Verse 21 starts with therefore
Therefore seeing that the wisdom of men is foolishness verse 19
Let no man glory in me These preachers now in verse
22 Paul Apollos Cephas and he's just given a few examples there
were many that went out and to preach, they didn't preach foolishness. Paul made that clear in chapter
two, verse six. Look back over there with me.
Howbeit we speak wisdom, we come without man's wisdom,
without enticing words of man's wisdom, verse four, that your
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power
of God. Howbeit what we say is wisdom. Among them that are perfect
Yet not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world
that come to naught But we speak the wisdom of God In a mystery
even the hidden wisdom Which God ordained before the world
in our glory So seeing that the wisdom of men is foolishness
don't glory in man But the preachers of the Lord and the witnesses
of the Lord, all believers, they don't speak foolishness when
they speak for God, because God has taught us in chapter two,
all of chapter two, really makes that very clear. But look again
at verse 20 in our text, or just before our text, verse 20. And again, the Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise that they are vain. Now, you might think
that he's talking about the thoughts of the world, that he's not referring
there to these preachers, but the context says otherwise. The thoughts of men, all, even
these men. That's why Paul said, I came
to you deliberately, not in the wisdom of the flesh, because
our thoughts are vain too. We don't preach our thoughts,
though. That's the thing. That's what's
important to see here. Our wisest thoughts are vain,
but we don't preach our thoughts. The second that you enter into
the realm of your thoughts on spiritual things, you've departed
from the truth of God. God said, your thoughts are not
my thoughts. Now, you can think on the scriptures
themselves. I'm not saying preachers are
just mindless reader, that we just read the scripture, which
in a lot of cases, that'd probably be a much better message if we
just read the scriptures. But we can think on the scriptures
themselves to rejoice in Christ and to speak about Christ. And that's not vain, but sadly,
our tendency is to think other than the scriptures, to think
beyond the scriptures. And I never want to tell you
what I think. If I do that, and I do occasionally,
I'll tell you that this is what I think, and you notice when
I do that, it won't be concerning a vital gospel truth. The vital truth of the gospel
is clearly revealed. What I want to tell you is what
God said by rightly dividing his word. If we speculate about
what, say, the parchments were, for example, when Paul said to
Timothy especially, Chapter 4 13 of 2nd Timothy he said especially
bring the parchments with you. I think those were the scriptures
They may have been blank parchments that he needed in order to write.
I don't know what that is I think that was the scriptures though
But I'll tell you that's what I think and the truth of the
matter is what difference does it make? We just talk about that
because we're interested in what the Bible says about all of all
things but look Here on the other end of that scale, if you go
around saying your faith doesn't save you, when the Lord said
your faith has saved you, you got some explaining to do. You're
thinking beyond the scripture, you're outsmarting God somehow. What are you thinking? You know,
just say something like that. That's like saying that since
God gives the rain, that the rain doesn't make the flowers
grow. That's not smart, that's just
bad advice. Quit thinking and just tell what
God said. Try not watering your plants
and see what happens. Faith saves, it's by God's decree,
and God's the one that gives it, he's the author and the finisher
of it, Christ is the only object of it, but the faith that he
gives saves sinners. Well, that's just one example,
I just got off on a tangent there, but you see what the therefore
is there for? All of these men had the gospel,
They preach the gospel, and anything beyond that or other than that
is vain. Paul is clear on that throughout
this. Some gospel preachers are smarter than others, but their
wisdom is vain. It's not an advantage. Being
smart does not help you preach the gospel better. If it did,
I reckon the Lord could have done better than a bunch of fishermen
and a tax collector, you reckon? Or an old man like me. He could have done a lot better
than the one standing in front of you. Some preachers can articulate
words better than others, but the gospel does not need articulation. Just plain meat and potatoes
speaking will do just fine. It'll do just fine. Gospel preachers
and all believers are men that by God's grace have renounced
their own wisdom. That's what verse 18 said. Let
no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth
to be wise in this world, let him become a fool. That's how
you become a fool. You renounce your own wisdom.
And that act in itself is not meritorious or virtuous in any
way. The reason you renounce your
own wisdom is because it's foolishness. But that's how you become a fool.
You renounce everything you know and everything that you could
ever come up with. And you embrace the truth of
God. That's your wisdom now. What God said, not what I think. Truth and wisdom are not advanced
by smart people debating them or thinking real hard about them.
Wisdom is declared when somebody simply tells what God said. He
either reveals it to you or he don't. How am I gonna know unless
the Lord uses somebody to teach me? And notice this in verse
19, that even in saying that we are
fools and we only know anything because of what God said, Paul
quotes what God said about that. You see that? That's because
we don't know anything except what God has taught us. When
he's saying that you don't know anything but what God has taught
us, he quotes the Lord and his word on it. It is written, it
is written, He taketh the wise. And it's also written, verse
20, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they're vain,
they're empty, even the smart ones. Our message is the word of God.
Our life, thou hast the words of eternal life. Don't glory
in men. And another reason now here,
God, let me say this. There's the negative and the
positive. Don't glory in men, glory in the one that they preach,
the Son of God, the man, the God man. Who are they preaching? Don't glory in the vessel, glory
in the water of life. Don't glory in the waiter, glory
in the meat and drink indeed. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. God said that he chose the men
that he did specifically So that the glory would all be his and
God forbid that we should any of us glory save in the cross
Of our Lord Jesus Christ or put another way what he did What
he accomplished The cross is not a symbol. It's what our Lord
did to save us. It's what he he accomplished
he finished its salvation But another reason here now to not
glory in the men, all things are yours. For all things are yours. Don't glory in men for that reason
too. What does that mean? You ever
think about that? It's a pretty remarkable statement.
All things are yours. And he mentioned some things
to make it clear what he's talking about. And I think it makes it
real clear. For all things are yours. Look
how simple it is. All things are yours. What a simple, simple statement. And look at the perspective that
Paul puts on things in verse 22 here. You're glorying in me, and you
say, well, I prefer Paul's preaching or Apollos's or Cephas's. Notice
the perspective he puts on that right at the start. Whether Paul
or Apollos or Cephas or the world. That's a big jump, isn't it? I'd say that's deliberate, wouldn't
you? He's emphasizing how small-minded they are to glory in men when
God's given you the whole world. Why would you rejoice? How foolish
to delight in a trinket when the whole world belongs to you.
To delight over penny things, things that are not even. You're
delighting over something that doesn't exist. You think the
superiority of your preacher is something to delight in, your
preacher don't have any of that. So you're delighting in something
that doesn't exist when the whole world is yours. Have you ever thought about that?
Just the fact that this, the plain truth of that? The world,
he's spotlighting how insignificant and how foolish it is to delight
in the things. We make big things out of little
things, and we make little things out of big things, don't we? But you know what? Those that
said I'm of a policy, I'm sure they had a reason for that. We
do the same thing, by the way, don't we? Well, you know, I, I prefer this man or that man.
And I've heard comparisons made and statements like that made.
And that's fine if the Lord has blessed certain people to you.
He does that to me too. That's normal, that's fine. But
not something maybe we should say a whole lot about. When it gets down to glorying
in men, we don't wanna do that. Anybody that preaches the gospel,
is somebody to be thankful for, something to be thankful for
that the Lord would come to sin to do that at all. But those
that said I'm of Apollos, they had reasons for that. Apollos
apparently was a very eloquent man, maybe even more so than
Paul or Simon. Or maybe they still held a grudge
against Paul for what he did before the Lord saved him, you
reckon? I'd say that's a possibility.
But was Paul not theirs too? He wrote more than half the New
Testament. Did the Lord give him Paul too
or just Apollos? All of them are yours. They're
all yours. Simon wrote quite a bit of the
New Testament. You may not prefer him, but look, it has nothing
to do with the man. It has nothing to do with the
vessel. The world. I thought of some scripture that
I'm sure is probably coming to your mind too. The world. The world is yours. God has a
world because he has a people. And he has a people because of
his son. He's in the business of glorifying
his son. All things are yours and you're
Christ's. It's all for his glory. But of course, we think of Romans
8.32, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all. If we knew what that is saying
right there, and it's not real hard to understand, is it? That
if God would give you his son, what would he not give you? That's
not difficult to understand, but if we did, if we had any
idea, we'd never glory in stupid things again, would we? Why even mention that I'm of
Paul or I'm, what difference does any of that make? God spared
not his own son for us. He delivered him up for all of
us, no matter who, whether you're of or whatever. He spared not
his own son. How shall he not with him also
freely give us the world? World belongs to the Lord Jesus
and so in him it belongs to us He orchestrates everything that
happens in this world For us For his glory And our
blessing Turn with me, well, you know this verse. Let me read
it to you, but think about this. Isaiah 43, one, but now thus
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee,
O Israel, fear not. Think about that. I made you,
I formed you, you're mine, you belong to me, and I'm telling
you, you've got nothing to be afraid of. Does that carry any
impact with you? The one that made you and made
the world and runs everything says, fear not. If I say to you,
fear not, that doesn't mean that much, does it? It just don't. But if he does, it means everything. Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. I've redeemed you. I've called
you by your name. You're mine. You see how this,
all things are yours and you're Christ's, that you can't really
separate that. We're looking at it point by
point, because I don't know about you, but my mind, you have to
trickle it in a little bit at a time, and it still ain't gonna
stick, most of it. Oh, I've redeemed you. When you
pass through the waters, that's scary, isn't it? But you've got
nothing. I made you. I made the waters. I brought the waters. I tell
them what to do. And I say, don't be afraid. They're
not going to overflow you. I've redeemed you. I spared not
my own son for you. Those waters aren't going to
be a problem for you. They shall not overflow you when
you walk through the fire. You're not gonna be burned, I
redeemed you. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God. You notice the reasons? Don't be afraid because, well,
here's the odds are. I redeemed you and I'm your God.
That's why you've got nothing to be afraid of. The Holy One of Israel, your
Savior, I gave Egypt for your ransom. How many people in the nation of Egypt, Ethiopia,
and Saba for thee, since thou wast precious in my sight, thou
hast been honorable, and I have loved you. Look at the reasons I redeemed
you. I'm your God. You're precious
in my sight. I love you. I wish I could say it right.
I wish I could understand. Therefore will I give men for
thee, the world is yours. People for thine life, the world
is yours. The world will hate you and they'll
still do what's good for you and not even know why they did
it. Life or death. We're in the deep water now,
aren't we? This is not just talking about Both are a gift from the Lord. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Life to live is Christ. To die is more Christ. You can
say gain there, it says gain. But what's better than, if to
live is Christ, what's better than that? More Christ. Christ without sin in between.
Christ without that dark glass through which we can't really
see him like we would. To die is gain. What this world
considers to be the worst thing that can happen to you is literally
the best thing that can happen to you. Death is a gift from God. It's
yours, it's yours. Don't be afraid. Though he slay me, Job said,
yet will I trust in him. I'm gonna trust him. Things present. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to those who are the
called, according to his purpose. Look at first Timothy six with
me. I want to show you some of the wording here First Timothy 617 charge them that are rich in
this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches. Now that's two things. Don't
think you're a big shot or think you're better than other people
or feel like you've got power. Earthly riches do bring a certain
power. but don't you hold that over anybody. Don't be high-minded
and don't trust in them either. That's a tendency, isn't it?
Well, boy, everything's going great for me. Nobody can touch
me. I've got plenty. But you trust the living God
who gave it. You see that? Who gives it to
you. Trust the one that gave it to
you. He gives and he takes away. but you can still trust him.
Don't trust the riches because they come and go as he pleases. But God don't change. Trust him. Riches are nothing
unless God makes them something. Trust in the living God who giveth
us richly all things to enjoy. Enjoy. If you had all the money in the
world, would the things that were most precious to you, would
they be things that you bought or things that money can't buy?
Moments, people, love. God gives all those things. Every bit. We don't have anything
we didn't receive. and we should never glory as
if we didn't receive it from the Lord Jesus. He gave us much
greater riches than earthly wealth, redemption in Christ, perfect
righteousness in Christ, a sin offering that washed all of our
sins away, but he gave us the earthly wealth too, every penny
of it, Shall we glory in the gift and
not the giver? Things present, what a beautiful, Paul wasn't just rattling off
stuff here, was he? These are things to think about
that the Lord has given us right now. How much time do we spend
worrying about what's gonna happen a week from now, a month from
now, a year from now? Right now is a gift from the
Lord Jesus Christ. Right now, don't spoil that.
We can mess up anything, can't we? If trouble or heartache is
your present lot, it's the Lord. It's his gift to you. It's his
gift to you. You can't sin your way out of
his goodwill. You just can't do it. Whatever consequences there are
for our foolishness in this world or whatever may be difficult
providence of the Lord, we can't mess it up. We can't
miss it, it's a precious gift. Things to come. Think about what
all is yet to come for the people of God. It does not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know that we're gonna be like Him.
Right now, things present, we're the sons of God. It does not
yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall
appear, We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Philippians 1.23, I'm in a straight
betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ,
which is far better. Things to come. To be like him is mine. It's a thing to come, but it's
mine. to be with Him. It's mine. What a perspective this puts
on the foolish things that we value and delight in in this world. And this is why now. This is
the source of every blessing, The reason for every blessing
your Christ That's why you have all the blessings
of God The source and the reason we
are those whom the father gave to the son and that he seems so much to delight
in, and John chapter seven, his high priestly prayer. That's why everything's mine,
because I was given to the son before this world was. I thought of just a few things
that are mine because I belong to him. The Lord told the disciples
when they said, we've left everything, the Lord put some perspective
on that too, didn't he? We've left everything and followed
you. He said, you'll have in this life a hundred fold brothers
and sisters and mothers and fathers and houses and lands and in the
world to come, everlasting life. things present and things to
come. But I have that now. I have a hundredfold brothers
and sisters and mothers and fathers and houses and land. Why? Because
I belong to the king. He owns everything. The cattle
on a thousand hills is just an example That's just a principle. He owns every cow on every hill. He owns the hills. He said the
silver and gold is mine. All of it. It's the Lord that giveth thee
power to get wealth. Everything belongs to him. And
he said, what did we just read? He gives us freely all things
to enjoy. It's his to give. I had parents that brought me up in the church. They raised me in the fear and
admonition of the Lord. Why? Because I'm His. I'm His. Not everybody has that, but I
have that because I'm His. It doesn't mean you're not his
if you didn't have that. But whatever the Lord did for
you, whatever he gave you, whatever he's done, it's because we belong
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I had a pastor that taught me
the gospel. Why? Because I'm Christ's. I have a wife and a family and
a church family for the same glorious reason. Because I belong
to him. Christ is God's I Can only think
of one scripture with regard to this. I know This is something
that The Lord hasn't revealed a lot
to us about We have that passage of scripture
that speaks of all things being put under him except the one
who put all things under him and Listen to this as far as this
having to do with our security and what we read there a while
ago fear not John 10 28 I give unto them eternal life and they
shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand
And my father which gave them me your Christ Is greater than
all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand Perfect security Consider one verse of scripture
turn with me to first Thessalonians 518 First Thessalonians 518 Seeing
that the Lord has given us everything, it's ours because of Him. And
because we're His, give thanks. How prone we are to murmur and
complain. How in the world can we do that?
I know how. Because we're wretches, aren't
we? We're wretches. If that one thing, if there was
only, if we just had that one reason that would keep us in
the dust before God, it would be that. We're just not thankful.
We're not thankful for things. We take them for granted. We
even complain about what God gives us. In everything, give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. God's will in Christ. In other
words, his saving will, his redemptive will, his sovereign will of blessing and favor upon
his people. It's his will in Christ. You
see that? Most of this world is not in
Christ Jesus. And God's will for them has nothing
to do with being in him because they're not in him. Of God are
you in Christ Jesus who has made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. God does that. Of him are you
in Christ. And if you are, give thanks in
everything. Now this is saying that it's
God's will for you to give thanks. Of course it is. but also the thing that you are
to give thanks for, whatever it is, everything, that's God's will in Christ Jesus
concerning you. See the language there? For this,
in everything give thanks. Well, boy, Chris, I can't be
thankful about this that I'm going through right now. That's
God's will. Give thanks in it. Give thanks in it because it's
His will. It's not this world. God made
this world. That's when He said, fear not.
He said, I made you. Everything is mine. I'm God.
You're precious to me. I love you. Don't be afraid. A positive side of that is give
thanks rather than be fearful or murmur or complain, be thankful
to God for all things in Christ Jesus concerning you. It's easy and that's another
comfort in this now It's easy for us to think that we got lost
in the shuffle somehow that God, you know, he created a universe
He's got all this stuff to run and so he doesn't see me suffering
over here. He's the reason you're suffering
He brought the storm if you're his it's needful we see that
in the scripture don't we if need be now you suffer through
manifold trials and God brings the storm, and if
he's pleased, he calms the storm. But the storm is good, and the
calm is good in his hand. If it was chance, we would have
no comfort. If it was mother nature, we wouldn't
have any comfort, but this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you. He's manipulating and orchestrating
everything in your life as if you were the only person down
here. Nobody gets lost in the shuffle with God. Realize that
this is for you, this is for me. God did this for me. May he give me grace to give
thanks. The blessing of Christ does not
consist in isolated things. We say, well, that's a blessing,
you know, and there's nothing wrong with saying that. I know
what you mean by that. That's a blessing. When that happened,
that was a blessing. That's not how God's blessing is, though.
You're either blessed or you ain't blessed of God. And if
you are, everything's a blessing. If you're blessed of God, All
things are for your good. I'm telling you that like I know
it. I wish I did. I wish I did. Give thanks. God, give us grace to give thanks.