"THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS IS TO THEM THAT PERISH FOOLISHNESS." But unto us who are saved, it is the power of God. The doctrine of salvation by a crucified Jew was in Paul's day peculiarly offensive; many stumbled at it and perished; and the doctrine of complete salvation by faith in Christ alone is still offensive to many. Man naturally desires to be something, to do something, and to be thought something; but in the doctrine of salvation by grace, man is nothing, Christ is all. It presents the crucified Christ as the object of faith; He alone is the ground of hope and the channel through which every blessing flows. It places all upon a level: the harlot and the maid, the thief and the honest man, the poor and the wealthy, the illiterate and the learned; and it presents salvation to each on the same terms, requiring all alike to rest upon the finished work of Jesus, and allows no flesh to glory in God's presence. This is very offensive to the pride of man. In a word, the gospel knows no man after the flesh, but points all to Jesus, directs each to the strait gate and narrow way, inculcates self-denial and self-renunciation as necessary to salvation and shuts up every soul to this one gospel; it must believe in Christ or perish. This is the offence of the cross, still a stumbling- block to the world.

For Meditation:
Jesus is our perfect Saviour,
Only source of all that's good;
Every grace and every favour,
Comes to us through Jesus' blood.