The Lord was very kind and gracious to me the other night when I spoke. I trust you'll pray for me and that today will be tremendously profitable. I want to make some remarks about the cross by way of introduction. The cross is the universal emblem of Christianity. Almost every church building has a cross. By the time we get to the medieval history, the cross was the emblem on the shields and the vestment of the crusaders. it marked them out, allegedly, as Christians from so-called Christian nations, so on and so forth. Perhaps even here today, there are ladies with necklaces they're wearing, and maybe some of the men, they have a golden cross. In fact, I see one right from here. And it's simply part of being a Christian. With many, it's simply a piece of jewelry. In the New Testament, however, it was and became a way of life. I've often thought, as I look at my family, my grandchildren growing up, some of them are wearing necklaces with crosses on them. Is it Christian tradition? or is it simply jewelry? Almost everything concerning our Christianity filters down within society and becomes trivial. Trivial. Think about regeneration. Think about conversion. Think about the governmental theory of the atonement, and you say, what in the world is that? When I went to Bible school, I had a conversation with one of the professors, and I said, when a pastor gets up and said, Jesus died for the sins of the world, I said, he doesn't mean that. He doesn't, and I said, no. If Jesus died for the sins in the world, then everyone's sin is forgiven. Oh no, he died to make men savable. That's the governmental theory of the atonement espoused by Charles Finney. So really, Christ didn't die for any human being. He died to make man savable, and the atonement remains ineffectual until man's faith is added to it, because human trust and saving faith are synonymous. That's where we've come today. Most of the doctrines of our faith have been minimalized or transformed. And the cross, what I want to do in what time I have is speak about Christ crucified, the centrality of Paul's life, message, and ministry. So I trust you'll be able to follow me and we will have a good study. I want to go to our text, the text for our conference, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We divide the life of our Lord into three parts, theologically. His eternal pre-incarnate glory, His state of humiliation, that is His incarnation and earthly life, and then His state of glory, for He now is glorified as the God-man, and we find glorified human nature in the person of our Lord. So there has been a change in the eternal Son of God. He is now our great high priest, and we have a closeness to him, I trust, that we could not have had otherwise. Let's look at his state of humiliation. The Incarnation, the Son of God, entered the realm of time at the Incarnation. He grew up and what we see emphasized is his human nature. Now we divide the incarnation and the earthly life of our Lord into two parts, his active obedience and his passive obedience. His passive obedience refers to his suffering and death, also perhaps to the abuse that he suffered throughout his life, and especially his ministry from the Jewish leaders. But we have his active obedience, miracles, ministry, preaching, his disciples and so on, and then his passive obedience. Does anyone know where we get the word passive, the passive obedience of Christ? Don't worry, I won't call on you, I'll just ask for a raise of hands. My theologian does, Brother Balon. It comes from passivus, which is the Latin word for suffering. So we find the suffering and death of our Lord, and that is his passive obedience. That's what we want to deal with. This is summarized in Jesus Christ and him crucified. This was true of Paul's life historically, theologically, evangelistically, and experientially. So I want to deal with each of these for a few moments. Bear with me, we'll take quite a bit of time for the first. That Christ crucified was the centrality of Paul's life historically. He's coming now to Corinth. He's ministering in Corinth. He leaves Athens and he comes to Corinth. He said, I did not come to you with excellency of speech or of wisdom. He could have. And I want to deal with that for a few minutes. So please follow me if you would. Paul was the first educated Christian. Let that sink in. Paul was the first educated Christian. We have Galilean fishermen. We have a tax collector. All of these people were from Galilee except one disciple who was a Judean, and that was Judas Iscariot. Ish is man, Kerioth is the village he was from south of Jerusalem. He was the man from Kerioth. Ish, Kerioth, Judas is Kerioth. The rest of the men were all Galileans. And as I stated last night, no one during our Lord's earthly ministry ever asked him, where were you born? He spoke with a Galilean accent, and they took it for granted that he was born in Galilee and not in Bethlehem, the city of David. And of course, Joseph and Mary took him up to Nazareth to escape the problems. Herod, of course, the great, I believe, was dead by this time, but he grew up in Galilee. and he grew up in Nazareth. I'm getting off the subject a little bit here. Why Nazareth? What was there about Nazareth? Has anyone studied the history of Nazareth? It was a city 200 years old, very recent. It was planted by the Judeans in Galilee as a very orthodox city to help bring them over to a more orthodox system of Judaism. Remember, the 10 northern tribes, this later became Samaria and Galilee, were re-peopled. During the Assyrian captivity, they were re-peopled with a lot of pagans. So the Galileans were always a step lower. That's why the people from Judea looked down upon the Galileans. But we'll go on now. Paul said, I did not come to you as a rhetorician or a philosopher. My point is that he could have. And that's very important to know. I want to look at his background. He was formally educated, the first educated Christian. F.W. Farrar and his multi-volume work on the life of Paul finds at least 50 classical Greek expressions in the writings of the Apostle Paul. This was second nature to him, and it reflected his education and background. Paul, as a young boy, left his family and went to Jerusalem. And he was there for over 20 years. He was trained to be a Jewish rabbi. There were two schools of thought in his day, the school of Shammai, and the school of Hillel. He studied at the feet of Gamaliel, who was the grandson of Hillel, and he studied to be a Jewish rabbi. He was given to the study of the Haggadah and the Halakha, all sorts of Jewish prudence and so forth. There he was in his education, and as all of them, he majored on the oral tradition of the elders. They taught that Moses on the mountain received two laws. The written law, the Ten Commandments, and the oral law. And because the oral law was not written down, you could make anything of it you wanted. This man cannot be of God, for he keepeth not the Sabbath. Was our Lord a Sabbath-breaker? He was, according to the oral tradition of the elders. who saddled the Law of Moses with all sorts of traditions, and this was the source of their power and their source of judgment of our Lord's ministry. But Paul's education as Saul of Tarsus Then we find some silent years. He finishes his schooling as a rabbi and he returns to Tarsus. And he disappears from the scene for several years. And he is in Tarsus during our Lord's earthly ministry, his suffering and death, his resurrection, and perhaps even to Pentecost. If Saul of Tarsus had been in Jerusalem and a member of the Sanhedrin, for he may have been married and was an earlier widower, I tend to hold that view, he would have confronted our Lord. His name would have been known with his personality. And yet God removed him to Tarsus during our Lord's earthly ministry and his passive obedience, his suffering and death. They would not meet until he meets the glorified Lord on the road to Damascus. These silent years finds Paul in Tarsus, perhaps attending the University of Tarsus, the three greatest university cities in the Greco-Roman world were Athens in Greece, Alexandria in Egypt, the home of the Septuagint version and so forth, and Tarsus. And he spends several silent years in Tarsus, not only so, but after his conversion. After the three years in the desert where he works out his whole system of theology, then he returns to Damascus, escapes from Damascus, goes to Jerusalem. His life is threatened in Jerusalem. Where does he go? He goes back to Tarsus. And we have several more silent years until Barnabas goes to Tarsus and gets him. Two periods of his life, the silent years. One is an unbeliever reared in Tarsus, the other is a believer where he probably had schooling in all of the Greek philosophy. And when I came to you, I came not with the excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the gospel of Christ, but he could have. He was the one man who was capable of this. And he showed this, for instance, at Athens. He showed that when he spoke to the Roman governors. The Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus now converted, the Apostle Paul during his life and ministry never met his intellectual equal. And that becomes evident when we study his letters and study the record of the book of Acts. Although he was caught up to the third heaven, and heard things that were unlawful for him to utter or to reveal. He still had times of fear. All these divine revelations being caught up into the presence of God into the third heaven did not make him more of a human being than he was. Acts chapter 18, Paul is now in Corinth for the first time. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth. Then, verse 9, then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, and the work in Corinth was going very well. There was opposition, there were problems, there was discipline and so, but the synagogue ruler was converted and his family and others. The Lord appears to Paul in a vision at night. Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have much people in this city." And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. From Athens with his philosophers and intellectuals, Paul comes to Corinth. Corinth with this open wickedness, its terrible immorality, its religious and superstitious dangers. There he would not play the philosopher or the intellectual, the rhetorician. but he remained committed to the central issue, the person and work of Christ, Christ and him crucified. Corinth and Pompeii were the two most wicked cities in the Roman Empire. To Corinthianize was to engage in sexual immorality of the worst kind. They made a verb out of it, to Corinthianize. A Corinthian girl was a prostitute. 1,000 cultic prostitutes served the Acrocorinthus or the great pagan temple at Corinth. Their goddess was Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sexuality. Pompeii and Corinth. Pompeii was destroyed in 79 AD. My wife and I were in Pompeii. Now six years ago, my wife's Italian family reunion, so we all went to Italy, up into the mountains, by the way, reminded me of California. Less people, quieter life, but the weather was about the same and the hillsides looked about the same. And like San Benito County, about four o'clock every morning, the wild boar would come through the orchards. I used to be a hog hunter. Well, at any rate, Pompeii and Corinth. Pompeii was destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Corinth was spared, perhaps because not at Pompeii, but at Corinth there was a church. That's possible. I just give that to you for thought. Paul resorted to the essence of the ministry, the person and work of Christ in the context of salvation. And this was the source of his preaching at Corinth and the source of his success at Corinth. For the church at Corinth became a very great church in size, a troubled church, yes. People would say, well, you know, the Corinthian church, that's terrible. The miracle is there was a church at Corinth. That's what should astound us. So, historically, Christ crucified was the center of Paul's life and ministry. Let us go to consider this theologically, and I will be a little more observant of time. Christ crucified was the essence of Paul's message wherever he preached the sum and substance of the gospel. The Galatian churches were having trouble. There was a transition that takes part early on and through most of the Book of Acts, from Jewish Christianity to Gentile Christianity. It starts at the household of Cornelius. It goes on, and we find that the Jews are jealous of the Gentiles, even as Christians. And they said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. And Paul will come and say that justification is by or through faith alone. And that's true to today. The moral law does not have to do with our justification. It may have to do with our sanctification, but not with our justification. He writes to the Galatians, oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you. Paul's message was Christ and him crucified, the very essence of the gospel. I want to deal with the latter part of Romans chapter one, for a few moments at least. All human beings were made in the image of God. That means that man is a moral, responsible being. He's a free moral agent, but he does not have a free will. And those two are distinct. Being a free moral agent, he's responsible for his actions. I want to read the latter part of Romans 1. For the wrath of God stands revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who habitually suppress the truth and unrighteousness. Katechonton is the Greek there. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are unapologetus, they are without an apology, an apologetic, a defense. What does man see when he looks at natural creation? Natural revelation, he sees the eternal power and Godhead of God to the extent that man looks at nature and he's inexcusable. However, they glorified him not as God. but became vain in their imagination and their foolish heart was darkened. Man being a fallen being suffers from the noetic effects of sin. From noeo, to think, his mind has been darkened by sin. So what is the result of this? He worships and serves the creature that is creation rather than the creator. Idolatry. Idolatry, making of insects, of man, of animals, of fish and other things, birds, creeping things. He makes them his gods. And what follows on this, this is all from Romans 1, is immorality. Man is satisfied with a mere outward religion. of his own making. And what is the answer to this? Christ crucified. This cuts through all things and brings us to the essence of saving truth. Look at the Jews. Look at the Jews in the Old Covenant. What did they have, sadly? a mere outward religion. Oh, that they were circumcised in heart and ears, God said to Moses, because they were still uncircumcised. They had a mere outward religion, observing the Sabbath, offering the sacrifices, but the heart remained unchanged. And when they acted, they acted in unbelief. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. God killed that entire generation. And when they did come into the land, there was always conflict. And this carries over into the New Testament as well. The Jews had an outward religion. And then we read in Ezekiel and some of the other books of the Old Testament, the promise of a new covenant, the gospel covenant. I will circumcise the flesh of their foreskin. I will write my law within their hearts. They will keep my laws and do them. The promise of a gospel covenant, which begins with a changed heart. That's the gospel covenant. And the gospel covenant is essentially Christ crucified. The person and work of the Son of God. So this is Paul's message. So it was true historically, as we see in his journey to Corinth. It was true theologically, and now it is true evangelistically. First Corinthians chapter one, verses 22 through 24. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block. They wanted a conquering Messiah, not one hanging from a cross. They wanted one who would rule Israel and fulfill the promises made to David and his seed, not to someone who would suffer and die and atone for sin. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. There will always be those who are called. The ministry will never be fruitless. There are always those whom God will quicken, open their eyes, open their ears, open their minds, open their hearts, and they will savingly respond to the message of Christ crucified. They will become believers. They will repent and turn to the truth. So this is Paul evangelistically. And now finally, this was true experientially. Paul's ministry was simply an extension of his life. There is the key. Suddenly, on the road to Damascus, there was a light above the shining of the sun. Paul is struck blind, falls to the ground, and he hears a voice from heaven. Saul, Saul, why me are you persecuting? It is hard for you against the goads to kick. Who art thou, Lord? He knew he was talking to God. Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Paul rises from his prone position, blind, but a different man. And his whole life will be lived in the context of Jesus Christ and him crucified. And Christ crucified is going to be the theme of his personal life as well as his ministry. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. Not simply what I preach, but who and what I am. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Again to the Galatians chapter 5 and verse 24, they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. Christ crucified, a transformed life is true of all true believers. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14, but God forbid. that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." His conversion on the Damascus Road was life transforming. Follow this with three years in the Arabian Desert, where he worked out a system of theology. Then he returns to Damascus and from Damascus to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Tarsus, and then back again to start his missionary journeys. Let me read 2 Corinthians 12, verses 7 through 10. Strange passage. And lest I should be exalted above measure, Through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, literally a stake driven through my flesh. The messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. It could have been ophthalmology, a disease of the eyes. He was almost blind. He was a small man. He may have had a speech defect. and he was almost blind. What would be the result of this life? For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. Lord, I could serve you if I could see better. I could travel. I wouldn't need my companions holding my hand and leading me about. I could become the greatest of preachers for you. We could turn Europe upside down. I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me, and he said to me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. I need to keep you weak, Paul, after the flesh, in your personality, utterly depending upon me at all times, because when you're weak, I will make you strong. And we see that in his life, do we not? My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness, and out of this comes joy. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. What a contradiction, humanly speaking. But what an astounding statement considered spiritually. Here is the secret of Paul's greatness and usefulness. Be it at Athens, standing there before the philosophers and the philosophical council, one of them was saved, some outstanding citizens were converted, there was Paul completely at home before the philosophers at Athens. Daily in the market he had been preaching Christ. Daily in the market, he preached Jesus and the resurrection. All he did in that magnificent presentation of a world and life view that was Christ-centered was put Jesus and the resurrection in their historical context. This was Paul at his best, not at his worst. This is Paul at home, and from there to Corinth. The old man, and again he uses the term crucified. He said the old man was crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed. Romans chapter six and verse six, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Paul did not preach, make the wonderful discovery of the crucified life. He didn't look upon it in a kissing fashion as a second work of grace. He didn't say, if you really want to be right with God and useful for him, then crucify the flesh. Crucify the old man. You have an old man and a new man within you. Get rid of the old man. Become a truly spiritual Christian. No. And these things are taught today and taught vehemently in many churches. Listen, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Ephesians chapter 4, which is mistranslated in our King James Version, they fail to take into account the aorist middle infinitive. You have already put off concerning the former manner of life, the old man, which was corrupt according to the deceitful lust. And you are constantly being renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you've already put on the new man, which, katathion, after God, resembling God, partaking of his characteristics, is created in righteousness and true holiness. He's the new man in Christ. He may have difficulty within dwelling sin and remaining corruption, but the reigning power of sin has been broken. And that's true of every child of God. Colossians chapter three, which is translated correctly. Stop lying one to another, seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man. which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Christ crucified, epitomized as the person and work of our Lord, the key not only to preaching, but the key to believing. There it is for us Living the crucified life, the reigning power of sin broken, living for God without any reservation. This was true of Paul, not only what he preached, but who he was. May the same be true of us.