Tozer-CrossSA

ALL UNANNOUNCED AND MOSTLY UNDETECTED there has come in
modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the
old cross, but different: the linkeness is superficial; the differences are
fundamental. From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the
Christian life, and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical
technique, a new type of meeting and a new kind of preaching.

This new evangelism employs the same language as the old, but its
content is not the same and its emphasis not as before. The old cross
would have no harmony with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it meant
the end of the journey, it carried into effect the sentence imposed by
the law of Sinai.

The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly
pal and, if understood aright (correctly), it is the source of oceans of good
clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference.
His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only
now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies
instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is
still on enjoyment, thought the fun is now on a higher plane morally if
not intellectually. The old cross would have no harmony with the world.
For Adam's proud flesh it meant... the end of the journey.

The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic
approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life
before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but
similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that
Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same
thing the world does, only on a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world
happens to be clamouring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the
very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.
The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him
into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To
the self-assertive it says, 'Come and assert yourself for Christ'.

To the egotist it says, 'Come and do your boasting in the Lord'. To the
thrill seeker it says, 'Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian
fellowship'. The Christian message is now slanted in the direction of
the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public. The
philosophy behind this kind of thing may be sincere but its sincerity
does not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It
misses completely the whole meaning of the cross. The old cross is a
symbol of death, it stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being.
The Christian message is now slanted in the direction of the current
vogue to make it acceptable to the public.

The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road
had already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back. He was
going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified
nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for
good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck
cruel and hard and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.
The race of Adam is under a death sentence. There is no one to commute
it and no escape.

God cannot approve any of the fruits of sin, however innocent they may
appear or beautiful to the eyes of men. God salvages the individual by
putting him to death, and then raising him again to newness of life.
That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God
and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its
hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it.

In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane;
we leave it at the cross. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground
and die. We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public
relations agents sent to establish goodwill between Christ and the
world. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher
Plane; we leave it at the Cross.

We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable
to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are
not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an
ultimatum. God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He
offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross.

Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate
himself and concur in God's just sentence against him. What does this
mean to the individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ
Jesus? How can this theology be translated into life? The man in Roman
times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said
goodbye to his old friends. The Cross made no compromise, modified
nothing, spared nothing; It slew all of the man, completely and for good.

Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go
on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse
nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his
head before the stroke of God's stern displeasure and acknowledge
himself worthy to die. Having done this let him gaze with simple trust
upon the risen Saviour, and from Him will come life and rebirth and
cleansing and power. The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now
puts an end of the sinner; and the power that raised Christ from the dead
now raises him to a new life along with Christ.

To any who may object to this or count it merely a narrow and private
view of truth, let me say God has set His hallmark of approval upon this
message from Paul's day to the present. Whether stated in these exact
words or not, this has been the content of all preaching that has
brought life and power to the world through the centuries. The reformers,
the revivalists have put their emphasis here, and signs and wonders and
mighty operations of the Holy Ghost gave witness to God's approval. Dare
we, the heirs of such a legacy of power, tamper with the truth? Dare we
with our stubby pencils erase the lines of the blueprint or alter the pattern
shown us upon Calvary? Never! Let us preach the old cross and we will
know the old powe