1 Corinthians 1 verse 18, once
again, for the preaching of the cross. The preaching of the cross. When Paul refers to the preaching
of the cross, the word is actually the word of the cross. When he speaks of the cross,
he is not speaking of the wooden cross or the stake upon which
Christ was nailed. If it were here today, guess
what? Everybody would be worshiping
that cross. Do you remember when the Lord
told Moses to put up a brazen serpent on a pole during the
wilderness journeys and anyone who beheld that serpent simply
looked, they lived. And what a beautiful picture
of the gospel. The Lord referred to it in John
chapter 3. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
be crucified, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal life. You know, 700 years later, in
Hezekiah's time, they found that serpent. That brazen serpent. And guess what they started doing?
They started worshiping that serpent. What did Hezekiah do? He had it ground to powder and
called it a worthless piece of brass. Now, that really would
be the same if we had the wooden cross. Whether it was a stake
or a cross, we don't really know. But if we had that wooden cross,
The best thing we could do is get rid of it because men would
make an idol of that cross. There would be feelings of reverence
toward that cross. Let me read Exodus chapter 20,
verse four, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or
any likeness of anything that's in heaven above or that's in
the earth beneath. that's in the water under the
earth, all religious imagery is forbidden. It's called idolatry. Now you will notice that in this
building, there's not a cross. There's a reason. Men would make
an idol of that cross. They would look at that cross
and it would make feelings of religiosity and so on. And all that is, is an idol. So Paul is not talking about
the wooden cross upon which the Lord was nailed, that horrible
thing that he endured. for the glory of his father and
the salvation of his people. He's not talking about the wooden
cross. When Paul speaks of the preaching
of the cross, it is literally the word of the cross. The logos, the divine logic of
the cross, not human logic, but divine. logic. The word of the
cross. Let me give you some ways that
this word Logos is translated. The word is translated the account
of the cross. The cause of the cross. The communication of the cross. The doctrine of the cross. The fame of the cross. The intent of the cross. The mouth of the cross. These are all ways that this
one Greek word is translated. It gives us some idea of its
meaning. The preaching of the cross. the question of the cross, the
reason of the cross, the saying of the cross, the speech of the
cross, the tidings of the cross, the treatise of the cross, the
utterance of the cross, the word of the cross, the work of the
cross. All of that is realized in that
one word, the preaching of the cross. Now, the first person
I ever heard make this statement, as soon as I heard it, it was
Henry Mahan. And as soon as I heard this statement, I knew it was
so. And in some respects, it shaped
everything I believe. He said, the cross is the whole
counsel of God. What's that mean to you? The
cross is the whole counsel of God. If I preach the whole counsel
of God, that means I preach the cross. I love what Charles Spurgeon
said. He said, if we narrowed our preaching
to nothing but the cross, it would be a widening and not a
narrowing of our ministry. And I believe that. The cross
is the whole counsel of God. The cross is God's eternal purpose.
Turn with me to Revelation chapter 13. I quote this quite often. I don't turn to it enough. Revelation
chapter 13. Verse eight, and all that dwell
upon the earth shall worship him, this false messenger of
Satan. And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of
life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now, did you hear that? The lamb
having been slain. Before time began, before there
was any creation, before there was a star, a sun, or a moon,
before there was a universe, there was the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. This is God's eternal purpose. I heard a man preach it. And he called Revelation 13.8
an obscure verse of scripture. And he said men take this obscure
verse of scripture, the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, and they teach things like eternal salvation. and eternal
justification, how God's elect have always been viewed in the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. They've always
been accepted in the beloved. And the one reason they've been
accepted is because of the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. And I thought obscure. Oh, so you're able to make a
judgment like that to take some portion of God's holy word and
say, well, that's obscure. No, the whole Bible is interpreted
in light of this verse of Scripture, the Lamb having been slain from
the foundation of the world. Now the cross, the doctrine of
the cross, the teaching of the cross, what God accomplished
by the cross, it was not God's response to the fall of Adam. The fall of Adam was for the
eternal cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God created this universe
so his son, who was crucified as the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, could come and be slain in time. Now think of
the implications of that. God's eternal purpose, God's
reason, God's message, God's salvation, God's character is
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross, and I say this, I
hope reverently, I hope fearfully, the cross of Jesus Christ is
the most God-like thing God ever did. Do you believe that? God nailing his son to a cross
is the most God-like thing God ever did. The cross is the complete
manifestation of the character of God. self-revelation. Every attribute
God has been pleased to make known is clearly displayed in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is a testimony of the
character of God. You and I can't know God apart
from the cross of Jesus Christ. Now, the only reason he makes
himself known is because of the cross, not because we deserve
it. But God's eternal purpose is
to make himself known, make every attribute known through the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. How God's justice is manifest
in the cross of Jesus Christ. All sin will be punished. How
God's wisdom is manifest in the cross of Christ. God has made
a way to be absolutely just and righteous, inflexibly just, and
declare somebody like me. And I know something about myself
and it ain't just in and of myself. And he declares me to be without
sin and without guilt. What wisdom on God's part that
he can make a way to be just and justify the ungodly. God's
sovereignty is demonstrated in the cross. I love to think of
those three crosses. One in the middle, we have a
man dying for sin. The man on his left, the man
who died in unbelief, he's dying in his sin. The man on the right
is dying unto sin. Christ put away his sin. God
made the difference. He sovereignly chose to save
the one and sovereignly chose to pass by the other as an act
of his irreprehensible justice. And somebody thinks, well, why
didn't he save them both? Because whatever he does is best.
Amen? Whatever he does is best. Whatever
he does is good. I don't have to understand it.
If God did it, it's good. And I'm not going to complain.
The cross is a manifestation of God's eternal purpose. You
know, whatever happens in time is what He purposed in eternity.
You can't take that too far. And the cross is the complete
manifestation of that. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. The love of God. That God would
love sinners. so much that He gave His only
begotten Son. The independence of God is seen
so clearly in the cross of Christ. I love that scripture in Hebrews
1-3, when He had by Himself purged our sins. He didn't have any
help. He didn't ask me and you about it. He didn't try to get
anybody's permission. He by himself, no help from anyone. The angels weren't helping him.
His father wasn't helping him at that time. His father had
forsaken him. He by himself purged our sins. God's power is displayed in the
cross of Christ. When he's talking about the preaching
of the cross or the doctrine of the cross, God's power is
displayed in this sense. He makes me to actually be what
I was not. He makes me to be holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight by what Christ did on the cross. He makes me to be, really to
be, that's me. If God sees me as holy and unblameable
and unreprovable, guess what? It's because I am holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight because of what Christ did. What
power is involved? What power is involved in making
what I am to not be anymore? My sin expunged from the universe. It's no more by the cross. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the mercy and grace of God
demonstrated in the cross. The cross is the demonstration
of the altogether lovely character of God. Do you see the cross
on that line? It's a demonstration of the altogether
lovely character of God. Every attribute of God is displayed
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see why the cross
is the whole counsel of God? It's only through the cross that
we really know who he is. He's revealed himself in his
word through the cross, through Jesus Christ being nailed to
a cross. That's God's eternal purpose. That's God's self-revelation.
The cross not only gives us a look at the true character of God,
the only way you're gonna see yourself accurately, the only
way I'm gonna see myself accurately is in light of the cross. What do I mean by that? You can look within and you're
not gonna get the real story. You may even have some good thoughts
about yourself, some high thoughts, some exalted thoughts. You can
think of the things you've done and think, well, at least I'm
better than so-and-so. I may not be perfect, but I'm
better than this person. You can think all kinds of things
about yourself. You can compare yourself to somebody
else, and that's what human religion does. We're always comparing
ourselves to somebody else, like the Pharisee in the temple. God,
I thank Thee that I'm not as other men are. I've given you
the credit, but I'm not like, I look at this, I'm not like
him. But you know what the cross declares? The cross declares
regarding me and you, believe this, we are so evil that if
God took the restraints off of us, I'm talking about me and
I'm talking about you, we would nail his son to a cross. And that's the truth regarding
my character. That's the truth regarding your
character. Now, if you have high thoughts of yourself, if you
have a high opinion of yourself, get rid of it. The cross tells
you you're wrong about that. The only thing I am in and of
myself is somebody so bad, so evil, that I would nail the beautiful,
glorious, holy son of God to a cross. Now that's the truth
regarding you and I. The cross tells us who God is.
The cross tells us who we are. I think of Genesis chapter six,
verse five, and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. Now, do you see yourself like
that? The only way you can see yourself
like that is if you've seen the glory of the cross. This view of your own sinfulness
doesn't come from looking within. It comes from looking to what
Christ was doing on Calvary's tree. You see that, you'll see
the truth regarding your own sinfulness. And the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ tells us the truth about God's salvation. Now listen to me. Salvation is
not by our doings, but by the doing and the dying of the Lord
Jesus Christ. When he said it is finished,
the salvation of everybody he died for was accomplished. I was saved. I was saved. When he said it is finished,
my salvation was finished. You say, well, what about nothing?
It is finished. Everybody he died for, their
salvation was accomplished. Don't you have to believe? Yeah,
you believe that. Don't you have to repent? Yeah, you got to repent
of anything contrary to that. That's what faith is. It's believing
the gospel. He is salvation. Now, somebody may be thinking,
are you implying that He didn't die for everybody. If you say
that when he said it is finished, everybody he died for was saved,
are you implying he didn't die for everybody? I hope it's a whole lot more
strong than not implying it. Jesus Christ died for the elect. And everybody he died for is
saved. That is the point behind Christ's
effectual atonement for his elect. If I present the death of Christ
as him dying for somebody, and they wind up in hell anyway?
Well, I'm saying He's a failure. I'm saying He failed to do what
He intended to do, and that can never be. Christ is successful
because of who He is. If He died for you, you can't
be anything but saved, because His death is salvation. Oh, the cross tells us how God
saves sinners. We're saved by works. His works. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. Romans 4 25 says he was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. If when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his son. Did you hear that?
If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. by the death
of his son. Much more, being reconciled,
we should be saved by his life, by his intercession, by his representing
us before the Father. Now, do you know why he could
say to that publican who beat on his breast, crying, God be
merciful to me, the sinner, and he said, I say to you, that man
went down to his house, justified? Having never sinned. That's what justification means. If I'm justified, everything
about me is perfect, I've never sinned, I've always done that
which is right, I've never done that which is wrong. That's how
God sees me, and the power of the cross of Christ is it actually
makes it that way, to where that's so. God's not seeing me as if
I'm like that, that's the way I am in the cross. What a message,
the power of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look what
he says back to our text in first Corinthians chapter one, the
preaching of the cross. That's the doctrine of the cross.
What the cross teaches us, the character of God, the character
of man, the character of salvation, the preaching, the doctrine of
the cross. Now, what does it say with regard
to the doctrine of the cross? For the preaching, the word of
the cross, is to them that perish foolishness." You mean to say, are you telling
me that through a man dying on the cross in ignominy and shame,
that makes you perfect? White as the driven snow? Why, that's foolishness. You mean to say I am saved altogether
by what someone else did? Why, that's foolishness. Why
that will lead people to sin. That will lead people to think
it's okay to sin and be disobedient. If you teach something like that,
I can't believe that for a second. That is foolishness. Now let's
go on reading in this passage of scripture. Four, it is written,
verse 19, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise those who
count this foolishness, I will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer or the
debater of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching. Now that's talking about the,
what the world calls the, considers the doctrine that's being good.
That's foolishness. And they said, well, preaching, what's
that? I mean, I'm a man getting up
and, and talking and it pleased God by the foolishness of that
to save them to believe. Yep. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe now verse 22 for The Jews, the religious, require
a sign. I need to see something. I need
to see something that would verify that this is the truth. Kind
of like when the Lord fed the 5,000 and afterwards they said,
give us a sign that we can believe you. Well, I think feeding the
5,000 was a pretty unanswerable sign, but they're always wanting
proof. I need to see something. Prove
to me you're saved. Let me see your life. Prove to
me you're saved. I'm not going to believe that
until I see something that proves it works. The Jews require a
sign. They're pragmatic. They want
to see how something works. They want to see the evidence
of it. What does it produce? What kind of fruit does it produce?
I want to see good works or I won't believe it. The Jews require
a sign. The Greeks, the non-Jews, the
non-religious, they seek wisdom. Now, not true wisdom, but how
to make this world a better place. How to improve healthcare, how
to improve education, how to improve the economy, how to straighten
up the government. We need wisdom to make this world
a better place. The Jews require a sign, the
Greeks seek after wisdom, but what does Paul say? We preach
Christ crucified. That's our message. We preach
unapologetically, loving what we're preaching. We preach Christ
crucified. Now what is involved in preaching
Christ crucified? Well, everything I've said, the
doctrine of the cross, what Christ accomplished on Calvary's tree
when he was nailed there willingly as the sinner substitute for
the glory of his father, for the purpose of glorifying his
father and making his character known. We preach Christ crucified.
The only way God can ever accept a sinner, the only way God will
ever save a sinner is through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We preach Christ crucified. Now, unto the Jews, that's a
stumbling block. Now, you're gonna tell me, that
the only reason I'm saved and the only evidence that I'm saved
is that Jesus Christ died for me. You tell me that? Why, that'll
lead to all kinds of bad living. You're saying it's okay to not
live a holy life. You're saying acts of obedience
are of no consequence if you say that. I never said that.
But I am saying this, the only reason any sinner is saved is
because of Christ crucified. That's it. No other reason. The preaching of the cross, now
to the Jews, that's a stumbling block. Well, that'll lead people
to, you're not giving anybody a motive for obedience. You're
not giving anybody any reason to live for the Lord. Why? That
kind of preaching will lead people to indifference. Well, it'll
lead you to indifference, but not a believer. We preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews. That's a stumbling block. That's
not gonna lead to obedience to the Greeks. Why, that's foolishness.
How's that gonna help the world? How's that gonna do anybody any
good? Verse 24, but unto them which
are called. Called by the invincible, Irresistible
grace of God, like Zacchaeus was this morning to them, which
are called whom he did predestinate them. He also called to them,
which are called. Oh, don't you want to be called
by the Lord? You know, when I, when I hear that, my thought
is call me. Call me, don't leave me to myself,
call me to them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God and Christ, the wisdom of God. Christ, the power of God, Christ,
the wisdom of God. Now back to verse 18. for the preaching of the cross,
the doctrine of the cross, oh, would to God that I would be
so enamored with the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'd be
just like Paul when he said in verse one and two of chapter
two, and I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellence
in speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God,
for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ. and Him crucified." Paul said,
that's all I'm going to preach. I'm not going to preach anything
else. You know, if you preach, it's only the preaching of Jesus
Christ that's really the preaching of the whole counsel of God.
You're not preaching the whole counsel of God if you don't preach
nothing but the cross. What about all the other subjects
in the Bible? They're all tied up with the cross. And if I don't
understand them in light of the cross, I've not understood them
at all. And that's what Paul is saying.
The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved. And let's think of this term,
saved. and to us which are saved. Now quite often you'll hear religious
people say, have you got saved? Or I got saved. I wouldn't want to be harsh,
but I question whether or not somebody understands salvation
when they say, I got saved, or you need to get saved. Salvation is of the Lord. Now what's meant by saved? Unto them which are saved. Matthew
1, 21 states it so clearly, thou shalt call his name Jesus. for
he shall save his people from their sins. Here's what I need
to be saved from. I need to be saved from my sins,
not somebody else's. I need to be saved from my I
need to be saved from the penalty of my sins because the Lord said
the soul that sins shall surely die. I need to be saved from
the penalty of my sins and that's exactly what Christ did on the
cross. He bore the penalty. He paid the penalty. I need to
be saved from the power of my sins because I cannot not sin. I cannot... I'm by nature dead
in sins. I can't believe. I can't repent,
I can't love God. That's just the truth. That's
what happens when a man's dead and sins. He can't do anything.
I need to be saved from the power of that, and that's what he did
in regeneration when he gave me a new heart, a new nature,
one that was not there before that believes the gospel. There
was a time when I could no more believe the gospel than I could
create a universe. I believe now. Why? I've been
saved from the power of my sins. Sin doesn't have any power over
me. You don't realize that you're under its complete dominion.
You're saved from the power of sin when you see that it's the
power of God that enables you to believe, to repent, to trust
Christ. And one of these days I'll be
saved from the very presence of sin and glorification when
I'm just like Jesus Christ, perfectly conformed to His image, No sin. That's what saved means. To them
which are saved. It, the doctrine, the preaching,
the word of the cross is the power, is the omnipotence, is
the dynamite. of God. The cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ demonstrates the power of God. Christ being the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, doesn't that demonstrate the
power of God? Only God can do this. Christ becoming incarnate, the
second person of the Trinity, the creator of the universe,
becoming flesh in order to die on the cross. What mighty power. I think of the obedience of Jesus
Christ. He never sinned. He never thought
sin. He always had a perfect motive. Everything about the Lord Jesus
Christ is altogether perfect and beautiful. What power is
involved in that. what power there is in his life,
that his life actually is my personal life before God. You know why I'm not afraid of
Judgment Day? And I'm not. Somebody else would say, well,
I'm not either. Well, okay, but let me tell you why I'm not.
Because everything God requires of me, Christ accomplished for
me. That's why I'm not afraid of
Judgment Day. The very life of Jesus Christ, His perfect righteousness
is my personal righteousness before God. God can do that. Men can't do it, but God can. He can take the life of His Son
and make it mine. Think of the power of his death.
The fact that he died in the first place is so mysterious
to me. How did the God-man die? He did. That's all we know. I
can't tell how, but he did. I love the hymn, Tis Mystery
All. The immortal dies. Who can explain
or explore his strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph
tries to sound the depths of love divine. Tis mercy all let
earth adore. Let angel minds inquire no more. What did his death accomplish
on the cross? You know, in Luke chapter nine, verse 31, when
Moses and Elijah were talking to him, they spake of the decease
which he should accomplish. When you lay down my life, dead
and lifeless, nobody's gonna say, what an accomplishment.
Nobody will even think that. But when the Lord died, oh, what
he accomplished by his death. The full glory of God. and the
complete salvation of his people. Don't you love that verse of
scripture in John chapter 17, when he says, Father, I have
glorified thee on earth. I finished the work thou gavest
me to do. And he finished it. The power of his resurrection,
omnipotence brought him back from the dead and by his death,
Every believer was justified and God looks at them and says,
I am satisfied. I need nothing else. In the message
of the cross. Here's the power of God. There's
a beginning of divine life. This is the message God uses.
The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody's saved apart from this
message. This is the divine seed that's
implanted. This is the seed that God creates
spiritual life and we're made partakers of the divine nature.
And the cross does this. Here's the power of the cross.
The cross does something that nothing else can do. The cross
makes a man love God. The law can never do that. It
makes his motive for action love to God. Desire for his glory. He's not serving to earn a reward.
He's not serving to gain something. He's serving because he loves. The law can never produce that.
All the law ever produces is resentment. But the power of
the cross, it makes a man actually love God. Paul put it this way, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. May God enable each one of us
even now to say with Paul, God forbid that I should glory. save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, the cross of thy blessed
son. We feel that there's no way we
could set forth its glories as we should. There's no way we
can rejoice in it as we should because
of the weakness of the flesh. But Lord, we ask that you would
give us the grace to cry from the depths of our hearts God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Lord, make that so for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen.