I'll be reading my text from
the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse
22, 23, and 24. Now, here's the subject for today. I'm going to bring you a message
on the subject, the cross of Christ, the cross of Jesus Christ. Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter
1, verse 22, the apostle writes, For the religious Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ crucified is the power of God
and the wisdom of God. Now, I want to ask you a question
and see if you can answer it from the scripture that I just
read. What do people want from preachers who say that they speak
for God? Many men say they speak for God,
that they're preachers called of God and sent to preach the
message of God. What do people want from these
men? And from churches that say that they know and worship God,
what do the people want? Well, the text tells us The text
says that the religious Jews, the Jews are the religious people,
the temple dwellers, the people who followed the ceremonies and
the customs of religion. These people want a sign. They
want a sign. And then it says the Greeks,
and when it talks about the Greeks, it's talking about the natural
man, the man of the world. He wants wisdom. The religious
man wants a sign, and the natural man wants wisdom. What do you
mean by the religious man wants a sign? Well, he wants to see
miracles. He wants to see excitement. He
wants to see healings. He wants to see impressive movements
and large crowds, something that will prove that God is among
us. Prove to me that God's with you. Prove to me that you speak for
God. Prove it by signs and wonders
and miracles and healings and impressive movements and things
like this. Prove that God's with you. You
see, this is what the people said when our Lord walked the
earth in the flesh. They said, what sign do you show
that we might believe? Show us a sign. And again, when
he was on the cross, they said, if you be the Christ, come down
from the cross, and we'll believe you. And our Lord said, this
evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, and no sign shall
be given but that of Jonah, or in other words, the Word of God. And even the rich man in hell
who said to Father Abraham, send Lazarus, back from the grave,
send him back to the earth, raise him from the tomb and send him
back to the earth and let him preach to my brothers and they'll
believe. If one rose from the dead, they'd believe. So the
religious man wants a sign. He wants miracles. He wants something
impressive, some proof that God's among you. And this, listen very
carefully, this is one of the things that has given rise in
this day to so many religious con artists. And that's what
they are. They're religious con artists who are giving people
what they're crying for, who are giving people what they want.
Signs and wonders and so-called miracles and impressive things
like that, you know. They'll close their eyes in prayer
and say, I see a man out there somewhere who has a... a back
problem and God's healing him. And I see a man out here who
has a headache and God is healing him. And I see a woman over here
driving a yellow Volkswagen who's got some type of cancer and God's
healing her. And then people come down to
the front and they'll tell them their doctor's name and put their
hands on them. and claim to heal them and break
crutches and canes and roll them wheelchairs out of the place.
This is what the religious man wants. He wants a sign. He wants
some kind of miracle. He wants you to prove that God's
with you. And that's the very thing that
Paul is saying here. He says the religious people
want a sign. They demand a sign. They always
have. Ever since the day that our Lord walked here on this
earth in human flesh, they said, show us a sign. We're not going
to believe anything until we see some proof. Do we see some
action? Do we see some miracles? Do we
see some signs? And a lot of people followed
him because of those miracles. In fact, one time he turned and
said, I know why you're following me. You're following me because
you saw the miracles. Another group followed him. He
said, You're following me because you ate of the loaves and fishes.
And those who truly follow Christ follow him because they believe
his word. So the religious people seek a sign. They seek a sign. And then what do the natural
people want? Well, the natural man seeks after wisdom, not the
wisdom of God. which is Christ Jesus, our righteousness
and our sacrifice, but to seek the wisdom of men. Now, this
church at Corinth, to which Paul was writing, was in a city of
learning. Corinth was a city of learning
and philosophy and human wisdom. And these Greeks were in love
with intellectualism. That's what they were in love
with. They were in love with science, so-called, They were in love
with intellectualism. They were in love with philosophy.
They were in love with human wisdom. They were in love with
oratory. They'd meet to debate and argue. And this is what Paul is saying.
He's writing to this church and he's saying, now, the religious
people, they want some kind of sign, some kind of proof. They
want to see some action. They want to see miracles and
healings and wonders and things like that. But the natural man,
he wants wisdom. He wants a clever preacher. He
doesn't want a Christ preacher. He wants a clever preacher. a
preacher that can rhyme his points, you know, and use alliteration
and deal with strange and unusual subjects and mysteries and things
of this nature like, you know, prophecy and set dates for the
coming of Christ. They love that clever sort of
thing. No, they don't want Christ preachers. They want clever preachers.
And they don't want their hearts pricked. They want their ears
tickled. Paul said they'll heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears, and turn away their ears from
the truth. They want to hear of reformation,
not regeneration. They want to hear of human rights.
We're always hearing about human rights, human rights, and that's
what the natural man wants to hear. He doesn't want to hear
anything about the crown rights of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
wants to hear about human rights, and he wants his preacher to
be involved in politics, and his preacher to be involved in
local civic enterprises, and his preacher to be involved in
amusements and all kind of movements. I weep for my generation because
I see the same thing happening today that happened back there
1,900 years ago. And the Apostle Paul, writing
to this church, he said, I know what they want. I know exactly
what they want. I know that the religious, ceremonialist,
and the temple dweller, and the religious, religionist, the traditionalist,
I know what he wants. He wants signs, and wonders,
and miracles, and healings, and large crowds, and impressive
movements, and he wants proof that you speak for God, proof
that you speak for God. I'll tell you this. The only
proof a man needs that he speaks for God is the Word of God, the
Word of God itself, not some unusual feeling or unusual emotion
or unusual happening or somebody to be healed. We need the healing
of the heart and the healing of the soul. But that's what
people want, and that's what preachers give them for a price.
It costs, but they give it to them for a price. And folks keep
supporting it. They know most of it is phony.
I started to say it's phony as a $3 Confederate bill, but that's
just about right. It's as phony as it possibly
can be. And I wonder how much longer
that the people in this country are going to support these con
artists and religious phonies and preachers that are taking
them. I don't understand. I just don't understand. I weep
for my generation. They don't want to hear God's
Word. They want to see a show. They want to be entertained.
And actually, I'll tell you this, if you listen to most of the
so-called gospel singing and religious singing, turn the sound
off And you can't tell the difference in that and a rock and roll concert. They have the same instruments.
They have the same body movements. They have the same look on their
faces. And the only thing difference, the only difference most of the
time, and that's not too much difference there, is the words
that they use. That's exactly right. We can't
rise to worship the living God, so we just reach up and pull
him down and put him on our level, and put worship on our level,
and put it down in a degraded cesspool. And that's what we've
done in this day, because the religious people want a sign.
And the natural man wants wisdom, but I want you to listen to Paul.
He says, but we preach Christ crucified. God forbid, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Is this too plain for you? But it's what needs to be said
and it's not being said. It's not being said. And true
preachers, God called, God sent, God anointed preachers are true
to the word of God and they're true to the gospel of God and
they're true to the glory of their God. I'll tell you this,
you couldn't put the Apostle Paul in 99% of the religious
movements and telecasts and broadcasts and services in this day. He
wouldn't be identified or associated with any of it. True preachers
do not try to please the temple dwellers. and the traditionalists. True preachers do not try to
please the whirling with his science so-called and his demands
for human wisdom and intellectualism. True preachers preach the gospel. they preach the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They preach the cross. That's
what Paul said. God didn't send me to baptize.
God didn't send me to organize. God didn't send me to promote.
God didn't send me to entertain. God didn't send me to please
men. God sent me to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ, to preach the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's another
question I have for you. When Paul declared that he preached
the cross. He said, now, these religionists,
these traditionalists, they want signs and miracles and wonders
and entertainment. And the worldling, the natural
man, he wants wisdom and intellectualism and science and civil rights
and all this sort of thing, human rights. But, he said, we preach
the cross. Now, when he said, we preach
the cross of Jesus Christ, what did he mean by the cross when
he preached the cross? What did he mean? Well, I'll
tell you what he didn't mean. He didn't mean he preached that
tree on which Christ died. They even differ on the shape
of it. Some people say it was a cross
like this, and some say it was a cross like this, on which he
was crucified. But it's immaterial, because
Paul wasn't preaching that cross. not the cross on which he died
or the symbol. And Paul wasn't preaching the
cross of trial and affliction which the believer bears. Our
Lord said, take up your cross and follow me. Take up the cross
of death and trial and suffering and whatever is required of you
and follow me. But the cross that he's talking
about here that he preaches, the cross of Christ is just this. Now listen. preaching the cross,
glowing in the cross. The preaching of the cross is
to them who are perishing foolishness, to us who are being saved, it's
the power of God. This cross that Paul is talking
about is all that is included and all that is accomplished
in the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus
Christ. All that Christ is, All that
Christ did, all that Christ does is included in the preaching
of the cross. In other words, when I say that
I preach the cross of Christ, I don't mean I talk all the time
about Christ died, Christ died, Christ died, Christ died. No,
Christ had to live in order to die. You have to have an incarnate
Christ before you can have a crucified Christ. Christ has got to take
upon himself a human body in order to die in a human body.
So you got to have the virgin birth. So there's many things
included in the cross. And if you have the Christ crucified
and buried, you've got to have a resurrection. So when we say
we preach the cross, and we're not ashamed of the cross, and
that God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we're talking about all that's included. and
all that's accomplished in our Lord's death, in His resurrection,
in His intercession. Now, in other words, we preach
the accomplishment by Jesus Christ of God's eternal covenant. When
you preach the cross of Christ, you go clear back before the
foundation of the world. And you preach the covenant of
God's grace because the scripture says in Hebrews, his blood is
the blood of the everlasting covenant. And you read also that
Christ in the book of Revelation is the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. So when we preach the cross of
Christ, we're talking about something that was purposed and something
that was planned. in the counsels of God before
the world began. He's the surety of an everlasting
covenant. And his death is the fulfillment
of God's purpose to redeem a people. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. So when we say we preach the
cross of Christ, We're saying that we preach that covenant
which gave birth to the cross and that purpose of God which
decreed that his son should die for sinners. Also, watch this. When we preach the cross of Jesus
Christ, we preach the fulfillment. OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES?
THE OLD TESTAMENT PROMISES? THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES? THE OLD TESTAMENT PICTURES? WHAT
IS ABEL'S LAMB BUT A PICTURE OF CHRIST? WHAT IS THE PASSOVER
LAMB IN EGYPT WHEN MOSES AND THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL TOOK THE
BLOOD AND PUT IT ON THE DOORPOST AND THE LENTIL? WHAT IS THAT
BUT CHRIST CRUCIFIED? CHRIST IS OUR PASSOVER. The Apostle
Paul said that Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Christ
crucified is the brazen serpent lifted up. Our Lord said that
himself. He said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish but have everlasting life. And the
cross of Christ is the fulfillment of the tabernacle. and the priesthood,
and the sacrifices, and the day of atonement, because it talks
about this, our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement. Also, when we preach Christ crucified,
we preach the character of God. It was the love of God that sent
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
Christ didn't come down here and get God in the notion of
loving us. He came down here because God
did love us. For God loved and God gave. So in the cross of Christ, I
see the love of God. I see the mercy of God. I see
the righteousness of God. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And God has set forth His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins, that He might declare His
righteousness. The cross preaches the holiness
of God. God spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all. Also, the cross of Jesus Christ
shows us the justice of God. He will punish sin. God will
by no means clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. Where do you see all of this?
You see it in the cross. The cross reveals and manifests
the love of God. The cross reveals the holiness
and righteousness of God. And the cross reveals God to
be a just God, a just God and a Savior. You see that? Also, when we preach the cross,
the cross reveals the accomplishment of the redemption of all God's
children and all believers. Jesus Christ was taken down from
the cross. and laid in a tomb, laid in a
tomb. And on the third day, he arose
by the power of God. And all the way through the Scriptures,
the Word of God tells us this, that the resurrection of Jesus
Christ is full proof and evidence that God accepted what He did. If God had not accepted His offering
and accepted His sacrifice and accepted His sin offering, He
would never have brought Him forth from the tomb, from the
grave. That resurrection is proof THAT
ALMIGHTY GOD VERILY DID ACCEPT CHRIST AND WITH CHRIST ACCEPTED
US IN THE BELOVED. SO WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED.
AND WHEN I SAY WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, I'M SAYING THAT WE
GO BACK IN THE COUNCIL HALLS OF ETERNITY AND TALK ABOUT THE
COVENANT OF MERCY AND THE PURPOSE OF GRACE AND WE COME DOWN TO
THE FALL OF ADAM WHEN GOD ANNOUNCED THAT THE SEED OF WOMAN WOULD
BRUISE THE SERPENT'S HEAD and we come to Abel's sacrifice and
we see the cross and we come to the Exodus from Egypt and
the Passover, we come to the smitten rock. We come to the
manna from heaven, which is Christ, the bread of life. We come to
the atonement and the tabernacle and the priesthood, and we come
on down to the incarnation of the Lord, for he must become
a man in order to die. We come down to the fact that
he suffered and he was buried and he rose again, and he ascended
to the right hand of God where he ever lived to make intercession
for us. All of this is in the cross. And so when Paul says, let the
religionist seek after his sign, let him seek out, let the natural
man seek after his intellectualism and wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified. We glory in the cross of Jesus
Christ. Now watch this, here's the third
thing. What is your attitude toward
the cross of Jesus Christ? What's your attitude? Now, it's
just one of two attitudes that a man can take towards the cross.
Do you see this in the text? I hope you're looking at the
text. 1 Corinthians 1, actually 17 through 24. But Paul showed
us what the world wants to hear. And then secondly, he showed
us what the true preacher preaches, the cross of Christ, the gospel.
And then he shows us the two attitudes that people take toward
the cross. He says the preaching of the
cross, And when I say the cross, I mean all that Christ is and
all that Christ did and all that Christ does. The preaching of
the cross is to them who are perishing, foolishness, foolishness,
sheer nonsense, just foolishness. But to us who are called, who
are being saved, the cross is the power of God, the power of
God and the wisdom of God. The cross is foolishness to those
who are perishing. I can give you three reasons
why the cross, the preaching of the cross, and don't forget
what I've said. The cross is not just his death.
It's the purpose that gave birth to the death. It's the incarnation
when he came, identified with us, bone of our bone flesh. It's
all things included IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST AND ACCOMPLISHED BY
THE DEATH OF CHRIST. IT'S RECONCILIATION, REDEMPTION,
RIGHTEOUSNESS, SANCTIFICATION, ALL THAT. SO WHY DO MEN LOOK
ON THE CROSS AS FOOLISHNESS? WELL, I'LL TELL YOU THREE REASONS.
FIRST OF ALL, THIS CROSS AND THIS GOSPEL OF SUBSTITUTION AND
SATISFACTION, THE GOSPEL OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, DEALS WITH A
SUBJECT IN WHICH THEY HAVE NO INTEREST, FORGIVENESS OF SIN. Salvation from sin. Our Lord
said it. He said, they that are whole
do not need a doctor. Who are the people interested
in doctors out there? Sick people. Who are the people
out there who are not interested in doctors? Well people. And that's what our Lord said.
The well have no need of the physician, but they that are
sick. Even so, I have come not to call the righteous but sinners
to repentance. You know who's interested in
an atonement? A sinner. You know who's interested
in forgiveness? Guilty people. You know who's
interested in mercy? Lost people. And they're the
people to whom the cross is wisdom and power. But those that are
perishing, it's foolishness because they're not sinners. Our Lord
said that He came to call sinners to repentance. And Paul said,
Our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. And
the reason it's foolishness and nonsense to this world is because
they do not see themselves before God, in the sight of God, under
the law of God, as sinners. Here's the second reason why
the cross, the preaching of the cross, is foolishness to them
that perish. It does not recognize human merit. The cross does not recognize
human goodness or human works. The cross literally drags our
so-called human goodness out into the light of God's holiness
and pronounces it filthy rags. When a person acknowledges that
cross, that the Son of God in human flesh is hanging on that
cross to redeem me, THAT IT VERILY TAKES THE VERY DEATH OF GOD ALMIGHTY
IN HUMAN FLESH. MY SINS ARE SO TERRIBLE AND SO
VILE AND SO WICKED AND SO EVIL AND SO IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT AWAY
THAT IT TAKES THE DEATH OF THE SON OF GOD. WHEN A MAN ADMITS
THAT, HE ADMITS THERE'S NONE GOOD, NO, NOT ONE. THERE'S NONE
RIGHTEOUS. THERE'S NONE THAT UNDERSTAND
IT. THEY ALL TOGETHER BECOME UNPROFITABLE. I'LL TELL YOU THIS, THE EXTENT
OF SIN THE EXTENT OF SIN IS REVEALED TO YOU BY THE TREMENDOUS COST
TO REDEEM OUR SOULS. WE'RE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE. HOW
GREAT A PRICE. THE DEATH OF GOD'S SON. ALRIGHT,
HERE'S THE THIRD REASON WHY THE NATURAL MAN FINDS THE CROSS FOOLISHNESS. IT DEALS WITH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS
OF GOD. GOD MUST BE JUST. GOD MUST BE
RIGHTEOUS. HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED THAT?
David did. He said, When I consider the
heaven, the sun, the moon, the stars, the things you've made,
what is man that art mindful of him? And Job said, How can
man be clean in God's sight? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? How can a man be just with God?
How can God be just and justifier? Have you ever thought of that?
Have you ever thought of that? How can a holy God HAVE COMMUNION
WITH A SINNER LIKE YOU AND ME? BUT I'LL TELL YOU HOW, ONLY IN
THE CROSS OF CHRIST. THE NECESSITY FOR THE CROSS,
THE WORK ACCOMPLISHED IN THE CROSS, AND THE PREACHING OF THE
CROSS IS TO THEM WHO ARE PERISHING NONSENSE, BUT TO THOSE WHO ARE
CALLED, CALLED BY HIS SPIRIT, CALLED BY HIS GOSPEL, CALLED
BY HIS GRACE TO FAITH IN CHRIST, IT IS THE VERY POWER AND WISDOM
OF GOD. Now, if you want this message
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bless you.