For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved

it is the power of God.

Because the Word of the Cross

it is madness to those who get lost;
but to those who are saved,
this is, to us,
It is the power of God...

But we preach
to Christ Crucified...
Christ, power of God and
Wisdom of God
 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing; but to
those who are saved, that is, us, is the power of God
(ICo.1:18).

It seems that nowadays there are many messages, and I have to say that the biggest problem in
the church today is that people are not discovering in the Word of God what God is
saying. This first letter of Paul to the Corinthians is not just a letter from Paul written to the
Corinthians 2000 years ago. This is a letter from God to you. This is God's attempt to communicate.
with you and with me in a personal way. This is God's desire.

The reason God created man was not for man to drive new cars. Although
it is not a sin to have a new car, that was not God's purpose for creation. His purpose
It was not for man to prosper materially, although this is not a sin either. Adam prospered.
in the Lord, but his prosperity was in the union with his Creator, whom he began to know and
grow in the knowledge of Him: 'Adam walked with God.'

The Bible speaks of another man who walked with God, Enoch: "So Enoch walked with God, and
he disappeared because God took him" (Gn.5:24). Why did God take Enoch? Because he pleased God.
(He.11:5). They had such communion. This communion was so sweet that God said: 'Why don't you come
up here?

God created us to have communion. God desired something more than animals, although they were
part of creation. God desired a creature, not like the angels, who would also have
communion with Him in a limited way. Angels were created to serve. But God wanted
to create creatures... humans... beings that could choose and would choose God... that could choose
and they would make the right choice, not just because God is above them threatening them with a bat
enormous if they do something wrong. That's the image some have of God, right? They think that God
he is up there, just waiting for them to do something wrong so he can punish them.

Once I asked my daughters, "What does it mean: God sees everything you do?" They said it
They related it to doing something wrong. So I started to share with them that it is much more than that.
"God seeing everything" does not mean that God is only watching everything we do to punish us,
but is watching over us and taking care of us with much love.

For the eyes of the Lord search throughout the whole earth to punish anyone who
Do the bad thing! Is this what the Bible says? No! Where does this concept come from? First of all
of the devil and our own guilt. Because we deserve to be destroyed, right? (I remember
when I surrendered to the Lord the wonder of the gospel. What captivated me was the fact that God me
He knew and knew how bad I was, and yet, he loved me and died for me. He took my sin and died in my place.
place. When I saw that cross, I understood that there was something different in God.

God wants us to have communion with Him. When man fell into sin, God
I needed to send to Jesus, and now the communion is through the Son. Man not only did something that
God could forgive. Man took a nature that was totally incapable of having communion.
with God again. We don't hear this very often, do we?!

The gospel that is preached today is preached without the cross. It totally ignores the work of
the cross... completely ignores Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27)... and literally glorifies the
man, the ability of man, what man can do. It is a promotion of the flesh. Jesus
He made it clear when he was speaking to Nicodemus in John chapter 3: "You must be born again..."
What is born of the flesh is flesh (it produces flesh, it cannot produce anything else). What is born
of the Spirit, spirit is.
 The spirit of man died when he sinned. So "what is born of the spirit" means that
another birth takes place, and that other birth is another form of life, and that form of life is the
Same Son of God. That's why, now, every time the Bible speaks of you and me having a relationship.
with God, he is saying that it is through Jesus.

God did not just look down from heaven and say, 'I forgive you all!' There was a nature in us.
that was rebellious and contrary to God. And unless we learn the preaching of the cross, it will remain
on the contrary, it doesn't matter that we have good hopes or that we do religious things. The apostle
Pablo said: "But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of...
What were those things? They were religious things... their ministry, the people.
knowing him as 'a man of God', etc.

I remember the three young Hebrews and what their first testimony was. They said: Let's go to
stand firm by God's side! We will not contaminate ourselves with that food! Then they went
a true testimony for God, but the day came when that testimony was not enough, and they were
thrown into the burning oven. Suddenly, his bright testimony was going to end. But after that, what happened?
What impressed the king was not them. The king looked at the fire and said: 'There is someone else! I see one.'
like the Son of God" (Dn. 3:25).

The greatest testimony that you and I can have is not how just we are, or that you are the
better father or the best mother, but may Christ be seen in you. The only way to really be
a better father, or mother, or husband, or wife, is through the Life of Another.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are
they perish; but for those who are saved, that is, for us, it is the power of God.” Look at verse 23; “but
we preach Christ crucified... There are many messages that are preached today.
There are churches that identify themselves with this or that aspect of the Bible. But Paul said:
We preach Christ crucified," a message that some might only preach during Holy Week,
but this is the power of God. It is the wisdom of God... it is the truth that frees, that is not centered
in the man.

When you speak of Jesus being crucified on the cross, many people relate it to what
It happened in Jerusalem on Golgotha 2000 years ago. So, when you say 'Christ and Him crucified',
they think of Matthew, Mark, and this small section of the Bible. But all of Galatians, Ephesians, and
Romans speaks about the cross, and these letters never mention the game that took place beneath it.
Cross. They never mention the tomb where Jesus was placed, nor the stone being rolled away. Never.
they mention the things that took place at the crucifixion.

For the sake of teaching, or for the sake of understanding, let me make a distinction between
the cross and the crucifixion. The crucifixion was an event, and the cross is what Jesus spoke of when he said: 'If
If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily...
What does this mean? Well, the question should come to our mind 'Will I take up the cross? Will I do it?'
"actively every day?" Now, this means that something is being recorded in us every day in
relationship to the cross: "Will I connect with what Jesus was saying?"

Now, there is a difference between self-denial and self-abnegation. Self-abnegation is what

some call it asceticism. That is when a group of people decide to try to be spiritual in
through not eating meat or by making a list of things they do or do not do. Then, their
spirituality becomes things that do not make... asceticism. In Mexico, for example, people go to
the cathedral of Mexico City during a pilgrimage. Some of them hit themselves with whips
as they walk on their knees until they reach the cathedral square, they are bleeding while
They arrive. They are "suffering" for Christ. This is not suffering for Christ! Asceticism says: "I cannot
go out and have fun, I can't do this, and I can't do that.” I think this has been part of the
Christian problem. I have fun almost every day, but there still has to be a denial of the 'self'.
 Abnegation says: "I am going to seek the Lord, that's why I will not be like you, 'pagans'!"
But, you can see that you are not denying yourself. On the contrary, you are building a way of
self-justice. You are not denying yourself. You are denying things. And after a
this time the 'ego' doesn't like it, because you are just denying yourself things, and the 'ego' says: 'I want those
things!" Then is when you start to fight.
Why do you fight within yourself? Because you are just trying to deny yourself things, but
you still haven't come to the cross (where denial enters into 'myself'). You cannot deny 'yourself
same except... through... the cross. There is no other means! There is no other means of victory over
the 'myself'. There is no other way day by day to bring the deeds of the flesh to death.

However, many Christians do not know the preaching of the cross. They only preach the
blessings of the cross. It's as if I were standing in front of the cross, and on the other side of the cross are the
Blessings. So, I want to reach the other side of the cross and grab one of the packages of
Blessings: "Look at what God has done for me." But you know, God is a God of grace. He is
merciful. And even if you are the worst Christian there is, He is going to bless you anyway.
Even when we were sinners, Christ died for us.

In reality, the cross is where the old man is left, but not only the old man.
Let me make a distinction here: the old man is one thing, and the life of the 'self' (or the life of the
The soul is something completely different, and both must be understood in the light of the cross.

When the Bible speaks of the old man, it is referring to something that was made once and for.
always. Romans 6:6 says: "knowing this, that our old man was crucified together with
with him.” He always puts it in the past tense, with the present result of: "I am growing in this
knowledge, and it is having results in my life." When referring to the old man, it is something that
Jesus has already done it, and we must consider that we have already died to our old man.

But when it refers to the life of the believer's soul (something that you all have, still
when the old man is dead and you are a Christian), your soul comes into conflict with the Spirit of
God. Your soul may desire religious things: "I want to be a great man of God! I want to do
great things for God!" This may not be the Spirit. Possibly it is just you (wanting,
seeking, detour of your own desire.

Nowadays, it is almost taught that any desire towards God is good, but not necessarily.
That's right! Pablo, in Philippians chapter three, clearly identifies the things that were gain for him.
(religious matters). Paul said: "I had an advantage over everyone, regarding my religious life, but
how many things were gain for me, I have estimated them as loss, and then I saw that knowledge
the cross was the only beneficial thing.” John the Baptist saw this principle and said: “It is necessary that he
he must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn. 3:30).

When we understand the preaching of Christ and Him crucified, we understand the Person.
The life of Christ, described in Colossians 1:27: 'Christ in you, the hope of glory.' It is not only
Christ somewhere in the sky, or just a small Christ that dwells somewhere inside you, and
what helps you during the day, so that when you are in a difficult situation, you pray: "Well, Lord... you
I need it right now, but after that... the rest of the time, you live just for yourself... motivated by yourself.
same. We live this way because we have not yet realized what Paul wants to say when he talks about,
the preaching of the cross...the preaching of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:1: "And so, brothers, when I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God."
I did not come with excellence of words or of wisdom.' Now, it seems that nowadays, if you are eloquent, if
You can take a truth, and you can communicate it and excite people, it is the most important thing.
What can you do (while you motivate people). But do you know that some motivations come from
the flesh... the life of the soul? You can motivate people's flesh, but the cross does not motivate the flesh. The
Crucify! Let me say this again: the cross does not motivate the flesh. It crucifies it! The Word says so.
thus: 'Christ and Him crucified... the wisdom of God... the power of God.'
 The reason you see very few lives changed is because the people who are entering into the
kingdom of God... is being tempted with blessings or prosperity. I am not against the
blessings, if they are seen through the cross. But this becomes 'things' that tempt the
People to enter the Kingdom of God, and when they enter the Kingdom of God, what kind of people do you have?
People who are beggars, seeking the blessings of God. They do not seek God for who He is.
they seek for what He has and for what He can give.

1 Corinthians 2:1-2 says: "So, brothers, when I went to you to announce to you the
testimony of God, I did not come with excellence of words or of wisdom. For I decided not to know among
you none other than Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." Paul said: I did not come to you to
to move them. The cross does not need to move your emotions. But the Holy Spirit, the one who is touching
your spirit, with the eternal truth.

How is it that in the church, we can preach and preach, and sometimes, never mention to
Jesus? I have heard wonderful sermons about the church, about family, about faith, and about many others.
subjects, and I never heard mention of Jesus.

Faith, even in grammar, needs a complement before it can function.

The complement of our faith is Jesus. How can you preach faith without preaching Christ? The mere
Grammar demands that it has a complement. How is it that we preach the church, the body of
Christ, not including Christ? Isn't it absurd? We praise the virtues on our part, but we lose.
Life, which is the Source.

The importance of the body of Christ is not that you understand the principles of the body. What is important
I hope you understand Him, who is the Life of the body. And let me just say this: unless you see to
Christ, you will never understand the church... you will never understand the body... you will never be part of the body.
What is the problem? The problem is that people do not know Jesus. I am not saying
that they are not saved, I'm just saying that they do not know Jesus. Because when you know Him,
Certain things flow in your life automatically.

We sing that song 'To the One who is seated on the throne, be glory and honor...'
God says there is a Lamb as slain sitting on the throne. John the Baptist said: "Behold the
Lamb of God! Jesus is that Lamb, and we still do not understand what this means. He
He is the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. In the book of Revelation, He is called the
Lamb of God more than twenty times. However, we believe that it only means that he died once.
for us, but that is not what it means. To understand Jesus is to know him as the
LAMB; to understand the LAMB of God is to be conformed to that image.

Then Jesus said: If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself" (Mt.16:24).
There must be a denial of the 'I'. There are many good things on the other side of this denial. There are
something called resurrection. You cannot preach life that flows from death until there has been a
Death. That is what resurrection means: that a death has taken place.

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
I was among you with weakness, and much fear and trembling; (some might say that this is a confession
terrible) and neither my word nor my preaching was with persuasive words of human wisdom, but with
"demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (I Cor. 2:2-4). Now, what was the difference? Paul already said here
that the preaching of the cross is "the power of God." The difference, he said, lies in the message: “My
preaching... was with demonstration of the Spirit and power. As for me, I was among
you with weakness, and much fear and trembling.” What Paul was referring to was that the
the message he was preaching was bigger than him. It is more powerful (the preaching of Christ and He
crucified.
 But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. Because in Christ Jesus neither
Neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule.
according to this rule... "This is the rule of the new creation."

Pablo refers to the Old Testament where there were Jews and Gentiles. There were only two types of
people: circumcised and uncircumcised. The Jews did something external on their flesh to show that
they were Jews. That is the work of man. Paul said that whatever you do to the flesh of your
the body is worth nothing in Christ. That's not what makes the difference. The difference is the cross, where
You are crucified and a New Creation is born. Who is this new creation? It is Christ!

People always come to me and ask what they can do to make this "life" work.
in them, and they tell me that they are trying so hard, without result. My response is to stop trying and
come to the reality of what the Word says. Galatians 2:20 is the great verse in which Paul says:
I am crucified with Christ, (not only did Jesus die for me, but I died) and I no longer live.
but Christ lives in me.

But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world
I am crucified to the world, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). The things that you and I do externally to
trying to produce acceptability with God and man is worth nothing. What is valuable? Being a
new creation in Christ.

And to all who walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
"God" (Gal. 6:16). Why did he say that? Because the true Israel is not one born a Jew in the flesh.
I was born a Jew, but what value would that have for me? I would have died and gone to hell like
any other person who has not been born again. Being Jewish means nothing, being German, French, or Latino
it is worth nothing. So what is worth? The New Creation. "For in Christ Jesus neither the
For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” (Gal. 6:15).

Christianity, first and foremost, is not about people being saved from hell, or people doing good.
the best you can do while you are on this earth. Christianity is the new creation, by which God
In Christ, he not only carries our sins to the cross, but he also carries the old man to the cross, and there
It deals with the life of the soul (the life of 'myself'). That cross is the center of all human history:
"When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son" (Gal.4:4). In Romans 8:3,4, it says:
...God, sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin.
in the flesh; so that justice (not the law but the justice of the law) would be fulfilled (not that it would be left undone)
but that it would be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh (the life that He said must
to die), but according to the Spirit." The life of resurrection is: "...Christ in you, the hope of
"glory" (Col. 1:27). This is what Biblical Christianity of the New Testament truly is.

Maybe you can say: "Why do you preach it, in that tone?" Because that's how I should do it...
because man's ears are so adapted to anything else that is contrary to the gospel
pure. "And he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me" (Mt.10:38). This is a
reason to warn the ears of all Christians.

... Take up your cross each day, and follow me.

who get up every morning, and say that they are saved, and then go to work. But that is not what
It means. It's talking about focusing on death. There is a resurrection, but if you and I do not...
We realize that there must be a death taking place, then we will live, we will praise, we will do.
many things, but it will come directly from our soul. We will be ourselves (instead of Christ
in us), and we will know it because we will constantly live in confusion, failure, and we will have little
Victoria.

Numbers chapter 21 recounts the story of the snakes in the camp of the Israelites.
biting them and killing them. Moses prayed to God to heal them, but God told Moses to do
a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that everyone who was bitten would look at it.
the snake, and then they would live. Jesus quoted this story: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the
desert, so it is necessary that the Son of Man be lifted up” (Jn. 3:14). Jesus was saying that
He represented that serpent. Jesus would take upon Himself your nature, your life, your goodness and your
evil; and he would go to the cross and die not only for you, but as if it were you.

Pablo said to the Ephesians: I am praying for you that 'the eyes of your understanding being enlightened'
understanding, you should know what is the hope to which He has called you” (Eph. 1:16, 18). You must know
because He called you. You must know what the hope is of having called you specifically.
He wants the eyes of your understanding to be opened so that you can see what is the hope of His
called... and what is: 'the supereminent greatness of His power towards us who believe,
according to the operation of the power of His strength, which worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and
sitting at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and authority and power and dominion, and
above all name that is named, not only in this century, but also in the one to come” (Eph. 1:19-21). “And
He raised us up with Him, and made us sit in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus.
(Eph. 2:6).

Now, this sounds glorious, but it has no meaning if there is no death. For this reason the
The preaching of the resurrection is not more effective than it is. It sounds very good, and perhaps it can
to raise ourselves for a moment, but the resurrection is not just a good sermon, it is life flowing from the
death.

Lazarus understood something, right? He was in the tomb, dead, he stank, his body eaten by
worms and suddenly... his spirit and soul returned to his body, at the moment when Jesus cried out:
Lazarus, come out! When Lazarus came out of the tomb, he did not say: 'Good sermon, Jesus! This is a
Good sermon! No! Lazarus said: 'I am alive, I came from death!'

I think this made a difference in his walk because the Jews wanted to kill Lazarus...
because through him, many people believed in Jesus. I wonder, why did Lazarus have a great
impact? The Jews not only wanted to kill Jesus, but Lazarus as well. 'He has risen from the
"dead," the Jews said. "We need to shut his mouth. He is telling everyone that he has a
new life. It is saying: 'I was dead,' and now I live. People are going to want Life that flows from
death." There must be a death before there is a resurrection.
Preaching salvation for us is: 'Please come to the Lord! He will bless you and help you!'
Let me tell you, if you do not know God, if you have not been born again, your nature is in enmity with
God. You do not have the ability to communicate with God. Your transmitter is broken. But
Jesus took your old life to Calvary. There he died as if it were you. He didn ’t have to die. He shouldn't have.
dead. He never sinned, but he died, and he died because you and I had to die... because there was nothing in
our lives that were worth saving.

You can say: 'Brother, preaching the cross is not popular... it is not what is in trend.'
But this is the Word of God!... it is what Paul said he preached. It is for which God made him.
minister and for which he wrote most of the New Testament. This was what Peter preached...
it is the heart of the Gospel: 'Christ and Him Crucified'

Instead of seeing the death that happened on the cross and equipping people with the message of the cross and
the blessings and faith that are produced as a result of the cross, the Church is filling the people
with teachings about all the things they can obtain... telling them how they can be
blessed and as God is just waiting to find a way to enter your plans. So,
when they go to battle, they can't do anything because the old man is the one fighting, and the
old man uses this battle for his own glory. Have you ever wondered: 'Why have kingdoms been
built for man, and why do perversions occur, and why does sin continue?" Why not
there is a cross.
 So there are some people who say they preach Christ, but do not include the cross.
They preach a Christ without the cross. But on the other hand, there are those who are ascetic. They strike you on the
head with the cross, and all they tell you is that you have to die. They have a cross without Christ, and
they try to make you crucify yourself... but the problem is that you can't. This is the reason why
which you and I have to scrutinize the Word.

If Jesus said: "He who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me" and "He who finds his
life, he will lose it; and he who loses his life for My sake will find it," then this must mean
SOMETHING VERY GRANE. The Son of God said it. You must find out what He is saying.

The message that Paul preached was not as popular as you think. We have made it more attractive.
We read the book of Acts, and we say that we wish things today were as they were in
the book of Acts. Paul was beaten and stoned. He was put in prison. Once the
The disciples had to take him out of the city in a basket they lowered through a window. The message
it spread quickly, but so did the hatred.
People did not want to hear the message at that time, and they do not want to hear it today, but Christ and He
crucified is the answer. 'It is the message we preach,' said Paul. God did not send him to preach.
about baptism, although he baptized some times. God did not send Paul to preach the different
biblical aspects, but God commanded him to preach Christ (I Cor. 1).

When the death of the old man takes place and Christ begins to manifest in you (not you, but
Christ... you are dead, but Christ in you is the hope of glory), then it is like a tree of
life. Faith begins to flow from you without the effort of trying to stimulate your faith. Faith works because it starts to
to flow from the fountain of Life, which is Christ himself. In a way, you begin to be a tree of life.
Now, from deep within your being, LIFE FLOWS! This is what God wants. And it will come, not only by hearing a
sermon about this, but at the moment you are serious with God.

The problem in churches today is not a lack of administration, although we need

Help. It is not a lack of understanding of the principles of the body, although God helps us to
understand the principles of the body. Otherwise, the problem in the church is the lack of being with Jesus.
not growing in the knowledge of Jesus. The problem is because we are not spending time in the
Bible, at the feet of Jesus. (We should not only fulfill our duty by reading the Word in order to)
able to mark in our notes the chapters we have read). Our problem is that we are not
spending time at the feet of Jesus to hear His Word.

The people who seriously decide to spend time at the feet of Jesus will be the people that God will use in
these last days. Jesus is one who gives rewards to those who seriously and diligently seek Him.
they search.

I believe the Lord is dealing with people (perhaps some of those who are reading this)
brochure); but while the Spirit of God is dealing with you, it is very important that you yield to the dealing.
I have found that when someone has not yielded to the deal of the Holy Spirit, then soon the deal of
God leaves, and that person continues in the same way they were before.

There are some who do not understand the full meaning of the preaching of Christ and Him crucified.
but God is dealing with you so that you can understand it. God sees your heart and wants to make a
new work in you.
Father, thank You for Your dealings with us. There are so many ways in which Your Spirit deals with
we, but Lord, WE LOVE YOU. We have strayed from You. Lord, it's not that we have
fallen again into error; it seems that we have only drifted away from You. Father, we ask that You minister to
each need... to each heart... right now, to forgive us and bring a softness of heart...
to bring a new deal of freshness... the joy of our salvation... our first love again in
our heart. Father, allow Your grace to come now. Your grace is new every morning.

Oh, Heavenly Father, Spirit of God, revive these hearts in fullness to what you are doing.
calling. You have called them to things beyond what we can ask or think... more than what we still
we know. You have called us, and you are dealing with us. And these hearts are humble in this
moment. You said that if they draw near to You, You would draw near to them. Now Father, grant Your grace without
measure, in the name of Jesus.

The Preaching of the Cross was transcribed from a sermon given by Randy Nusbaum.
November 1993 By: New Creation Publications; Denton, Tx.
All rights reserved.