The Message of the Cross — Rolfe Barnard

Now, this morning I did not say hello or spend any of the morning time expressing my gratefulness for this opportunity. I do so now. And before I come to the text of the evening, I want to read one verse of scripture, and the scripture is found in the second chapter, 1 Thessalonians, and it's verse 13.

Hearing the Word as the Essence of Saving Faith

1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 13, I want to commend my humble minister to you, and I think that I want to make a plea to you that you hear me. I do not ask that you believe what I preach while I'm here.

But I do ask you to hear me. I believe that the essence of saving faith is hearing the word of God. While it is true that nobody but you and God knows whether you are his child by faith or not, your mama don't know, your pastor don't know, but I can tell who's a Christian, no you can't.

The Bible forbids that, it's sort of a lonely proposition. I don't know whether you are a child of God or not, I have no way of finding out. God knows, and you do, is that fair? I cannot un-save you if you are saved, but I cannot see how it would be possible, and this is not truth that you are asked to accept, this is a question of my own belief.

I cannot see how it would be possible for many people who are members of our churches today to really know the Lord. You never took time to seek him. You made a decision, but you never received the revelation, therefore you are trusting something you've got, instead of him and what he does.

I don't know whether that's so or not, I think it is, and I'm willing to bear whatever it costs me, that opinion, but that will color my message. I don't believe this generation of Baptists have ever been conquered by the Lord Jesus Christ.

I don't believe it, do you? Have you been conquered? Have you ever died to self at the cross, as Christ Jesus has been enthroned as the absolute dictator and Lord of your every waking moment? Has he? Of course, I'm describing people who are saved now, and I don't see how people get saved in the last 30 or 40 years.

God saves everybody, he does. I can't save anybody, and I rejoice that everybody gets saved, don't you? Of course, everybody listens to him, and I wonder if this is good doctrine. You don't have faith in Christ, a saving faith.

You can't work it up. You can't decide to have it. You make all the decisions that you want to, but unless that decision follows Christ being made real inside your very heart and doing good, good. And yet God requires faith, and he will not save you apart from you as your own act, exercising faith utterly in him.

There's a man that hasn't got any saving faith. I didn't say he didn't have faith in Christ. Every last one of you believe a lot about Christ, but if you believe he's a good man, the modernists believe he's a fine teacher, the Mohammedans believe he's a nice prophet.

But I'm talking about saving faith. You've got faith in Christ. Every person speaking to me tonight can swear on a stack of Bibles, I believe in Christ, and you do. But do you savingly believe in him?

That's the question. Only you know that, and God knows. I can't tell. How does a man receive faith by which he's littler than that? I believe in Christ. The Bible says God has to give it to you. Is that right?

And he says that faith cometh out by doing what? By hearing. I wish somebody would listen to him. I wish somebody would listen to him. How are you ever going to get saved? You don't become a hearer, not a church attender, but a hearer of the word of God, listening.

For only as you listen to him will he give you the faith to stretch out yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? So I want you to hear me. Wouldn't it be wonderful if somebody would hear like the people did at Thessalonica as the 13th verse speaks.

Receiving the Word as God's Own Word

For this cause we thank God without ceasing. Because when you receive the word of God, receive whose word? The word of God. We bet everything on that. If this isn't the word of God, we shall go home. When you receive the word of God, which you heard of us, you heard it through lips of faith.

You received it not as the word of man. You didn't say, well, that's just his opinion about it. As you like to think you think. But you heard the word of God and you heard it through the lips of a man by the name of Paul.

And you didn't receive it as Paul's word wanted to do. But as it is in truth, who heard it? The word of God. If a man ever does arrive at the point, believes that he's heard the word of God. She says, that's God.

I insist on perfect order while I preach. Sometimes people get mad at me. I throw a songbook at you and you wiggle an eyelash while I preach. But if you want to go to hell, maybe that person's sitting right next to you don't.

I want you to fix it so they don't hear. I tell you, if you ever hear from God, it'll get the job done. You heard this as it is in truth, the word of God, which is actually working. It gets the job done.

It'll make somebody new out of you. It'll make your new creation. That's the word of God. Get the job done. Not what Baptists believe, but what God says. It'll get the work done. Get the job done. It affects you to work as in truth.

Folks that believe. God spoke to me. God bless your heart, ladies and gentlemen. I'm just an old sinner. I hope saved by grace. Don't know much. But you are a plain fool. If you call yourself a Christian on the testimony of anybody on earth, except Almighty God, you better seek him until he says, my peace I give you.

I'm so heartbroken. This generation of Baptists, here's how they got converted. Some person, a worker, stuck a verse of scripture in front of them. You believe that? Yeah. Well, what does that say? Well, that says so and so.

Well, God wouldn't tell a story. Oh, no. Well, what does that say? That says what it says. Well, you believe it? Yeah. Well, you're saved, aren't you? Well, I don't know. Well, God wouldn't lie about it, would he?

Oh, no. Well, you're saved, aren't you? I guess so. I want more evidence than that. Don't you? God will talk to me. I'm not going to put faith in your testimony. I'm going to stretch out my soul on the testimony of Almighty God.

Listen to God's word. Don't go to hell. Living like hell. Doing as you please. Depending on somebody else's word. Seek the Lord. How shall I seek him, preacher? Listen to him. My theology was changed 31 years ago when I was a student in a seminary in Fort Worth.

I talked to professors. As soon as the Lord saved me, I went to preaching the Sunday after. I know a bit of theology. I knew I'd met the Lord. That's why I said I ought to go to school and I'd be a preacher, but never earned it.

But I went. And the professors, they were awful dumb. I knew so much more than they did. And I'd argue with them. They were awful hard-headed. I couldn't teach them much. But those old white-haired Baptist professors, I don't think they got any kinfolks left.

But when I went to school, those old professors knew the Lord. They tried to teach us young preachers the truth of the grace of God. And I am laid in salvation by grace. Everybody talks about grace now, but there was nothing about it.

Because it took all my pride away, I talked to professors. And I couldn't believe they were teaching me the truth of God's word. I was browsing around the second-hand bookstore. And I picked up a book and paid a dime for it.

It wouldn't take a million dollars for that book if there was no one left now. I went home and I read some sermons by Dr. B .H. Carroll, the founder of the seminary, where I had the honor of going to school.

The Voice of God Bringing the Dead to Life

And he's preaching from the fifth chapter of John's Gospel, where he says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Thou art coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it shall live.

And Mr. Carroll, that brave man of God, God was pleased to use him. I can quote verbatim a statement he made that changed me. I've been a fool ever since. And I'd like to preface my meetings with you.

Jesuit theologian, Mr. Carroll said, My friends, if tonight my poor voice is the only voice you hear, you'll go away from here, nothing better. But if in the sovereign providence of God, through my voice, you hear his voice, you'll go away with life, having been raised from the dead.

I'd lay down here in your vestibule, or whatever it is, and let you trump on me, if I get you to listen. Have you ever heard from God? Has that voice that God has told you, have you ever heard it? Some humble preacher or witness bringing God's word.

Did you hear God? Just like he said, Lazarus, come forth, did he speak to you? That's salvation, folks. I wish that was the way that we used to. Shut men up to listening to God. No power anywhere on this earth to bring dead people out of their graves and give them life, except his voice.

Many times somebody has heard from God, that this poor preacher has brought God's word. They said, that's not what Ralph Barnett said, that's God talking to me. Oh, that is God talking to me. I hear him talking about, you must send your children now to these terrible schools, they'll lose their faith.

Not if they got their faith by hearing from God. All hell can't change that. But if they just went through the motions and made some decisions and joined up, all the devil's got to do is say boo, and they'll lose that faith.

God bless you. You might hear from God. I invite your attention tonight to the first chapter of Corinthians and the 18th verse of the first chapter of the book of Corinthians. And I hope you'll not think I'm smart, but I want you to take your pencil and do a little erasing or a little writing on the Bible.

I trust you write on your Bible a lot. I want to bring you a little better rendering of this verse that says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved is the power of God.

The Message of the Cross as God's Saving Power

Now, nothing wrong with the term preaching of the cross, but the actual meaning is the message, the content, the word, what makes up the cross, all the truths of God that are crystallized in what we call the cross of Christ.

The message, the word, the content, what took place and who was there on that tree outside the city of Jerusalem, that's unto them that perish foolishness. Thank God unto those who are being saved is the power of God.

Tonight, the best I know how to tackle a subject that's so big I can't even start to understand it, the message of the cross. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish that we gave evidence we're children of God, for the gospel is the children's bread and they love it.

If you had to follow me around the country and go from place to place and see how hard it is to get the attention of this generation of church people is to listen. I watch people's faces. Everything's determined by your attitude towards the gospel.

If you love it, you're saved. I don't know whether you love it or not, but if you love the gospel, you'll never get tired of hearing it. It just thrills you every time you hear it. I thought about that a lot.

We're under orders never to tell but one story. If the world goes on 20 billion years, we've just got one message. It's the message of the cross. Of course, it's foolishness for people on their road to hell, but to anybody who's ever heard God speaking, it's the power of God and it's the children's bread.

The message of the cross is to them that are perishing, foolishness, but to them who are being saved, it's the power of God. I wish we could believe what the Bible says about the cross. I hope I never get so smart and so seared that it'll ever be taken for granted on my part such statements as this.

God was in reconciling the world to Jesus. Oh, if I wasn't so dumb that'd make me shout all over God if God was acting. You know, that seems so today. Is that so accurate? Wonderful. I hope I never get so hard-boiled that I can read from Timothy Grave without controversy.

Grave is the mystery of Godliness. Don't understand it. People always say, explain what you said to me. I don't understand it myself. Grave is the mystery of Godliness. Oh, if that ain't so. Manifest, you could put your hands on him.

People touched him. People have manifested himself in the flesh. God left you, if you've never heard that, out there enthralled.

From the top of your head to the.

Bottom of your feet. His own creation. We call him tabernacled among us and he was flesh. Men took him with wicked hands and nailed him to a tree. God raised him and put him on throne and turned you over to him and he's got you on his hand and he's got to save you or he's got to damage you.

He's got to deal with you. We'll never change that message. We'll never try to improve on it. We mustn't ever take anything away from it. Mustn't try to, if the world goes on for millions and millions and millions of years and people are born and people are saved.

There'll never be the people to.

Bring men to salvation. Except this old, old.

Message that there's nothing in the Bible that I can understand. The silliest thing according to what little brain power I got up here that I could possibly think of is this. That a little baby that was born in a cow stable in a little old teeny-weeny bitty insignificant country way off, stuck off over yonder in the Mediterranean called Palestine.

And he lived only thirty-three years. And while he lived, if it was anybody, looked him over and turned thumbs down on him. Tax collectors, prostitutes, fishermen, people like that had anything to do with him.

They finally took him and hung him up between a couple of other seas. Took him outside the holy city where there's going to church during the Passover week. Nailed him up there like a common criminal on a cross.

Didn't have any money. They had to borrow some clothes to wrap his body in. Didn't have him buying messengers to close in. Somebody had to go get some good friends to get some spices and ointments to keep his body from stinking so bad before they get to the grave.

Didn't even have to plough the ground. Somebody had to give up his burial pot to put in anything. Silliest thing I ever heard of is that Almighty God insists that that one is his son and that he's turned this world over to him and that your destiny will be decided by him not by you.

And that he's the only person that's got rights to your life. That you do not have a right to do what you want to do. You just got a right to do his will. I'm telling you the truth. If you can understand that, you're smarter than I am.

Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful? It's like a little child. You could get converted and just believe it. Jesus Christ hanging on that cross now sitting on the throne. The message of him is foolishness. It's the power of being saved.

I wish you'd believe that. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could believe it? Not argue about it. Not try to understand it. Never believe that it's foolishness. And you have going against the grain have done it for 36 years.

Made 10 million mistakes and make a lot more. But because I believe that a man has to have confidence in himself more before he dies. Seek God's word. His truth. His men and condemned men summed up in the word the message of the cross.

The Cross, Sin, and the Holiness of God

Peace for the night. The message of the cross. I think in its essentials, it's three things. I survey the wondrous cross. Once the blower dies, he thirsts of men. You folks like that. Got enough religion to make you miserable but not enough to take you to glory.

This generation skipped the question of sin. And this generation skipped the question of the holiness of God. The first message of the cross of Jesus Christ is simply this. Peace for that cross. You can absolutely join him in holy wedlock.

In vital unions. For here are going to fill a Baptist who say they believe Jesus died for but that won't save you. Here are going to fill a Baptist that are trusting in the death of Jesus. That are trusting in the death of Jesus won't save you.

No salvation for any human being. You must be divine and you must be the brainstorming all your strength in him. You must have definite attitude, be witty in marriage, in vital living union with the living Christ.

In the clutches of the holy cross did the people become so united to Christ that what he did is for you. And what he did why then you got to deal with God's holy law by yourself. And there's no hope for a human being if he has to deal with God's law.

Mr. Eichmann the German butcher who was hung some time ago for the burning of the Jews. You heard about it. Some Christian got to see him and sought to talk to him about the law. And the papers published Mr. Eichmann's report.

He said he believed in God. He believed in the God of nature. And he did not need any other part. God made sure of what I do. Except the part where I need it. I tell you why. You don't feel in need of it.

There's no conviction to say anything. How could there be? Three things that constitute the message of the cross that this generation refuses to face. I'm a patient with you. Talks about the sinfulness of men.

There's still such a thing as a sign of sin. The Bible says man's a sinner. That's proof that man's a sinner is. They're just kinfolks. They did exactly what you the devil did. About how nice people are.

Look at how nice they are. In heaven. Secret in their hearts. Him being delivered. Counsel and so on. All of the stuff. What do you do with it? You have taken in the wicked hand. You've been sad. There's no hope for you.

You're a member of the human race. That took the eternal son of God. How sinful you are. Sinfulness of man is seen better in the cross for Christ than anywhere else for three reasons. My guilt is upon the Lord Jesus Christ and I believe it was.

I have no hope. Absolutely no hope. My guilt is present. You can call out if you want to. It's all right deeper than that. I haven't got a chance on earth to keep it out of here. Unless you're under God as his son was as a lamb.

Swinged to the foundation of the world. That's when 200 years ago on a hill called Aragoth. You can go see it. In the name of Jesus Nazareth. Kneeling to a tree and hunging up. Two things. You and me know this or not.

That's my hope. You know what it cost him? His death. It was best shown in the cross. Not only that it was casted out and our guilt was on him. It occasioned his awful death of agony. But in the plan and purpose of our mighty God.

That could be no way that I so great a sinner as I am could be forgiven except in the agony of the blood of the Son of the Living God. Thus I am nailed to the Prince of Glory to a Roman tree sent for man.

To the cross was the first of the sinners. And thus I was thrown to hell. Then he jacked up the cross as a passage of the gospel. But what on God's earth is the use of wasting your time shooting at a bunch of jackrabbits.

The fruit of your great fatty Adam. Be God yourself. When in time, in due time, God's Son came and was manifest in the flesh. It is your voice that cried away with him. It is your voice that cried crucify him from somebody else.

You know where I got you in the back and going to pick the show, honey. You are in trouble, deep trouble. You tried to beat God. Had an apple in the flesh. You are nailed into a tree. You are a big sinner.

The Need for Great Salvation and Forgiveness

You need a big salvation. You need great forgiveness. The cross tells about the sinfulness of man. He said, I am taking no harm to do this and this to do that. Don't bother me. I ain't got time. That's not a harm.

Don't say that you are going to die and go to hell because Adam sinned. Say that you are going to die and go to hell because you sinned. I'm going to send you to hell because some people back yonder nailed Jesus to the cross.

I'm going to send you to hell because you did. Because in the heart of God, Jesus has always been on the cross. Always has been. What's the message of the cross of Christ? The message of the holiness of God.

The holiness of God. And the Lord has given him tablets of stone. We see the glory and majesty of the Lord. Glory. But the majesty of Sinai fades away before the glory of Calvary. Like the flickering candle before the moon.

Do you believe that God shall stand on his Lord for majesty? Do you believe that the devious will sin for the Lord? Do you believe that? Now, say we say Deity to hell. Deity. But he didn't know. I say that the Lord knows that I treat this holy day every law day.

He wants God's mercy. We're not to worry about the life of the face of the earth. That's just his business. He's going to do as he pleases. The law says he's holy. Just because he's a believer teaches the fundamentals.

We found out God has gone away with the law. He said he's going to be judged by it. He knows I don't want to come to the judgment of Jesus Christ. The cross not only talks about the sinfulness of men.

And the holiness of God. Provision. But it is just as provision for every penitent sinner to live in oneness with him. It is imperative that we get the proper order. I wonder if there's a name to this church.

I wonder if there are any Christians in. I'll find out. Morning stuff. Makes God vomit. I wonder if there's anybody there that's stuck. Is there anybody there in God's mercy that this generation gets a big crowd to save?

He's in the city of six million people. They've got more Sunday school teachers in Los Angeles than he can get out. I'm not discrediting him. You can do that. God didn't tell me to straighten him out of music.

Nobody can get him but much to listen to now. And I say, God, please try to come here if they had a building here thirty years ago, man. On Sunday night, this thing would be jammed. It would be summertime, and they're looking out the windows.

Redemption Through Faith and Union with Christ

You remember the generation that didn't go on the road. They're interested in the shed blood of Jesus Christ and the repentance of his own. He would hang on like redemption. He'd buy faith that they'd draw him to his message.

Fallen brings our love of faith and our prayer. He prayed and slept to death, left his blood stains in the snow of New York State at the age of twenty-nine years. He came to his death in the home of Jonathan Edwards, the only man, perhaps, that God ever really used in America to bring revival.

Jonathan Edwards is intent, saying that in his merciful providence, he allowed David Brainerd in his Jonathan Edwards home. I was with him constantly, yelling. The last thirty-eight hours of his life proved David Brainerd the most saintly person that ever lived in America.

And he sat there with me. Mr. Edwards had said that the last thirty-eight hours that that saint of God spent them, most of the time, the last thirty-eight hours of his life, he spent looking at himself, examining himself, to discover the evidence that he was a saint.

It'd be good to spend the week if you didn't help anybody else, it wouldn't hurt you. You in a day with lots of perfection, though, living in a day when nobody can trust Christ hardly, when nobody knows about your relation to him but you.

You did. You've got any interest in the Bible? The Lord Jesus had 12 disciples when he was there. Assembled up in the upper room, the Lord said to them, one of you, betray me. You can throw this out the window if you want to, but betray him.

He said, I'm saved. Jesus was saved. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm a little bit interested in you. I want to be honest with you. I'm more interested in myself. That self is for the soul. While I'm preaching to you, I don't want to go to hell myself.

I don't miss Christ himself. I don't. If David would spend his dying hours trying to find out whether he had an interest in the good Lord Christ. He did something for somebody. Somebody stood in somebody's sin and guilt was waiting for him.

I'm totally interested in whether that includes me or not.