Title The Cross (1 Corinthians 01:18)
Contents Every year at this time of the year, when April comes, I feel an unknown gratitude welling up from the depths of my heart without knowing it, and furthermore, I become more silent and reverent. This is probably because this April includes Passion Sunday and Resurrection Sunday when the Lord was crucified and resurrected. April has come again this year without fail, and next week, not only our church, but all churches will celebrate Passion Sunday and celebrate baptism and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Therefore, I bear witness to the cross, which is the proof of this salvation, which atoned for the sins of all mankind and saved us with these words, that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but the power of God to us who are being saved. I'll do it. We must find the lost cross again in this age. And we must receive the grace of salvation and find true rest under the shadow of the cross. Then what is this cross to us mankind?
1. The cross is our salvation. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
Today, the Apostle Paul testifies of his cross experience in the text. His experience of the cross tells us that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved. Paul experienced the cross, and the cross is the power of salvation for us. Gentlemen, there is no one who can forgive our human sins. Neither the Emperor's special envoy, nor the decree of the Pope, nor Max's view of relics nor Engel's dialectical law. It cannot be done with money, power, or much education. But please believe that only the precious blood of the cross can forgive all our sins. I pray in the name of the Lord that you may experience the grace of atonement through the cross.
2. The cross is our pride. (Galatians 6:14)
Paul was a great man at the time. He was a man of great academic achievement, good Roman citizenship at the time, a good family, an orator, and a great political means. But one day, after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, he fell down in front of him and changed his life. And he considers the path of academic achievement and success, which he is proud of, as dirty as excrement and throws it away. These things do not help us to gain salvation in the lower stages, and when we realize the teachings of Jesus, we have now found a truly noble study and confess that the truth has set us free. And he rejoiced over knowing Jesus and began to boast of his cross. This is recorded in Galatians 6:14. But I have nothing to boast about except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
3. The cross is our peace. (Ephesians 2:16, Colossians 1:20)