What is a Christian: Determination

Father, thank you, Lord, for tonight.

We are grateful for the midweek opportunity to study the Word of

God. We thank you for what you've

already taught us as we have looked into your Word to see

what your Bible says about Christianity.

And we know that you'll teach us this evening as we study the

Word of God. Open our hearts and minds.

Help us to be receptive to the truth of your Word.

And our prayer, Father, is that as each of us look at our own

lives, we would measure it according to the standard you've

given in your word. And that, Lord, that would be

the measuring stick by which we look at our life and ask

ourselves the question, as Paul had said in 2nd Corinthians 13.

Five, test yourself, prove yourself to see whether or not

Jesus is in you. May that always be the case for

us and may we live a life of self examination according to

what your word says, and then maybe live according to your

word in Jesus name, Amen. I gave you an outline tonight.

If you didn't pick one up, they're still in the back, but I

gave one to you just so that you kind of know where we have been

over the last nine weeks that we've been together.

This is week #10 but we're on point #9 because the first week

was introductory. But all those points help you

identify the marks of true Christianity we're looking at

and answer the question. Question, what is a a Christian?

And so as you look at that, you realize that a Christian is

known by decision, by definition, by description,

declaration, dedication, denunciation, devotion,

disassociation, all those things we have covered over the last

several weeks. And we've only really touched

the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding all these

different points. But tonight, we want you to

understand that a Christian is known by determination.

There there is a firmness about the believer.

There is a resolute determination, A steadfastness

about the believer that helps mark him out as one who truly

knows the Christ. He is one who truly has one

focus, and that focus is a commitment and a discipline that

he exemplifies or she exemplifies.

In and through their lives. They know what needs to be done

and they do it. And the answer is in First

Corinthians 2 verse #2 where Paul said these words.

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ

and Him crucified. That is the believers

determination. I determined to know nothing

except the person Jesus Christ and his passion, his

crucifixion. I determined to know nothing

among you except the man Jesus Christ and his mission to be

crucified, Paul says. I I determined to know nothing

among you except the Son Jesus Christ and his sacrifice.

I determined to know just one thing, the person and work of

Jesus Christ our Lord. That is the believers

determination. Paul sums it up very succinctly.

I have one message, I have one mission.

I have one main talking point and it centers around a person,

Jesus Christ, and his purpose for coming his crucifixion.

Every Christian is determined to know nothing but the Christ and

his crucifixion, His death on Calvary.

It is the central mission of the life of the believer.

And yet we find ourselves more concerned about social issues

and more concerned about political issues and more

concerned about moral issues and more concerned about mental

issues than we do biblical, scriptural issues.

And that's always going to be a problem.

But it need not be if you are determined to know nothing but

Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Everything centers on the person

of Christ and the power of the cross.

Everything centers on that. We have one symbol in our

auditorium and only one, and that symbol is behind me and is

the cross of Christ. That's the only symbol.

There's no other symbol necessary, for it is that which

defines our faith. It's the one thing that

separates us from everyone else, the person and work of Jesus

Christ our Lord on Calvary's cross.

That is the main thing and it means to be kept the main thing

in the church. And over the years there have

been all kinds of crosses. There have been Greek crosses

and Coptic crosses and Roman Catholic crosses and Protestant

crosses, and Christians wear crosses and non Christians wear

crosses. And yet just because you have a

piece of jewelry around your neck doesn't mean you have the

person of Jesus in your heart. It's very important to recognize

that a lot of people wear crosses, but do they even know

what that cross means? A cross was always a symbol of

torture. It was always a symbol of death.

It was always a symbol of degradation and humiliation.

It's very precious to the believer.

Why? Because what man chose to do to

destroy the Christ only truly magnified the Christ.

And so we realized that the cross was something that that

was such a, a, a painful experience.

It was developed by the Persians, Persians in, in the

500 B CS BC. It wasn't adopted by Rome until

63 BC. They adopted it and perfected it

to such a degree that that it became the the main symbol of

torture and humiliation. You'll, you'll see people with

crosses in their, in their homes or around their necks with, with

the person of Christ on the cross that, that always has, has

been a, a sticking point with me because the person on the cross

that they have is recognizable. But the Bible says he was

unrecognizable as a man because he was beaten beyond

recognition. So, yeah, if you have a Jesus on

a cross that he's recognizable, you got the wrong Jesus because

he was not recognizable. If you have a Jesus on a cross

that has a loincloth around him, that again is wrong because when

people were crucified, they were always crucified naked.

There was no loincloth on them because it was an act of

humiliation and degradation. But you don't have people with

crosses with naked Jesus on them.

They got the wrong Jesus on there because he's not there.

He died and was buried and rose again.

So it's imperative that you get the cross of Christ right,

because it is everything. It's the main thing.

So Paul would say, I determined to know nothing among you except

Jesus Christ the person and his cross, which was his passion and

purpose for coming. So important to to understand

that, but yet we so easily forget that.

Paul didn't say I preach about the life of Christ.

Paul didn't say I preach about the miracles of Christ.

Paul didn't say I preach about the message of Christ.

No, I preach Christ and him crucified because his life

didn't save us. His message didn't save us.

His miracles didn't save us. It was his work on Calvary's

cross that saves us. And so Paul would determine to

know nothing among those in Corinth except Jesus Christ and

him crucify. The centrality of the cross is

what the Bible is all about. I'll show you that in a moment.

But everything in the Bible centers on the person and work

of the Messiah, and that work was accomplished on Calvary's

cross. The cross was central to the

mission of Christ. It was central to the message of

Christ, and it's central to the meaning of Christianity.

The cross is everything. And so therefore you must

understand the Christ who hung on Calvary's cross.

It's interesting to note that the gospels, the Synoptic

gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, 1/3 of them is all about the

last week of our Lord's life. John's Gospel which is about the

deity of Christ. Half of John's gospel focuses in

on the last week of the life of Christ.

In fact, if you got your Bible, turn me to John chapter 2

John 2 · chapter mention

because in John's Gospel, John would refer to the hour 7 times

and the hour is very very important.

As you recall in Luke's gospel that our Lord was 12 years old

and the very first recorded words in the scripture that were

spoken by Jesus were when he was 12.

And there was nothing else until his ministry began and he began

to preach about the Kingdom of of heaven.

But the words that he spoke at 12 years of age to his mother

while he was dialoguing with the Pharisees in the temple were

these. Don't you know that I had to be

about my father's business? Everything about the ministry of

Christ centered on the business of his father.

Very important statement. Probably the most important

statement Christ ever made. At the age of 12, I must be

about my Father's business. In fact, it's the the first of

seven divine musts in the Gospel of Luke.

If you trace those divine musts through Luke's Gospel, you'll

realize that all of them deal with something about the truth

of his death. Why?

Because that was central to his message.

It was central to his mission. So at the very beginning of

John's Gospel and we'll, we'll embark on a great journey in the

new year, coming in 2026 on Sunday mornings by going through

John's Gospel. It will take us a long time to

get through John's Gospel. It took us nine years to get

through Luke, so it'll probably take us at least that long or

more to get through the Gospel of John.

But in the 2nd chapter of John, Christ is going to perform his

very first miracle, turning water into wine.

It's very unique. And we'll talk about this when

we get there in in 2026. But it's it's interesting to

note that that this is his first miracle.

And you would think that his first miracle would make a make

a bigger splash than turning water into wine.

You would think his first miracle would be a resurrection.

I mean, that would make a pretty big splash.

But it wasn't even healing someone who was who was

paralyzed would be a great splash.

I mean, after all, how many times do you get to make a first

impression? Just once.

And so we look at the turning of the water into wine in John

John 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 as a so, so miracle. Oh, but it was a miracle that

set the tone for his entire ministry, that that's why it's

recorded and that's why it's the first miracle, because it

describes to us exactly why Jesus came.

And the Bible says to John too, that on the third day there was

a wedding in Canaan of Galilee. And commentators will debate the

the meaning of the third day. I don't debate that.

I think it's very clear as to why John would say, why would

John say that on the third day there was a wedding in Canaan of

Galilee? The Jews will tell you it was

the day of weddings, that that would be Tuesday of the week.

Saturday, of course, would be the Sabbath and that ended at

the evening time on Saturday. Sunday would be the first day of

the week and so they would begin to make preparations for the

wedding. Monday would be the the final

duty surrounding the wedding and Tuesday would be the wedding.

And so they would say that a lot of Jewish weddings would take

place on a Tuesday in ancient times.

I don't buy that, but that's what a lot of Jews will tell

you. I think it's very important

because I think it it sets the tone for the resurrection of

Christ that on the third day he would rise again.

Why? Because this is the first

mention of the hour in John's gospel, the first of seven

times. And so it says in in verse

number #2 or says in verse #1 on the third day was the wedding in

King of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

And both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding.

When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him,

they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, woman,

what does that have to do with us?

My hour has not yet come. So this is the first mention of

the hour. So I think that John inserts the

third day because the third day is related to the hour.

And these are the words that Christ said to His mother.

My hour has not yet come because the very first mention of the

hour is that which would characterize His ministry.

Very important to understand that.

Why? Because He would take the filthy

water, the murky water, The Dirty water for cleansing and

make it into the finest of wine. Because you see, that's what

Jesus did when he saves the soul.

He takes the murky, dirty water of your life and makes it the

finest of wine. He makes you a brand new

creation. That that's why Jesus came.

That's why this is the first miracle.

It sets the tone for what the ministry of Christ is all about.

And that's why the very Nick scene, He's cleansing the

temple. Why?

Because Jesus is all about cleansing.

And so he turns the water in the wine, and the very next scene is

his cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem.

And the very next scene after that is the conversation with

Nicodemus which says that a man must be born again.

He must be washed with the washing of water of the Word.

Again, speaking about the cleansing of the inner man.

Everything about the ministry of Christ was about cleaning the

life that is so filled with sin so that we can be clothed in the

righteousness of Christ. But that's the first mention of

the hour and it characterized his ministry.

The second mention of the hour is found in John Chapter 7.

John 7 · chapter mention

Because the Jews were were seeking to kill him.

And it says in verse #30 of John 7.

So they were seeking to seize him, and no man laid his hand on

him because his hour had not yet come.

The second mention of the hour in John's gospel.

The first characterized his ministry, the second conveyed

His sovereignty. His hour had not yet come.

They wanted to kill him, but they couldn't.

Why? Because He was on a divine

timetable and everything about the Cross is is precise.

And although they wanted to seize them and although they

wanted to kill them, him, they couldn't do it because his hour

had not yet come. But it was coming.

And so it truly conveyed His sovereignty over an 820 is the

third mention. It's the same thing.

It says these words. He spoke to the treasury as he

taught in the temple, and no one seized him because his hour had

not yet come. Again, it's all about the hour.

So the first mention, excuse me, clarifies His identity or His

ministry, and the second and the third one convey to us His

sovereignty. And then you come to the the 4th

mention of the hour, excuse me, that's in John 12 verse #23 when

some Greeks had come to to Philip and asked to see Jesus,

and Philip took him to Andrew and Andrew brought them to

Jesus. And these are the words of

Jesus. In verse 23, He says the hour

has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

The hour's here. The hour has come.

He, he, He has truly conveyed His sovereignty.

He has truly clarified His ministry, and now he's going to

certify His destiny. The hour has come.

Then in verse 27, now my soul has become troubled and what

should I say? Father saved me from this hour.

But for this purpose I came to this hour.

Father glorify your name. The hour certified His destiny.

And then you, you have the next mentioned, the 6th mentioned in

chapter 13 verse #1 now before the the feast of the Passover.

Excuse me, Jesus knowing that His hour had come, that He would

depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who

were in the world, He loved them to the end.

Here He clarified His identity. And then in John 17 verse #1 is

the 7th mention of the hour, and it says, lifting up his eyes to

heaven, He said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son

that the sun may be glorified, or that the sun might glorify

you. So everything was about moving

toward the hour, and this one communicated His glory.

Father, glorify the sun, so the sun may glorify you.

Put the sun on display so the sun can display you.

And is it not true that at the cross the glory of the Lord was

on display? His love was on display, His

mercy was on display, His forgiveness was on display.

His goodness was on display. His wrath was on display.

Everything about the attributes of God were displayed at

Calvary. So Paul will say, I determined

to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified,

because when he was crucified, his glory was on display and he

glorified his Father by putting him on display.

Everything is about putting Christ on display.

That is the determination of the believer.

I am determined to put Christ on display.

So I'm going to preach Christ, the person and the power of the

cross because that's the best way I can show people who Jesus

really is. You see, we forget that that the

cross is, is everything. Let's look at it this way.

Eternity past eternity past before the creation of the world

is all about the let's call it the predetermination or the

predestination of the cross because he was the Lamb slain

before the foundation of the world.

So when eternity passed before the creation of the world,

everything was about the predetermination or the

predestination of the cross. So when the Bible says in Jesus

one, let us make man in our image, the plan had been put

into place. Deity communicating with deity,

let us make man in our image. Why?

Because the whole purpose was to redeem a bride for the Son.

So in eternity past, it's all about the predetermination of

the cross. So when you open your Bible and

you read the Old Testament, the Old Testament is all about the

preparation or the prediction of the cross.

Everything in the Old Testament prepares you for the cross

because everything in the Old Testament predicts the cross.

OK, so you read Psalm 22A, Messianic Psalm written 1000

years before the cross was about the crucifixion.

And then you move and you you open your Bible and you begin to

read Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 was written 700 years

before the cross. And then you read Zechariah

Zechariah 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12 verse #10 where it says that that one day they will

look upon him whom they have pierced.

Speaking of the of the crucifixion written 550 years

before the cross. Now why is that important?

Because the first recorded crucifixion in history happened

500 years before the cross, and yet 1000 years before the cross,

there was a prediction about it. 700 years before the cross there

was a prediction about it. 550 years before the cross there was

a prediction about it. But the cross did not come into

play until 500 BC by the Persians.

So before it was ever a thing of torture, before it was ever an

item that that would come into play, where it would crucify

and, and, and, and had this cruel death of people.

The Bible had already predicted it.

Why? Because it was predetermined in

the eternity past that he'd be the Lamb slain before the

foundation of the world. So in eternity past you have the

predetermination of the cross, and then in the Old Testament

you have the preparation or the prediction about the cross.

And so you move through your Old Testament, you come to the

Gospels and the Gospels is all about the mission and the

revelation of the cross. Remember Mark's Gospel in Mark

Mark 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 after Christ that asked the disciples who do men

say that I am doubt the Christ, the Son of the living God.

He says, OK, don't tell anybody that this is what I want you to

tell them. Mark 831 And he began to teach

them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be

rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes,

and be killed. After three days, rise again.

And he was stating this matter plainly, openly.

In other words, this what you tell everybody?

Don't tell I'm the Christ and I'm the living God.

Tell them that the Son of Man must suffer.

Tell them about the divine certainty of the cross.

And of course, that's when Peter would pipe up and say, Lord, you

know, you don't have the mind, the things of God.

I mean, Lord, you don't understand who you are.

You're the Messiah. You're not going to die and

Christ is going to be behind me, Satan.

But they didn't understand the predetermination of the cross,

nor did they understand the predictions about the cross.

So you move from Mark 9, from the divine necessity of the

cross to mark, I'm sorry, mark 8 to mark 9, which speaks about

the divine certainty of the cross.

He said He was teaching His disciples the Son of Man is to

be delivered. This is divine certainty.

What was the divine necessity? He must be delivered.

This is divine certainty. He is to be delivered into the

hands of men, and they will kill him, and when he has been

killed, he will rise three days later.

But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid

to ask him. Why were they afraid to ask him?

Why didn't they want to ask Jesus about the cross?

All you got to do is read on in in Mark's Gospel and you realize

that says the verse 33. They came to Capernaum and when

he was in the house, he began to question them.

What were you discussing on the way as if Jesus didn't know, but

they kept silent for on the way they discussed with one another

which of them was the greatest. Of course, not going to ask

Jesus about the cross because that didn't fit into their their

methodology of greatness. So they weren't going to tell

him anything. But you see, the Gospels is

about the mission of the cross and the revelation of the cross.

So everybody knows about the cross.

So you have the divine necessity and you have the divine

certainty, and then you have the divine brutality of the cross.

And that's in chapter 10 when it says these words.

And again he took the 12 aside and began to tell them what was

going to happen to them, saying, Behold, we are going up to

Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief

priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death

and will hand them over to the Gentiles.

They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, kill him, and three

days later he will rise again. The divine brutality of the

cross. But even though he spoke about

its necessity, its certainty, and its brutality, he always

couched it in the victory of the cross.

Three days later I will rise again.

So wonder, Paul said. I determined to know nothing to

money except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Why? Because everything about the

cross was something that was predetermined in eternity past

and everything in the Old Testament all just predicted

what was going to happen with the death of the Messiah before

crucifixions were ever a thing. Now you now you come to the to

the gospels and now you have the mission of the of the cross.

This was the divine mission of the Messiah.

And so when he came, he came to die.

So you move from the Gospels to where the book of Acts and the

book of Acts is all about the explanation of the cross.

If eternity passes about predetermination, and in the Old

Testament is about prediction and the Gospels is about the

mission of the cross, then in the book of Acts you have the

explanation about the cross because you're explaining to the

Jewish nation why it is the Messiah must come, must suffer,

and must die and rise again. So you you have in the book of

Acts the explanation of the cross, and with that explanation

came the persecution of those who followed the way of the

cross. And you move from the book of

Acts to the Epistles. In the Epistles you have the

application of the cross. The cross is applied to daily

living. So you had this memorial that's

set up called the Lord's Table, this due in remembrance of me.

And everything about the Epistles is applying the cross

life to your daily life because you've denied yourself.

Take it up your cross and you follow Christ.

And Paul would say, I've been crucified with Christ.

I've died to myself. Christ died.

Second Corinthians chapter 5 say you would no longer live for

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

yourself, but for the one who gave himself for you and rose

again. It's all about the application

of the cross. Then when you're done with the

epistles, you come to what? The Book of Revelation?

What's the Book of Revelation about?

It's all about the celebration of the cross.

It's all about the celebration. It's all about the adoration of

the cross. Why, for those of you who've

been here, you know what I'm going to say.

One time in the Old Testament, the Messiah is referred to as a

lamb. Two times in the Gospels, John's

Gospel, he's referred to as the Lamb.

Two times in the epistles, the Messiah is referred to as the

Lamb. But when you come to the Book of

Revelation, 28 times he's referred to as the Lamb.

Why? Because the Book of Revelation

is about the celebration of the cross, the Lamb that was slain.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive glory and honor

and praise. It's all about the celebration

of the cross. And then after the Book of

Revelation, where are you? You're in the eternal state.

And you know what's going to happen in the eternal state.

It's all going to be centered around.

Get this now, the illumination of the cross.

Listen to this Revelation, chapter 21, verse 23.

Revelation 21:23

And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it,

for the glory of God has illumined it.

And it's lamp is the lamp, the illumination of the cross.

It's that which illuminates eternity, future.

And so you, you, you go through all that, you begin to realize

everything in the Bible is about the cross.

So no wonder Paul said, I determined to know nothing among

you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Why? Because that's everything.

That's what we do. That's who we are.

And so after the predetermination of the cross

and after the prediction about the cross and the mission of the

cross and the explanation of the cross, and then you have the

celebration of the cross and the illumination of the cross.

What's left? The invitation to the cross.

There's always the invitation that's given because it's Christ

to invite you to come. If any man come after me, let

him deny himself, take of his cross and and follow me 6 times.

Christ talks about the cross and following him because that's the

gospel invitation. It's all about the cross.

Remember way back in, in, in the book of Exodus, Christ gave

Moses his memorial name. Exodus 3 verse #15 this is my

name, my memorial name that is to be remembered from generation

to generation. And that name is is given when,

when, when Moses is speaking to God, who's speaking to him

through a burning Bush, He says, who should I say?

Send me? Tell him I am sent you.

I am is commonly called the tetragrammaton, the the four

Hebrew consonants that make up the name of God, the yod, the

hey, the vav in the hey pronounced yave.

We had some vowels in there to call it Jehovah, but the right

pronunciation pronunciation is yave in the Greek.

It's ego a me I am, and Christ would say in John 824, unless

you believe that I am ego a me, which is the translation of the

for Hebrew consonants in the book of Exodus, the 3rd chapter.

Unless you believe that I'm the God who spoke to Moses from the

burning Bush, you'll die in your sins.

That's His memorial name because everything about His name is to

be memorialized. Because in that name I am that I

am. God declared his preeminence,

demonstrated his power, described his provision, and

delivered his people. That's the memorial name of God.

And that's exactly what happened on Calvary.

He declared his preeminence. How?

By the inscription above the cross, Jesus of Nazareth, King

of the Jews, the thief would look at him and say, Remember Me

when you come into your Kingdom. Everything about Calvary's cross

demonstrated the preeminence of Christ on the cross, because

everything happened precisely as He described it and planned it

out. And it was through His death on

Calvary that He destroyed the power of sin over death and

destroyed the power of Satan in your life and mine.

He declared His preeminence on Calvary.

He also demonstrated His power. John 10 verse #18 Nobody takes

my life from me. I lay it down on my own

initiative. And if I lay it down on my own

initiative, guess what? I take it right back up again.

That's power. That's real power.

And he demonstrated his power. He demonstrated his power when

when the world became dark, he demonstrated his power through

the earthquake and the and the falling of the rocks.

He demonstrated his power when when many people came out of the

tomb. He demonstrated his power when

the veil was torn in two. But everything about the great I

am didn't just declare his pre eminence, but it truly

demonstrated his power. Now, Calvary, did he describe

his provision? Yes, he did.

He looked at his mother and said, behold your son, and

looked at John and said, behold your mother.

Even in his dying breath, he would provide for his mother.

Even in his dying breath, he honored his mother and he would

provide forgiveness. Father, forgive them, for they

know not what they were doing. He died so that man could be

forgiven, and so he would provide forgiveness.

The great I am would do this. Why?

So he could deliver his people. And that's exactly what he did

to the thief, he said. Today you'll be with me in

paradise. And if it wasn't for Calvary's

cross, we'd still be dead in our sins.

But we experienced deliverance from the power of sin, from the

penalty of sin, ultimately one day from the presence of sin.

Why? Because of the cross of Christ.

So Paul would say, I determined that there is nothing among you

except one thing, Jesus Christ and him crucified.

AW Tozer has written a a devotional.

It's called The Pursuit of God, The Pursuit of man.

It's very small devotional. You can't buy it on Amazon

because I bought the last 13 copies yesterday.

Sorry, but I bought them. It's such a unique devotional.

And in there he describes the cross.

Listen to what he says. The cross where Jesus died

became also the cross where his apostle died.

The loss, the rejection and the shame belong both to Christ and

to all who are in very truth His.

The cross that saves them also slays them, and anything short

of this is a pseudo faith and not true faith at all.

But what are we to say when the great majority of our

evangelical leaders walk not as crucified men, but as those who

accept the world at its own value, rejecting only its

grosser elements? How can we face Him who was

crucified and slain when we see his followers accepted and

praised, yet they preach the cross and protest loudly that

they are true believers. Are there not 2 crosses?

And did Paul mean one thing and they another?

I fear that that is so, that there are two crosses, the old

cross and the new cross. He says.

If I see you right, the cross of popular evangelicalism is not

the cross of the New Testament. It is rather a new bright

ornament upon the bosom of self assured and carnal Christianity,

whose hands are indeed the hands of Abel, but whose voice is the

voice of Cain. The old cross slumin.

The new cross entertains men. The old cross condemned.

The new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed.

Confidence in the flesh. The new cross encourages

confidence in the flesh. The old cross brought tears and

blood. The new cross, well, it brings

laughter. The flesh, smiling and

confident, preaches and sings about the cross.

Before the cross it bow, bows, excuse me.

And toward the cross it points with carefully staged

hysteronics. But upon that cross it will not

die. And the reproach of that cross

is stubbornly refused to bear. I will know how many smooth

arguments can be marshaled in support of the new cross.

Does not the new cross win conference and make many

followers and so carry the advantage of numerical success?

Should we not adjust ourselves to the changing times?

Have we not heard the new slogan, New days, new ways?

And who but someone very old and very conservative would insist

upon death as the appointed way to life?

And who today is interested in a gloomy mysticism that would

sentence its flesh to a cross and recommend self effacing

humility as a virtue actually to be practiced by modern

Christians? These are the arguments, along

with many more flippant still, which are brought forward to

give an appearance of wisdom to the hollow, meaningless cross of

popular Christianity. Doubtless there are many whose

eyes are open to the tragedy of our times, but why are they so

silent when their testimony is so sorely needed?

In the name of Christ men have made void the cross of Christ.

Men have fashioned a golden cross with a graven tool, and

before they sit down to eat and drink and rise up to play in

their own blindness, they've submitted, or, excuse me, they

have substituted the work of their own hands for the working

of God's power. Perhaps our greatest present

need may be the coming of a prophet to dash the stones at

the foot of the mountain and call the church out to

repentance or to judgement. So articulate was a man who said

this almost 100 years ago. But he saw what was happening

with the cross of Christ and how man refuses to carry his cross

and be slayed by that cross. True Christianity, the true

believer has one determination and that is Jesus Christ and Him

crucified. Every believer is determined,

focused, steadfast, resolute on fulfilling 1 Main purpose, 1

objective, 1. Discipline, 1 Focus.

Christ and His cross. It's everything.

It's that which gave you life. Why would you focus and be

determined to do anything else? Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for tonight. We thank you for your word.

We thank you, Lord, for the conviction that it brings.

Truly, Lord, there is so much in the Word of God and everything

about it. It's about the cross, your

coming, your death, your Burrow, your resurrection, the victory

of that which was certain, of that which was necessary, of

that which was brutal. It was victorious.

And we who have embraced Christ and His cross live a victorious

life. Our prayer is that Lord, every

single day we would manifest that victorious life because we

have determined to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him

crucified. Jesus name Amen.