1197. A Shuddering Statement
A Shuddering Statement
"But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?" (Gal_5:11, f. c.).
It seems pitiable after we have been so happy in the study of the Cross that we must stop to consider the fact that some preach another gospel, which is not a gospel, because it makes void the Cross of Christ.
Paul said, "If I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the Cross ceased."
What Paul meant was this: If I preach the things which concern the flesh; if I preach on religious rites and ceremonies; if I preach on outward formalities and formulas; if I make this the important thing, then is the offense of the Cross ceased.
It is easy to have a creed without a Cross, and to have a church without Christ, but it is fatal.
There are those who are always boasting that their creed is the Sermon on the Mount. If that be true, they make the offense of the Cross to cease. Not that we would discount the Sermon on the Mount–not that. The Word of God however never even faintly suggested that the Sermon on the Mount should be accepted in lieu of the Saviour on the Cross.
The Sermon on the Mount carries with it a system of ethics that surpasses the writings of any human religionist; the Sermon on the Mount contains the constitution of the Kingdom. It was written for saints and not for sinners. It was written for those who have already come to Calvary, and not for those who refuse the Cross.
It is said that a certain railroad guide advertised concerning a little station named Calvary, this: "Train Number 19 does not stop at Calvary on Sundays." We suppose that Calvary was too small a place for Train Number 19. It only stopped at Cleveland or Chicago, as it rushed toward California.
Whether this be true or not, we know there are many churches which never stop at Calvary on Sundays. Therefore, to them, at least, the offense of the Cross is ceased.
Let us note some shuddering statements, which Paul's words might easily include:
1. If I join the Reformers, then is the offense of the Cross ceased. Reformation demands no repentance, no faith, no Redeemer. Reform says that man is his own saviour. He must renew himself.
The preacher who leaves the pulpit to stump the state for Prohibition, or for any other reform, has left the Cross and its preaching. This is true because the Cross presents a substitutionary righteousness, and the reformer presents a human righteousness, which, like the spider's web, is weaved from one's own body.
Let us pity those who leave Calvary for culture–then is the offense of the Cross ceased.
2. If I join societies for moral uplift, then is the offense of the Cross ceased. Some people are forever boasting on the good of secret societies and social organizations, but none of these find a vital place for the Cross. We do not deny that they hold a high standard of morality, we do not deny the honesty of their efforts, but we do deny that they hold forth the message of the Cross. The morals of man-made societies cannot meet the demands of the Holy God. Paul said, "That I may stand before Him, not having on the robe of my own righteousness."
3. When I join Christian Science the offense of the Cross is ceased. Christian Science may be high in its idealistic teachings concerning the way to live, but Christian Science concedes no sin and demands no Saviour. There is not one drop of substitutionary sacrifice in the doctrines of Christian Science.
4. When I join the Modernists the offense of the Cross is ceased. The liberalistic wing of the church has made light of the atonement. In the olden days the man who denied the Cross found no room behind the sacred desk, but to-day liberalistics and destructive critics have flooded the churches with preachers who deny the Cross. Surely we have before us enough to make us shudder.
So far as the Apostle Paul was concerned he stood on safe ground, and preached the Christ of Calvary; he paid the price of suffering for Christ, by bearing the offense of the Cross.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR