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[0:00] For I determine not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

[0:20] ! Paul says, I am determined. It was something he was committed to. I have decided. I have committed. I have determined. I determined to know.

[0:35] Now there's lots of things we can know. After all, this is called the information age, isn't it? We've got smartphones and dumb people. We've got lots of information, but not a lot of knowledge.

[0:47] Not a lot of wisdom. But there's lots of things that we can know in this world. But Paul says, I determined to know this. This thing. You know, the encyclopedias on our shelves are jam-packed with knowledge.

[1:02] Some people throw the encyclopedias out now because you've got more on your phone, haven't you? You've got more on your phone. Paul said, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

[1:18] It is the most important, eternally important truth that we can know. To know Him. To know Jesus Christ.

[1:29] In Isaiah 11.9 it says in part, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. As the waters cover the sea, one day we will know.

[1:39] We'll know everything there is to know. But one thing we can know, personally know, and I urge each one to know, is this truth. To know Jesus Christ.

[1:51] To know Him. Who is life eternal. How can we know that we know? Paul told Timothy, He's able to keep us in that knowledge.

[2:13] That truth sustains us. To know Him. Paul says, I determined to know Christ. To know Christ. The question is, which Christ?

[2:24] In 2 Corinthians 11.4 it says, Of another Jesus. Another spirit. Another gospel. I'm told that worship leaders in some quarters are now being exhorted to use more inclusive language for God.

[2:43] Inclusive language for God. In some quarters, the minister doesn't baptise people in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost anymore.

[2:53] Because they're gender exclusive. It's not inclusive. In some quarters they don't pray, Our Father. Sometimes they pray, Our Father, Our Mother.

[3:07] Or just Our Mother. Or who knows what. I was reading just recently how, In some churches they avoid calling God Father, King or Lord.

[3:20] Even Lord. Because it is what they call gendered language. These are masculine terms. Father, King, Lord.

[3:32] They don't call Jesus King in some churches. They don't call Jesus Lord in some churches. Because it's not politically correct anymore. Madness, isn't it?

[3:44] Madness. In some churches though, They're changing the Bibles to read like this. Gender inclusive. They're taking the male references to God out of the Bibles.

[3:56] In the hymn books too. In songs. They're taking these masculine terms for God out of hymn books.

[4:07] It's crazy. It's a super-suit way of thinking. There's another Jesus, people. A Jesus other than the Biblical Jesus. We must know the Biblical Jesus.

[4:22] Not the Mormon Jesus. The gender-neutral Jesus. The Jesus of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Who's Michael the Archangel, so they think.

[4:33] Not the effeminate Jesus. Long hair, Goldilocks. The faith prosperity gospel Jesus.

[4:44] The mega-church Jesus. Not that Jesus. But the Biblical Jesus. He is the one that we should know. For I determined not to know anything among you.

[4:59] Save Jesus Christ. And Him crucified. Christ crucified. This was Paul's message. In 1 Corinthians 1.23 he says, But we preach Christ crucified.

[5:12] For the early church, their sermon was Christ. Christ crucified. This was the focus of their message. In Acts 5.42 it says, And daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

[5:31] They didn't preach signs and wonders. They didn't preach health, wealth, prosperity. They didn't preach Sabbath keeping. Or some other latter-day distraction.

[5:47] They preached Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Christ crucified. There was an 88-year-old woman witnessing with simply a piece of poster, a red poster that was folded in her bag.

[6:06] An 88-year-old woman used this little means of witnessing in her community in China. And in her bag is this tattered piece of paper that she pulls out on the marketplace or in the bus that she's riding.

[6:24] And the poster has a picture of a cross atop a stony hill. And underneath it says three words, It is finished.

[6:35] And this Chinese sister tells people, Mao couldn't say that. Deng Xiaoping could not say it. And you cannot say it.

[6:45] There is only one person who can say it. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is finished. And many Chinese have become Christians because of her witnessing.

[7:00] We preach Christ crucified. A preacher was getting a red carpet tour of another preacher's church. And with pride, the minister was pointing out the lovely chandeliers and the luxurious decorations and the imported pews.

[7:17] You know, padded pews, much comfier than these churches sitting here. And as they stepped outside as darkness was falling, the preacher pointed up across to the top of the steeple and said, That cross alone cost us $10,000.

[7:36] He said this with a satisfied smile. And the other preacher said, You got cheated. Times were when Christians could get them for free.

[7:47] It's happening today, brothers and sisters. Some of our brothers and sisters are getting crucified. In this day, in this century, in this month.

[8:00] Christ and Him crucified. Not some decorated Christ. Not some piece of wood to bow down and worship. Or a crucifix. But Christ is who we worship.

[8:14] There was a man who acted out the part of Christ in a film. Not saying that's necessarily a good thing. But he said, I believe every Christian should hang on a cross for at least 30 seconds.

[8:25] Their lives will never be the same. Think of the cross. What it means. In 1890, the Emperor of Abyssinia, wishing to modernise his country, ordered three electric chairs from New York.

[8:38] Thought this would be a good way to deal with the crime problem in Abyssinia. And after they arrived, they realised they would not work without electricity. Had a problem with electricity.

[8:48] At that time, Abyssinia didn't have electricity. Not wanting to waste things, Menelec II, the king, used one of the electric chairs as his throne.

[9:03] In a sense, the Lord Jesus used the instrument of execution, the cross as his throne. Of course, we know he's risen now. He's risen. Really, the Christian symbol isn't a cross.

[9:15] It's the empty tomb. It's the empty tomb. As someone has said, the cross is the ladder to heaven. Now, we're so accustomed to travelling across bridges, we no longer marvel at them. But they're amazing.

[9:27] Especially ones that extend a great distance. They've been around a long time. The world's first bridge was made in Egypt, apparently in 2650 BC, across the Nile River.

[9:39] But friends, the world's most important bridge was built in AD 30 at Golgotha, where the Lord Jesus, on his cross, bridge the gulf between sinful man and the sinless God.

[9:53]  And we can come unto him because of the cross today.