Knowing The Mind Of God Series

Someone once asked Albert Einstein about his view of God, and he replied “I want to know God’s thoughts. The rest are details.” He wanted to know God’s thoughts, and he wanted to know that because – if he knew how God thought, He’d understand life.

Albert Einstein once took a trip by train, and when the conductor stopped to punch his ticket he found Einstein on his hands and knees searching under the seats for something. Einstein explained that he’d lost his ticket. The conductor smiled and said “Dr. Einstein, please, don’t worry about it. I know who you are.”

Einstein looked up and said, “I, too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.”

Einstein knew WHO he was - he just didn’t know WHERE he was going. And, the intriguing thing about our text today, is that it tells us that God knows WHO we are as well, and He knows WHERE we’re going.

“The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18). God knows if you’re perishing (if you’re going to hell), and God knows if you are being saved (if you’re going to heaven).

Now notice, there’s ONE THING that makes the difference. ONE THING that determines your destiny. And that ONE THING that makes that difference - is the Cross.

Paul wrote “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ (is) the power of God and the WISDOM of God.” I Corinthians 1:23-24

So the CROSS OF CHRIST --- is the wisdom of God. If you want to know what God thinks, you’ve got to understand the cross. Once you understand WHY the cross was necessary, then you’ll know the MIND OF GOD. If - like Einstein, you want to know God’s thoughts - this is it! Christ (on the cross) sums up God’s thoughts. Everything else in the Bible points to Calvary. If you miss that… you miss the whole point of the Bible.

ILLUS: Years ago, a 12 year old boy named Ray came to me and asked to be baptized. I knew Ray, and I thought - “this is going to be no-brainer.” Ray was a smart likeable kid. He regularly attended church and youth group. His grand-dad was a church trustee and his Great-grand-dad was a church Elder. I mean, if anyone should understand the cross… Ray should!

But (as is my custom) I asked him a couple of questions just to make sure he knew the importance of the decision he was making. So, the first question I asked him was this: Why do you want to get baptized? He answered “It’ll make me feel better” (PAUSE) That wasn’t quite the answer I was looking for, so I asked him another question: “When you think about Jesus… Who do you think He was?” and he responded: “He was a very nice man.”

And I said “Raymond, I don’t think you understand what this is all about. I tell you what… I’ve got this 5-part video series (VCR tapes) that talks about the Bible and how to become a Christian. Would you like to watch it with me?” And he got all excited about that.

So I took the 1st video to his home and he and his mom sat down to watch it.His dad worked a “swing-shift” and had to leave about ½ way through the video to go to work, but he watched it while he could. When we finished the video, Ray asked if he could keep it and watch it again. during the week. “Of course” I said. But when I came back the next week to show video #2 there was Raymond with 3 of his friends. They’d watched the 1st video that week… and they wanted to watch it again and ask questions. WELL SURE, I could do that.

So, we watched the FIRST video again, and then met for the few weeks to watch the others. And when we watched the fourth video - that video talked about the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and how important it was for us to respond by having faith in Jesus, repentance of our sins, confession of Jesus as our Lord, and being baptized into Christ.

That night we baptized Raymond, 2 of his friends, and his dad.

Now why did they want to be baptized into Christ? Well, they now understood the cross and they realized that their destiny would be determined by how they responded. Do you remember the verse that says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not…” SHOULD NOT WHAT? “Should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus came to die on the cross so that you and I could have eternal life. If we don’t believe that Jesus died on the cross for us, and we don’t accept Him on His terms, we’re not gonna make it to heaven. The cross is what determines our destiny, because the Cross is the wisdom of God, and it’s the power of God.