Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. The whole purpose of Jesus coming, you know, He came in a manger so that He could die on a cross.

And we want to talk about that this morning. Verse 21, if you will, Notice this, but we preach Christ crucified. That's what makes us different folks. 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. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men.

And the weakness of God is stronger than men. And all God's people said, Father, we need your help this morning as we preach about you and about the cross and the work that was done on it. Lord, as we begin this season that there's so much emphasis on different things, no men, Santa Clauses, presents. Lord, help us to remember that the focus ought to be on the cross as always should be on everything in our church. We ought to stay focused on the cross. God, help us to do what's right this morning. In your name we pray. Amen. One preacher wrote this poem I found in his sermon.

I thought this was good. He said, We preach Christ who is crucified and risen from the grave. We preach Christ, the only one who has the strength to save. The message we proclaim is the power of His name. We preach Christ. You know in verse 23 of chapter 1, that's what I believe that Paul was saying when he said, We preach Christ crucified. Do you know that everything ought to be centered on Christ? And when it is centered on Christ, it is centered on the cross. I believe that Christ-centered preaching and cross-centered preaching ought to be the focus and the goal of every God-called preacher. Jesus Christ is central through the Bible. I wrote this down this week.

I thought this was good. The Old Testament says that Christ is coming. The New Testament Gospels say that Christ is come. The Epistles say that Christ came. And the book of Revelation says that Christ is coming again. Genesis opens with Christ creating. Revelation closes with Christ coming.

Thank God, folks, He is coming back again. Charles Spurgeon says, something years ago I thought was interesting. He said, Take a text and head for Jesus. Take a text and head for Jesus. You know if our modern day preachers would do more of that, I don't know what I just knocked over, but it's not very important. If our modern day preachers would take a text instead of heading to themselves or heading to their stories, or heading to try to please everybody in the audience, if they would take a text and head to Jesus, we would see revival in this land.

I believe it. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and I'll just give you a free outline here. In verse 1, Paul speaks about the call of Christ. In verse 2 of chapter 1, Paul speaks about the church of Christ. In verse 7, Paul speaks about the coming of Christ.

In verse 9, he speaks about communion or fellowship with Christ. But most of chapter 1 deals with the cross of Christ. And may I say that that is where the dividing line comes in churches. And that's the cross. You might not know that because we've been taught right here, but do you know that the cross is a point of contention across America? In fact, the cross is a point of contention across the world.

I don't know if you have heard or kept up in the news on different things. How many of you kept up, and I forget the exact place it was, that they erected this really tall cross, had been for years by veterans of the war, and they had erected this really tall cross. You all remember this in the news, and all of a sudden the AACP and different people, they started complaining about it, and the atheists complained about it, and you know they made them take that cross down.

You know why? Because the cross brings contention with people. And yet the cross is what separates. The cross is what makes us who we are. The cross is what makes us going to the place we're going. The cross is what gives us the power over sin is the cross. We've got to preach about it more.

We've got to talk about it more. Everybody wants to be politically correct, and they want to change the songs where it doesn't talk about Jesus bleeding and dying on the cross and the nails going through His hands. That might offend people. Listen to me, dear friends, that's what gave us salvation. That cross gave us salvation. To the world the cross is ridiculous. Look at verse 18 of chapter 1 while you're there.

I want you to see this. And I've got to explain some things before we really get into the heart of the message. Look at, you would at verse 18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, what?

Foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. They go to hell. They don't believe. That cross is foolish to them. And they think we're foolish because of the faith and trust we put in Christ. But to us the cross is special. To us the cross is evidence of the power of God. I want you to notice if you would in verse 23 that we read, well this is what Paul said, but we preach Christ crucified.

Notice this. Unto the Jews a stumbling block. Unto the Greeks foolishness. Now what is he talking about here? He gives two different groups of people and he describes their opinion of the cross. Now the word stumbling block simply means this, it's anything in the way over which someone could fall.

Something that would make a person fall or stumble. Now let's deal first with the Jews. This is what Paul said that the cross meant to the Jews. It was offensive and it was irritating. The Jews treated the cross with scorn.

And why is that? Remember when we went through the book of Galatians, I believe it's Galatians chapter 3. And in the book of Galatians chapter 3 it deals with the law and grace. But it said this, and I believe it's in verse 3 of chapter 3, the law had said this, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. You see the law to the Jews, it was a stumbling block, the cross of Christ.

You know why? Because they felt that if you hung on a cross, you were cursed. You hung on a cross, you were wrong.

And there's no way that our Messiah would come and purchase our redemption by hanging on a cross. They felt that if you believe that, that would make you fall. They felt that you were being fooled. They felt that that was wrong and the cross was a stumbling block. That's why Paul said to them it's a stumbling block. They can't get over it.

They can't accept it. Secondly he said to the Greeks it was what? Foolishness.

Well what does that mean preacher? Well Paul tells us through many of his different books that a man dying on the cross to save them from their sins was foolishness to the Greeks. That's foolish. They felt it was a fable. They felt it was just absurd and excuse the expression, stupid. And through the centuries men have rejected the cross. They've ridiculed the cross. They make fun of it. They put images on the cross.

I did a little research and I thought this was interesting. On a wall near what they call the Palatine Hill in Rome, there was an inscription that was carved by an unbelieving Roman, Greek. It said this, it had the picture of a man bowing before the cross. And on that cross was the body of a man and the head of a donkey. And this is what that man put beneath that cross he put a blasphemous inscription and he said this, Alexander worships his God. That's what he said Jesus was, a donkey.

Havelock Ellis who was a British physician, he was a psychologist, and get this he wrote the first textbook in English on the subject of homosexuality. He died in 1939 but he said this, if there had been an insane asylum in Jerusalem, Jesus Christ should have been locked up in it because he was a lunatic. That's what the world thinks about Jesus folks. That's what they think about the cross.

And don't be fooled by political correctness and sometimes we think well that group isn't that bad and that group isn't this. Let me tell you something folks, the cross is a division line and you and I better get on the right side of it. We better stand up for what's right because Christ gave everything on that cross and you and I better defend it. Christ has earned for us to stand up for it. He gave everything to us, surely we could give something to him. When Paul is writing the Corinthian church here in chapter 1 he is pleading for their personality centered contentions to end and their Christ centered cooperation to begin.

Let me say that again. Let's go all the way through about chapter 11. Paul was writing the Corinthian church and he was saying this that they had personality centered contention. They couldn't get along, they were always bickering, always fighting. Some were of a Paul, some were of a Paulist and we talked about that in recent weeks. And what happened was their personality had invaded their religion.

Their personality had invaded their faith and they began to base things on what they wanted and what they thought. And Paul was pleading with him, get away from your personality centered and you need to start Christ centered submission. Christ centered cooperation. Folks, all of us ought to put aside what we think and what we want and we need to put the cross and Christ as the center. That ought to be what our church is about. Look at me folks, our music ought to be about the cross, not about what people want. Not about what this church over here or that church over there or what anybody else is doing.

I don't care if they've got 5,000 people doing it, they're doing it because that doesn't mean it's right here. I mean every class, everything we do, we've got a long way to go folks. We've got a lot of improvement to make. We've got a lot of organization to do.

We've got a long way to go. But my goal, and I'm not saying it's going to happen every second of every day, I can't keep track of every little thing and every little class and every little activity and every little youth activity and every little junior church thing. I can't keep track of everything, but as best as I can when I keep track of it it ought to all center on the cross. Because the cross is the gospel. That's what saves folks. Look at me dear friend, if you don't know that you're saved, Daniel Haughtry can't do one thing for you, but Jesus already did. He died on the cross for you. That's why everything we do here has got to center on that or we've got nothing.

I got a lot of other things to say but for sake of time I better move on. I want you to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and we're going to do the remainder of the message there. I was going to give you some more background on 1 Corinthians, but for sake of time let's go ahead and get to the meat of the message. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 I want you to look at verse 3. Remember what Paul said, we preach Christ to the Jews a stumbling block.

To the Greeks it's foolishness, but we preach Christ crucified on the cross. Notice if you would in chapter 15 verse 3 and 4. Let's go ahead and start with verse 1. Moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel, the gospel which I preached unto you which also ye have received and wherein ye stand.

By the way that's the way it still goes. Somebody has to preach the gospel. Somebody has to receive the gospel. And after they receive the gospel they've got to stand on the gospel.

That's still the way it works. You can do whatever you want in church and all the bells and whistles, but it still comes to the fact that somehow we've got to give the gospel, somehow they've got to receive the gospel, and then after that we as a group have to stand on the gospel. That's the way church goes. Dear friends you sometimes we get discouraged saying, well I witness, listen it's our job to give the gospel, it's the listeners job to receive it.

It has to be their decision. But when they do we all better as the Church of Christ we better stand on the gospel. It all centers on that. Look at verse 2 if you would. By which also ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you unless ye have believed in vain.

Notice verse 3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Those two verses that is the gospel. Everybody hears the word the gospel.

What is the gospel preacher? The gospel is the death of Christ. Burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In two verses Paul gave enough truth that would save the entire world if they would just receive it. Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

He was buried and rose again on the third day. Let me show you a couple of things that I see about the cross and about the death of Christ on the cross. Number 1 just write these three things down they'll be on the screen too but number 1 it was a vicarious death.

Now I say I've got to use a fancy word because you've got to understand what these words mean. Number 1 it was a vicarious death. What does vicarious mean? It means in our place. It means someone took our place.

Do you know what the death of Christ meant? That means that Christ took our place. Notice what he did in verse 3. Now verse 3 and 4 is where we're going to be the rest of the time. Look at verse 3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for what? Our sins.

He took our place. When we speak about the cross of Christ we're talking about the full work of Christ in redemption. Paul preached the finished work of Christ. His crucifixion was first vicarious.

That means this. If Jesus would have suffered and died and been beaten and ridiculed and spit on and then he died on the cross. Look at me. And he went to the tomb and he rose again.

Look at me. That wouldn't do anything for us if he hadn't died for our sins. If he had just died and rose that means that he's God and he can defeat death. But the only way that helps us is if he died for our sins. Do you understand that?

Do you get that? If he just would have died on the cross and rose again that would have proved he could defeat death. But that wouldn't have proved that we could. You see in order for that to do any good, in order for the crucifixion, in order for the resurrection to mean anything to you and me, he had to die for us.

And that's exactly what he did. It was a vicarious death. He took our place. Christ took the place and penalty for every sinner. I want to read you a verse, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 says this. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Said this, you and I had sin.

We could not approach the Father. So Jesus died in our place. He died for our sin so that we could be made righteous through him.

Do you know what's interesting? If you've been saved by the grace of God, when God looks at you now, God sees you as righteous. Not because you are.

And not because I am. But because Jesus is. And his blood covered our sins. Because it was a vicarious death. He took our place.

If only you and I could ever let that settle into our minds that he took our place. The news media reported recently about some terrible tornadoes. I saw in a story in there that I thought was interesting. There was a mother who took her two children in the basement. And they had these tornadoes going through.

And obviously we've seen a lot of this devastation that's happened in the past couple months. These tornadoes came through. Well this mother took these two children down to the basement. Her husband was gone. The tornado came through.

They didn't know it was coming through, obviously. So she ran down to the basement, which was obviously a smart move. And as they got down there, obviously that storm came and took that entire house and its foundation and moved it almost 30 feet. And the news report said that as she had those children in the basement, when she saw that that foundation was beginning to be ripped up, and obviously they could just see sky through there, that that mother took those two kids and laid over them.

Totally just covered them. And she just held them there. They were underneath the mother. That mother had a broken leg, had two broken ribs, had a broken arm, had lacerations in her head. She spent I think about three or four months in the hospital, but those two kids were absolutely fine.

Not one thing was wrong with them. The news media was having that report. They said, could you just imagine how the love of a parent, look at me, dear friends, that's exactly what Jesus did for you and what he did for me. He put us underneath him and he covered us on the cross. And he tasted of death so we wouldn't have to. The cross represented a vicarious death. He died for us. Number two, the cross represented a vicious death. Notice this phrase, if you would, just two simple words.

I thought this was really good. Look at verse three, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. How that what? Christ died. A vicious death.

Look at me, I don't know if you've ever heard it this way. Jesus was murdered. He was beat to a pulp and murdered. It was a vicious death. In fact, it's the most vicious death that we can find record of.

And there's some reasons for that. I don't know if you've ever heard. Let me read you another verse because I thought this was interesting. In Acts chapter 17 Paul said this, remember we're talking about Paul here, he said, Christ must needs have suffered on the cross. Do you know that that word suffered in the New Testament means intense pain, vexed, it carries the ideal of passion. That means that the crucifixion was the most savage and vicious form of execution in the first century. Look at me, do you know the cross is crueler than a guillotine? In fact, I was talking to somebody the other day, I forget who it was, I said, if I had to die, I'd rather have the guillotine than the electric chair. The electric chair, you feel something for a little bit. The guillotine, you're done. After the guillotine, you have a split personality. But anyway, you face the guillotine, you're headed in the right direction.

But okay, enough of that. Isaiah wrote 700 years before the crucifixion of Christ, he said this, he would be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Surely he hath borne our griefs. Wait a minute, Isaiah says that he was despised and rejected of men but he hadn't even come yet. Isaiah said that he would suffer a cruel and punishing death but he hadn't even come yet.

And Isaiah terms it this way, he hath borne our grief. Now how would Isaiah talk as if it had already happened? In the Old Testament, that's how you got saved. You had enough faith to believe that Jesus was going to come. And Isaiah said it's as good as if it's already been done. He hath borne our griefs.

Even though he hadn't yet, Isaiah knew he would. You see in the Old Testament, that's how you got saved. You had faith that he would come. In the New Testament, how you got saved was you had faith that he did come. That's how you and I get saved now. We believe by faith that he did die for our sins. It was a vicious, vicious death. You say, well preacher, there's other people that have been persecuted and tormented.

Listen to me before I go to the next point, we're almost done. Let me tell you what separated the death of Christ from any other individual. The way he was treated, the way he was beaten, because the Bible says that the cross, look at me, was a stumbling block to the Jews.

It was foolishness to the Greeks. There was a hatred for Jesus that there wasn't even for a common criminal. People hated Jesus. When they would beat Jesus, they would beat him different than they would beat another individual.

When they spit on him and ridiculed him, they did it different than they would after anybody else. You know why? Because the cross separates. Jesus is a divider, and they hated him. But let me tell you one reason why he suffered the most cruel and anguishing death ever in history. Because he had the weight of our sin on him when he died. Nobody else has ever had that.

Look at me. Because it was a vicarious death, it was therefore a vicious death. Because he had the weight of sin of the whole world. A man, the Bible says, that never knew sin. He had never done sin. He didn't know sin. He never felt sin. And all of a sudden now, not only did he have sin, but he had the weight of the whole world's sin on him. There's no way to even measure the grief and torment he went through.

Because of our sin. Hollywood has tried, and many of you have seen the Passion of the Christ. I personally have never seen it. Many of you have seen the Passion of the Christ and they say that it's just graphic and probably one of the most accurate depictions or one that they didn't cut any corners to show. I don't know, I haven't seen it, but look at me. To their best efforts that doesn't even come close to showing what Jesus went through.

Because there's no way on a movie you could show or describe or explain what it means to die with the weight of the world's sin on you. That was a vicious death. Number three will be done. Thank God. Can you guess what this point is? It was a what? Victorious death. Thanks be to God that the crucifixion of Christ was not only vicarious and vicious, but it was victorious.

You say, how do you know? Because on the cross right before Jesus gave up the ghost, He said a statement and He said this, it is what? Finished. You know it's interesting in Jewish culture that what Jesus said there at the end in obviously that Greek language, what He said was this, it is finished. What is very important is because that particular phrase in the Greek is very close to something different, but it is totally different. Jesus did not say I am finished.

He said it is finished. Let me give you an illustration. In Jewish culture the phrase Jesus used is the same that they had on their taxes. Many of you know about Matthew the tax collector and we talk about different things, Zacchaeus and he collected taxes and different things.

When they paid taxes in obviously biblical days they would have a stamp they would put on the bottom and it would say it is finished, it's been paid. But see so closely what they would often do like a tailor would do your clothes or something, he would say I am finished. But Jesus wasn't finished. And He's still not finished. So what He said was this, I'm not finished, but redemption is.

It's been purchased. It's done. There's victory now. A victorious death. It is not His death only, but notice if you would, verse 4.

I love this. And that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. That means this, that that resurrection was the proof. He purchased our redemption.

Look at me. He purchased our redemption on the cross. But He proved His redemption when He rose again. Oh He went through all the suffering and He died and He took the weight of sin on Him. That was our redemption. But it wouldn't do us any good if He couldn't defeat death. All the weight of that sin had put death on His life. But when He rose again from the grave that means that it was victorious. It was finished. Not only was it purchased, but it was proven. He's powerful.

He beat death. Thank you Lord for your goodness to us. Help us Lord to look to the truth of your Word. Lord I believe you bless a church that preaches the Gospel. And Lord we have given the Gospel today.

Our heads are bound, our eyes are closed. I'd like to ask you a question before we go this morning and have our invitation. Is there anybody here that would say, Preacher I would appreciate you praying for me. I don't know for sure that I'm saved. And Lord, Preacher I believe from what you said that Jesus did die on the cross for my sins. But I don't know that I've ever been saved. And I would like it if you would pray for me today. I would certainly obviously never embarrass anybody.

Point anybody out of the crowd. I just want to know how to pray as a preacher. If you'd say, Preacher would you pray for me? I'm not sure that I'm saved. Would you pray for me?

Anybody like that? Just slip your hand up real quickly and back down. Thank you. Preacher pray for me. I'm not sure that I'm saved. Thank you in the balcony. I'm not sure that I'm saved.

Anybody else? Preacher just pray for me. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kirtland Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kirtlandbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you.