1 Corinthians 1:18 | The preaching of the cross
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.
This is really an incredible verse. I'm always amazed that the vast majority of people in this present evil world, consider the finished crosswork of Christ as being nothing but pure foolishness. How many people are in hell because they spent their whole lives rejecting this glorious gospel? Many! It isn't just the so-called athiests and other people of the like, but also the religious people, who were trusting in their own religious works for salvation instead of trusting in Christ's death, burial and resurrection as atonement for their sins!
But for us believers, we KNOW that it is the power of God. We have been saved! Christ did it all. He paid for it all! We could never earn our way into heaven! All we did was simply believe it, and believing is not a work!
In Romans 1:16 Paul had said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."
The efficiency and sufficiency of the sacrificial death of Christ at the cross was the only thing that satisfied the perfect justice of what God demanded.
Paul was going around preaching Christ's death, burial and resurrection as atonement for our sins, as well as teaching all of the grace doctrines in Romans-Philemon, and religious people absolutely hated it! He was being persecuted by both religious Jews and religious Pagans. Regardless, he just kept preaching the gospel. The sad thing is that even believers, or professing Christians, both in Paul's time and all throughout the dispensation of grace, they also consider "the grace message" as foolishness. Instead, they preach law-keeping! They also preach all other kinds of worldly wisdom. It's very rare to find a church, pastor or even Bible study teacher today who actually understands, knows and teaches God's word rightly divided. Even if you read or study "church history" you almost can't find it, because Satan has control over the religious system and true Bible believers (who rightly divide) have either been ignored, dismissed or persecuted in some way all throughout the dispensation of grace!
We are hated by the world but we are sharing the Gospel out of love for others, as we don't want to see them perish! We also teach fellow believers sound grace doctrine so that they will learn how to allow Christ to live in and through them and earn heavenly rewards. But we are so often shrugged off, ignored, pushed away, made fun of, attacked or persecuted in some way.
Satan attacks in 3 ways.
Attack the Message.
Attack the Messenger.
Discredit the Messenger.
If people imagine that they will never come under spiritual attack for sharing the Gospel, they are fooling themselves! Some people DO know that this will happen and so they cower, and cave in in one way or another, usually deciding to just live after the flesh, or attending religious services that don't preach Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, and do not do "the work of the ministry," but just spend their lives keeping to themselves and never "rocking the boat!" Paul says, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim 3:12). But, if you choose not to live godly, you will suffer loss of rewards at the believers judgment seat of Christ!
I think about Les Feldick. He taught God's word rightly divided and was one of the few "popular" teachers on Christian TV stations (though sadly not as popular as the false teachers!). He said in one program that he also taught bible classes at home and at other places almost every night of the week! And he did this (with His wife Iris always being with him) for many years! Had it not been for his program, I might still be caught up in denominationalism. So, many people heard a clear gospel message from his programs and believed the Gospel! He helped so many believers come to understand God's word rightly divided! Now I don't necessarily agree with what he taught on every single issue, but I am thankful for his "work of the ministry". I can think of other grace believers who do similar things! We face a lot of ridicule from the rest of Christendom, as they don't like the grace message, but we just keep pressing forward! And really, it's Christ and His word working in and through us, so God really gets all of the glory! We need to keep in mind that the preaching of the cross IS the power of God!
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