Article 53

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"The Offence of Christ’s Work"

"And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross ceased" (Gal. 5:11).

When men and women begin to truly know the Christ of God according to scripture they then begin to recognize that the Christ of God is not the Jesus of this religious world of Christendom. It is not merely that they begin to recognize this of some mindlessly mad "Christian cults" that spring up and soon disappear but that mainstream Christian religion itself does not know God manifest in the flesh. This lack of knowledge includes all groups from the most formal and straight-laced of the upper crust of professing Christians all the way through to the most charismatic and informal among even the snake-handling, arsenic drinking crowd. As different as these two opposite ends of the professing Christian spectrum may be they are all still poured from the same faulty mold of works for justification before God. It may be quite shocking at first for the new believer but with time, study, and with a growth in grace, the believer comes to see this is exactly what scripture declares (Matt. 7:13-23; I Jn. 3:1). This shock, however, is real to the mind and heart of that new believer because of the very character of the work of Christ on the cross. And what is that?

The work of Christ on the cross, contrary to mainstream Christian religion, but even more, contrary to even true believers’ minds before they are converted and taught the truth of grace, is that the work of Christ on the cross is an offence to man and the best deeds that men can offer up to God as redemption. Christ’s work as the substitute who suffered the judgment of God in the place of many sinners is not Christ making redemption possible for all. This is the common thread of error that links all of professing Christian religion together from one end of the religious spectrum to the other. They all have a message that is universal in its purpose and offer and...

1. Tells all people without distinction that God loves them.

2. Tells all people without distinction that God wants to redeem them.

3. Tells all people that actual redemption is now up to them to receive or reject.

This common thread of error is a message that plays to the pride and vanity of man and his own sense of self worth and importance. It is often summed up with this exact phrase: "God has done all he can do, now it is up to you." This is a message of works (human effort) for salvation. This is not the message of God concerning His Son Christ the Redeemer.

Redemption is finished (Gal. 3:13). Believers are justified by the faith of Christ Himself (Gal. 2:16). Personal faith within the individual comes from God at the time of His choosing (Gal. 3:22-23). Christ redeemed those who were already His children and He then, at His own time, sends forth the Spirit to apply adoption as sons to their hearts (Gal. 4:1-6). There is a vast and serious separation made by God’s grace itself between those saved by grace and those who are of works (Gal. 4:30).

The cross of Christ (Christ’s sufferings as the substitute) is offensive to the natural heart and mind. Those who want to perform some effort in their redemption, no matter how small that effort may be, are offended when told that redemption is based upon Christ and His sufferings alone. While all the different groups of the Christian religious spectrum hold that faith is a human effort exercised by man in his freewill for justification, the truth of scripture is that faith is the free gift of God apart from human effort (Eph. 2:8-10). Men and women believe by the sovereign purpose of God in resurrection power (Eph. 1:19-20). Faith is not the same as circumcision, nor the same as church membership, nor the same as baptism, nor the same as preaching, nor the same as trying to keep the Ten Commandments, nor any other human effort because faith is not a human effort. The reason these other so-called Christians cannot say this outright is that to do so puts salvation and all its blessings (redemption, righteousness before God, justification, etc.) in the hands of God almighty to give to whom He pleases. They are offended by that message. And so be it by the scriptures own testimony. The death of Christ on the cross declares loud and clear that…

1. It is beyond man’s ability to work up that which truly honors God.

2. What man does work up is shot full of pride and self will.

3. Man’s best deeds are altogether rotten in God’s sight.

The offence of the cross ceases when men try to make the message of Christ more palatable to humanity. The less people are offended by the message the further one has departed from the message of Christ. It has gone so far that even faith and repentance have been made out to be the products of human will, and man loves to have it so. The true offence of the cross of Christ is not determined by the scale in which it offends infidels who believe not the Bible to be the inspired word of God, but it is rather determined by the offence it brings to Bible believing persons!

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