Word of the Cross

Introduction: Divisions in Corinth and Paul's Response

0:01 In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I shall merely summarize the paragraph preceding the text that we will examine in our study together this evening. Beginning with verse 10 in chapter 1, the Apostle Paul begins to treat this deplorable and shameful condition of divisions in the church at Corinth. Someone has done some sanctified, not tailbearing, but cattling. Now, this was passing on truth, and he says that it had been reported to him, verse 11, of the household of Chloe, that there were divisions amongst the believers at Corinth.

0:43 And as the Apostle Paul begins to treat this deplorable condition, he asks some rhetorical questions in verse 13 to show the folly of that division. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?

0:58 And then he makes some historical assertions in verses 14 through 17, No, he did not baptize any of these except one household and maybe one or two others. And he says the reason that he was not preoccupied with baptizing people and making this his primary work as an evangelist, as an apostle, as a teacher and preacher of the gospel, was that this action was consistent with his role as defined by his Lord. Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, Verse 17, That's an absolute for the relative. That's a figure of speech.

1:37 He was sent to baptize. He baptized people. But he says Christ did not send me on a mission of baptism. My mission was not a mission of sacramental grace.

1:48 My mission was not one of giving initiatory ordinances. This was not the focal point of my ministry. Rather, he says, but to preach the gospel. And not to preach it just any old way.

2:01 He says, not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void. Now, having used the term preach the gospel and the phrase cross of Christ, the Apostle Paul now goes into orbit. And it's one of those sanctified digressions. And he never picks up his theme of divisions amongst the brethren again until chapter 3 and verse 1.

2:27 Verse 1, Verse 1, Verse 1, Verse 1, Verse 1, Verse 1, Verse 1, Verse 1, Verse 1, Verse 1, is to them that perish foolishness, Verse 1, and to us who are saved, it is the power of God.

The Word of the Cross Defined: Substance

2:37 And our attention will be focused tonight upon this text, and we shall study it under the general theme, the word of the cross, the great divider of mankind.

2:50 Consider with me, first of all, the word of the cross defined as to its substance.

2:57 The American standard renders the text for the word, not the preaching or the message, but the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. And that is a very accurate translation. Now what is this word of the cross in its essential substance? It is synonymous with what Paul calls, in verse 17, the gospel.

3:24 Christ sent me to preach the gospel. It is called, in verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified. It is the prophecy. proclamation of Christ crucified. Now what is the essence of that word of the cross? The gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well, in short, it is that proclamation of the doctrine of salvation from sin through the crucifixion of the Son of God as a sacrifice for sin. That is the word of the cross. The proclamation of the doctrine of salvation from sin through the crucifixion of the Son of God as a sacrifice for sin. It is the message set forth in such text as 2 Corinthians 5.21. God hath made

4:20 him, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. It is the message set forth in such text as 2 Corinthians 5.21. God hath made him, Jesus Christ, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. It is the message set forth in such text as Galatians 3.13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree. It is the message explicitly defined as to its essential elements in chapter 15 of this very epistle. He said, The gospel we preach unto you, by which ye are saved, if you hold fast this truth, is this, Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. He was buried. He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. The word of the cross, defined as to its substance, is the message which declares

5:14 that the debt of sin was assumed by Christ, that that debt was discharged by Christ, and now all that is required of sinners is to trust only in Christ. That is the word of the cross. The debt of the sin of an innumerable company, whom no man can number, was assumed by the second person of the Godhead, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the living God. Having assumed that debt, he fully discharged that debt upon the cross. He cried prior to his last words, Into thy hands I commend my spirit. He cried, It is finished. The debt is finished. I have paid. I have discharged all the demands of my Father against the sins of those on whose

6:08 behalf I died. And then the third element in that word of the cross is the proclamation that all that is now required of sinners is to trust only in Christ. The word of the cross is the proclamation that the accursedness of Christ upon the tree forms the only but sufficient basis of the blessing of Christ. The word of the cross is the proclamation that all that is now required of sinners is to trust only in Christ. The word of the cross is the proclamation that all that is now required of sinners is the proclamation that all that is now required of sinners is the blessedness that sinners receive in time and unto eternity. Now granted, I am fully aware that that word of the cross, focusing upon that which the Son of God did in his sufferings as a substitute for sinners, presupposes all that the Bible says about God as creator, all that it says about man as creature, the law as inflexible, man as guilty, restoration to obedience, as the end of salvation. I am fully aware of that. So this word of the cross is no enemy of repentance.

7:09 It is no enemy of God reconstituting his rule in the heart of sinners. But listen carefully. The dominant theme of the word of the cross is not God as creator, God as lawgiver, God as judge, the demands of repentance and restoration to obedience to the law of God. No, no. The dominant theme, the central note, the focal point, its concentrated focus is this, the blessed work of Jesus Christ as an atoning sacrifice for sinners. Sin has been judged, and all sinners may come and enter into the benefits of the death of the Son of God. Yes, the word of the cross presupposes all the Bible says on the one hand about God. God as creator, judge, and the law. It assumes that all who embrace the Savior and the offered

8:09 salvation will receive Christ as Lord. They will love and obey him, walk in holiness. They will press on in godliness. So this word of the cross is no enemy to gospel holiness or gospel duties. But listen, bowing to Christ as Lord, loving him and obeying him, walking in holiness, persevering in godliness is not the focal point. God as Lord presupposes all of the word of the cross? The word of the cross is this. In the accursedness of the Son of God is to be found the blessedness of sinners. Not primarily in his enthronement, but in his accursedness. The word of the cross. How is it defined? Well, I've given you a number of scriptures that show that it is to be defined in terms of those simple propositions. Christ assumed the debt

9:08 of sinners. Christ discharged the debt of sinners. God bids all sinners without discrimination to embrace the Lord Jesus as the only and sufficient Savior of sinners. In other words, the substance of the word of the cross is to be found the blessedness of sinners.

9:29 They are found in those blessed words of the Apostle John. We read them in John 3, 14 to 16. For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him may have eternal life. And then John goes on to say in verses 15 and 16, verse 16, For God so loved the world, that he gave him the kingdom of heaven, that he gave him the kingdom of heaven, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The Word of the Cross Described: Effect on Men

10:07 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. The word of the cross defined as to its substance is just this, nothing less, but nothing more. Now in the second place, consider the word of the cross described as to its effect upon men.

10:34 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.

11:12 Well, the apostle Paul never would have used that about himself, but he was the real thing. He was an international evangelist. He had been privileged under God, under the commission of Christ and in obedience to that commission to preach to Jew, to Greek, to barbarians, Scythian, bond-free, potentate, peasant, culture, uncultured. And the apostle observed something that wherever he preached, regardless of those to whom he ministered in terms of their culture, their background, their racial, their religious, their ethnic distinctions, there were but two responses to this word of the cross.

11:49 When he would stand before a group of Jews steeped in the knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures and in the synagogue would reason with him from the scriptures and give this word of the cross, when he would proclaim that in Jesus of Nazareth all the prophecies found their fulfillment, in Jesus of Nazareth Almighty God judged the sins of his people, in Jesus of Nazareth the debt was paid, in Jesus of Nazareth now exalted to the right hand of the Father there is forgiveness and acceptance and the pardon of all sins. When he preached to the Jews, he noticed there was one of two reactions.

12:28 When he would preach to barbarians, when he would preach to uncultured, ignorant, borderline savage Gentiles in certain places, he proclaimed that same message. He said only two responses. When he preached it in the marketplace, when he preached it to the ones and twos, when he preached it to the hundreds, how does he describe the effect of that word of the cross upon men? Look at it.

12:55 The first is this. 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.

13:12 It is, first of all, foolishness to some, to others it is the power of God. Now, in examining these two different effects, these two categories of response to this word of the cross, we'll ask three questions. What, why, and who? Simple enough, isn't it?

Foolishness: What it Means

13:31 All right, what does it mean, this word of the cross is to this first category, of people, foolishness. What is meant by foolishness? Well, simply this. It just plain doesn't make sense.

13:45 To use contemporary jargon, I don't dig it.

13:49 I can't buy that. I can't accept that.

13:53 It just doesn't make sense to me. This is precisely what this word means.

13:59 You're talking nonsense to me. When you come to me and press upon me, urge upon me the embracing of this message that in Jesus of Nazareth there is to be found the only hope of pardon, but in Christ crucified is everything that a sinner needs for acceptance and reconciliation with God. Paul said, there is a class of people who regard this as mere foolishness. Now, why is it regarded as such?

Foolishness: Why it is Regarded as Such (Reason 1: Indifference)

14:27 Let me give you three of the fundamental reasons why it was regarded as such in Paul's day. And then you'll see that we've left Paul's day and we're as current and as relevant as the air we breathe in this chapel this night. On the 17th of March.

14:44 Why is this word of the cross regarded as foolishness? Well, the first reason is this. Because of indifference to the issues with which this message is concerned.

14:57 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.

15:14 You see what he was saying? Christ is the answer, yes, but he said, I've got no questions. So it's all irrelevant to me. It's foolishness.

15:22 Well, you see, the word of the cross is foolishness until you've got some questions.

15:27 And the reason why the multitudes who hear this word of the cross regard it as foolishness, a silly thing, something that cannot be grasped, something even unworthy of serious thought, it's mere silliness, it's religious talk, it's fundamentalist jargon is the way the religious world would think. Term it. It's because of indifference to the issues to which that word of the cross speaks. For you see, the word of the cross assumes the reality of God as creator.

16:01 It assumes the reality of man as his creature accountable to that God. It assumes the awesome reality of the holiness of God's law, the inflexibility of his justice, the reality of his justice, the necessity of his anger against sin, the necessity of his judgment upon sin. You see, the cross is meaningless apart from those assumptions. It only has meaning in the context of the reality of God as creator, man as creature, the law as the standard of righteousness by which man is bound, man having broken that law, having offended God, having provoked his justice and his wrath.

16:42 What is the cross? The cross is the answer to how, God's wrath can be satisfied apart from breaking upon the head of the sinner himself. For the cross is the wonderful news that the wrath of God has broken upon the head of an adequate substitute. That the anger of God against human sin has been expended upon the person of the Son of God.

17:08 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.

17:38 Look, man, if you're going to come and talk to me about filling my belly, giving me better security, giving me greater immunization, against the trickery of the government and the spiraling economy, then you turn me on. But don't talk to me about something called good news that only has to deal with sin and forgiveness and judgment and wrath and heaven and hell. Those things are of no concern to me. Paul faced it in his day.

18:07 We face it in our day. But listen, my friend,

18:12 whether or not the things to which the cross speaks are a matter of concern to you now, and I don't need to claim to be a prophet to make this statement, then an hour is coming when nothing else will be of concern to you.

18:28 An hour is coming when nothing else will be of concern to you.

18:36 The scripture says it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment. And when you stand before Almighty God, only one thing will matter, the fact that you're in the presence of your Creator. Only one thing will matter, that God holds you accountable to Himself. Only one thing will matter.

18:53 You've broken His law. Only one thing will matter. You've provoked His anger. Only one thing will matter.

19:00 He must give then to His righteous anger and speak those horrible, frightening words. Depart from me, cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and for His angels.

19:18 The word of the cross is to them who perish foolishness. Why? Because of indifference to the issues with which this message is concerned. Let me ask you, children, young men and women, fellows and girls, young people, adults, you've heard the word of the cross preached in this place in your hearing.

19:37 Some of you time, times without number. Is it still foolishness to you? Is it still something unworthy of serious reflection and contemplation? Well, then the reason perhaps lies right here.

19:56 You've never taken seriously the issues to which the cross speaks. And my friend, I plead with you, begin to take them seriously for the hour is coming when you must. You must. But then there's a second reason why the message is regarded as foolishness and it's this.

Foolishness: Why it is Regarded as Such (Reason 2: Conscience)

20:16 Because of inbred, the inbred actings of conscience.

20:22 You see, this message says all the sins that you have committed can be pardoned and blotted out by a believing look upon the Son of God. That's the word of the cross. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him may have eternal life. Now you see, this word seems foolish because of the actings of our natural conscience.

20:59 Conscience is God's little vice-regent in the human being. Conscience is God's little vice-regent in the human being. Conscience is God's little vice-regent in the human breast. God's little monitor within our own breast.

21:06 And conscience says to us, sin and punishment are inseparable. They are Siamese twins. You read in Romans 1 that in the conscience of the heathen who've never seen the pages of the word of God, those two things are wedded together. It says in verse 32, who knowing the judgment of God that they who do such things are worthy of death.

21:28 They know such things bring death. Sin, death, are wedded together. And the conscience is constant reminder of that fact. You read it in chapter 2, verse 15.

21:39 Their conscience accusing or excusing when they avoid sinful patterns, conscience says, you're all right. When they sin, conscience accuses and says, sin will bring death. Now do you see the problem? Here comes a message that says,

21:58 you have sinned. You deserve wrath. You deserve anger. You deserve punishment.

22:04 But the same God whose law you've broken, whose wrath you've provoked, whose justice has been stirred up against you, that God comes saying, by a look at my son, your sins are all forgiven and I will not hold one of them against you for a time and for eternity. I will blot them out as a thick cloud. I will put them behind my back. I will bury them in the depths of the sea.

22:39 I'm quoting scriptural phrases. I will remove them as far as the east is from the west. Now you see, the message of the cloth is foolishness. If you're going to take your perspectives from the actings of natural conscience, conscience says, this cannot be.

22:55 This cannot be. I sin. I've brought upon myself the frown of God by my many and aggravated sins. Now to tell me that the whole mass of sin, that I've been creating and accumulating for a lifetime is suddenly melted and dissolved and that forever in an instant of time?

23:13 Conscience says, oh no, no, no, that's too simple. That's too easy. That's wrenching loose. Sin and judgment.

23:21 My conscience tells me sin must bring judgment. Conscience never can tell me a thing of free forgiveness.

23:30 Conscience has no ability to speak to me of free forgiveness until conscience has been brought under the discipline of his author and his master, the living God himself. And it's only when God takes conscience and sets him down at the foot of Mount Calvary and God instructs conscience not from the law but from the gospel. That's why the scripture says having our conscience purged from dead works, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience my friend, your conscience will never have true peace until it's been re-educated at the foot of the cross where God can both be just and the justifier of him that believeth on Jesus. Now that's why some people regard the gospel as foolishness. They are concerned about the issues to which the gospel speaks. Sin, judgment, wrath, accountability to God.

24:40 But this is a stumbling block to them. You mean to tell me by one look, by the work of another, wholly upon the doings of another that all of my doings are undone. Conscience says no. My friend, you may think it a little thing to simply believe but it is a mighty work of God to bring a man to believe such a word of the cross.

25:02 That's why he's got to be regenerate before he'll ever believe it. It's opposite to all that is in him by nature. Even when he is concerned about the law and heaven and hell and judgment, he cannot bring himself to believe that all is done by the doing of another. He must be up in doing.

25:19 He must be up in doing. He must become the Pharisee who says, I fast, I tithe, I, I, I, I, I. That was Saul of Tarsus prior to God arresting him on the Damascus road. And so, this word of the cross is foolishness.

Foolishness: Why it is Regarded as Such (Reason 3: Pride)

25:37 Reason number one, because of indifference to the issues with which the message is concerned. Reason number two, because of the natural inbred actings of conscience. Thirdly, because of the vicious actings of human pride.

25:53 You see, the cross is the greatest leveler of mankind.

25:58 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.

26:42 No written language.

26:45 Lives almost a half animal-like existence. You know what God does? He brings them to the cross with those two.

26:52 He brings them right like this.

26:56 And he says, you've sinned in Adam, you've fallen in Adam, and if you're ever to be redeemed, it'll be redemption in Christ on the basis of the work that he did upon the cross. Oh, how the word of the cross is a leveler of human pride. It says to cultured, come with all your culture, all your refinement, all your education, all of the external morality, stand before the Son of God crucified and risen and say, not one thing in my hands do I bring. Simply, to thy cross I cling.

27:39 And he finds when he takes that posture, he's standing at the same place with that man from a stone-age tribe in New Guinea, who having discovered the same corruption of nature, the same revolt against the law, having felt the same pangs of the same, guilt against the same God, has heard the same word of the cross, and there he is leveled. Now that's why this word is foolishness to many people. Because of the vicious actings of human pride. I'm not going to take the place of some foul, ignorant savage who lives like a beast.

28:16 Well, I haven't been all I should be, but I... Ah, my friend, listen to me.

28:20 The scripture says, they judging themselves by themselves are not wise.

28:26 If God doesn't see you, in Christ, he sees you in Adam, and in Adam you're as foul as anything that's ever walked the face of the earth. God says your righteousnesses, the best things you do, are as filthy rags in his sight. We are all as an unclean thing, is the word of the prophet.

28:48 And so that's why you can't embrace this word of the cross. Because of the vicious actings of your own kind. Why we've been Christians for generations. Oh, you have been, huh?

29:00 Since when does God have granted?

29:04 Grace doesn't flow through genes, my friend, or chromosomes.

29:11 But the scripture says, those who embrace this message are those who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

29:23 Some of you have had a Christian heritage for generations. This may be the very point where the cross is an offense to you. For until you can take your stance at the foot of that cross and say, oh God, though I give you heartfelt thanks for all the blessings that have come because of the generations of Christian heritage, all the influence, all the knowledge, all the sins avoided, all the virtues inculcated, I give you thanks. But, oh God, as far as giving me one shred of anything upon which I can stand, oh God, I am as foul, I am as needy, I am as undone as a pagan from the stone age tribe of New Philly.

30:05 Until you take that posture, my friend, the word of the cross will be foolishness to you.

30:12 It's foolishness to you.

30:16 Oh, will you let go on being foolishness because of the viciousness of the pride of the human heart?

Foolishness: Who Regards it as Such

30:24 Now, there may be many other reasons, but as I have sought to ask the question and turn an eye to my own experience in seeking to preach the word of the cross and search the scriptures, I am convinced that these are three of the predominant reasons as to why the word of the cross is foolishness. Now, the third question we ask, having ascertained what is this foolishness, why is it regarded as such? The third question, who are those who thus regard it as foolishness? Well, if you ask them, they say, well, we're the wise ones.

31:01 I mean, we're not going to be sucked in by this, you know, this business of heaven and hell and forgiveness. I mean, we're respectable people. We are. We are.

31:10 We have a religious element in us that makes us well-rounded, whole people.

31:16 What does God evaluate? How does God evaluate? Well, look at the text. For the word of the cross is to them that perish, and it's a present participle.

31:27 It should be translated to them that are perishing. It is foolishness. If the message of the cross is foolishness to you, it is because you are a perishing one. You are in, a present state of perishing.

31:46 You are already on your way to destruction. To use the words of John, he that believeth not is condemned already. Verse 36 of John 3, he that believeth not the wrath of God abideth upon him right now.

32:05 This is an actual description of your true state. The fact that you regard the word of the cross as foolishness is simply a manifestation that you've never been born of the Spirit of God. For 1 Corinthians 2.14 says,

32:23 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are what? Foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually desired.

32:37 Isn't that the tragedy of an unconverted man?

32:41 What he regards as an indication of his wisdom, God says, is a manifestation of his wisdom. God says, is a manifestation of his perishing state. I mean, I'm just too intelligent to accept as a tenet of faith upon which I rest for time and eternity that something that happened on a cross when a humble carpenter died the death of a common criminal and a slave. What transpired in those hours is adequate for all the need of my heart for time and eternity.

33:13 No, no, no, no. I'm not going to sacrifice my intelligence to something like that. God says, my friend, that's not what I'm going to do. That's not what I'm going to do.

33:18 That's no mark of intelligence. That's a manifestation that you're perishing. It's a revelation of the folly of sin.

The Power of God: What it Means

33:30 But we must hurry on for there is a second effect which this word of the cross has upon man and we're going to approach it in the same way that we approached the first effect.

33:45 First of all, notice the wording of the apostle. But to those who are saved it is the power unto us who are saved it is the power of God. Now, what is meant by the power of God? Well, simply this.

34:03 Paul is saying that this word of the cross becomes the medium by which the might of God is exercised on behalf of sinful men.

34:15 If the might, if the power of God is ever operative in your life unto deliverance from sin and its consequences it will always be in connection with the power of God. The word of the cross. The word of the cross. The word of the cross.

34:33 It will not be in terms of turning inward upon yourself in some kind of mystical subjective experience. It will not be in terms of what you do in terms of external involvement with the visible church. If the power of God is ever operative in your life unto true salvation it will always be by means of the word of God. The word of the cross.

34:59 God's power in human lives unto salvation is inseparably bound up with the word of the cross. Now do you see why God says in these following verses He's destroyed the wisdom of the wise? How do you ever bind up life transforming power with a word that in its external manifestation is a word proclaiming the weakness of the Son of God. The weakness of the Son of God.

35:28 The weakness of the Son of God. The weakness of the Son of God. The weakness of the Son of God. For the scripture says He was crucified through weakness yet wonder of wonders.

35:38 The second effect of this word of the cross upon man is that it becomes the medium of divine power. Forgiving power. Liberating power. Conscience freeing power.

35:49 Law conquering power. Sin and death conquering power. Now why does it become such?

The Power of God: Why it Becomes Such

35:56 Well let me answer again in three ways. First of all because God shows them their need of the very things which the word of the cross contains.

36:09 How does the word of the cross become the medium of God's power? Well when God lays hold of a sinful son or daughter of Adam and says to that one now look I made you. Like it or not you're accountable to me and I take you so seriously that I know every thought and word disposition attitude of your heart from the time that you were born. You were conceived and an hour is coming when I'm going to stand you in my presence and you're going to give an account of the deeds done in the body.

36:42 Furthermore in that day if you have no covering for your sin I shall be forced to be true to my own justice and my own holiness for the foundation of my throne is justice and righteousness. I will be forced to banish you from my presence and that for eternity and make you an eternal monument of my righteous anger against you. I tell you when God begins to make those things real to you and then the word of the cross comes it becomes the power of God unto salvation. For I begin to see in the word of the cross God is addressing himself to these very issues the message of the cross is that God takes my sin seriously hence he made his own son to be sin on behalf of sinners. God takes his justice seriously and he takes so his son dies to satisfy divine justice God takes the worth of human souls seriously hence the Lord Jesus offers his soul as an offering for sin. And that's how you see the word of the cross becomes the power of God unto salvation. God shows this class of people the need of the very things to which the cross speaks and then secondly God shows them the perfect suitableness of that word to that need.

38:09 Am I a sinner deserving of wrath? The one who died upon that cross was the perfectly innocent one deserving of nothing but the Father's faith. Do my sins provoke God's justice and anger? When he became sin for sinners that sin he bore provoked the just anger of God and it was poured out upon him in such measure that he cried my God my God why hast thou forsaken me?

38:41 You see it becomes the power of God unto salvation because God not only shows this class their need of the very things to which the cross speaks but God shows them the perfect suitableness of the word of the cross to that need and then thirdly God enables them to embrace the offered savior and rest in the offered salvation. He overcomes all of the actings of natural conscience and that's no little conquering for God to do. Conscience tells me my sins have been the accumulation of months and years and a lifetime therefore I must peck away at them act by act and deed by deed and let a virtuous deed cancel a virtuous deed and now God overcomes all of the actings of the natural conscience and he brings that conscience to be plunged in the blood of cleansing and it becomes a conscience now sprinkled with the blood of cleansing that can say I dare to look into the face of a holy God because he has said there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. He overcomes all of the pride of the human heart. I'm no longer concerned as it were to buttress my image of being respectable and conscious or anything else and I

40:10 gladly say with no tongue in cheek I'll lie to the fountain fly wash me save you or I die. This word of the cross becomes the power of God and the salvation because God enables this class of people to embrace that offered savior and to rest in the offered salvation. Now who are the people in this class? How are they described?

40:38 Notice the text. But unto us who are saved and you'll notice the marginal reading is unto us who are being saved. It is a present participle but it's a passive participle. Something's going on but we ain't doing it.

40:58 Something's going on that's being done to us. We are being saved. We are not saving ourselves. Someone else is doing the saving.

41:09 But he's doing the saving. He's begun it. He's carrying it on and he's going to go right on doing it until all the saving that needs to be done is done. He that hath become a good working you, Paul says, will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.

41:29 Who are they? They are the saved. Now are you offended at the word saved? You said I came here expecting a dignified sermon and now that preacher stands up and talks saved like I was in a mission hall.

Personal Application: What is the Word of the Cross to You?

41:43 Oh my friend, listen. If the word saved ever becomes distasteful to you,

41:51 it's because sin has become unreal to you.

41:56 As long as sin is a real issue to you, the word saved will be a precious word. For it means divine deliverance from sin and its consequences, from sin in all its dimensions. That's what it means. To be saved.

42:16 So who are these people to whom this word of the cross is the power of God? They are the saved ones. Notice how they are further described in this passage. They are described in verse 21.

42:31 It was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. They are believers. How did they become believers? Verse 24.

42:41 But unto them that are called, God laid hold of them in his effectual call. Their faith is the result of their calling. Why did God call them? Well, you read on and you get the answer to that question.

42:53 Verse 26 and following. For behold your calling, brethren, not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God what? Chose the foolish things of the world.

43:07 These to whom the gospel is the power of God are the saved ones. Why are they the saved? Because they believe. Why do they believe?

43:14 Because they are called. Why are they called? Because they were chosen.

43:19 Now that's not some logic imposed upon the scripture. That's simply an honest treatment of the passage. Paul describes them in verse 18 as the saved ones. Then he takes back to that which instrumentally brought them into that salvation.

43:35 They believed. Then he goes back further and says that which gave birth to their believing. God called them. He laid hold of them.

43:43 Drew them out of darkness. Overcame the prejudice, the pride, the blindness, the actings of natural conscience. You will never believe this word of the cross as long as natural conscience is on the throne. You'll never believe this word of the cross as long as natural pride is on the throne.

44:01 You'll never believe this word of the cross until God overcomes all of those indispositions of your heart. And that's what it means to be called by God. To have those things overcome in the mysterious hidden operations, of the spirit through the word. And why did he call?

44:21 Because in his free grace he chose us. He chose us not because we were wise nor mighty. God chose to the end that no flesh should glory in his presence.

44:41 Now, we've sought to open up the text. We've considered the word of the cross defined as to its substance. The word of the cross describes and its effect upon men. And I conclude tonight with this third line of thought that is intensely personal.

44:58 The word of the cross and its effect upon you.

45:04 We've been together looking into the word, looking at the text, illustrating what it means. We've been looking out at people in general categories. Oh, my dear friend, I would turn the whole issue backward now upon your own conscience and heart. I would turn you inward upon yourself to ask, this question, what has the word of the cross been to me?

45:29 What is the word of the cross to me this night? I'm speaking to men, women, boys and girls, some of whom have heard the word of the cross for years.

45:42 You've been privileged not to be reared amidst the terrible bondage of the doctrine of Romanism that clutters up the message of the cross with sacrament and penance and works and vigils and privileges.

46:01 Those who preach to you could say that the Apostle Paul in Galatians, Jesus Christ has been set forth openly crucified among us. You've heard the word of the cross, this message that Almighty God comes to his rebel, sinful creatures and says, my son has been given, my son has died, sin has been judged, believe upon him. And you will be forgiven. What has that word of the cross been to you?

46:32 Has it been foolishness? I just can't, it just doesn't turn me on. I just don't think it's been foolishness to you. Now you be honest.

46:41 Has it been foolishness to you?

46:44 Or has it been the power of God unto you? Are you loosed from all trust in yourself?

46:53 Are you loosed from careless indifference to your sin and to judgment and to hell and to eternity? Have you been liberated from the pride of your own attainments? Have you been set free from the tyranny of a self-centered life? Have you been liberated from the vicious tyranny of a life governed by wanting to do what you want to do?

47:16 The glorious liberty of the sons of God who find that in keeping of his commandments there is blessed liberty.

47:25 Now what is the word of the cross to you? My friend, I can't answer for you. I must answer for myself.

47:31 You must answer for you. What is the word of the cross to you?

47:38 Foolishness or the power of God? You say, well, I'm casting around for some middle ground. My friend, there is no middle ground. The moment it ceases to be foolishness, you know what it becomes?

47:48 The power of God.

47:51 The moment it ceases to be foolishness, it becomes the power of God. That's why Paul could go on to say in verse 24, but of them that are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now it is true that there are varying degrees to which the foolishness will manifest itself in grosser forms. Some people say, ha, this whole business is a bunch of nonsense.

48:17 They're the kind of people who don't even come into a building like this unless God's got his hook in their jaw. Now sometimes he gets them in spite of himself, but generally they're not here tonight. They're home watching whatever innocuous thing is on the boob tube on a Sunday night.

48:32 There's some of you who would never say that, but my friend, it's still foolishness to you

48:39 Your heart has never been wedded in love to the Son of God who died, which is always the inevitable fruit of having the word of the cross become the power of God. For to whom much is forgiven, the scripture says, the same love as much. We love him because he first loved us, indicating that we can never crank up a love until the word of the cross comes home with power, but when it does, the inevitable result is that our hearts run out in love to the one who died. Do you love him?

49:13 You say, well, I'm not sure. Well, he says, if you love me, you will keep my commands.

49:21 He that loveth me keepeth my words. Do you make serious conscience of obeying the word of God? Do you take seriously the precepts of God as well as the promises of God? My friend, I press the question upon your conscience, what is the word of the cross to you?

49:39 Foolishness or the power of God unto salvation? And there is no middle ground. It's one or the other. Sitting here to fight, you are either a monument of the power of the word of the cross or you are living present day evidence that the word of the cross is true.

The Gospel's Simplicity and Power

50:01 And there is no middle ground. But now perhaps there are in our midst tonight some who have never heard this word of the cross. Maybe you come from a background in which you have attended church all your life and you have been told or at least it has been implied, come to church, stay your time, maybe learn your catechism or go to Sunday school and everything is all right. Don't ever get upset too much because that's fanaticism and people go bananas when they start taking these things too seriously.

50:31 Now just be nice, polite, good, Christian.

50:38 You've never heard till tonight what you've heard tonight. That almighty God is saying in the word of the cross, you're foul, you're undone, you're ugly, you're hopeless, helpless, you're defiled.

50:54 Now my friends, as that word of the cross has come saying that to such a helpless, hopeless, defiled, guilty, undone sinner, almighty God offers pardon and acceptance to all who will cast themselves without reservation upon their side,

51:15 who will dare to say Christ alone shall be my plea, faith alone shall be the means by which I lay whole the distributions.

51:27 What has that word been to you? Right here, sitting tonight.

51:33 As I was preparing the message, I said, oh God, would that I could believe that you'd make it the power of God to someone even tonight. Who knows, maybe God's done that. Maybe sitting there in your seat, just the rehearsing of this simple word of the cross. And you know, for a preacher, he has to be humbled again and again.

51:52 Because I thought to myself, I said, Lord, that's an awfully simple sermon.

51:56 And he said to me, my child, it must, if it's a proclamation of the word of the cross. You see, it humbles the pride of the preacher. I haven't told you anything novel tonight. I've told you Christ assumed all our debt.

52:12 Christ paid the debt! And all the believers are free.

52:18 Oh, you say, that's so simple, that's ridiculous. Ah, yes, that's why Paul says, the preaching of the cross is to the Greeks foolishness, to the Jews a stumbling block. But oh, the glory of it. This is what God uses to be the medium of his power.

52:35 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.

52:53 And all of a sudden, maybe someone gives the man a little gospel track that has ABC.

53:00 Christ died. Christ lives. Pretend and believe the gospel in your soul. And what happens?

53:05 He comes back into the shrink's office the next day or the next week. He says, I'm a new man. You're a new man. You're crazy.

53:14 Oh, no, no, no, I'm not crazy. I've just got it all put back together now. How did it happen? What man did you go?

53:19 What new? He said, no, doc. No new school of psychology. No new school of psychiatry.

53:26 I've heard the word of the cross. I was unable to embrace it. Christ has put me back together.

53:35 See how humbling that is?

53:39 That's the beauty of it. And I'm constrained again. I didn't put it in my notes. I thought to, but I said, Lord, if I do that, I'll probably never stop.

53:46 But I'm going to say it anyway.

53:49 Oh, dear Christian, this is the glory of just being a simple witness of the gospel. The power and effectiveness of the gospel is not bound up in your ability to make it attractive. It has its own intrinsic beauty when the Holy Ghost shines upon it.

54:09 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.

54:20 They'll hide their native beauty by all the plaster. My friend, don't plaster over the beauty of the gospel. It's got its own native beauty. Just tell men with compassion, with love, with earnest entreaty, Christ took the debt of guilty sin.

54:37 Christ paid that debt. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and God for this day. You men aspiring to the work of the ministry, don't ever get so clever. You can't preach simple gospel knowledge.

54:54 That's what God will make his power into salvation. That's the message. Am I denying what's been asserted from this pulpit many times with great conviction and sense of the truth?

55:08 The word of the cross is Christ died for our sins. Christ was buried. Christ rose. Believe that thou shalt this day.

55:24 That's the essence of the word of the cross. The reaction, the effect of that word, foolishness to some, the power of God to others. My friend, what has it been to you? Oh, that even in this place tonight, you would embrace the offered Savior, for we are warranted to offer him to all men, women, boys, and girls without discrimination.

Conclusion: The Gospel's Invitation and Promise

55:48 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.

56:10 But Spurgeon said,

56:22 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.

56:54 Ah, that's the gospel. You must, you must, and you may. God commands you to believe on his side. He commands you to embrace the word of the cross.

57:08 You are warranted to come regardless of your state.

57:13 Oh come, embrace him, and you'll find that word of the cross being the power of God unto your deliverance from sin and all of its consequences. Hallelujah. What a savior. Let us pray.