This morning, I know you're standing for quite a while. That's okay for young folks, but sometimes it's harder for us older folks. I had a preacher friend just died the other day, Brother Junior Hill, and I went to visit him. When I was down in Alabama preaching a revival, I found out that he lived in the next town over, and I asked him If I could come and visit, and I went and spent most of the day with him. And he was 80, about 80 some year old then, just had both knees replaced. And he said, Brother Rick, I'm coming out with a new song book that I think is going to really go over. And I said, Really? And he said, Yes, it's 50 hymns you can sing sitting down. And so I like that. I love those songs about the cross, and you just can't beat the cross you just can't beat it and I want you to open your Bibles this morning if you would to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and we're going to read verse 18 down through verse 21 this morning and once again focus upon the cross 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 18 for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Thank you. You can be seated, our Father, as we come this morning, Lord, We thank you for the wisdom of God that, Lord, in eternity's past, Lord, that God in his wisdom and with the determinate counsel of God that, Lord, you came up with salvation's plan. And, Lord, we are thankful that, Lord, that that was a long time ago. but we're thankful that the last words out of the lips of our Savior as he hung on the cross was it is finished. We're thankful Lord the plan is finished and Lord we thank you for the cross and Lord we ask today that Lord you might minister to us as we gather together here this morning and we need Lord, that power that we read about in the Scriptures that, Lord, comes through the preaching of the cross. We pray, Lord, for anyone, Lord, that may be down in the far country today that, Lord, they might Lord, return to the cross. Lord, we pray for those that, Lord, have never been to the cross and perhaps, Lord, carrying a heavy burden of sin. And like John Bunyan said in his Pilgrim's Progress, as he made his way up Calvary's hill with a heavy burden upon his back, And when he got to the cross, the burden fell off and rolled down the hill. John Bunyan said in his Pilgrim's Progress, he said he began to say, O blessed cross, O blessed cross. And he caught himself and he stopped and he said, O rather, O blessed is he that died on the cross. And Father, we're thankful that you came and gave yourself for a perpetuation, a payment for the sins of all humanity. Lord forgive me of mine this morning and Lord as we sung, Lord keep us near the cross. Lord we pray and we'll thank you all of these things in Jesus' name, Amen and Amen. Every, all 50 states that we have that make up the United States, all 50 states, they all have their emblems, if you will. For instance, our state, Kentucky, we have the flower, the golden rod is our state flower. Our state bird is the cardinal. is our state bird, and every state has those emblems or symbols, if you will. And for us as the believer, as the church, for us today, our emblem is the cross. We might say the cross and the dove, but really mainly the cross. Because without the cross, we wouldn't have the dove. Because Jesus said, it's expedient for you that I go away, and if I go not away, the comforter of the Holy Spirit will not come. And so we realize that the empty tomb is our message, but we realize our rallying point as a child of God and as Christians, our rallying point is always the cross. In these scriptures today, the Apostle Paul is talking about the preaching of the cross. And I just believe that it's always good, it's never wrong for us to just linger around the cross and to walk around the cross and to try to get closer to the cross. And this morning I want to take that 18th verse this morning and I just want to dissect it a little bit if I might this morning. And I want us to look at this thing of the sermon of the cross. There is. Preachers have hundreds of sermons in their lifetime, but there is no greater sermon than that of the cross. I'm of this type that most of the time I want to be led of God. I want to feel the Lord, wants me to preach about any particular subject, but there's two things that I often preach about, and even if I don't feel led, so to speak, even if I don't feel like that I'm impressed to do that. There's two subjects that I preach about and I don't believe that God would ever be disappointed with me and I don't believe that God would never not help us and number one that is the cross. Amen. I thank every Christian ought to very periodically, I think every Christian ought to go into the Gospels and I think they ought to start reading there about where they came to arrest Jesus and read all the way through to where He was resurrected from the grave. We need to never forget that it was at the cross, at the cross where that we first saw the light. Amen. So look there in your Bible at verse 18 and we're going to break it up a little bit and preach a little bit about each segment. The Bible said there, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish of foolishness. Can I say first of all from what I just read that we see the sermon on the cross to some is silly. Amen. You see that word foolishness, that's where we get our word that we use moron and if you look up the meaning of the word moron it simply means silly or foolishness and there is people this morning that think what I'm doing today and what any preacher does whenever He preaches on the cross that it seems like it's foolishness unto them. Amen. You say, Brother Rick, why do they feel like it's foolishness? Well, number one, because of the singularity of the cross. What I mean by that is there's no other way to come to God but by and through the cross. and a man of wisdom, a worldly thinker, an educated man, they think that's foolishness. They think, well, I'll grant you that the cross is one way, but we're not so arrogant or foolish to think that is the only way. We're not that dogmatic. I sit in a man's home years ago that was lost and trying to talk to him about the Lord and trying to tell him about Christ and he said, well, he said, you're too dogmatic. You say Christ is the only way. I said, sir, I'm not dogmatic. I said Jesus is dogmatic because Jesus said there's no other way but by me. Amen. But you see that this is foolishness to the world. But the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. If God is the one that man has sinned against, and He is, then God should be the one to devise the means of how man can come back to God. Let me illustrate this way. Over in John, the Bible says over in John, He talks about what Jesus said in verse 1. He talks about, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but cometh up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But down in verse 9, Jesus said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out. and find pastor. You say, what's that in and out business? Well, that just means you got liberty, amen. I'm glad there's liberty in the Lord. But suppose this morning I said, well, I said, you can get in the baptistry, but the only way that you can get in the baptistry, you gotta come through that door around the corner there. That's the only door there is. There is no other door into the baptistry but that one. And I said, the rule is, if you're going into the baptistry, you've got to come through that door. You say, well, I could go right there. I could climb over that. I could get in right there. You could, but you wouldn't be coming in the right way, and we'd have to ask you to leave. Amen? You see, if any man climb up any other way, Then but by the Lord they are a thief and they are a robber, the Bible said. They're stealing the glory of God. They're stealing away the praise of God. And so some people think because of the singleness of the message of the cross that it's silly. Some people think that not only is it silly, but some people think it's too simple. And they say that's too simple. For a person to be saved, miss hell, go to heaven, that all you've got to do is come to the cross. That's too simple. Well, the apostle Paul said, but I fear less by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through her subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that we have in Christ. Instead of fussing about it and arguing about it, you better thank God He made it simple. Because most of you, even with your degrees and education, we would not be able to figure it out. Amen. I'm glad God made it so simple that when the Holy Ghost deals with a young child or an old man or a middle-aged, I'm so glad the Holy Ghost, I'm glad He makes it so simple that He talks about the simplicity that we have in Christ. You see, it may be simple for you and me, but it took the greatest mind of the universe to figure out this plan that we call salvation. Amen. And so some say, well, it's just too simple. And then there's others that would say, well, I don't believe it because somebody told me about the swoon theory. You say, Brother Rick, what's the swoon theory? Well, the word swoon, it just means to faint or to pass out or to lose consciousness. And there is those that believe and teach that Jesus did not really die that on the cross he just swooned and then his disciples took him down and the women and the disciples, they nursed him back to health and so they say that he did not really die. Well, the Bible says in Romans 5 and 8, very, very important words. The Bible said that Christ died 1 Corinthians 15, the gospel, it says that Christ died. Amen. A lady wrote J. Vernon McGee one Easter week and she wrote Dr. McGee and she said, Dr. McGee, She said, our pastor Sunday, our pastor said that Jesus didn't really die, that He just swooned upon the cross and His disciples took Him and the women and they nursed Him back. to health, but he never did really die. She said, what say you? And Dr. McGee said, well, he said, you take your pastor, and he said, you take him and let him be beaten. He said, let them slap him and pull out the hairs of his beard. He said, let them take a cat of nine tails and beat his back 39 times. I said, you let them take him and nail him to a cross, his hands and his feet. Hang him out in the hot sun, suspended between heaven and earth. in the hot sun for six hours. Take him down from the cross after putting a sword in his side. Take him down from the cross. Put him in an airless tomb and seal it up for three days and then let me know what you think. Amen. No, the fact is that the cross is silly. The sermon of the cross is silly to some. Silly to some. Look at this little part of the verse. But unto us that are saved, it is the power of God. If you're saved this morning, or if you get saved this morning, or if you get saved any morning, it's going to be because that you came to the cross and you heard preaching about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now it's not just coming to the cross. Did you know when Jesus began His public ministry, there were great crowds that followed Him. When He done His miracles, there was great crowds. Five thousand men, plus the women and the children, possibly ten thousand people that were following the Lord. And they were following Him when He was ministering. But did you know there were also great crowds when He was crucified? Amen. People will come to see you blessed and they'll come to see you crucified. Amen? But the Bible says that Jesus bled and died on an old rugged cross. But I do not believe for one minute this morning that everybody that was at the cross got saved. And everybody that comes to the cross don't get saved. It's more than just coming to the cross. You say, how much more? Well, you've got to be drawn there. Jesus said, somebody said, you've got to be drawn. I believe that. Somebody said, the Lord ain't drawing me. I don't believe that. Because the Bible said in John 12 and 32, word for word, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. One question this morning, was he lifted up? He said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. There is a magnetic pull about that cross. Amen. Boy, I remember the morning I was drawn to Him. As we sung that song near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me. Boy, my mind raced back down through the years to Sunday morning at Temple Hill Missionary Baptist Church when Billy Crumpton was preaching. And at the end of that sermon, I remember the trembling, the shaking. I was an introvert, bashful. I wouldn't even talk to anybody, let go down in front of a crowd like we had that day. But you know what? Something happened that day. There was a drawing. There was a power from another world that pulled upon my soul, and thank God I was drawn to the cross. You have to be drawn. And it's there at the cross where you were enlightened. The Bible said in Matthew 27, 54, Now when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, fearing greatly, saying, truly, this was the Son of God. There's a man that was enlightened at the cross. He did not believe he was the Son of God when he got there, but he believed it when he left. Did you know that for you to recognize who Jesus is, He's God's Son, He's God's gift, He's God's sacrifice. Did you know for you to recognize that, that has to be a divine revelation from God. Jesus told Peter, He said, Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Amen. I don't know all Bible doctrines. I don't know all the great truths of the Bible, but I know this, and I'll die on this, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God that came to die for the sins of the world, and he saved my wretched, rotten soul, and I'm going to heaven when this life is over. Praise God. He's enlightened there. It was a Mr. Evans that went to Italy. You know, Italy is where all the great artists, a lot of them came from. And Mr. Evans went there on a vacation. And when he got there, he was inquiring about what to do, what to see, where to go. And he said that one of the guides said, Mr. Evans said, while you're here, said you must go to a certain place and you must see this painting of the crucifixion of Jesus. He said it is very unusual and it will be a blessing to you if you'll go see it. So they made a schedule and time and they went down to where this painting was. It was an unusual painting for the time, almost like a 3D type painting. He went down there and they walked into the art gallery where all these different paintings was, and they went over to this painting of the crucifixion of Jesus. And the guy said, There it is, Mr. Evans, there it is. And he stood and looked at it for a while, and he said, I don't get it. He said, Mr. Evans, come a little closer and go a little lower. He came a little closer and went a little lower. And he said, I don't get it. I don't get it. He said, Mr. Evans, come a little closer and get a little lower. He came a little closer and he got a little lower. And he said, I'm just not getting it. He said, Come a little closer, Mr. Evans. And finally he came a little closer and he said, Get a little lower. And he was down on his knees and he said, Look up, Mr. Evans. And he looked up and he got it. Amen. You see, to get the cross you've got to come a little closer and you've got to get down a little lower and you'll see what He done for you. Amen. Amen. We see the sermon of the cross is silly to some. We see the sermon of the cross is saving to others. Many of us are saved. As God expounded and done a great job this morning, we're saved not because of anything we did. Amen. Salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing minus nothing. I know it's got to be that way. You say, why? I've been in this thing for 43 years. I've watched myself. I've watched you. I've watched the world. And I've found out there's not one righteous, no, not one. And if salvation's not by the grace of God, I won't be there, none of you will be there, because we all come short of the glory of God. But thank God this morning that it is by faith, through faith, on the merits of Jesus, And what it is on the cross. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, silly. But unto us which are saved, I hope you're part of that us. Unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. To some the cross is silly. To others, the cross is saving. To all of us, the cross is separating. The Bible said, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, one group, foolishness, but to us that are saved, it is the power of God. At the end of the day, at the end of that day, when Jesus died upon Calvary's hill. At the end of that day, we see only two classes of people. Only two. We see that there are only two people up there on Calvary's hill, three counting the Lord. We see that one is on the right side of the cross. I hope, I pray you're on the right side of the cross this morning. The other man was on the left side, one on the right, one on the left. The only thing in between them is the cross. The only thing that separated the man on the left from the man on the right, the only thing there was the cross, amen. There's two sides to the cross. There's a right side, there's a left side. I thank God, 1964, I got on the right side, amen. I tell you, if you ain't on the right side this morning, you need to get on the right side of the cross. See that cross calls separation. There were two sides. Look in Luke 23. That's where Jesus died. Verse 33 is what I was talking about. And when they had come to the place which is called Calvary. The only time that word is in your Bible. And they crucified Him. The malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Look down at verse 39. Not only was there two sides to the cross, but there was two reactions to the cross. You see, one of the malefactors, which hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. That's the one reaction. The other reaction is, but the other answer rebuked him, saying, Do not thou fear God? seest thou it in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly? For we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto you, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. You see that cross is a separation to all. You're either on the right side or you're on the left side. Your reaction is, I don't need that. Your reaction is, I should have been crucified. I should have suffered and died. I should have bled on the cross that day. Jesus took my place. Amen? He took my place. And our reaction to the cross, every Sunday we have two reactions to the cross. We have those who either have already been to the cross or those who've come to the cross. Or we have those who have never been to the cross and they have no plans of going to the cross. You see, that cross is a separating thing. Not only two sides and two reactions, but two destinies. Jesus told that thief, he said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. His destiny was changed because of the cross. The other man, it doesn't say he went to hell, but we know he did. You say, how do we know he did? Because his reaction to the cross was wrong. He didn't receive it. He didn't respond to it. And anybody that don't respond to the cross and responds in a wrong way, they're going to die and go to hell because there is no other way than by the cross. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, that used to be me. But unto us which are saved, that is me. It is the power of God. What does the sermon on the cross mean to you today? What does it mean to you? silly, foolish, don't need it, or salvation. Whatever it means to you, when you come down to the end of life's way, they're not going to, as most people wrongly think, they're not going to have a scale in heaven, and they're not going to put your church attendance, your tithes, your good works, your kind words, They're not going to put that on one side to see if it tilts the thing with your bad works on it. There's only one thing that can balance that scale. All of my righteousness is nothing more than filthy rags. You've heard that preached all your life. And I wouldn't comment it on the pulpit, but you ought to look up what that really means. when it says filthy rats. But you see, all my sins had to thing like that. But the day I got saved, he stepped on my scale. I was weighed in the balances and found wanted, just like Obel Chassis. But thank God, because of the cross, he took my place. I believe it, I accept it. Hallelujah. Father, thank You this morning.