If you take your Bibles, turn
with me again to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, our text
will be found in verse 11. Verse 11. I've entitled this
message, The Offense of the Cross. The Offense of the Cross. He says, and I, Brethren, if
I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. Now the apostle had declared
up to this point the distinction between the law, the covenant
of law, and the covenant of grace, that these two are not interchangeable,
they're not to be superimposed upon one another, you are either
under the covenant of grace or you are under the law, there
is no mixture. And to those who would try to
mix any of these things, he tells us, Christ shall profit you nothing. I don't care who you are, your
education, your status in the church, if you mix the law and
Christ, then you have Nullified grace. There is no grace for
you. He said Christ will become of
no effect. But you that are under the grace of God, listen to what
he tells us. Stand fast. Hold fast. Why? Because everything is trying
to pull you from this. Everything. The world, the flesh,
the devil constantly are trying to seek to pull us from standing
in the liberty, listen, wherewith Christ hath made us free. Not
in your own liberty, not in what you think is liberty, but what
Christ tells us is liberty. What is liberty? It's liberty
to believe on Christ. You have liberty. Isn't that
wonderful? We believe on Christ, we love
him, we love one another. These are things that the Spirit
of God plants in us. Stand fast in it, don't be moved
from it. And then he tells us in verse
5, he says, We through the Spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. This is how we live,
this is how we stand in liberty, is by faith. Constantly living
by faith. Looking by faith. And then we discussed this, I
preached this on Wednesday about a race that we run. He said,
you did run well. These people, when he first initially
came to them, they believed, they stood in this liberty, they
did run well. But something happened. False
teachers had come in, adding and superimposing the law upon
the covenant of grace. He said, they hindered you from
obedience to the truth. They moved you from the gospel.
And he said, look, this persuasion doesn't come from him that called
you. These legalists, they're not sin of God. And he said, he warns him, a
little leaven leavens the whole lump. He said, don't stand for
this for one minute. What does he mean by that? You
know, when Peter made that error, Peter, the apostle Peter, he
pushed that food away from him, thinking he did God a service.
And he said, I withstood him to the face. He did it like that. He would not stand for one minute.
And friends, that was his apostolic authority. Nobody else in that
place could have rebuked Peter. Nobody had the authority, but
he did. And so what does he mean by this?
We're not to give them place for one minute. Don't hear them.
That's it. If you cease to listen to them, they got no power. They
got nothing. Turn from them. You don't have
to run around pointing a finger at them or call them a heretic.
You don't have to do all that. Just don't listen. Just turn
away from them. But this is what he said, I have
confidence in you through the Lord. that you will be none otherwise
minded. If you are under the liberty
and you've been duped by these guys, I have confidence, not
really in you, but in the Lord. I got confidence that you, through
the Lord, will see this. You'll see it, and you'll repent
from it, and you'll turn back. He said, I got confidence in
that. But he that troubleth you will bear judgment whosoever
he be. He said, now, in verse 11, now Paul takes here a breath,
and defends himself. There had been some rumors in
this church that Paul preached this message. This is how they
got a foothold. They came into the church saying, well, you
know, Paul says this. He said if you believe on Christ,
you've got to be circumcised. That's what they were telling.
They were using the Apostle Paul's name. I don't know how many times
legalists have done this. They'd go and say, well, Spurgeon
said, Well, John Gill said, I don't use them as authority.
I like Spurgeon. I believe he's one of the greatest
preachers in his generation. And there are a lot of other
men that I highly respect. But you know what? They're no
authority. You know what our authority is? Thus saith the Lord. What authority? Where do they get their authority?
Same place you get yours. So Paul here, he said, they were
using his name. And they did this because in
Acts chapter 16 we read something that the apostle did regarding
Timothy. Timothy was a half-breed. His
father was a Greek and his mother was a Jew. And yet the Lord called
him to preach and so they were going to this certain quarter
of Jews. Now, they would have not heard
Timothy at all because he was a half-breed. So what Paul did
in order to calm their physical prejudice is that he had Timothy
to be circumcised. Had nothing to do with salvation,
did not include that in the doctrine of salvation. He did it so that
they would shut up and that they would hear the gospel. That's
what he did it for. But these men took it as Paul's
giving consent, that it was necessary. So Paul here says, look, If that's
true, okay? Let's just suppose for a minute
that that's true. Then why in the world am I being
persecuted? Why in the world is every city
I go to, the Jews are constantly trying to kill me? If I preached
that, then listen, they wouldn't be mad. There would be no offense. The offense of the cross would
then cease. They wouldn't seek to kill me.
If I'd just go along to get along, then everything would be fine.
We'd be all at peace and nobody would be after me. But because
I preached the cross of Christ, listen to me, they are offended.
They are offended. Now, this morning, I want to
give two questions. God help me. Give me enough time. I want to answer two questions.
and then give two statements. First, the question is, why is
the cross so offensive? What is it about the message
we preach that causes so much offense? And secondly, I want
to ask this question, how do people show their offense? What
is the things that they do to those who preach the gospel?
And then we'll make two statements. The first one is, I want you
to see how foolish it is to oppose this message. And then I want you to see, you
that believe this message should never be ashamed of it. So first
of all, what is the offense of the cross? Why are men so offended
at the cross of Christ? Why are they so offended at a
religion that demands its disciples to love people? You that are believers in Christ,
isn't this our mandate that we should love all men, especially
those that are of the household of faith? Why is that offensive
to somebody? We declare a gospel to be simple,
plain. We that declare the cross of
Christ, we want to do it with such simplicity, and yet people
are so upset that we do it with simplicity. They like complication.
Why do you like something so complicated? Well, they can hide. You can't
hide in something very simple. Why are people so upset at a
message from God to men expressing his grace? His mercy. It is a
message we declare of compassion, listen, that everyone who believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ as all their salvation shall be saved.
It's a simple message, isn't it? It's a message concerning
a person and his work. Christ Therefore we in love warn men
of the coming judgment. We warn men in love. We warn them. And we tell them of the only
source by which they may escape the judgment of God. We tell
them this. Why would you be offended if
I just tell you the truth? It's like a man in a burning
house being offended by the firefighter trying to rescue him. It's like
a person who is dying of sickness and you're offended at the medicine
because there's only one. It's like somebody who is drowning
despising the only rope that is tied to the shore. It's madness,
isn't it? Wouldn't that be madness to try
to, I don't want you to save me out of this burning house.
I don't want that. And yet men by nature are offended
to this message. Why? Why is the world so offended
at this message? I'll give you three reasons.
Because the cross of Christ is offensive to man's wisdom. Secondly, it is offensive to
man's ability. And thirdly, it is offensive
concerning man's merit. First of all, his wisdom. His
wisdom. Go to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. Now, worldly wisdom, worldly
religion reasons like this. We're all created in the image
of God. Well, that's true. Man was created in the image
of God. They take something that's partially true and then they
run with it. Just because it sounds logical. Man's made in
the wisdom of God. Therefore, God's wisdom is imparted
to every one of us so that we may know Him. That's just the
way logic thinks. The way men think. That we can
naturally know God. Scripture has declared we can
know there is a God, but the truth is we can't know Him. Not
by nature. A natural man cannot know God. It doesn't matter how he studies
or how sincere he is in his search for God. I know that there are
many people who have written books that were really sincere
in searching out who God is. And when you read them, they're
just foolish nonsense. They don't have any clue who
God is. But they were sincere. And this
reason goes like this, that, well, if man can know God, then,
you know, as long as he's sincere in his search, then God, whoever
He is, will accept him. This is man's wisdom. But if we preach the cross of
Christ, I'm telling you, it will offend man's wisdom. because
it counts the wisdom of the world as nothing but rubbish, nothing but foolishness. Look
at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 17, the apostle said, For Christ
sent me not to baptize, but listen, to preach the gospel. We have
one mission, one purpose, who are sent of God, to preach the
cross of Jesus Christ. That is our purpose. My purpose
is never to entertain you. I am not here as a clown or an
entertainer. I am sent here of God to testify
of his son and his perfect work. That's all I'm sent to do. Preach the gospel. Now, how am
I to preach this gospel? Listen to these words. Not with
wisdom of words. What happens if I do that? The
cross of Christ is of none effect. I am not here as some slick salesman. I'm not trying to sell you anything.
I'm telling you the truth. I long for you to be convinced.
I long for the Spirit of God to teach you. But I'm not doing
any of that. I don't have any purpose or any
trying to do that. Why? Because if I meddle with
it, then the cross of Christ, what I'm preaching, is of none
effect. If I put my hand to it, it's defiled. It's defiled. The scriptures tell us that we
are sent with that one objection to preach the gospel. But listen,
what we're doing here to the world's wisdom is foolish. It's
foolishness. He said, not with the words of
Wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ be made none effect
for the preaching of the cross is to them that perished. What
is it? Foolishness. It's foolishness. Preaching the cross of Christ
is foolish. And notice what Paul says to
those who despise this method. They're perishing. The worldly
wisdom said, surely there's some other method that we can use.
Surely there's something more effective than preaching. I was a teacher for many years.
I went to college to be a teacher. And as we learned to teach, we
knew this, that lecture is the worst means of teaching. Visualization, they had to tell
us all, use visualization, use storytelling, use this, use that. There were many other methods
better than lecture. And yet God says, I'm going to
take the worst and I'm going to show you this is all going
to be of my power and grace. He's going to say, you just tell
them what I said. That's what we do. We don't have
opinion groups. We don't question answers. You
got a question, I think you should take it up with him. I think
it's the best. He'll answer your question, I
promise you. So this is what we do. We don't entertain people.
We don't use musicals or plays or movies to win souls to Christ. But wisdom says, surely that's
got to be better than this. God says you're perishing. I've heard this many times, preaching
is out of date. Okay, not according to this book
it's not. Those who are perishing say this,
preaching is foolishness. But we who believe, look there's
a, but to us, to us who are saved, what? We know this, it's the
power of God. That's what God uses, preaching. Preaching what? Anything? No,
the cross. of Jesus Christ, preaching the
cross of Christ. He says in verse 21, for after
that the wisdom of God, listen, the world by wisdom, what? Knew
not God. You see how that justifies all
the earthly wisdom saying that men can know God? Men who know
God? God says by wisdom you'll not
know God. The world by wisdom knew not God. Listen to why we
preach. It pleased God. I don't need
any other explanation as to why we do this. We preach because
it pleased God. By the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. The Jews require signs, Greeks
seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews it's a stumbling
block, to the Greeks it's foolishness. The worldly wisdom believes that
men can know God by their learning, but the Word of God says that
they can't. This is offensive to the wisdom
of man. In other words, for a man to
know God, God Himself has to reveal Himself. I don't know
what to tell you. If God does not reveal Himself
to you, There's no hope for you. This is offensive. Surely there's
something I can do. Absolutely not. You see how this abases man? It does, doesn't it? You see
why it's offensive? Because it puts man exactly where
he is. Jesus said this, all things are
delivered to me of my father and no man knoweth the Son but
the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son,
and to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Now listen, if you're going to
know God, then the Son has to reveal Him. Whomsoever He will, I don't know.
Don't ask me. This is offensive to the knowledge
of man. But we who know Him, We who have
heard His message of Christ and Him crucified, we see the value
of preaching the gospel. Listen, we have experienced the
value of it by the power and grace of God. I thought for a long time I was
searching for God. I wasn't. I was searching for
a God, a God of my own making. I never was searching for God. I tell you this, God found me. I was the one that was lost.
He found me. He revealed himself to me. And
we know the value of preaching the cross of Christ. We see that
God reveals himself through the preaching of the cross by his
son. And to us, the message of the
cross is the power of God. We know this, that our faith
was a miracle. It was not a decision to be made.
It was a miracle of grace. Look what God says in 1 Corinthians
1.27. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world. What he said the worldly wisdom
called foolishness, he said, that's what I've chosen. I've
chosen preaching. to be the means by which I save
people, save my people. To confound the wise, that's
what it does, it confounds them. And God has chosen the weak things.
What are you talking about, preachers? You know, the preacher is not
picked because he's the best, he's picked because he's the
least. He's the least. He's the weakest. And what does that do? That confounds
the things that are mighty. I know this. I have seen men,
my peers, that have excelled in learning far above me, who
desired to be pastors, and God said no. Well, I tell you what,
they're confounded and they're angry. They've gotten angry.
Well, I know more than that guy. Okay. What does that matter? God chose the weak things of
the world to confound the things that are mighty. And the base
things of the world, That's talking about all of us. Base. The things that are spies hath
God chosen, the things that are not to bring to naught, the things
that are... Why? That no flesh should glory
in his presence. See why God brings the wisdom
of the world to nothing? So that you do not have anything
to glory in. Do you know God? If you do, Why is it that you
know God and others don't? Was it because of some wisdom
you had? See how that abases us? We have
no reason to glory in our wisdom. Friends, a natural man hates
this message because it gives no room to boast. That's why. No room to boast in his wisdom. No room to boast in his learning,
but if a man is to know God, whether simple or wise, rich
or poor, young or old, he must humbly come in submission to
this truth, that all salvations of him, all of it, all of his grace and all of his
mercy, all of his will, and that we must come by Christ and Christ
alone. You know what the scripture says
about him? that Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. If you
have any wisdom, you know this. He's the wisdom of God. Secondly,
the cross is offensive to the ability of man. The ability of
man. Man by nature believes he has
some ability to come to God. He thinks he has the ability
to know God, and when he knows Him, he thinks this, that he
has the ability within himself to come to God. That God is somehow just waiting
with open arms, waiting for a man to choose Him. As though God
made all the preparations for salvation, and then left it up
to you to make the final decision as to whether you'll avail yourself
to it or not. They like to see Jesus on the
outside of the door. That's always a popular picture
in religion, isn't it? Jesus knocking on the door. If
you'll notice in that picture, there's no handle on the outside. And so he's begging to let him
in. He's pleading with you. And what
does this do? It gives men sympathy, doesn't
it? Man, he's out there. Well, I
ought to let him in. Well, who's superior and who's
inferior? You have made him subject to
you. This is man's wisdom that man
are able to come to Christ. If we were to preach this non-offensive,
if I were to preach that you're able to know God and you're able
to come to God, listen, we can pack the place. We can pack the
place in here. We can get thousands to come.
Why? Because there's no offense in that. If I set you up as superior,
there's no offense. The gospel never sets man up
as superior. He is definitely inferior. Christ is superior. There's no
offense to this message. The religion of this world is
not offended. if you make Jesus to be like
some poor beggar needing your help to save you. He's trying. He's trying to save you if you'll
just let him. There's no offense to that, is
it? Not to the natural man. But that's not the message of
the cross. This is not the word of God. Go to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. In John chapter 6, Jesus here
makes some statements, some very important statements. He says in verse 35, I am the
bread of life. I am the bread of life. He said
in another place, I am the man that came down from heaven. Now what is he stating in this?
He is stating this simplicity, that I am God manifest in the
flesh. That's what he was telling him.
I am God. And except you come to me and
believe on me. That's what he's talking about
eating him. Eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life
in you. What is he saying? Unless you
believe on me, unless you come to me, unless you trust in me. Well, this was very offensive
to them. They said, look, we know you,
man. We know your father. We know your brother. And they
were offended at this. And so when we preach this, we
preach that he is God manifest in the flesh. And listen, we
preach this, that he is the only way to God. That's what he was
telling them in John 6. I'm the only way. And except
you come to me, you'll have no life in you. And then what did
they do? They began to murmur. begin to
complain. Men don't like a narrow way.
Matthew 7, Jesus said, enter ye in at the straight gate. Broad
is the gate and wide is the way that leads to destruction and
many that's going to go in that way. The straight is the gate
and narrow is the way that leads unto life. And what he was talking
about is the singularness of how we access God, how we come
to God. There's only one way. You got
that? This is offensive, man. There's
got to be some other way. You can't just... That's narrow-minded. That's bigoted. You can't do
that. Friends, that's what we preach. And it's offensive. But they
started murmuring among themselves. And you know what Jesus said
in John 6, 44? Look what he said to them. They complained about
this. Jesus said, murmur not among yourselves. Why? See if you can't mentally grasp
this sentence. See if it's really too complex
for you. I don't think it is. I think it's very simple. No
man was at me. That's plain language. No man,
listen to this, can. That has to do with ability,
doesn't it? No man can come unto me. I just told you there was only
one way, and Jesus is telling you that I'm the way, and listen
to what he says. You can't come this way. You
have no ability to come to God by me. None whatsoever. You understand that? I think
you can understand it. I think that it's offensive to
you. It's offensive to the natural man. No man can come unto me. And I'm so thankful for these
next words, except. There's an exception. There's
a divine exception. except the Father which hath
sent me, draw him. The word means to drag. That's
it. As you would draw a sword from
a scabbard, the sword has no power to draw itself. A dead
man has no power to drag himself. Somebody has to drag you, somebody
has to pull you. It is the power of another that
causes you to come to Christ. You come to Christ? You come
to Christ how? by the power of God. That's how you come to Christ.
Otherwise, you have no ability to come. None whatsoever. I tell you that no man is able
to come to Christ, who is the only way of salvation, that all
men are devoid of spiritual life and can by no means come to faith
in Christ. You know, man does have a will. Nobody denies that, right? We have will. What I deny is
free will. There's no such thing. Free will means you can do anything
you choose. That's what free will means.
The problem is you're limited Based on your circumstance, your
abilities, you have all kinds of limitations. Every time you
choose something, you're limited to the choices that you can make.
Jump off a building. Made a choice, didn't you? You
made a choice. I'm going to jump off this building.
Jump off. OK? In the middle, you realize you
made a mistake. OK. to go back up. Is your will free? Limited by
gravity, isn't it? Gravity kind of limits your will
at that point. And you'll die. So, man has a will, but it's
not free. And we're talking about physical
things. How much more spiritually? How much more can a man who is
born dead in sin? The scriptures are clear. You
are born dead in trespasses and sins. By nature we are at enmity
against God, for we are not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. The Scripture tells us that we
cannot by any means obtain righteousness in ourselves. And so we can't do things, we
can't will ourselves in spiritual matters. And so it is in this
matter of coming to Christ, men may determine to come, We by
nature lack the strength, the ability to come because we are
dead. Now, I know this is the objection of some. They say,
well, what if a man really in his heart desires and wants to
come and God says no? No. Because the will is tied
to the spiritual life. If there is no life, there is
no will. Jesus told those Pharisees, you
will not come unto me. that you might have life. See,
men want to come to Christ on their own terms. Now, that's
natural. Okay, you want to go to hell? Anybody? Anybody want to go to
hell? I mean, nobody wants to go to hell if you're sane. So, men have no ability to come to
Christ. They're spiritually depraved.
We all, by nature, will not come Because we cannot come. These
two are tied together. You that come. You that are willing. Don't you will to come? When
you come to Christ, weren't you willing? Why is that? Because
the scripture tells us that we were made willing. Psalm 110
says we were made willing in the day of His power. Man, I am willing to come to
Him. I want to come to Him. I need to come to Him. This is not natural. This is
the work of God. This is the work of God. And
thirdly, men are offended in this concerning the merit of
men. They're offended by the... The
gospel offends their wisdom. The world by wisdom can't know
God. They're offended by this matter of ability that no man
can come to God, Christ, except the Father which has sent him
draw him. And thirdly, men are offended by the gospel of Christ
concerning merit. Man by nature, he not only believes
he can know God by his wisdom, come to Christ by his free will,
he also believes that he is capable of meriting God's favor by his
obedience. This was the deal with Galatian
Church. They had believed, they had disannulled
the other two. I believe sincerely that they
believed that the wisdom, they had no wisdom in themselves,
that God gave them wisdom. They believed that Jesus Christ
gave them the ability to come. But this is their failure, is
that they believed that the keeping of their salvation was dependent
upon something they had to do. Something they had to merit.
And so what they said, well Jesus Christ merited all of our salvation
except this part here and I got to do that. Well, the gospel
is going to offend you because that's not true. Man by no means is able to merit
God's favor in, listen, any measure. There is nothing you can do to
merit God's favor. Nothing. I thought of Cain's offering.
Remember Cain and Abel at the very beginning? The Lord told
Adam the way by which he was to be worshipped and accepted
By an offering, remember? He told them that Christ was
coming and then God shed the blood of that animal to cover
their skin. God offered the first sacrifice. He set a principle,
a maxim that must be followed. There must be an offering for
sin. And so Cain came along and they
taught Cain and they taught Abel both the same thing. Abel thought
that surely there's another way to merit God's favor. And so
he's a gardener. He was a dealer of the ground.
And there's Cain. You see him out there sweating.
Man, I could see him working hard. He's got to bring an offering. And he thinks that, man, if he
just does his best in this fruit, he gets plants to seed, takes
care of it, makes sure it's water, makes sure the weeds are plucked
out. He's working very hard. Abel's over there laying down,
feeding the sheep. Well, what is it to feed the
sheep? You just got to lead them around. He didn't have to do
anything to the sheep. And so Cain gets his fruit and
he polishes it up. He's making it look real pretty.
And I can imagine it was the best spread of food that you
could possibly, it was just a banquet feast Cain laid out. You look over here at Abel's
offering and it's nothing but blood and guts and dung. Looked horrible. But God had no respect for the
offering of Cain. And God honored the offering
of Abel. Why? To show us this. that nothing we do, no matter
how hard we try, we cannot merit God's favor. You see, my friend, God does
not demand your best. I'm sure Cain put forth his best.
God doesn't demand your best. He demands perfection. He doesn't want your best efforts
to do good. He demands that you do good all
the time, both outward and inward. Listen to what David wrote. Who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand
in this holy place? Good question. Who's going to
stand in God's holy place? Who is able to be accepted of
God? Listen to his answer. He that
hath clean hands and a pure heart, outward works of righteousness
and inward works of righteousness, who hath not lifted up his soul
to vanity nor sworn deceitfully." Alright, who qualifies? Who has
not lied? Who has not coveted? Wanted something
that wasn't theirs? Who? You see, none of us can
raise our hands. None of us. We've all failed
to merit God's favor. Go to Romans 3 and look what
God says about our merits. Romans 3. Look at verse 10. As it is written,
this settles all arguments. This is what it does. When it
says, it is written, it says, I'm not going to debate you about
this. This is just how it is. As it's written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. All right, who's righteous? No,
not one. What about man's wisdom? Can't
we know? There's none that understand it. There's no wisdom. There's
none that seeketh after God. No ability. No ability. They're all gone out of the way.
They're all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. There goes merit. What about the law? Can I, can
I try? That's what it tells me I am. But can I, can I turn my life
around? Can I, can I change this? Can
I start doing good and stop doing bad? And then God say, okay,
thumbs up. Look at verse 19. Now we know
that whatsoever thing the law saith. Is there anything better
than the law? Can you think of anything better that would As
far as righteousness goes, the law's righteous, isn't it? It's
good. There's nothing wrong with it. Man, if we did those things,
what kind of place would this be? What kind of world would
this be? We were capable of that. Listen,
what sort of things the law sayeth that sayeth to them who are under
the law, now listen for the purpose of the law, that every mouth
may be stopped and all the world become guilty. Law gonna help
you? Can the law help you? In this
matter of merit, can the law help you? It can't. The law was never given for salvation,
but only to shut our mouths. Prince, can you not see how this
is offensive? God tells you, you have no wisdom.
God tells you, you have no ability. God tells you, you can't merit. My favorite. But this is the message of the
cross. This is the message of the gospel. There's only one
who has ever honored the law of God. One. And he didn't do it for himself. He did it in the place of his
people. There was only one offering that
has ever been truly accepted of God, and that was the cross
of Jesus Christ. When he offered himself as a
sacrifice for sin, he is the only offering that God accepts
for sin. The only offering. Is there anyone then that needs
wisdom? Who understands that they don't
know God, and no matter what they do, they can't know God?
Do you need wisdom? Do you realize that you have
no ability to come to Christ? You may see that Christ, He's
the only way I can know God, and yet I can't even come to
Him. I can't come. I have no ability to believe.
Do you see that you have no righteousness whatsoever to merit God's favor
whatsoever? Listen to me. If you are in that
place, you are in the best place you could possibly be. Because those are the people
that Christ came to save. This is a faithful saying. worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came to save. The Word of God constantly abases
us. And at the moment that we have
no hope in ourselves, it shows us Christ. And by the same grace, it gives
us what we could not have ourselves. It gives us wisdom. You see, I know how God can be
just and justify the ungodly. Do you? I know how he can justify the
ungodly. If you take a judge and this
guy is really guilty and the judge lets him go, how could
the judge be right? He couldn't. He'd be unjust,
wouldn't he? And what would it do me if I was the guilty one
and the judge has sent me to die? Yet God is just and there
is one way by which He can let the guilty go free. Because Jesus
Christ paid the price. That's wisdom right there. You
know that? That's wisdom. Wisdom of God. I had no ability to come. And
you know what? I have no place else to go. Do you have any place else to
go, you'll go. When God put me in this, he told me I was dead,
I had no hope in myself. And when I came to Christ, I
knew this, if I had healed, I have everything. I have all I need.
And by His grace and power, He gave me the faith to believe. And you know what? I still come to it. I'm still
coming. I ain't gonna stop. You know
why? Because He keeps me. And I don't depend on any merit
in myself to keep me. This is the glory of the cross.
This is the wonder of the cross, is that there is no me in this. It's all Him. It's all Him. And so then, the gospel of the
cross points us then to who? Christ. Christ. It abases us and exalts Christ. Now then, there's those who,
I'm going to go over this quickly, there's those who are going to
be offended. Those who are offended about
this, They are always going to hate you who believe it. Jesus said that, he said, they
hated me, they will hate you. You preach what I just preached.
You testify of what I just said to men, and they will be offended. They will hate you. We have recorded, in recorded
history, You know, they killed the prophets, they killed the
apostles. Those who mix works and grace. Have you ever read
the Fox's Book of Martyrs? It's a great book to read, but
it testifies of how much they hate men. I remember telling
you this story, Wycliffe, who wrote the scriptures in English,
they hated him so much they killed him, and then years and years
later, they hated him so much they dug up his bones, burned
him. Okay? We really got him now. We really
socked it to him. No, they hate you. You know who's
gonna hate you? Not just the world, but those
of your own household. Jesus said, I came not to bring
peace, but a sword. Said it met a variance against
his own house. That's what happens in our houses.
You know, my children are older now, but man, when they were
young, they were enemies against being here. They wanted to keep me from here.
But you know the greatest enemy is one that is constantly with
me in that self. Even in myself, there's a warfare
against this gospel. The old man of sin that still
hangs about our necks is constantly trying to keep us from this gospel.
He's offended. He's offended. But I know this, that if you
are a believer in Jesus Christ, you should never be ashamed of
this gospel. Never be ashamed of this gospel. We should be so thankful and
so grateful of God's grace and mercy And we should never exalt
ourselves. This gospel never gives a believer
any room to exalt himself, does it? Was it your wisdom? Was it your ability? Was it your
righteousness? No. You didn't have anything
to do with this, did you? What do you have to be proud of? Nothing. We exalt Christ. And whether
this offends men or not, It really doesn't affect me. I was offended
once, and yet God saved me. I pray he'll do that to those
who are offended at this today. I pray God I'm blessed in reading
this word that this stand be dismissed. Parents, dismiss this in prayer,
please.