Christ Crucified
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Christ Crucified
02-21-2021
In figuring out what the message was for today
I began to pray and think on what God would have me preach on
Jesus brought to mind the simplicity
The Gospel is what we are to preach
As I read through the accounts of the early church
That is exactly what they preached
That Jesus came to save people from their sins
The preached the Good News of Jesus
They preached repent and believe
Would you know that is our only responsibility is to preach the Gospel Message
To preach and teach that Jesus saves
To preach and teach repent and believe
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Paul begins to explain that cross is either 2 things
It is either foolishness for those who resist it
Or it is power for those who are saved by it
Paul then goes on to share that the teaching of Christ is almost upside down from this worlds understanding
To the World God will seem weak and foolish
And rather than use a bunch how fancy words, or exciting speech to draw people in
Paul simply preaching Christ crucified
That’s it church
There are no fancy speech, no exciting speech to draw you all in
The only thing we preach is Christ crucified
I got into a mini debate with a principal friend of mine
We were talking about other believes and how people have different truths
Well rather than keeping my mouth shut, I begin to explain that is not correct, that there are not many different truths, but only one absolute truth and he asked what that truth was, I told him it was Jesus
Then he asked so all the others are wrong, and I immediately telling him yes that all the others are wrong
And the reason is that every other religion is about what you can do along with what god small g can do
Christianity, being a Christ follower, is only about what Jesus did for you on the cross
Which is why Paul preaches Christ Crucified
It is only about what Jesus did on the cross
You Jesus death on the cross did what no other death could accomplish
11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
See those priest would continually offer sacrifices according to the Law, but they never took away sin
But each year they would come back and do it again
You and I can come to church all we want, we can look clean on the outside, we can do all the works that from the outside in make it look like we have it all together
But It is all about what Jesus did on the cross
Jesus was the final and ultimate sacrifice
Church that is why we preach only Christ crucified
Because there is nothing else
The Good News is all about what Jesus did on the cross
The Good News is all about the empty tomb
Because Jesus rose from the dead, we can now have life through Jesus
Are you starting to understand the simplicity of what Paul is talking about that it is just Christ crucified
If you look back at
1 Corinthians 1
Paul expounding on
14 Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.”
Paul is saying that God will do great and marvelous things and will show the World that He is wise and He is powerful
But He will not use the worlds wisest people to do it
He will not use the worlds strongest people to do it
I believe God uses the humble, the meek, the gracious, the merciful, the loving
I mean look at the apostles, they were not the most educated men, or the strongest, but God used them and turn the world upside down, they wrote the New Testament
Church
I want us to return to our calling as believers in Jesus Christ
I don’t want us to complicate things with a bunch of church rules, with a bunch of different church words or committees
See our calling of Jesus is simple
To preach Christ Crucified
16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Our job after we are obedient and after we have a personal relationship with Christ is simple
Tell people what happened to us
Tell people about Jesus
Tell people about Jesus dieting on the cross for your personal sins, my personal sins and their personal sins
Tell them that the God of the universe loved them enough to send his only son Jesus to die on the cross to pay for their debt of sin
Tell them they are a sinner and that Jesus loves them
Tell them that there is life only through Jesus
Tell them to begin a personal relationship with Jesus it is simple, confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that Jesus was raised from the dead
Tell them to repent from their sin in their life and run to Jesus to trust in Him and in Him alone, nothing else
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This verse says that everyone and their mother has sinned
Each and ever person has sinned
No one has not sinned in their life but Jesus
That is the starting point church to show people their sin
You can be very blunt with them and tell them you are a sinner bound for hell unless they repent and trust in Jesus
You can be tactful with them and show them they are a sinner like Nathan did with David
But church they need to know they are a sinner, because if they don’t know they are a sinner there is no need for a savior
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
This is my favorite verse in scripture
Because it shows that Christ loves absolutely everyone
Because Christ didn’t just die for those who would accept His gift, He died for those who wouldn’t accept His gift
That even when I was in my sin and bound for Hell
Jesus said I love Him enough to pay for His debt of sin
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is where Paul puts it all together
That you are a sinner you learned just a verse ago
And sin will always lead to death
Some of you older people know this, some of you moms and dads who are battle worn Christians have seen this happen
Sin will always lead to death
Then maybe the second most famous word in Scirpture because alive is maybe the first
But
Changes everything here
Sin leads to death
But changes the outcome from death to life
But the free gift that you only have to accept is life through the death and resurrection of Jesus and only Jesus
The free gift is only through accepting Jesus
It is not Jesus and church membership
It is not Jesus and how good you can be from this point forward
It is only Jesus
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Then Paul shares how
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
These are Jesus’s own words to repent and believe
To turn from your sin and leave the junk behind and run to Jesus
To trust that the God of the universe knows what He is doing
That is it
Church that is the simple message of Christ crucified
Let us not complicate it as we are obedient to our calling to share the Good News of Jesus’s death and resurrection
As we move into the time of invitation
Not to complicate things
The altar is open to do business with God this morning
If you are here and do not have a personal relationship with Jesus but want one the altar is open
If you are here and need to spend sometime in prayer the altar is open
Would you be obedient this morning