The Word of the Cross

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 31, 1881,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but
unto us which are sa ved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18.

NOTE well that in the 17th verse Paul had renounced the "wisdom of
words." He says that he was sent to "preach the Gospel, not with wisdom
of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of no effect." It is
very clear, therefore, that there is an excellence, elegance and
eloquence of language which would deprive the Gospel of its due effect.
I have never yet heard that the Cross of Christ was made of no effect
by great plainness of speech, nor even by ruggedness of language–but
it is the, "wisdom of words," which is said to have this destroying
power. Oh, dreadful wisdom of words! God grant that we may be delivered
from making attempts at it, for we ought earnestly to shun anything and
everything which can be so mischievous in its influence as to make the
Cross of Christ of no effect. The "wisdom of words" works evil at times
by veiling the Truths of God which ought to be set forth in the
clearest possible manner.

The doctrine of Atonement by blood, which is the essence of the
preaching of the Cross, is objectionable to many minds and, therefore,
certain preachers take care not to state it too plainly. Prudently, as
they call it–craftily, as the Apostle Paul would call it–they tone
down the objectionable features of the great Sacrifice, hoping by
pretty phrases to somewhat remove the "offense of the Cross." Proud
minds object to Substitution, which is the very edge of the doctrine
and, therefore, theories are adopted which leave out the idea of laying
sin upon the Savior and making Him to be a curse for us. Self-sacrifice
is set forth as possessing a high, heroic influence by which we are
stimulated to self-salvation, but the Lord's suffering as the Just for
the unjust is not mentioned! The Cross, in such a case, is not at all
the Cross by which self-condemned sinners can be comforted and the
hardened can be subdued, but quite another matter.

Those who thus veil an unwelcome Truth of God imagine that they make
disciples, whereas they are only paying homage to unbelief and
comforting men in their rejection of the Divine Propitiation for sin!
Whatever the preacher may mean in his heart, he will be guilty of the
blood of souls if he does not clearly proclaim a real Sacrifice for
sin. Too often the "wisdom of words" explains the Gospel away. It is
possible to refine a doctrine till the very soul of it is gone. You may
draw such nice distinctions that the true meaning is filtered away.
Certain divines tell us that they must adapt the Truth of God to the
advance of the age, which means that they must murder it and fling its
dead body to the dogs! It is asserted that the advanced philosophy of
the 19th Century requires a progressive theology to keep abreast of
it–which simply means that a popular lie shall take the place of an
offensive Truth of God.

Under pretense of winning the cultured intellects of the age, "the
wisdom of words," has gradually landed us in a denial of those first
principles for which the martyrs died! Apologies for the Gospel, in
which the essence of it is conceded to the unbeliever, are worse than
infidelity. I hate that defense of the Gospel which razes it to the
ground to preserve it from destruction. The "wisdom of words," however,
is more frequently used with the intent of adorning the Gospel and
making it to appear somewhat more beautiful than it would be in its
natural form. They would paint the rose and enamel the lily, add
whiteness to snow and brightness to the sun! With their wretched
candles they would help us to see the stars! O superfluity of evil!

The Cross of Christ is sublimely simple–to adorn it is to dishonor it.
There is no statement under Heaven more musical than this–"God was in
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them." All the bells that you could ring to make it
more harmonious would only add a jingle jangle to its heavenly melody
which is, in itself, so sweet that it charms the harpers before the
Throne of God! The doctrine that God descended upon the earth in human
nature–and in that nature bore our sins, carried our sorrows and made
expiation for our transgressions by the death on the Cross–is, in
itself, matchless poetry, the perfection of all that is ennobling in
thought and creed! Yet

the attempt is made to decorate the Gospel as though it needed
something to commend it to the understanding and the heart.

The result is that men's minds are attracted away from the Gospel,
either to the preacher or to some utterly indifferent point. Hearers
carry home charming morsels of poetry, but they forget the precious
blood! They remember the elaborate metaphors so daintily worked out,
but they forget the five wounds and fail to look unto the Lord Jesus
and be saved! The Truth of God is buried under flowers! Brothers, let
us cut out of our sermons everything that takes men's minds away from
the Cross! One look at Jesus is better than the most attentive gazing
at our gems of speech! One of the old masters found that certain vases
which he had depicted upon the sacramental table attracted more notice
than the face of the Lord, whom he had painted sitting at the head of
the feast and, therefore, he struck them out at once. Let us, my
Brothers, do the same whenever anything of ours withdraws the mind away
from Jesus. Christ must always be in the foreground and our sermons
must point to Him, or they will do more harm than good. We must preach
Christ Crucified and set Him forth like the sun in the heavens, as the
only Light of men!

Some seem to imagine that the Gospel does not contain within itself
sufficient force for its own spreading and, therefore, they dream that
if it is to have power among men it must either be through the logical
way in which it is put–in which case all glory is to logic, or though
the handsome manner in which it is stated–in which case all glory is
to rhetoric. The notion is current that we should seek the aid of
prestige, or talent, or novelty, or excitement, for the Gospel, itself,
the doctrine of the Cross, is, in itself, impotent in its hands and
lame upon its feet. It must be sustained by outside power and carried,
as by a nurse, wherever it would go. Reason, elocution, art, music, or
some other force must introduce and support it, or it will make no
advance–so some injuriously dream.

That is not Paul's notion! He speaks of the Cross of Christ as being
itself the power of God and he says that it is to be preached, "not
with wisdom of words," lest the power should be attributed to the
aforesaid wisdom of words and the Cross of Christ should be proven to
have, in itself, no independent power, or, in other words, to be of no
effect! Paul would not thus degrade the Cross for a moment and,
therefore, though qualified to dispute with schoolmen and philosophers,
he disdained to dazzle with arguments and sophistries. And, though he
could speak with masterly energy–let his Epistles bear witness to
that–yet he used great plainness of speech, that the force of his
teaching might lie in the Doctrine, itself, and not in his language,
style, or delivery.

He was jealous of the honor of the Cross and would not spread it by any
force but its own, even as he says in the 4th and 5th verses of the
second chapter of this Epistle–"My speech and my preaching was not
with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God." Having cleared our way of the wisdom of
words, we now come to the word of wisdom. Paul preached the Cross and
our first head shall be the word of the Cross. Many give the Cross a
bad word and so our second head shall be the word of its despisers
concerning it–they called it foolishness. And then, thirdly, we will
think upon the word applied to the Cross by those who believe it–it is
to them "the power of God." O that the Holy Spirit may use it as the
power of God to all of us this day!

I. First, then, we speak upon "THE WORD OF THE CROSS." Borrow the term
from the Revised Version, which runs thus–"The word of the Cross is to
them that are perishing foolishness, but unto us who are being saved it
is the power of God." This is, to my mind, an accurate translation. The
original is not, "the preaching of the Cross," but "the word of the
Cross." This rendering gives us a heading for our first division and,
at the same time, brings before us exactly what the Gospel is–it is
"the word of the Cross." From which I gather, first, that the Cross has
one uniform teaching, or word. We are always to preach the word of the
Cross and the Cross has not many words, but one. There are not two
gospels any more than there are two gods–there are not two atonements
any more than there are two saviors.

There is one Gospel as there is one God, and there is one Atonement as
there is one Savior. Other gospels are not tolerated among earnest
Christians. What did the Apostle say? "If we or an angel from Heaven
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto
you, let him be candidly heard and quietly fraternized with"? Nothing
of the sort! I will quote the Scripture. Paul says, "Let him be
accursed." He has no more tolerance than that for him, for Paul loved
the souls of men and to tolerate spiritual poison is to aid and abet
the murder of souls! There is no Gospel under Heaven, but the one
Gospel of Jesus Christ!

But what about other voices and other words? They are not voices from
Heaven, nor words from God, for He has not, in one place, spoken one
thing, and in another place, another! Neither is it according to the
Spirit of the Gospel that there should be one form of Gospel for the
first six centuries and then another form of it for the 19th Century.
Is it not written, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and
forever"? If the Atonement were in progress. If the great Sacrifice
were not complete, then I could understand that there should be
progress in the preaching of it. But, inasmuch as, "It is finished,"
was pronounced by Christ upon the Cross and then He bowed His head and
gave up the ghost–there can be no further development in the fact or
in the doctrine!

Inasmuch as the Word of the Lord which describes that Atonement is so
complete that he that adds to it shall have the plagues that are
written in this Book added unto him, I gather that there is no such
thing as a progressive word of the Cross, but that the Gospel is the
same Gospel today as it was when Paul, in the beginning, proclaimed it!
The word of the Cross, since it is the express Word of God, endures
forever! Generations of men come and go like yearly growths of the
grass of the field, but the Word of the Lord abides evermore the same
in all places, the same to all nationalities, the same to all
temperaments and constitutions of the mind!

"Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid." From that
word I gather, next, that the doctrine of the Atonement is one word in
contradistinction from many other words which are constantly being
uttered. We preach Christ Crucified and His voice from the Cross is,
"Look unto Me and be you saved." But another voice cries aloud, "Do
this and you shall live." We know it–it is the voice of the Old
Covenant which the Lord Jesus has removed, taking away the first
Covenant that He may establish the second. The doctrine of salvation by
works, salvation by feelings, salvation by outward religiousness is not
the word of the Cross which speaks in quite another fashion! The call
to salvation by works is a strange voice within the fold of the
Church–and the sheep of Christ do not follow it, for they know not the
voice of strangers.

The word of the Gospel speaks on this wise, "The Word is near you, even
in your mouth and in your heart." That is, the word of faith which we
preach–that if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and
shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you
shall be saved." "Believe and live" is the word of the Cross! Much less
do we regard the word of ceremonialism and priestcraft which still
lingers among us. We had thought it was a dull echo of the dead past,
but, alas, it is a powerful voice and is constantly lifting itself up.
Priestcraft is crying, "Confess to me and you shall have forgiveness!
Perform this ceremony and undergo this other rite and you shall receive
a sacred benediction through men ordained of Heaven!"

We do not know this voice, for it is the voice of falsehood! He that
believes in Christ Jesus has everlasting life! We are complete in Him
and we know nothing of any priest except that one High Priest, who, by
His one Sacrifice, has perfected, forever, them that are set apart!
Voices here and there are heard like mutterings from among the
tombs–these are the maunderings of superstition, saying, "Lo, here,"
and, "Lo, there," and one man has this revealed to him and another
that. But to none of these have we any regard, for God has spoken and
our preaching, from now on is nothing but "the word of the Cross,"
which is none other than the word of the crucified Son of God who loved
us and gave Himself for us!

Brothers, let us hear this word of the Cross, for, in effect, my text
says, "Let the Cross speak for itself." That is to be our preaching! We
bid reasoning and speculation hold their tongues that the Cross,
itself, may speak! We let the Cross speak its own word. First, it cries
aloud God must be just. The dreadful voice of Justice, in its certainty
and severity, rings through the world in the sighs and cries and
death-groans of the Son of the Highest! Jesus has taken man's sin upon
Himself and He must die for it, for wherever sin is, God must destroy
it! The Judge of all the earth must do right and it is right that sin
should involve suffering! Supreme Justice must visit iniquity with
death and, therefore, Jesus on the Cross, though in Himself perfectly
innocent and unspeakably lovely, must die the death–deserted by His
Father because the iniquity of us all has been placed upon Him.

The Cross cries unto the sons of men, "Oh, do not this abominable thing
which God hates, for He will, by no means, spare the guilty." God must
make bare His arm and bathe His sword in Heaven to destroy sin wherever
it is found, for He smites it even when it is imputed to His only Son!
The Cross thunders more terribly than Sinai, itself, against human sin!
How it breaks men's hearts to hear its voice! How it divides men from
their sins, even as the voice of the Lord breaks the

cedars of Lebanon and shatters the rock in pieces! If God smites the
Perfect One who bears our sin, how will He smite the guilty one who
rejects His love?

Let the Cross speak again and what does it say with even a louder
voice? God loves men and delights in mercy! Though He loves
righteousness and hates wickedness, yet He loves the sons of men so
much so that He gives His Only-Begotten to die that sinners may live!
What more could God have done to prove His love to mankind? "God
commends His love to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us." The love within that glorious deed needs no telling, it tells
itself! God had but one Son, one with Himself by mystic union and He
sent Him here below to take our nature, that, being found in fashion as
a man, He might die on our behalf–made sin for us that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him! "God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him might not
perish, but have everlasting life." The word of the Cross is, "God is
Love." He wills not the death of the sinner, but that he turn unto Him
and live!

What does the Cross say next? Mark, we are not speaking of the
crucifix. The crucifix represents Christ on the Cross, but He is not on
the Cross any longer, He has finished His sacrificial work and has
ascended to His Glory. If He were still on the Cross, He could not save
us! We now preach the Cross as that on which He died, but who now lives
and reigns full of ability to save! Let the bare Cross speak and it
declares that the one Sacrifice is accepted and the Atonement is
complete! Sin is put away, the work of reconciliation is accomplished
and Jesus has gone up on high unto His Father's Throne to plead for the
guilty. Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more! Death has no
more dominion over Him! He is risen for our justification and we are
accepted in Him–

"No more the bloody spear, The Cross and nails no more, For Hell itself
shakes at His name, And all the heavens adore."

Let the Cross speak and it tells of ransom paid and atonement accepted.
The Law is magnified, justice is satisfied, mercy is no longer bound by
the unsatisfied demands of judgment. "God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and
has committed unto us the word of reconciliation," which also is the
word of the Cross. When we let the Cross speak still further we hear it
say–"Come and welcome! Guilty sons of men, come and welcome to the
feast of mercy, for God has both vindicated His Law and displayed His
love. And now, for the chief of sinners, there is free and full
forgiveness to be had for nothing, for the Cross gives priceless
blessings without price!" "Whoever will, let him take the Water of Life
freely."

Free pardon, free justification, perfect cleansing, complete
salvation–these are gifts of Grace bestowed upon the unworthy as soon
as they believe in Christ Jesus and trust themselves with Him. This is
the word of the Cross! What more can we desire to hear? We may be
forgiven in a way which shall not violate the claims of justice! God is
just and yet the Justifier of him that believes! He is merciful and
just to forgive us our sins. Oh that I knew how to be quite still and
let the Cross, itself, speak out with its matchless tones of mercy and
majesty, love and blood, death and life, punishment and pardon,
suffering and glory! It speaks in thunder and in tenderness! If we will
but listen to what it has to say, it is a word by which the inmost
heart of God is revealed.

Now I speak yet further the word of the Cross, for in the name of Him
that did hang upon the Cross I call for faith in His Atonement. The
death of Christ was no ordinary matter. The dignity of His Nature made
it the event of the ages! He who died on the Cross was very God of very
God, as well as Man, and His Sacrifice is not to be neglected or
rejected with impunity. Such a Divine marvel demands our most careful
thought and joyful confidence. To do spite to the blood of the Son of
God is to sin with a vengeance! God demands faith in His Son and
especially in His Son dying for our sakes! We ought to believe every
word that God has spoken, but above all, the word of the Cross. Shall
we doubt the good faith and love of God when He gives His Son a hostage
for His Word and offers up the Only-Begotten as the token of His Grace?

Oh, men, whatever you trifle with, disregard not the Son of God!
Whatever presumption you commit, yet trample not upon the Cross of
Jesus! This is the highest thought of God! The center of all His
counsels, the topmost summit of the mighty Alp of Divine loving
kindness! Do not think little of it or turn away from it! I beseech
you, no, I command you, in the name of Him that lives and was dead,
look to the dying Savior and live! If you do not, you shall answer for
it in that day when He shall come upon the clouds of Heaven to avenge
Him of His adversaries!

Thus have I set before you the word of the Cross. May the Holy Spirit
bless the message.

II. We have the unpleasant task, in the second place, of listening to
THE WORD OF ITS DESPISERS. They call the Doctrine of the Atonement,
"foolishness." Numbers of men call the Doctrine of Salvation by the
blood of Christ, "foolishness." It is most assuredly the wisdom of God
and the power of God, but they stick at the first assertion and will
not acknowledge the wisdom of the wondrous plan. It is, therefore, no
wonder that they never feel its power! No, it is foolishness to them–a
thing beneath their contempt. And why foolishness? "Because," they say,
"see how the common people take it up. Everybody can understand it. You
believe that Jesus is a Substitute for you and you sing with the
poorest of the poor–

'I do believe, I will believe That Jesus died for me; And on the Cross
He shed His blood From sin to set me free.

"There," they say, "that's a pretty ditty for educated men. Why, the
very children sing it and are able to believe it and talk of it. Psha,
it is sheer foolishness! We don't want anything so vulgar and
commonplace. Don't you know that we take in a high-class review and
read the best thought of the times? You don't suppose we are going to
believe just as common plowboys and servant girls do?" Ah me! How
mighty wise some people think themselves! Is every truth which can be
understood by simple minds to be thrown aside as foolishness? Is
nothing worth knowing except the fancy thinking of the select portion
of humanity? Are the well-known facts of Nature foolishness because
they are open to all? Is it quite certain that all the wisdom in the
world dwells with the superfine gentlemen who sneer at everything and
take in a review?

These superficial readers of superior literature are they the umpires
of truth? I wish that their culture had taught them modesty! Those who
glorify themselves and sneer at others are usually not wise, but
otherwise! And those who call other people fools may be looking in the
glass and not out of the window. He who is truly wise has some respect
for others and the most profound respect for the Word of God. But why
is it that you count the Gospel of the Cross to be foolishness? It is
this–because this religion of ours, this Doctrine of the Cross–is not
the offspring of reason, but the gift of Revelation. All the thinkers
of the ages continued to think, but they never invented a plan of
salvation in which Divine Justice and mercy would be equally
conspicuous. The Cross was not in all their thoughts. How could it be?

As a thought, it originated with the infinite mind and could have
originated nowhere else! The Doctrine of the Cross is not a
speculation, but a Divine Revelation–and for this reason the learned
ones cannot endure it. It is God telling men something which they could
not otherwise have known! And this does not suit the profound thinkers
who cannot bear to be told anything, but must excogitate everything,
evolving it from their inner consciousness, or from the depths of their
vast minds. Now, inasmuch as nothing can come out of a man that is not
in him, and as the supreme love of God never was in such an unlovely
thing as an unregenerate man, it happens that the Doctrine of Atonement
never originated with man but was taught to him by God at the gates of
Eden.

The plan which blends vengeance and love was never invented by human
imagination. Since man has such an aversion to the great Atonement, he
could not have been the author of the idea and he was not the author of
it–God alone reveals it in language that babes may understand and,
therefore, carnal pride calls it, "foolishness." Besides, the carnal
man thinks it foolishness because it makes him out to be a fool–and
you may take my word for it that anything which proves either you or me
to be a fool will, at once, strike us as being very foolish! Our
conscience is dull and, therefore, we retaliate upon those who tell us
unpleasant truth. "What? Am I nobody, after all? I, bound in the best
black cloth, and wearing a white cravat? So religious and so
respectable, so thoughtful, so studious, so profound–am I to be a
nobody?

"Do you dare to say to me, 'Unless you are converted and become as
little children, you shall in nowise enter the kingdom'! My dear Sir,
you cannot know what you are talking about! Why, I am a professor, a
philosopher, a doctor of divinity and, therefore, you cannot really
mean that I am to receive truth as a little child! Such talk is
foolishness!" Of course they say so! We always reckoned that they would
say so! I have rejoiced when I have read the skeptical papers and have
seen how they sneer at the old-fashioned Gospel! The Bible said that
carnal men could not receive spiritual things– how true is that
statement! It is written, "There shall come in the last days scoffers."
Here they are, hastening to prove, by their conduct, the things which
they deny!

One is grieved that any should scoff and yet, in a measure, we are
rejoiced to find such confirmation of the Truth of God from the lips of
her enemies. As long as the world lasts, ungodly men will despise a
Revelation which they are unable to understand. It is beyond their
sphere and, therefore, its preachers seem to be babblers and its
Doctrines to be foolishness. But, in every deed it may well seem
foolishness to them, for it treats on subjects for which they have no
care. If I were able to explain to a general audience how to make
unlimited profit upon the Stock Exchange, or in some other market, all
the world would listen with profound attention! And if I make my point
clearly, I would be pronounced a really clever preacher, a man well
worth hearing.

But when the sermon is only about the Word of God, eternity, the soul
and the blood of Jesus–most people turn on their heels–they are not
sure that they have souls and they refuse to argue upon the supposition
of a future existence which is an old wife's fable to them. As for
eternity, their philosophy has no room for it, and they do not concern
themselves about it. One said in argument, the other day, "I believe I
shall die like a dog." I could give him no better reply on the spur of
the moment than to say, "If I had known that you were a dog I would
have brought you a bone." As I had the notion that he would live
forever, I came to talk to him upon subjects suitable to an immortal
being. But as I found out that he was going to die like a dog, what
could I do for him but provide such cheer as the creature could enjoy?

These men call the Gospel foolishness because they look after the main
chance and care more for the body than for the soul. One of their wise
men said, "Why do you preach so much about the world to come? Why not
preach about the world which now is? Teach these people how to
ventilate their sewers–that is a much more necessary matter than their
believing on Jesus Christ." Well, sanitary matters are important and if
any of you feel that you have nothing to live for but ventilating
sewers, I wish you would live at a great rate and get it done as
quickly as you can! Meanwhile, as we are convinced of the need of other
things besides drainage and, as many of us expect, soon, to take our
happy flight to a place where there are no sewers to ventilate, we
shall look into those things which concern our future life seeing they
also fit us for the life which now is!

They call the word of the Cross foolishness because they regard all the
Truths of God with which it deals as insignificant trifles. "Soul?"
They say, "What does it matter whether we have a soul or not? Sin–what
is it but the blunder of a poor creature who knows no better?" Of all
things, the eternal God is the greatest trifle to unbelieving men. It
is merely a name to swear by, that is all. They admit that there may be
a great master force in Nature, or an energy co-extensive with the
existence of matter and, therefore, they allow Theism or Pantheism, but
they will not endure a personal God whom they are bound to obey! And
besides, Pantheism is only a mask for Atheism. These men will have no
personal God who loves them and whom they love. God is a nonentity to
them and, therefore, when we speak of God as real, and sin as real, and
Heaven as real–and God knows they are the only real things–then
straightway they mutter, "Foolishness." As for us, we deplore their
folly and pray God to teach them better. Having entered by a new birth
into the realm of spiritual things, we know the reality and power of
the word of the Cross.

Now, Brothers, I say of these gentlemen who pronounce the Gospel
foolishness that you need not take much notice of them because they are
not capable witnesses. They are not qualified to form a judgment upon
the subject. I do not depreciate their abilities in other respects, but
it is certain that a blind man is no judge of colors, a deaf man is no
judge of sound and a man who has never been quickened into spiritual
life can have no judgment as to spiritual things! How can he? I, for
instance, have felt the power of the Gospel, and I assert that I have
done so. Another man declares that I am not speaking the truth. Why
not? Because he has not, himself, felt that power! Is that sound
reasoning?

Have you not heard of the Irishman who, when five men swore that they
saw him commit a theft, made answer that he could produce 50 people who
did not see him do it? Would there have been any force in that negative
evidence? And what if all the world except two men should say, "We do
not feel the power of the Cross"–would that be any evidence against
the fact asserted by the two? I think not! Two honest men who witness
to a fact are to be believed, even though 20,000 persons are unable to
bear such witness! The unspiritual are incapable witnesses–they put
themselves out of court, for at the outset they assert that they are
not cognizant of those things concerning which we bear testimony! Their
assertion is that they never were the subjects of spiritual influences
and we quite believe what they say–but we do not believe them when
they go further and assert that, therefore, what we have seen, tasted
and handled is all a delusion! Concerning that matter they are not
capable witnesses.

And I beg you to notice that those who call the Gospel of the Cross
folly are, themselves, if rightly looked at, proofs of their own folly
and of the sad results of unbelief. The Christians in Paul's days felt
that the Gospel had emancipated them from the bondage of idolatry and
vice–and when they heard others that were captives under these
delusions telling them that the emancipating force was
foolishness–they looked at them and smiled at the absurdity of the
statement. They noticed that such men were, themselves, perishing! What
a calamity it is for a man to be perishing! A house is unoccupied, its
floor is untrod, its hearth knows no genial glow. It suffers from
neglect, it is perishing. Men who are not living to God are missing the
end of their being and, like deserted houses, are falling into
ruin–they are perishing!

While unoccupied by good, such minds are surrounded by powers of evil.
Yonder is a tree. I have seen many such– around its trunk the ivy has
twisted itself, grasping it like a huge python and crushing it in its
folds. The tree is perishing! Its very life is being sucked out by the
parasite that grasps it. Multitudes of men have about them lusts and
sins–and errors that are eating out their life–they are perishing!
Their souls and characters are as timber devoured by dry rot! It
remains in the fabric of the house, but it is perishing. Ungodly men
are devoured by their own pride, eaten up by self-confidence.
Unbelieving men are comparable to a ship that is drifting to
destruction–its cable has snapped–it is near-ing the rocks, it will
be broken to pieces, it is perishing!

Those that believe not in Jesus are drifting towards a sure eternity of
misery! They are daily perishing and yet, while they perish, they
condemn the means of rescue! Fancy drowning mariners mocking at the
lifeboat! Imagine a diseased man ridiculing the only remedy! That which
we have tried and proved, they call "foolishness." We have only to
answer them, "You are, yourselves, as you remain captives to your sins,
the victims of foolishness. You are, yourselves, as you waste your
lives and as you drift to destruction, proofs that the foolishness is
not in the Cross, but in you that reject it."

The preaching of the Cross is, to them that perish, foolishness, but to
nobody else! O that their hearts were changed by the power of the Word
of God–then would they see all wisdom in the word of the Cross!

III. We come, in the third place, to notice THE WORD OF THOSE WHO
BELIEVE. What do they say of the Cross? They call it power, the power
of God! The more we study the Gospel, the more we are surprised at the
singular display of wisdom which it contains, but we will not say much
upon that point, for we are not qualified to be judges of wisdom. But
we do say this–the word of the Cross is power! It has been the power
of God to us! It has worked upon us as nothing else has ever done! Its
work upon many of us has been so remarkable that even onlookers must
have been surprised at it. The phenomenon of conversion is a fact. Men
and women are totally changed and the whole manner of their life is
altered.

It is of no use to deny the fact, for instances of it come before us
every day! Unbelievers become devout, the immoral become pure, the
dishonest become upright, the blasphemous become gracious, the unchaste
become holy! Evil ways are all of a sudden deserted and penitents
struggle towards virtue. We see persons in all ranks of society
undergoing a radical transformation–self-satisfied people are humbled
by the discovery of their unworthiness–and others, who were steeped in
immorality, renounce their vicious pleasures and seek happiness in the
service of God. How do you account for this? We who are the subjects of
such a change account for it in this way–it is worked by the Doctrine
of the Cross– and the power which accomplishes the change is the power
of God! No force less than Divine could have effected so great a
change. The word of the Cross has delivered us from the love of sin–no
sin is now our master–we have broken every fetter of evil habit.

We fall into sin, but we mourn over it and hate the sin–and hate
ourselves for committing it! We have been delivered from the bondage of
corruption and made free to serve the Lord. We have also been delivered
from the dread which once bowed us down–a horrible dread which held us
in bondage–and made us tremble before our Father and our Friend. We
thought harshly of God and fled from Him, but from this we are now
delivered, for now we love Him and delight in Him! And the nearer we
can approach Him, the happier we are. We have been delivered, also,
from the power of Satan. That evil prince has great power over men and
once we were led captive at his will. Even now he attacks us, but we
overcome him through the blood of the Lamb.

We are also daily delivered from self and from the world and from all
things that would enthrall us. We are being saved–yes, we are saved.
Every day a saving force is operating upon us to set us free from the
thralldom of corruption. This we feel and know! We are bound for the
Kingdom of God and nothing can keep us back! We are bound for purity,
for ultimate perfection–we feel eternal life within us, urging us
upward and onward, beyond ourselves and our surroundings! We sit here
like eagles, chained to the rock by the feebleness of our bodies, but
the aspiration within us tells us

that we are born to soar among pure and glorified spirits. We feel that
Heaven is born within us–born by the word of the Cross through the
Spirit.

We could tell the histories of some here present, or, better still,
they could tell them themselves–histories of changes sudden but
complete, marvelous but enduring–changes from darkness to light, from
death to life! How gladly could we detain you with details of our being
held up when our temptations have been almost overwhelming–and kept
pressing forward in Christ's service when we had been altogether
without strength had not the word of the Cross poured new energy into
us! We have been ready to die in despair until we have looked to the
Cross and then the clouds have yielded to clear shining! A sight of the
bleeding Savior and a touch of His hand have made us men, again, and we
have lifted up our heads as from among the dead! Under the power of the
Cross we still advance from strength to strength! There is power in the
word of the Cross to make a man grow into something nobler than he ever
dreamed of. We shall not know what we shall be till we shall see our
Lord and Savior as He is!

Why, Brothers and Sisters, the power with which God created the world
was no greater than the power with which He made us new men in Christ
Jesus! The power with which He sustains the world is not greater than
the power by which He sustains His people under trial and temptation!
And even the raising of the dead at the end of the world will be no
greater display of Divine power than the raising of dead souls out of
their spiritual graves! These wonders of power are being performed in
our own experience every day of the week, entirely through the Cross. I
appeal to you who are truly converted–were you converted through the
wisdom of man? I appeal to you that are kept from sinning–are you led
towards holiness by the power of elocution, of rhetoric, or of logic?

I appeal to you who are despairing–are you ever revived by musical
words and rhythmical sentences? Or do you owe all to Jesus Crucified?
What is your life, my Brothers, but the Cross? Where comes the bread of
your soul but from the Cross? What is your joy but the Cross? What is
your delight, what is your Heaven, but the Blessed One, once crucified
for you, who always lives to make intercession for you? Cling to the
Cross, then! Put both arms around it! Hold to the Crucified and never
let Him go! Come afresh to the Cross at this moment and rest there, now
and forever! Then, with the power of God resting upon you, go forth and
preach the Cross! Tell the story of the bleeding Lamb! Repeat the
wondrous tale and nothing else!

Never mind how you do it, only proclaim that Jesus died for sinners.
The Cross held up by a babe's hand is just as powerful as if a giant
held it up! The power lies in the word, itself, or rather in the Holy
Spirit who works by it and with it. Brothers, believe in the power of
the Cross for the conversion of those around you! Do not say of any man
that he cannot be saved. The blood of Jesus is Omnipotent! Do not say
of any district that it is too sunken, or of any class of men that they
are too far gone–the word of the Cross reclaims the lost! Believe it
to be the power of God and you shall find it so. Believe in Christ
Crucified and preach boldly in His name and you shall see great things
and gladsome things. Do not doubt the ultimate triumph of Christianity!
Do not let a mistrust flit across your soul. The Cross must conquer!

It must blossom with a crown–a crown commensurate with the Person of
the Crucified and the bitterness of His agony. His reward shall
parallel His sorrows. Trust in God and lift your banner high–and with
Psalms and songs advance to battle, for the Lord of Hosts is with
us–the Son of the Highest leads our van! Onward with blast of silver
trumpet and shout of those that seize the spoil! Let no man's heart
fail him! Christ has died! Atonement is complete! God is satisfied!
Peace is proclaimed! Heaven glitters with proofs of mercy already
bestowed upon ten thousands times ten thousands! Hell is trembling!
Heaven adoring, earth waiting! Advance, you saints, to certain victory!
You shall overcome through the blood of the Lamb!
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The Minstrel

A Sermon