I am not saying that; but I am saying that if that represents for them their spiritual life if they must have that, if that is the realm in which they live... that they do not see beyond that and are not free from that as a thing in itself then they have missed the meaning of Calvary, and they are bound to miss all the meaning of Christ crucified the wisdom and the power of God.
And all who profess Christ crucified and own Him as the truth upon which their lives are founded, should maintain their steady gaze upon the singular Person of Christ Jesus.
Through grace, we are not in the flesh, but in Christ, yet the flesh is in us; but our part is to reckon it as having been, before God and to faith, judicially put to death in Christ crucified, thus setting us free to be so constantly occupied with the triumphant Son of God, as to find all our resources, all our strength, all our springs, in Him. -H.H.S.
Only Way
It all centres around believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the cross, for apart from Calvary there is no forgiveness of sin – no salvation – no heaven. Man’s assumption is inevitably that I must win my way to heaven by my good deeds. God’s criteria is believe on the finished work of Christ crucified – and nothing else. The one point men seem to forget is that we are all sinners and estranged from God. Sin is the one thing that separates man from God.
Paul's incarceration in a Roman prison greatly assisted in the spreading of the gospel to many people in Rome, including the praetorian guard. His courage in the face of danger spurred other believers to follow in his footsteps and preach Christ crucified.
Although his passion was to preach Christ crucified and to bring as many lost souls into a saving knowledge of his Lord and Saviour, Paul also knew that to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord.
Let us be part of Paul's 'others' as we share the good news of the Christ crucified, risen, and ascended for the redemption of mankind - so that whosoever believes on Him for salvation, will not perish but have everlasting life.
Paul knew that the righteousness with which he was clothed is the right and privilege of ALL who would trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation, and so he strove to spread abroad the gospel of God; Christ crucified, risen, ascended, and glorified.
Paul's singular purpose in his God-appointed ministry was to preach Christ crucified, and his great desire was to establish mature believers, in order to present them holy and blameless before God at Christ's appearing.
Paul reiterated the gospel of Christ crucified, buried, and Resurrected in the closing chapters of first Corinthians, together with a comprehensive treatise on the certainty of our bodily resurrection and the assurance we have in Him that we too have life immortal and will rise from the grave, in the twinkling of an eye, on the day of Christ.
He had called Paul and was pleased to reveal His Son in him... so that he might preach Christ crucified among the Gentiles.
He preached Christ crucified, Christ risen, Christ ascended, and Christ glorified... and his mission was to bring the lost to faith and the saved to spiritual maturity.
He is the one who has the love of God shed abroad in his heart and confesses Christ crucified, risen, ascended, and glorified; the one who trusts in the atoning Word of Jesus Christ in his heart, by faith with thanksgiving.
And although we are all called to: Do the work of an evangelist, by winning lost souls to Christ, there are those that are specifically called into this ministry who are wonderfully equipped to preach Christ Crucified to a lost world.
Following a life of hardship and pain where he determined to preach nothing but Christ crucified, we discover Paul at the end of his life, alone and in a Roman prison cell.
But because of the Cross of Christ and the sacrifice of Himself on behalf of all people, God in His grace chose to make the Gentiles: Co-heirs, members of the same Body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus. It was through the Cross that the wall of separation was broken down and it was through the gospel message that we preach Christ crucified.
We are instructed to preach or proclaim the truth of Scripture, for the Word is life and light, it is hope and it is peace, for we preach Christ crucified.
Paul was called and chosen so that he might preach the gospel of Christ crucified, risen, and ascended, among the Gentiles... and so we read: I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.
And from its birth at Pentecost, the Church, which is His spiritual Body, has carried the witness of Christ crucified, buried, and Resurrected, to a sin-sick, dying world.
Nevertheless, preaching Christ crucified was Paul's singular focus, and the glorious gospel of Christ and the incredible message of the Cross was Paul's passion.
Paul was thankful that these dear men and women had trusted Christ for their Salvation, and he was thrilled that Epaphras, his fellow-labourer in the gospel and beloved bond-servant of Christ, continued to faithfully preach Christ crucified to these believers - unlike so many false teachers that were infiltrating the early Church of Paul's day.
There seems to be no rivalry between Paul and Epaphras, because their united focus was the Lord Jesus, their singular ministry was to preach Christ crucified, and their common goal was to spread the gospel of God to the unsaved, while also bringing the body of Christ into spiritual maturity.
Let us hold fast to the truth and confess Christ crucified as the anointed Messiah of God and Redeemer of the world, for our Saviour Jesus Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King.
No wonder the apostle Paul was able to write: We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, CHRIST the POWER of God and Christ the WISDOM of God.
It was for this reason that Paul rejected the pious religiosity of his own Jewish heritage, and did not engage in the intellectual gymnastics of the clever thinkers in Corinth but preached Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Corinthian Gentiles.
Though Israel believed in a coming Messiah, they found 'Christ crucified' to be a stumbling block to faith and a rock of offence.
A crucified Messiah was a scandal to the Jew and an offensive stumbling block, but Paul preached Christ crucified, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to God's chosen people first but also to the Gentiles, for the message of the Cross alone is able to save His people from slavery to sin and release them from the curse of the Law.
Christ crucified is salvation for the Gentiles as well, but unsaved Gentiles also had a false perception of the Cross.