1 Corinthians 1:18-25
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but
unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 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?
21 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.
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto
the Greeks foolishness;
24 But unto them which are 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.
INTRO:
(I like being called, (1)Brother,
(2)Pastor, (3)Preacher. Brother-same family; Pastor-edify mine office-Romans
11:13; Preacher-Charles
Spurgeon said he wouldn’t step
down for a king.
America needs God-called
preachers who know they are God-called and will not compromise
their call or their message!) There
are 3 questions that occur to me as I examine this Scripture about preaching
the Cross.
(1) What is meant by the cross?
(2) What is meant by the
preaching of the cross?
(3) What are the effects of
preaching the cross?
1. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE CROSS?
The cross of Calvary. Much
more than a fashion accessory. The
name Calvary derived from the Latin calvaria, a skull. And
when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified
him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
Luke 23:33 It corresponds to the
Aramaic word, Golgotha. "And
when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place
of a skull,"
Matthew 27:33
1. Many were crucified on
crosses.
Cross of Christ different.
He gave up the Ghost.
The crucifixion of Christ was a
common mode of punishment among heathen nations
in early times. It is not
certain whether it was known among the ancient Jews; probably it was
not. The modes of capital
punishment according to the Mosaic law were, by the (1) sword (Exodus 21),
(2)strangling, (3)fire (Leviticus 20), and (4)stoning ( Deuteronomy 21,).
The crucifixion was regarded as
the most horrible form of death, and
to a Jew it would acquire greater horror from the curse
in Deuteronomy 21:23.
“for he that is hanged is
accursed of God;”
He was not martyred. Luke 23:46
"And when Jesus had cried
with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit: and having
said thus, he gave up the ghost."
2. Atoning death of Christ.
Vicarious suffering of Christ for
sins of entire human race. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body
on the tree, that we, being
dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
1 Peter 2:24
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put
to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:"1
Peter3:18
3. The Cross is the center of
Christianity.
The cross draws us to Christ and the tomb makes the message of the Cross fully
effective. Calvary is the hub
of the earth. Poems, songs,
testimonies, etc. “When I
survey the wondrous cross, On
which the Prince of Glory died, My
richest gain I count but loss, And
pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid
it Lord that I should boast, Save
in the death of Christ my God, All
the vain things that charm me most, I
sacrifice them to His blood. See,
here His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow
and love flow mingled down, Did
e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or
thorns compose so rich a crown? Were
the whole realm of nature mine, That
were a present far too small, Love
so amazing, so divine, Demands
my soul, my life, my all!”
text: Isaac Waats
4. Paul gloried in the cross
"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is
crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
Galatians 6:14
The cross the only thing to glory in. “save” (1)“the
world is crucified to me”
it has lost its attraction to me
-
(2)“and I unto the world”
I have no other reason to live, but to preach the Gospel.
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20
2. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE PREACHING
OF THE CROSS? 1 Corinthians 1:18, 21-23 18 For the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness; but unto
us which are saved it is the power of God.
21 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.
22 For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the
Greeks foolishness;
1. Holding up Christ’s death as
the Divine remedy for the sins and souls of mankind.
The Message is the Cross. (v18)
The Method is Preaching (v18)
Preaching in the original
language:
Kerugma = kay'-roog-mah
Definition
1. that which is proclaimed by a
herald or public crier, a proclamation by herald
2. in the NT the message or
proclamation of the heralds of God or Christ "And
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John
12:32
Speaking of being lifted up on
the cross between God and man. Through
preaching, that is what we do! We
point people to the cross where Jesus was lifted up to become sin in our place.
He IS the way, truth, life.
It is Christ that does the
drawing.
We simply lift Him up!
37 All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I
will in no wise cast out.
44 No man can come to me, except
the Father which hath sent me
draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:37, 44
2. Christ preached the cross John
3:14-18
14 And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of
man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.
17 For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is
not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son
of God.
John 3:14-18
3. Peter preached the cross
Acts 2:22-24, 36
22 Ye men of Israel, hear these
words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God
among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you, as ye yourselves also know:
23 Him, being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye
have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
24 Whom God hath raised up,
having loosed the pains of death: because it was not
possible that he should be holden of it.
36 Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that
same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Acts 2:22-24,
36
4. Paul preached the cross 1
Corinthians 1:18, 25
18 For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness; but unto
us which are saved it is the power of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is
stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:18, 25
10 For as many as are of the
works of the law are under the curse: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them.
11 But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident:
for, The just shall live by faith.
12 And the law is not of faith:
but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
13 Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:
for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.
Galatians 3:10-13
ALL of the great preachers, past
and present, have preached and are preaching the
Cross!!
(Moody, Spurgeon, Wesley, Sunday,
Whitefield, Edwards, Cartwright, Criswell, Lee,
Truett, Norris, Vick, Springer, Shuler, Rice, Bob & Sam Jones, Roberson,
Rawlings, on and on)
3. WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF
PREACHING THE CROSS?
"For the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us
which are saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18
1. “Foolishness” to the
unbeliever.
"But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned."
1 Corinthians 2:14
19 And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. John
3:19, 20.
2. “Power of God” 1
Corinthians 1:18
For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek. Romans 1:16
“Gospel” from the anglo-saxon
“Godspel”
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto
you, which also ye have received,
and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if
ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also
received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and
that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures:
1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
The Cross an absolutely essential
part of the Gospel!
(1)...death (“on the the Cross
our sins were crossed out”)
(2)...burial (tomb of Joseph of
Arimathea borrowed because Jesus wouldn’t need
it long!)
He was buried to deliver the
captivity captive as recorded in Ephesians 4:8-9)
8 Wherefore he saith, When he
ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and
gave gifts unto men.
9 (Now that he ascended, what is
it but that he also descended first into the lower
parts of the earth?
Christ had said to the malefactor
on one side of Him on the cross, “Today,
thou shalt be with me in Paradise,”
Luke 23:43 No longer there!
“absent from the body, and to be
present with the Lord”
2 Corinthians 5:8
(3)...resurrection others
had been raised from the dead.
*In the Old Testament a man
raised from the dead when his body was lowered in the
grave of Elisha.
13:20 And Elisha died, and they
buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded
the land at the coming in of the year.
13:21 And it came to pass, as
they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied
a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when
the man was let down, and touched
the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up
on his feet. 2 Kings 13:20 ,21
*Jairus daughter in Mark 5,
*Lazarus - John 11
Through the resurrection, Christ
has “become the first
fruits of the resurrection”
1 Corinthians 15:20
He will never have to die again.
He IS life!
WHAT DO YOU WANT? If
you want to be distressed LOOK WITHIN,
If you want to be defeated LOOK
BACK, If you want to be
distracted LOOK AROUND, If
you want to be dismayed LOOK BEFORE,If you want to be delighted LOOK UP, If
you want to be delivered LOOK TO CHRIST!!
The reason Christ is able to
deliver is the Cross where
Jesus died and the Empty Tomb, where Jesus arose to give eternal life
and abundant life.
AHEAD
Those who win are those who try;
Not the kind who alibi! Start,
and never let it die - Keep
going! Life will never bring
success To the man who’s
motionless; Crowns are made
for those who press - Keep
moving! Do you want to gain
the prize? All those castles
realize? There’s no limit
but the skies - Keep
Climbing! Those who've won
are round about; When you
score you'll hear them shout! Let
no foe your courage flout -Keep fighting! Sure!
Its worth it when you stand With
that chosen, faithful band Who
inherit Canaan land - Keep
striving! Guess there won’t
be much to do When you’re
dead, and buried too: Now’s
the time to see it through - Keep
driving! Oh to vict’ry!
Never quit! Heroes make a
drive for it! Here’s life!
Use it ever bit - Keep
living!
-Written by Jack Shuler
