Alright, now let's turn here
to Acts 18. Acts 18 and I want to begin reading
in verse 12. And when Galileo was the deputy
of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul
and brought him to the judgment seat saying, this, and the word
fellows put in there, really they just said this, persuadeth
men to worship God contrary to the law. Now what had Paul preached
that made them say this? How had Paul preached that made
them say this? Look there in verse 4. It says,
He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the
Jews and the Greeks. And when Silas and Timotheus
were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the Spirit and
testified to the Jews that Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, was indeed
the Christ. He was the Messiah that they
had been waiting for in the Scriptures. Now the last time that we looked
at this chapter, we spent our time comparing this scripture,
verse 5, with Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. And we
saw that Paul, when he received news from Silas and Timothy of
what the Lord had done in Thessalonica, the power of God working in those
brethren there, that he was renewed in spirit. And that's what this
word pressed means. He was refreshed in the Spirit
so that he went to the synagogue and he preached more boldly that
Jesus is in fact the Christ. And it says here, do you remember
how Paul preached at Thessalonica? Paul had reflected on how he
preached at Thessalonica. And we look back there at Acts
17 verse 2. Paul as his manner was went in
unto them and three Sabbath days He reasoned with them out of
the scriptures Opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and
That this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. He is the
Messiah. I So, as Paul faced these ones
in Corinth, he was determined to do as he had done in Thessalonica,
and he preached to them. Jesus is the Christ. Now, I want
you to bear in mind that these folks to whom he's preaching
at Corinth, the folks he's preaching to in Corinth, it's made up of
both wise men and religious men. It's made up of rich men and
poor men. It's made up of those who knew
the Scriptures and met in the synagogue, as well as those who
were just idolaters. But God taught Paul, and He taught
him by experience, that the only thing he could do was to preach
Christ and Him crucified according to the Scriptures, according
to the Word. And so we see here verse 9, it
says, Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision,
and said, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace,
for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee,
for I have much people in this city. And Paul continued there
a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. That's what he taught. Because
when he wrote later to the Corinthians, he said, Christ sent me. That's who spoke to him there,
when it said the Lord spoke to him. He said, Christ sent me,
not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, to preach the truth
of Christ, not with wisdom of words. All through the first
chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians and all through
the second chapter, he's talking consistently about the foolishness
of the wise men of this world and of the religion of this world.
And he says, he didn't send me to preach to you with wisdom
of words. And here's why. Lest the cross
of Christ should be made of none effect. We can declare the gospel
in such a way that the offense of the gospel ceases. If men
aren't made to see clearly that all by nature are completely,
totally destitute of any righteousness, none are seeking after God, all
are depraved. If men aren't made to see that,
men will think there's something we can do. In the gospel, Well,
this word can be preached in such a way to where it ceases
to be the gospel. It ceases to be the gospel because
that is offensive to man. And it's our natural inclination
to tone it down. And we can't do that. We just
can't do that. We can teach the things of God
as if these are things you can do to make yourself be more acceptable
to God. And if we do, Paul said, if I
preach circumcision, if I preach something a man can do, the offense
of the cross is ceased. The only way the gospel is preached
is if Christ is preached. If Christ is set up to be the
only way of salvation, the only way that we can enter into the
presence of God, the only way, the end for which all the Word
of God has its end is Christ. And unless we preach Christ in
such a narrow fashion, brethren, the cross has become of no effect. It's made of no effect whatsoever.
Now, I want to do something tonight. I want to take a few of the Scriptures
that Paul quotes in his letters, and I want us to see what Luke
means when he says here that Paul reasoned with them out of
the Scriptures, when it says he preached to them that Jesus
is the Christ. I want us to see how Paul used
the Old Testament Scriptures and how we can look in his letters
to see what he said about the Old Testament Scriptures and
we know clearly what he preached in this place. Let's start with
Romans chapter 9. Hold your place there in Acts
18. Romans chapter 9. Now, do you
remember how that You remember how that Peter, on the day of
Pentecost, Peter stood up and he said, you have taken this
Jesus of Nazareth and you've crucified Him and slain Him and
God has raised Him up and He's both Lord and Christ. He was
direct. So when we read what Paul writes
here, we can very well see that when Paul would preach this in
person, he would preach it the same way Peter preached it and
say, you, and be very direct about this. But look what he
says here, Romans 9 verse 30. What shall we say then? that
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, they
didn't even have the law of God. They had none of the oracles
of God. He's talking about folks who were outside of the camp
of Israel. They have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith. That's the only
righteousness there is, the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel,
Those who followed after the law of righteousness, who had
the oracles of God, who had the law of God, who had the moral
law, the ceremonial law, the prophets, all of this that's
contained in this word law. They had it, but they have not
attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, Paul says. Why? Because
they sought it not by faith. They didn't trust Christ. They
didn't look to Christ and just lay hold of God's promised Messiah
by faith and trust that He would accomplish their salvation. But,
as it were, they sought it by the works of the law, by something
they could do. For they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. Now, when you read these words,
verse 33, as it is written, That means Paul is writing, Paul is
saying what the Old Testament Scripture said. He says, Behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, and a rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now, where did Paul
get this from? Hold your place there in Romans
9 and turn over to Isaiah 28. I want you to see that all Paul
is doing is he's preaching directly, in this case writing, but he's
writing directly from the Scriptures. And this is how he preached,
from the Scriptures. Isaiah 28, verse 14. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem."
That's the description of men who are attempting to come to
God by the works of righteousness. They're scornful men, and they
rule in oppression. He said, "...because ye have
said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are
we in agreement." Now, they hadn't actually said that. But that's
what, in effect, they were saying by thinking they could come to
God by their own works. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us. They set themselves
up thinking God would never do anything harmful to us. We've
been walking according to his law. We've been because they
may clean the outside of the cup, but they didn't seek him
in the heart. They didn't believe on him. They
were trying to come to God by what they did. Now look, for
we've made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Now here's what Paul was quoting, Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone. This is Christ, the foundation,
the stone on which on which God has rested all His work on this
foundation, Christ the stone, a tried stone. This is one who
was tried by Satan. He was one who was tried by men. He was tried in every shape,
form, and fashion and found to be a proven, faithful servant
of God, one that you and I can put our trust in, a precious
corner A house has to have a cornerstone. It needs to have something on
which it's built. A cornerstone that won't be moved or else the
whole house will fall. Christ is that stone. Assure
foundation, God said. He that believeth shall not make
haste. That means he that believeth
shall not be ashamed. He won't be confused. He won't ever be disappointed
by trusting in Christ. Judgment also will I lay to the
line. Judgment will I lay to the line. And righteousness to the plummet. That means God will in no wise
clear the guilty. If there is any sin found in
me, any sin found in you, outside of Christ, it will be found out. If we are in Christ because Christ
bore the sin of His people and put the sin away, The power of
sin, the sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the
law. Christ satisfied the law perfectly. He put away the sin
of His people. And in doing so, death has no
claim on His people. And God laid judgment to the
lion and righteousness to the plummet. He would in no wise
clear the guilty. He didn't spare His own Son,
but delivered Him up for all those whom He had given to the
Son. And He laid it to the light.
And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water
shall overflow the hiding place. Now, let's go back to Romans
10, and let's see how did Paul preach on that. How did he preach
on that? He says in Romans 10.1, Brethren,
My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved." Now you imagine Paul standing in a synagogue
preaching directly to fellow Jews as he was. They were his
kinsmen according to the flesh. And just like Peter stood up
and said, you men of Israel, you've taken your wicked hands
and you've crucified the Lord of glory. Paul could stand up
and say, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
you is that you might be saved. I bear you record. You have a
zeal of God. But it's not according to knowledge. You're zealous. You're going
after a bunch of works. You're constantly up and doing
for God. But it's not according to knowledge. For you're ignorant of God's
righteousness. You're going about to establish
your own righteousness, and you have not submitted yourselves
unto the righteousness of God. What's the righteousness of God?
Who's the righteousness of God? Look at verse 4. For Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Paul says, this one came. to manifest the righteousness
of God. And he says, now you have the
Scriptures. You've read where he said, behold,
I lay in Zion a stone. You've read that he said, sanctify
the Lord of hosts and he shall be a sanctuary for you. He's
saying to them, you've read that he said, but he's going to be
a stone of stumbling for many and a rock of offense and they're
going to be ground to powder who don't trust him. And He says,
now brethren, do you not see that this Jesus, whom we nailed
to a cross, whom we crucified, is the Christ? He is the one
that the Law and the Prophets have been speaking of this entire
time. He's the one we've been looking
for. He's the one we've been anticipating this whole time.
And when He came, we nailed the Prince of Life to the cross.
And Paul's in that synagogue saying this to Jews and to Greeks,
because there's no difference. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. So he's saying this to everybody
that'll hear him and listen. And this is how they responded.
This fella persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. Contrary to the law. Paul's preaching
wasn't contrary to the law. It wasn't contrary to either
God's Word or to the Roman law. It wasn't contrary to either
one. It was contrary to how the vain, vainly wise and religious
men of this world interpreted the Scriptures. That's what it
was contrary to. It was contrary to men. It was contrary to the works
of men. And that's what they were upset
about. And here's why. Paul said in Corinthians, the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. It's foolishness. But unto us
which are saved, it's the power of God. It's the power of God. Now, look over there with me
at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27. I just want you to see a few
places where Paul uses the Old Testament Scriptures and then
we look at how he uses them. Now here in verse chapter 1 and
verse 27, All through here, Paul, let me
just show you this for a minute. Paul, all through, had been talking
here in verse 19. He said, for it is written, and
he's quoting the Scriptures again, quoting from Isaiah 29, 14. He
said, the Lord said, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I'll
bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. He's saying,
Brethren, don't trust in our own wisdom. Don't trust in men's
wisdom. Don't trust in the wise men of
this world. This book right here is what Paul used. Only this
book Paul used. And he said everything else that
men put confidence in is vanity. Do you not think that the all-knowing,
all-wise, all-powerful God, if there's anything that needed
to be included in His Word, that for our salvation, wouldn't it
be here? It's all here. Everything we need is here, right
here. And we can look into a thousand
different directions and read a thousand different things that
corrupt what this says right here. He says, where's the wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the
disputer of this world? God has made foolish the wisdom
of this world. Can't we see that? When we look
around, can't we see how foolish God has made the wisdom of this
world? Why would we then look anywhere
else but to God's Word? We go through this life wondering,
what's God doing right now? Well, just pick up the Word and
read it. He said, there's nothing new under the sun. What's happening
now has already happened, and He's told us about it before
it comes to pass. And He declares what He's doing,
why He's doing it, and this is where He declares it, right here.
And we'll seek every other avenue to figure out what's going on,
to speculate about what's going on, instead of just reading what
God says. But look here again, let me show
you this text. Back down here at verse 27. He
says, God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise. You know why God has chosen to
give His Word in a book like this called the Bible? To confound
the wise. You know why God has chosen to
call out His people by preaching? To confound the wise. You know
why God has chosen men who are nothing and despised and aren't
the wisest of the wise in this world to use? To confound the
wise. You know why God sent forth his
son and hung him on a cross at Calvary to be the death of death
and the salvation of his people? Because that goes against everything
the wise men of this world thinks is salvation. How many years
have we spent? Well, since Christ died, we've
spent years and years trying to deny, men have spent years
and years trying to deny that Christ rose from the dead. Because
it's foolishness to men to think that there is a man seated in
glory that is the God-man. That's foolishness to men. I
admit it's beyond my comprehension. I can't enter into it with the
fleshly mind, but faith is the substance of things not seen.
And when God gives a man faith, we trust God. We take God at
His Word, don't we? We could explain and explain
and explain until we explain away the truth. We take Him at
His Word. Because he said there in verse
27, God hath chosen weak things of the world to confound the
things which are mighty, and base things of the world and
things which are despised hath God chosen, and things which
are not to bring to nothing things that are. And here's why, that
no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him Are you
in Christ Jesus? That's sovereign election. God
chose whom He would save and put them in Christ Jesus. Do
we need the wisdom of wise men to understand that? Or we just
say, God said, of Him, are you in Christ Jesus? I can take Him
at His word. That's what He said. This is
how you're in Christ Jesus. God put you there. Who of God
has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption?
God has to reveal Christ in us. God has to make Christ's wisdom
to us. God has to make Christ the end of the law for righteousness.
God has to make Christ our holiness or we'll try to establish our
own holiness. God has to make us to behold that we belong to
Christ. We've been bought out of the
bondage of sin and we're His. Now here, look what he says,
verse 31. That according as it is written.
He's quoting Scripture again. He's quoting Scripture again.
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now he's taking
this from Jeremiah 9, verse 23. Turn there with me. Jeremiah
9, verse 23. You see what, Paul's just using
the Scriptures. Nothing else. Jeremiah 9, verse
23. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom." This is men who are wise by being
taught in this world by going into schools of wisdom and gathering
wisdom. And so it doesn't necessarily
mean a man even has to go to a college or a university to
get wisdom. I know a lot of people that never
even graduated from grade school that are proud of what they know,
what they've learned by experience. He says, let not the wise man
glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his
might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which
exercise love and kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. You see, Paul
just quotes that scripture and he says, now God's chosen foolish
things to confound the mighty, to confound the wise, to confound
the rich man. Because this is the reason, that
no flesh shall glory in his presence, period. He that glorieth, Paul
said, as it's written, let him glory in the Lord. You see how
Paul takes away any confidence of the flesh, how he takes away
all vain confidence and says, this is our confidence. God has
shown us love and kindness, mercy and grace. God put us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Christ came and as the
wise man, as our Solomon, as our son of David, He came and
He worked out a righteousness for His people. He put away our
sin and He's our righteousness. Paul says, He's everything to
us. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption means He's all. He's everything. And he says,
as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory one place in God. He knows God. He knows who Christ
is. Then, back there in 1 Corinthians,
look at another place here with me. Chapter 2. Look down at verse
9. Paul says, as it is written,
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him." He says, men don't know these things. And he's quoting
Scripture. That's what Paul is doing. He's
quoting from Isaiah 64.4. Let me read this to you real
quick. Isaiah 64.4. He says, For since the beginning of the
world men have not heard, neither perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him." You see, Paul just uses the Scriptures. And now look how he uses these
Scriptures. Look what he says back there
in verse 2 and verse 4. He says, this is why my speech
and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom,
that's why it wasn't, but in demonstration of the power and
of the Spirit, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of man, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect, among them whom God has given a pure
heart, this is wisdom. It's not the wisdom of this world,
nor of the princes of this world that come to nothing, but we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world under our glory, which none of
the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory." And then he quotes the
Scripture. And he goes on to say, if you're
going to know God, it's going to be because the Spirit of God
reveals Christ in us. And we are given the mind of
Christ to know the things of God that are freely, freely,
by God's grace, freely given to us, not offered to us, not
extended to us if we'll exercise something in us and take it,
given to us. and we'll have them. We will
have them because He gives them to us. And we'll be made willing
in the day of His power to know Christ, to trust Christ, to turn
from our way and seek Him and Him alone. Now, the reason I'm
pointing this out to you is because one thing that each of us is
learning, believers, as we grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, is that God's Word is what we need. And God's word is the only thing
we need. It really is the only thing we
need. We're always tempted by man's
wisdom. We always are. By man's intellect,
by the findings of history, various forms of biblical, historical
research. But the truth is, if we could
take all of that away, If all of that was taken away from us
and all we had was God's Word, we'd be greatly benefited. We'd
be greatly benefited. The Gospel is doing this continually
as we hear it preached. By the preaching of the Gospel,
the growth in grace and growth in knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ is this. You ever seen blinders on a horse?
He put blinders on a draft horse so he can't see anything else
around him. So he won't be kicking at things
and bucking and carrying on and acting like he's crazy. He can't
see anything else. And this gospel is God is growing
us to see Christ and He's continually putting blinders on us so that
these things around us We're not kicking at things quite so
much anymore. We're not concerned with these things to the right
or to the left, but we're pressing towards the mark of Christ. If
we could take all of the wisdom of men and all of these thousands
and thousands of books and research and all of these things out of
the equation and just have this book, we'd be greatly benefited,
greatly benefited. I used to go up to visit a friend
of mine up in Indiana. I went up there one time as a
preacher. I went up there one time, and I went out to his office
where he studies. He's got books, just tons of
books, all around his office, bookshelves. I went out there,
and he's sitting there, and his desk don't have a thing on it
but this book right here. That's it. He had a piece of
paper, and he was just looking at this book. out there in his
office quiet and jotting down a few things he'd see in his
book. I remember getting this online
Bible the first time I ever got it and man I just was amazed
at my fingertips. I could open up four windows
at once on my computer and at my fingertips I could have four
or five commentaries and I could have topical indexes and I could
have all of these things at my fingertips. And I'm thankful
to have that. I still use it. It has its place. But when I first got that thing,
I spent more time and wasted more time in that and got very
little out of it because I was just scattered from here to here
to here and yonder reading what men had written instead of just
having God's book. I tell you, this is what we need. We need to find us a quiet place
on a daily basis, and we need to sit down with this book, and
we need to ask God. Just ask Him. Lord, I mean, He
wrote this book. He wrote this book. He's preserved
it. He's given it to us. And He will teach us from the
words of this book what He'd have us to know. And when you
come into this place, my only job is to take this book and
to show you out of this book what God says about Himself.
And I can't make you see it. I can't make you believe it.
I can't make you walk away from here rejoicing in it. But He
can. And as He grows us in an understanding
of Christ, He causes the words of life to be just that, the
words of life. And other things become less
and less important to us. Just less and less important
to us. You know, this is what I've seen happen. We can look
at some of the things God says, like, for instance, the parting
of the Red Sea. And you can read research about
the tsunamis and the tidal waves and all these things that might
have caused the sea to part. It may all be, that may have
some bearing. I don't know if it's true or
not. But the fact is, what God says, how he did it, that's what
we need to look into. Because in how he made the seed
apart, we're going to behold Christ Jesus. We're going to
behold God's power in saving his people. And that's what we
need to see. And so much of the time, we can
dissect these things until we lose the meaning. I'll give you
an example. The other day, Brother Jaime
pointed out something to me that I didn't know, and I'm not ashamed
to admit I didn't know this. I'm glad he told me this, too,
because down the road, somebody might bring it up to me, and
I probably need to know it. But I had said here that that
temple that our Lord came into, was the second temple. And Jaime
said, you do know that Herod had, the temple had been partially
destroyed and Herod had rebuilt the temple. And I thought about
that and I thought, huh. And something bothered me
about it. I went home and I began to look
in Haggai. And in Haggai, when they were
building that second temple, the Lord said, The glory of this
temple is going to be greater than that first temple. That
first temple had the Shekinah glory, which was the presence
of God in that temple. It had the Ark of the Covenant.
This second temple didn't have that. It didn't have the Ark
of the Covenant. It didn't have the Shekinah glory.
And he said, but this temple is going to be more glorious
than that first temple. that second temple had it when
Christ came into that temple. The Ark of the Covenant entered
that temple. The Shekinah Glory entered that temple. And the
glory of that second temple was far outshined the glory of that
first temple because Christ entered into it. Now, and something I
looked up, I looked up that about here, but here's the truth of
it. The temple was partially destroyed, but not the foundation.
And he did build it back a little at a time, But it was never regarded
by any of the Jews as being another temple. It was always regarded
as that second temple. But the important thing is to
know is, is if we take away something historians have taught us like
that, and we say that, well, that was the third temple. You
see how we take away from what Haggai, what the Lord taught
us in Haggai, that Christ is the glory of that temple? Those
are just examples, but like Jonah, I hear fellas talking about by
all the Jews. Is it possible that a man could
live in a fish's belly and all these things? Listen to what
Christ said. As Jonah was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. As Jonah
was, listen, the waters compassed me about even to the soul, the
depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about
my head, so shall the Son of Man be. Thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. Jonah said, the waters compassed
me about even to the soul. Scripture speaks of Christ and
says, thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall
see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. I'll divide
him a portion with the great, he'll divide the spoil with the
strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death. As Jonah
was, Jonah 2.3 says, thou hast cast me into the deep. Jonah
said, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. so shall
the Son of Man be. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him." You see that? My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me? As Jonah was. Jonah 2 says, Jonah
prayed unto the Lord his God. He said, I cried by reason of
mine affliction unto the Lord. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto Thee and
to Thine holy temple. and thou heardest my voice. Yet,
as thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God, so
shall the Son of Man be. My heart is glad, my glory rejoiceth,
my flesh also shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to seek corruption."
Do you see, the Lord said, as Jonah was, that's how I am. When
Jesus cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands
commend I my spirit. Just as Jonah said, when I came
into the deep, my prayer came in unto Thee. I turned to God
and said, Lord, I trust You. The Lord said, as Jonah was,
so am I. Jonah. It says Jonah. The Lord
spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
The Lord said, as Jonah was, so am I. Behold, there was a
great earthquake. The angel of the Lord descended
from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door
and sat upon it. You see that? You see Jonah coming
out of that earth? Just as Christ came out of that
tomb. Coming out of that fish like Christ came out of that
tomb. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till
I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord said, as Jonah was,
I am. Have we grown weary of beholding Christ in these scriptures
so that we have to start going to historical research and wisdom
of men and find our rejoicing in those things? I want to see
Christ in this book. I could care less what the men
of this world think. I could care less about it. I'm
simple. I'm not real smart. I don't have
a lot of education. I'm just pretty plain, and it
doesn't take much to impress me or to please me. But I'll
tell you what I do like. I love to see Christ preached
from this book so I can see my Redeemer in His glory. That thrills
me to my soul. I was telling Melinda on the
way over here, I listened to a message last night. And the
man, his country is cornbread. And you'd listen to him talking
and you'd think, man, that fellow's country. You think I talk country. You listen to who's telling you
this. But I sat there and listened to that man preach and I thought,
that is a wise man right there. more wise than some of the greatest
theologians, some of these scholars that write books after books
after books, that'll write 1,500 pages and ain't said nothing.
And that man right there preached for 30 minutes and I just sat
there and thought, man, what wisdom. What wisdom. Well, Paul
didn't tickle the intellect of wise men. He preferred to be
viewed as a base fellow, as a babbler, as a seed picker, and preach
Christ rather than to be accepted by the wise men of this world
and make the cross of Christ of no effect. And those that
made insurrection against Paul, now they would have claimed to
believe the word of Jehovah. They would have claimed, they
said, now we believe Jehovah. We just don't believe what you're
saying. We don't believe it the way you're saying it. We believe
the word of Jehovah, we just don't believe it the way you're
saying it. And that's what we'll do. We'll
preempt our hearts true boast, the boasting of this heart with
great testimony. Men will say, oh, I believe the
salvation's all of Greg's. But then proceed to speak in
terms that sound so deep and so wise. History talking about
history talking about prophets who've gone before talking about
the philosophies philosophies of men and other speculations
Look over at Isaiah 29 verse 15. Here's what the Lord says
about that. I Love how in his word the Lord
just tells us exactly what these things are Look at Isaiah 29
15 Woe unto them that seek deep
to hide their counsel from the Lord. And their works are in
the dark and they say, Who seeth us and who knoweth us? Now here's
what the Lord says those things are. Surely you're turning of
things upside down. You know what that means? When
things are right side up, man has no room. to glory in anything. And he's put in the dust where
he has to look up to God to see that salvation is by the mercy
and grace of God. Now, you turn things upside down,
there's some aspect of it to where man has got something he
can glory in. That's turning things upside
down. And men will seek deep, deep,
wise-sounding words to do that, to do it. And that's what it
is. That's exactly what it is. The Lord said if it was possible
they'd deceive the very elect. It's a denial of the power of
God. Denial of the power of God. He said, look here, He says,
Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed
as the potter's clay. For shall the work say of him
that made it, he made me not. Or shall the thing framed say
of him that framed it, he had no understanding. Now let me
give you just a few words here. Be turning with me to Proverbs
chapter 2. There's two different spirits.
There's the spirit of the wise man, the spirit of carnal religion,
and there's the spirit of those who are born of the Spirit of
God. There's either works or grace. That's just all there
is to it. And no other religions, in all the religions in the world,
works or grace. And that proud, stout heart that
that appears so religious and wants to be viewed as so wise
will say things like this, Thou was altogether born in sin. Do
you teach me? That's what they said to that
blind man. You were born in sin. You're going to teach us something. What did they say at Athens to
Paul? What will this Bibler say to us? And here in our text they
said, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to
the law. But broken and contrite heart It says this, Lord, teach
us to pray. That's wisdom. That's wisdom. Lord, teach us to pray. Here's wisdom. Show me thy ways,
O Lord, teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait
all the day. The Lord says, With the pure
thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the forward thou wilt
show thyself forward. Now listen to the words of the
everlasting Father, King Jesus, the wise man. Proverbs 2.1. My
son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments
with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply
thine heart to understanding, Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge,
and liftest up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest
her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures,
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the
knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom. Out
of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth
up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that
walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment,
and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand
righteousness, and judgment, and equity, yea, every good path.