The Offense of the Cross
About this sermon
In “The Offense of the Cross,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about the cross and Christ’s blood, bitterness and forgiveness, faith. Drawing especially from Matthew 24, 1 Corinthians 13, Revelation 21, John 3, the teaching emphasizes that Christ’s sacrifice and shed blood are presented as the foundation of redemption, forgiveness, and victory over sin. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that unresolved offense can become bitterness, while forgiveness releases judgment to God and protects the heart.
Chronological teaching outline
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Odle focuses on bitterness and forgiveness while working through Matthew 24. The message argues that unresolved offense can become bitterness, while forgiveness releases judgment to God and protects the heart. It connects this with the conviction that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
Odle focuses on the cross and Christ’s blood while working through Revelation 21. The message argues that Christ’s sacrifice and shed blood are presented as the foundation of redemption, forgiveness, and victory over sin. It connects this with the conviction that God’s commands reveal His standard and direct the obedient life. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on the cross and Christ’s blood. The message argues that Christ’s sacrifice and shed blood are presented as the foundation of redemption, forgiveness, and victory over sin. It connects this with the conviction that God’s wisdom confronts human pride and teaches believers to judge life from an eternal perspective. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on faith while working through John 3. The message argues that biblical faith trusts God’s character and acts upon His promises. It connects this with the conviction that unresolved offense can become bitterness, while forgiveness releases judgment to God and protects the heart. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on biblical love while working through John 3, John 7, Luke 6. The message argues that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. It connects this with the conviction that salvation is presented as God’s work in Christ that produces a changed life and continuing faith. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on faith while working through Acts 13, Acts 14, Acts 16. The message argues that biblical faith trusts God’s character and acts upon His promises. It connects this with the conviction that the sermon relates Israel’s place in Scripture to the unfolding prophetic picture. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on the condition of the church while working through Acts 23, Acts 24, Proverbs 24. The message argues that the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. It connects this with the conviction that God’s judgment is treated as righteous, certain, and a reason to repent while mercy is offered. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on prayer while working through Romans 11. The message argues that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him. It connects this with the conviction that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
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- 0:00:00
lord more and more to this church send your glory lord more and more god to this city and to the people around us god that we're trying to witness to and reach for you lord your glory has to touch them lord your glory and your presence and your power lord we pray for that today we ask you to send your glory i ask you to send your glory right now lord even into people's hearts in this room lord people lord that's struggling with things it's had a rough week that's got a rough situation that's dealing with with issues in their heart and their lives at work lord just just in every area at home finances lord we pray in the name of jesus father that you would send your glory the presence of your holy spirit and that you would refresh and lord that you would strengthen and that you would encourage and that lord you would lift us up god so that we could be in faith lord no matter what we're facing that we are in faith that we are walking in faith with you that we are now drawing near to you no matter what trial or tribulation or persecution or attack or any such thing that we're facing lord i pray in jesus name for your glory and your presence to go and to refresh your people this morning and father we need you we thank you lord i have sensed you here lord this morning in my prayer time this morning in the word this lord on the way here i've sensed you doing something and i just pray lord god that you will do it in everyone's heart and even those that are not here lord i know satan's been trying to get in to people's hearts and and cause problems and cause issues even with between church members and lord i just pray that your glory come in and show how petty some of this stuff is because lord we hunger and thirst for your glory for your word for your way not our own way father we we pray this in jesus name amen and amen can somebody say thank you jesus hallelujah amen it's always good to worship the lord amen [Music] i want you to take your bibles out this morning and i want you to turn first to the book of galatians this is something that's very strong on my heart and it and it really has been for a long time but it gets proven out more and more as the years go by [Music] and i want to talk to you this morning about the offense of the cross the offense of the cross and before i say that i just want to say this that you know one of the signs that jesus said would be in the end matter of fact as you're turning to galatians go ahead and just turn to galatians by way of matthew 24.
- 0:03:05
and uh i know god has a word for us this morning but in matthew 24 it says this and one of the signs of the end and this is a problem we have right now in the church world and and the world itself is offended with jesus it's offended with the word of god it's offended with christians but christians are offended at at preachers and with each other and this just i'll tell you the thing one of the biggest things is offense and it's amazing the bible says when we're walking truly walking in the love of god which we probably need to define that in a minute but if we're truly walking in the love of god we are not easily offended that's one of the things it says in first corinthians 13 but yet offense seems to abound right now and it's interesting that jesus said that offense would abound in the end matthew 24 i want you to go down um verse eight we'll just look at that he says all these speaking of wars rumors of wars and the things the signs at the end he said all these things are the beginning of sorrows then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake and then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another and many false prophets will rise and shall deceive many and because iniquity or sin shall abound the love of many will grow cold but he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved and i just wanted you to see that jesus said one of the signs of the end was that many would be offended many would be offended and then would betray one another and hate one another now this jesus was speaking to his disciples he really wasn't speaking this to the world and i just want to say to you that offense and this is really my message this morning is really not on personal offense but offense is probably the biggest problem apart from moral sin and failure in the church world offense i would dare say that most marriages end more than more than for adultery they end because of offense they be the end because of some unforgiveness or some bitterness and and that's left there until it grows into a root of bitterness and then it says many are defiled and offense is it's easy to get offended and i want to show you though something is that this morning is that jesus one of the names for jesus is the rock of offense trust me that if you're going to follow jesus or you're going to study about jesus are you going to hear about jesus or you're going to get in the word of god or you're going to go to church you are going to be offended at some point or another by what either jesus has to say or what the pastor has to say or what somebody in the church has to
- 0:06:06
say you're going to be offended offenses jesus said will come he said blessed are they though who are not offended he said in me see really a lot of times what our real offense is with it deep down in our hearts is we're offended with god because he didn't do something we wanted him to do the way we wanted him to do it and when we wanted him to do it but jesus said if you can get through a fence then you can get to him and that's why the world out there is finds it hard sometime to get to jesus because they're offended by what he has to say and they're offended about you know you can tell him jesus loves them that won't offend them you tell them jesus talked about hell and unquenchable fire and then they're offended automatically right offense let's look let's go to galatians chapter five well this is one of the rare occasions that i do have notes this morning galatians chapter five galatians chapter 5 and we're going to start reading oh we'll just start reading in verse 1. he says here to the galatians stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage behold i paul say unto you that if you be circumcised christ shall profit you nothing for i testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law christ has become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the law you are fallen from grace and again this was the battle that they were having and the battle was was that the jewish believers were saying that if you weren't circumcised you weren't really saved and circumcision of course i hate i'm not going to get into the details but really what circumcision was in the old covenant was a cutting away of a piece of flesh but when we come to jesus we are supposed to crucify the flesh with the affections and lust that means we nail the whole being that we are to the cross okay we crucify the flesh we don't just cut off a piece of it and paul was talking about circumcision here they were making this big deal and he goes you guys don't get it you're wanting to be religious and i'm trying to tell you that if you want to be religious and just cut off pieces of things but not crucify the whole thing then you are falling from grace you are getting entangled again with bondage i want to tell you the biggest thing in the church world is once folks start getting tangled back up in religion they start getting tangled back up in little things that really don't matter that much and bypass the big things and this is the problem this is what paul was really addressing is is that circumcision is not the issue here and he goes on to talk about let's keep going he says christ has become verse 4 christ
- 0:09:06
has become no effect unto you whosoever you are justified by the law meaning you're justified by your own standards you are falling from grace for we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith for in christ jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but faith which works by love you did run well who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth this persuasion cometh not of him that calls you a little leaven leavens the whole lump now i want you to skip down i want you to look at verse 11 he says and i brethren if i yet preach circumcision why do i yet suffer persecution then is the offense of the cross ceased so putting it in in simple terms here paul was saying if i just preached that some little religious ceremony such as circumcision would make you righteous if i preached that then everybody would love me the jews wouldn't be offended the greeks already understand where we stand as jewish people on this you know as long as i i talk about just a little bit and this is what i'm beginning to notice on facebook and some of these people coming at me people want a little bit of christianity they want the parts that they like they want the little parts that are easy okay they want the stuff that's not difficult that's why so many people will not come to a church like this because they're going to find one that just deals with the little stuff just cut off a little bit you know to them it's a big sacrifice and you're a big religious christian if you just happen to sacrifice a little bit of your time on sunday and go to church and we don't understand that once a truly once a christian a person comes to christ it's a crucifixion of the whole life it's a laying down of your whole life for god and boy aren't we you know you're getting religious when you only want to give jesus part and not all boy we got a lot of christians like that they're out on that campus as we found out this week but paul says if i preach just cutting off a little bit of the flesh then why am i suffering persecution no he said i preached the cross oh boy what is the cross about let me just define this so we're clear the cross is everything because the cross of jesus christ represents how god feels about sin and it reveals the price that it took to deal with sin so the cross is all about sin jesus becoming sin for us that the son of god the spotless lamb of god had to be spit on beaten and nailed to a cross to deal with this horrible horrible thing called sin now i'm going to get to this toward the end of the message but really the biggest problem in the church and the
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