THE OLD CROSS AND THE NEW by A. W. Tozer

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. From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life, and from this new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique--a new type of meeting and a new type of preaching. This new evangelicalism employs the same language of the old, but it's content is not the same and it's emphasis not as before.

The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it mean't 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, 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 baudy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.

The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new one can be received. 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 clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing that 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. The Christian message is 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 it's 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 ending of a human being. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It struck cruel and hard and when it had finished it's work, the man was no more. The race of Adam is under death sentence. 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 liquidating him and then raising him again to the 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 the hearers. 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 relation agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, or the world of 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. Simply, a man must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on and forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Having done this let him gaze upon the risen Savior 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 to the sinner; and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a
new life along with Christ.

Dare we tamper with the truth? Dare we with our stubby pencils erase the lines of the old blueprints or altar the pattern shown to us in the Mount? May God forbid! Let us preach the old cross and we will know the old power.