I. The Fact Of The Cross V. 1:18a
A. Jesus Christ, The Crucifixion, And The Resurrection Are All Facts
B. Christianity Differs From Other Religions By Being Factual
1. Many religions will start by offering you a philosophy or way of thinking.
a. You may be taught about human nature and how to change human behavior.
b. How to conquer bad habits and develop your potential.
2. Other religions may start by offering you stories have little or no evidence.
3. Others will teach you from their own experiences, which are often not viewed very objectively, but rather interpreted very subjectively.
4. Christianity starts with verifiable evidence about Jesus, his death and resurrection.
a. Christianity starts with historically documented facts.
b. The New Testament is a very historically reliable document.
II. There Are Two People Groups Upon The Earth V. 1:18b
A. Those Who Are Perishing
1. John 3:16-19 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
B. Those Who Are Being Saved
1. John 5:34b …but I say these things that you may be saved.
2. Acts 2:21 …whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.’
3. Acts 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
III. Those Who Are Perishing
A. They Reject The Message Of The Cross V. 23
1. stumbling block-a trap-stick (bent sapling), i.e. snare, occasion to fall, thing which offends
2. We must understand the Jews’ abhorrence of the cross.
a. It was an instrument of the cruelest kind of execution.
b. Our methods of execution are tame by comparison
c. A man who died by crucifixion would suffer for at hours or days, before he died.
d. It was horribly painful, and terribly humiliating.
e. Roman citizens were never crucified, only non-Romans.
f. The Jews questioned how God could accomplish anything through such a method.
3. The Greek mind could not conceive of how a man dying on a cross could accomplish anything for all of mankind.
a. Foolishness- moria, mo-ree’-ah; silliness, absurdity.
b. Acts 17:18, 21 Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler (seed picker) want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. 21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
4. The quest for a sign (of deliverance) among the Jews, or for wisdom among the Gentiles was not bad; but they would only be satisfied with the signs or wisdom that suited them.
B. Some People Seek After Tangible Proof
1. 1 Corinthians 1:22a For Jews request a sign…
2. Mark 8:11 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.
3. There are those who say that God should show them a sign of His existence.
a. That if He will show them a sign, then they will believe.
4. Luke 16:31 “But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'”
5. God has left us many visible signs of His existence.
a. Psalm 19:1-3 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
b. Romans 1:19, 20 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
8. Matthew 12:39, 40 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
C. Some Seek A Message That Appeals To Their Reasoning
1. Of the Greeks: “Their error was to conceive of God as ultimate Reason, meaning of course what we deem to be reasonable.” (Fee)
2. God’s wisdom is not man’s wisdom multiplied to the highest degree. Totally different.
D. An Important Distinction To Notice
1. There is a big difference between knowledge and wisdom.
2. Paul isn’t condemning all learning or education; he is merely saying that they are, in themselves, useless for obtaining spiritual wisdom.
a. Knowledge- The accumulation of facts.
b. Wisdom- Having the discernment to evaluate a situation and rightly use the facts.
5. The increase of knowledge continues to point us to God, but people don’t turn to God.
6. In spite of all the increase in knowledge, mankind is still just as sinful as ever
7. Vance Packard-A person can be high in learning ability and memory, and still remain a fool. The two do not add up to either brilliance or wisdom in thinking. Until someone comes along with a pill for wisdom, we might better aspire to become a more humane society, rather than a more brainy one.
IV. The Message Of The Cross
A. Man Is A Sinner Deserving Judgment
B. God Is Holy And Just, And Must Punish Sinful Man
C. God Loves Man, And Provides A Way For Mercy To be Shown
D. It Pleases God To Save Man
C. S. Lewis: It is hardly complimentary to God that we should choose him as an alternative to hell. Yet even this he accepts. The creature’s illusion of self-sufficiency must, for the creature’s sake, be shattered. And by trouble, or fear of trouble on earth, by crude fear of the eternal flames, God shatters it, unmindful of his glory’s diminution. I call this “divine humility,” because it’s a poor thing to strike our colors to God when the ship is going down under us, a poor thing to come to him as a last resort, to offer up our own (life)when it is no longer worth keeping. If God were proud, he would hardly have us on such terms. But he is not proud. He stoops to conquer. He would have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to him and come to him because there is nothing better now to be had.