Tuesday, Sept. 12		Outline title: Power of the Cross

1. The Cross an Instrument of Death. 1 Corinthians 1:18
   A. The Cross and emblem of suffering and shame.
   

   1. A Statement of guilt.
   

   a. By the side of the road. Not on a hill far away, but at the crossroads for all to see.
   b. Mark 15:28
   
   

   2. Warning to any would be their or murderer.
   

   a. Matthew 27:39-40
   b. Come down from the cross and we will believe.
   c. Show us a sign and we will believe. Matthew 27:41-42
   a. By the side of the road. Not on a hill far away, but at the crossroads for all to see.
   b. Mark 15:28
   
   

   3. A means of torture.
   

   a. Hebrews 12:2
   b. Slow death, some hung on a cross for four or five days before they died. John 19:31-37
   c. Weekly and annual Sabbath falling on the same day.
   d. Didn’t want the bodies hanging on the crosses over the Sabbath.
   e. That Sabbath was the low spot in the life of the disciples.
   f. It was about to become a high day for the rest of their lives.
   

   4. Despised the shame.
   

   a. Dishonorable death.
   b. Revelation 3:18
   c. John 19:23-24
   d. Sin is most sinful when it is a homicide, but it is exceedingly sinful when it turns deicide, and kills it’s God. The vilest deed sin committed was when it nailed the Savior to the cross, and there let Him hang, the murdered victim of our sins.
   e. If Christ, how only had imputed guilt, must suffer like this, how will you and I suffer for our own sins? If Christ, the Perfect, the Pure, the Spotless, must suffer so fearful an amount of agony, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation?
   

2. The Power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
   A. The Source of power.
   

   1. How often we see it as Christ dying for us and us doing the work, rather than understanding that it is the power of God to change our lives. Our work is to be submissive. The secret of living for Christ is to let Him do His work in our lives. Romans 1:16
   2. Acts 2:22-24, 37-38,41
   3. Jeremiah 18:2-4
   4. Story of the potter and the clay. Working the clay until all impurities are gone and shaped just as the potter wants it to be. Romans 9:2
   5. Earthen vessels. 2 Corinthians 4:7
   6. The Persian Prince. 2 Timothy 2:20-21
   

   B. Warning to any would be their or murderer.
   

   1. Christ became sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21
   

   a. John 12:32.
   b. Serpent in the wilderness. Numbers 21:8-9
   c. Christ’s words to Nicodemus. John 3:14-15
   

   
   2. We become the righteousness of God in Him. Romans 5:19
   

   a. Our weakness. 2 Corinthians 13:4
   b. The power of God working in us. Ephesians 3:20
   c. It is the power of God that keeps us. 1 Peter 1:5
   

   
   3. What is the source of our righteousness?
   

   a. Romans 5:19
   b. Healing of the paralytic
   c. Mark 2:1-12
   d. Sick as the result of his won sinful life.
   e. Could do nothing but believe on Christ. Sins forgiven – peace came to his heart. Rise, take up your bed and walk.

   
   C. Made perfect in Christ. Colossians 1:28
   D. "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling."
   

3. The Glory of the Cross.
   

   A. Our Glory in the Cross. Galatians 6:14
   

   1. We have nothing to boast about
   2. Everything of this world fades
   

   
   B. Jesus Christ the faithful witness. Revelation 1:5
   C. He loved us, then he washed us.

   1. It’s not like we love a baby (only when it’s fed, cleaned and powdered).
   2. He loves us just as we are.
   3. Isaiah 1:18

   a. Our sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow.
   b. They are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
   

   4. Jesus did that for you and me.