Galatians 5, verse 11. Let me
read this verse of Scripture once again. I've entitled this
message, Where is the offense? Where is the offense? Paul said, And I, brethren, if
I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?
Then is the offense. of the cross ceased. Now, every one of us have been
offended before. You know, James said, in many
things we offend all. And that's true of all of us.
We've been offensive, and we have offended people. When's the last time you were
offended? You felt as though you had been
wronged, mistreated, misunderstood. Your rights had been violated. And you feel wronged. You ever
felt that way? Sure you have. It's a strong
feeling, isn't it? When someone offends you. This word is also translated
a stumbling block. Something you stumble over. You
trip over. You say, I can't go in that direction.
Perhaps what somebody is saying makes you think, well, I don't
like the implications of that. I'm not going in that direction.
I don't like what it will cost me, and I'm not going to do it. The offense of the cross. The
offense. The Greek word is where we get
the word scandal from. You could just as easily translate
this, the scandal of the cross. We all know what a scandal is.
Something scandalous. Something that arouses strong
feelings. It even excites prejudice. And
it brings to the surface thoughts and feelings that were already
there, but now they're brought out in the open. And it becomes
a hindrance that causes us to stumble and to fall. The scandal. The scandal of the cross. Jesus Christ nailed to a cross. The greatest scandal this world
has ever known. It's scandalous that he was nailed
to the cross. He's described as holy, harmless. I like that description of him. Harmless. I've harmed people. You've harmed people. He never
did. The only holy man to ever live. And yet this holy man, this merciful
man, this gracious man was cruelly nailed to a cross to suffer and
bleed and die. The greatest scandal to ever
take place. Now, why was he on that cross? If He's holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sinners, and higher than the heavens, why
was He hanging on that cross? Why did He die? Now, I hope you know this. There's
only one reason for death. And what is that? Sin. If there were no sin, there would
be no death. And the only reason for death
is sin. 1 Peter 2, verse 24 says, who his
own self bear our sins. Now notice, it doesn't say that
He bore the punishment of our sin, though He did. It doesn't
say He bore the guilt of our sin, though He did. It doesn't say He bore the shame
of our sin, though He did. It says, who His own self dare
our sins in His own body. You think if you're a believer
of some heinous sin you've committed that made you feel such shame,
such frustration and failure, that sin He bore in His own body
on the tree. Now what all that means? Who
can say? But it's the worst thing possible. And I said, wait a minute. He was a sinner substitute. He
bore the guilt of our sin. But are you saying He bore the
sin itself? The holy, harmless Son of God
was actually made sin and bore the sin itself? Why, that's scandalous. I know it is. I know it is. And the reverse is true too.
Listen to this. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. It says, For He hath made him
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made in
righteousness of God. Now wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Are you saying that you Are the righteousness of God? Yes. That's true of every believer.
The very righteousness of God. Why that scandal is to make such
a claim for yourself. I can't go there. I stumble at
that. That's taking too much on yourself. What did he accomplish in his
death? Luke 9, verse 31, Moses and Elijah
were speaking to the Lord of the deceased, which he should
accomplish. What did he accomplish by his death? Turn to Colossians
1. Verse 20, "...and having made peace..." Have you made your peace with
God? No, I haven't. He made my peace with God. And
He made it. He made it. It's already done.
"...having made peace through the blood of His cross." by Him
to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were
sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight." By His death, He actually saved everybody He
died for. He didn't make them savable.
He saved them. He didn't make them to where
they will be saved. He saved them. He had perfected
forever them that are sanctified. When He bowed His mighty head
and said, it is finished, everybody He died for, their salvation
was finished. Finished. Now what? You mean
that what He did finished salvation, and you don't have anything to
do with it? You mean it was finished before
you were even born? Why is that scandalous? So be it. It's the truth. The offense of
the cross. Now when the Lord was carrying
the cross on Golgotha's hill, and He saw some women weeping
for Him, He said, daughters of Jerusalem, don't weep for Me, The Son of God does not want
or need our pity. Don't weep for me. Poor Jesus. Look what's happened
to Him. Don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves. You see, it was not men When
our Lord was walking on that, to Golgotha's Hill, and all those
men were mistreating Him so, He understood. Men were just
the instruments. Men were just the instruments.
It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. His Father was killing Him. In Acts 4, verse 28, it says
they did what God's hand, it was His hand that delivered the
blow. what God's hand and what God's counsel determined before
to be done. It was not men who killed Him,
it was His Father. Are you saying it was God who
killed Christ? That's exactly what I'm saying. Why, that's scandalous, I know. There is a scandal. There is
an offense to the cross. Now, in our text, Paul said,
and I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer
persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. Now, what did Paul mean by the
preaching of circumcision? He said, if I was preaching circumcision,
I wouldn't be being persecuted, is what he's saying. But I am
being persecuted, therefore I'm not preaching circumcision. What
is meant by the preaching of circumcision? Look in verse 2
of Galatians chapter 5. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
That if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Nothing. What He did will be
of no saving benefit to you at all. Verse 3, For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor To do the
whole law. Now, if you go the route of circumcision,
you are a debtor to keep God's law perfectly. You can never
have a sinful thought. You can never have a sinful motive.
You can never have a sinful action. You have to keep God's law yourself
perfectly if you are circumcised. Does that mean that if you're
physically circumcised, you can't be saved? No, it doesn't mean
that. Paul was circumcised, wasn't
he? He said, circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the
tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrew of the Hebrews. Paul had been
circumcised, and many of you listening have been circumcised.
What is he talking about when he says if you be circumcised
Christ will profit you nothing. Turn to Acts 15. Verse 1. And certain men which came down
from Judea taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. Now these men
came from the church of Jerusalem. They had James as their pastor.
They claimed to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they came down to these Gentile believers and they said, except
you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, You cannot be
saved. Verse 2, when therefore Paul
and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them. There
was a fight over this. Some things are worth fighting
over. They really are. There was a fight over this.
Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go to Jerusalem
and to the apostles and elders about the question. Now, look,
Paul is telling what took place. Look in verse 5, Acts chapter
5. There rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed,
saying that it was needful. They believed. They believed
on Christ. But it's also needful. It's also necessary to circumcise
them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. Yes, we believe. We believe we're saved by grace.
We believe we're saved by Christ. We believe that. But we also
need to be circumcised. Now circumcision is part of the
law, isn't it? Part of the law. If you were a Jewish boy, when
you were 8 days old, it was commanded in the law for you to be circumcised. Now, really that's pretty easy. Because you didn't even know
what was going on. I mean you were an 8 day old
infant. You had no consciousness of this taking place. I guess
I've heard people say for babies it doesn't hurt. I never have
believed that. But I'm sure it hurts. But still you forgot about
it. You were an infant. It was over
and by the time you have enough sense to know what's going on
you didn't even know what happened. That's pretty easy isn't it? It's a
whole lot easier than never telling a lie. It's a whole lot easier than
not coveting. It's a whole lot easier than keeping any of the
commandments of God. This is the easiest one to keep. Now, being circumcised represents
law. It's saying something you do,
some act of obedience on your part is needful along with the
work of Christ for you to be saved. Now, if I believe, Listen
real carefully to this. I want you to get this. If I believe that God loves all
men the same. If I believe that Jesus Christ
died to pay for the sins of every man. If I believe that God wills
the salvation of all men, He wants everybody to be saved.
And that was his purpose. Now, if I believe that, you know
what I believe? I believe circumcision. I believe
something is needed in addition to the work of Christ for me
to be saved. If I believe that God loves all
men the same, Judas as well as Peter, then I believe that it's
something Peter did that Judas didn't do that saved him. I make
the love of God meaningless. If I believe that Jesus Christ
died on the cross for all men, even those in hell, He made a
payment for all men. If I believe that, then I believe
that something must be added to the work of Christ to be saved. I believe in circumcision. And
if I preach circumcision, I can forget Christ. He'll profit me. Nothing. If I believe that, yes,
I'm saved by grace, but I'll have a higher place in heaven
because I did something that somebody else didn't do. I got
a better work than them. Therefore, I'm going to be rewarded
for it. I believe in circumcision. I think something can be added
to the works of Christ. The offense of the cross to a
natural man is that nothing can be added. Now, Paul says, all
I have to do is preach circumcision, something along with Christ,
and the persecution will cease and the offense of the cross
will be removed. Now, when I was writing, when
I was flying home yesterday, I had a book I was reading, I
was really enjoying it, and it was dealing with the the doctrine
of grace, the free will position and the sovereign grace position.
It was putting them beside each other and was showing how you
can't reconcile the two. They're just at odds. Salvation
is either of the Lord or it's of man. It's not a mixture. You
can't mix them up. And this guy was ably defending
this. And then afterwards, when he
finished, he said, now, there's salvation in both messages. I
mean, you can be saved if you believe The other message too,
we don't want to go up, you know, there's salvation in both messages,
but they're just incongruent. They're just, they can't be brought
together. You know what he did? He removed the offense. That's
exactly what he did. He removed the offense. If I
can be saved believing works and circumcision, you can be
saved. We're all going to the same place.
If I believe a different thing, we're all going to the same place.
The offense has been removed. And let me say this. When the
offense is removed, the message has been removed. The words are
meaningless. Paul said, if I yet preach circumcision,
then is the offense of the cross Now Paul said, I'm still being
persecuted. Now I want you to think about Paul's preaching.
Everywhere he went, he'd either be imprisoned, he'd be beat with
a can of nine tails, he'd be stoned, he'd be beaten with rods. Everywhere he went preaching,
people were offended. Oh, they were offended in his
message. Now, I don't want to be offensive
in my character and my personality. and the way I present the gospel,
and that's certainly possible. That's certainly possible. I'm
sure I have been too. And I wish I hadn't. I want to present the
gospel in such a way that no one can be offended at me, my
character, the way I treat people, the way I preach the gospel.
I don't want anybody to be offended by me. But woe unto me If I preach a
message that no one's offended by, grow unto me. I'm not preaching the gospel.
You know, when I hear someone preach, when I hear someone talking
about what they believe, when I hear someone preach, here's
a question I always ask myself. Where is the offense? Where is the offense? Where is
the scandal that people burn and that's offensive to me? I'm offended by that. Where is
the offense in the message? If there's no offense, the saving
power has been removed. The message has been removed. Paul spoke of the offense of
the cross. He said in Galatians 1.10, Do
I now persuade men or God? Do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. If men are pleased with my message,
I'm not even the servant of Christ. Now, our Lord, when He walked
upon this earth, He offended men. Now, He didn't offend men
for healing their diseases and being kind and gracious. You
know, the sinners could come into His presence and not feel
threatened and not feel judged and not feel condemned. People
were not offended for His good deeds, but they were offended
by His claims. He said, if you believe not that
I am, you'll die in your sins. The I Am is God. He claimed to
be God the Son. They said, is not this Jesus?
Is not this the carpenter's son? We know His mom and dad. We know
His brothers and sisters. Him making claims like this,
that makes Him way over us. We'll not have this man to reign
over us. They were offended at His claims. He didn't measure up to their
fleshly expectations of what the Messiah should be. You know,
when the Lord described the religion of His day in Matthew chapter
15, and I'm talking about the accepted religion. I'm talking
about the respected religion. Everybody looked up to these
people. The scribes and the Pharisees, they were the movers and the
shakers. They were the representatives of God on the earth. This was
the accepted scriptural religion. So they thought, and our Lord
described it as nothing more than transgression. I'm using
the words of the scripture in Matthew 15. He called it transgression,
human tradition, hypocrisy, and vain. That's what He called the
accepted religion of His day. Transgression. Tradition, hypocrisy,
and vanity. And the disciples said, don't
you know the Pharisees were offended when they heard that? They were! When He told them that their
understanding of sin was completely misguided. It's not what goes
into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth,
out of the heart. And they were offended. He said,
don't you know that the Pharisees were offended by what you said?
He said, let them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind. How men were offended by his
preaching, turn with me to John chapter 6. These things said He in Capernaum,
as He taught. These things said He in the synagogue,
verse 59. John chapter 6, verse 59. These
things said He in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum. Many
therefore of His disciples, when they had heard... Notice this
is in italics. It's the whole message. When
they'd heard, they heard what He's saying. They said, this
is a hard saying. Harsh. Inhumane. Unsympathetic toward humanity.
That's the way they took it. Now, it wasn't harsh. It certainly
wasn't humane. It was the most glorious message
a sinner could ever hear. But this is the way they interpreted
it. Harsh. Inhumane. Severe. unsympathetic toward humanity.
This is a hard saying. Who can hear it? When Jesus knew
it Himself, His disciples murmured at it, He says, does this offend
you? Are you offended by what I said? Well, what did He say? Well, look in John 6, verse 29. As you go on reading in this
passage of scripture, these people were so offended that they left
the Lord and want no more with Him. This is where we're stumbling. We can't go in this direction.
We're going somewhere else. And this is when he looked at
the other 12, and he said, do you fellows want to leave too?
Will you also go away? And they said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? But the 5,000, the multitudes left him. They were
offended by what he said. They said, this is scandalous.
This is harsh. This is austere. There's no sympathy
toward humanity here. This is wrong. And they left
him. They said, we can't go in that
direction. They were offended. Now what did he say? Verse 29. Jesus answered and said unto
them, these same people who would end up leading him, this is the
work of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent. And what I think is very important
is there is a period at the end of that statement. Faith only. Not faith and. Faith only. Do you mean to say that if all
you have is faith in Christ, that's it? You'll be saved? That offends me in the sense
of personal contribution. Do my words count for nothing?
Nothing. Nothing. What do you think about
that? Do you really have that high opinion in your works anyway?
Do you really think they all account for something? You're
deceived. Let me assure you, you're deceived.
Look what he said in verse 36 of this same chapter. But I said
unto you that you have seen Me and believed not. Now he looks
at these people who did not believe. And it's as if he says, your
lack of faith does not discourage me. I'm not giving up as being
a failure. You see me and you don't believe.
Verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. You fellows may not believe me,
but the elect will. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. Divine election is what that's
a reference to. God giving Christ a people, and
they only being saved. Not everybody's elect, only those
He chose. Now this offends men's sense
of entitlement and personal rights. How can it be fair for God to
choose some and not choose the other? How can that be fair?
That's unjust on God's part. That's wrong. That's wrong to
humanity. He's not giving everybody a chance.
How can that be fair? Now, when I make that statement,
here's what I'm saying. I'm entitled to God's salvation.
I've got it coming. And He is wronging me if He doesn't
choose me to salvation. That offense sent men sins of
entitlement. Look in verse 38. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which is sent me, that of all which
He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day." Now, what's our Lord saying here? Everybody that the Father gave
me, I'm going to raise up. This is talking about Christ's
death for the elect. He died for those the Father
gave Him, and everybody He died for is going to be raised up.
They must be saved. Effectual redemption. And this
offends men's sense of control. You mean I have no control in
this thing? I'm totally in His hands. If He died for me, I'll
be saved. If He didn't, I won't be no matter
what I do. I've got no control in this.
That offends men's sense of personal control. Well, you don't have
any control. You don't have any rights. You lost them all by
your sin. I've lost them all. But old men
are offended by this. Look in verse 41. The Jews then
murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down
from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven, that I was before I came, that I am
the eternal Son of God? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves, no man can come to
me. You lack the ability. You are
complaining with me, but you are unable to come to me. No man can come to me. You're
complaining? Well, let me tell you something.
You can't go. And the reason you can't is because you won't.
You're so desperately bad and sinful, you won't. It makes it
do what you can't. He's talking about the complete
total depravity and inability of men to save themselves. I'm trying to think about this
thing of total depravity. That means every faculty of man
is under the power of sin. The will, the affections, the
mind. I cannot come to Christ unless God draws me. That's what our Lord said, no
man can come to me except the Father which has sent me, drawing. Do you have any idea? I'm asking
myself this, I'm asking you this. Do you have any idea of where
you would be and what you would do if the Lord simply removed
His hand from you and took away all the restraints? Now anybody
that knows anything about themselves, being taught by God, they know that they'll be as bad as a devil.
They'll be as bad as the devil himself apart from the restraints.
You really believe that regarding yourself. Now, I realize that
offends men's sense of personal righteousness because it says
you don't have any. None at all. You tell me I don't have any?
Yeah. That offends men's sense of personal righteousness. Look
in verse 45. It's written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me." Now this
is talking about the invincible, irresistible grace of God. When
He teaches you, you come to Christ. Everybody that has heard and
learned of the Father comes to Him. Now, this means that you
and I are utterly dependent upon Him to reveal Himself. You can't figure it out? I was
telling you about that time, I'm going to search for God until
I find Him. Can you say I'll by searching
find out God? No. You can't figure it out. You
and I are in the hands of a sovereign God. We're totally dependent
upon Him to make Himself known to us. And that offends men's
sense of wisdom and ability. Verse 47. Verily I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am the bread
of life. Your fathers did eat man in the
wilderness or dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. He'll
persevere all the way to the end. I am the living bread which
came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he'll live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh which I'll give for the life of the world." Now this
is talking about perseverance. Persevering all the way to the
end. and being preserved by Him. Now, someone who doesn't persevere
in the faith, living off Christ, feeding on Him, has never been
saved. If He is not the Lord of my life
right now, He's never done anything for me. Now, hear that. If He is not the Lord of my life
right now, He's never done anything for me. And that offends men's
love of self and sin. They want to deny self. take up our cross daily and follow
Him. Now, men were offended by the
Lord in that day, weren't they? I want to ask you a question.
Have men improved any? Men are the same now as they
were then, aren't they? And that offense is brought out
when they hear the preaching. Now, I'm all for people being
nice and being law-abiding citizens and all that kind of stuff. We
all ought to be that. And somebody can seem real nice
and a real gracious, nice person. And you say, well, are they offended
by God, offended by the gospel? Let them hear the truth and you'll
see. Now, the problem in our day is that most preachers preach
in a code language. They preach in such a way as
nobody will be offended. The people who believe grace,
they can hear some of this, well that's true. And the people who
don't believe grace, they can state in such a way, they preach
so nobody will be offended. Now in this thing of preaching,
my greatest fear is that nobody will be offended by what I'm
saying. Because I know if that's the case, I'm not preaching the
gospel. Now regarding this thing of offense, Does this offend
you? That's what the Lord asks these
people. And I'm asking you, these things
the Lord brought out in this message, does this offend you?
Are you offended by faith only? No, I'm not. I'm really not. Matter of fact,
I sure hope that's the way it is. Because if it's anything
else, I'm in real trouble. Faith only. Are you offended by His person
or His claims to be the great I AM, the only Savior of sinners? No, I'm not. I bow and worship
before Him. He's the Lord. He is to be worshipped. He's worthy of worship if He
saves me or if He damns me. Do you believe that? He's worthy
of worship. I'm not offended by his denunciation
of human religion. Matter of fact, I like it. I
do. I see it and I like it. And I wish that this denunciation
could be heard throughout this land of what is called Christianity
in our day is nothing more than the tradition of men vain will
worship. I'm not offended by election.
I'm really not. You see, I had no claims on God. And if He passed me by, just
and holy is His name, my only hope is that He would freely
choose me. No, I'm not offended by election.
I love election. It tells me who God is. He's
on the throne. He's the first cause behind all
things. No, I'm not offended by election. And I'm not offended
by His effectual redemption for the elect. Let me tell you why
I'm not offended by it. Number one, because of what the
Bible teaches. That's enough of a reason, isn't it? The Lord
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Other sheep I have
which are not of this fold. He looked at some other ones.
He says, you believe not because you're not of my sheep. Not everybody's
a sheep. This is what the Bible teaches. Secondly, it's the only
thing that makes sense. You're going to tell me you can
die for somebody and they wind up in hell anyway? Why is double
jeopardy what that is? That doesn't even make sense. But here's why I really love
it. Because His effectual death,
when He said it is finished, everybody He died for was saved.
That's the only hope I got. The only hope I have in being
in heaven is that His death is all that's needed to save me. I'm not offended by total depravity,
because I know it's so. And I know I know that in and
of myself, I'm nothing but sin. Do you know that about yourself?
Why would you be offended by that? I love that statement Henry
Mahan used to always make, you can't defend the chief of sinners.
If you're easily offended, you're not the chief of sinners, are
you? Total depravity. I'm not offended by irresistible
grace. I need it. I need invincible,
irresistible grace. Don't you? I mean, I need His
grace to reign in me and cause me to do His will and cause me
to believe and cause me to repent and cause me to persevere and
cause me to enter. I need Him to do it all. I desperately
need invincible and irresistible grace. Somebody says, I don't
like that term irresistible, but I do. I really do. I like that. That's exactly what
I need. I'm not offended by invincible,
irresistible grace. I know without it I won't be
saved. And I'm not offended by perseverance being preserved. This I know. I want to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. When He says, take up your cross
and follow Me, that's exactly what I want to do. I want to
follow Him in obedience. I want to be in His shadow. I want to follow Him. He's my
Lord. He's my Master. He's my All. And I want to follow Him. I want
to deny myself. Myself is my biggest problem.
I want to deny myself. I want to take up my cross and
I want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way I can
do that is as He preserves me and enables me to do so. So I
say, Lord, preserve me and cause me to persevere all the way to
the end. Now, preachers fear offending
people. God's preachers fear not. offending people. And what I'm praying for right
now, and what I'm trusting you're praying for right now, is that
we might have a revival of the offense of the cross. Let's pray together.