Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and
reading for our text verse 21. Verse 21. For after that, in
the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, yet pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse
21. In this one verse is revealed
to us through the Apostle by the Spirit the plan of God in
salvation, that is, in conveying the word believingly to sinners
and to convert them to save them. We are told that God in his wisdom
made it so that this world would not be able to believe savingly
by natural wisdom. Emrida takes it up We must not
learn God's truth as schoolboys learn their task. And that is
based really on this verse and on what is set before us here.
Man has been given much wisdom in many, many things. In engineering,
electronics, in medicine, in many things. You might say in
everything. apart from saving faith, apart
from that which pertains to eternal life. He has been given wisdom
to attain unto it, to have schools, universities for men, for women,
to study and to pass on the knowledge of generations and The wisdom
that is seen, the understanding given to men in a lot of ways
is staggering. It's amazing what God has given
men ability to be able to do. And we clearly see it in Exodus,
the Lord saying how that he'd given Bezalel that special wisdom
as to how to build the tabernacles and the plans that he himself
had given. And though in the wilderness
and without all of the modern devices of smelting and machining
and everything that we have today, was able to make the tabernacle
and overlay with gold all of the furniture of it and all brass
and make the things of the tabernacle. And God gave them that wisdom
and ability And he does still today, only many things. God has made that, this one exception,
and that is to bring men to saving faith in Him. That man is not
able to do. That must be done directly from
God. It must be the Lord who gives
eternal life. I give unto them eternal life.
They shall never perish, neither shall any man. plucked them out
of mine hand. You must have the witness of
heaven. It cannot be that at the end, and our Lord speaks
of those that shall come and say, Thou hast taught in our
streets, we have been called by thy name. And he says, shall
say, depart from me, I never knew you. Their conversion, or
what they knew of God, had never come from God. He had not been
the author of it. It had only been learnt. in the
head, it was not saving. And so we have set before us
here that in the wisdom of God, God's wisdom was that the world
by wisdom should not know God. But then it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That is, God
reveals how he will save his people And it's referred to as
the foolishness of preaching because the world thinks it to
be foolishness. And indeed, when you think of
it, a poor sinner standing before other sinners and speaking of
the Word of God, which they already have in their hand, we are to
preach the Word, and you have the Word, you have your Bibles,
but it is to be preached. And God has ordained that that
is the means that He, through the Holy Spirit, that He should
save those that believe through hearing that word. The ESV, I
feel most solemnly, translates this verse as the foolishness
of that preached. There's nothing foolish about
what is preached. What is preached is the precious
truths of God. It's just the instrument and
the manner and way. And yes, the world does think
the things of God foolishness. In verse 18, the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which
are saved, it is the power of God. It is the instrumentality
that is being used. It is those that are, in verse
27, spoken of as God had chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty. And the end in view
that no flesh should glory in his presence. We should then
have a very high view of the preaching of the word, it struck
me recently reading of Mr Ashtown and of years gone by, and he
had a man in his town that was a very open sinner, one so well
known to everyone around, and the Lord was pleased to convert
him and save him, but Mr Ashtown He spoke to him much, but it
struck me that his efforts were not outside of the pulpit or
outside of the church to bring the man to saving faith, but
he desired to bring him under the sound of the preached word.
He was going to be the preacher, but it was that which so struck
me, because we are not wanted, we do not want, men to have the
impression that all we want is for people to come into the house
of God. We don't want just to fill the
building, we want those that are to be truly saved, truly
converted, and their desire is for men's souls, not just to
gather a number together. But in reading that, I felt,
well, the emphasis there is, highlighting what is in this
chapter, that this preacher, he desired sinners to come under
the sound of the preaching because he knew that that is what God
had ordained that he should save. And these are things that we've
known, and especially as preachers we know, that sometimes it needs
to be more and more emphasized very clearly Especially in days
when we might say, well, we need to go out, we need to speak to
men and women, and so we should. Or days when it seems so, Asheville
will have many Bible studies, and you think, well, what is
the difference between a Bible study and the preaching of the
Word? And sadly today, many sermons You say, well, what is the difference? Because there isn't a difference.
And often the preaching is just like a Bible study. But what
is the difference? The Bible study is aiming at
the mind to instruct, to teach. Yes, it may be blessed, but primarily
it is to aim at the mind, to build up the understanding and
the knowledge. Whereas the preaching is aimed
at the heart. It is preaching to the heart.
It is speaking from one heart to another heart. A sinner that
is walking out the truths of God to another that is seeking
to walk out the things of God. It is not just feeding the intellect,
but it is feeding the soul. and He's feeding the heart, and
there is a marked difference. I fear much that in our day and
generation, the preaching of former years is being lost in
that way, and we're more leaning to an iPad ministry or a study. Yes, the Word does need to be
taught, and one of the qualifications of a minister is apt to teach
that is part of the ministry. But the ministry is different
than a Bible study and it should be that our heart is being touched. Those things are entering into
how we walk and what we do in our lives. So we have the preaching of the
words set before us here as being a way that it has pleased God
to save them that believe. In other words, those that under
the preaching of the gospel, the good news of salvation, and
that belief through that preaching, they are those that are saved. are those that are saved. That
is a true witness, evidence of being saved, that we believe. He that believeth shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Well, I want to confine our thoughts
this evening just briefly to four points. Firstly, the importance
of preaching and the appointment of it, and then the preacher
and his hearers. There must be both. And then
the content of preaching in the third place. And lastly, the
necessity of the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of God
in preaching. But firstly, the importance of
it. When Paul writes to the Romans,
in Romans chapter 10, he speaks of the importance of the preacher. In verse 13, he says, for whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. And so he sets before us the
necessity of the preaching of the word, sets the necessity
of hearing of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the
words of our text that set before us that necessity, as we have
said, that this is what God has pleased to save men in this way. And we think of the commission
of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 28, the way that the The first Gospel in our Bibles
closes, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, and we have the
teaching part of it, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and though I am
with you always, even unto the end. of the world. Our Lord,
of course, in his earthly ministry, the Prince of Preachers, constantly
preached. And the appointment is by the
Lord. He sends the apostles, and then
there is the preachers and teachers, and each of the officers in the
Church of God. And it is of God's appointment,
of man's and we need to be very clear on that. This is not man's
device, man's design. It is not man that has decided
that that is the important thing in our churches. It's not just
something that we have decided that, well, if we meet together
for an hour and a half, we spend half an hour in seeing three
hymns and reading and in prayer and then spend an hour in preaching
and put the emphasis on that. It is because that is what the
word of God sets the emphasis on. And again, that is something
that is being lost in many quarters and it's a good thing where you
see that token that the preaching has the preeminence and not only
the preachers are preaching but the people want the preaching
and they want the Word. In the days of the Reformation
they were so hungry for the Word that they would sit under the
Word for two hour sermons and I'm not sure whether it was Cranmer
or one of those that were preaching in times of those, times of blessing. But the people, this is preaching
in the outside, and he had an hourglass, and when that hourglass
got near to the end, the people would call out and they'd say,
turn it over, turn it over, don't stop, keep going. And it's a
great thing, where there's that real appetite and hungering for
the Word and to hear the Word of God. But may we be reminded
of the importance of preaching and the appointment of it by
our Lord as being the means whereby we are brought to believe and
brought to be saved, brought to believe in our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ and what He has done. We come a bit more to that
later, but I want to look next on the preacher and his hearers. The Word of God forces not silent
as to the preacher. For those of us that preach,
it's a very searching word. We have in Paul's first epistle
to Timothy, in chapter 3, the preacher described there as a
bishop, the office of a bishop, if a man desire the office of
a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless,
the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given
to hospitality, apt to teach. not given to wine, no striker,
not greedy, a filthy lucre, that's money, but patient, not a brawler,
not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his
children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not
how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church
of God? Not a novice, or that is one,
newly come to the faith, as in the margin, lest, being lifted
up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover,
he must have a good report of them that are without, that is,
the unbelievers or those outside of the church, in the community,
those that see him when he's outside of the pulpit, lest he
fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. And then it goes
on from that to the qualifications of a deacon. So it was our Lord
that sent forth the apostles, and he sent forth his disciples
to preach and to teach, and he promised that he would be with
them. In the Revelation, in the first
chapters two and three, We have the letters that are written
to the seven churches in Asia. No, they're not written to the
letters, to the churches. They're written to the actual
angels or the pastors, the ministers of those churches. They are the
ones that are doing the preaching. It comes at the end of each of
those letters, he that hath an ear, Let him hear, not what the
preacher is saying, but what the Spirit saith unto the churches. The Spirit speaking through the
minister. Where the preacher is preaching
the Word, it is the inspired Word of God that is being preached,
and that is the Word that is being heard. And so the preacher
is mentioned in those seven letters, and also the hearers are as well. The Lord says in John 10, that
my sheep, they hear my voice and they follow me. For the voice
of the Lord is heard on the earth, is no more heard on the earth
in that way, but it is heard through his servants, it's heard The Lord said, I've given them
thy word, and the world hath hated them. And he that receiveth
you, receiveth me. He that heareth you, heareth
me. There is that link between the
Lord's servants and the Lord himself. And that has always
been so. In the days of the prophets,
the Lord spake to the prophets, and then the prophets spake to
the people, and the Lord owned the word that they said. with
power from heaven. It wasn't on their own accord
they spake. Holy men of God spake as though
moved by the Holy Spirit. And it is so still today that
the Lord speaks through his servants, often like the account of Naaman
the Syrian, when he was healed of his leprosy. Because in every
step of that healing, it was a servant. It was a servant girl.
that pointed him to the prophet that was in Samaria. It was the
servants of the king that then also pointed him to the prophet. It was the prophet's servant
that came and spoke to Naaman. When Naaman was so angry, he
had such a simple solution to wash and be cleansed. It was
his own servants that pacified his anger and brought him to
walk in that way. And so just because the word
comes through the means of a servant, it doesn't lose its authority
and its power. And especially in what is before
us here, because it is the Lord that then sends the minister,
and the message is not his own, it is the Lord's. And so the
authority and the power is from the Lord. so there'll be those
that are hearers. And it's a blessed thing to be
drawn and attracted to hear the words of the Lord. One of our
hymns says, nor are men willing to have the truth told. The sight
is too killing for pride to behold. Even when our Lord was speaking
and preaching, many rose up against His word. And for each of his
servants, there are those as well that have risen up. We think
of Stephen, the first martyr, and as he preached and as he
set forth Christ and Moses that spake of him, then they led him
forth and stoned him. They could not receive the word. They hated the word that was
preached. When our Lord preached, when
the apostles preached, Some believed the word spoken and some believed
not. There was a division amongst
the hearers. They didn't all hear in the same
way. And that is very consistent in
what the Lord has said. The way that he will bless that
word and own that word is not just like going to university
lecturer and you might have an examination afterwards survey
of the students, and they all have understood, or they all
are able to pass the exam, know with the preaching of the Word,
the sovereignty is of the Lord. And in John 6, we read how the
Lord says that none come except the Father draw, and that except
that is of God, they cannot receive it. And how many they walked
back, they went no more with them. They said, this isn't hard
saying. And so wherever there is a preacher,
there is a hearer. And sometimes those of us that
preach, we are hearers as well. And I often think of it that
often we are the worst hearers. Because, well, the Lord would
have us to be in the pulpit, not in the pew. But often when
we hear a text given out, almost automatically we'll view it as
to how we would preach from it. If the minister doesn't preach
how we preach from it, then sometimes we might struggle or find it
hard to hear. But we are to remember as well
that we are to be saved, we are to be blessed through that word
as well. And I trust that many times.
that we can say that that has been the case. And we've got
many hearing times that have been very precious to our own
soul. But there is two sides. Whenever
there is a gathering together, and there's a preacher and there's
a hearer, and sometimes we might as a hearer find fault with the
minister, but the fault is with us. It is to examine our own
hearts as to how we actually hear and that we join prayer
before we come when we're mindful of what the Lord will do under
the preaching of the Word. The preacher and his hearers,
both of them, both preacher and hearers, they are sinners. We
think of The only occasion when that was not the case, and that
is when our Lord was preaching. The beautiful sermon, and we're
not told what was in that, that He preached to the two on the
way to Emmaus, in all the scriptures, the things concerning Himself.
Then we think of those that have preached after the Lord. We think of Philip and how that
he was called to go and preach to the eunuch in the desert.
And as the eunuch was reading Isaiah 53 in our Bible, so he
began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus. And it was through that he was
brought to believe and to be baptized. It is the preaching
of the word going forth by sinners. This is highlighted in the first
time the word was blessed with the Holy Spirit, the gift of
the Spirit, to the Gentiles 10 years after Pentecost, when Cornelius
was told by an angel to go and call for Peter, and that Peter
would come and preach to him. And we read of that in Acts chapter
10, and how the messengers Cornelius had sent. They were told, or Cornelius
was told, where Peter was to be found. And Peter was prepared
to come, prepared to go and speak to the Gentiles, not the Jews. And when he preached, and when
he very simply set forth how that the Lord Jesus Christ was
the eternal Son of God, that He had come, that He had suffered,
bled and died, and God had raised Him from the dead, and that through
Him God would give eternal life through belief in His name. Then
the Holy Spirit fell on them, and that they were brought to
belief and be baptised. But it wasn't the angel that
was to bring that message, it was a sinner. And we are to remember
that. The apostle was very clear in
the portion that we read that the way of preaching, it was
not to be to glorify man and to have a man come with excellency
of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
It was not in that way, but it was the subject, it was the clear
declaration of the good news of salvation through our Lord
Jesus Christ. So I want to think then, thirdly,
of the context or the content of preaching. Paul was very clear
when he wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2 to preach the
word. Preach the word, be instant in
season and out of season. And it's very evident that the
apostle Paul had been preaching the word when the Bereans, they
were able afterwards to daily search the scriptures whether
these things were so. And therefore many believed.
The word that he preached was able to be searched. And the
same as our Lord in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself,
the same as the Yuna, he was preaching, basing on the text
in Isaiah. So the content of his preaching
is the word. And that which follows our text,
the second chapter that we read, 1 Corinthians 2, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he
sets forth what he was preaching, declaring unto that you the testimony
of God, for I determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and
in fear and in much trembling, And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power." And those things that are set
forth is setting forth our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the experience
of the truth. We spoke of speaking to the heart. And it's those who have received
the truth and and are able to speak of what they have received.
We read in the Word of God about sin, that sin is to be felt and
experienced. We read about besetting sins,
but the people of God, they know those. And the preacher is, as
it comes to his text, to set forth what it is, to groan under
a body of death. to have that desiring to do good,
but evil is present within him, or the evil that he would not,
and he finds that he is still doing that. The scriptures tell
us of the hard, deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,
and the preacher knows it, and he feels it, and he sets forth
these things, and the people, they hear that, they know that
this is what their own hearts are too. The preacher has found
that salvation and deliverance and help in the Lord Jesus Christ
and has raised up a hope that it may be so in me also, who
as well feel the desperate wickedness of one's heart. The Apostle Paul,
he says, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank
God. through Jesus Christ, my Lord."
And he clearly sets forth where that deliverance is to be found. And so the preacher, the content
of his preaching is the Word of God. The focus is in the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. And I, if I be lifted up above
the earth, says our Lord, shall draw all men unto me. The attraction, the drawing,
is unto Christ and Him crucified. And Paul writes to the Colossians,
he speaks of that preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says
to them, he said, whereof I was made a minister, according to
the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you, to fulfil
the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid from ages
and from generations, but is now made manifest to his saints,
to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. whom we preach, warning every
man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Whereunto I also labour according
to his working, which worketh in me mightily. And he sets forth
then, our Lord Jesus Christ, the only name given among men,
whereby we must be saved. Our Lord said, if you believe
not that I am he, you shall perish in your sins. The message that
he has sent forth to the world is that now God commandeth all
men everywhere to repent. And they are pointed to this
gospel, they are pointed to this way of salvation, away from idols,
away from idolatry, away from men and unto Christ. And that is the message of salvation. And for every soul that has a
concern, that feels their sinnership, that hears this message and would
know, well, what shall I do? Where shall I go? What path should
I take? Where should I look to? It is
the Gospel that is set before us and the preaching of the Word.
Put yourselves under the preaching of the Word. Ask the Lord to
bless that to you. Remind Him of His Word, that
He does give that hearing ear. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. that we look to
the Lord for that blessing upon the word. You know the word is
spoken of by our Lord in his parables as the seed and sometimes
it is like that when we hear it. It comes first as a seed
and that seed then begins to grow and it brings forth fruit
in due season. We have at this time of year
There's springtime coming and the trees round about are starting
to sprout and show their green. But it's happening very slowly,
very imperceptibly. If you sat with a chair next
to a tree and you stared at it, you wouldn't notice much change. And yet if you went one week
and then went a week later, you notice how much it had changed,
but it is gradually. And sometimes it's a help to
remember the way the Lord has led us and to go over what we
were maybe a year ago, or what we were a few years ago, and
realize the Lord has given us a hearing ear. and He is conveying
His truth to our hearts. He's opened our hearts to receive
the Word, and that Word is profiting our souls, that we do believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We do trust in Him. Our language
is the language of the hymn writer, if ever my poor soul be saved,
it is Christ must be the way, and that our hope is built on
nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not
trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Our hope is a good hope through
grace, through God's grace, when that hope is built upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, His person, God and man in one person, two natures,
one God, The Eternal God is our refuge, and that hope is based
upon what He did at Calvary, His blood-shedding, His sufferings. That is what the Church testifies
as they meet round the Lord's table. They testify, that's where
our sins were put away. That's where Christ suffered
for us. That is the one sacrifice that
we would remember. and constantly be reminded of,
there is a hope, not in ourselves, but what Christ has done, his
finished work, and it is righteousness that he shall give to his people
that believe. Those that believe, they are
given a righteousness which is not their own, but it is their
own because the Lord gives it to them, for it is what he has
worked out. His life, not an exchange. Our sins put on His account and
He pays the debt. His righteous life put on our
account and is our standing before God at the last day. Debt free
and spotless to stand and appear before God. And the content of
preaching is really lifting up and setting forth the Lord Jesus
Christ before sinners, setting forth Him that has done everything
for them, that has brought salvation and proclaims that salvation
through His servants. And it is a belief in that. It
is faith in Christ alone that is saving I want to look then
lastly at the necessity of the power of God in preaching. Our Lord emphasised this when
he sent forth the disciples, when he ascended up into heaven
and he said, tarry at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power
from on high. It was vital that they have the
power of God. We know that power at Pentecost. Thousands believe we know that
power at Cornelius' household with the Gentiles. And that power
of God is still needed whenever the Word is preached. It must
be the witness from heaven. It must be not in man's wisdom,
but in God's wisdom. That is why the Apostle Paul
It says in verse 4 of chapter 2, what we read, My speech and
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. That is what our faith is to
stand in. The hymn writer knew something
of this when he said, my heart will move at thy command. Job knew this. He said, God maketh
my heart soft. Lydia in the Philippine church
knew this. Lydia whose heart the Lord opened. open to receive the word. And it is vital. The Thessalonians
knew it. Paul was able to write to them
and tell them how the word actually came to them, that it was not
in word only. Our gospel, he says in his first
chapter, first epistle to them, verse 5, Our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. And we read then the effect of
that. Ye became followers of us and
of the Lord, a disciple of the Lord. The Lord had a word to
those in John 8, to those that believed on him. He said, if
ye continue in my word, then shall ye be my disciples indeed. Ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. And it is the power of the Holy
Spirit that bears the witness from heaven to a soul. And the
soul that has known that power shall never, the last day, hear
those words depart from me. I never knew you, because the
Lord did know them, because he has sent his word forth with
power, with authority. They said of the Lord Jesus Christ
that he spake not as the scribes, but his word was with authority. Every hearing time will not be
the same hearing time. And in the ministry, we know
there are differences too. Often we do not, are not good guides or not good judges as
to what the word is doing. But sometimes we do feel very
much the power of the spirit with us and with the hearers
as well. There may be those times they
don't discern that power, but it's like the manna the children
of Israel had, and they needed it day by day, right through
the wilderness. But other times there is a real
power, and there are those things done to the honour and glory
of God. There are times that we don't
tend to forget, hearing times, When the ministry is really with
power, with authority, it really moves the heart, really has an
effect, doesn't leave us unmoved. And we need that of the Holy
Spirit to come with that power and that authority, where we
know the difference, those different times, those times when the Lord
is pleased to come and own and bless His Word and bring us to
have joy and peace in believing and to have this true scriptural
token of being saved. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Then were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord, unto you which believe He is
precious. May the Lord add His blessing.
Amen.