The Power Of The Cross

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                               Immanuel Church Of Jesus Christ

                                              The Power of The Cross

Good morning may God’s grace work in your favor, peace, and love to you in the name of God our Father the Son, and The Holy Spirit. May he dwell supreme in your hearts and mind. Power struggle most of us must contend with every day, at home, at work, at school, with friends, in our philosophies, there is always someone who is trying to exert power over us, or that we are trying to exert power over. Sometimes this exertion of power if not dealt with properly leaves the psychological intellectual realm of our area of influence and becomes physical. Since we are not able to get others to agree with what we feel or think we use our power or influence to demand that others accept or adhere to our demands through physical means. Where did we get such wisdom or such arrogance? From life? From the world? My way or no way.  Prayer

 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

¹⁸The teaching about the cross seems foolish to those who are lost. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. ¹⁹It is written in the Scriptures:

“I will cause the wise men to lose their wisdom.

I will make the wise men unable to understand.”

Isaiah 29:14

²⁰Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where is the philosopher^£ of our times? God has made the wisdom of the world foolish. ²¹The world did not know God through its own wisdom. So, God chose to use the message that sounds foolish to save those who believe it. ²²The Jews ask for miracles as proofs. The Greeks want wisdom. ²³But we preach Christ on the cross. This is a big problem for the Jews. And it seems foolish to the non-Jews. ²⁴But Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those people God has called Jews and Greeks. ²⁵Even the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Even the weakness of God is stronger than men. ¹⁸The teaching about the cross seems foolish to those who are lost. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. ¹⁹It is written in the Scriptures:

“I will cause the wise men to lose their wisdom.

I will make the wise men unable to understand.”

Isaiah

In the book of Isaiah God said I will make wise men lose their wisdom; I will make wise men unable to understand. Men who think they are wise just can’t understand. Some do not understand because to them it is not logical. Some do not understand because they believe in the philosophy that they have developed over the years; they think they are wise. I say that they are wise in their own eyes. Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where is the philosopher^£ of our times? God has made the wisdom of the world foolish.

Psalm 14:1 The fool said in his heart, there is no God.

The worldly philosophy that we come up with from our own analysis is that there is no God. I think that a person comes to this conclusion because they are guilty of such abdominal works and God has yet to punish them for it they conclude that there must not be a God. Some go to the extent of saying or thinking that they are God. That they are kings.

The Jew and the cross. Jews looked for signs (vs 22).It was a time of false messiahs not much different than today. This is a time like no other that I have witnessed in my lifetime. There are so many people more than ever before that are willing to accept the lie over the truth. They are willing to place a false messiah on the throne.

Now just like then, the leaders of this world and those who have influence over other people look for a sign. Jesus gave them a sign, He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind raised and people from the dead. Jesus did what only God can do. Today he feeds the hungry, He heals the sick, He wakes us up every day, He gives life to our mortal bodies, they have been given the sign and they don’t believe.

The cross is a stumbling block to the Jews (vs 23)

Stumbling block comes from the Greek word ( skandalon).  This is where we get our word scandal. The Jews considered the cross as a scandal because Deuteronomy says cursed is the man who is hanged on a tree (Duet 21:23).

 The Gentile and the Cross

Gentiles looked for wisdom (v 22).

Gentiles love oratory and they love to argue. The dogmatic message of salvation through the death of a savior Jesus Christ seems too simple. Too simple to be true. This doesn’t make sense to them. Through the world’s wisdom, this is ridiculous, but God has made the world’s wisdom to be foolish. They did not come to know God by their studies in their wisdom (vs 21) show us that worldly wisdom can keep people from knowing God through the message of the cross.The cross was foolishness to the gentiles (vs 23).

The gentiles would say God wouldn’t act that way.

They tried to make God fit into their framework of knowledge, however, the cross would not fit so it was viewed as foolishness. Many of the acts of God are not logical. Jesus said to the Pharisees that “no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and the skins are also; but one puts the new wine into fresh wineskins. In other words, worldly knowledge is old its framework of knowledge won’t allow for the cross. The cross destroys this simple knowledge. The cross is too powerful to fit into its narrowmindedness. Its structure is too weak. Its tread is of an inferior weave.

       The Christian and the cross (v 22-29)

God often uses things that seem foolish. He often uses things that seem weak.

God enabled David to kill Goliath with a sling.

Naaman was a Valiant soldier that God used to give victory to Aram. Naaman contracted leprosy. Elisha gave him the message that God said go and was yourself in the Jordan seven times and you will be healed. He did this and when he was finished, he was healed, and his skin was like that of a young boy (2 kings 5:14).

Jesus healed a blind man with mud and spit.

The cross is the power of God to the Christian (vs 18).

It is God’s way of salvation and life. For you to be saved your sins must be atoned for. The price of the penalty for your sins must be paid. The problem is you are unable to make the payment yourself, it doesn’t matter what you do, It is virtually impossible for you to pay for your sin and live to tell about it. You by nature with the worldly inferior wisdom try to devise your own way of salvation, it won’t work. you do well to worry because it won’t work. It is not going to ever work. But check this out. You have been sold to sin, you are caught up in it to your neck and you don’t have nor will you ever have the ability to purchase your way out. Be of good cheer God’s people you have been bought; you have been paid for with a price. God in His wisdom, Amen!

Has sent His Son, Amen, whose life is so valuable, Amen! That He paid the price for your sin and mine Amen! And the whole world Amen! And he did something we could not do if we ourselves had paid. He raises from the dead Amen! And is alive right now Amen!

         Conclusion

                            Our attitude is important. Attitude cause churches to grow or stay small. Our attitude will lead people to accept the savior or reject him. The attitude of the Jew, the Gentile, and the Christian are prominent in our society today.  

 When God wants us to do something, he often has a prescribed way He wants it done, any way other than the way He prescribes will end up in Failure. Read 1 Chronicles 13: 1-14 and 1 Chronicle 15: 11-15. God has prescribed a way for you to receive salvation and that way is through his Son. Jesus said “ God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who so ever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life ( John 3:16). Jesus also said” I Am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the Father unless by me (John 14:6). There is no other way. Amen!

Rev. Reginald Stevens