The following sermon was delivered
on Sunday morning, October 14, 2001, at the Trinity Baptist
Church in Montville, New Jersey. May I encourage you to turn with
me in your Bibles to Paul's first letter to the Corinthian Church,
1 Corinthians, Chapter 1, and as you turn to it, for the sake
of the people of God here at Trinity. Let me give just a word
of explanation. As you know, we've already brought
18 messages on the biblical doctrine of the return of Christ, and
there are about another half a dozen messages in the works
in that series, but we've been out of that for a month with
our concern to see the Word of God shed its light upon the events
of September 11, and with my being away two weekends in ministry
elsewhere, And in the light of the fact that Pastor Donnelly
will be ministering next Lord's Day, I just felt it inexpedient
to try to bring on board the pastors who are with us and give
a rather lengthy review so that they might have a sense of where
we've been And then to have it broken up against next week,
I judged that it would be much better to wait until things come
back to our steady state configuration of our life together, and then
resume and complete that series. And as I cast about for a long
time, casting about what would be an appropriate word for this
Lord's Day, and particularly with our brethren present with
us, I trust in answer to your prayers and mine that God has
directed us to consider together a text in 1 Corinthians chapter
1. That text is verse 18. For the
word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but
unto us who are saved it is the power of God. I want to preach
to you this morning from this text under the subject title,
The Message of the Cross, The Great Divider of All Mankind. The Message of the Cross, The
Great Divider of All Mankind. Those of you familiar with this
first letter to the Corinthian church will know that the Apostle
has begun to take up one of the many irregularities and problems
present in that congregation there at Corinth. And the first
problem that he addresses is the problem of divisions among
God's people. Verse 10, he says that he exhorts
them to speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among
them, but that they be perfected together in the same mind and
in the same judgment. Then he goes on to say that those
of the household of Chloe have reported to him the existence
of these divisions, and then he begins to address that subject
in verse 12. Now this I mean, each one of
you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, or
I of Christ." He identifies this party spirit, and though equally
devout and competent scholars disagree as to precisely how
they were divvying up this lining up behind their favorite apostle
or preacher, this much is clear, that there was a spirit of disunity
and it was associated with a wrong kind of attachment to these various
servants of Christ. And as he begins to address this,
he asks some rhetorical questions. In verse 13, is Christ divided? The answer is obvious, of course
not. Was Paul crucified for you? The
answer, obviously, of course not. Or were you baptized into
the name of Paul? Of course not. And having then
asked that third rhetorical question, he then gives some historical
tidbits. I thank God that I baptized none
of you save Crispus and Gaius, lest any man should say you were
baptized into my name. And I baptized also the household
of Stephanus. Besides, I know not whether I
baptized any other. So from his rhetorical questions,
he moves on to these several historical snippets, saying that
this is what I did do, this is what I did not do, and then in
verse 17, he says, this that I have recounted is in keeping
with my apostolic calling, for Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not in the wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made void. And then he's going
to launch into this marvelous statement. of the proclamation
of Christ as the wisdom of God and as the power of God and how
the message of the cross is perfectly suited to God's great end in
restorative and redemptive grace, that is, to bring sinners who
participate in that grace to the place where their glory is
in the Lord and in the Lord alone. And it's in that setting that
we have verse 18, For the word of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power
of God." And in seeking to open up this text, I want you to note
with me, first of all, the message of the cross defined as to its
essential substance. the message of the cross defined
as to its essential substance. When the apostle writes for the
word, the logos, the message of the cross is this and is that. What is the precise identity
of this message or this word of the cross? What is its essential
substance? When the apostle sat and penned
or dictated this letter, and these words came from his mouth
or his pen, the word of the cross, what in Paul's mind constitutes
the word or the message of the cross? Well, if you were putting
the thoughts together, you would answer, well, it is what he calls
in verse 17, the gospel. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not in wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ should be made void. This word of the cross
is nothing other than the gospel. And in the mind and heart of
the apostle, what is this gospel? What is the essential substance
of this gospel that is called by way of a synonym, the word
or the message of the cross? In verse 23, it is designated
as the proclamation of Christ crucified, the word of the cross,
the gospel. the proclamation of Christ crucified? Well, in short, I answer, it
is nothing more and nothing less than the doctrine of salvation
from sin and its consequences through the crucifixion of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, as a sacrifice for sin. The word of the cross
is that which Paul is describing in passages such as Galatians
3 and verse 13. Galatians 3 and verse 13. Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse
for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. The word, the message of the
cross is the proclamation that Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
underwent vicarious curse bearing. Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law, that is, the pronouncement of death upon every lawbreaker,
to which every one of us is liable by nature and by practice, liable
in Adam, our first father. liable in our own persons by
our own numberless sins. The curse of God is the judgment
of God, the abandonment by God due to us because of our sin. And the word or the message of
the cross is a declaration that Christ redeemed us from that
curse by His own vicarious substitutionary curse bearing. For Paul, the
word of the cross, is nothing less than that. In its essential
substance, it is nothing more than that. Hence he can say in
this epistle, at the end of his whole argument of the sufficiency
of Christ's work for the justification of sinners, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, not
as some kind of a dim and murky outline of God's way of somehow
or another letting us into His favor, but the cross in terms
of this crass statement in verse 13, vicarious curse-bearing,
or the language of the apostle in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and
verse 21, Him whom knew no sin, He, that
is God, made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him. For Paul, the word of the cross
is his statement that God in Christ was reconciling a world
unto himself, and he was doing this by constituting his son
the greatest sinner who ever existed in God's universe. not
a sinner in his person and in his own performance of obedience
to God, but he is made sin. In the courtroom of heaven, he
is charged with the legal liability of the sins of all who will ever
come to trust in him, and he is punished, he is anathematized,
he is accursed of God. Or in 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle
again makes very clear what he means by the phrase, the word,
or the message of the cross. I make known unto you, brethren,
the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you received,
wherein also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold
fast the word which I preached unto you, except you believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he has been raised on the third day according to the scriptures,
and that he appeared, and four times he appeared, he appeared,
he appeared as the resurrected Lord of his people. The message
of the cross as to its essential substance is this declaration
that in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is a
fully adequate sacrifice to resolve the question of sin's penalty
and sin's punishment. The Word of the Cross is taking
all the facts recorded in the Gospel records about how He died,
the circumstances leading to His death, His being impaled
upon a Roman gibbet, taking the facts of His death as set before
us in the Gospel records, and then viewing those facts in the
light of apostolic explanation. It is in the providence of God,
the great privilege of the apostles to whom He promised further illumination
in the gift of the Spirit, that He would take the Spirit of God
of the things of Christ and reveal them. And so the Word of the
Cross is not simply a reiteration of the facts leading to and surrounding
His death and the fact of His resurrection. But it is establishing
from the Scriptures the significance of those facts as they are given
to us in apostolic instruction. At the heart of this message
of the cross, there are three simple assertions. The debt of
human sin was assumed by Jesus Christ. Secondly, the debt of
human sin was discharged by Jesus Christ in His death. and that
all that is required of men is to turn from sin and to trust
only in this Christ who died and rose for the full, complete,
irreversible pardon of all of our sins. It is that message
which proclaims that men without distinction and discrimination,
if they will but trust in Christ, it is in the accursedness of
Christ upon the tree that forms the only basis for the blessedness
of sins forgiven and a right standing with God. If we would
ever know the blessedness of sins forgiven, We will know it
only in the word of the cross, in seeing that Jesus Christ,
in his accursedness, is the only way to the possession of the
blessedness of sins forgiven. Now granted, this message of
the cross has what I would call its undergirding assumptions,
as well as its inevitable consequences. And anyone committed as Paul
was to the proclamation of the word of the cross is not embarrassed
to identify and to emphasize those undergirding assumptions.
Those assumptions are that there is but one true and living God
who is the creator and the governor and the judge of all men. The
undergirding assumption is that we as image bearers have fallen
in our father Adam and that by God's law we stand liable to
his punishment and to his judgment. The undergirding assumption of
the word of the cross is there is a God who is the moral governor
of the universe. That there is a law that establishes
right and wrong. And one can only get rid of that
changeless standard of right and wrong if he rids the world
of the cross. For the law of God is embedded
in the cross, and the cross permeates the revelation of God's will
to men. God takes His law so seriously
that His only begotten Son is made a curse under a violated
law on our behalf. These undergirding assumptions
are there, and they ought to be preached, but they are not
the focal point of our preaching. The focal point of our preaching
is the message of the cross, the announcement of the great
indicatives of the gospel, what God has done in Christ to effect
a salvation adequate for the neediest of sinners, suitable
to any and all sinners. who acknowledging their state
as sinners, grab hold in the death grip of saving faith, the
Christ and the salvation set before us in the word of the
cross. It not only has its undergirding
assumptions, it has its inevitable consequences. All who embrace
the Savior as the only adequate substitute for sin and for curse-bearing
will always embrace Him not only as Savior, but as Lord and as
Master. They will, in laying hold of
the message of the Word of the Cross by the work of the Holy
Spirit imparting a new heart, they will find themselves attached
to the One who bore the curse of a broken law. They will be
attached not only in faith but in love, and that love will be
an active principle moving them to obedience. So Paul can use
the terminology in Galatians 5, 6, faith that is working by
love. Those are some of the inevitable
consequences, but flanked on the one hand with the undergirding
assumptions and on the other with the inevitable consequences,
the message of the cross in its essential substance is the message
of that which God has done in Jesus Christ to provide a just
pardon and righteous forgiveness. It is that which He did in Jesus
Christ when He made Him a curse, when He made Him sin on our behalf. Or in the language of Peter,
Jesus Christ has the just for the unjust suffered on our behalf. that he might bring us to God. So much, then, for that brief
overview. Most of you could have given
that brief overview yourselves. It's old hat, but it's absolutely
crucial stuff. As we shall see now, having spent
a few moments on the message of the cross defined as to its
essential substance, consider with me now the message of the
cross described in its dividing influence. the message of the
cross described as to its dividing influence. For the word of the
cross is to them that literally are perishing, a present tense,
to them that are perishing, foolishness. But unto us who are being saved,
it is the power of God. Paul was privileged to be a universal
preacher. He preached the message of the
cross to Jew, to Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond-free, potentate,
peasant, cultured, uncultured. And he never, never did see more
than two classes wherever that message was preached. And they
were not classes determined by bloodlines, by social relationships,
by economic factors. But in terms of what he writes
here, to some, the word or the message of the cross is foolishness. To others, it becomes the very
instrument of God's divine and saving power. The message of
the cross is to them that are perishing, foolishness. But unto
us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Consider with
me now those two categories. It is foolishness to some. Now, what is meant by foolishness?
Well, basically, when they hear the announcement of the message
of the cross, that to a world of rebel, hell-deserving sinners,
servants of God come with a divine mandate as his ambassadors, as
his sent ones, and they herald this message, God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself. Almighty God, against whom you
have a controversy, and who has a just controversy with you,
that God, in free, sovereign initiative, has done something
in Christ crucified, that your sins might be pardoned, that
you might return unto God, unto His favor, unto fellowship and
communion with Him. And when men hear the message,
there are some who regard it as foolishness. They will say,
it doesn't compute. It doesn't make sense. I can't
buy that. You mean you expect me to believe
that something someone did 2,000 years ago Outside the city wall
in Jerusalem has this eternal relevance to me. I can't hack
it. I can't accept it. I can't buy
it. It is regarded as foolishness. Everything connected with the
cross, the one who died, the God-man, they crucified the Lord
of glory. That's regarded as foolishness.
It is regarded as something that goes beyond the power of rational
beings to accept that a God-man takes the place of a condemned
felon and experiences in the depths of his soul nothing less
than the pangs of eternal hell. By some, this message is regarded
as foolishness. And why is it regarded as such?
Well, for some people it's because of their indifference. to the
issues that God addresses in the word of the cross. The issues
addressed in the word of the cross are the problem of human
sin. God's character as a righteous
judge who must punish every breach of his law. And when some hear
the word of the cross, they regard it as foolishness, something
unworthy of their serious or further consideration, because
they are utterly indifferent to the issues which the cross
addresses. Let me illustrate. A friend of
mine a number of years ago had picked up a hitchhiker, and looking
for an opportunity to witness to him, he saw someone had painted
on a rock along the highway. Christ is the answer. This hitchhiker
said to my friend, what's the question? What's the question? Christ is the answer to what?
What's the question? And we live in a generation that
has been so dulled in its conscience by the absence of a clear declaration
of God's unchangeable standard of right and wrong, so that the
condemnation of Isaiah is so relevant they call evil good
and good evil, darkness light and light darkness. And so when
this word of the cross comes, we have good news. God has done
something in Jesus Christ to righteously deal with the problem
of your sin. He has done something so decisively
that if you will cast yourself upon the Savior, you will be
fully pardoned of all of your sins. A sentence will go forth
in the courtroom of heaven, accepted in the Beloved, now and for eternity. And you get excited and thrilled
as you make that announcement of the Word of the Cross. And
people sit there, and the whole disposition of the heart is ho-hum.
When do we get on to something important? It's foolishness,
unworthy of serious contemplation and reflection. Why? Because
of an indifference to the issues that are addressed in the cross
of Christ. And I say to anyone sitting here
this morning, young or old, if when you hear those words, Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He hath made
Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, When you hear the words,
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, is that good news that sets the bells ringing in the
depths of your soul? Or is it, ho-hum, the preacher's
on a tear again? It's foolishness to me. Why?
Because you're not facing realistically the issues that are addressed
in the word of the cross. the reality of God's inflexible
justice, the God who has said, the soul that sins, it shall
die, the God who has said, he that believes on my Son hath
everlasting life, he that believes not, the wrath of God is abiding
upon him. My friend, don't pride yourself
that you've made it through another service indifferent to the word
of the cross. That indifference is the harbinger
of the hell that awaits you, in which there will be no indifference
to your true condition. A moment is coming when every
rational being will wish he or she had taken seriously the issues
addressed in the cross of Christ. And in some recent preaching
in Luke chapter 13, and reflecting upon Luke 16, There is more than
a hint that part of the horror of hell will be the ability to
see the people of God in the blessedness of heaven. Jesus
said there shall be the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom. The issue
of your sin will be all absorbing, day and night, no rest, forever. There is a righteous answer.
There is a just answer to the problem of your sin that God
takes seriously, that one day you must take seriously. But
I plead with you, here and now, while the word of the cross goes
forth, attended with the proclamation, today is the day of salvation. Today, if you hear His voice,
harden not your hearts. Why is it regarded as foolishness? For some, it's because of indifference
to the issues that are addressed in the word of the cross. For
others, it's the inbred actings of conscience, unenlightened
by the gospel. The inbred actings of conscience,
unenlightened by the gospel. Conscience is that pesky, stubborn,
little moral monitor placed within the breast of every one of us.
with his very limited vocabulary. Right? Wrong. Sin? Righteousness. That moral monitor
who will not be taught a third word, neither. Can't teach it
to him. But conscience, like the rest
of what we are, as image bears, has been tragically twisted and
warped by the fall. And there is in every man by
nature the realization, Paul addresses it in Romans 1.32 regarding
those who've never had special revelation, never seen the pages
of a Bible, never heard a gospel sermon, who knowing the ordinance
of God that they who practice such things are worthy of death.
Not only do the same, but consent with them that practice them.
They know by the thunderings of their own conscience that
their sin will bring death. Sin brings punishment. The wages
of sin is death. Conscience accuses and conscience
says something must be done to get rid of the accusation. But
an unenlightened conscience hears the word of the cross. And the
problem is not that the person does not have a sense of sin.
But with that sense of sin is this pressure of their darkened
minds. I must make amends. I must get
my act together. I must make myself fit for God. I must do in order that I may
have acceptance. And when they hear a message
that says, no, it is not your doing that will give you a right
standing with God. It is not your acting, not your
doing, not your efforts. It is casting yourself in the
entirety of what you are as a hell-deserving sinner upon Jesus Christ as he's
offered so freely and sincerely in the gospel. And the person
says, but wait a minute. You mean just by that disposition
of the soul in resting upon Christ, all of my sins are blotted out?
All the horrible things that I can remember and the ones that
God knows perfectly, all of that blotted out by one simple act
of trust in Christ that ushers me into a lifetime of a disposition
of trust? No, no. Too easy. Too easy. Got
to do something more than simply trust. Got to do something more
than simply rely upon an offered Savior. Embrace the offered promise
of the gospel. And there may be some sitting
here who say the message of the cross is not foolishness to me
because I'm not concerned about sin. But it's foolishness in
that it points to a way of acceptance and salvation that doesn't seem
right or just. And you allow an unenlightened
conscience that brings together sin and punishment, sin and reformation,
sin and doing things and doing better. And when you hear the
message again and again, some of you in this place, around
the family table, day after day, week after week, this message,
the word of the cross, is foolishness to you because you are following
the track laid out by the actings of an unenlightened conscience. We need to take to heart such
simple gospel pointers as John 1 in verse 29. John said, behold,
look up and look upon this one who's come into your midst. Behold,
the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world. You need
to look into the face of him who said to a woman of a great
deal of sinful past, neither do I condemn you. Go, sin no
more. This message, this word of the
cross is foolishness to some, because of their indifference
to the issues which that message addresses. Some, because of the
inbred actings of conscience, unenlightened conscience. Some,
because of the vicious actings of human pride. You got enough
sense to know, wait a minute, this message that says, Christ
has died, I need not die. Christ has borne the wrath of
God, I need not bear that wrath. If I attribute the whole of my
salvation to the doing and the dying of another, even Jesus,
flowing out of the free, infinite, undeserved, sovereign love of
God, that any time I think of such a salvation, any time I
speak of such a salvation, my whole disposition in the presence
of God has to be one of saying to the last cell of my inner
being, all glory goes to God, all praise goes to Jesus. It's
a salvation wholly, totally procured by the doing and the dying of
another, flowing out of God's free, sovereign love And the
human heart wants to cling to some little area of which it
can say, yes, Christ has his place, God's love and grace has
its place, but there's this little wiggle room. I may not want to
be so brash as that Pharisee who struts into the temple. He
doesn't pray. He's preening. He's preening.
I thank you, God. I'm not his other man. Extortious,
unjust, republican. And God, if what I am isn't quite
acceptable, look at what I do. I fast. I tithe. That spirit is in every one of
us by nature. It may not be nurtured to the
same degree, but there is an inbred aversion to salvation
by grace in every one of us. We all want to at least have
a wiggle of the pinky to do with our salvation. And in this very
chapter, the apostle, in opening up a salvation calculated to
give all of the glory to God, says in this very chapter, let
him that glories glory in the Lord, the Lord, our righteousness,
the Lord, our substitute, the Lord, our effective high priest
who offers up himself once for all on behalf of sinners. Why is the gospel foolishness
to some? I suggest these three reasons.
And what does God describe these people as? Who are the ones who
regard it as foolishness? The text tells us they are perishing. They are perishing. They are
already perishing. Just as surely as the wrath of
God already abides upon them. This is the description of their
true state. They are natural men who receive
not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
unto them. And the things of the Spirit of God in this context
are the things of the wisdom of God in the gospel. God's infinite
mind conceiving a plan of redemption in which the offended God rectifies
the horrible tragedy of human sin. by one member of the Godhead,
taking to himself a true human soul and body, voluntarily placing
himself under the very law that he gave from Sinai, living that
life in such perfect conformity to that law, in thought, in motive,
in reaction and in action, that the Father speaks out of heaven,
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well There never
was anything that was not well-pleasing. Jesus was conscious of this.
He said, I do always the things that please my Father. I do always
the things that please my Father. And in this Christ and in Him
alone, salvation is extended. The natural man receives not
these marvelous things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness.
My friend, is the word of the cross foolishness to you? If so, you're perishing. And
perishing does not mean heading into non-existence. It is the
word used in more than one context to speak of the everlasting wrath
of God that will rest upon your head and your person in a place
described as outer darkness, where there is the weeping and
the gnashing of teeth. But now notice the other side
of the divide. Another effect is described.
The preaching of the cross is to some foolishness, the ones
who are perishing, but unto us, and Paul includes himself, unto
us who are being saved, unto us who are in the process of
being rescued from sin and its consequences, It, that is, the
word or the message of the cross, is the power of God. The message
of the cross is the power of God. Immediately some of you
are thinking of Romans 1, I'm not ashamed of the gospel or
the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Do we have two different conduits
of divine power? No. The gospel that Paul speaks
about in Romans 1 16, he puts the floodlight on this central
issue of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
It is the power of God into salvation to everyone that believes, for
therein is revealed a righteousness from God. There is a righteousness
revealed, a righteousness that is embedded in what Paul calls
here the word of the cross. He has made Him who knew no sin
to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God
in Him. And to some, the word of the
cross is the very conduit of divine power. forgiving power,
liberating power, conscience alleviating power, law conquering
power, sin and death conquering power. The Word of the Cross
is the very instrument of God's saving power. And how does it
become such to these, described as the ones to whom this Word
of the Cross is divine power? Well, it's because God shows
them their desperate need of the very things held forth in
the word of the cross. It's because God shows them their
personal need for that which God holds forth in the word of
the cross. This is why in the ordinary pattern
of God's dealings with people whom he's going to bring to himself
in grace, he first wounds before he heals. He brings to bear upon
their consciences the recognition that I am a sinner, I stand condemned,
and if God gave me what I deserved, I would be forever banished from
His presence. The message of the cross alone,
the word of the cross alone, comes with the divine answer
to that problem of my own discovered and felt sinfulness. And that
word of the cross becomes the power of God when showing us
our desperate need of that which it holds before us. God enables
the sinner to embrace the offered Savior and all of the salvation
stored up in him. He overcomes our pride. He subdues
our rebellion. And we find ourselves joyfully
exclaiming, My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, that is, my most spiritual moment. I dare not trust my sweetest
frame of mind and heart, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. And how does God describe such? He describes them as those who
are being saved. Again, a present passive participle. Those whom God has laid hold
of in sovereign mercy and grace. They have been rescued from condemnation. Romans 8, 1. There is therefore
now, in the present, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. They have been delivered from
sin's dominion and lordship. They are continually being delivered
from remaining pollution, continually being saved in an ongoing conformity
to Christ. And that work of salvation, as
we've seen in recent weeks, will come to its glorious culmination
when we are perfected into the image and likeness of the Lord
Jesus, body and soul or spirit. The message of the cross, the
great divider of all mankind, sought to identify what that
message is in its essential substance. Then we've considered briefly
the message of the cross described in its dividing influence. Now
I want to close with one or two very pointed questions and then
a word of exhortation and entreaty to my brethren laboring in the
work of the ministry. Sitting here this morning, boys,
girls, young men, old men, young women, let me ask you a very
simple question. Has the word of the cross become
the instrument of divine power to save you? Our text says, the
word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but
unto us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Has the
word of the cross become under the blessing of God the instrument
of his power to your salvation? It's a very simple question.
Mom and dad can't answer it for you. Husband or wife can't answer
it for you. You must answer in the light
of this text of God's word. Where do you stand in this great
divide? To some, foolishness, to some, the power of God. What
is the word of the cross to you? Has it come as the best news
your ears could ever hear, that God Almighty has done something
in grace and mercy on behalf of sinners? The great indicatives
of the gospel have come as blessed good news into the depths of
your own being. Has it brought you to the place
where you joyfully confess you do not trust in yourself, that
you do not rely upon anything you are or ever hoped to be?
that in your dying breath you would say, Jesus, thy blood and
righteousness, my beauty are my glorious dress, midst flaming
worlds in these arrayed. With joy shall I lift up my head,
bold shall I stand in thy great day, for who ought to my charge
shall lay fully absolved from these I am, from sin and fear
and death and shame. Is the word of the cross foolishness
to you? Ho-hum? Why be concerned foolishness? If so, I plead with you, give
yourself no rest until the issues to which the cross addresses
itself become the most burning issues in the field of your conscious
concern, until you've come to that place where that jailer
came that night. We don't know how he began the
night after he locked Paul and his companion in stocks. But
we know before the night was over, one thing mattered. Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? What must I do to be in the way
of that saving grace that is so transformed you men, that
you praise your God when unjustly imprisoned and unjustly beaten,
you are praising and blessing your God. What must I do to experience
that deliverance that will make me what you men are? Paul responds,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And no
doubt he explained later as he went into the house and it says
they spoke unto him and to his household the word of God. He
opened up the significance of that directive, but he never
budged one iota from that central declaration. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And I say to my fellow
pastors, as I have to ask myself again and again, do I really
believe that the word of the cross is the power of God unto
salvation? That in the due course of my
ministry, while seeking to proclaim the whole counsel of God, I never
weary, not let a large day pass when anyone sitting in the assembly
would not know if they were listening, that this is a preacher and this
is a people. whose whole hope of life and
salvation flows from Jesus Christ crucified. Christ of the manger,
yes. Incarnate Deity. Christ of the
open tomb, yes. But the focus, as we'll see God
willing tomorrow morning, is that which God has accomplished
in the death of His Son. I determine to know nothing among
you save Jesus Christ and Him as crucified. Not still hanging
on a tree, no, he is now the exalted Lord, but the fixation
of his proclamation was the word of the cross. There are dangerous
tendencies in even Reformed circles in our day to shift the emphasis
to the crown. and the kingship of Christ, and
bringing every discipline and every facet of our thinking and
life under the lordship of Christ, which we must do as God's people. But, my brethren, let it never
be said that we move from this central emphasis. It's the word
of the cross. It's the message of the cross.
It is the proclamation of Christ, crucified. It is Paul's passion. as he declares it in Galatians
2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live,
yet not I, but Christ lives in me in the life which I now live
in the flesh. I live in faith of the Son of
God who sits enthroned for me. That's true, but that isn't what
the apostles said. The Son of God who loved me and
gave himself up for me. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. My brethren, do
I believe, I ask myself this many a Lord's Day, do I really
believe that if somewhere in whatever the exposition is, whatever
the subject is, if I hold forth the Christ of the cross, that
God can take that and make it the instrument of His power to
take sons of Adam and make them sons of God. Bring them to the
death grip of saving faith where they cling to Christ himself
and Christ alone. The pressure will be more and
more exerted upon us as life gets less and less simple in
the things that we see as it were and have experienced on
the horizon. And what this poor, confused,
sin-sick, reeling-like-a-drunk-man nation of ours needs is not some
new wrinkle on the gospel. It needs the naked, bare, passionate,
Spirit-empowered proclamation of the Word of the Cross. that
God in Christ has done something for sinners and God sincerely
with no tongue in cheek through his servants comes to you in
the stead of Christ and beseeches and begs you to be reconciled
to God. That's what Paul said. We then
are ambassadors of Christ. As though God were beseeching
by us, we beseech you in Christ's stead. Be reconciled to God. Why? Because God has done something
in Christ to make that possible. He has, in Christ, provided this
perfect righteousness. All of the demands of a violated
law have been met in the bloodletting, in the abandonment, in the cry
of dereliction uttered from the cross. My brothers, May God help
us as a result of our days together to go from this place more committed
than ever that our ministry will be indeed apostolic, that is,
sent not to baptize but to preach the gospel, that gospel which
again and again focuses upon the cross of Christ and the word
of the cross, and that we may see with the blessing of God
God doing that work that he describes in verse 24 of this chapter,
unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the
power of God, and the wisdom of God. Well, my brothers, I
lay that exhortation before you. I trust God will write it upon
all of our hearts. You who are not in Christ, once
again you've been pleaded with to go to Christ. May God grant
that you will make that the business of this and other Lord's Day
in which God graciously has brought you into a context where you
can't help but think that you're something more than a hunk of
flesh that needs to be fed and dressed and bedded. You are an
immortal being. God has stamped you with endlessness. Apart from Christ, it's a horrific
future. In Christ, it's blessed. Let's
pray. Our Father, how we thank you
that there is a word of the cross. We thank you that you have, in
your love and mercy, provided a Savior perfectly suited to
the need of the vilest of sinners. And we earnestly pray that that
word of the cross, even this day, shall be made the instrument
of your power, bringing some to rest solely in Christ as he
is offered to them in that gospel. We pray for your dear servants
that you will help us. There are so many pressures,
Lord, brought to bear upon us to throw in our energies and
our concerns in this direction and that direction and how we
plead with you that we will be men who have this holy fixation
upon the crucified Savior. That we may be able to say, as
Paul could, that before the eyes of our people, Jesus Christ was
placarded as crucified. We ask you to bless your truth,
to be with us through the remainder of this day, that we may know
the presence of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit in our hearts,
about our tables, in our homes, in our further gathering together
tonight. We commit to you the remainder
of this day with the prayer that your blessing will rest upon
us in ever-increasing measures of grace and power. Hear us as
we plead for these mercies. In Jesus' name, amen.