There is a great lesson there for Christian teachers, and for all who are trying to advance Christ's kingdom. The more earnest and eager they are to have men saved, the more willing they are to go all lengths to meet them. It were better to empty a church and preach the cross, than to fill it by keeping silent like a coward. It were better to fail as Paul failed with the Jews, than to succeed by being a traitor to the cross. And that is why I look with such uncertainty on much that the church is trying to do today.
Religion can never be a pleasant entertainment.
When the offense of the cross ceases, it is lost. Now I want tonight to make a little plainer to you why the cross was an offense to the Jews, and to put things in such a way that you may see at once that the same causes are operative still. The cross was offensive to the Jews just because it blighted all their hopes. It shattered every dream they ever dreamed, every ideal that ever glimmered on them. They had prayed for and had dreamed of their Messiah, and he was to come in power as a conqueror.