The Power of the Cross (2)

Welcome

Thank you all for allowing me to be here tonight and speak into your lives

We are so grateful for our partnership with Siloam and looking for ward to serving with you in the future.

I am praying this message will edify and challenge you

Pastoral Prayer

Pray for the lost

Pray for transformation of our hearts

Pray for God presence in this place

INTRODUCTION

Everyone corporation has a some kind of logo to reflect to the world who they are and what they do. People spend crazy amounts of money on the perfect design and what will tell the world who they are.

Christianity also has logo, but it was purchased with blood Jesus Christ. The cross of Christ is the symbol that God has given to the church to tell the world who we are.

The cross defines our identity. It is the symbol of both death and triumph. It is the symbol of death because Jesus died on the cross and for us to follow Him we must die and take up our cross too. It is a symbol of life because the cross we wear is an empty. Jesus died on the cross, but rose from the dead and brought new life.

And for Paul, it was to be the center of the church in Corinth. Notice this was one of the first things Paul addresses in the first chapter. His vision for this church was to be cross centered. And what Paul would say to us today is to live lives centered on the cross.

Look with me in 1 Cor 1:18 and lets see what Paul says about the cross:r

1 Corinthians 1:18 NASB95

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.

When the world sees the cross there are two reactions: one says it is foolish and the other says it is the power of God.

The NIV rightly translates the “word of the cross” as: “the message of the cross”

Our Christain symbol has a message and it is this message that proclaims the doctrine of the death of Christ. He is talking about the message that we have been given to proclaim to the world that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. The message that proclaims the wrath of God that abides on the whole world that has been satisfied on the cross. the message that says all men Are sinners and need to be saved.

It is this message that Paul labored and suffered so greatly for. This is why Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes!”.

It is this message that was central to Paul’s preaching, this message that was central to Paul’s church planting, and this message that demonstrated the power of God to a lost and dying world!

This is why he said to the Corinthians in verse 17, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.”

What he is saying is I did not persuade you with eloquent speech, or great arguments, but with the plain message of the cross, and it was that message that God used to save them.

This message of the cross is THE central message of the entire Bible

It doesn't matter where you turn in the pages of Scripture, somewhere in the shadows of every story, every institution, every law, every truth you will find an arrow pointing to the cross.

When life began and sin entered the world through Adam, God declared the message of the cross to the world!

The Seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15).

Noah’s ark is a picture of God saving his people from His wrath on sin.

Abraham bundled and took sticks to the alter to sacrifice his son just as Jesus carried his cross to Calvary.

The sacrificial system foreshadowed the Lamb of God

The priesthood mediated God and man

The message of the prophets proclaim a Savior

And this is the message of Jesus Christ himself who gave us life through His death.

The cross is the central truth of the entire Bible

And if this is the central message of the Bible, then it must certainly be the central message of the church Whom Paul called the pillar of truth?

Every soul that has been saved by the power of the cross has the responsibility to proclaim the message of the cross

No one is exempt!

We must not be content with proclamation that only takes place behind the pulpit on Sunday mornings.

We must not be content with the ideology that ONLY those who have the spiritual gift of evangelism should share this message.

We must not think that somehow the Great Commission was only given to the apostles and not to everyone who claims the Christian logo of the cross.

I cannot think of a better time for the church to tell this glorious message than now.

Our churches are dying at an astounding rate and I truly believe it is partly because the church as a whole has stopped telling this message.

This is the message that God has given to us to give to the world 🌎.

This is the message that God has ordained by which He uses to bring people who walk in darkness into the light of Christ

What the world so desperately needs is to hear this message once again and see it permeating all of those who claim the cross of Christ!

It needs to be told in our schools

It needs to be told in our workplaces

It needs to be told in our homes

And it needs to be modeled in our lives

Why is this message so important in our world today?

Because what this world needs most is not a better President, not world peace, not good morals, but deliverance from sin..and only the cross can do that

All things are made right at the cross.

All relationships are restored through the cross.

All sins are washed away at the cross.

Unity in churches can only come through the cross.

And the only hope for our children and grandchildren in this world today will come through cross and WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR TELLING THAT MESSAGE!

The cross divides the world into two classes of people: those who are perishing and those who are being saved

1 Cor 1:18 “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.”

It is amazing what science will try to do with the human race. They love to divide us up into 78 different kinds of people. You have white people, black people, asian people, Chinese people, women, men, men who identify as women, blue collared workers, and white collar workers and on and on and on.

And somehow this world has bought the lie that there are all these different kinds of people on earth and you just got to figure out who you are and try to better yourself.

Paul throws all that out and cuts it down to just two classes of people: those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

This goes all the way back to Cain and Abel. Cain was an unrighteous man and hated Abel because his deeds were righteous.

There has only ever been two kinds of people. There will be one division at the end of this age, the saved and the lost.

We naturally struggle with the issue of identity. They are a business owner, or a baseball player, or a they have a doctorate and want to addressed with a title. We label ourselves with all sorts of things and classify ourselves in all these categories but the cross cuts through it all!

Can I tell you something? All that really matters in this life is whether or not your sins have been nailed to the cross and you have become a child of God through the power of God! All of that other stuff that goes on in this world is trivial to that.

What are those two kinds of people?

Paul says they are those who are perishing

The word perishing means “to be destroyed or ruined”

The present tense of this verb refers to a process, not just something that will happen at the end of one’s life.

The idea is this is a road that people are on and headed down toward a final destination.

This is also what Jesus said when He said, “for the road is broad that leads to destruction and many who enter through it”.

And what that says to me is that there is still hope for them!

What that tells me is that there must be a sense of urgency in the church to try to save as many of these who are perishing. What that tells me is that we who carry this message have the only thing that will bring them to the One who can save them!

What is it that makes the cross foolish to the perishing?

1) The cross stands for the very opposite of what people naturally strive to do.

People naturally try to do enough good that somehow they think God will accept them. That if we could just be good enough, come to church enough, give enough, pray enough that God will accept us.

But that is the opposite message of the cross. The cross says no one can be good enough, no one can do enough to be accepted, it can only come through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

Here is a danger in our churches, and in our personal lives. If we are not careful we will find ourselves telling others that all they need is come and join us and do what we do, and say what we say, and pretty soon you begin to look like us and fit in, and then hopefully you will become one us.

What must be communicated is that the cross is the only way to God. Just because people sit in our services and sing the same songs as we do, none of this can provide what the cross of Christ does.

I cannot tell you how many people stumble over the cross. In fact, so many do that I ordered a small evangelism book that is titled, “The Cross” so people can better understand the doctrine of the sacrifice of Jesus.

Here is primary argument that I have heard: I cannot follow a God who would send His own Son into the world to die on the cross. Any God who would do that is not loving and is cruel.

People stumble over the cross because they do not understand the cross! They do not understand sin, nor the consequences of sin, nor the holiness of God. The entire beauty and glory of the cross is eclipsed by the foolishness of man’s wisdom.

The cross is the end of human wisdom and understanding.

Anyone who comes to Christ must be willing to put their worldly wisdom and pride down and accept the majesty and authority of the Word of God.

2) The cross is foolish to the world because it becomes the way of the redeemed

To be saved by the cross is not just an adoption of a symbol that we carry around our necks, but it is something we carry on our backs. Those who are being saved walk just as Jesus walked.

Jesus said a servant is not above his master.

And Jesus said if anyone wants to come after me, he must take up his cross and follow Me.

True Christianity is not real Christianity unless we pick up our cross day after day and following Christ. What is the cross? It is a symbol of suffering and a symbol of death.

To pick up our cross is having the willingness to suffer as Jesus suffered, to renounce sin and the pleasures of this world as Jesus did, and to walk in full trust of our heavenly Father depending fully upon Him to meet our needs and carry us through this lost and dying world.

It is to refuse to be conformed to the image of this world and make our entire lives about becoming like our Savior Jesus Christ. And there is no better way that can be done than by picking up one’s cross and suffering just like Jesus suffered.

Many people like the idea of Jesus until is comes to suffering for Jesus. Many people will come and try it out until it gets difficult and many will determine it is not worth it.

The cross was not only a stumbling block to the Jews, but it’s a stumbling block to the gentiles today.

But there is another class of people who are being saved

Again Paul uses the present tense: “those who are being saved”

Is Paul indicating that salvation is some sort of process? No, you don’t have to read Paul to know his theological view on salvation is a one time event. But what Paul is talking about here is the process of sanctification. And this process is not completed until we leave this world.

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”

Our salvation will not be fully revealed until we step into glory and we will be like Jesus in our glorified bodies.

When we come to Christ, the way we see reality changes.

No longer is the world seen through human eyes, but it is seen through faith in the finished work of Christ.

No longer is it about power, status, self, achievement, or worldly success. Those things mean little in comparison to what we have in Christ.

Application:

What does this mean for us who are being saved?

None of us who are still breathing have made it. We are all a work in progress that will not be completed until the Jesus takes us home.

Everyone of us needs the community and fellowship of the church.

Everyone of us needs accountability to one another.

Everyone of us must practice repentance

Everyone of us must continue to live by faith and take steps of faith

Everyone of us is continually in need of the grace of God

Everyone of us needs to read and study the Word of God.

Everyone of us must heed the preaching of God’s Word and apply it to our lives.

CONCLUSION

Scripture has so many paradoxical statements that make the wisdom of the world foolish

Here is a few:

“The last will be first, and the first will be last”

“Blessed are those who are hungry”

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted”

“He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it”

How does one who is perishing become one who is being saved?

It is to willingly join in the death and burial of Christ. The old man must perish and be buried with Christ so that a new man can be born! It is only when a man dies to the old way of life that the curse of sin can be broken over his life, and new life can then come.

This is why Paul said: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Have you experienced the power of God in your life that has radically changed you? Don’t leave this Bible Conference the same way you came. Let God have His way with you and use your life for His glory!

~PRAYER~