WEBVTT 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:13.759 Would you turn in your Bible to First Corinthians chapter one, verse 18? 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:17.679 And as you're turning there, let me just make mention of the video that you saw earlier. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:18.399 My name is Dan. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:25.039 I'm the pastor of college ministry, and uh we are launching kind of a new college ministry here at Emmanuel Bible Church. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:30.480 We've been doing college ministry for a number of years, but we're uh starting some more Bible studies in earnest. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:35.280 For the last several years, our young adult and college groups have been one group. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:44.320 It's been one thing, the foundry, and so at the end of August, August 27th, that'll be the first Sunday that we're meeting separately, and we're gonna have separate Bible studies in the middle of the week. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:49.119 We'll be on campus on Monday evenings doing evangelism, which we've done for a number of years at Mason. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:58.880 And we will continue to meet in Bible studies as well, right across from Mason at a coffee shop over there, and uh have other events for college students on campus. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:02.479 And please be praying for this new college ministry. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:08.640 We desire for many students to come to Christ, for them to see the light of the glory of Christ in the gospel. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:18.079 So please pray that the Lord would open hearts and minds through that, that we'd be faithful in our evangelism, and uh pray that the Lord would grow that ministry through his gospel. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:21.519 1 Corinthians 1.18. 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:29.680 One verse to set our minds on and meditate on as we prepare for the Lord's table this morning. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:32.159 1 Corinthians 1.18. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:41.599 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:48.719 But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:52.799 So reads the word of the living God. 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:03.200 You want to know the secret to deconstructing your faith? 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:07.439 How to lose your religion in one easy step? 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:14.960 According to the pollsters, the answer is get another degree. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:26.319 According to several recent polls, an increase in education is meaningfully correlated with a decrease in religious conviction. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:34.240 A Pew research poll from last year found that, quote, most Americans say it's not necessary to believe in God to be moral. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:42.479 What was interesting about that study is that the likelihood to jettison God as the basis of your morality increased the more degrees you got. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:48.960 If you were a high school graduate only or less, then you were more likely to believe in God as the basis of your morality. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:03:01.759 Much has been made in recent years of the meteoric rise of the nuns, atheists, agnostics, the undecided, but it is still a relatively small percentage of the population. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:05.840 Only about 9% of Americans would identify themselves as atheists. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:15.840 Yet a recent study done at elite doctoral universities found that 36% of professors are atheist or agnostic. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:20.159 Apparently, the higher you go, the less God there is. 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:22.879 One more. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:34.879 Recent Pew study discovered that 63% of college graduates in the United States, people who've graduated with a bachelor's, 63% of them believe in heaven. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:38.560 But 48% believe in hell. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.879 Apparently, the more you're taught, the less you know. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:57.439 Psalm 14, 1, God says, the fool says in his heart, there is no God. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:03:59.120 You want to know how to become a fool? 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:00.960 Apparently, you just go to school. 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:06.960 Now, as Christians, of course, we we understand the value of education. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:13.919 We have a Christian school attached to this church, starting in a few weeks, 600 some kids, praise the Lord for that. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:22.000 We know the value of an education for a Christian, but I want to speak specifically to the college students who are here this morning. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:34.800 I want you to know that as you go back to your campus, or maybe you're going for the first time, you are very much stepping into enemy territory. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:45.279 You're going into a culture, a world, a place where Christianity is seen as anti-intellectual, foolish. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:05:20.560 And I think your temptation in that campus, where the Bible is seen as backwards and wrong and probably just outright immoral at points, your temptation is going to be to want to camouflage, to fit in, to blend in, to not stand out, to take all the weird parts of Christianity, all the hard, offensive things of the Bible, and just paste over them and make them easy and comfortable. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:29.199 You're not going to want to look like someone who doesn't understand and is backwards and foolish, believes in an old book. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:35.759 And I think for the rest of us, I think we understand this. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:37.600 This is our experience too, isn't it? 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:46.560 In our workplaces, in our friendships, our neighborhoods with our family members who don't know the Lord, we feel the same pressure, don't we? 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:52.800 Same temptation to cover over the hard things of Christianity. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:59.040 Usually it sounds something like, well, I don't like to talk about religion and politics. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:00.720 That is too divisive. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:11.360 Or maybe it sounds like, well, for me, my opinion personally, me, what I believe, not for you, but just for me. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:26.959 In a world and in a culture that considers the Bible to be irrelevant, foolish, and hateful, how then shall we speak? 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:32.959 The Apostle Paul actually gives us an answer in this text. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:37.360 Paul says, you know how you speak? 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:46.639 You go to the most absurd, outrageous, and offensive thing the Bible has to say, and preach that. 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:51.199 You preach the cross. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:54.639 You preach the word of the cross. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:19.040 Because the message that your roommates, that your dormates, that your neighbors, that your co-workers, that your family members, the message that they need to hear, that they consider to be repugnant and disgusting, is the only message that can save them from eternal hell. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:22.240 And so they need to hear it. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:46.319 And in that way, I think first century Corinth, who's really not so different from 21st century Springfield, as a Greco-Roman trading hub in the capital of the region of Achaea, Corinth was inundated with what they called education, which is a way of saying satanic programming of worldly philosophy. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:57.360 There were tons of them, lots of different schools of philosophy back in the day, and all of them vying for some explanation of who and what and how and why we exist. 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:11.120 And it's into that world that Paul comes preaching a message about a crucified rabbi from backwards Palestine and plants a church. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:12.560 Some people believe in it. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:18.240 And then Paul leaves that church and he installs a guy to start preaching there, a guy named Apollos. 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:22.240 And Apollos is a different kind of preacher than Paul. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:23.439 He's refined. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:25.600 He knows Greek rhetoric. 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:28.000 He's a fancy preacher. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:37.120 And the people really like the way that he preaches, and so they start gravitating towards him and away from Paul, and it starts to cause division in the church. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:39.759 I am of Paul or I'm of Apollos. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:46.960 And so Paul writes this letter to the Corinthians to address that division, and he goes right to the heart of the matter, doesn't he? 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:50.480 This isn't about celebrity pastorism, really. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:55.440 This is about what we preach and how we preach it. 00:08:55.919 --> 00:09:09.519 This is what he says in verse 17 to those who would say, your message is not refined enough, not polished enough, it doesn't appeal enough to the Greeks outside of the church, it needs more eloquent wisdom. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:20.799 Paul says, verse 17, for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:31.919 He says, in contrast, the word of the cross, the message that I preach, is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:37.279 He's contrasting the two, the word of the cross and the eloquent words of wisdom. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:40.080 What's the connection between those things? 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.360 Well, notice the little word for at the beginning of verse 18. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:45.200 For is just the word because. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:56.080 Paul is saying, Christ sent me to preach the gospel because the word of the cross is foolishness and power. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:04.240 He's explaining his motives for preaching, why he preaches the way and the content that he does. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:08.240 Two reasons why he preaches the unadorned word of the cross. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:12.320 And friends, these are the reasons why we preach the very same message. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:24.000 Why we don't give in to tactics of eloquent wisdom or that which would appeal to the foolish mind, but we still preach the foolish cross. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:26.240 Why do we do it? 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:30.799 Where do we find the motivation to do that in a world that so hates that message? 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:33.919 Two reasons, which will be our outline. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:35.039 Why do we preach? 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:38.960 First, because the word of the cross is foolish. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:41.840 Because it's foolish. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:45.200 You say, whoa, whoa, that doesn't make any sense. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:47.600 You preach because it's foolish? 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:49.840 You mean like sarcastically. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:50.480 No? 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:53.279 No, I mean it the way Paul means it. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:55.360 That it really is foolish. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:57.360 That's why we preach it. 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:05.919 To understand why Paul says it that way, we have to understand this phrase, the word of the cross. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:14.320 Like I said, it's a contrast here with the phrase in 17, words of eloquent wisdom, literally wisdom of a word. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:23.600 Paul is eschewing rhetoric, polished speech, smooth talk, excellent public speaking. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:25.759 That was what the Corinthians loved. 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:27.360 That's what they wanted to hear. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:28.240 They were into. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.639 The whole Greek world was enamored with. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:56.000 As an example of this, there was a guy in the first century who was a rhetorician named Favorinus who stopped by Corinth on a number of occasions, and when he was there, he would give some kind of public address, and it would be loaded with all kinds of good rhetorical prowess, metaphor and simile and assonance and all kinds of beautiful speech. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:58.000 And the people loved him for it. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:07.600 And they loved him so much they built a statue of him out of bronze and they stuck it in the middle of their library, which in those days was like the place to be. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:14.799 They hailed anyone who could speak with this kind of ear-tickling wisdom. 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.720 They were obsessed with words of eloquent wisdom. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:26.320 And Paul says, if I were to preach that way, I would empty the cross of its power. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:30.559 The cross would be useless to you if I preached it that way. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:33.120 Why is that? 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:41.360 Well, he explains it in other words in chapter 2, verse 5, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:46.720 I don't want you to come to Christianity because you like the way the preacher sounds. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:51.120 I want you to come because you've seen the glory of the cross. 00:12:53.440 --> 00:13:02.320 And if I were to cause you to come by some other means than the cross, well then I've emptied the cross of its power. 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:07.919 Wait, so is Paul saying here then that good preaching is bad preaching? 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:10.480 Is that what he's trying to say? 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:12.000 I don't think so. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:25.519 He's saying that preaching that wins its hearers on their terms, appealing to anything other than the cross as the reason why you should believe, guts the cross of its efficiency. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:40.159 This is what you see all across churches today, countless churches, particularly in our own country, just given over to eloquent words of wisdom, the kind of preaching that just appeals to modern man. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:51.200 One of the most egregious forms of this, which is going on probably this very Sunday in churches all across America, is Summer at the Movies sermon series. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:57.120 Maybe you've been to a church where they do this, they just take a popular summer blockbuster and they preach that. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:00.480 You have a Mario sermon, you have a Barbie sermon. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:03.120 Seriously. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:07.360 This is what tons of evangelical churches are preaching today. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:19.440 And Paul says if someone comes to your church and becomes a part of your group and says that they're a Christian because they liked your movie sermon, they have not come to Christ. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:22.559 They've come to a show. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:24.960 Not the cross. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:32.639 I mean, it is so highly important to this point that Paul calls it the word of the cross. 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:36.960 This is the only time in all of Paul's writing that he uses that phrase. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:39.919 Other times he'll talk about the gospel with other words. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:41.519 He'll call it the word of truth. 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:45.279 He'll call it the word of the Lord, the word of the gospel. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:49.440 This is the only time he calls it the word of the cross. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:50.080 Why? 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:52.720 Why does he call it the word of the cross? 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:59.840 Well, because the cross is one of the most profound reasons why this message is considered so foolish. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:00.960 Folly. 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:04.960 The word in Greek moria, it's the word that we get our word moron from. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:06.720 Idiotic. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:10.080 Simpleton, stupid, plain. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:13.600 Why is it considered that way? 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:20.159 It's hard for us to imagine because the cross is just the preeminent symbol of Christianity today, right? 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:22.320 It's literally, it's right up there, right? 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:24.639 It's on the ceiling of our building. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:25.360 It's everywhere. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:27.200 Some of you wearing it around your neck, right? 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:27.679 We're proud. 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:29.200 We like the cross. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:32.159 Well, that wasn't what it was in Paul's day, was it? 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:40.639 It was a means of Roman torture and execution, public shame. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:47.600 This would be like saying, I preach the word of the hangman's noose. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.559 I preach the word of the guillotine. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:54.720 I preach the word of the burning at the stake. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:58.720 That's the word of the cross. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:04.480 The cross where Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was slain for the sins of his own. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:08.879 That cross is a message of death. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:21.840 And it's not just, well, Jesus came and he died and did this nice thing for you so that you could kind of add him into your existing life. 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:29.039 No, the word of the cross is a message for you to come and die with Christ. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:30.320 That's what Paul says. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:34.960 Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:39.120 So it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:47.279 Romans 6, 3, do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:54.879 Jesus, the very first time he tells his disciples that he's gonna have to go to the cross and die. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:56.639 Matthew chapter 16. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:58.879 You remember Peter's response? 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:00.879 I don't like that program. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:03.360 Can we do a different one? 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:07.680 And Jesus responds, get behind me, Satan. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:13.119 That is satanic thinking that I could circumvent the cross and still save sinners. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:24.720 And then he says, if anyone wants to follow me, he has to take up his cross and come after me. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:29.839 The word of the cross is an invitation to death. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:50.079 To die to your dreams, your pride, your ideas, your morals, your philosophy, your wisdom, and to embrace an executed Jewish rabbi from the first century who alone can grant you entrance into the eternal court of heaven. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:18:06.799 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. 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:09.359 That's what the word of the cross is. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:10.960 You're nothing. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:12.960 So come and die. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:17.440 And it gets worse. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.440 You know why else the word of the cross is foolish? 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:25.519 Because Paul says it's the word of the cross. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:29.200 The definite article, word, singular noun. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:31.839 It is exclusive. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:35.039 This is the only way of salvation. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:38.160 There is no other way but through the cross. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:41.680 It's not a cross, it's not a word, it's the word. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:45.839 The one way to be saved is through the one cross. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:52.319 Meaning that the word of the cross says that every other religion is a demonic lie. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:56.559 Try that at your next DEI training. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:00.480 And it gets worse. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:05.039 It's the word of the cross. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:11.119 Word like words, like air passing over your larynx and coming out of your mouth and hitting someone else's ears. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:12.720 It means just talk. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.920 It's not superpowers. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:18.079 It's not a big stack of money. 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:21.279 It's not political influence or sway. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:24.720 The word of the cross is just a message. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:27.680 It's just talk from people to other people. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:40.559 It's human language about a crucified rabbi who said he was God and tells you to give up everything to follow him into persecution and death. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:43.759 Paul needs some marketing help, doesn't he? 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:44.960 Good night. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:48.640 Christianity, your worst life now. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:20:03.759 So why on earth, if this word of the cross is so foolish, why is that foolishness the very reason why Paul preaches it? 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:08.640 It's because of who it is foolish to. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:11.599 Notice who he says in the text. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:14.960 It is folly to those who are perishing. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:21.200 Perishing, destruction, lostness, being destroyed. 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:22.400 It's a present participle. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.359 It's going on right now and it's leading to an eventual end. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:30.400 It's the same word from John 3.16 that they may not perish but have eternal life. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:41.359 This is a reference to the second death, to judgment, to the wrath of God, to hell, to the lake of fire, eternal judgment and damnation. 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:55.119 Those who are born for the lake of fire and are on their way to the lake of fire and will spend eternity in the lake of fire, it is those people to whom the word of the cross is foolishness. 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:07.680 You realize, of course, that it doesn't matter what you believe, somebody's gonna think it's foolish, right? 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:13.359 Whatever religion, whatever worldview you take on, someone's gonna say it's foolish. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:16.880 You could even try to embrace all of them and get a coexist bumper sticker. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:18.799 I'll still call you foolish. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:24.960 So the question is not, will you be called foolish? 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:26.640 The question is by whom. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:32.319 And Paul says, you know why I preach the word of the cross? 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:35.359 Because hell hates it. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:39.039 So I know I'm on the right track. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:49.839 I remember a number of years ago there was a particularly evil, hateful group calling themselves Christians who picketed a manual Bible church on a Sunday morning. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:51.359 Some of you may remember this. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:56.079 Signs out there spewing all kinds of evil things. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.279 I remember going out and seeing them and thinking. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:06.480 One, uh just how heartbreaking that these folks think that that kind of hatred is Christianity. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:14.799 But also we must be doing something right if they're the ones picketing us. 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:33.039 One of the strangest evangelistic interactions I've had on campus at Mason is when I'll be talking to a non-Christian student, sharing the gospel with them, and at the end of that, they proceed to lecture me on how to evangelize them better. 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:42.559 Usually something like, you know, you should probably tone down the sin talk. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:44.559 It's a little offensive. 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.559 Take the Bible out of it, sound kind of like a thumper. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:54.000 You should really just focus on the things that we agree on. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:56.400 That would be more appealing to me. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:06.319 What they don't realize is that in telling me how to evangelize them, they have just guaranteed that I will never preach the gospel to them that way. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:14.720 If it seems like wisdom to a fool, then it's foolishness to the wise. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:32.079 Brothers and sisters, are you at all discouraged because you have been sharing the gospel with someone for maybe years and they keep rejecting it? 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:37.599 Maybe a wayward child, maybe a relative, a friend, a neighbor. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:41.839 Don't be discouraged. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:45.839 Of course the word of the cross is foolishness to them. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:56.319 Unless and until God gives them eyes to see and ears to hear, they'll rage against it. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:00.160 They'll see it as foolish. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:03.759 They'll be blind to it. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:07.119 You were too. 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:18.240 And don't let that discouragement cause you to camouflage the cross. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:25.279 To try to round off the sharp corners, to try to remove the offense from it. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:29.039 You're not the cook, you're a waiter. 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:31.119 You just bring the meal. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:36.400 You don't change it, you don't dress it up, you just bring it out kindly. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:45.359 We don't change the message to appeal to the sensibilities of modern man or words of eloquent wisdom. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:48.240 We just preach the word of the cross. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:25:00.640 Paul says, 2 Corinthians 2, 15 to 16, for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:08.640 To one, a fragrance from death to death, and to the other a fragrance of life to life. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:19.839 So we preach because the word of the cross is foolish, but Paul also says that we preach because the word of the cross is power. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:22.079 It's power. 00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:29.759 Paul writes, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:41.440 This phrase here, to us who are being saved, Paul is now including himself in this group, us, and any who come to believe in the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross for them. 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:44.559 And it may sound strange to you the way Paul phrases it. 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:50.720 Those of us who are being saved, usually we say it like past tense, I got saved, I was saved. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:54.160 But the reality is that the Bible talks about salvation really in three ways. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:56.160 It's past, it's present, and its future. 00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:02.400 Think of it this way: it's like you're on a ship and then there's a shipwreck, and then you're rescued by a lifeboat. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:11.279 At that moment, you were saved, you are being saved, you haven't gotten ashore yet, and one day you will be saved. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:12.640 So it is with Christians. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:14.079 We're not in heaven yet. 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:16.160 We are being saved. 00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:26.240 And for those who are heaven-bound, being saved, he says, this message, the word of the cross, is the power of God. 00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:31.759 The ability, the efficiency of God to do what? 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:35.599 Well, salvation. 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:40.160 Romans chapter 1, verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:43.920 It is the power of God unto salvation. 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:53.119 That's what this is for, is to save sinners from perishing, from death. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:12.480 And you know what's incredible is that all the points at which the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing are the very reasons why those who are being saved glory in it. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:16.000 Because it's the cross. 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:18.000 It's an implement of death. 00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:21.519 Romans chapter 6, verse 6, Paul says, exactly. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:25.440 My old self is crucified there so that I could be freed from sin. 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:26.799 I needed to die. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:31.279 I'm so grateful that God sent a Savior to die so that I can die with him. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:39.839 The fact that it's an exclusive message, the word of the cross. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:41.519 Oh, what glory is that? 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:43.839 You don't have to search for another one. 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:46.480 Once you've found it, that's it. 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:47.759 The search is over. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:55.039 You don't have to go to some institution of higher learning to find out what other groups have thought in their way of climbing up to heaven. 00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:56.880 No, no, no, there's just one. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:02.160 And if there's just one, that also implies that it is accessible to all. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:08.319 This is not some esoteric doctrine that only PhDs learn in an ivory tower. 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:10.400 No, this is for kids. 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:15.680 We teach this in children's church every Sunday. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:19.920 This is for the simple, for the plain. 00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:24.720 And it's the word. 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:28.000 Paul says it's it's the word of the cross. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:35.200 Praise the Lord its words, that God has condescended to use our capacity, human language, to communicate with us. 00:28:35.680 --> 00:28:41.920 He didn't come down and say, here's some experience, here's some feeling, here's some image to look at. 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:42.720 No, no, no. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:51.680 He said, here are words that you can understand, internalize, and then repeat to be a part of God's work of saving people all throughout this world. 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:53.759 What an incredible gift that is. 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:16.319 The very power of Jesus Christ's salvation has been funneled like a magnifying glass of the sun, beamed at its sharpest point into this one message. 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:21.440 That Jesus, the eternal Son of God, has come down, lived a perfect life. 00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:25.599 He has died in atoning death, and he has risen to give life to all. 00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:31.119 That message is the power of heaven to mankind. 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:40.000 And look who this message is power to. 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:42.400 It's to those who are being saved. 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:45.039 The citizens of heaven. 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:47.279 They're the people who appreciate this. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:51.119 The people who see reality and get it. 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:58.319 Those are the spiritual pulse to see what is obvious and true. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:11.200 I think sometimes people get worried about sharing their faith because they think my non-Christian friend is going to outsmart me with their philosophy, with their learning, whatever. 00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:17.759 Do you realize that if someone believes in evolution, they think their granddaddy was a fish? 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:22.799 I mean, at least you think all of your relatives are humans. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:27.759 You're on the side of truth here. 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:33.039 God is the most obvious reality in the universe. 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:37.920 For someone to deny the existence of God is to decry their own foolishness. 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:42.000 Not the inaccessibility of God. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:48.400 And you know what is the Christian's favorite thing about the Word of the Cross? 00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:56.640 It's that when God uses the Word of the Cross to save sinners, we get none of the credit. 00:30:58.240 --> 00:30:59.359 And he gets it all. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:06.480 It is not the power of the mind of man unto salvation. 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:11.279 Not the power of classic rhetoric unto salvation. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:25.039 Not the power of persuasive speech or a trendy haircut or cool music or nice people or good facilities or a dynamic speaker or anything else that we can manufacture to try to convince people to come to Christ. 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:27.039 No, it is, what does the text say? 00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:28.720 The power of God. 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:32.160 The very power of the divine. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:37.359 Come into a word for the salvation of sinners. 00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:44.960 That's why Paul says in chapter 2, verse 3, I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. 00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:46.640 That's what his preaching was like. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:57.440 My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstrations of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:02.480 Why would God do that? 00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:11.680 Why would God funnel all of his power for salvation through weak, pale, sickly, broken, unimpressive rebels like us? 00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:13.279 Well, Paul answers. 00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:16.240 1 Corinthians 1, 26. 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:20.240 For consider your calling, brothers. 00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:28.079 Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:33.200 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. 00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:37.200 God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:50.880 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing, things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:59.440 God gets all the glory in salvation because of the foolishness of the word of the cross. 00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:03.119 Why do we preach the word of the cross? 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:21.599 Because it is the way that God fills the halls of heaven with the chorus shouting out, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. 00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:30.880 There was a man named John Wise who aspired to be a preacher. 00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:37.599 But the more education that he got, the less he believed in the Bible. 00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:41.119 And eventually he left Christianity altogether. 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:53.440 He became an atheist and a professor of philosophy for 25 years, where he, in his classes, tried to convince students that there's no way you could believe in your silly religion. 00:33:55.519 --> 00:33:57.279 How could you ever be certain of that? 00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:58.799 You can't. 00:34:00.880 --> 00:34:08.000 And then one day, as he was reflecting on it, he realized, oh, I can't be certain of that either. 00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:15.440 And through that revelation and through the word of the cross, God saved him. 00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:22.159 And today he is an apologist with a podcast and everything. 00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:33.119 Instructing people about the foolishness and the emptiness of worldly philosophy and the power of the word of the cross to save sinners. 00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:39.760 The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man, is it not? 00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:53.280 I would imagine that there are some of you who can hear me today who are still perishing. 00:34:55.199 --> 00:34:57.679 You think maybe you've outsmarted God? 00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:03.280 All this church talk, it's it's all it is, it's just talk. 00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:07.840 Let me appeal to you as Paul does. 00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:14.320 How has it worked out for you? 00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:18.480 All the wisdom that you've tried. 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:29.519 The philosophy, the way of living that you ascribe to, has it given you the fulfillment that you want? 00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:34.639 Has it given you the peace that you've been seeking? 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:44.320 What if you're on the wrong side of this thing? 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:50.719 And what you thought was foolish is actually the very wisdom by which this world was built. 00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:58.320 I would appeal to you with nothing more than the word of the cross. 00:35:59.119 --> 00:36:00.159 Come and die. 00:36:02.079 --> 00:36:05.039 Come and find Jesus Christ to be everything. 00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:07.039 Give up your whole life to him. 00:36:07.440 --> 00:36:09.199 Pray, even in this moment. 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:13.360 Pray to him and say, I know I don't have it figured out. 00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:16.559 And I know that I can't. 00:36:17.199 --> 00:36:21.199 And I know that I need your wisdom, God. 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:24.480 Through the cross of Christ, save me. 00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:36.480 And you will find that what has seemed so foolish to you for so long is in fact the very wisdom of heaven. 00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:53.360 Brothers and sisters, you who have been discouraged and tempted to camouflage the Word of the Cross. 00:36:55.440 --> 00:36:59.519 Dear ones, go on preaching the Word of the Cross. 00:37:01.119 --> 00:37:02.880 There's nothing more than that. 00:37:03.679 --> 00:37:04.639 This is it. 00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:07.840 This is the message that we preach. 00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:14.639 Resist the siren song to give the world the message it wants to hear. 00:37:14.800 --> 00:37:19.679 Jews demand signs, Greeks seek wisdom, Americans want entertainment. 00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:27.519 And just preach the word of the cross and keep preaching it. 00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:37.920 And do it all for the sake of the Prince of Heaven and his eternal song. 00:37:38.559 --> 00:37:47.599 For Jews demand signs, the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. 00:37:50.639 --> 00:37:51.440 Let's pray. 00:38:01.280 --> 00:38:04.320 Oh, how we need to be humbled, Father. 00:38:05.599 --> 00:38:07.920 Beneath the word of the cross. 00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:20.800 How desperately we lack insight and understanding. 00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:24.480 And how graciously you give it. 00:38:24.719 --> 00:38:29.519 How freely through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary. 00:38:33.599 --> 00:38:38.320 Father, I pray for you to do your work in this room in this moment. 00:38:40.480 --> 00:38:44.480 In the hearts of those who are yet perishing, Father, save them. 00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:46.719 If you would. 00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:54.239 Help them to see the foolishness of their way and the wisdom of yours. 00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:06.559 To those who are being saved, O God, would you embolden us to keep preaching the word of the cross? 00:39:08.480 --> 00:39:22.559 To not grow weary, to not accommodate, but to be energized by and thrilled by and motivated by the cross of Jesus. 00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:27.519 We ask all of this. 00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:29.599 In Jesus' name. 00:39:30.159 --> 00:39:30.800 Amen. 00:39:31.840 --> 00:39:34.880 And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson. 00:39:35.039 --> 00:39:36.239 Thanks for joining us. 00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:37.840 If you're in the Washington, D.C. 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:40.480 area, I would love to see you at Emanuel Bible Church. 00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:45.760 For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church. 00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:48.880