In this sermon, Paul Washer deals with the Gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation.

The Gospel of Christ is a scandalous message that is missing in many pulpits in Nigeria today. Pastors have watered down the message of the offensive Cross and replaced it with man's inherent goodness, self-realization, works-based salvation, prosperity, and worldly success, thus leaving their members dead in their sins and without any hope of a Savior.

We have no right to water-down the Gospel’s offense or civilize its radical demands in order to make it more appealing to a fallen world or carnal church members. Our churches are filled with strategies to make them more seeker-friendly, by repackaging the Gospel, removing the stumbling block, and taking the edge off the blade so it might be more acceptable to carnal men.

The Gospel is not only scandalous, it’s unbelievable. I want you to know that. It is an unbelievable message. As we have argued, Paul’s flesh had every reason to be ashamed of the Gospel he preached, yet there is still another reason for fleshly shame; the Gospel is an absolutely unbelievable message, a ludicrous word to the wise of the world.

He was born under questionable circumstances to a poor family in one of the most despised regions of the Roman Empire, and yet the Gospel claimed that He was the eternal Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of a virgin. He was a carpenter by trade, an itinerant religious teacher with no official training, and yet the Gospel claims that He surpassed the combined wisdom of the Greek philosophers and the Roman sages of antiquity. He was poor and had no place to lay His head and yet the Gospel claims that for three years He fed thousands by word, healed every manner of illness among men, and even raised the dead!

He was crucified outside of Jerusalem as a blasphemer and an enemy of the state, and yet the Gospel claims that His death was the pivotal event in all of human history and the only means of salvation from sin and reconciliation to God. He was placed in a burial tomb yet the Gospel claims that on the third day He arose from the dead and presented Himself to many of His followers, and forty days later ascended up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of Majesty on high.

Thus the Gospel claims that a poor Jewish carpenter, who was rejected as a lunatic and a blasphemer by His own people, and crucified by the state, is now the Saviour of the world, the LORD of lords and the King of kings, and at His name every knee shall bow including Caesar’s. Do you have any idea how impossible it is for anyone in Paul’s time to believe this message? It is impossible!

To seek to remove the scandal from the message is to make void the Cross of Christ and its saving power. Through the foolishness of the Gospel, God has ordained to destroy the wisdom of the wise, frustrate the intelligence of the greatest minds, and humble the pride of all men.

1 Corinth 1:18-24.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Mwl2JU2Sk