Echoes From the Campfire

[Don Adkisson]

       “The human race is a fickle thing.”

                    --Duane Boehm  (Never Too Old)

       "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
                    --1 Corinthians 1:18 (NKJV)
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               "The cross upon which Jesus died
               Is a shelter in which we can hide.
               And its grace so free is sufficient for me,
               And deep is its fountain; as wide as the sea."
                       --Ira Stanphill

     Many years ago, I wrote this in one of my studies:  We must realize that life is a very serious matter.  What happens in this life determines our eternity, therefore, man cannot waltz through life.  Even the church has false teachers moving away from the centrality of the cross.  The Cross is, and will never be popular--a stumbling block and foolishness in the eyes of the world.  The wages of sin is death; therefore, the Lamb of God was slain, placed on the cross as our substitute to offer redemption.  I wrote further in my notes:  the reason for the atheist--they cannot accept the cross, the only way to be reconciled to God, thus they say there is no God.
    This was written in regard to a study I was doing on the Cross of Christ.  In that study, it became more than a symbol, more than an object to be hung on the wall or around the neck.  As Christians the central message is, and must always be, the cross of Christ.  Paul writes, "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Galatians 6:14, NKJV)  I began to ponder the cross and what it really means.  Yes, it was an old rugged cross; yes it represented a horrible death, but think more, put it altogether--the King of Glory, the Son of God came to hang on that cross.  I read something from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and I tend to agree that without the cross Jesus was only a good teacher.  His ethical teachings will not solve the problem of sin.  His wonderful parables would be only nice stories that taught a valuable lesson.  But with the cross, man can not be reconciled, he can be justified before God Almighty.  Mankind must go to the cross, he cannot, he must not shy away from it.
     Jesus didn't come to save; He came to die.  He came to pay the supreme sacrifice for sin--His death on the cross.  God's wrath and justice was satisfied and now there is grace and mercy poured out--"grace that is sufficient for me."  The blood of Christ was shed for the redemption of man--for my redemption.  Peter tells us, "that you were not redeemed with corruptible things...but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:18,19, NKJV)
     Take heart, look to the cross, the sacrifice of Jesus and live.  Our hope is in that cross ahd the sacrifice of Jesus upon it.  Don't for a moment take it lightly, your eternal destiny depends on what you do with the cross.  Don't be frivolous when gazing upon it, don't think of Easter as only peeps and chocolate bunnies and eggs, but gaze upon that cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Will it be foolishness, a stumbling block to you, or will it be accepted as a comfort to your soul?  The chorus of Stanphill's song says, "There's room at the cross for you."  Stay rooted and grounded in the great truth of the cross.  

D.C. Adkisson