(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Father, I just pray that you would speak to our hearts through the Bible tonight. And in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Now I want to draw special attention to verse number 18 in this chapter where the Bible says, For the preaching of the cross is to them to perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Now we see the dichotomy there of the preaching of the cross, to one group, to those that are saved, and my favorite letter in the word saved is the D on the end, saved. It's done. It's one time, you get saved, you're born again, passed from death unto life, eternal life is yours, saved. Not as all modern Bibles change this verse, even the New King James changes it to, you're being saved. No, you done been saved, okay? You are saved, it's the power of God. Those that are not saved find the preaching of the cross foolish. What does foolish mean? It means ridiculous, stupid, I mean it doesn't make any sense. Foolishness. It makes no sense to the unsaved person, the preaching of the cross. I have three points tonight, three things about this preaching of the cross that the world finds foolish, but that to us that are saved it's the power of God. Number one, there are three crosses that I want to draw attention to. Number one, the preaching of the cross, I'm talking about the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ. Number one is his cross. Look if you would at John chapter 19, turn your Bible to John 19. The preaching of the cross is to them to perish foolishness, but then to us which are saved it is the power of God. Now look at John 19 verse number 17, the Bible reads, and he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him, and two other with him on either side won, and Jesus in the midst. Now Jesus Christ, the Bible first of all shows us his cross, the preaching of the cross, foolishness to those that perish, but then to us which are saved it is the power of God. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Bible says in first Peter 2 24, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes are you healed. First John 2 2 reads, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Hebrews 9 27, and it is the point that the man wants to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. You see when we preach the cross of Jesus Christ to the unsaved world, and we tell them that Jesus has borne all our sins, Jesus has paid for all our sins, and that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shall be saved. When we hear that message, it's the power of God to us, but we preach that to an unsaved Christ denying world. They say that's foolishness. You mean to tell me, and you know this if you've been soul winning, you mean to tell me that some sinful ungodly person can just believe on Jesus and they're going to go to heaven? Give me a break. I mean we heard that today. You mean to tell me that a murderer could believe on Jesus Christ and be saved? I mean it's foolishness to them. I mean come on, you at least have to follow the commandments. You at least have to follow the Ten Commandments, right? You at least have to try to live a good life. Come on, you at least have to ask forgiveness every time you sin. Hey, if you have to ask forgiveness every time you sin, I'd be asking forgiveness all day long. That's all I'd be doing. If you really were asking forgiveness for every sin that you commit. Hey, the thought of wickedness is sin, the Bible says, but then the knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. Not only doing the things that God says not to do are sins, but not doing the things that you're supposed to do are a sin. And as a sinner, there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sineth not, the Bible says. And so we, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace. See that's a foolish message to the unsaved world who believes that you have to earn your way to heaven, who believes that you go to heaven by doing good things and righteous acts, who believes that bad people go to hell and good people go to heaven. They tell me that some bad person is going to go to heaven, hey we're all bad. We all do wrong. There's none righteous, no not one. There's none that doeth good, no not one. And so the preaching of the cross to us that are saved, hey it's the greatest news we've ever heard. When I look back at all the sins that I've done, when I think about all the wrong things that I've done in life, hey it's such a great, glorious, blessed truth to know that Jesus Christ died to pay for all my sins. What does the cross of Jesus Christ represent? The cross of Jesus Christ represents one man bearing the sins of the entire world. The just suffering for the unjust is what the cross is. I mean what did he mean when he said the preaching of the cross? He said we preach Christ crucified is what he says in the next verse. He says to the Jews it's a stumbling block because they believe in work salvation. They believe you have to work your way to heaven. He said to the Greeks it's foolishness. It makes no sense to them that one man would die on the cross for the sins of the whole world and offer pardon to all, offer home in heaven to all because he died to pay for their sins. Hey that's foolishness to the world. Does which are saved it's the power of God. The Bible reads in 1 Corinthians 15 one, you don't have to turn there, moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel. Now what does the word gospel mean? If you let the Bible define itself the word gospel means good tidings, good news. God quotes a verse in Isaiah 61 one in Luke chapter four it says in the Old Testament glad tidings, good tidings, in the New Testament he calls it the gospel. And so the Bible says I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you which also you have received and wherein you stand by which also you are saved if you keep in remember or in memory what I preached unto you unless you believed in vain for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how the Christ died for our sins according to the scripture and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scripture. The Bible reads in Isaiah 53 five but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes are we healed. See the preaching of the cost of the preaching that Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Jesus Christ died for every sin that you've ever done. That's the power of God my friend. That's a powerful message. Stop and think about some of the things that you've done wrong in your life. We all have things that we've done wrong in our life that are ungodly for to think that Jesus Christ was punished for what you did. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we should be made the righteousness of God in him. Hallelujah what a savior. I mean every time he was beaten it was because of something that you did. The nail that was shoved into his hand was for a sin that you committed. The beating that he took the crown of thorns shoved into his head was for the iniquities that I've done in my lifetime. My transgressions, my sins, hey that's the most glorious message in the world. That your love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He said henceforth I call you no more servants. He says I call you my friends. Hey that's a powerful message of the gospel. That's a glorious message but to those that are not saved they think it's foolish. They think it's silly that you can just pray some little prayer and you're going to heaven. It's not praying some little prayer. It's taking your faith and placing it on God incarnate. I mean they say oh that's too easy. They call it cheap grace. You think the blood of Jesus Christ is cheap because that's what purchases your salvation. Cheap, it's not cheap grace, it's free grace. It's not cheap, it's free. It's even less cost than cheap. Cheap means you pay a little bit. No it's free. It's not cheap at all. It's a gift of God. The Bible says in Colossians 1.14 you don't have to turn there in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Ephesians 1.7 in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. See this doesn't make sense to the world when Jesus is on the cross and says Father forgive them for they know not what they do. That doesn't make sense to the world. That's not the world we live in. The world we live in is a cut-throat, dog-eat-dog, look-out-for-number-one kind of a world. Christianity is the exact opposite. It's one man suffering for somebody else's sins to bring them to God. That's what Jesus Christ is. That's what the message of the cross is. Matthew 27, go ahead and turn there. Matthew 27, right at the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew chapter 27. Look at verse 27 of Matthew 27. The Bible reads in Matthew 27, 27, well look at verse 26, the Bible reads, Then released he Barabbas unto them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Now it's easy to pass over that phrase there, but see when they scourged Jesus they beat him 39 times with a whip, was their custom. We just read it in one little sentence, but there's other places in the Bible that go into more detail. There's four Gospels that give the same account from four different angles, but you can imagine they took off his coat from him and they beat him with a whip 39 times. The Bible says that he had stripes for every beating, I mean bloody stripes. The blood flowed out of the stripes in his back. It says they scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified, then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered him in the whole band of soldiers and they stripped him. Now if you've ever had a cut and then you put clothing on it, you know the blood seeps through and basically the clothing becomes part of the wound, becomes part of the scab. Can you imagine when they stripped the robe off of him how that must have hurt just to reopen all those wounds and the blood continued to flow out of his body? They stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe. They're mocking him. They're making a fool out of him, pretending like he's some kind of a king, right? And they put on the scarlet robe and the Bible said when they plaited or braided a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying, hail, king of the Jews, and they spit upon him. Boy, have you ever had somebody spit in your face? Raise your hand if you've had somebody spit in your face. There's nothing quite like it. I've been spat in the face more times than I can even count. When somebody spits in your face, I'm being honest with you, I'm not making that up. When somebody spits in your face, there's something about it that just makes your blood boil. You know what I mean? I mean, there's other things that people get to say or do, but when somebody spits in your face, it's so gross, or here's the worst thing, when somebody gives you a wet willy, you know where they lick their finger and put it in your ear? I'm sorry I brought that up. I remember I had an uncle when I was a kid that would give me a wet willy in my ear and you can't get the spit out for hours. And so there's nothing worse than having somebody spit in your face, it's the ultimate insult. I mean the most extreme insult, they've beaten him, they've abused him, they're making fun of him, they're mocking him, and then they have the gall to spit in the face of the son of God. Can you imagine? It says in verse number, let me find my place here, it says that they spit upon him and he took the reed that he had in his hand, remember he's holding a reed like a long stick as a scepter, he's got a fake crown that's made out of sharp thorns to injure his head further, then they take the reed out of his head, and look what it says that they did. It says they smote him on the head. So then after they spit on him, they take a stick and beat him in the head with it. Imagine being bludgeoned in the head with a stick, and imagine this, he's got the crown of thorns on his head when they beat him with the stick. So you can imagine how the impact of that stick, slamming into the side of his head, the crown shoved deeper into his head, the blood flows down his face. The Bible says in verse number 31, and after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him. Notice just how many times the clothes were coming off, on, off, on, on his bloody wounded back. The Bible says, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. You know these pictures of Jesus, they always show him on the cross naked. Doesn't the Bible clearly say that they clothed him before they took him to the cross? I think that those artists back then who draw this long-haired, sissified Jesus, they just enjoyed drawing a nude man, is what was really going on. I mean, I'm dead serious, because doesn't the Bible just, well the Bible clearly says that Jesus had short hair, clearly states that long hair on a man is a sin. But not only that, the Bible clearly says here that they clothed him in his raiment. Now they took his coat, and they cast lots upon his coat, because it was an expensive coat. It was a constant coat, it was all woven, the Bible says there was no seam in his coat, it was all one piece. That type of a garment is expensive, because it's difficult to make. And so he's wearing a coat, they wanted it, they gambled to see who would get the coat, but Jesus' clothing was on his body when he was crucified, clearly. And so the Bible says that they put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him, and as they came out they found the man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled to bear his cross, and when they were coming to a place called Golgotha, that is to say a place in Skol, they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with Gol, and when he had tasted thereof he would not drink, and they crucified him, and parted his garments casting lots that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, they parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots, and sitting down, they watched him there. Who would want to watch this grotesque sight? The Bible says, and set up over his head and his accusation written, this is Jesus the King of the Jews, then were there two thieves crucified with them, one on the right hand and another on the left, and they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying thou that destroys the temple, build us in three days, save thyself, thou be the son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priest mocking him with the scribes and elders said, he saved others himself, he cannot save, if he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him, he trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him, for he said I am the son of God. The thieves also which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land, and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is to say my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is the cross. The cross is a story of the blood of Jesus Christ flowing out of his body. The story of the cross, the preaching of the cross is a story of Jesus Christ being beaten, punished, abused, mocked, ridiculed for your sins. The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me, Jesus said, speaking of the Father. See the cross, the preaching of the cross, hey the plan of salvation is the cross. Salvation is not the baptismal tank. Salvation is not the wafer and the juice and the wine in the Catholic church. Salvation is not the confessional booth. Salvation is not church service. Salvation is at the front of the cross, look and live my brother, live. Get on your knees before God, this is what salvation is. I did it when I was six years old. I got on my knees and I had an image in my mind of Jesus Christ bleeding on the cross for my sins, dying, being buried, raising again for my justification. And I remember as a six year old boy on my knees before God saying, I know I'm a sinner. I know that I deserve to go to hell and I know that I have no hope of heaven except for you Jesus Christ, you're the only savior and I believe that you'll save me right now if I put my faith in you. I don't remember it so vividly, I remember it like it was yesterday and I could picture the room, I mean I was only six, I don't remember very much from when I was six, but boy do I remember the day that I sat down on my knees by my mother's bedside and she showed me in the Bible, she opened John 5 24 and showed me verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is fast from death to life. And I just remember being on my knees and I can remember I had no thought of, I'm going to start living a good life, I'm going to start obeying the Bible. I can't even cross my mind. The thought that I had was, I mean I was scared to death, I remember thinking to myself, hell is my destiny without Jesus Christ, I must be saved, I must believe on Jesus Christ and I remember believing on Jesus Christ and being saved and walking away knowing that I was going to heaven, not because of anything that I did or was going to do but because I believed the promise of God in the Bible. I love the song, Just as I Am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me and I like the part where it says, because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God I come. And that's what salvation is, the cross. Salvation is the cross of Jesus Christ, the preaching of the cross. To them to perish, foolishness, a mockery, much like they mocked him back then when he was on the cross. To those of us that are saved, it's the power of God. 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. See pride is the reason why people don't get saved. They want to take credit for getting themselves to heaven. They want to talk about all the sins that they gave up, how they turned their whole life around. They don't want to talk, hey when you talk to me about salvation, let him that glory, glory in the Lord, it said at the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 1, the chapter that we read at the beginning of the hour, hey let him that glory, glory in the Lord, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of all Lord Jesus Christ, Paul said. He didn't go around glorying and all the things that he gave up, he said whatsoever things were gained to me, those I count loss for Christ, he said I count all things but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own rights as witches of the law, but that was through the faith of Christ, the rights as witches of God by faith. Forbid it Lord that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that target me most, I sacrifice them to thy blood. He from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down, did as such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a crowd, where the whole realm of nature mine that were present far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. But number two, not only is there his cross, the cross of Jesus Christ, the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ, but what about your cross? So number one, we saw his cross, now let's talk about your cross. Look at Matthew chapter 16, I'm going to show you the first three times in the Bible that the word cross is ever used. Now I think there's always something significant about the first time God uses a word. Because as you're reading through the Bible, let's say you start reading the New Testament and you're not going to find any mention of the words the cross in the Old Testament. Now you'll find allusions to the cross, you'll find graphic descriptions of Jesus dying on the cross. But the first time that you'll see the word cross is when you get into the New Testament and it's in Matthew chapter 10, you're in chapter 16. The first time that the word cross is used is not about Jesus' cross. The first time that the word cross is used is about your cross, and this is before Jesus even died on the cross. Listen to this, Matthew 10, 38, first mention, and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. First time Jesus ever mentioned it. Look down in your Bible in Matthew 16 and see the second time that he mentioned it in verse 24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. There's your second mention. You know what the third mention is? You don't have to turn there. Matthew 27, 32, and as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene. You read it a few moments ago, Simon by name, him they compelled to bear his cross. So the first three mentions of the word cross is Jesus saying, you bear your cross and follow me. It's a precursor to him dying on it, but he knows what he's going to do on the cross. And here, the third mention, we see a man, Simon, bearing the cross for Jesus, right? If you ever hear the song, must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there's a cross for everyone and there's a cross for me. Great song. But look down, if you would, turn to 1 Peter 2. I want you to see this. This is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. I love 1 Peter chapter 2. I love the book of 1 Peter, but I love 1 Peter chapter 2 is my favorite chapter in the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter number 2. This is where we took the verse earlier of verse 24, who himself, to his own self, bear our sins and his own body on the tree. That's verse 24. But we're going to begin reading verse number 19. 1 Peter 2.19, the Bible reads, for this is thank worthy, and I love this, for this is thank worthy. If a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully, who does that remind you of? That reminds me of Jesus Christ suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if we need be buffeted, I was talking about somebody hitting you, if you be buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently, you should take it patiently. But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Well, this is hard, isn't it? This is hard to apply, but this is the truth. The Bible says, for even here unto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that he should follow in his steps. What steps? The steps of suffering for others. That's the steps of Christ. That's what Christianity is. That's what it is to be like Christ. That's what it is to take up your cross. It says, leave us an example that he should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, verse 23, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. See you'll never be more like Jesus Christ than when you suffer wrongfully for doing right. When you take up the cross like Jesus Christ and suffer for the benefit of other people. You think about, and of course marriage is such an illustration of Jesus. The Bible says, you know, Christ died for the church as Christ loved the church, so husbands ought to love their own wives. He says Christ is the head of the church, the husband is the head of the wife, and he has a whole illustration there in Ephesians chapter 5. You know, maybe the cross in your life is a bad marriage. You can walk away from the cross and say, no, I will not suffer like Jesus Christ did. I will not endure the pain of doing right, of not sinning, of doing what's righteous. Or you can walk away from the cross, or you can pick up that cross and bear the cross of Jesus. You can't see anything in your life. The cross could be a physical ailment that God has put on you. Physical problems that you're suffering from. And you could let your physical problems, you know, keep you out of church. I mean, good night. If you're going to let something keep you, if you're looking for something to get you out of church, you're always going to be able to find something. You know, excuse not to go to church. And some people have severe physical problems. And you know, you can let that hold you back and keep you out of church, or you can pick up the cross and say, I'm not going to let my physical ailments keep me from serving God. You could be a soul winner in other ways. You know, maybe you say, well, I can't knock doors because of health. Hey, you run into, you come into contact with people, no matter who you are, unsaved people, all the time. You could open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. You could take up your cross and say, I'm willing to endure the pain of going to church when it's, when it's not comfortable for me to go to church and willing to endure the pain of staying in a bad marriage because it's what, because it's what's right to do because it's till death has to do part because it's the cross that God has given me to carry. Hey, I'm going to carry the cross for Jesus Christ, or maybe your cross is the cross of taking upon yourself the burden of a city like Tempe and saying, I'm going to suffer and I'm going to give my life, I'm going to pour every bit of money that I have, I'm going to put every bit of sweat and toil and blood and tears into reaching the city of Tempe with the gospel. Hey, I'm going to take up the cross upon me for the sake of the unsaved, ungodly that live in Tempe that need the glorious light of the gospel to shine in. You see, that's why, that's why I'm here. That's why I sold everything I had, moved across the country and came to Tempe, Arizona. Why? Because I wanted to pick up a cross willingly. Nobody forced me to pick up the cross. Nobody's going to force you to pick up your cross. He says if you want to follow me, you're going to have to take up your cross. You're going to have to decide that you're going to suffer for the good of other people. You're going to have to decide nobody's going to make you go soul winning. Nobody's going to make you go out in 105 degrees, 110 degrees this summer in July and August and September. But you know what? I'll be out there every week, July, August, September, I promise you. I'll be there every week. I'll spend several hours. I'll probably carry my Gatorade. I get to the point where you just realize I carry the Gatorade to the door. I mean, I say, just a minute, I'm in the middle of giving people the gospel, I'll take a swig of Gatorade. You know, I'm not going to let the heat be an excuse. A friend of mine was looking for a good church in her area, and she asked the pastor if they did soul winning, and he said, I go soul winning seven months out of the year. The other five months is too cold, but seven months out of the year, I go soul winning. I'm thinking to myself, when I lived in Chicago, I went soul winning when it was below zero on the thermometer. And I remember me and my friend Reggie, okay, me and my good buddy, brother Reggie, we'd go out soul winning. We'd knock one door, give somebody the gospel, and we'd go back to the car, turn on the engine, just kind of warm up a little bit, and we'd go to the next door. I mean, we got stuck in the snow just going soul winning. I mean, we did not let it stop us. We were there every single week, soul winning. Didn't stop us. It didn't stop us last summer from having our three day soul winning marathon where brother Jimenez and I and many others that went soul winning with us were out knocking doors just all day long. I mean, hour upon hour, we had the Gatorade, we'd stop and cool down, but we went hour after hour. It was 110 degrees outside if it was one degree. I mean, it was very hot. Why? Because we're willing to suffer to bring salvation to the lost. That's what Christianity is. Christianity is you suffering for someone else. That's what Christianity is. It's not just a list of do's and don'ts. It's not just, oh, Christianity is my haircut. Christianity is the suit that I'm wearing right now. Christianity is the fact that I go to church three times a week. Christianity means that I don't cuss and I don't chew and I don't go with girls who do. Okay. That's Christianity. No, that's not Christianity. Christianity is suffering for others, is suffering for the lost and you know what? If you're going to suffer for the lost, if you're going to suffer reproach, if you're going to suffer wrongfully when you've done right, you have to do right first because that's what it says here. It says at the beginning, if you're doing wrong and you suffer, what good is it? He says you've got to be doing right. That's where the list of rules of do's and don'ts. I didn't make the rules. I don't enforce the rules. God's rules. That's where the rules come in. He says be like Christ. Live the clean life that Christ lived. Live the righteous, godly, separated, sanctified, holy life of Christ and then once you've lived the sanctified life, then pick up the cross. Don't just stop with living a clean life. Pick up the cross and say I'm going to endure the pain like Jesus did to see people saved, to change somebody's life, to be a good testimony of what's right. Go ahead and take the easy way out. Go ahead and go down to the divorce court, my friend. Go ahead and move because finances are rough like Naomi and Elimelech did. Go ahead and bail out for whatever reason. Go ahead and let adversity and hard times stop you or you can look at that adversity and the hard times and you can say I'm not going to walk away from the problems. I'm not going to walk away from the fight. I'm not going to walk away from the struggle. I'm going to face it head on. I'm going to pick it up and put it on my back and carry it all the way to the finish line. That's what Christianity is. That's what Jesus Christ is all about. That's the preaching of the cross. Now the preaching of the cross is twofold. Number one, we preach his cross. Salvation through the cross, not of works unless any man should boast. But number two, the preaching about you carrying your cross to the world, it's foolishness. The world thinks we're nuts when we're out there soul winning in the heat. They think we're out of our minds. Pouring rain. We're in one of these monsoons, knocking doors. People think we're out of our minds. It's foolish to them. Hey, look at us. We're just saved. When we watch somebody get saved, that's the power of God. You see, are you staying in a bad marriage? The world says, honey, you better drop that zero and get you a hero. You know, all you have to do is watch Oprah Winfrey or one of these Ricki Lay. Honey, you are so too good for him. He doesn't deserve you. You know how these talks goes on. I don't watch them. Good night. I saw them when I was a little kid. Okay. You don't deserve him. You're too good for him. Or he doesn't deserve you. You could do so much better, honey. You better drop him right now. That's what the world will tell you. Go ahead and get your marriage advice from the people at the water cooler at work. Go ahead and talk to your unsaved friends about your marriage. If you do, you're foolish. They'll give you all the wrong advice. They've been divorced so many times. They want you to get divorced like they've been divorced because misery loves company. That's why. And so you've got to stick it out. You got to do what God wants you. You got to bear the cross because bearing the cross is foolishness. It's foolish to people that we sacrifice to go to church, that we sacrifice to go soul winning, that we sacrifice to read the Bible. It's foolishness, but to us which are saved, it's the power of God. To the world, it seems foolish. I mean, the world looks at our life and thinks we're a bunch of fools. They think it's ridiculous. Church, three times a week, you're nuts. Soul winning? Knocking on a stranger's door? No. You don't do that. That's bizarre. You know, people, they don't understand it. Tithing. Tithing to the world is foolishness. Those of us that are saved know that not tithing is foolishness. And I'm not one of these money hungry people. I don't preach on money and everything. Good night. But I'm going to tell you something. Not tithing is scary. It's foolishness. Just read the Bible. God said that he'll curse you if you don't die. So you're basically going to end up losing more financially. You'll lose it when you have to go to the doctor, when you have to go to the mechanic, when you have to go, you know, God says the devourer is going to take it out on your hide. But see, if you're tithing, for us that are saved, it's the power of God. God says I'll open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there won't be room enough to receive it. And I don't think that that's a financial blessing. Okay. I think God's just going to bless your life through your obedience. And I do think God will provide your needs and allow you to live on the 90%. Foolishness to the world. And to us which are saved, it's the power of God. Staying in a bad marriage? Foolishness to the world. For us which are saved, it's the power of God. You can go to heaven one day and say, I was like Jesus Christ. I suffered wrongfully. I swore to my own hurt. I changed not. I did right. I did right for all eternity, ruling and reigning with Christ Jesus because you did right. Okay. And those of you that have made the mistake of divorce, I'm not preaching against you, of course. You can do right from here on out. You'll have another cross. You say, I didn't pick up that cross. I walked away from it. You have a new cross in your life. Pick up the cross that's in front of you right now and carry it. Take up your cross. See, your cross may not be the same as someone else's cross. You need to take up your cross and carry it for Jesus Christ. If you think that Christianity is this wonderful happy-go-lucky, you don't have to pay any kind of a price, you're wrong. Jesus paid a price. You're going to pay a price. But Jesus was glorified. Right now, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. All power is given unto me. Do you think Jesus Christ is in a pretty good situation right now? Yes. And you'll be glorified with him one day. If you suffer with him, you're going to reign with him, is what the Bible says. So the preaching of the cross is to then to perish foolishness unto us which are saved is the power of God. There's so many examples that we could give of taking up your cross, following Jesus, enduring the pain, the toil, the work, the sweat of take up this church as your own personal cross. And say, Faithful Word Baptist Church, I'm going to suffer to see this church grow and to see this church thrive. Did you know if this church is important, if this church weren't important, I wouldn't be here. I would just be joined. I mean, good night. I'd be joining some other church, I'd be going three times a week, I'd be soul winning, but I wouldn't have gone through what it took to get this church up and running and what it still takes to keep this thing going. But I'm doing it because it's important. I hope you're here because you know that this church is important. This church isn't like every other church in the city. This church isn't like every other church in America. This is a different kind of church. This is a church that loves people enough to go out and knock the doors. This is a church that stands on the truth and loves people enough that whether they like it or not, when they come here, they're going to hear the truth. I mean, do you think some people might get offended by some of the things that we preach here? I mean, do you think everybody would love this morning's sermon and would love to put it in the stocking stuffer for a Christmas gift to their family? Do you think everybody would just love the sermon and say, oh, it's so wonderful. I felt so good when I walked out. Possibly not. But you know what? This morning's sermon is the truth about drugs. And you know what? We love people at this church enough to kill the truth. Whether they never come back, they got the truth while they're here. You know, I can see people's looks sometimes, visitors, sometimes I'll be preaching on this kind of stuff. And I can see their look. I'm never coming back here. And I just want to say to them, that's why I'm giving it to you right now while you're here. That's how I'm going to give you. Well, you're never coming back? Let me just give it all to you right now then so that you can take away, oh, I guess I got to give you enough for the whole rest of your life. So buckle up and get ready for it. It's coming. Okay. And I let them, let her rip, baby. You know, give it everything you got because these people aren't coming back. I need, I need to just turn it up if anything, I already blew it. Why stop now? And so you have to understand, Hey, this church is important. I'm willing to suffer so that this church succeeds. If I have to suffer persecution to preach the way that I do, if I have to suffer a tax of some kind, Hey, I'm willing to bear the cross. If I have to suffer financially, if I have to suffer physically, if I have to work harder than I want to work, Hey, pick up the cross with me, help me bear the cross of faithful word Baptist church. This isn't my church. This isn't Steven Anderson Baptist church. This is a faithful word Baptist church. This is Dave Burzins Baptist church. This is Amanda Baptist church. This is Wilma Baptist church. This is Aquila Baptist church. This is Donna Baptist church, Autumn Baptist church, Solomon Baptist church, Isaac Baptist church, it's John Baptist church, it's Mary Baptist church, this church is you. Bear the burden of this church on your shoulders, get on your knees and pray for this church like it's your church, show up to it like it's your church. Bring visitors and win souls and, and, and have a heart for this church. Like it's your own personal mission to see this church grow. I remember when I was training to be a preacher, people often said to me, if you're not going to build this church, why would God give you your own church to build? You know, and people would challenge me and say, what visitors are you bringing? How are you going to start a church? You expect God to build your church? Are you building the church that you're in right now? And I took that as a challenge to get as many people into the church as I could and many families saved and baptized in the church, as many souls that I could win because I figured, Hey, if I can't even bring the visitors now, if I can't win the souls now, if I can't be faithful with somebody else's church that they're pastoring, how am I going to be ever given by God, a church of my own to pastor? If I haven't been faithful in somebody else's, how am I going to be faithful in my own? Bear the cross for Jesus Christ, it's not going to be a bed of roses. I love the song. Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the lamb and shall I fear to own his cause and blush to speak his name? Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease? Will others fought to win the prize and sail through bloody seas? Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood? Is this vital world a friend of grace to lead me into God? No, I must fight if I'm to win, increase my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil, endure the pain supported by thy word. Not exactly a praise-worship chorus, is it? But it's the great hymns of the faith by a people who understood in time past Christianity is suffering for Jesus. He suffered for us to leave us an example to follow his steps. We need to suffer for our brethren. The Bible says to hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. That's Christianity. But number three, so number one, we have his cross. Number two, we have your cross that you need to bear. But number three, we have the offense of the cross. Look at Galatians chapter five. We'll close in this chapter. Galatians chapter five, the offense of the cross. Number one, we saw the cross of Jesus Christ. Number two, we saw our personal cross, whatever it may be, financial, physical, relationship. It could be anything. It could be, you know, it could be on and on, anything. But look if you would at Galatians chapter five, we'll see the reproach of the cross. Look at verse number 11 of Galatians five. The Bible reads, and I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. Now what is he saying here? Well, in order to understand what he's saying, we have to go back to verse two where he explains what he's talking about. The Bible says in verse number two, behold I, Paul, say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that's circumcised that he's a debtor to do the whole law. Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, you're fallen from grace. For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Okay? Now what is he talking about? The book of Galatians is dealing with the subject of faith plus works, salvation. People that come into the churches of Galatia and taught a false doctrine, that not only did they have to have faith, but they also had to be circumcised in order to go to heaven. They were basically adding something to salvation. And he says, if you get circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Does that sound like they're going to heaven? Christ profits them nothing? If they're fallen from grace, does that sound like they're on their way to heaven? No. They're not on their way to heaven. Why? Now, it's not saying that no man who's circumcised can go to heaven. It's saying the person who gets circumcised because they feel that that's what they have to do, because these are Gentiles. If they believe the people who are saying, faith in Jesus Christ plus circumcision plus follow our rules and you'll go to heaven, he says, you're not saved. Your faith has to be in Christ's work on the cross alone. And I love what he says in verse number three, he says, for I testify to every man that's circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law. He says, if you think you have to do one thing to go to heaven, then that must mean you have to keep all the commandments to go to heaven. And that's impossible because we all sin daily. And so the reproach of the cross, what is it? Look at verse 11. He says, I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then as the offense of the cross cease. What he's saying is proof that he did not preach a faith plus work salvation is he said, if that's what I were preaching, I would not be being persecuted. Right? He said, the Jews would not persecute me. Who was persecuting Christians all throughout the new Testament? Oh, that's easy. The Romans never will you read about it. Now, I know historically the Romans persecuted Christians and threw them to the lion's den, but you know, in the Bible, who is the one who's persecuting the Christians? You'll never find a mention of the Romans persecuting the Christians in the Bible. Never will. The only time, the only thing would be where the Jews are delivering them to the Romans. Like Paul. Okay. In Acts or like Jesus in the gospels. But the Bible talks about who, who was persecuting and you don't have to turn there. I'll read this for you, but the Bible, I'll quote it for you. It's first Thessalonians chapter 2, it says, who have also suffered like things of their own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus, talking about the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us. All throughout the book of Acts. If you've read the book of Acts once, you know the whole book of Acts, the Jews are persecuting the Christians. That's the whole new Testament. The Jews persecuting the Christians, the Jews killed Jesus, the Jews killed their own prophets. The Jews are persecuting us. Now the Jews could get saved and be born again and be a Christian and everything like that. But the Jewish religion was persecuting heavily the Christians in this, in this day. Now he says here, if I preached a gospel of faith plus works, faith plus circumcision, he said I would not be persecuted. He says, then is the offense of the cross ceased. The offense of the cross, first there's his cross, number one, number two, your cross, but number three, the offense of the cross. The offense of the cross is when you take the hard line, the hard line that says salvation is only by faith, period. That's the reproach of the cross. That's where you're going to get persecuted. You start watering that down. You know, you start saying, well, you got to turn from your sins. Well, you do have to have an attitude where you're turning. There has to be a change where you're changing your life around. You at least need to be changing the direction of your life. You start mixing in work salvation, the reproach of the cross is ceased. I want to bear the reproach of the cross. I want to endure the persecution that Paul endured for standing up and saying, it's all faith. I want to be reproach. What does reproach mean? It means that people point you out and blaspheme you and say, this man is wrong, he's a heretic. It's being blasphemed and persecuted for what you believe, reproach. God said the reproach of the cross is when you preach to God, you say, why would people persecute you? And this boggles my mind. Why would people persecute you for saying that all you have to do is believe on Jesus? That's such a positive message. I mean, it's so inclusive. Why do you persecute? Because the devil hates it. That's why. The devil's behind the persecution. So you think the devil's going to persecute some guy who waters down the gospel? He likes that guy. Keep on confusing them, brother. Keep on getting them up with, get up with your complicated gospel and your, your 51 steps to salvation. But God forbid that somebody gets up and says, Jesus paid it all, receive Jesus Christ, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and I shall be saved. That's where you got to be ready for the reproach of the cross. The preaching of the cross. It's to them the parish foolishness, but then that's what you're saying. It's the power of God. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for the cross. Everything that the cross represents. Yes, it's the tool that was used to kill the Lord Jesus, but the cross represents Jesus Christ suffering for us. The cross represents us suffering for others. The cross represents the very insignia, the very image, the very epitome of what the ungodly world hates about a person who preaches the freeness of salvation through Jesus Christ. It's a reproach. It's a shame that we're willing to bear because we love you dear God, because we love souls. Father, please help us to continue preaching the cross the way it's needed to be preached. And God, please help us to pick up our own cross and bear it for the kingdom of God and for the brethren.