Okay, well I bring greetings
from the little fellowship at Datchworth in Hertfordshire,
where Harry's gone to preach this morning and taken Tom with
him. Just another little tiny group meeting in a village hall
there, as you know, and it's so good to have friendship and
fellowship in the Gospel of Grace with you here. I want you to
turn to the first chapter that we read of Paul's first epistle
to the Corinthians, and the title of this message is the power
of God. It's in verse 18, the power of
God, because he says, the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the
power of God. That's the title of the message
this morning, the power of God. We talk about the power of God,
God who is powerful, and yet The world all around us, I think
we all have to agree, the world around us ridicules us and ignores
us and pays no attention. The church of true believing
people seems to be very weak and very small and very fragmented. We seem to have no influence.
We don't seem to influence what governments want to do. I mean,
that's obvious. Look at the legislation that's
been passed in this country in the last few years. We've got
no influence whatsoever in terms of affecting the way things are,
so it would seem, in this country. We haven't got much in the way
of money, have we really? When you look at the great amounts
of money that there is sloshing around in society, we don't seem
to have much money. And there are all sorts of contentions
over secondary matters There's that hymn that talks about the
church and it says with, I forget the words now, but with strife
rent asunder, with divisions rent asunder, all over secondary
matters. You know, people that preach
the true gospel but they won't have anything to do with you
because of one peculiar obscure fact. Most peculiar. It seems
like a day of such small things. And when you look at the letters
to the churches in the second and third chapter of Revelation,
you see there that there are all sorts of problems which applied
in about the year 90 AD to the church that Christ gave the message
by the Apostle John to give to the to the pastors of the seven
churches which were real churches but which were representative
of the whole church in every place and you look at the problems
that they've got it's very very similar to the church in all
ages some of them had the most fatal problem. They'd lost their
first love for Christ. Oh, that's the most important
thing. They'd lost their first love
for Christ. Others had, you know, in the name of being reasonable
and not being contentious and not being obnoxious, they'd allowed
in false doctrine. That doesn't mean that they were
picky about every secondary matter but the key aspects of what saves
a man or a woman for eternity, they'd compromised on. They had
the doctrine of Balaam. False prophets, they'd allowed
false teachers to come in who were not authorised by Christ
to teach and to preach and to bring his message. To that church
it says they've got that prophetess Jezebel and have allowed her.
Look at the churches all around. You know, I often listen on a
Sunday morning when I'm pottering around getting breakfast and
I have Radio 4 on, and I listen to the service that's brought.
And this morning it was from, it might have been from Windsor
or somewhere like that, but it was a service, a High Anglican service
celebrating, would you believe, the Battle of Agincourt. Well,
fine, okay, look at some historical things, but no truth there, no
gospel, nothing that speaks to the soul of you and me. nothing
that speaks comfort to my soul concerning my mortality concerning
eternity no false prophets false doctrine deadness he writes to
another one of the churches he says you've got a name that you're
alive but you're dead you're not just poorly you're dead you're
dead do something about it quickly There was the other church, Laodicea,
that like so many places in this country, I know of places where
the gospel was once faithfully preached, and oh, they're so
full of themselves. They're so proud of what they are now. They
say they're rich, they're filled with goods, they have need of
nothing. And the Lord Jesus Christ says to them, you're lukewarm.
I'm going to spew you out of my mouth, you're lukewarm. Lukewarmness,
there's a spirit of lukewarmness. And all of this while we are
here, the church, in this wilderness world. But do you know where
we are is exactly where God has put us. If you read Revelation
chapter 12, the woman which is the church is sent by God into
the wilderness, not into palaces. with fine linen and comfort into
the wilderness. She's sent into the wilderness
to a place prepared by God for her. And what does he do for
her there? He feeds her. He feeds her. That's what God
is doing to his people. You may feel so small and insignificant
here, but you're in the wilderness that God has prepared for you,
in the place where he's put you to feed you there. Praise his
name for that, because doesn't he do it? And for how long does
this go on? It seems to be going on an awful
long time, doesn't it? Do you know, it's three and a
half times. Oh, what's that mean? What's that mean? Oh, I think
it's 1260 days in another place. It's symbolism, right? Symbolism. A time, times, and half a time. Can I hold up my fingers like
that? A time, times, and half a time. A time seems like a long
time. And when that time's finished,
guess what? There's twice as long to go yet. It's two times. And then you think, oh, it's
never going to end. And right in the middle of the next one,
it ends. It's half a time. What does that
mean? Yes, it is a long time. 2,000 years so far. But it's
coming to an end. He is coming again. Behold, he
cometh. He's coming back. What are we
to do in the meantime? What we are to do is to preach
the cross of Christ, and that's what it's about. This is the
power of God. To us that are being saved, it
is the power of God. The preaching of the cross to
us that are being saved is the power of God. What does it mean? What are we to do? I want to
look at the means, the message, the reactions you get to it,
and the result of it. First of all, the means. Verse
17. Paul's talking about already
about problems. Do you know in this church at
Corinth we think, oh what a dreadful church it must have been. You
know the absolutely awful thing, there was even incest going on,
it really was. There were some serious problems. Did you notice
how warmly he speaks to them in the opening seven or eight
verses? He calls them his brethren in
Christ, doesn't he? Yes, there are problems that
he's very severe about and have got to be stopped, and the ones
committing incest have got to be treated as if they're not
believers and put out of the church. And he's very, very strict
about lots of things, but he calls them brothers and sisters
in the gospel of Christ. We think they've got all sorts
of problems. And one of the main things, the next section he goes
on to, is there's divisions amongst you. You're all lining up, you're
all, you know, don't human beings love to be partisan? You know,
in this great city of London if it's football we're talking
about you know the Crystal Palace supporters want to kill the Arsenal
supporters want to kill the Chelsea supporters and the Chelsea supporters
want to kill everybody else and it's very factional that's what
we're like I mean at the moment they do but anyway we won't linger
on that point any longer but he said some of you were saying
I'm of Paul I'm of Paul and others were saying oh just of him I'm
of Apollos. Apollos was a much better speaker
than Paul. I'm a fan of Apollos. And others,
the super spiritual ones, they were going, hmm, yes, yes. I'm
an apostle. I'm a follower of Christ, you
know, sort of super, they start to float on a level above them.
He says, no, no, no, factions, factions, no. He said, you're
bothering about which clan you're following, who baptized who.
He says, he says, baptism's not, I mean it is important, but in
this context, baptism's not important, it's not the thing. He said,
he said, I can't remember who I, you know, here the epistle
shows the humanity of the Apostle Paul, because he says, I only
baptized Crispus and Gaius, And, oh, hold on a minute, no, I also
baptized the household of Stephanus, I'd nearly forgotten. Although
it's inspired of the Holy Spirit, his humanity comes through, he'd
nearly forgotten. But he says, I don't know whether
I baptized anybody else, I can't really remember now. But that's
not the important thing. He said, because verse 17, Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. not with wisdom
of words, not with eloquence, not with, you know, there are
some speakers who are powerful to listen to just by virtue of
their sheer eloquence. You know, like Churchill could
in wartime, Churchill could string together sets of words that inspired
a nation. Churchill got this very, you
know, making, if you compare different nations, probably if
you were to say, what's a characteristic of the Germans? They're quite
easy to herd when it comes to a nation. They like to march
together and their industries don't have strikes like ours
do and all that kind of thing. And Britain, you'd say it's like
trying to herd cats. They've all got a mind of their
own. But Churchill, with just sheer the power of words, he
got a nation all marching together in the same direction. Some come
with wisdom of words, with power of words, but Paul says, not
that for me. Not with wisdom of words. Why?
lest the power would be in the wisdom of words and not in the
cross of Christ, lest the cross of Christ should be made of noneffect,
lest what the cross of Christ accomplished should have no effect. No. He sent me to preach. He
sent me to preach the gospel, the cross of Christ. Not baptism,
not other practices, not secondary matters, the central matter.
He sent me to preach the gospel of Christ. And how? by public
declaration, by preaching. This is the means, this is the
means by a man who is sent of God to do it. A man who is sent
of God, a man, a sinful man, a fallen man. A corrupt man in
his nature, like everyone else, for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God. And there is none righteous,
no, not one. Men don't get to be preachers
because they're holier than other people. Men get to be preachers
because God burdens them with a message from him. Sent by God,
burdened. In fact, Paul himself says in
this same epistle, chapter 9 and verse 16, he says, woe is me
if I preach not the gospel. Don't pat me on the back for
it, I've got to do it. I can't not do it. It's something
that I'm burdened with. I must do it. And it's a man
that is sent. In these days, we need to stress
this, it's a man that is sent, not a woman. I'm preaching to
a congregation of women this morning. Am I saying that men
are superior to women? Not in the slightest. In intellectual
capability? I'm retired now, but in my secular
work, some of the most effective managers I ever worked for were
women. And not in the slightest, I'm not being patronizing, I'm
not being condescending in any way, but when it comes to preaching
in the Church of God, this is a thing of created order. What
do we believe? We believe the Word of God. He
sends a man to preach. He doesn't send a woman to preach.
He sends a man. That's the created order. Who
to? To who should we go and preach? To all who will listen without
distinction of gender. You know, not just to men, not
just to women, to all who will listen without distinction, without
distinction, without distinction of race, without distinction
of language, without distinction of social status, the rich, the
poor, the powerful, the weak, without distinction. Anybody. We say we will preach this gospel
of grace to all and to any who will listen. And some call us
hyper-Calvinists. Don't know why. We'll preach
to all and to any who will listen. And yet some say we're narrowing
down who we'll preach to. No. The commission was this. Mark 16 verse 15. Jesus, the
risen Jesus, before he ascended said, go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. distinction. And how? How? What is preaching? What is preaching? You see there's
a lot of debate in the so-called church today about what's the
most effective way. You know people can't stand sitting
for 40 or 45 minutes listening to a man go on and on, can they? Well I agree with you, when it
comes to some men that I've heard in the past I can't stand sitting
listening to them but what God means is this, it's to be by
public declaration. If you look at the book of Nehemiah
in the Old Testament, Ezra and Nehemiah are the books where
the children of Israel, the Israelites, came back from Babylonian captivity. And it was after the Medes and
Persians had taken over the empire, and Cyrus, who is spoken about
hundreds of years before he came on the scene, Cyrus, in the prophet
Isaiah, is raised up. Emperor Cyrus. I've raised up
Cyrus, says God, hundreds of years beforehand and he will
come. And Cyrus said, you know, these
people need to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild Jerusalem and the
temple there and re-establish the worship of the true God.
This was a heathen king, you know, in whose hands is the heart
of the king, whichever king it is. Scriptures tell us in the
hands of God is the heart of the king. I think it's in Proverbs.
amazing but he did and they were sent back and they built the
the temple they restored the temple and then Nehemiah came
and the restored the walls of Jerusalem when it was all there
in Nehemiah chapter 8 we have recorded there the great congregation
when all the people came together it right down to the youngest
that could hear with understanding and you know what they did they
built a pulpit of wood and big pulpit that Ezra, the priest,
the scribe, could stand up on and preach to the people. And
how was he to preach? Clearly. Clearly, it was to preach clearly
so they could see him, so they could hear what he was saying.
You know, here he is, he's preaching to them clearly. Preaching is
communicating a message from the heart of God to the hearts
of his people through the means of an ordinary man. Paul says
we have this treasure in earthen vessels. He's talking about the
gospel, the treasure of the gospel, the gospel, the pearl of greatest
price. You know when the man who is
the jeweler, you can imagine the man who's been doing it all
his life and he's rooting through boxes of gold and bits and pieces
and you know, have you ever noticed you ladies, if you ever have
an expensive ring and you've paid maybe a lot of money, maybe
hundreds, might even be thousands of pounds for it and you go to
a jeweler now and you say, how much are you going to give me
for this? He'll just give you the value of the gold, it's virtually worthless,
unless it really is an antique gemstone thing. And the guy's,
he's dealing with this every day, and it makes no difference
to, all of a sudden, in amongst this box of, all these fake pearls,
in amongst this box of pearls he finds one pearl that is an
absolute Cracker, the gem, the pearl of greatest price. And
what does he do with all this other garbage that he's got all
around him? He gets rid of it. He's got this one. That's what
the gospel is. If you find the gospel of God's
grace, you know you've got the pearl of greatest price. It's
treasure. But where is it? in earthen vessels
like this one. Do you know what an earthen vessel
is? Down my garden I've got various plastic pots but I've got quite
a few earthen ones, old clay pots. And you know at this time
of year they get soaking wet and then we'll start to get the
frosts and the frosts come and split them open and next spring
I'll go to pick them up and they just shatter in pieces because
that's how weak is the earthen vessel. That's a picture of us
as we are in our flesh, earthen vessels, but what are we holding?
Treasure. The treasure, the pearl of greatest
price. This is a man. Preaching is a man sent by God
who speaks to God's sheep. And through what he says, though
he be a fallen man, though he be just an earthen vessel, through
what he says, Jesus says this, my sheep hear my voice and follow
me. His sheep hear him. They hear
the good shepherd's voice and they follow him. And if you have
such a man, and I know you have, hear him, pray for him, support
him, encourage encourage him. You know, I think the internet
has done absolutely wonderful things in these days. It's unimaginable
where the gospel is going now compared with what we would have
thought even 15 years ago. It's absolutely incredible. We
have our little meeting in Datchworth Village Hall and when I get home
I upload it and this week I'll be uploading what Brother Harry's
preached at Datchworth, to our church website, and then on to
Sermon Audio, as I know he does. And then I'll hear from people
all around the world. It's absolutely staggering. I
don't know how many there are. If I see just the tip of the
iceberg, there must be a hundred in terms of tips of the iceberg
that have contacted me. Absolutely amazing. But do you
know, there's a little bit of me that wants to sow a word of
caution here. I fear that some are becoming,
you know like when the pop groups were going around, they were
the groupies, the girls who followed them around everywhere. There's
a kind of an internet preaching groupie culture of following
one and batting one off against another and it almost becomes
like Paul was saying about the Corinthians. Oh, I'm of Apollos
and I'm of such and such a thing. Oh, and he's the one I really
like to listen to. Do you know something? This is what I'm saying
to anybody that might listen to this subsequently. If you
have a man who is preaching God's grace faithfully within reasonable
commuting distance of where you are, don't get your fix off the
internet, go and hear that man and support it. Do you know we've
had some people leave us recently from our small number and they
said, oh we can just as easily listen to the sermons online
at home. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as is
the manner of some. Go and hear that man, support
him. You know, there's a cost to worship. Yes, I know there
is, but it's a cost worth paying. Go and hear that man, support
him, pray for him. Pray that God will raise up preachers. Do you want his kingdom to come?
Look at it outside. You know, here we are in this
great metropolis that goes on, I don't know, from here in the
south up to Barna in the north and from Dartford in the east
to Uxbridge in the west. Huge great metropolis. How many
million? It must be 10 million people. And the vast, vast, vast,
vast majority of them are going around with no thought for eternity.
Going around thinking they're just the product of a random
big bang and everything that followed it. Oh, how we need
preachers of the gospel of grace. Pray that God will raise up preachers.
Look, he says, the fields are white to harvest. Pray the Lord
of the harvest that he will send laborers, preachers, into the
harvest. So that's the means, preaching.
Preaching. He sent me to preach. Then the
message, verses 17 and 18. Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with the wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but to us which are saved it is the power of God. What are
we to preach? The gospel, the cross of Christ. Oh, how much preaching there
is today that is not preaching at all, because there's no Christ
in it. There's no cross in it. It's a message of good news,
that's what gospel means. It's a message of good news concerning
the accomplishment of the cross. What did the cross accomplish?
You might remember, those of you that came to the conference
at Datchworth last May might remember Peter Many preaching
a sermon on that very thing. What happened at the cross? What
was accomplished there? What went on there? The gospel
is the message of good news concerning the accomplishment of the cross.
And why good news? Why good news? Because it answers
Job's question. Do you know what Job's question
is? Job's question? Job 9 verse 2, and I think he
repeats it in chapter 25. How should a man be just with
God? That's the key question. People,
millions out there today, how should a man be just with God? Oh, I don't know about God, I
don't care about it, I don't think there is a God, it's nothing
to do with me, leave me alone. Isn't that the reaction of the
unbelieving world? But this is so important. How
should a man be just with God? How should a man be judged righteous
with God? How should a man, or a woman,
how should a man or a woman be judged righteous with God? That's the question. Why is that
an important question? Because the scriptures tell us,
Hebrews 9 27, it is appointed to man to die once. You world
out there, you deny that. Can anybody deny the truth of
that? It's appointed to man to die. Can anybody deny? The truth of that. It's appointed
to man to die once. I don't know in the history of
the world of anyone that's escaped that. Do you? Only one. Only
one. Well, Elijah was taken to heaven. Enoch walked with God and was
not. But apart from that, even the
ones that were raised from the dead, like Lazarus, were raised
from the dead to die again mortally in the flesh. Yeah? It's appointed
to man to die once. And then the judgment. the judgment
accountability do you know when I was teaching years ago I used
to teach science and I used to have debates with colleagues
about evolution and whether we should teach it as scientific
fact and I know nowadays you express the views that I have
you won't even get a job as a teacher you just won't get a job as a
teacher these days but I persuaded my science department of eleven
good scientists that we would not teach it as fact because
they couldn't they couldn't answer the things that I brought before
them. And I remember one biology teacher saying to me one day,
because we used to exchange, no like now you do emails or
you do texts or something, well we used to put notes in our pigeon
holes in the staff room. And I'd send her a note and then
she'd send me a reply. And I remember her reply to me
was, I hope evolution is true. Because if it isn't, listen,
because if it isn't, that means that I am accountable to a God
for all that I've done. And she said, the thought of
that horrifies me. Oh, she believes in evolution
for scientific, no, no, no, not for scientific reasons. Because
she's terrified of the prospect of a God who is judged. It's
appointed to man to die once and then the judgment. The God
we must face, the scriptures tell us, is of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. He's the God who dwells in unapproachable
light. Our God, says Hebrews, is a consuming,
is, not was, is a consuming fire. We read, you know, the false
gospel says this, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for
your life. That's not what the scriptures say. Do you know what
the scripture says? God is angry with the wicked every day. That's
what the scripture says. God is angry with the wicked
every day. The scripture says the soul that
sins it shall die. The scripture says it is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. When Isaiah
the prophet in the temple in Isaiah chapter 6 when he had
his vision in the year that King Uzziah died he went into the
temple and he had a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ in all
his glory and we know it was him because John chapter 12 tells
us that it was him he had a vision his train filled the temple and
what was the reaction of Isaiah oh hey look let's all get alongside
Jesus no no Isaiah's reaction was woe is me I am undone I am
a man of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the king he knew
what he was I am undone You know, there's that hymn, I love that
old hymn that says, a sinner is a sacred thing. Why is a sinner
a sacred thing? Because the Holy Ghost has made
him so. The world around that doesn't believe doesn't think
it's a sinner. They don't think they're sinners. The people that
God saves come to know by sovereign grace, by the revelation of the
Holy Spirit, that we're sinners and we've fallen short of the
glory of God. Woe is me, I'm undone, we're
silenced. Romans 3, 19. non-righteous,
none that does good, their mouths are full of lies, etc. That's
us, a picture of us. And it says, what thing soever
the law says, the law of God, it says to those who are under
the law, you and me, all of us, that every mouth might be stopped.
Ah, but this is my excuse. No excuses. Every mouth stopped. And all the world become guilty
before God. We're in a terrible condition,
aren't we? How should a man be just with God? But God repeatedly
declares his mercy and his grace. Show me your glory, said Moses
to God. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. Romans 3, 21. How should a man
be just with God? How should a man be righteous
with God? not by the works of the law, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. There's a righteousness of God
which is not that which you earn in the flesh by the works that
you do, it's witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the
righteousness of God which is by faith. of Jesus Christ unto
all and upon all them that believe. Righteousness by the faith of
Jesus Christ, by what he has done. God's righteousness established
for sinners because Christ was faithful unto death, even the
death of the cross. The law demands death for sin,
that it might be satisfied. The law demands satisfaction.
Where there is sin, there must be death. The soul that sins,
it shall die. But God made him who knew no
sin, to be sin for us, to be made the sins of his people,
that his people might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them. Cursed, cursed, cursed. Cursed
is everyone that doesn't perfectly obey everything in the law of
God. But two or three verses later, Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law. He's paid the ransom price to
set us free. deliver him from going down to
the pit for i have found a ransom he's redeemed us from the curse
of the law how did he do it by being made a curse for us he
is then just because he punishes sin and will in no wise clear
the guilty but he's justifier, because he's able to declare
righteous, sinners who are made righteous in his Son. He is therefore
a just God and a Saviour, and this Gospel that is to be preached
is Christ. It's not a Gospel about Christ,
it is the Gospel which is Christ, because he, as the Scriptures
say, he is all and in all. There's nothing else. Whatever
you want. Look at verse 30 of this chapter.
Look at verse 30. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Everything is in him. Wisdom.
To be right with God, don't you need spiritual wisdom? Don't
you need spiritual discernment? Don't you need spiritual understanding
that the natural man doesn't have? 1 Corinthians 2.14. The
natural man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God.
They're foolishness to him, neither can he know them. Why? They're
spiritually discerned. Who's going to give you spiritual
discernment? Only the Holy Spirit, by the grace of God, when he
comes. And how does he show us? I want to know, I want to know
the glory of God. I want to know the glory of God.
God, who caused light to shine in the darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God. Where? Where? Where? In creation? No,
in the face of Jesus Christ. That's where it is. in him are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom from God
is in him. If you want to preach wisdom,
I heard a man recently giving a lecture on the wisdom of the
Old Testament. And it was just dead, dry, you
know, if you work this way it'll work out a bit better for you
than if you do things that way. If you follow the wisdom of the
Old Testament, you know, your crops will grow better than if
you don't follow the wisdom of the Old Testament. Well of course
there's an element of truth in all of that, but it completely
misses the point. The wisdom of the Scriptures is Christ!
What does Proverbs 3 say? Proverbs 8? It's Christ speaking.
He is the wisdom of the scriptures. If you want the wisdom that God
demands, you must know him. And righteousness, he won't let
anybody into heaven that isn't perfectly righteousness. But
his people are made righteous in him. What does Jeremiah say?
Chapter 23, this one, the Messiah who will come, he is called,
note that, he is called the Lord our righteousness. God, this
is Christ, this is the one, the Lord our righteousness. You look
ten chapters further on in chapter 33 of Jeremiah, it's talking
about the church of Christ, it's talking about the people that
he has saved, it's talking about those that are his from all eternity,
and he says there, this is the name by which she shall be called,
the Lord our righteousness. My wife was named on her birth
certificate, Christine Kettlewell, don't laugh at the name, because
she ended up with an even funnier one, Jellett. But when we got
married, I married her, she married me, and from that day onwards,
she became Mrs. Jellett. She took my name. Those
who are married to Christ, his church is married to him. This
is the name wherewith she shall be called the same as his. The
Lord our righteousness. He's our righteousness. He's
our righteousness. Sanctification. You know, we
could spend another 40 odd minutes and time is going rapidly, I
see. He's our sanctification as well.
Oh, you know, there are those that proclaim progressive sanctification
you get better and better and better at living by the law as
the believers rule of life and as you do that you get more and
more ready for heaven until you're at such a state where you're
fit to go straight to heaven you know because you've had all
the rough edges knocked off you and you're nicely progressively
prepared for glory. I wonder where the thief on the
cross you know the one who the penitent thief on the cross that
we read about in Luke's gospel I wonder where he is in the pecking
order of heaven now. Because Jesus said, this day
you shall be with me in paradise. I wonder if he's right down there,
the lowest of the low. He's got no rewards, he's got
no jewels in his crown. Because why? He didn't get progressively
sanctified while he lived. His entire believing life was
nailed to a cross of wood for a few hours. He's like one of those in that
parable of the labourers. You know, there were those that
were employed right at the start of the day and they worked all
day long and they got a penny. which was their just reward and
it was what they agreed to work for and there were those that
came later in the day and they got a penny because it was their
just reward and there were those that came just in the last hour
and they still got a penny and the others said isn't that unjust?
He said no you've got exactly what you agreed to and he gives,
he gives his kingdom, his blessing to everyone who trusts him and
redemption redemption, the ransom price, the purchase price. If
you think about captives, and they're asking for a ransom,
and if you're in that situation, you might be thinking about the
evils of paying ransoms and all the rest of it, but if you're
captured I guarantee you, you'll be hoping somebody's going to
pay your ransom. Well, I'm telling you, when it comes to answering
Job's question, how should a man be just with God? Christ has
ransomed his people, for he redeemed them. He's paid redemption's
price. So, the reactions. We must move
on. The reactions. You know in the parable of the
sower, the sower went out to sow, and he sowed the seed, which
is the word of God. He preached the gospel. And go
into all the world and preach it to every creature. And the
seed lands on every type of creature. And it's pictured in the parable
of the sower as the wayside. and then the stony ground, and
then the thorns and the thistles, and then the good ground, but
you know which one bears fruit? Only one, the good ground. Only
the good ground bears fruit. Verse 18, verse 18, the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us
which are saved, it is the power of God. The reactions, two basic
reactions, it's foolishness or it's the power of God. If you
know it, If you're an object of God's grace, you know the
power of God to save you from your sins. Now, we look at the
state of the church today. Compare with 150 years ago when
Spurgeon was preaching up the road at the Metropolitan Tabernacle
at Elephant and Castle. And what looks like the true
Church of God today seems like a miniscule minority, but as
I said earlier, wait, you know, there is the internet that's
doing great things. I believe, you know, when God
says to Elijah, he says, I have my 7,000 who have not bowed the
knee to Baal. That's a symbolical number, that's
not a literal, physical, actual number. 7,000 is God's perfect
completeness. He's got exactly the number according
to his sovereign grace in every place at every time. We need
not despair about these things, but it looks like we're just
a very, very small number. But as the world that is out
there, the world of people without distinction, hear the gospel
preached, they react differently. And we've got a number of them
here in this account. We've got the religious folks,
so where are they? Verse 22, the Jews require a
sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. The Jews require a sign. Yeah, that's the place. The Jews,
that represents the religious folks. There's plenty of them,
aren't there? Plenty of them out there. There's loads of religion.
An awful lot of the world is religious, you know, and I know
an awful lot is very irreligious, but a lot is religious. The religious
folks represented here by the Jews, they are people who aspire
to the kingdom of God, don't they? You go to their funerals,
you hear what the ministers say, they aspire to the kingdom of
God, they aspire to going to heaven. They have what Isaiah
28 calls a covenant with death. Let me read you Isaiah 28 verse
15. We have made a covenant, this is what he says, they say,
these religious folks. We have made a covenant with
death, and with hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we
have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. These are religious folks who
think, yeah, well, death's not gonna touch me, I'm going to
heaven, I'll be all right, because, you know, I've got my gospel,
I've got my faith, And that's going to see me all right. Their
answer to Job's question, how should a man be just with God,
it lies in their morality. It lies in their good works.
It lies in their traditions, who they are, who they know,
where they've been. It's a false gospel. It's a refuge of lies,
as Isaiah says. To them, the cross is a stumbling
block, something you trip over. No, none of us particularly like
tripping over things. It's a stumbling block. Why?
Why is it a stumbling block? When you preach the cross of
Christ to these religious folks who've got this covenant with
death, why is the cross a stumbling block? Because they don't need
a substitute to satisfy the law's demands in their place. That's
what they think. They think I don't need a substitute.
I'm good enough as I am. I'm good enough for God. And
they say this. I've heard some say this. If
I'm not good enough for God, then I don't want anything to
do with that God. What a dreadful thing to say. What a dreadful
condition to be in concerning eternity. No, there's the religious
folks reaction, which is a stumbling block. It's a stumbling block.
There's then, secondly, the irreligious world, which here is symbolized
as the Greeks. And to those which are called
both Jews and Greeks, right, the Jews require a sign, the
Greeks seek after wisdom. The irreligious world, which
is symbolized by the Greeks. They're all around us. All around
us. Go outside. More often than not,
the people you'll bump into will be what's symbolized as Greeks
here. Not to do with that nation in the Mediterranean in financial
crisis at the moment. It's meaning about the ones that
have the philosophy of the world. No thought for eternity. Life
is just meaningless materialism. The best you can do is eat, drink,
and be merry, for tomorrow we die. And it's just like the UK
today, in the workplace, in the schools. in business, in extended
families. If they hear the gospel, it's
foolishness. Why do you want to constrain
your liberty to eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die
with a thing called the gospel? Why do you want to constrain
your liberty for something that doesn't exist, they say? They
echo what Psalm 14 says, and Psalm 54 repeats it. The fool
has said in his heart, no God. In other words, the fool has
said in his heart, you'll see in the King James Version, there
is, is in italics, it's not there in the original. What they're
actually saying is, no God for me, I'll live my life without
any God. No God, no law. So I'm not going
to be constrained by anything that some fictitious God says.
So therefore, if there's no law, there's no sin. And if there's
no sin, there's no judgment. So when I die, I just evaporate. I just cease to exist. There's
no judgment. There's no eternity. Look at verses 19 and 20. God
says he'll destroy that thinking. It is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, the worldly wise, and I will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent, where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? They were there in Athens, Paul disputed with them. Hath
not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? God said he'll
destroy it and make them foolish. Verse 21, For by worldly wisdom,
for after that in the wisdom of God, it's in God's purposes,
in God's plan, the world by its own wisdom will not know God.
Ah, you see, you talk to philosophical people and they'll say, convince
me philosophically that there is a God. And it pleased God
that the wisdom of this world will never ever find him. In
the wisdom of God, the world by its own wisdom knew not God. Are you surprised that people
don't believe? It pleased God that it's that
way, for in their own wisdom they will never understand Him.
They will never understand Him. The vast majority of so-called
religious people have this covenant with death. They think that they're
right with God. It's a God of their own imagination.
It's not the true God. They will not know Him. There's
only one way you will know God truly, and that's by sovereign
grace, by His quickening revelation, by His Holy Spirit coming. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Not by their wisdom, no. By worldly
wisdom, it's impossible to know God. So how does anyone ever
know God truly? And that's it, verse 21, by preaching
the gospel. That's how it pleased God. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. I believe this is very, very
powerful and very relevant. I've come across people who think
that they're so intelligent that just on their own, by reading
the Scriptures, they were able themselves to work everything
out and come to the conclusion that God exists, etc. I'm telling
you, I think that... I cast doubt on their experience
because God's Word says it's by the foolishness of preaching.
By the foolishness of preaching is the way he saves them that
believe. He raises up somebody that that
person who thinks he's wise in his own understanding would regard
as inferior intellectually. And he gives them a message to
take to him. And when he takes that message, if they're truly
born, they'll hear God speaking through that fallen vessel, that
intellectually inferior fallen vessel. And they believe the
gospel. That's how it works. It's the power of God, and to
salvation, to everyone that believes. And it's the power of God. Now,
I know time's going, but I'm going to keep going, just for
a moment longer. The gospel is the power of God. I read this the other day, and
somebody sent it to me, and I thought, wow, that's such a good thing
to hear. Do you know the gospel is not
an offer? It isn't. You know they say,
ah, but hold on, you've just said, go into all the world and
preach the gospel to everyone, so surely you're offering the
gospel to every creature. Well if that's what you mean,
I don't really object to you, but you know, it isn't an offer.
Let me put it this way, the other day we had an Everest double
glazing salesman sitting in our house and he made us an offer
of some double glazing and given that Everest undoubtedly, as
he convinced us, is the best, you know, if you're going to
fit double glazing, you only fit it once, so fit the best, fit Everest
as the advert used to say, you know, so he's making us an offer
and we thought, well, do you know something, actually The
quality of the windows and the lifetime guarantee, those windows
will be there when the house has fallen down. I mean, why
I need the windows to be there when the house has fallen down,
I don't know. And he holds out his hand and he makes us an offer. Did he have any power in that
offer? He had no power whatsoever, because
do you know what? Do you know what we did? We said,
well, very good, thank you, but no thanks. He did that and we
did that. The gospel isn't an offer. What
is the gospel? The power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes. The power of God. When the gospel
is preached in the power of God, the soul that hears it is overcome
by the power of God and submits to what God says and says, I
know there's all sorts of things I don't understand, but I believe.
Do you know, it brings you to, I love the story, the anecdote
of Happy Jack, you know, that guy who heard the gospel and
believed it very simply, and the church, he tried to join
the church, and the church elders wanted to interview him and find
out what he knew, and if he was sanctified enough to become a
member of their church and fit to participate in all the activities,
and all he would say was this, I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all, and Jesus Christ is my all in all. And knowing that,
he's top of the class in the school of God's theology. That's
it. You know, I was talking about
the wisdom of the Old Testament, hearing a lecture. Do you know
that was one of the top men in London Theological Seminary giving
that lecture? Oh, dear. Can you? Yes. No, the gospel is the power of
God. It's the quickening, the life-giving power of God, the
Holy Spirit. How does he do it? He makes his
chosen people, it tells us, doesn't it? Psalm 110, verse 3. He makes
his people. Puppets? No, no, no, no. But
he makes them willing in the day of his power. And hearing,
they hear. How many times did Jesus say
in the Gospels, he that has, excuse me, he that has ears to
hear, let him hear. Has he given you ears to hear?
Has he given you eyes to see? What are the eyes to see? Faith. By grace are you saved, through
faith. And that, not of yourselves,
faith. It's the gift of God. It's the
gift of God. Has he given you the gift, eyes
to see with the eye of faith and to believe what God says
he's done for you in Christ? This is it. This is preaching
the gospel. As the gospel is preached and declared, as the
efficacy, as the get the job done of the gospel is declared
clearly, You know, it's not that he's died for everybody and it's
up to you to pick it up and use it. That's rubbish, that's nonsense,
that's illogical and at the extreme it's utterly blasphemous. He's
died for his people. He's paid his people's penalty.
He's satisfied the law for his people. For the transgressions
of my people was he stricken. You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. He's accomplished
it and we declare it and God the Holy Spirit makes his people
willing. When others are not believing
it, he makes his people willing to believe it in the day of his
power. To listen, to trust, and to hear,
and to believe Christ. To know, as he says of the Thessalonians,
I thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of God, for God has from
the beginning chosen you to salvation. How can Paul say that to a group
of people? Through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. They believe the gospel, that's how he knows. Now some
call that hyper-Calvinism, I call that preaching the gospel. It
sounds very narrow, sounds very narrow. Look at verse 26, who's
it going to hit? You see your calling brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God's chosen the foolish and the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. The weak things, the
things that are base, the things which are despised, the things
which are nothing, that's what God has chosen. But I remember,
it is reported, I don't know how true it is, that Queen Victoria
once said she's so grateful for the letter M in the English language
because in that verse it doesn't say not any wise, it doesn't
say not any mighty, not any noble, but not many, not many. not many. In the purposes of God there
are some, there are some who are called, even from the highest
strata of society. There are some rich men who are
called, there are some powerful men, but there are not many,
because God will not be known by the wisdom of this world.
So that flesh shouldn't have anything to be proud of before
God, that's what verse 29 says, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. And what's the result of this?
What's the result? It's either perishing salvation. Verse 18 again. It's either perishing
or salvation. And I'm closing with this. Will
you support the preaching of the gospel of God? How do you
do it? With your attendance, with your
prayers, with your practical support. It means that, by these
means, by these means, God is pleased to divide humanity. This is a profound thing to think
on. He divides humanity into the sheep and the goats. And
that's how he does it. Where are you going to be? Who
is on the Lord's side? I think they're singing that
at Datchworth this morning. Harry wanted that. Who is on
the Lord's side? Who will serve the king? Who will be his da-da-da
other ones to bring? If you've heard it, will you
believe it? Because this, because of this,
if you perish for eternity, now this is where human reason falls
down, but I believe it's true. If you perish for eternity, it
will be your stubborn unbelief that you will blame. That's true. You won't blame God's sovereign
choice, you will blame your stubborn unbelief. For Christ said this,
whoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever is laboring
and heavy laden, come unto me and I will give him rest. Truly
then, truly, Yeah, some of us went to Kensington last Sunday,
and we had a good message on this, Psalm 37, 16. A little
that a righteous man hath, what's the little? God's foolishness,
God's weakness, God's gospel, which is the power of God unto
salvation. Oh, how much better is that than the riches of many
wicked, their wisdom and their fleeting power. I'm going to check this.