To Us Who are Being Saved

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 ESV

 

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

 

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’

 

“Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

 

What is the word (message) of the cross of Christ? Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of the name of Jesus we die with him to sin that we might live to him and to his righteousness, then we will save our lives, i.e. we will live (Luke 9:23-26 paraphrased; cf. Romans 6:1-23; 1 Peter 2:24; Ephesians 4:17-24).

 

So, why is this folly to those who are perishing? Because they do not want to have to die to their sins and live to God and to his righteousness. They want to hold on to their sin and remain king over their own lives and not have anyone telling them what they can and cannot do, or telling them how they should live their lives. They assume their lives are their own to be lived however they want to live them. And this includes many people who are presently professing Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives, too.

 

But the message of the cross is the power of God to us who are being saved, and please note here that this says, “being saved.” For, if our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine God-given faith, we are saved (past), we are being saved (present active), and we will be saved (future) when Jesus Christ returns and he takes his bride to be with him for eternity, which is when our salvation will be complete. But all this is conditional on us walking no more according to the flesh, but now according to the Spirit, to the end of time.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 8:31-32; Jn 15:1-12; Rom 8:24; Rom 11:17-24; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; Gal 5:16-21; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 2 Tim 1:8-9; 2 Tim 2:10-13; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; 2 Pet 1:5-11; 2 Pet 2:20-22; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6;24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10]  

 

We have so many people these days who are distorting the truth of the gospel to their own advantage. They are diluting, altering, and otherwise destroying the truth of the gospel in order to make it more acceptable to human flesh and to the world. And this is because they are trying to draw in large crowds of people from the world into their gatherings, so they have made spiritual compromises in order to attract the world to their meetings.

 

No longer are they teaching that Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, but they are saying that Jesus died just to forgive us our sins so we can go to heaven when we die, regardless of how we live our lives. For they say all our sins now are covered under the blood of Christ. And so we have a whole bunch of professing Christians who are still in bondage to sin who have not been set free from their slavery to sin by God’s saving grace. And so they aren’t truly saved.

 

And if you see this, do you ever ask yourself, “How did we get here? What did we do wrong?” I mean, this didn’t just happen overnight. This has been a slow and gradual chipping away at the truth of the message of the cross, and it has been a slow and deliberate altering of the message of the cross of Christ, one increment at a time. And it has been a slow and calculated and deliberate brain washing and deceiving of the minds of many who claim to be believers in Jesus Christ so that a little bit at a time they would begin to accept the lies as truth and to reject the truth as though it is a lie.

 

But God has made foolish the wisdom of the world. Amen! And the preaching of the cross of Christ, and what that means for us in our lives, will endure. And it will mean the salvation of many lives. And the message is not just that Jesus died to forgive us our sins so when we die we get to go to heaven. It is that Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And it is that we must forsake our sins to follow Jesus in obedience, and that if we do not, we will not have eternal life with God, and heaven will not be our eternal destiny.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Seek the Lord  

 

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

 

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

 

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

 

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you,

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

 

https://vimeo.com/379408296