Word of the Cross

Driving home: For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing, for that's a present, verb or participle, to them that are perishing, it is foolishness.

Martin uses the example of posters for 'internationally known evangelists' in small towns to contrast with the Apostle Paul's genuine international ministry, highlighting the difference between self-proclaimed fame and true biblical impact.

Paul says, For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God. Now Paul was privileged to be a universal and international preacher. I've often seen posters in some little podunk town announcing the spring revival meetings and internationally known evangelists and I say, well, I must live on the moon or on Mars or something because I ain't never heard tell of him. And so there are many men who like to lay claim to the title international evangelist.

10:34 - 11:11 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Because of indifference to the issues with which this message is concerned.

An unnamed person's response to a billboard saying 'Christ is the answer' illustrates indifference to the gospel's message, as they feel they have no need for the answer because they don't perceive the problem.

Because of indifference to the issues with which this word of the cross is concerned. As someone said who saw a roadside post through a billboard, Christ is the answer. He said, yeah, but I've got no questions.

14:57 - 15:12 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first reason the word of the cross is foolishness is indifference to its issues (sin, judgment, wrath). The sermon argues that the cross is meaningless without acknowledging…

Martin contrasts the concerns of people focused on material needs ('filling their bellies') with the spiritual message of the cross (pardon, acceptance, sin), showing why the latter is dismissed as irrelevant foolishness.

But you see, the multitudes care nothing for these things. Filling their bellies, gratifying animal passions and carnal appetites is all that concerns them. And when Paul would come to such and bring the word of the cross and say, Christ has died, sin has been judged, hear the good news, you may be pardoned, accepted, your sins blotted out. They'd say, hold on, pardon, sins, acceptance.

17:08 - 17:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Humble your pride and admit that your own righteousness is insufficient, taking the posture of clinging only to the cross.

Martin uses the analogy of a cultured, educated man being placed alongside a primitive tribesman from New Guinea to illustrate how the cross levels all human pride and brings everyone to the same place of need and dependence on Christ.

It takes the cultured, educated man who has flowing through his blood a heritage that would make any one of the sons of Adam at the human level proud to name his family tree. Cultured, speaks his mother tongue, whatever it be, perfectly educated, refined. It takes that man and it puts him alongside that person that you wonder if he really is man or beast, who's dwelt in one of the primitive tribes of the inner lands of New Guinea. Nothing but a gourd for a covering.

25:58 - 26:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon emphasizes the simple, yet powerful, nature of the gospel message: Christ assumed and paid the debt of sin. It cautions against over-complicating the gospel and…

Martin tells a story of a man whose deep guilt feelings were resolved not by psychological analysis but by a simple gospel track ('ABC: Christ died. Christ lives. Believe the gospel'), demonstrating the power of the word of the cross.

The psychologist sits down with a man bound with his guilt feelings tied up in himself and he tries to analyze and scrutinize and find all the tentacles of influence going back to 2300 generations and all this profound analysis.

52:35 - 52:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Ministers should not be so clever as to obscure the simple gospel message, for God uses this simple knowledge as his power unto salvation.

Martin compares women who over-apply makeup to hide their natural beauty with those who 'plaster over' the beauty of the gospel, urging preachers to simply present the gospel's intrinsic beauty without artificial embellishment.

Don't cover it over so that the beauty of it can't shine through. It's like some women, if they take a half inch of a duck off their faces, they'd be beautiful.

54:09 - 54:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Embrace the command to believe on Christ and the invitation to come, for God's power is available for deliverance.

Martin quotes Charles Spurgeon's anecdote about a boy showing off his happiness with an apple, only to put it back in his pocket, to illustrate how some people only superficially engage with religious concepts without true possession or transformation.

As Charles Spurgeon one time said that people who went a little bit beyond the scriptures with their theology and they were hypers, he said, it's like the boy that took the apple out of his pocket, held it up before his friend and polished it and said, hey, man, am I happy? The fellow said, sure you are. He stuck it back in his pocket and said, that's all you'll have of it.

55:48 - 56:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Embrace the command to believe on Christ and the invitation to come, for God's power is available for deliverance.

Martin quotes a brother's earthy summary of the gospel: while the Bible teaches human inability ('you can't'), it also commands belief ('you must') and offers the possibility ('you may'), capturing the balance of divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

I was visiting in a home the other night where they've been cursed in some of their associations or they've seen the curse of this hyper position and people are always being told, you can't, you can't, you can't, your inability, your inability, well, that's in the scripture, no man can come except the father draw him. When this brother said, in his own earthy way, the Bible not only teaches you can't, you can't, you can't, but you must, you must, and you may.

56:22 - 56:51 Read in full sermon