I would like you to turn with me to first Corinthians chapter one. And verse seventeen. There were those who were boasting their pedigree because they had been baptized by a certain individual in the work of God, as if that gave them some special credibility, some extra point for having been baptized by one of the apostles. And he says in verse seventeen, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, less the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe for the 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 that is Gentiles Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. We read in verse seventeen that the preaching of the gospel was not with the wisdom of men's words, lest the cross of Christ should become of none effect. If you try to add to the gospel, you take away from the gospel. There's a strange sort of feeling, even among Christians, that Christianity really isn't very important. Well, the world doesn't think it's important, so maybe it isn't. If we're listening to the world. And so we try to make it sound important. We add all sorts of big terms and fancy words and philosophical arguments. If ever there was a case of gilding the lily, it's... men trying to make christ important doesn't matter what you think of him he's the most important man in the universe god thinks so and has given him the highest place that's why we've become groupies and if a movie star professes to be a christian well everybody gets excited about it or a football player because well the world thinks they're important and if they become christians well Maybe that makes Christianity a little more important, is that right? And we do exactly what the Bible tells us we shouldn't do, and we put them up on a pedestal. We lift up novices, and they go crashing down, and everybody says, well, maybe they weren't saved. Listen, they were babies. They didn't know how to protect themselves, and we did it. And we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. Why these Christian talk shows, they never say, here's Joe Plummer. He's going to tell us how he got saved. Well, that doesn't sound important. That doesn't make Christianity important. Listen, Christ is what makes Christianity important. And men try to make their own areas of endeavor sound like the most important thing. And they use big, fancy flowing terms. But when the Lord Jesus was here, he said, I am the door. Come in. And everyone said, this man speaks with authority. Not like the scribes do. If we preach the gospel with authority, it is not our own authority. And if we preach it and it is wisdom indeed, it is not with men's wisdom. But the foolishness of God, are we saying that God is sometimes foolish? No. But the simplest things that God says are wiser than the wisest things that men say. And God, at the times when he appears to be weakest, is stronger than the strongest of men. I don't think it was by accident that the Lord Jesus was crucified at a place called Skull Hill. You know that a skull is just an empty head, don't you? And if a man's ever going to get saved, he has to come to the end of his own reasonings and his own arguments, then he has to just take God at his word. The Apostle Paul tells us here that the cross is the power in our preaching. We've already looked at the cross as the basis of our fellowship and the cross as the focus of our worship, and we've had a wonderful opportunity to express that this morning. The cross as the basis of our fellowship, may I underline something in all of your hearts this morning that I think will save a lot of grief No fellowship based on people will ever work. Did you get that? Well, we go there because they're such nice folk. What we mean is they think we're such nice folk. We get along real well with everyone. And so it must be a good church, don't you think? I mean, if they can get along with us, it probably is. But that's not the basis of our fellowship. Truly... Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And if that's right, well, I can put up with a lot. But if it's not right, well, I can't put up with you very far at all. And if we're going to have true fellowship, it will be based at the cross and what God has accomplished there in all of our lives. As the focus of our worship, I fear very many times in our worship we get sidetracked. And I think very often an enemy has done this. There's one thing that the old devil hates. He hates the Lord Jesus to get glory. He despises it. That was the reason for his fall, wasn't it? He wanted the glory for himself. I will be as God. I will set my throne above the heavens. God said, oh no, you won't. I've got another person to sit there. My son's the only one who deserves that. And so if we give him the worship, you can be sure there will be distractions in our own mind and heart, and we will have to concentrate and harness every effort that we might give him the worship that is due his name. Now I want to think with you about three other areas. Christ, the cross as the power in our preaching, and the cross as the foundation of our teaching, and the cross as stimulus to our prayers first of all the cross as the power in our preaching let's focus first of all on the man on the individual who is preaching the gospel and you will notice very carefully in studying the list of the gifts in Romans twelve and first Corinthians twelve that the gift of the evangelist is not mentioned or at least the gift of evangelism is not mentioned It is true that in Ephesians four, where we have the universal church in view, that the evangelist is mentioned, along with the apostles and prophets and shepherds and teachers. However, on the local church level, it seems to me that the gift of evangelism is not specifically mentioned because every one of us is called to that word. Now we may all have a different sphere in which to evangelize. But you know, the word evangel simply means to bear good news. And how can you be saved and not bear good news? Those of you who have had a Sunday school class, the children come in on Sunday, if anyone has a new car or a new baby or something like that, you might as well let them tell you at the beginning because they will fuss and stew until eventually they get it out. You can count on it. The question really is, what's my heart full of? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And if my heart is full of Christ, you won't be able to talk to me too long until you find out what's in my heart. If my heart's full of farming, every time I open my mouth, a tractor will come out. That's true, isn't it? If my heart's full of cars, well, my mouth will be like a garage. It'll be like a locker room. If my mind and heart are full of sports, but if it's full of Christ, It won't be too long until you find that out. Your speech still betrays you, you know. And if you've been feeding in Egypt, I'll smell it on your breath. The leeks and the onions and the garlics and the melons and the cucumbers, they have their way of letting you know. And if you've been feeding in the world, we'll know when you open your mouth. The man can't preach a crucified Savior. unless he's been crucified himself. And I would suggest that he is crucified in three ways. First of all, of course, in his substitute. He's a man who's come to terms with the fact that he deserved to be executed, but that someone was executed on his behalf. Sadly, in this country, there are thousands of men who stand behind podiums today and attempt to preach something from the Bible. And they've never discovered themselves to be the sinners that Jesus died to save. That's the first great essential. Man's got to be saved. He has to discover that he was crucified when the Lord Jesus was crucified. But it was his substitute who died there at Calvary. And then secondly, he ought to be crucified in the symbol of crucifixion, which is baptism. But he is publicly declared to the world, he doesn't belong to the world anymore. He's been cut off. But when he, when Christ died, he died. And when Christ was buried, he was buried. And when Christ rose, he rose to walk in newness of life. And then thirdly, he ought to be crucified in the slaying of the self-life. The flesh loves the show and there's no better show than a religious show we know about that don't we I have the organ music and the light through the stained glass windows and the choirs and the organ and you can really put on a show and it can be as dead as that concrete floor and what we need to see among us again are men who are willing to go all the way for the Lord Jesus. Christianity is not a hobby. This is your life, Christian. And I fear that many times we want to come in and tickle the grounds and throw a few seeds and rush home and get the combine and come back for some sort of a mighty harvest. And we wonder what's wrong. Say, well, I guess gospel meetings don't work anymore. There must be something wrong. Nothing wrong with the seed. I'll tell you that. The good seed is the word of God. Nothing wrong with the God who gives the increase. Maybe we ought to check our farming methods a bit and get back to weeping as we sow the seed and get back to praying as if we really believe God answered prayer. And if we're going to do that, there will have to be a slaying of the self-life. I remember on one occasion talking to a brother who had seen a number of assemblies planted down in the Caribbean. And I said to him, brother, I'm interested in pioneer work and encouraging young men to be involved in this sort of thing. Tell me, what are the requirements, what kind of characteristics are true of a person who's a pioneer evangelist? Put his arm around my shoulder and he said, J, there's just one. You've got to die. Die to self, die to glory, die to your own plans and dreams. You've got to die. Not very nice, is it? Nobody said that death was a nice thing, but it is an essential thing if we're going to live in resurrection power. And then secondly, the message. Two necessary parts we read here in the message. We preach Christ crucified. Ritualism will give you a cross without the Christ. And modernism... will give you Christ without the cross. But if you're going to really preach the message, you have to preach Christ and Him crucified. It is in the death of Christ we have our redemption. It is in the life of Christ we have our relationship. And though what a wonderful thing it is to proclaim to the world not religion, not ritual, not rules. but a relationship with one who died for us and who lives forever. By the death of Christ, He provided our redemption. By His glorious resurrection and exaltation, He guarantees it. I remember reading the story of a Huguenot preacher who said that on one occasion, as a young man, he had been involved in a war and A buddy of his who was beside him in the battle had been convinced he was going to die. He was going to die in battle that day. And so he scribbled a little note and said that he left all that he had to this friend of his. But the fellow didn't die. So he lost that inheritance. Then he said there was another fellow who put him in his will and he died. But the family contested the will and he lost that one too. He said he lost the first inheritance because the fellow didn't die. And he lost the second one because the fellow didn't rise again to guarantee that what he had put into the will he really wanted executed. And our Savior both died and rose again. And sits as our guarantor at the right hand of God to make sure that his will indeed is executed and that what he has promised he is able also to perform. Now the attraction of the cross is not in the perpetration of the deed, but in the person who is there. This is a great deal of religious art, isn't it? Trying to portray the perpetration of the deed, the gore, the agony, the pain of it all. But that's not what's emphasized in the gospel account, is it, or in the epistles. As you read through the story of the cross, you can hardly detect the personal pain and suffering, it's almost written as if it hadn't even happened. Because the emphasis that is placed in the Word of God is not so much on the perpetration of the deed, but on the person and the purpose of the crosswork. So when we speak of the cross of Christ, we are speaking entirely of the Christ of the cross. And I, if I be lifted up. I will draw all men unto me. That's the value of the cross. Why? Because there were perhaps millions of crosses in history. There's only one cross where the Savior died. And isn't it a marvelous thing the power of the Lord Jesus? The most beautiful person that ever lived The power of the Lord Jesus to beautify everything he touched. A manger. Some of you have seen mangers. Not the little wooden thing we see at Christmas time. But a great slab of stone that has been hollowed out. And this slab of stone is used to provide a place for the animals to eat or a drinking trough. It's not much of a thing to look at. I wouldn't have it on my coffee table. But somehow there is a manger in our hearts. A manger, as we think of this wonderful person coming into our planet. And somehow that barn seen with that manger becomes a very precious thing to us. Lefers. No one would touch them. Why? They were obligated to cry, unclean, stay away from me. The Savior didn't have to touch them. He could have just spoken the word. Just think the thought. And it would have been done, but she touched them. They hadn't had a human touch in a long time. The reason, of course, you couldn't touch them was that their defilement would be transferred to you. But that wasn't the way with the Lord Jesus, was it? When the woman with the issue of blood reached out and touched him, what happened? Was her contagion passed on to him? No, he says, virtue went out of him. And you can't spend time with the Lord Jesus without receiving the blessing from it. Why, he beautifies everyone, he touches. Everything he touches. Who would ever think of a cross being something in which you could say, I glory in the cross? How could you ever say that if it wasn't for that blessed person who is there? Don't just get funny emotional feelings about the cross. It's the person who was there. And what he accomplished there. The Lord Jesus himself. And then think about the cross and the motive in preaching the gospel. I think this is what we've lost in many places. What's your motive in preaching the gospel? I got to do it. That's why. And what would the other Christians think if I didn't do it? And well, if we don't do it, well, our little assembly is just going to fold because we've got to keep putting people in here. Is that why we preach the gospel? Well, said Paul, I'll tell you why I preach it. The love of Christ constrains me. We thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead. And those who've died ought to now live for him. This is what speaks to people, isn't it? No good coming to someone and saying, Well, if you trust Christ, you know, he'll give you real joy. As they say, it's like a toothpaste salesman with bad breath, you know. It's not very convincing, is it? They want to use your own product, pal. If the love of Christ fills my heart, it will be contagious. It's been noted before that influenza is just the Italian word for influence. And we all have the flu. And everywhere we go, we touch other lives and we either bring something of the love of Christ to him or some of our old man. And that's not very attractive, is it? And what makes people attractive? What draws people to the Lord Jesus? Well, it's having fallen in love with him. There was a woman once and she'd had a pretty unsuccessful married life. She'd tried it five times. Number six, she decided, well, it was no use getting married. Probably won't last very long. She was looking for the perfect man, and at last she met him. Number seven. She tried to hide herself from him. But he knew exactly where to probe. At the beginning, she tried to hide herself, but at the end, do you know what her advertising was? come see a man that told me all things that ever I did and in fine print she was saying and he loves me just the same she went into the city the disciples came back out they didn't understand what was happening there was the Lord Jesus sitting there they said well aren't you hungry you've got some food he said oh I've got food to eat you don't know anything about what was he doing he was praying her all the way into the city you know he does that for you Do you appreciate the intercessory work of Christ, our advocate? Peter, Satan has desired to have you, that he sifts you as wheat, but I prayed for you. But your faith fail not. Do you know something? Your faith wouldn't last a day if it wasn't for him. The old enemy is out sowing doubts, and he'd be out to get you And may I speak to the young people here? You're far better believing your beliefs and doubting your doubts than doubting your beliefs and believing your doubts. You take hold of the word of God and you believe what God has said and it will stand you in good stead. You'll always find people who have fancier arguments than you, bigger words than you. wear white lab coats and carry clipboards and impress you. Glyb speakers. But if you know the person who died on the cross, the ultimate argument is, well, I believe it. Say, well, you can't believe it. What do you mean I can't believe it? I do believe it. I do. By faith, we understand that the world's refrained by the Word of God. Say, well, you can't believe it. I say, well, I do believe it. What do you mean I can't believe it? I do believe it. How can they argue with that? God has established his truth, and my obligation is to believe it. Now, he doesn't ask for blind faith. There's no such a thing as blind faith, as blind unbelief. The unbelievers who are blind, faith sees. It's just the order of things. The world says, if I see it, I'll believe it. The Lord Jesus said, if you believe, you'll see. It's the order of things. that if you're willing to trust God, he'll show you in his good time. That's our motive. The love of Christ constrains us. And then the cross and the method. Dear Christian, when you preach the cross, make sure that your methods are consistent with the August message you preach and the person you present. No place for vaudeville there. No place for stand-up comics. That's not the business we're in. You want to entertain the world? Go entertain the world. You'll have a hard time of it because they've had about six thousand years experience and they're way ahead of you. This is one of the sad things, you see. People get sick and tired of the world and they come into the church and all they find is two-star entertainment. They can get five-star out there. We're not supposed to imitate the world. We have the unique message that the world can't preach. And we ought to preach it with all the dignity that the person of Christ deserves. Oh, be careful. Don't be cheap with the gospel. You don't have to induce people. Some people you see, and they try and slip in little extras, like get them to buy the product. You've heard these fellows at the trade shows or whatever. You go through a home show, and there's some fellow selling one of these things that slices and dices and brushes your teeth and cleans your hubcaps. And he's up there and he says, well, you know, but just especially today, sir, if you buy it today, we'll add this and give you that and do this and do that. And that's supposed to induce you. And that seems to me that if the product's good enough, it'll sell itself. You don't have to add all that other stuff. Listen, Christian, we don't have to add all sorts of entertainment and do this and do that. They preach a glorious message. And if people are hungry for the truth, then they'll respond to the truth of God. And what you give them to get them is what you'll have to give them to keep them. And you'll have to keep entertaining them. May I speak a little word to those who are involved working with young people? It is a downward spiral trying to entertain our young people. The assembly was never designed to entertain young people. You see, one of the problems is that we teach our young people that the assembly is the place where they come to serve. But then we turn around and the whole time We're practicing something different. We're teaching them that when you come to young people, you come to be served. Is that right? We'll do this for you. We'll do that for you. We'll show you this and we'll do that and we'll give you food. Well, there you go. Now you can go home. Now you're happy, huh? So we're teaching them theory that they ought to be servants, but they're teaching them in practice that we ought to be served. We are designing them to fit into the local denominational church, see? where that's where everybody does they go to be served got a professional staff and they serve you so you're you're designing them you're fitting them so that they'll just suit that real fine instead of that we have to get our young people out serving cleaning up the widow's yards visiting in the old folks home standing out in parks witnessing taking tracks out i tell you it'll put iron into your soul and you don't throw them in the deep end no You start little. It's a little thing here and a little thing there and encourage them to be servants, to look for ways to serve in the assembly. I believe our young people feel frustrated. We treat them as if, well, they're just two-sitters, just somebody to warm a seat until they're twenty-five and then we'll give you a job. We can't do anything. Listen, our young people can do a lot of things for God. Give them some ministries to perform, to exercise. I go to places and what happens when the book hymn books are to be picked up old timers go and pick up all the hymn books well listen that's not right why can't the young people straighten the chairs and pick up the hymn books and clean up the dishes why not and do it for the glory of God because the love of Christ constrains them and someday the Lord Jesus will step forward and he'll hand to you a reward a glorious reward he says a cup of cold water won't lose its reward well if that's true think of the ministries that could be performed for the glory of God We ought to encourage that among the people of God. And then the cross and the multitude. All men are divided by the cross. It stands as the great division between the saved and the lost, between heaven and hell. And if you preach the cross, don't look for popularity. This is what's happened in the neo-evangelical circles. They've transferred. power for popularity. You can't have both. But I tell you something. In the New Testament, when the Lord Jesus preached and when the disciples preached, the common people heard them gladly. Would you notice that? We have this strange notion that if we preach the gospel, everybody will turn against us. That is not true. The authorities turn against them. But the tragedy of our present day is that Christians are not taken seriously in our society. They come out with a Gallup poll. Seventy-something or eighty-something percent of North America professed born-again Christians. What a shame. The problem is that because we don't stand for Christ and preach Christ, we use so much tact, we never make contacts. We're going to sneak up on them, you know. There is no nice way to tell a person they're a sinner on their way to hell. No nice way to tell someone they've got cancer. No nice way to do it. It doesn't mean that we're rude or careless or awkward, but eventually you've got to get to the point. And when you get to the point, well, you're going to divide the audience. But the tragedy of the church today is that we're no threat to the authorities. And so they don't take it seriously. And we're no example to the common people, and so they don't take us seriously either. We've got to get back to living it, don't we? And showing by our lives that we are people who bear the cross. Think very briefly of the cross as the foundation for our teaching. I mentioned a little bit there doctrinally the basis of our relationship with God and the fullness of the revelation of God. And I say that if you're wrong at the cross, you'll be wrong everywhere else. You don't have this one right. If I were to ask you this morning, could you distinguish for me the doctrines of justification and sanctification and redemption and salvation and propitiation? Could you tell me what they meant and how they differ from these other words? Is this for you, Christian? I mean, it's happened here. Aren't you interested in knowing what's happened? Sometimes we read the Bible like the title deeds of another man's estate. You ever read that? Lot so-and-so, concession so-and-so, this and that, and the other thing, all these degrees of this and that. Pretty boring stuff, isn't it? Unless, of course, you've just inherited it. All of a sudden, well, you make it as complicated as you want, pal. I don't want it simple. I want it real complicated. All those deferred stocks and bonds and this and that and the other thing, you tell me all about it. And you can make it as complicated as you like. Some people want the Bible to be simple. Come on, make it simple. Listen. It was a very complicated thing, this sin business. All you have to do is read Leviticus to find that out. And a great deal happened at the cross. Are you interested in knowing what it is? I think we ought to know. And we ought to delve into the scripture and read Romans, read some of these books and study them through and lay hold of the magnificent masterpiece of the cross. But then secondly, devotionally, the cross first of all warns us That sin is a terrible thing. It teaches us what God thinks of sin. If there had ever been a moment in history when God would have said, Just this once I won't punish sin, it would have been when it was accounted to his son, who always pleased him. But he poured out the full measure of his judgment against the son. It ought to teach us what sin is. No little sins. We ought not to be careless about that. It would drive us to our knees and cause us to live holy lives if we spent time at the cross. The cross warns us. But then secondly, the cross wins us. It not only tells us what God thinks of sin, it tells us what God thinks of us. Oh, he loved us that much. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Enough to teach us what God thinks of us. There may be some here in the audience, and you don't think much of yourself. Well, you know, we've got a problem with that. There's so many people walking around with big egos bumping into us. There's hardly any room. You know, and so we think, well, well, there seem to be two problems. There's a problem. There's a ditch on either side of the road when it comes to thinking about ourselves. The enemy will either blow us up, or he will blow us up. And he'll make us think we're wonderful or he'll make us think we're terrible. As long as we're thinking about ourselves, he doesn't care. Because he knows that when we're thinking about ourselves, we'll never change. It's when we begin to think about Christ that we are transformed into His image from glory to glory. And if you talk to two people, one person who thinks that they're the most wonderful person and somebody else who thinks they're most terrible person, they almost sound identical. Did you know that? They have the same basic problem. And that is they're occupied with themselves. So both of them can play the piano, let's say. And you say to one of them, listen, play the piano. No, no, I can't do it. What they're really saying is prompt me. Tell me how wonderful I am. And then I'll play for you. You ask the other person, and they really can play the piano. And you say, oh, no, I can't do it. I just say the same thing, don't they? Because they have the same basic problems that they're thinking about themselves. William Kelly said, true Christian humility isn't thinking little of yourself. It's just not thinking about yourself at all. And what we need to do is in this self-centered society, get our minds off ourselves and get our minds on Christ. Do you know, if you knew all your problems, you still wouldn't be able to change one of them. Do you know that? The Adam Improvement Society is the oldest society in the world. It's never worked a day. You can't improve yourself. Only the Spirit of God can move into your life and change it to be like Christ as you're occupied with Him. And that's what we need. And that's what the cross teaches us. To crucify the old man, to crucify the world, to crucify the flesh with its affections and lust, and say, Nicholson, I've had done with you. You're finished. And now the new man in Christ Jesus can't live in the energy of the flesh. but submits himself to God and allows Christ to change us to be like him. Thirdly, the cross warms us because it tells us what God thinks of Christ. There was only one person in all the universe that could do the job for him. God had a desire to reconcile wicked sinners to a holy God. There was only one person he could select, not capriciously, but strictly on merit. And he entrusted to his son the mighty work that only he could do. And when we stand at the cross, we can't help but think of Christ and what God thinks of him. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the name above every name. And that's the right assessment of Christ, isn't it? What God thinks of him. And when we stand at the cross, we see what God thinks of Christ. John fourteen thirty one therefore does my father love me because I lay down my life does that mean that the father didn't love him before oh yes this was a fresh reason a new motive for loving the son therefore God also has highly exalted him did he not deserve that place anyway oh yes but here was another reason why he deserved it. Therefore he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death. Did he not deserve the spoil anyway? Oh yes. But here's another reason why he deserves to win the spoils of war. There are many times in the New Testament that we are told the Father loved the Son. But only once are we told that the Son loved the Father. Oh, of course he did. We know that he did by his actions that he did everything to please the Father. He obeyed the Father. But only once, as far as I know, are we told that the Son loved the Father. You may, by the way, if you're interested in a good Bible study, take a look at the times where we're told that the Father loved the Son. You know that when we turn to Genesis twenty-two, we have the first reference to love. And it's not love between a husband and wife, it's love between a father and son. That was the great eternal love, wasn't it? That was the first great love. The manifestation and the fullness of all other love comes from that source. The Lord Jesus said that the world might know that I love the Father. It's time to go now. Go where? Well, go to the cross to manifest that the Lord Jesus didn't just love us, but that he loved the Father enough to go to the cross. Time's up. The cross is the stimulus in our prayers. He prayed. We ought to pray. He prayed on the cross. Say, Christian, do you have a little problem concentrating in prayer? You prayed on the cross, with men laughing at him, jeering, spitting at him, with spikes through his hands in his feet, soon to face the mighty burden of all the judgment.