It is shocking how little Christ is preached in our day. Despite the clear and unequivocal teaching by Paul on this subject, Christ is not the subject or focus of much of the preaching of today. Despite the fact that there is salvation in no other name, Christ is not the primary focus of preaching today. Despite the fact that Christ is the wisdom of God and of His people, Christ seems to be virtually ignored in churches today. Despite the fact that Christ is the sanctification of His people, He is not the center of sermons on sanctification. Despite the fact that Christ is the only righteousness acceptable to God and human beings must have Him to have a perfect righteousness much less any righteousness at all, Christ seems to be rarely set forth in that way. Despite the fact that each sinner must be redeemed and that Christ is the only redemption there is, He is not set forth as the Redeemer of His people. I would venture to say that the name of Christ is used in an irreverent way by the world than He is spoken of in a Christ-centered and reverent way by the professing churches of our day.
1 Corinthians 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Paul is so clear that his preaching was not using words with man’s wisdom, but he preached Christ and Him crucified. To the natural man the cross is foolishness and weakness, which may be why it is so ignored or barely mentioned here and there, but Christ is the wisdom and the power of God unto salvation. One aspect of the preaching of the cross is the demonstration of the Spirit and His power, which is to take men and show them how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is by grace alone and it is by the work of the Spirit alone. God commands people to repent and believe, but only the Spirit can give them saving repentance and saving faith. Preaching of the cross of Christ, then, shows men how the Spirit does this and so proclaims the power of God to men so that they may be turned from their own works and efforts.
Jesus the Christ must be set forth as the centerpiece of the glory of God in all things and in all texts if He is to be preached in truth and love. In Luke 24 Jesus took the Old Testament and showed the men how those things were written about Him. In order to preach the Old Testament, then, one must preach Christ because according to Christ Himself the Old Testament was written about Him.
Jesus the Christ is the very shining forth and revelation of the glory of God and so is should be the center of the revelation of God’s Word. The Scriptures are the revelation of God and Christ Himself is the revelation of God as well. The Spirit breathed forth the Scriptures and He is the Spirit of Christ and He is to reveal Christ and His glory. The Gospel is not just a few words about some things in history (with some apology for putting it that way), but the Gospel is about the resurrected Christ who is on His throne and rules and reigns in His kingdom. The Gospel of the glory of Christ is the Gospel of the glory of God and we cannot preach the Gospel apart from showing the glory of God in the face of Christ.
This is to say that there is no real declaration of the essence of the glory of God apart from Christ and there is no declaration of the Gospel of grace alone apart from the glory of God found shining forth in Christ. When preachers preach a text and that apart from Christ as the main point and meaning, they have not preached the real meaning of the text. When preachers preach a historical Christ and miss the glory of Christ, they have missed the historical Christ as well. When preachers preach a lot about Christ and even His cross but don’t show how the glory of God shines in Christ, they have missed who Christ really was and is. One could argue, then, that apart from preaching as Paul set forth that there is no true preaching. The only hope for unbelieving sinners and believing sinners alike is Christ and Christ alone. There is no hope in humor, in the wisdom of men, in great scholarship, in rhetoric not in conservative morality and doctrine. The only hope is the glory of God in the face of Christ. Without Christ-centered preaching there is no real reason for preaching.
God Loves... Himself 
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