Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The-Cross-We-Proclaim

Transcript

The-Cross-We-Proclaim · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:02
Speaker 1: During these weeks we are focusing on the greatness of
0:06
Speaker 1: our God. Four messages were delivered on the character of
0:11
Speaker 1: the Father, which took place in Sunday's past, and then
0:20
Speaker 1: for the next four messages we've been focusing on the
0:24
Speaker 1: Cross of Christ, today being the fourth in that series
0:30
Speaker 1: of four, then beginning next Sunday, and for the balance
0:34
Speaker 1: of this month, the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father,
0:41
Speaker 1: the Son, the Holy Spirit. When we think of our Father,
0:48
Speaker 1: it is his character that draws us to him and
0:50
Speaker 1: near him. When we focus on the Sun, it is
0:55
Speaker 1: the cross, always, the Cross. Always have a colleague in
1:01
Speaker 1: ministry who before I would get up to preach for
1:04
Speaker 1: almost twenty years, would lean over and say to me,
1:08
Speaker 1: preach grace, Preach the Cross. So it rings in my
1:13
Speaker 1: ear to this day. Preach the Cross. And then when
1:18
Speaker 1: we think of the Spirit of God, we think of
1:19
Speaker 1: the empowerment he provides. How we thank our God for
1:26
Speaker 1: the cross, Thank you for the Cross. Say that with me,
1:31
Speaker 1: thank you for the Cross. Again, thank you for the Cross.
1:39
Speaker 1: We will see that theme woven in to the reading
1:43
Speaker 1: of the scriptures. Out of First Corinthians, chapters one and two.
1:48
Speaker 1: If you have a Bible, turn if you will to
1:51
Speaker 1: the eighteenth verse of the first chapter of the First
1:56
Speaker 1: Letter written to corinth First Corinthians one eighteen. We'll read
2:03
Speaker 1: randomly through chapter two. Verse five. May we stand out
2:08
Speaker 1: of respect for the Word of God and the God
2:12
Speaker 1: of the Word. First Corinthians one eighteen. For the word
2:18
Speaker 1: of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
2:24
Speaker 1: but to us, who are being saved, it is the
2:29
Speaker 1: power of God. Verse twenty two. For indeed, Jews ask
2:35
Speaker 1: for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach
2:41
Speaker 1: Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to
2:49
Speaker 1: gentiles foolishness. Verse twenty six. For consider your calling, brethren,
2:57
Speaker 1: that there were not many wise according to the flesh,
3:00
Speaker 1: not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen
3:07
Speaker 1: the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.
3:10
Speaker 1: And God has chosen the weak things of the world
3:13
Speaker 1: to shame the things which are strong, and the base
3:16
Speaker 1: things of the world, and the despised. God has chosen
3:22
Speaker 1: the things that are not, so that He may nullify
3:27
Speaker 1: the things that are, so that no man may boast
3:31
Speaker 1: before God. Verse one, chapter two. And when I came
3:37
Speaker 1: to you brother. And I did not come with superiority
3:40
Speaker 1: of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony
3:43
Speaker 1: of God, for I determined to know nothing among you
3:47
Speaker 1: except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you
3:51
Speaker 1: in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And
3:55
Speaker 1: my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words
4:00
Speaker 1: of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power,
4:06
Speaker 1: so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom
4:10
Speaker 1: of man, but on the power of God. Me, our
4:16
Speaker 1: heavenly Father, bring to our minds the truths and cause
4:22
Speaker 1: them to live out in our minds and then in
4:27
Speaker 1: our lives. This week you may be seated before this
4:36
Speaker 1: wonderful privilege of giving to our God from all that
4:41
Speaker 1: he has provided. Join me in prayer. Please, thank you
4:48
Speaker 1: for the Cross, our God. Thank you for the way
4:56
Speaker 1: it redirects our steps and refocuses our mind and reshapes
5:05
Speaker 1: our attitudes, renews our perspective, so that as life unfolds,
5:12
Speaker 1: we fall back on it and we think of it,
5:19
Speaker 1: and we realize at the foot of that cross, all
5:24
Speaker 1: things are level, and we can but look up and
5:30
Speaker 1: give you our praise, as we have done all hail
5:34
Speaker 1: the power of the name of the one who hung
5:38
Speaker 1: on the cross. We magnify your name, we exalt your name. Together,
5:52
Speaker 1: from a busy and active week, we pause for this
5:55
Speaker 1: time of worship, deliberately setting aside of things that would
6:00
Speaker 1: otherwise bring us anxiety, and we focus on the cross. Together.
6:11
Speaker 1: We pray Our Father that as we do that it
6:13
Speaker 1: will rejuvenate an awareness within us that life is meant
6:18
Speaker 1: to be lived out, just lived in. Remind us of
6:23
Speaker 1: the value of serving you, being among your hands and feet,
6:30
Speaker 1: your voice, your presence. As we give our gifts, remind
6:36
Speaker 1: us today that it is for the purpose of magnifying
6:40
Speaker 1: the cross of our Savior. These are treacherous times, even
6:47
Speaker 1: dangerous decisions will be made that will shape years to come. Oh,
6:55
Speaker 1: our Father, we place before you decisions choices. We pray
7:03
Speaker 1: that you will raise up your people, that we may
7:07
Speaker 1: be led of you in a unique significant way. Now,
7:16
Speaker 1: our Father, as we in this moment turn our thoughts
7:20
Speaker 1: to your son, may his cross become for us pre eminent.
7:27
Speaker 1: We thank you for the cross, and because of that
7:31
Speaker 1: we give you our gifts in our Savior's name, the
7:36
Speaker 1: name of the one who hung on that cross. We pray,
7:40
Speaker 1: and give. Everyone said a few things are more demoralizing
7:51
Speaker 1: than realizing you've been helping the wrong side, and that
7:56
Speaker 1: demoralization is intensified when you who didn't even know it.
8:05
Speaker 1: Sports fans the world over will remember the name Roy Regals,
8:11
Speaker 1: especially football fans. Way back when the Rose Bowl was
8:15
Speaker 1: being played. Roy Regals was a ballplayer for the California
8:21
Speaker 1: Golden Bears. They were playing the Georgia Tech and right
8:29
Speaker 1: in the middle of the game, at a crucial point,
8:32
Speaker 1: there was a fumble and Roy Regals, the player for
8:35
Speaker 1: the Bears, picked up the ball and he only had
8:38
Speaker 1: thirty yards to run for the touchdown. Seemed simple enough. However,
8:44
Speaker 1: Roy ran almost seventy yards in the wrong direction. Now,
8:51
Speaker 1: what you may not remember is that one of his teammates,
8:54
Speaker 1: Benny Lamb, realized it even though four other players were
8:58
Speaker 1: blocking for him. They were so confused, and Benny is
9:03
Speaker 1: running along hoping to tackle him before he goes across
9:06
Speaker 1: the wrong goal line, at which time Roy yells out,
9:10
Speaker 1: get away from me, this is my touchdown, thinking that
9:14
Speaker 1: long wanted to get the glory for the touchdown, and
9:19
Speaker 1: six inches before the goal line down went rols and well,
9:25
Speaker 1: actually Georgia Tech won the game, but nobody remembers the score,
9:29
Speaker 1: nobody remembers the date. But sports fans all over remember
9:35
Speaker 1: wrong Way Regals, the nickname given this poor chap who
9:41
Speaker 1: ran the wrong direction. Every time the story is told,
9:49
Speaker 1: sports fans chuckle, it's it's laughable, but one man feels
9:53
Speaker 1: the sting. That's Regels. It's pow in the Christian life
10:01
Speaker 1: to help the wrong side and not know it. We
10:05
Speaker 1: could call individuals like that wrong Way Christians, or if
10:10
Speaker 1: you want to go back to that group that seemed
10:13
Speaker 1: to sort of set the pace for it to start
10:15
Speaker 1: with Wrong Way Corinthians. My Bible is open to First Corinthians,
10:21
Speaker 1: chapter one, and there we read a rather sad account
10:26
Speaker 1: of a church that was squabbling with one another. Think
10:30
Speaker 1: of that goes all the way back into the first century.
10:34
Speaker 1: Church is not able to get along, calls it like
10:38
Speaker 1: it is Verse eleven, Verse eleven, Chapter one. I have
10:43
Speaker 1: been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that
10:48
Speaker 1: there are quarrels among you. The Greek word is the
10:53
Speaker 1: actual term from which we get our words sism, sism
10:58
Speaker 1: the making of a split. There are quarrels among you
11:03
Speaker 1: now what are the quarrels about. Well, I mean this
11:07
Speaker 1: that each one of you is saying, I am a Paul,
11:10
Speaker 1: I am of Apolus, I am of Cephus, I am
11:15
Speaker 1: of Christ. You see, there were splinter groups in the church.
11:20
Speaker 1: One group said, we follow only Paul, the apostle, the
11:24
Speaker 1: one on the road to Damascus, who was wonderfully transformed,
11:27
Speaker 1: and he's the founder of our church, and we listen
11:30
Speaker 1: only to Paul. Others would say, but have you heard
11:32
Speaker 1: of Polus, I mean, compared to Apollus. Paul's tongue tied.
11:37
Speaker 1: Apollus wonderful rhetoric, wonderful ability, wonderful eloquence, wonderful mind, trained
11:43
Speaker 1: in Alexandria, mentored by a quilled Priscilla, and Paul himself. Oh,
11:48
Speaker 1: there's no one like Apaulus. And the third group said,
11:51
Speaker 1: but Peter, Peter was walking with the Savior before either
11:55
Speaker 1: Paul or Apollus named his name as Lord Peter. We follow.
12:00
Speaker 1: Then there was this ultra pious group, we follow only Jesus.
12:05
Speaker 1: We only listen to him. They're the ones, by the way,
12:08
Speaker 1: who write you letters of hate, saying in the love
12:11
Speaker 1: of Jesus, and they sign their name or usually they
12:14
Speaker 1: don't sign their name. They're the ones who say Jesus
12:17
Speaker 1: told me to do this. I always want to know
12:20
Speaker 1: is he baritone or is he base? Tell me what
12:23
Speaker 1: his voice is like. And they don't like that question
12:26
Speaker 1: because you're taking them literally. But of course these people
12:30
Speaker 1: believed it literally. We follow only, We need no earthly leader,
12:36
Speaker 1: only Jesus. And from that group, by the way, the
12:40
Speaker 1: Jesus only cult began, which may be of interest to
12:45
Speaker 1: some of you. They're all wrong way Corinthians. So Paul
12:51
Speaker 1: desires decides to set them straight, and he does it
12:55
Speaker 1: without mincing words. Chapter three, verse one. I love this
13:03
Speaker 1: about the apostle. He slings political correctness to the winds.
13:10
Speaker 1: He doesn't worry about what they say or think about him.
13:13
Speaker 1: He tells them the truth, which is the only way
13:15
Speaker 1: to operate as a spokesman for God. Brethren. I could
13:20
Speaker 1: not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as
13:24
Speaker 1: to men of flesh. The Greek term is sar q
13:28
Speaker 1: nas saar ki ns, from which the word flesh is translated.
13:35
Speaker 1: I could speak to you only as carnal wrong way, Corinthians,
13:44
Speaker 1: wrong way, even as to infants in Christ, I gave
13:49
Speaker 1: you milk to drink, not solid food. But you were
13:54
Speaker 1: not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you're not able.
13:58
Speaker 1: Why not next time?
14:00
Speaker 2: Verse?
14:01
Speaker 1: Because you're still sarkinos, You're still flesh, You're still driven
14:06
Speaker 1: by the things that characterize lost humanity. You're still fleshly.
14:13
Speaker 1: For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are
14:16
Speaker 1: you're not sarkinos? Or you're not fleshly, or you're not
14:20
Speaker 1: walking like mere men? Meaning like the lost person? Is
14:25
Speaker 1: surprise you to hear this some of you, But you
14:29
Speaker 1: cannot tell the difference between a cardinal Christian and an unbeliever.
14:33
Speaker 1: Sometimes the cardinal Christian can be even more snotty, more difficult,
14:39
Speaker 1: more demanding, more self willed. The enemy loves it when
14:46
Speaker 1: we operate in the flesh. Now you're talking, people know
14:50
Speaker 1: you're a Christian. Listen to me. I'll tell you how
14:52
Speaker 1: to walk, I'll tell you how to run. Problem is,
14:54
Speaker 1: it's in the wrong direction. And how many folks discover
15:00
Speaker 1: cover it late in life? For he says, when one
15:07
Speaker 1: says I'm a Paul and another I'm of Apoulus, don't
15:13
Speaker 1: you sound like you just a bunch of lost people?
15:15
Speaker 1: Following the popular one what then is Apolus and who's Paul?
15:25
Speaker 1: They are servants through whom you believed, even as the
15:29
Speaker 1: Lord gave opportunity to each one by planted. After planting,
15:34
Speaker 1: Apoulus watered after watering, God was causing the growth. So
15:40
Speaker 1: then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters,
15:44
Speaker 1: is anything but God, who causes the growth. Back to
15:53
Speaker 1: chapter one, verse eighteen. What the Apostle decides to do
15:58
Speaker 1: when he exposes these people in all their carnality, is
16:05
Speaker 1: to point them to the Cross. Let me tell you something, folks,
16:11
Speaker 1: When you get the Cross in the right perspective, everything
16:14
Speaker 1: comes together. Everything comes together when you get Christ in
16:20
Speaker 1: the clear focus. It is amazing how you know which
16:24
Speaker 1: one is the right goal line. It's amazing how you
16:28
Speaker 1: know how to walk and how to run the race
16:32
Speaker 1: set before us. David Jackman, a British expositor, writes this,
16:42
Speaker 1: in the spiritual context, we must never remain content with childishness.
16:50
Speaker 1: To be so is for Paul synonymous with worldliness, that
16:54
Speaker 1: is the flesh. It is to drift back to the
16:57
Speaker 1: old way of living, to the world's outlook and value systems,
17:04
Speaker 1: behaving only in a human way. In other words, like
17:08
Speaker 1: a natural man, and he adds Paul's point is that
17:15
Speaker 1: this worliness, this fleshiness, illustrates they have not yet come
17:21
Speaker 1: to grips with the message of the Cross. You will
17:29
Speaker 1: not drift from the truth if the Cross remains your focus.
17:33
Speaker 1: By that, I mean all that the cross represents, all
17:37
Speaker 1: that it symbolizes. It will reduce your pride to zilch,
17:44
Speaker 1: to nothing, and it will lift up the person of
17:48
Speaker 1: the Savior, and your whole way of life will be transformed,
17:53
Speaker 1: and you will again run in the right direction. Truth
17:59
Speaker 1: be to some of you are just now discovering the
18:04
Speaker 1: right way to run. You've never been taught it before,
18:10
Speaker 1: because religion will send you to the wrong goal line
18:14
Speaker 1: every time. Now look. Verse eighteen begins a series of
18:21
Speaker 1: statements this apostle makes regarding the message of the Cross,
18:27
Speaker 1: which we proclaim, which he proclaimed. The word of the
18:32
Speaker 1: Cross is foolishness. To those who are perishing, stop right there.
18:37
Speaker 1: See the word foolishness. The Greek term is moria. Guess
18:42
Speaker 1: what word we get from it in English to the
18:45
Speaker 1: people who are perishing, the cross is moronic. I mean,
18:50
Speaker 1: how stupid can you get? You cut off your head
18:53
Speaker 1: when you come to know this Jesus. When you start
18:55
Speaker 1: believing some cross message, how moronic. That's the word of
19:01
Speaker 1: the lost person. That's the person running in the wrong direction.
19:06
Speaker 1: In fact, Paul describes this conflicting opinion as those who
19:10
Speaker 1: see the cross as foolishness. And then he says, but
19:14
Speaker 1: to us who are being saved, why it is the
19:17
Speaker 1: very power of God. Then he quotes from Isaiah twenty
19:22
Speaker 1: nine in the verse that follows, I will destroy the
19:25
Speaker 1: wisdom of the wise, the cleverness of the clever, I
19:28
Speaker 1: will set aside. Look at the different desires that emerge
19:34
Speaker 1: verse twenty. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe?
19:40
Speaker 1: Where is the debater of this age? Pinpoint each of
19:47
Speaker 1: the three subjects. Let's let the wise represent the unsaved
19:51
Speaker 1: gentile intellectual. Where is that individual? What does he believe?
20:00
Speaker 1: Where is the scribe? That would be the learned Jewish
20:02
Speaker 1: scholar who is lost. Where is the debater of this age?
20:09
Speaker 1: That would be the Greek philosopher, who is an expert
20:13
Speaker 1: in debates and disputes and dialectical arguments and skills and discussions.
20:21
Speaker 1: They love philosophy. You've heard my definition of a philosopher.
20:25
Speaker 1: Perhaps he's a person who talks about things he doesn't understand,
20:29
Speaker 1: makes it sound like it's your fault. I mean, it's
20:32
Speaker 1: full of conundrums. Questions are answered by questions, and another
20:36
Speaker 1: question leads to another question, and you never come to
20:39
Speaker 1: a period. You only come to question marks. They love debate,
20:43
Speaker 1: They love this whole thing about disputes and arguments. All
20:48
Speaker 1: three represent the same kind of thinking. Their desire is
20:52
Speaker 1: to appear brilliant, to impress you who listen to that vocabulary. Wow,
21:00
Speaker 1: wonder where he studied. Look at those letters after his name. Wow,
21:05
Speaker 1: that guy is unreal. Look at that, but read further.
21:15
Speaker 1: Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world,
21:25
Speaker 1: God's desires to use the declaration of truth to save
21:29
Speaker 1: those who believe? One man writes, it is impossible to
21:38
Speaker 1: exaggerate the almost fantastic mastery that the silver tongued rhetorician held.
21:46
Speaker 1: In Greece, Plutarch says, they made their voices sweet with
21:53
Speaker 1: musical cadences and modulations of tones and echoed resonances. They
22:04
Speaker 1: thought not of what they were saying, but how they
22:08
Speaker 1: were saying. So impressed with their own stuff, so proud,
22:18
Speaker 1: Why God looks on that and brings them back to reality.
22:25
Speaker 1: Look here, since the wisdom of God, in the wisdom
22:29
Speaker 1: of God, the world through which wisdom did not come
22:32
Speaker 1: to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness
22:36
Speaker 1: of the message preached to save those who believe. Don't
22:40
Speaker 1: think preaching is foolishness. It's just a method that seems
22:44
Speaker 1: foolish to the world's system. Why on earth would intelligent
22:49
Speaker 1: people come and sit and listen to somebody preaching? I mean,
22:55
Speaker 1: how moronic can you get? I like the way Eugene
23:02
Speaker 1: Peterson renders this section. Listen, Since the world, in all
23:06
Speaker 1: its fancy wisdom, never had a clue when it came
23:09
Speaker 1: to knowing God, God, in his wisdom, took delight in
23:13
Speaker 1: using what the world considered dumb preaching of all things
23:19
Speaker 1: to bring those who trust Him into the way of salvation. Well,
23:24
Speaker 1: then what does the lost person want? Well read on
23:27
Speaker 1: verse twenty two. The Jews ask for miracles. The word
23:32
Speaker 1: signs is the idea of miracles. Show us the miracle,
23:35
Speaker 1: prove it with a miracle, and will believe it. Do
23:39
Speaker 1: what you cannot do in natural ways, and who will
23:44
Speaker 1: be impressed? We're looking for signs and the Greek search
23:48
Speaker 1: for wisdom. We're looking for those rhetorical comments, those eloquent words,
23:56
Speaker 1: the things that impress this verse twenty three, Paul says,
24:02
Speaker 1: but we who, by the way, was an incredible intellectual
24:07
Speaker 1: studied under Gameleil Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was the
24:12
Speaker 1: up and coming chief Pharisee, brilliant Jewish mind, and then
24:20
Speaker 1: came the road to Damascus where he was converted, and
24:24
Speaker 1: as a result he started running in the right direction.
24:28
Speaker 1: And as a result verse twenty three he preaches, Christ crucified,
24:32
Speaker 1: were back to the cross to the Jews? Why it's
24:37
Speaker 1: a stumbling block to the gentiles. Here's our word again, moronic.
24:46
Speaker 1: Now if you question that, next time you find yourself
24:48
Speaker 1: in a sophisticated group, bring up the cross. Just just
24:52
Speaker 1: bring it up as a topic of conversation. Hey, by
24:55
Speaker 1: the way, folks, I've noticed lately a great deal and
25:00
Speaker 1: starting the great deal about Jesus and his death on
25:02
Speaker 1: the cross. Bom hang on. Not a soul in the
25:08
Speaker 1: group will go, good for you? What a great study?
25:11
Speaker 1: They'll go?
25:12
Speaker 2: What?
25:14
Speaker 1: What you believe? What? That's the whole point of this
25:20
Speaker 1: section of scripture. But God honors the proclamation of the
25:27
Speaker 1: Cross to change lives. Roy Rigos was absolutely positive. He
25:34
Speaker 1: was running in the right direction, and along came his
25:37
Speaker 1: buddy said the way I'm going to tackle you. He said,
25:40
Speaker 1: what do you thinking get out of? This is my touchdown?
25:44
Speaker 1: You look back? You go, oh, Roy, please please please?
25:46
Speaker 1: Wrong direction. But to him it was the right way
25:50
Speaker 1: to run until he was tackled and somebody said, hey man,
26:00
Speaker 1: that's their goal line. We preach Christ crucified to the
26:05
Speaker 1: Jews of stumbling block, to the Gentiles foolishness, But to
26:08
Speaker 1: those who are the called Jews and Greeks, Christ the
26:11
Speaker 1: power of God, Christ, the wisdom of God. Why because
26:16
Speaker 1: twenty five says the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
26:21
Speaker 1: the weakness of God stronger than men. Now I love
26:29
Speaker 1: it when we get the verse twenty six. I have
26:33
Speaker 1: to believe that Paul had tongue in cheek for just
26:36
Speaker 1: a moment, just a little touch of apostolic humor. Here
26:42
Speaker 1: we're talking about sophisticates, those who are noble, blue bloods,
26:46
Speaker 1: those who are really slick. He says, consider you're calling brethren,
26:52
Speaker 1: we want to look at an opposite group. Look around.
26:56
Speaker 1: There were not many wise, according to the flesh, not many.
27:01
Speaker 1: Not many nobles didn't say any said not many, meaning what, Well,
27:12
Speaker 1: let's put it this way. This congregation is not made
27:15
Speaker 1: up of the brightest and the best. In the world's eyes.
27:22
Speaker 1: I got the idea that it would be helpful for
27:24
Speaker 1: us to realize that we represent in the world's eyes
27:32
Speaker 1: that which is foolish, that which is weak, that which
27:36
Speaker 1: is base, and that which is despised. Those aren't my words,
27:39
Speaker 1: They're all found in twenty seven and twenty eight. And
27:43
Speaker 1: I thought, well, let's look around. So once you do that,
27:47
Speaker 1: look around, just take a look. You haven't noticed yet.
27:51
Speaker 1: You shook their hands, but maybe haven't taken a real
27:53
Speaker 1: good look. Look around. Just whisper, are you blue blood?
27:57
Speaker 1: Just go ahead, you got really really great roots. I
28:04
Speaker 1: also took note of some places people could come from.
28:08
Speaker 1: Just pulled down an atlas and started looking. Booger Holler,
28:12
Speaker 1: Arkansas is one of those. Booger Holler, not bogie booger Holler.
28:19
Speaker 1: Lizard Lick. My son in law told me about Lizard Lick,
28:22
Speaker 1: North Carolina and Spivey's Corner. Now, maybe you heard of
28:26
Speaker 1: Spivey's Corner. They have the hollering contest, there hollering contest,
28:33
Speaker 1: and Spivey's If you're from Spivey's corner, don't tell anybody,
28:37
Speaker 1: just leave it. How about Prattsville, Arkansas? How about Pee wee,
28:43
Speaker 1: West Virginia, dime Box, Texas? And I tell you my
28:48
Speaker 1: favorite one for creativity, Nameless Tennessee. What shall we name
28:55
Speaker 1: our town? I don't know. Let's go with good idea.
29:01
Speaker 1: Let's call it namely folks. In case you've been sitting
29:06
Speaker 1: around a room full of mirrors. In case you, like Narcissus,
29:10
Speaker 1: have been stirring in the pool a little too long,
29:14
Speaker 1: focused on your image, look a little deeper, and you
29:18
Speaker 1: will not see a lacy, slick, little rainbow trout. What
29:20
Speaker 1: you will see is a wide mouthed, bottom feeding catfish.
29:26
Speaker 1: If you don't like that, that's part of your problem,
29:30
Speaker 1: because you've forgotten your pit, You've forgotten your depravity. You see,
29:38
Speaker 1: all ground is level at the foot of the cross.
29:42
Speaker 1: There is no captain or colonel or general. There is
29:45
Speaker 1: no sergeant or corporal. There is no ceo. Remember that
29:51
Speaker 1: the next time you're in a church where the top
29:53
Speaker 1: guys called CEO. Off base. There is no president. There
30:01
Speaker 1: is no cabinet, not in the family of God. All
30:04
Speaker 1: the ground at the foot of the cross level level.
30:11
Speaker 1: I love the way. Jim Elliott wrote it in his
30:14
Speaker 1: journal shortly before being martyred. We're all a bunch of
30:18
Speaker 1: nobody's trying to exalt the somebody praise God. You start there,
30:25
Speaker 1: you'll run the right direction. Look at it twenty seven.
30:31
Speaker 1: God has chosen the foolish things of the world to
30:34
Speaker 1: shame the wise who would have ever thunk it, And
30:39
Speaker 1: the weak things of the world to shame the things
30:42
Speaker 1: that are strong, the base things of the world that despised,
30:47
Speaker 1: things that are not, to nullify things that are. You know,
30:51
Speaker 1: there's a lady in our congregation from a town that
30:54
Speaker 1: no longer exists, no longer exists. Picture Oklahoma, Picture where
31:04
Speaker 1: you're from. Zero ain't even there anymore. Me. I'm from
31:14
Speaker 1: the great Metropolis Hill Campo, who great white Wave. Right
31:21
Speaker 1: down the road from Rosenberg, Bay City, Wharton. You go
31:30
Speaker 1: further south, plashes Plasius. You can smell before you get there, Shrimp,
31:37
Speaker 1: great spot, Port Lovaca. It's b boy is crazy. You
31:51
Speaker 1: know why I'll get there That cross, That's how come
31:58
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get there. Nothing else to give. I just
32:02
Speaker 1: got the cross. I just have a savior. He does
32:08
Speaker 1: all these things Verse twenty nine, so that no one
32:11
Speaker 1: may boast before God. You run in a wrong direction
32:17
Speaker 1: when you boast. If you want to toot your own horn,
32:22
Speaker 1: blow a trumpet for God, nobody else cares. Get off
32:29
Speaker 1: your high horse. You're just folks. You just wrapped up
32:34
Speaker 1: in the cross. And when you focus on that, it
32:39
Speaker 1: is remarkable what a filter system it will give you,
32:42
Speaker 1: and how to read current events, how to see life
32:46
Speaker 1: as it really is. You'll be so unimpressed because you
32:50
Speaker 1: don't hang around people to be impressed. You hang around
32:53
Speaker 1: folks with the hope of communicating and living out the truth.
32:58
Speaker 1: And the truth set is free from all that other pizazz.
33:04
Speaker 1: And how about Paul. Since we've been going on and
33:07
Speaker 1: on about how important this is, how about Paul, Let's
33:10
Speaker 1: ask him? Give us your testimony, all right? Verse one,
33:16
Speaker 1: Chapter two. Here's my testimony. Here's the honest truth, coming
33:22
Speaker 1: from the man who was running in the right direction.
33:29
Speaker 1: When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did
33:34
Speaker 1: not come with superiority of speech, or of the or
33:40
Speaker 1: of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. I
33:48
Speaker 1: determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and
33:56
Speaker 1: him crucified. I take my time here because I wanted
34:01
Speaker 1: to really sink in nothing except Jesus Christ. I wasn't
34:11
Speaker 1: interested in your salary. I wasn't interested in your petigree.
34:17
Speaker 1: I wasn't impressed by your prestigious background, or even for
34:22
Speaker 1: a few of you your impressive roots. Didn't care, don't care,
34:30
Speaker 1: never will care. I wanted to know, however, how you
34:33
Speaker 1: were doing with the cross. Do you really know Jesus?
34:39
Speaker 1: Is he really your savior? I determined to know nothing
34:47
Speaker 1: but that Robertson and Plumber right. I not only eschewed
34:55
Speaker 1: all affection of cleverness or eloquence, but I went to
34:59
Speaker 1: the opposite of stream of nervous self effacement. You see,
35:07
Speaker 1: Chlrinth put a premium on the veneer of false rhetoric
35:11
Speaker 1: and thin thinking. Gullible people are easy marks for pulpiteers.
35:23
Speaker 1: You didn't whip up a crowd anywhere if you didn't
35:26
Speaker 1: handle it on your feet. Whoa have you heard so
35:29
Speaker 1: and so? But what is he saying? Who is he exalting?
35:39
Speaker 1: I determined to know nothing except Christ and Christ crucified. Well,
35:46
Speaker 1: what was Paul like when he was there, He tells
35:48
Speaker 1: us in the next two verses, I was with you
35:52
Speaker 1: in weakness, in fear, in much trembling. I was with
36:04
Speaker 1: you in weakness and fear and much trembling. You maybe
36:11
Speaker 1: didn't know that about Paul. You know, the Corinthians later
36:14
Speaker 1: wrote him and said, you know, his letters are very
36:16
Speaker 1: weighty and impressive, but in his presence he's weak. He says,
36:26
Speaker 1: I was not all that impressive. My preaching and my
36:32
Speaker 1: message were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in
36:35
Speaker 1: the demonstration of the spirit and of power. Oh yeah.
36:41
Speaker 1: You see, when you are around individuals like this, you
36:44
Speaker 1: know they have a lot more behind the counter than
36:46
Speaker 1: they ever put on display. You know, there is depth
36:50
Speaker 1: as well as breadth. You know that there is a
36:54
Speaker 1: humble sense of security and confidence, whereas there is restraint
37:01
Speaker 1: in manipulating people. Gullible people love to be manipulated. Karnth
37:09
Speaker 1: was full of them. I mean they just moved from
37:11
Speaker 1: the theater back to the place of ministry and thought,
37:15
Speaker 1: do it like that? I mean, look at the crowds
37:18
Speaker 1: they get. Paul says, I didn't come to grow up
37:23
Speaker 1: a crowd. I came to deliver the truth, and my
37:27
Speaker 1: words were not that persuasive. I love the words of G.
37:32
Speaker 1: Campbell Morgan in his work on Corinthians. Listen to this
37:35
Speaker 1: very brief statement. Years ago, A great man, a good man,
37:40
Speaker 1: a saint, scholarly devoted said to me, speaking of another preacher.
37:46
Speaker 1: Yes he's a wonderful preacher, but you know he has
37:51
Speaker 1: sacrificed the prophet to the artist. Preachers should think of that,
37:58
Speaker 1: writes Morgan. It is possible to sacrifice the prophet to
38:02
Speaker 1: the artist, to be so concerned with eloquence and language
38:06
Speaker 1: and phrasing and beauty of style that the impact of
38:09
Speaker 1: truth is lost. That is what Paul meant. JB. Lightfoot
38:20
Speaker 1: writes he spoke in a plain, simple language, as became
38:25
Speaker 1: a witness his reason verse five, so that your faith
38:31
Speaker 1: would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on
38:33
Speaker 1: the power of God. He never forgot the truth of
38:39
Speaker 1: God's grace in his life. For much of my life,
38:44
Speaker 1: I have loved the statement made by John Allen, one
38:47
Speaker 1: of the saints of the Salvation Army Ministry, who at
38:50
Speaker 1: the time of death, made this simple statement, I deserve
38:55
Speaker 1: to be damned, I deserve to be in hell, but
38:59
Speaker 1: God in God interfered that man ran in the right direction.
39:16
Speaker 1: Right way, John Allen, Right way, Paul. Now, then I
39:25
Speaker 1: had three things I close with that I'd like you
39:28
Speaker 1: to write down somewhere. If you have the outline, you
39:30
Speaker 1: could use that, maybe an open page in your Bible.
39:34
Speaker 1: These are three statements I'd like you to take to
39:36
Speaker 1: your grave. I'd like you to repeat them. I'd like
39:40
Speaker 1: you to teach them to your kids. I'd like you
39:42
Speaker 1: to remind your grandkids of them. I'd like you to
39:45
Speaker 1: model them. More important than what I would like, I
39:49
Speaker 1: would encourage you to realize what God wants if you
39:52
Speaker 1: want to keep running in the right direction. These three
39:55
Speaker 1: simple things we should never forget will help. Number one,
40:01
Speaker 1: Remember the pit. Remember the pit. The prophet puts it
40:08
Speaker 1: this way. Remember the pit from which you were dug. Remember. Oh,
40:18
Speaker 1: it may have been a big city. It may have
40:20
Speaker 1: been a slick city. It may have been Las Vegas
40:22
Speaker 1: or Los Angeles, maybe in Chicago or Boston, or Dallas
40:26
Speaker 1: or Oklahoma City or Miami or Atlanta. May have been
40:30
Speaker 1: a big city. But you're from a pit. Your nature,
40:37
Speaker 1: your drive, your old self, it's it's a pit. Remember
40:44
Speaker 1: the pit. We are not influential or famous. We have
40:52
Speaker 1: not set a lot of records. We have not found
40:54
Speaker 1: some miracle cure. Nobody in this church has. We have
40:58
Speaker 1: certainly not come from power backgrounds. Are you kidding? We're
41:03
Speaker 1: all amazed that anybody listens when we talk. I'm surprised
41:09
Speaker 1: that anybody reads anything I write. I'm amazed folks stay
41:14
Speaker 1: through a whole sermon. I'm not saying they stay awake,
41:17
Speaker 1: but they stay through the whole sermon. You know why,
41:21
Speaker 1: because I never forget the pit. When you fail to
41:26
Speaker 1: remember the pit, you'll run in the wrong direction. You
41:31
Speaker 1: can put her down because you'll start thinking you're something
41:36
Speaker 1: want to stick. You forget your catfish, and you'll forget that.
41:43
Speaker 1: If the enemy had his way, he'd drag you down
41:46
Speaker 1: just to where he's going. But that the grace of
41:49
Speaker 1: God and the Cross, you're rescued. Remember the pit. Second,
41:55
Speaker 1: refuse the praise. Refuse the praise. A few things are
42:04
Speaker 1: a greater turn off in life than conceit and arrogant
42:09
Speaker 1: Christian is bad news for the Body of Christ and
42:13
Speaker 1: the world at large. There's no place for that. I
42:21
Speaker 1: don't care how popular you've gotten. Years ago, I was
42:29
Speaker 1: asked to be a part of a television program that
42:32
Speaker 1: was done in a panel, and they invited several of us.
42:35
Speaker 1: One of us a pastor, that's me, Another came as
42:38
Speaker 1: a teacher, and another came who was an administrator at
42:41
Speaker 1: a school happened to be a president of a little school.
42:43
Speaker 1: And the other one was in the media, Christian in
42:46
Speaker 1: the media. We were all a part of the panel
42:47
Speaker 1: of this program. And the man who was putting it
42:50
Speaker 1: all together said to two of us, by the way,
42:52
Speaker 1: would you mind going to the airport and picking up
42:54
Speaker 1: a man who's going to join our panel. He is
42:59
Speaker 1: a doctor so and so, and I said, okay, good.
43:01
Speaker 1: I don't know him, but I'll be glad to go.
43:03
Speaker 1: And I said, can you tell me what he looks like?
43:06
Speaker 1: He said, oh, you'll know him. So we knew him.
43:16
Speaker 2: He got off, had a head on his tight tied
43:19
Speaker 2: start shirt, real stern face, like where's the car?
43:27
Speaker 1: And I walked up. I said, you happen to be
43:31
Speaker 1: so and so and so doctor so and so. Uh yes,
43:35
Speaker 1: doctor so and so. I said, I thought maybe you were.
43:38
Speaker 1: You kind of looked like the president of the school.
43:41
Speaker 1: And he says, here are my bags? Oh okay, so
43:47
Speaker 1: Frank picked up that bag, and I picked up this bag,
43:49
Speaker 1: and we're walking along with doctor so and so and
43:51
Speaker 1: so and so. He said, tell me what was your name?
43:54
Speaker 1: And I told him, I said, He said, tell me,
43:58
Speaker 1: what does the president look like? I wanted to say,
44:01
Speaker 1: A jerk. You look like a jerk. You sound like
44:08
Speaker 1: a jerk. He was a jerk. What on earth happened
44:17
Speaker 1: to that man? He forgot the pit, spend too much
44:22
Speaker 1: time in front of a mirror? Can you believe it?
44:24
Speaker 1: In the middle of the night, somebody from my group
44:27
Speaker 1: ordered beer and pretzels and had them sent to his room.
44:33
Speaker 1: Who would do something like that? Who would ever do
44:38
Speaker 1: something like that to doctor, doctor whatever? When you failed
44:51
Speaker 1: to refuse the praise. You're running in the wrong direction.
44:55
Speaker 1: Wrong way Christian, wrong way Christian. You look like a jerk.
45:02
Speaker 1: You have bad advertisement for Christ. Nobody's impressed. You're a
45:09
Speaker 1: turn off. I tell the guys at the seminary, keep
45:14
Speaker 1: television cameras out of your church. You're not there for
45:18
Speaker 1: the world, Minister to your flock. Cameras are getting your way. Furthermore,
45:25
Speaker 1: you're not that good. People in front of cameras are
45:29
Speaker 1: good in front of cameras, and those of us who
45:32
Speaker 1: are hiding behind the cross look dumb in the eyes
45:35
Speaker 1: of the camera. We're here to deliver the goods and
45:39
Speaker 1: then get out of the way, get hurt a pin drop.
45:43
Speaker 1: And I said that it was like, you know why,
45:48
Speaker 1: because we're so enamored of the entertainment world that preaching
45:51
Speaker 1: has become entertaining and feeding you from the scriptures is
45:56
Speaker 1: a That's what dinosaurs do. Please remember the pit, refuse
46:08
Speaker 1: the praise, Rely on the power, Rely on the power.
46:19
Speaker 1: Oh God, without you, John fifteen to five. I am zilch.
46:29
Speaker 1: I am nothing. I got up this morning with a
46:36
Speaker 1: splitting headache. Last place I wanted to be was here.
46:41
Speaker 1: I got to thinking, oh man, somebody's got to show up.
46:48
Speaker 1: I didn't feel like being here. I was discouraged. Something
46:51
Speaker 1: had happened that just cut the slats out from under me,
46:54
Speaker 1: and I thought, good night, of all days, why couldn't
46:58
Speaker 1: this be Tuesday or Saturday, but Sunday. And between the
47:09
Speaker 1: splitting headache and the first morning service, I decided to
47:16
Speaker 1: rely on the power. Let me tell you. I just said, God,
47:25
Speaker 1: I got to have you. You just have to say
47:28
Speaker 1: it for me, through me, change me God, change me,
47:38
Speaker 1: use me, and give enough people patience to listen. Because
47:43
Speaker 1: this is such a good truth. Remember the pit, refuse
47:47
Speaker 1: the praise, rely on the power. When you fail to
47:52
Speaker 1: rely on the power, you run in the wrong direction. Please,
47:57
Speaker 1: I don't care how gifted you are by the changes
48:06
Speaker 1: he can bring. I love this little story. John Hutton
48:11
Speaker 1: used to tell a his story with Gusto. John Hutton,
48:15
Speaker 1: a man who had been a reprobate and an alcoholic,
48:18
Speaker 1: was captured for Christ. Captured by Christ, his workmates used
48:24
Speaker 1: to try to shake him and say, surely a sensible
48:28
Speaker 1: man like you cannot believe in all those miracles of
48:30
Speaker 1: Bible talks about. You cannot, for instance, believe that this
48:35
Speaker 1: Jesus of yours turned water into wine. Come on, whether
48:42
Speaker 1: he turned water into wine or not, said the man.
48:45
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I know in my own house,
48:50
Speaker 1: I saw him turn liquor into furniture. In my house,
49:02
Speaker 1: I saw a man that almost ruined his marriage get
49:07
Speaker 1: his life turned around, and for ten years he had
49:12
Speaker 1: every reason in the world to walk out on me,
49:14
Speaker 1: and she didn't. I saw a father who could have
49:18
Speaker 1: ruined the lives of his children. I saw a preoccupied
49:22
Speaker 1: dad who traveled too much. He's too busy, and it
49:30
Speaker 1: dawned on me one day. If I don't get a
49:31
Speaker 1: hold of this, I'm gonna be another statistic. Oh God,
49:43
Speaker 1: I'm yours. You got all the power. I have none
49:47
Speaker 1: of it. Tackle me. I want you to bow your heads,
50:02
Speaker 1: and I want you to close your eyes. I know
50:04
Speaker 1: what time it is, so things are under control. Maba
50:11
Speaker 1: wants you to sit there. The only reason you're running
50:17
Speaker 1: in a wrong direction is either you don't know Jesus,
50:24
Speaker 1: and that's a very real probability for you running in
50:28
Speaker 1: the wrong direction. Don't think that's a message given to
50:31
Speaker 1: somebody else. It's you I'm talking to. Either you don't
50:36
Speaker 1: know Jesus or you don't care that you're operating in
50:41
Speaker 1: the flesh. You're a Christian and you're a jerk, and
50:47
Speaker 1: you're making a mess of the message in the minds
50:50
Speaker 1: of people who've been watching wondering how on earth you
50:53
Speaker 1: could call yourself a Christian. Some of them live in
50:57
Speaker 1: your own home. Well, I suggest you get with it.
51:04
Speaker 1: Trust in the Savior right now, turn your life over
51:07
Speaker 1: to him. Get to the foot of the cross as
51:10
Speaker 1: fast as your little feet will carry you, and say
51:13
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ, I am coming to you from the pit.
51:20
Speaker 1: If you don't rescue me, I'm sunk, I'm hell bound,
51:26
Speaker 1: I'm lost. Take me, I'm yours. Take me, I take
51:32
Speaker 1: your son. Please give me your righteousness. I take it now.
51:42
Speaker 1: Or if you're Cardinal Christian, it's a great time for
51:45
Speaker 1: you this afternoon to look through the journal of your
51:49
Speaker 1: life and find the spot when you miss the mark
51:52
Speaker 1: and starting going in a wrong direction and turn around.
51:57
Speaker 1: Otherwise there'll be an incident along the way that's going
51:59
Speaker 1: to tackle you, and you'll realize what a mess you've made,
52:04
Speaker 1: not only of your life, but of others. If we
52:08
Speaker 1: confess our sins, believers, if we confess our sins, that is,
52:13
Speaker 1: agree with God about them. He is righteous and just
52:18
Speaker 1: to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
52:22
Speaker 1: all unrighteousness. If you need help, and I imagine most
52:28
Speaker 1: of you would, to turn the journey around, there are
52:31
Speaker 1: people with soul care who are so carefully trained, have
52:35
Speaker 1: such compassion, such wisdom, better counselors than I ever will be,
52:40
Speaker 1: who are available following every one of our worship services
52:43
Speaker 1: at the prayer rooms at the doorway. Or you may
52:48
Speaker 1: simply say I'm going to take care of this myself.
52:51
Speaker 1: Then you need to write us and say, let me
52:53
Speaker 1: tell you the decision I've made. Sign your name, give
52:57
Speaker 1: us a number we'll contact you. Will help you. Yeah,
53:01
Speaker 1: we will never shame you. We will help you. We'll
53:05
Speaker 1: be grateful for you. Father. Thank you for the cross.
53:18
Speaker 1: Thank you for the cross. Help us to remember the
53:24
Speaker 1: pit from which we've been dug. Enable us to refuse
53:28
Speaker 1: the praise. Just deliberately and consistently restore us, Lord, as
53:34
Speaker 1: we rely on your power in Jesus dear name. I
53:39
Speaker 1: pray everybod said Amen. The preceding message, The Cross We Proclaim,
53:50
Speaker 1: was copyrighted in two thousand and eight, and the sound
53:53
Speaker 1: recording was copyrighted in two thousand and nine by Charles R. Swindall.
53:56
Speaker 1: In all rights are reserved worldwide.