desire is preaching that is about God and His glory and His ways. Sometimes, sadly, we can be more excited about someone's story than about the preaching of Scripture. We can all fall in that trap, but it's more exciting to hear a neat story than we are excited to hear about what does God say about the glory of God in the Word. And so it should be all of our desire When we hear preaching, we want to hear preaching that declares to us the testimony of God. That's what Paul brought when he came to Corinth. And now my second point, declaring Jesus Christ and him crucified, declaring Jesus Christ and him crucified. So Paul came preaching and declaring and heralding the testimony of God. But what is the testimony of God primarily focused on? Where is the high point of Christian theology? Where is the center of what to know God? How do we know God? We know Him in Jesus Christ. We behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4, 6, or John 1, 18. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. or Colossians 115, Jesus, He is the image of the invisible God. So a person, let me make it abundantly clear, if a person doesn't know Jesus as their Savior and their Lord, no matter how spiritual they feel they are, no matter how religious, no matter what religion they are, they're not saved. because the only way we know God is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. No one comes to the Father, Jesus says, except through me. So if you're here and you're listening to me, you cannot know God, you cannot have a relationship with God, you cannot go to heaven when you die unless you have come through the high point of where God has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. Only through Jesus can we have a right relationship with God. Only through Christ can we be forgiven of our sins, because all of God's purposes are in Him. So any person who thinks that they know God while they do not receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord, while they do not submit to His Lordship, that person is deceiving themselves. He who has the Son, the Bible says, has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life. There's no life, spiritual or eternal, unless it's found in Jesus Christ. And Paul knew that, and therefore he had a singular mission when he went to Corinth. He did not want to be caught up with all the things that he could have been caught up with. He wanted to be focused on one primary thing, Jesus Christ and him crucified. He tells them that, so in verse two, for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. That was Paul's message. He said, I'm gonna shun every other philosophy, every other thinking, every other worldview, if it's not focused on Jesus Christ and crucified. He shunned it all. I determined, he purposed in his mind and his heart to know nothing among the Corinthians except this truth, Jesus Christ and him crucified. My beloved brethren, if you're here today as a Christian, this is what everything about the Christian religion is about. A person has not begun to understand Christianity. And as a Christian, you never outgrow your need for Jesus Christ and your knowledge of him. Jesus Christ is the whole point of Christianity. There is no Christianity without Jesus Christ. There's a lot of things we can be excited about. We can be excited about the end times, and there's a place for that. We can be excited about this and that, and there could be good places for it. There's a lot of doctrines in the Bible, and I'm going to show how they all relate to Christ. But if they're not rooted and grounded in Christ, and we're more excited about peripheral things than we are about the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, we're missing something. If someone's more excited about some obscure thing in the Old Testament that they have to speculate about than they are about the cross and resurrection of Christ, that person doesn't understand what they should understand. Because they are consumed with things that are peripheral, that are speculative, when what they should be ultimately focused on is the glory of Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean there's never a place to talk about other things and to think about other doctrines, but as I'll show you, they're not understood rightly unless they're understood in relationship to the cross, resurrection, and person of Jesus Christ. They're not understood rightly. They're not Christian in their understanding unless they bring all their doctrines and all their beliefs to the foot of Jesus Christ himself. And so therefore in faithful preaching and faithful preaching, not that every sermon is going to emphasize all these things in the same way or the same emphasis, but all faithful preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ must proclaim his eternal glory. He was the son of God and God the son before the world began. He made the world. He is the one with the father and the spirit who is God. We must proclaim and we must hear about his condescension in coming as God and assuming a human nature and becoming man as God manifests in the flesh. We must preach and hear about his sinless life, perfectly keeping God's commandments and thought were indeed. We must preach and hear about his cross work, how Jesus Christ, upon Calvary's cross, paid the debt for all the sins of all his people who would ever live. We must hear about his resurrection from the dead, his bodily resurrection from the dead, as the one who died, but more than that, is risen again. And we must hear about his ascension and his intercession and his enthronement and his second coming. All these things are essential to a right understanding of Christ. Maybe something I could also say also connected with his condescension is virgin birth, being born without sin. And so all those things at the heart of the biblical message is about Jesus Christ and him crucified. If we haven't understood that, we have not understood Christianity. People might say, if they're outside looking into the Christian faith, this is what some of the things that people might have misconceptions. They might think that Christianity is all about this. You can't do this, and you have to do this. Or a simpler way to say it, it's all about what you do's and don'ts. That's what they think about Christianity. You can't do this, you can only do this, you have to stop doing this, you have to start doing this, and that's what they think. Or they think Christianity is just about people looking down their nose at other people and saying, we're better and you're terrible. That's how some people might think about it. The holier than thou mentality. That everybody's terrible and we got it together. Some people can think about Christianity, it's all about just kind of thinking deep thoughts about God. Just kind of just thinking deep thoughts about God. Not really connected to anything, but just thinking deep thoughts about God. Some people might think Christianity is you just kind of look nice one day and the other days you just do what you want. Some people can think Christianity is, you just kind of tip your hat to God, maybe put a little money in the offering box, check the box that you went to church, and you're good. There's so many misconceptions about Christianity, but let me make this point abundantly clear. A person has completely missed the point of Christianity. If someone asked them, what is Christianity all about, and they don't give something to this effect, they missed the entire point. The entire point of the Christian faith is not do's and don'ts, not you look good one day and you do what you want the others. It's not just kind of thinking deep thoughts about God. Christianity is all about, we were great sinners before God, lawless and disobedient. And the Lord Jesus Christ loved us, gave himself for us, rose again, so that by repentance and faith in him, we could know God and have everlasting life. It's all about Jesus Christ. We don't do the do's and don'ts because we're somehow thinking that that makes us right with God. We're doing that because out of gratitude to God who saved us, we want to please Him. But ultimately, the Christian faith is about what Jesus has done for us, not what we do for Him. Do we serve Jesus and obey Him? Absolutely. But first and foremost, it's Jesus served us before we serve Him. And we've misunderstood it. If a person's first thing that comes out of their mind when they think about Christianity is, I served Jesus. No, that's not first and foremost. Jesus served you first and foremost by laying down his life as a sacrifice on the cross. He came not to be served, but to serve, the Bible says, and to give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10, 45. Christianity is all about Jesus serving us. before we ever serve him, because we can never serve him unless he first served us. And again, Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. And so the whole point of the Bible, Old and New Testament, is about Jesus Christ. This is something that I've been even more desirous to do. I've had this view for a while, but really have tried to focus on it. This is why I try in every text, even in Genesis, to always preach Jesus. Because I don't think I preach the text accurately unless I preach Jesus from the text. Because John 5 grips my soul, where Jesus says, if you believe Moses, you would believe me. For he, that's Moses, wrote about me. You know what Moses wrote? Genesis to Geronimy. So if Jesus is true, and he is, we're Christians, of course he's true. If what Jesus is saying is true, then I haven't preached Genesis rightly, or Exodus, or Leviticus, or Numbers, or Deuteronomy unless I find him in it. Because he even says in that same context, John 5 verse 39, you search the scriptures thinking in them you have eternal life. But it's they, the scriptures, that testify of me. A person has misread the Bible. That's what Jesus is saying. Basically, you missed the entire point. You're reading the Bible because you think by the mere reading of it, you'll have eternal life. And he's saying, you missed the entire point. You missed what it's all about. The scriptures are all about me. The scriptures testify of me. And that's why later on in that same context, and still in John 5, the verse I quoted earlier, if you believe Moses, you will believe me, for he wrote about me. And so we must, wherever we are in the Bible. And this is important for you. This isn't just for preaching. If you're reading the Bible, you shouldn't just read it as, let me get some good moral lessons for the day. What's something that I can just pick up today, and how can I just take a pick-me-up pill? That's how some people read the Bible. Sometimes people do the verse of the day, and I'm not condemning that completely, because I know the word of God is powerful, but sometimes people just read the verse as if it's like a pick-me-up for the day. Like it's just kind of, they took their vitamins for the day. They got their vitamins that they put in their mouth, and they got their spiritual vitamins for that day. They just kind of read a verse, and they don't know what it means. They don't know what's around it. It's just kind of, it's a pick-me-up verse. But in your private Bible reading, and in your family worship, you should seek to understand, how does this point me to the Lord Jesus Christ? There's a place to say, what can I learn, and how do I live this out? There's a place for that. I'm not saying that's wrong. But we cannot live the Christian life until we have come to the one who the Christian life is about, Jesus Christ, because He's what the whole Bible's about. And therefore, that's why Paul went to Corinth with this message, because he knew this. He knew that everything was about Jesus Christ. So he said, I'm getting rid of everything else, and I'm focusing on this. I'm determined to know nothing among you, Corinthians, except Jesus Christ, and am crucified. But someone might ask the question, Maybe you're already thinking this, or maybe I'll bring it to your mind now. But Paul taught a lot of stuff. He taught a lot of stuff to the Corinthians. How can he say that my ministry and what I taught you was only Jesus Christ and Him crucified? He says, I determined not to know anything except that. How can that be true? How can his ministry be focused on that only while he taught about all the different things? that you would need to know about theology and the Christian life. Well, this is why. Because Paul never separated other doctrines from Jesus Christ. They were always connected in his mind. Let me show you. There's 10 categories of what we call systematic theology, which are like the 10 categories of, big categories of our Bible and doctrine. Let me show you how Paul connected all these things to Jesus Christ. Bibliology, which you might be able to hear it in the name, that's the study of the Bible. What did Paul call the Bible? Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Paul, when he was thinking about the Bible and the need for it to dwell on us racially, what does he call the Bible? The Word of Christ, because it's about Christ and it's Christ's words. And so the whole Bible is the Word of Christ. So sometimes we call this book, and it's not wrong, I'm not telling anyone they're wrong in saying this, but we call it the Word of God, rightly so. But we should equally call it the Sword of the Spirit and the Word of Christ. This book is the Word of Christ. And so Paul could not think about the Bible without it being connected to Jesus Christ. Paul would have been livid if anyone would have separated the Bible from Jesus Christ, because Paul, like we should know, knew it was the Word of Christ. Let's think about theology proper. That's the doctrine of and study of God. Well, Jesus, Paul knew this. Colossians chapter one is the image of the invisible God. and the second person of the Trinity. And that's why in Colossians, he can say that in Jesus, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form, dwells bodily. Because Paul knew that Jesus was the image of the invisible God. So Paul cannot talk about God without talking about the second person of the Trinity, the image of the invisible God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Another category, this one will be obvious, but Christology, which is the study of Christ, the person and work of Christ, Of course, you cannot have Christology unless you study the person and work of Christ. Pneumatology, which is the study of the Holy Spirit. What did Jesus say about the Holy Spirit? Which, of course, Paul would have known that the Spirit takes of the things of Christ and reveals them to us. What is the work of the Holy Spirit? To make much of Jesus Christ. Anthropology, which is the study of man, the study of mankind. The Bible teaches Paul teaches that the Son of God is the creator of all things, including all of us, including man. And therefore, Paul would have never thought about creation unless it was about Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven and earth. Visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him, that's Jesus, or Christ, or the Son of God, and for Christ, Colossians 1. So we can't think about us being made without thinking about Christ who made us. Martiology, which is the study of sin. What is the Bible about but Jesus saving sinners? And so there's no way to understand the work of Christ without sin. And what is the whole reason why Jesus came to save his people from their sins? So there's no preaching of sin without Christ, because Christ is the answer to our sin problem. Soteriology, which is the study of salvation. Paul knew, like all the other apostles and all the Bible writers, that the only way we can be saved, the only way we can be reconciled to God is through our Lord Jesus Christ. Their salvation, this is Peter, but Paul knew it as well, the apostle spoke with one voice. Their salvation in no other name, for there's no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts 4.12. And then ecclesiology. Ecclesiology is the study of the church. What is the church but the body of Christ? The bride of Christ? Jesus is the head of the church? You cannot think about the church unless you think about Christ. Because it's his body, it's his bride, and he's the head. He's the sovereign over the church. Angelology. Angelology is the study of holy angels and fallen angels. Of course, the demons knew Christ. They said, you're the son of God. And in Isaiah 6, even before Christ became incarnate, the angels were crying out, holy, holy, holy. And therefore the angels, what do they do? They worship and serve Christ. And then eschatology. Eschatology is the study of the end times. And what is the end times at its core that every Christian must believe to actually be Christian? What do we call it? The second coming of Christ. The second coming of Christ. And therefore, this is why Paul can tell them that everything I taught you was about Jesus Christ and crucified, because there was no topic of theology that did not point back to our crucified, resurrected, and reigning Savior, Jesus Christ. Everything is about Him. So let me say this. You have not understood the Bible if you do not point to Christ. You have not understood angels rightly unless you point to Christ. You have not understood eschatology unless it's consumed with Christ. You have not understand sin unless it points to Christ. You have not understood the church unless you say Jesus is the head and groom of the church. You have not understood theology at all properly. unless you root it in Jesus Christ. He is the Alpha. He's the Omega. He's the First. He's the Last. He's the sum and substance of what the Christian faith is all about. And so someone has not understood even the beginnings of these doctrines unless they root them in Christ. We should never talk about sin unless we talk about solution. We should never talk about eschatology unless we talk about the glory of our Savior's second advent and coming. We should not talk about the Holy Spirit unless we focus on his ministry to bring sinners to Christ. It all roots in Christ. And that's why Paul again can tell them, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. So my beloved brethren here, my brothers and sisters, when you read the Bible, when you think about these doctrines, is your heart pointing to Christ? Do you read the Bible as a vitamin book where you just get vitamins for the day, or do you read it as a book displaying the glory of Jesus Christ? I'm speaking to myself as well, because I have to be reminded of these things as well. It's very easy to fall in the trap of it just being a book of wisdom and a book that gives us things of how to live, and we miss that it's all about Christ. And so my beloved brethren, as you read the Bible, you must root it in Jesus Christ, every doctrine, every practice. And you know what? This will safeguard you from two extremes, legalism and antinomianism. It will guard you from legalism because you know you're obeying God's commandments, not to earn his salvation, but because you have all his salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. It will keep you from ever trusting in yourself because you know that nothing you can do to save yourself, that's why you need Jesus. But it will also keep you from antinomianism, which is the view that we can just live however we want. We don't need God's commandments. Because if we love Jesus, we will keep his commandments. And Jesus himself said to his disciples that you are to make disciples, baptize those disciples, and teach them to obey or observe all that I've commanded. And therefore, if we are Christ-centered, we won't be legalistic and we won't be antinomian, because we'll be perfectly balanced of trusting only in Christ, but the Christ we trust, we will wanna keep his commandments. And so we must root all our beliefs and our practices and our theology in the person and saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're here and you're not a Christian, if you're here and you're not sure if you're a Christian, I plead with you, the only way that you, as a guilty sinner, can be reconciled to God, it's only through Jesus Christ. You cannot be right with God any other way. You cannot be redeemed any other way. If you stand here today without Christ, you stand condemned. And when you die, you will go to a real eternal hell where there will be no escape. The only escape is now, in the Day of Salvation, where God is offering to you, through the preaching of the Word, salvation in Jesus Christ. Today is the Day of Salvation. Now is the acceptable time. You might not have tomorrow. I might not have tomorrow. And so today, God says. He doesn't say tomorrow. He says today is the Day of Salvation. But that salvation is found not in being better, not in trying to do the do's and don'ts in a better way, but by resting and receiving. the Lord Jesus Christ as a perfect and all sufficient Savior. Only in Christ can you find forgiveness and salvation. Now my third point, declaring in weakness, fear, and much trembling. Paul reminds them how he came. He came in weakness and fear and much trembling. There's probably both a vertical and a horizontal aspect to this. What I mean by that is there was probably both a vertical of a fear of God, a trembling before God wanting to be faithful, but probably also horizontal in a temptation or a reality of how he will be received or these type of things. What will be, will there be pushback? Will there be violence? Will there be beatings? What will happen to him when he preaches? And so he came with both, I think, a vertical fear and a horizontal, not that he caved to it because he went and preached. Because courage is not the lack of fear. It's doing things even if you are afraid. That's what courage is. Because it doesn't take much courage to do things that you're not afraid of. Courage is needed when you're afraid of doing something and you do it regardless. And so Paul, who was a courageous man, even in his fear, went forward and preached because he knew that the only answer to man's dilemma in their sin is Jesus Christ. So he had a fear of God. Yes. He came knowing his own personal weakness. He's the one who said who is sufficient for these things, but he also went knowing the reality of how people would respond, but he was courageous to still speak, even in the midst of fear. And now my fourth point, declaring and demonstration of spirit and of power. He says in verse four, and my speech, my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirits and of power. He says here that even though he had weakness, fear, and much trauma, he came to speak to them and to preach to them. Like we saw earlier, not with persuasive words of human wisdom, not that he wasn't trying to persuade people, he was. He was very persuasive and wanted to persuade people, but he was not gonna persuade people with human wisdom, with man-centered wisdom, with wisdom of this world. He was not about that. But his preaching, instead of being with persuasive words of human wisdom, it was in the persuasion of a man preaching in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. He was preaching as a man who knew that the only way sinners were going to be converted is if God, by the Holy Spirit, came with power. And so if you haven't seen it, let me make it crystal clear. We saw verse one, the testimony of God, that's God the Father. Verse two was centered on Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And now here, verse four, his preaching, which was about God, rooted in Christ, was done in the power of the Holy Spirit. So Paul did not think about preaching, and neither should we, without a Trinitarian lens. Paul, when he's ascribing his preaching by the Holy Spirits, he says, I declared God to you, focusing on Jesus Christ and him crucified. Let me just go back a little bit briefly of something in verse two. He focuses on Jesus's crucifixion here, Jesus Christ and him crucified. He could've said a lot of things, but because that is the high point of what Christ accomplished. everything was pointing to the cross. And therefore he focuses on, that's what I was preaching, Jesus Christ and the high point of our salvation was at the cross. Of course, the virgin birth, sinless life, resurrection, ascension, enthronement, second coming are all essential, but they all are pointing to and climaxing in his work to sacrifice himself as a wrath absorbing sacrifice upon the cross. And so again, he was preaching Jesus Christ and crucified, but it was in demonstration of the Spirit and a power. There is no biblical preaching unless it's done in the power of the Holy Spirit. A man might stand up and say things, maybe even say things with passion, but if he's not doing it in the Holy Spirit, it's not blessed of God. There must be preaching in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit must empower the preaching. And let me just say this. It's very important for us who are doctrines of grace people who are some of us, maybe more reform, some of us reform wherever we're at, but definitely more careful about our thinking about the Holy Spirit. We don't want the charismatic to steal from us the doctrine of the Holy Spirit just because someone twists a doctrine. doesn't mean we get rid of it. We should be as passionate, if not more, about the Holy Spirit than the Charismatics. I'm not gonna let the Charismatics take the Holy Spirit from me. I need to be filled by the Holy Spirit. That's biblical language, and I believe it. I need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. I need to be walking in the Holy Spirit. I need to be submitting to the word of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Scriptures. And so we should be about the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is done in the Spirit. And so anyone who is so focused on other things and they are not passionate about the person and work of the Spirit, of course, his primary work is to point to Christ. And that does show you someone cares about the Spirit if they're preaching Jesus, because the Spirit loves the preaching of Jesus. But also we must remember that we should not be afraid of speaking about being filled with the Holy Spirit. We should not be afraid of being saying we need to walk in the Holy Spirit. We should not be afraid of the need of growing in the fruit of the Spirit. Because this is what it means to be a Christian. If you're not being filled by the Holy Spirit, you know what you're being filled with? Your flesh and sin. Because to be filled with something, in that context, it says, and do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. We have a phrase in English, probably in other languages as well, but we say under the influence. Especially when we say that about alcohol, when someone's drunk. What do we mean by under the influence? We mean that the alcohol, because they're drunk, is affecting the way they think, the way they speak, the way they act, the choices they make. They are affected because they're under the influence of alcohol. But the contrast to being drunk with wine is to be filled or under the influence of the Holy Spirit. So what does that mean to be under the influence or filled with the Holy Spirit? It means that the way you think, the way you feel, the way you speak, the way you act, the choices you make are governed by the Spirit through His Word. And therefore, whether in preaching or in living, it must be done in the Holy Spirit's. Because otherwise, if we are not doing in the Holy Spirit, we're doing it by our own power. and curses the man who trusts in man. Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. And so it must be done in the power of the Holy Spirit, in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. So my beloved brethren, it's not wrong for you, and you should, and I should pray this more, praying, Father, today, may you fill me by your Holy Spirit that I might walk according to your word. That's not being charismatic, that's being biblical. It's not wrong to say and to pray. If evil parents could give good gifts to their children, how much more would you give the Holy Spirit to those who ask you? That's what Jesus said. There's two parallel accounts. You might know give good gifts, but a parallel account in Luke, or give good things, is give the Holy Spirits, because that is ultimately the good thing that God gives us, is his spirits. And it's not wrong to pray, Father, you promised to give me your Spirit to those who ask. I pray for more filling and empowering and strengthening by the Spirit. That's not being charismatic, that's being biblical. And I'm afraid sometimes in our circles, we get so afraid that we might sound a little bit charismatic, that we just don't think about the Holy Spirit like we ought. But if we don't think about the Holy Spirit, my beloved brethren, we're not being biblical. You're not biblical unless you're walking in the Spirit. You're not being biblical unless you're being filled by the Spirit. You're not being biblical unless you're illuminated by the Holy Spirit to understand the Word. The Spirit of God is our teacher. And therefore, the Christian life, preaching, and all these things must be done in the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit and of power. In the Holy Spirit and of power. I don't want you, you don't have to turn here, but I'm just gonna read it. It's a powerful text in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. where Paul says, for our gospel did not come to you. Listen to this, I really want you to grab this, because it's very powerful what I'm saying. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirits, and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. Paul says, when we preached to you, it wasn't you just hearing the words coming out of our mouth. It came in power. And why did it come in power? Because it came in the Holy Spirits and with much assurance. Biblical preaching, biblical living. must be done in the Holy Spirit. As parents here, or husbands, or wives, wherever we are in those categories, we need the Holy Spirit to fulfill what God wants for us. Whether teaching children, or whether exhorting one another to loving good works, we need the Holy Spirit to do it. And without the Holy Spirit, we are without power. It's like, be like you trying to drive this morning. and you woke up and you realized you were completely out of gas in your car. There was zero gas in there, no gas whatsoever. It was not gonna move an inch because there was no gas. That's what it's like trying to preach or live, be a husband, be a wife, be a parent without the Holy Spirit. You might know where you need to go because of the word, but you don't have the power to do it because you are not walking in the Holy Spirit. And though the Spirit is necessary for us to live the Christian life, we must need, we must walk in His power. So pray for His power. You should pray that He would fill you by His Spirit, that you would walk in His Spirit, that you would be guided by His Spirit, that you would be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Because in that you will find life and power and the ability to obey God's commandments. But now my fifth point, declaring so that faith is not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Why was Paul focusing on preaching not corner worldly wisdom or human wisdom, not with excellence of speech, but the testimony of God centered on Jesus Christ and him crucified in the spirit and a power. Why was his focus on that? Why was his focus not in wooing men and women to Christ by clever and clever and worldly wise wisdom? Why did he not do that? Because if someone came to say, you know what, maybe Jesus is the Messiah, maybe Jesus is the Christ because of his human elegance and wisdom, then they could trust and have their faith in a man instead of God. They could have their faith, not in the power of God, but in a mere man. And Paul wanted to make sure that wouldn't happen. So when people believe, they realize, I'm not believing because he's saying something so worldly wise. I'm not believing because somehow I'm persuaded by his human wisdom. I'm persuaded to believe in Jesus because The Spirit has given me eyes to see, because I see from what he's declaring that Jesus Christ is the long-awaited one whom God promised. And so the people's faith would not be in man's wisdom, but in the divine, omnipotent power of Almighty God. Paul did not want men to trust in him. Cursed is the man who trusts in man. Cursed is the man who trusts in man, but blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. We're blessed when we trust in the Lord. One of the most well-known proverbs, one that people know, many people know it. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him And he shall direct your paths. So we are not to trust in man. We are not to lean on our understanding. And Paul's preaching was to make sure that no one would trust in him. And so this goes for you as well. And for all of us, when we hear preaching, we should not believe it because it sounds good, but because it's preaching God, it's preaching Christ, it's preaching in the spirit. And therefore our faith is not in the man who's preaching, but in the God who is speaking through the man. This is the danger of when we have what can be called celebrity preachers. It's a problem in our day. where some people think if he's well known, he's popular, he must say everything right. And therefore we begin to trust in the man and not the word of God. We begin to say, but he said it, he must be right. Look at who he is. Instead of saying, my faith is not in a man. My faith is not in this person. I might respect them and appreciate them for their ministry, but my faith is not in a man. My faith is in the power of God in the word. And therefore I might respect and appreciate men who are preaching, but my faith and your faith must never be in men. The reason why you believe things should not be ultimately because my favorite pastor or this preacher said it. it should be because you see it rooted in scripture. Otherwise, your faith might be in men. And this is what can happen. Sadly, if a preacher apostatizes, which is a sad reality, some people are shipwrecked. Why? Because their faith was in that man, not in the word of God. And therefore, when that man goes off, it affects them greatly because they were more looking to him than they were looking to Christ and his word. And so our faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Faith to be genuine cannot rest in fallible men, but it must rest in the infallible and immutable God. And so again, to bring this to more application, if you're here again and not in Christ, if you're here today and you're not a Christian, the only way that you can be reconciled to God The only way that you can be reconciled to your creator is not by being better, it's not by doing more. There's no amount of good things you can do to be saved. You can do good things the rest of your life, you still won't be saved. Because they won't be really good because they're not done by faith. The only way you can be reconciled to God is through faith in Jesus Christ. Repenting, confessing your sin to God, and turning in humble reliance upon Jesus Christ who died for sinners and rose again from the dead. There's no salvation any other way. And my question for you is, what's keeping you if you're not a Christian? What's holding you back? Why aren't you a Christian if you're not a Christian? Why aren't you believing the gospel? Why aren't you turning to Jesus? What's holding you back? Why have you not profess faith in Christ and say, my only hope's in him? What's keeping you? What's stopping you? What's holding you back? Why haven't you done that? What is holding you back from believing in Jesus Christ? What's keeping you? Because there's nothing in this world that is worth having more than Jesus Christ. And so if you turn to Him, you will find Him a perfect Savior. And you will find that life in Christ is a thousand, a million times better than life in the world. Because all you have there is empty promises passing pleasures, lies, and in Christ you have life and you have it more abundantly. And then for us as believers, what type of preaching do you want? When you think, maybe when you came in here, or as you've thought in the past, when you think, what is biblical preaching? What comes to your mind? What comes to your mind when you think of that was a biblical sermon? What did you think? What did you think when, if someone would ever ask you, what does it mean to be biblical in your preaching? Hopefully now, you would be able to say to them, to be biblical, it must preach God. It must preach Jesus Christ, him crucified. And it must be done in the spirit and of power. You might not put in those exact words, but hopefully that's now what you think. When someone ever asks you, what is good preaching? I hope you think about this sermon in 1 Corinthians chapter two. There's other things that can be said. But for it to be biblical preaching, it must be speaking the Word of God, about God, about Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit's power. That's what preaching is. And so my question is, is that what you desire? Do you desire preaching that is about God, about Christ, in the Holy Spirit's? Or are you more consumed with other things that are less important. What type of preaching do you want? And pray for me. This is application for you as the people who hear preaching. Pray for me that God would help me in my preaching wherever I'm at, whether I'm preaching a doctrinal sermon or a more verse by verse sermon like this one today, that I would be preaching God, Christ in the Holy Spirit. Pray that I would preach that way. And pray that God would give you a hunger and a desire for that type of preaching. I can see some sometimes faces change. When I'm in Genesis, and I notice this because I look at faces when I preach, faces help me. I don't like when I can't see faces because faces help me know maybe what to say or what to emphasize sometimes. But sometimes when I'm preaching Genesis and I get to Christ, some of your faces change. I notice it. Sometimes you start, some people start smiling, different things. Faces will sometimes change. And that's a glorious thing because you're excited that I'm actually preaching Jesus from the Old Testament, which you should. You should be like, wow, this is great. Like the whole Bible is about our Savior, which it is. And that's the type of preaching we should want. We shouldn't want just moral lessons and moral stories, even though the Bible does give us moral lessons and moral stories. I'm not against that, but it all must be rooted in Jesus Christ. Is that the type of preaching you want? Is that the type of preaching you love that is centered on our Savior? the one who loved us and gave himself for us. And if you think about it, if you gather consistently with this church, you will have, if you came every week, you would have 104 sermons because we have two sermons on the Lord's day. And I plead with you to come to both, plead with you to come to both. We don't, I don't do the afternoon one just for the sake of hearing my voice. I do it because I want you to have more preaching because I believe preaching is the primary way we grow as Christians. I plead with you. It's so important. I don't do two services just because it's kind of a cool thing to do. And it looks like we're being clever and doing things like other churches don't do two services. Let's do it to be different. No, I do it because I believe this book, the word of God is so important. And I believe the primary way we grow is by hearing it, by hearing it preach. But if you think, let's just say, even just put that number low, let's just say 90 sermons a year. That's a lot of sermons. And so it's important that you prepare for sermons. You pray, preparing your heart so that you come wanting and desiring to hear the testimony of God about Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit's power. That you would pray for your own soul so you would come with a desire to hear preaching. that you would get the most out of preaching, that you would get everything you could out of the preaching of the Word of God. And so are you getting everything you can out of preaching? Are you reading the text beforehand? Are you praying over the text beforehand? Are you discussing the text beforehand? Something that me and my wife do as a general pattern, as I try to lead in family worship on Saturday nights, is we discuss what I'm gonna be preaching on. Last night on the way home, briefly, we discussed this morning's sermon and what Mike's gonna preach on the afternoon. That's a great practice, to be able to be more prepared so you're ready for the preaching. Talking about it with your spouse or whoever it might be, ideally a spouse or someone else. If a person isn't married, talking to a friend about it, whatever it might be, a parent. But hearing, talking about the word before can be a great way to be prepared for it. So I encourage you, one of the best ways to prepare for preaching is by knowing what's gonna be preached beforehand. That's why I send the bulletins out to those who are members on our group text. If you want those and you're not a member yet, you can text me and I can send them to you so you have that beforehand. And I do that so you can know what's gonna happen and so that you can prepare your heart for the preaching. And all of us, when we share the gospel to others, when we have opportunities, when God gives us opportunities, whether to friends, to family, to siblings, to other people, to co-workers, whatever it might be, we must, in our sharing of the gospel, focus on God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Because not just biblical preaching, but even sharing the gospel is rooted in that. We're not telling people about ourselves. We're not telling people about our clever stories. It's not even first and foremost about our own testimony. Even though sharing a testimony isn't wrong, it's first and foremost about Christ, and God the Father, and the work of the Holy Spirit. And therefore, even in sharing the gospel, or sharing to loved ones the gospel, or children, whoever it might be, it must be done. declaring the testimony of God about Jesus Christ and crucified in the Holy Spirit of power. And so may God help all of us to love preaching more. We heard at the conference that one of the preachers, he argued that our whole life should be centered around preaching. that the high point of our lives should be connected with a local church, and the high point of what a church does is preaching. This is what makes church unique, is we hear the preaching of the word. And I think I'll end with this. I wanna say it like that just in case something else I wanna say. But this is why in 2 Timothy 4, Paul is saying to Timothy by the Holy Spirit, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead as appearing in his kingdom. You have to say, wow, after saying stuff like that, what is he gonna say after that? I'm gonna quote the verse again, so you hear it again. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead as appearing in his kingdom. Then he says this, preach the word. If that doesn't show us how important preaching is, I don't know what will. Paul brings the strongest charge upon Timothy. And in his exhortation, he tells him, preach the word. And so may God give us a greater love for preaching. May God help me be a better preacher week by week, month by month, year by year, so that we might be edified by his word, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Amen. Our Father, we thank you for your word and help us to love it more. Feed us by your truth. Your word is truth. In Jesus' name, amen.