1 Corinthians chapter 1. I shall merely summarize the
paragraph preceding the text that we will examine in our study
together this evening. Beginning with verse 10 in chapter
1, the Apostle Paul begins to treat this deplorable and shameful
condition of divisions in the church at Corinth. Someone has
done some sanctified not tail-bearing, but cattling. This was passing
on truth, and he says that it had been reported to him, verse
11, of the household of Chloe, that there were divisions amongst
the believers at Corinth. And as the Apostle Paul begins
to treat this deplorable condition, he asks some rhetorical questions,
in verse 13, to show the folly of that division. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were
you baptized in the name of Paul? And then he makes some historical
assertions in verses 14 through 16. No, he did not baptize any
of these except one household and maybe one or two others.
And he says the reason that he was not preoccupied with baptizing
people and making this his primary work as an evangelist, as an
apostle, as a teacher and preacher of the gospel, was that this
action was consistent with his role as defined by his Lord. Verse 17, For Christ sent me
not to baptize. That's an absolute for the relative.
That's a figure of speech. He was sent to baptize. He baptized
people. But he says, Christ did not send
me on a mission of baptism. My mission was not a mission
of sacramental grace. My mission was not one of giving
initiatory ordinances. This was not the focal point
of my ministry. Rather, he says, but to preach
the gospel. And not to preach it just any
old way. He says, not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made void. Now, having used the term, preach
the gospel, and the phrase, cross of Christ, the Apostle Paul now
goes into orbit, and it's one of those sanctified digressions,
and he never picks up his theme of divisions amongst the brethren
again until chapter three, and verse one. Thus, is to them that
perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved, it is the power
of God. And our attention will be focused
tonight upon this text, and we shall study it under the general
theme, The Word of the Cross, The Great Divider of Mankind. Consider with me, first of all,
the Word of the Cross defined as to its substance. The American
Standard renders the text For the word, not the preaching or
the message, but the word of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness. And that is a very accurate translation. Now what is this word of the
cross in its essential substance? It is synonymous with what Paul
calls in verse 17, the gospel. Christ sent me to preach the
gospel. It is called in verse 23, but
we preach Christ crucified. It is the proclamation of Christ
crucified. Now what is the essence of that
word of the cross? The gospel of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Well, in short, it is that proclamation
of the doctrine of salvation from sin through the crucifixion
of the Son of God as a sacrifice for sin. That is the word of
the cross. The proclamation of the doctrine
of salvation from sin through the crucifixion of the Son of
God as a sacrifice for sin. It is the message set forth in
such text as 2 Corinthians 5 21. God hath made him Jesus Christ
who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. It is the message set forth in
such a text as Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree. It is the message
explicitly defined as to its essential elements in chapter
15 of this very epistle. He said the gospel we preach
unto you by which you are saved if you hold fast this truth is
this Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
He was buried. He rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. The word of the cross defined
as to its substance is the message which declares that the debt
of sin was assumed by Christ, that that debt was discharged
by Christ, and now all that is required of sinners is to trust
only in Christ. That is the word of the cross. The debt of the sin of an innumerable
company whom no man can number was assumed by the second person
of the Godhead, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the Living God. Having
assumed that debt, He fully discharged that debt upon the cross. He
cried prior to His last words into thy hands, I commend my
spirit. He cried, It is finished, the
debt is paid, I have discharged all the demands of my Father
against the sins of those on whose behalf I die. And then
the third element in that word of the cross is the proclamation
that all that is now required of sinners is to trust only in
Christ. The word of the cross is the
proclamation that the accursedness of Christ upon the tree forms
the only but sufficient basis of the blessedness that sinners
receive in time and unto eternity. Now granted, I am fully aware
that that Word of the Cross, focusing upon that which the
Son of God did in His sufferings as a substitute for sinners,
presupposes all that the Bible says about God as Creator, All
that it says about man as creature, the law as inflexible, man as
guilty, restoration to obedience as the end of salvation, I'm
fully aware of that. So this Word of the Cross is
no enemy of repentance. It is no enemy of God reconstituting
His rule in the heart of sinners. But listen carefully. The dominant
theme of the Word of the Cross is not God as Creator. God as
lawgiver, God as judge, the demands of repentance and restoration
to obedience to the law of God. No, no! The dominant theme, the
central note, the focal point, its concentrated focus is this,
the blessed work of Jesus Christ as an atoning sacrifice for sinners. Sin has been judged! and all
sinners may come and enter into the benefits of the death of
the Son of God." Yes, the Word of the Cross presupposes all
the Bible says on the one hand about God as Creator, Judge,
and the Law. It assumes that all who embrace
the Savior And the offered salvation will receive Christ as Lord. They will love and obey Him,
walk in holiness. They will press on in godliness.
So this Word of the Cross is no enemy to gospel holiness or
gospel duties. But listen, bowing to Christ
as Lord, loving Him and obeying Him, walking in holiness, persevering
in godliness, is not the focal point of the Word of the Cross.
The Word of the Cross is this. In the accursedness of the Son
of God is to be found the blessedness of sinners. Not primarily in
His enthronement, but in His accursedness. The word of the cross. How is
it defined? Well, I've given you a number
of scriptures that show that it is to be defined in terms
of those simple propositions. Christ assumed the debt of sinners. Christ discharged the debt of
sinners. God bids all sinners without
discrimination to embrace the Lord Jesus as the only and sufficient
Savior of sinners. In other words, the substance
of the word of the cross is to be found in those blessed words
of the Apostle John. We read them in John 3, 14 to
16. For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him may have eternal life. And then John goes on to say
in verses 15 and 16, verse 16, For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have Eternal life, for God sent not the Son
into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be
saved through Him. The Word of the Cross, defined
as to its substance, is just this, nothing less, but nothing
more. Now in the second place, consider
the Word of the Cross described as to its effect upon men. Paul
says, for the word of the cross is to them that are perishing
foolishness, but to those who are being saved it is the power
of God. Now Paul was privileged to be
a universal and international preacher. I've often seen posters
in some little podunk town announcing the spring revival meetings,
and internationally known evangelists I'd say, well, I must live on
the moon or on Mars or something, because I ain't never heard tell
of it. And so there are many men who like to lay claim to
the title International Evangelist. Well, the Apostle Paul never
would have used that about himself, but he was the real thing. He
was an International Evangelist. He had been privileged under
God, under the commission of Christ, and in obedience to that
commission, to preach to Jew, to Greek, to barbarian, Scythian,
bond-free, potentate peasant, cultured, uncultured, and the
apostle observed something, that wherever he preached, regardless
of those to whom he ministered in terms of their culture, their
background, their racial, their religious, their ethnic distinctions,
there were but two responses to this word of the cross. when
he would stand before a group of Jews steeped in the knowledge
of the Old Testament scriptures, and in the synagogue would reason
with them from the scriptures and give this word of the cross?
when he would proclaim that in Jesus of Nazareth all the prophecies
found their fulfillment. In Jesus of Nazareth Almighty
God judged the sins of his people. In Jesus of Nazareth the debt
was paid. In Jesus of Nazareth now exalted
to the right hand of the Father there is forgiveness and acceptance
and the pardon of all sins. When he preached to the Jews
he noticed there was one of two reactions. When he would preach
to barbarians when he would preach to uncultured, ignorant, borderline
savage gentiles in certain places, and he proclaimed that same message,
he said only two responses. When he preached it in the marketplace,
when he preached it to the ones and twos, when he preached it
to the hundreds, how does he describe the effect of that word
of the cross upon men? Look at it. The first is this. For the word of the cross is
to them that are perishing, for that's a present verb, or participle,
to them that are perishing, it is foolishness. It is, first
of all, foolishness to some, to others it is the power of
God. Now, in examining these two different effects, these
two categories of response to this Word of the Cross, we'll
ask three questions. What, why, and who? Simple enough,
isn't it? All right, what does it mean,
this Word of the Cross is to this first category of people,
foolishness? What is meant by foolishness?
Well, simply this, it just plain doesn't make sense. To use contemporary
jargon, I don't dig it. I can't buy that. I can't accept
that. It just doesn't make sense to
me. This is precisely what this word means. You're talking nonsense
to me. When you come to me and press
upon me, urge upon me, the embracing of this message that in Jesus
of Nazareth there is to be found the only hope of pardon, but
in Christ crucified is everything that a sinner needs for acceptance
and reconciliation with God. Paul said, There is a class of
people who regard this as mere foolishness. Now why is it regarded
as such? Let me give you three of the
fundamental reasons why it was regarded as such in Paul's day,
and then you'll see that we've left Paul's day and we're as
current and as relevant as the air we breathe in this chapel
this night on the 17th of March. Why is this Word of the Cross
regarded as foolishness? Well, the first reason is this.
Because of indifference to the issues with which this message
is concerned. Because of indifference to the
issues with which this word of the cross is concerned. As someone
said who saw a roadside post through a billboard, Christ is
the answer. He said, yeah, but I got no questions. You see what he was saying? Christ
is the answer, yes, but he says, I've got no questions, so it's
all irrelevant to me. It's foolishness. Well, you see,
the Word of the Cross is foolishness until you've got some questions.
And the reason why the multitudes who hear this Word of the Cross
regard it as foolishness, a silly thing, something that cannot
be grasped, something even unworthy of serious thought, it's mere
silliness, it's religious talk, it's fundamentalist jargon, is
the way the religious world would term it. It's because of indifference
to the issues to which that Word of the Cross speaks. For you
see, the Word of the Cross assumes the reality of God as Creator. It assumes the reality of man
as his creature accountable to that God. It assumes the awesome
reality of the holiness of God's law, the inflexibility of His
justice, the reality of His anger against sin, the necessity of
His judgment upon sin. You see, the cross is meaningless
apart from those assumptions. It only has meaning in the context
of the reality of God as creator, man as creature, the law as the
standard of righteousness by which man is bound. Man having
broken that law, having offended God, having provoked His justice
and His wrath. What is the cross? The cross
is the answer to how God's wrath can be satisfied apart from breaking
upon the head of the sinner himself. The cross is the wonderful news
that the wrath of God has broken upon the head of an adequate
substitute. That the anger of God against
human sin has been expended upon the person of the Son of God. But you see, the multitudes care
nothing for these things. Filling their bellies, gratifying
animal passions and carnal appetites is all that concerns them. And
when Paul would come to such and bring the word of the cross
and say, Christ has died, sin has been judged, hear the good
news, you may be pardoned, accepted, your sins blotted out, they'd
say, hold on. pardon, sins, acceptance. Look
man, if you're going to come and talk to me about filling
my belly, giving me better security, giving me greater immunization
against the trickery of the government and the spiraling economy, then
you turn me on. But don't talk to me about something
called good news that only has to deal with sin and forgiveness
and judgment and wrath and heaven and hell. Those things are of
no concern to me. Paul faced it in his day. We
face it in our day. But listen, my friend. Whether
or not the things to which the cross speaks are a matter of
concern to you now, and I don't need to claim to be a prophet
to make this statement, then ours is coming when nothing else
will be of concern to you. And ours is coming when nothing
else will be of concern to you. The scripture says it is appointed
unto men once to die, and after this the judgment. When you stand
before Almighty God, only one thing will matter, the fact that
you're in the presence of your Creator. Only one thing will
matter, that God holds you accountable to Himself. Only one thing will
matter, you've broken His law! Only one thing will matter, you've
provoked His anger! Only one thing will matter, He
must give end to His righteous anger! those horrible, frightening
words depart from me cursed into everlasting fire prepared for
the devil and for his angels. The word of the cross is to them
who perish foolishness. Why? Because of indifference
to the issues with which this message is concerned. Let me
ask you children, young men and women, fellows and girls, young
people, adults, You've heard the word of the cross preached
in this place in your hearing. Some of you time, times without
number. Is it still foolishness to you?
Is it still something unworthy of serious reflection and contemplation? Well then the reason perhaps
lies right here. You've never taken seriously
the issues to which the cross speaks. And my friend I plead
with you. Begin to take them seriously,
for the hour is coming when you must. You must. But then there's a second reason
why the message is regarded as foolishness, and it's this. Because
of inbred, the inbred actings of conscience. You see, this
message says, all the sins that you have committed can be pardoned
and blotted out. by a believing look upon the
Son of God. That's the word of the cross.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him may
have eternal life. Now you see, this word seems
foolish because of the actings of our natural conscience. Conscience
is God's little vice-regent in the human breast. God's little
monitor within our own breast. And conscience says to us, sin
and punishment are inseparable. They are Siamese twins. You read
in Romans 1 that in the conscience of the heathen who've never seen
the pages of the Word of God, those two things are wedded together.
It says in verse 32, who knowing the judgment of God that they
who do such things are worthy of death. They know such things
bring death. Sin, death. are wedded together. And the conscience is constant
reminder of that fact. You read it in chapter 2, verse
15. Their conscience accusing or excusing. When they avoid
sinful patterns, conscience says, you're alright. When they sin,
conscience accuses and says, sin will bring death. Now do you see the problem? Here
comes a message that says, you have sinned. You deserve wrath. You deserve anger. You deserve
punishment. But the same God whose law you've
broken, whose wrath you've provoked, whose justice has been stirred
up against you, that God comes, say, by a look at my son. Your sins are all forgiven. And I will not hold one of them
against you for a time and for eternity. I will blot them out
as a thick cloud. I will put them behind my back.
I will bury them in the depths of the sea. I'm quoting scriptural
phrases. I will remove them as far as
the east is from the west. Now you see the message of the
cross is foolishness if you're going to take your perspectives
from the actings of natural conscience. Conscience says this cannot be.
This cannot be! I sin! I brought upon myself
the frown of God by my many and aggravated sins, now to tell
me that the whole mass of sin that I've been creating and accumulating
for a lifetime is suddenly melted and dissolved, and that forever,
in an instant of time? Conscience says, oh no, no no,
that's too simple. That's too easy. That's wrenching
loose sin and judgment. My conscience tells me sin must
bring judgment. Conscience never can tell me
a thing of free forgiveness. Conscience has no ability to
speak to me of free forgiveness until conscience has been brought
under the discipline of its author and its master, the living God
himself. And it's only when God takes
conscience and sets him down at the foot of Mount Calvary
And God instructs conscience, not from the law, but from the
gospel. That's why the scripture says,
having our conscience purged from dead works, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, my friend, your conscience will
never have true peace until it's been re-educated at the foot
of the cross. where God can both be just and
the justifier of him that believeth on Jesus. Now that's why some
people regard the gospel as foolishness. They are concerned about the
issues to which the gospel speaks. Sin, judgment, wrath, accountability
to God. But this is a stumbling block
to them. You mean to tell me by one look, by the work of another,
wholly upon the doings of another, that all of my doings are undone?
Conscience says no. My friend, you may think it a
little thing to simply believe. But it is a mighty work of God
to bring a man to believe such a word of the cross. That's why
he's got to be regenerate before he'll ever believe it. It's opposite
to all that is in him by nature. Even when he is concerned about
the law and heaven and hell and judgment, he cannot bring himself
to believe that all is done by the doing of another. He must
be up and doing. He must be up and doing. He must
become the Pharisee who says, I fast, I tithe, I, I, I, I,
I. That was Saul of Tarsus prior
to God arresting him on the Damascus road. And so, this word of the
cross is foolishness. Reason number one, because of
indifference to the issues with which the message is concerned.
Reason number two, because of the natural inbred actings of
conscience. Thirdly, because of the vicious
actings of human pride. You see, the cross is the greatest
leveler of mankind. takes the cultured, educated
man who has flowing through his blood a heritage that would make any
one of the sons of Adam at the human level proud to name his
family tree cultured, speaks his mother tongue, whatever it
be perfectly educated, refined, it takes that man And it puts
him alongside that person that you wonder if he really is man
or beast. Who's dwelt in one of the primitive
tribes of the inner lands of New Guinea. Nothing but a gourd
for a covering. No written language. Lives almost
a half animal-like existence. You know what God does through
the cross with those two? He brings them right like this.
And He says, you've sinned in Adam, you've fallen in Adam,
and if you're ever to be redeemed, it will be redemption in Christ
on the basis of the work that He did upon the cross. Oh, how the word of the cross
is a lever of human pride. It says to cultured, come with
all your culture, all your refinement, all your education, all of the
external morality, stand before the Son of God crucified and
risen and say, not one thing in my hands do I bring, simply,
to thy cross I cling. And he finds when he takes that
posture, he's standing at the same place. For that man from
a stone-age tribe in the Guinea, who having discovered the same
corruption of nature, the same revolts against the law, having
felt the same pangs of the same guilt against the same God, has
heard the same word of the cross. And there he is leveled. Now
that's why this word is foolishness to many people. Because of the
vicious actings of human pride. I'm not going to take the place
of some foul, ignorant savage who lives like a beast! Well,
I haven't been all I should be, but I... Ah, my friend, listen
to me. The scripture says, they judging themselves by themselves
are not wise. If God doesn't see you in Christ,
He sees you in Adam, and in Adam you're as foul as anything that's
ever walked the face of the earth. God says, your righteousnesses,
the best things you do are as filthy rags in His sight. We
are all as an unclean thing, is the word of the prophet. That's why you can't embrace
this word of the cross. Because of the vicious actings
of your own carnal pride. Why we've been Christians for
generations! Oh, you have been, huh? Since
when does God have grandchildren? Grace doesn't flow through genes,
my friend, or chromosomes. The scripture says those who
embrace this message are those who are born not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Some of you have had a Christian
heritage for generations. This may be the very point where
the cross is an offense to you. For until you can take your stance
at the foot of that cross and say, O God, though I give you
heartfelt thanks for all the blessings that have come because
of the generations of Christian heritage, all the influence,
all the knowledge, all the sins avoided, all the virtues inculcated,
I give you thanks, but O God, as far as giving me one shred
of anything upon which I can stand, O God, I am as foul, I
am as needy, I am as undone! As a pagan from the stone age,
try the new pity, until you take that posture, my friend, the
word of the cross will be foolishness to me. It's foolishness to me. Oh, will you let it go on being foolishness
because of the viciousness of the pride of the human heart. Now there may be many other reasons,
but as I have sought to ask the question, and turn an eye to
my own experience in seeking to preach the word of the cross
and search the scriptures. I'm convinced that these are
three of the predominant reasons as to why the word of the cross
is foolishness. Now the third question we ask,
having ascertained what is this foolishness, why is it regarded
as such? The third question, who are those
who thus regard it as foolishness? Well, if you ask them, they say,
well, We're the wise ones. I mean, we're not going to be
sucked in by this, you know, this business of heaven and hell
and forgiveness. I mean, we're respectable people.
We have a religious element in us that makes us well-rounded,
whole people. What does God evaluate? How does
God evaluate? Well, look at the text. For the
word of the cross is to them that perish. and is a present
participle. It should be translated to them
that are perishing. It is foolishness. If the message
of the cross is foolishness to you, it is because you are a
perishing one. You are in a present state of
perishing. You are already on your way to
destruction. To use the words of John, he
that believeth not is condemned already. Verse 36 of John 3,
he that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth upon him right
now. This is an actual description
of your true state. The fact that you regard the
word of the cross as foolishness is simply a manifestation that
you've never been born of the Spirit of God. For 1st Corinthians
2.14 says, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are what? Foolishness unto him. Neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually different. Isn't
that the tragedy of an unconverted man? What he regards as an indication
of his wisdom, God says is a manifestation of his perishing state. Come on, I'm just too intelligent
to accept as a tentative faith upon which I rest for time and
eternity that something that happened on a cross when a humble
carpenter died the death of a common criminal and a slave What transpired
in those hours is adequate for all the need of my heart for
time and eternity. No, no, no, no. I'm not going
to sacrifice my intelligence to something like that. God says,
my friend, that's no mark of intelligence. That's a manifestation
which will perish you. It's a revelation of the folly
of sin. But we must hurry on, for there
is a second effect which this word of the cross has upon men
and we're going to approach it in the same way that we approach
the first effect first of all notice the wording of the apostle
but to those who are saved it is the power unto us who are
saved it is the power of God now what is meant by the power
of God? well simply this Paul is saying that this Word of the
Cross becomes the medium by which the might of God is exercised
on behalf of sinful men. If the might, if the power of
God is ever operative in your life unto deliverance from sin
and its consequences, it will always be in connection with
the Word of the Cross. The Word of the Cross. The Word
of the Cross. It will not be in terms of turning
inward upon yourself, in some kind of mystical, subjective
experience. It will not be in terms of what
you do, in terms of external involvement with a visible church.
If the power of God is ever operative in your life unto true salvation,
it will always be by means of the Word of God. God's power
in human lives unto salvation is inseparably bound up with
the word of the cross. Now do you see why God says in
these following verses, he's destroyed the wisdom of the wise.
How do you ever bind up life transforming power with a word
that in its external manifestation is a word proclaiming the weakness
of the Son of God, for the Scripture says He was crucified through
weakness. Yet, wonder of wonders, the second
effect of this Word of the Cross upon man is that it becomes the
medium of divine power, forgiving power, liberating power, conscience-freeing
power, law-conquering power, sin and death-conquering power.
Now, why does it become such? Well, let me answer again in
three ways. First of all, because God shows
them their need of the very things which the word of the cross contains. How does the word of the cross
become the medium of God's power? Well, when God lays hold of a
sinful son or daughter of Adam and says to that one, now look,
I made you. Like it or not, you're accountable
to me. And I take you so seriously that I know every thought, word,
disposition, attitude of your heart from the time you were
conceived. And an hour is coming when I'm
going to stand you in my presence and you're going to give an account
of the deeds done in the body. Furthermore, in that day, if
you have no covering for your sin, I shall be forced to be
true to my own justice and my own holiness. For the foundation
of my throne is justice and righteousness. I will be forced to banish you
from my presence and that for eternity, and make you an eternal
monument of my righteous anger against sin. I tell you, when
God begins to make those things real to you, and then the word
of the cross comes, it becomes the power of God unto salvation. For I begin to see in the word
of the cross, God is addressing himself to these very issues.
The message of the cross is that God takes my sins seriously,
hence he made his own son to be sinned on behalf of sinners. God takes his justice seriously,
so his son dies to satisfy divine justice. God takes the worth
of human souls seriously, hence the Lord Jesus offers his soul
as an offering for sin. And that's how, you see, the
word of the cross becomes the power of God unto salvation.
God shows this class of people the need of the very things to
which the cross speaks. And then secondly, God shows
them the perfect suitableness of that word to that need. Am
I a sinner deserving of wrath? The one who died upon that cross
was the perfectly innocent one. deserving of nothing but the
Father's favor. Do my sins provoke God's justice
and anger? When he became sin for sinners,
that sin he bore provoked the just anger of God, and it was
poured out upon him in such measure that he cried, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? You see, it becomes the power
of God unto salvation because God not only shows this class
their need of the very things to which the cross speaks, but
God shows them the perfect suitableness of the word of the cross to that
need. And then thirdly, God enables
them to embrace the authored Savior and rest in the authored
salvation. He overcomes all of the actings
of natural conscience, and that's no little conquering for God
to do. Conscience tells me my sins have been the accumulation
of months and years and a lifetime. Therefore I must peck away at
them. Act by act and deed by deed and
let a virtuous deed cancel a vicious deed. Now God overcomes all of
the actings of the natural conscience. And he brings that conscience
to be plunged in the blood of cleansing. And it becomes a conscience
now. sprinkled with the blood of cleansing
that can save. I dare to look into the face
of a holy God because he has said, there is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. He overcomes all of the pride
of the human heart. I'm no longer concerned, as it
were, to buttress my image of being respectable in culture
or anything else. And I gladly say with no tongue
in cheek, how I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. This word of the cross becomes
the power of God into salvation because God enables this class
of people to embrace that offered Savior and to rest in the offered
salvation. Now who are the people in this
class? How are they described? Notice
the text. who are saved, and you'll notice
the marginal reading is, unto us who are being saved. It is a present participle, but
it's a passive participle. Something's going on, but we
ain't doing it. Something's going on that's being
done to us. We are being saved. We are not
saving ourselves. Someone else is doing the saving,
but he's doing the saving. He's begun it, he's carrying
it on, and he's going to go right on doing it until all the saving
that needs to be done is done. He that hath become a good work
in you, Paul says, will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. Who are they? They are the saved. Now, are you offended at the
word saved? You said, I came here expecting a dignified sermon,
and now that preacher stands up and talks about saved like
I was in a mission hall. Oh, my friend, listen, if the
word saved ever becomes distasteful to you, it's because sin has
become unreal to you. As long as sin is a real issue
to you, the word saved will be a precious word. For it means
divine deliverance from sin and its consequences, from sin in
all its dimensions, That's what it means to be saved. So who are these people to whom
this word of the cross is the power of God? They are the saved
ones. Saved ones. Notice how they are
further described in this passage. They are described in verse 21.
It was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. They are believers. How did they
become believers? Verse 24. But unto them that
are called, God laid hold of them in his effectual call. Their
faith is the result of their calling. Why did God call them? Well, you read on and you get
the answer to that question. Verse 26 and following. For behold,
your calling, brethren, not many wise after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called, but God what? Chose the foolish
things of the world. These to whom the gospel is the
power of God are the saved ones. Why are they the saved? Because
they believe. Why do they believe? Because they're called. Why are
they called? Because they were chosen. Now that's not some logic
imposed upon the scripture, that's simply an honest treatment of
the passage. Paul describes them in verse
18 as the saved ones. Then he takes back to that which
instrumentally brought them into that salvation, they believed.
Then he goes back further and says that which gave birth to
their believing, God called them, He laid hold of them, drew them
out of darkness, overcame the prejudice, the pride, the blindness,
the actings of natural conscience. You will never believe this word
of the cross, as long as natural conscience is on the throne.
You'll never believe this word of the cross, as long as natural
pride is on the throne. You'll never believe this word
of the cross until God overcomes all of those indispositions of
your heart, and that's what it means to be called by God. To have those things overcome
in the mysterious hidden operations of the Spirit through the Word!
And why did He call? Because in His free grace He
chose us. He chose us not because we were
wise nor mighty, God chose to the end that no flesh should
glory in His presence. Now, we've sought to open up
the text. We've considered the word of
the cross defined as to its substance. The word of the cross described
in its effect upon men. And I conclude tonight with this
third line of thought that is intensely personal. The word
of the cross and its effect upon you. We've been together looking
into the word, looking at the text, illustrating what it means. We've been looking out at people
in general categories. Oh, my dear friend, I would turn
the whole issue backward now upon your own conscience and
heart. I would turn you inward upon
yourself to ask this question. What has the word of the cross
been to me? What is the word of the cross
to me this night. I'm speaking to men, women, boys
and girls, some of whom have heard the word of the cross for
years. You've been privileged not to be reared amidst the terrible
bondage of the doctrine of Romanism that clutters up the message
of the cross with sacraments and penance and works and vigils
and pilgrimages Those who preach to you could say with the Apostle
Paul in Galatians, Jesus Christ has been set forth openly, crucified
on the cross. You've heard the word of the
cross, this message that Almighty God comes to His rebel sinful
creatures and says, my son has been given, my son has died,
sin has been judged, believe upon Him and you will be forgiven.
What has that word of the cross been to you? Has it been foolishness? I just can't. It just doesn't
turn me on. I just don't seem to... Has it been foolishness
to you? Now you be honest. Has it been foolishness to you?
Or has it been the power of God unto you? Are you loosed from
all trust in yourself? Are you loosed from careless
indifference to your sin and to judgment and to hell and to
eternity? Have you been liberated from
the pride of your own attainments? Have you been set free from the
tyranny of a self-centered life? Have you been liberated from
the vicious tyranny of a life governed by wanting to do what
you want to do? It is the glorious liberty of
the sons of God who find that in keeping of His commands there
is blessed liberty. Now what is the word of the cross
to you? My friend, I can't answer for you. I must answer for myself.
You must answer for you. What has the word of the cross
been to you? Foolishness or the power of God? You say, well, I'm casting around
for some middle ground. My friend, there is no middle
ground. The moment it ceases to be foolishness, you know what
it becomes? The power of God. The moment it ceases to be foolishness,
it becomes the power of God. That's why Paul could go on to
say in verse 24, but of them that are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now
it is true that there are varying degrees to which the foolishness
will manifest itself in grosser forms. Some people say, ah, this
whole business is a bunch of nonsense. They're the kind of
people who don't even come into a building like this unless God's
got his hook in their jaw. Now sometimes he gets them in
despite of themselves, but generally they're not here tonight. They're
home watching whatever innocuous thing is on the boob tube on
a Sunday night. There's some of you who would
never say that, but my friend, it's still foolishness to you
because it's never been the power of God unto you. Your heart has
never been wedded in love to the Son of God who died, which
is always the inevitable fruit of having the Word of the Cross
become the power of God. For to whom much is forgiven,
the scripture says, the same love of God. We love him because
he first loved us, indicating that we can never crank up a
love until the word of the cross comes home with power. But when
it does, the inevitable result is that our hearts run out in
love to the one who died. Do you love him? You say, well,
I'm not sure. But he says, if you love me,
you will keep my commandments. He that loveth me keepeth my
word. Do you make serious conscience of obeying the word of God? Do
you take seriously the precepts of God as well as the promises
of God? My friend, I press the question
upon your conscience. What is the word of the cross
to you? Foolishness or the power of God and the salvation? And
there is no middle ground. It's one or the other. Sitting
here tonight, you are either a monument of the power of the
word of the cross or your living present day evidence that the
word of the cross is holy and there is no middle ground but
now perhaps there are in our midst tonight some who've never
heard this word of the cross maybe you've come from a background
in which you've attended church all your life and you've been
told or at least it's been implied come to church pay your tithe
Maybe learn your catechism, or go to Sunday school, and everything's
alright. Don't ever get upset too much,
you see, because that's fanaticism, and people go bananas when they
start taking these things too seriously. Now just, you know,
just be nice, polite, good Christians. You've never heard till tonight
what you've heard tonight. That Almighty God is saying in
the word of the cross, you're foul, you're undone, you're unbeliever. You're hopeless, helpless, defiled! And my friends, as that word
of the cross has come, saying that to such a helpless, hopeless,
defiled, guilty, undone sinner, Almighty God offers pardon and
acceptance to all who will cast themselves without reservation
upon their side. Who will dare to say, Christ
alone shall be my plea! faith alone shall be the means
by which I lay hold of His sufficiency. What has that word been to you?
Right here, sitting tonight. As I was preparing the message,
I said, Oh God, would that I could believe that you'd make it the
power of God to someone even tonight. Who knows, maybe God's
done that. Maybe sitting there in your seat,
Just the rehearsing of the simple word of the cross. And you know,
for a preacher, he has to be humbled again and again. Because
I thought to myself, I said, Lord, that's an awfully simple
sermon. And he said to me, my child, it must be. If it's a
proclamation of the word of the cross. You see, it humbles the
pride of the preacher. I haven't told you anything novel
tonight. I've told you Christ assumed all our debt. Christ
paid the debt! and all who believe are free.
You say that's so simple, that's ridiculous. Ah yes, that's why
Paul says the preaching of the cross is to the Greeks foolishness,
to the Jews a stumbling block. But all the glory of it, this
is what God uses to be the medium of His power. The psychologist
sits down with a man bound with his guilt feelings tied up in
himself and he tries to analyze and scrutinize and find all the
tentacles of influence going back to 2300 generations and
all this profound analysis. And all of a sudden, maybe someone
gives the man a little gospel tract that has ABC. Christ died. Christ lived. Repent and believe
the gospel in your soul. And what happens? He comes back
into the shrink's office the next day, or the next week. He
says, I'm a new man! You're a new man, you're crazy.
Oh, no, no, no, I'm not crazy. I've just got it all put back
together now. How did it happen? What man did you go? What new?
He said, no, doc. No new school of psychology.
No new school of psychiatry! I heard the word of the cross.
I was enabled to embrace it! Christ is putting back together
again. See how humble that is? That's the beauty of it. And
I'm constrained again, I didn't put in my notes, I thought to,
but I said, Lord, if I do that, I'll probably never stop. But
I'm going to say it anyway. Oh, dear Christian, this is the
glory of just being a simple witness of the gospel. The power
and effectiveness of the gospel is not bound up in your ability
to make it attractive. It has its own intrinsic beauty
when the Holy Ghost shines upon it. Don't cover it over so that
the beauty of it can't shine through. It's like some women,
if they'd take a half inch of the guck off their faces, they'd
be beautiful. They hide their native beauty
by all the fuss. My friend, don't plaster over
the beauty of the gospel. It's got it's own native beauty.
Just tell men with compassion, with love, with earnest and treaty,
Christ took the debt of guilty sinners. Christ paid that debt. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and bow before him. You men aspiring to the work
of the ministry, don't ever get so clever. You can't preach,
quote, simple gospel nothing. That's what God will make His
power into salvation. That's the message. Am I denying
what's been asserted from this pulpit many times with great
conviction and sense of respect? The word of the cross is Christ
died for our sins. Christ was buried. Christ was
believed about shall be. That's the essence of the word
of the cross. The reaction, the effect of that
word, foolishness to some, the power of God to us. My friend,
what has it been to you? Oh, that even in this place tonight,
you would embrace the offered Savior, for we are warranted
to offer Him to all men, women, boys, and girls without discrimination. As Charles Spurgeon one time
said that some people who went a little bit beyond the scriptures
with their theology and they were hypers and said, it's like
the boy who took the apple out of his pocket held it up before
his friend and polished it and said, hey, isn't that a nice
apple? the fellow said, sure is, put it back in his pocket
and said, that's all you'll have of it but Spurgeon said, it's
my joy to hold up the apple of the gospel and tell men what
a lovely delicious thing it is and then to put it to their lips
and say, eat, it's real It's for you. I was visiting in a
home the other night where they've been cursed in some of their
associations, or they've seen the curse of this hyper position. And people are always being told,
you can't, you can't, you can't, and your inability, your inability.
Well, that's in the scripture. No man can come except the Father
draw him. And this brother said, in his
own earthy way, the Bible not only teaches you can't, you can't,
you can't, but you must, you must, and you may. Ah, that's the gospel. You must! You must and you may! God commands
you to believe on his side. He commands you to embrace the
word of the cross. You are warranted to come, regardless
of your state. O come, embrace him, and you'll
find that word of the cross being the power of God unto your deliverance
from sin and all of its consequences. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Let
us pray.