May it please Almighty God to
bless us together as we meditate in His Word this morning. Let
us turn to the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians and
the second chapter, and we'll read verses one and two. The first epistle of Paul to
the Corinthians, chapter two, and reading verses one and two. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We should be very thankful that
the Apostle Paul writes very clearly and we understand what
he really desires. And that is that although he
was a very learned man and a very able man, yet he didn't want
any of that to really shine through. He only wanted people to know
the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified as their savior. That was his great desire and
surely that should be our great desire today. Sometimes we can
very easily be taken in by an orator who speaks very lucidly
and very well and historically there have been people like that,
very able people And sometimes people have just gone to hear
the oratory. Well, that wasn't Paul's situation. And he tells us, therefore, as
he goes on, he says, I was with you in weakness and in fear and
in much trembling. We should just know he was an
eminent, learned man. Yes. And there he was in the
presence of the Corinthians. And he speaks and he says he
wasn't there in a great strength in himself. He was in weakness
and in fear. He was fearful. You might think
he didn't have anything to fear of, but he did. He was fearful
and in much trembling. And it just gives us a little
insight really into the weight and importance of the things
of God. And as a preacher, it's a wonderful
privilege to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. But we should
never do it in our own strength. We should always recognize that
we are weak in and of ourselves. And remember what the Apostle
said when he wrote to the Philippians. He said, I can do all things,
not himself, I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth
me. That was true in those days and
it's still true today And he goes on and says my speech and
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom you see
a preacher can speak very clever words and words, which you might
think are very able and suitable, but the real truth is that unless
those words emanate from God himself unless there is a personal
application and by that I mean when God applies the word preached
to the souls of the hearers it will be of no avail and it's
not just to satisfy our minds it's not that people can go away
and say well that was a good sermon today The real truth is,
has it had a good effect upon our souls, upon our hearts? And it's sometimes good to just
question our religious life. I dare say most of us have heard
many sermons. But you know, how many sermons
do we remember? How many sermons had a good effect
upon our heart? upon our soul, not just something
we remember as able and suitable and wonderful words, but to actually
have an effect upon us. Because if it has, what it's
done, it has affected our spiritual life. Indeed, the Apostle in
this chapter speaks to us much about the spiritual need. And it is true. And so he tells
us here, my speech and preaching was not with enticing words,
of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. So it's good in our lives if
we can recognize that there have been those occasions when the
Spirit of God has spoken to our hearts with a demonstration of the power
of the Spirit. If so, it would have had an effect. It would have had an effect. And we need that. All of us need
to know that there has been an effect through the work of the
Holy Spirit, which has come and touched our heart. And the Apostle
explains it a little bit. And it's useful just to see what
he says. That your faith, and remember
faith is the gift of God. It's not something you and I
can hatch up ourselves. Your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. That's a very important
and relevant statement. And how good it is if we today
can look into our hearts and recognize that we possess the
work of God within us because of the effect it's had because
of the power from God, which came upon us. And he says, how
be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the
wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that
come to know. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery. Often people like to hear the
wisdom of this world. Well, it's it's good in its place
but it really pales into insignificance By comparison of the wisdom of
God And it's explained like this the wisdom of God in a mystery
even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world
and unto our glory. So the great blessing for you
and me is if God has ordained in each of our lives a time,
a place, where you and I came to a right and good understanding
of the truth of God and it had an effect upon our souls, an
effect upon our heart, and it changed us. And what happened
was We became a new creature. We possessed the life of God
in our souls. Well then, let's just come back
for a moment. The Apostle Paul tells us he
was determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. He could have said, well, I want
you to know about Jesus Christ and him crucified. But he went
further than that. He was determined. He wanted
to preach Christ. He wanted the people to hear.
He wanted the people to listen. He didn't want to just speak
into the air. He didn't want people just to
listen to him and then go away and not know what he'd spoken
about. No, he had a determination. And you might say, well, why
was that? Very easily described. Because he realized that all
his hearers and all those who would read these letters had
a never dying soul. And he realized that they needed
to know the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified as their Savior. This was the vital thing. This
was the important thing. It wasn't just knowing about
the history, knowing what had occurred. He wanted them to know
the reality of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There is a tendency
today to people who say, oh, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that's all you need to do. Well, in one sense that's true,
but the reality is, why do we need to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Why do we need to? If I asked
you the question, each one of you, I went round the chapel
today and said, why is that? What's your answer gonna be?
What are you gonna say? The reality is that you and I
need to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified because He is and
was the only one that could die in our place and take away our
sin. That's the truth of the Gospel.
Jesus Christ came into this world, as the apostle says, to save
sinners. And he goes on, of whom I am
chief. Well, the apostle realized what
it was. And my friends, that's why Jesus
came into this world, to save sinners. And you and I won't
find any attraction in Christ Jesus. We won't see any suitableness
in him. unless we are condemned as sinners
before a holy God. And that won't be something which
is just trivial. Many people will say today, if
you press them, what, have you ever done anything wrong? Have
you ever sinned? Oh, well, yes, I've done this
and I've done that. But there's no real conviction of sin. What a blessing it is when the
Holy Spirit, and this is the Spirit's work, to convince of
sin, because then you see we have a need, and that need must
result in us looking to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified. Because by being crucified, He
gave His life, He shed His blood, so that you and I might receive
the forgiveness of sins. And all of us need to receive
the forgiveness of sins. We all need to have that blessed
faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, the blessed Saviour, He
died, and He died the most painful death that anyone could possibly
die. Crucifixion is a most painful,
agonizing death. And to think that the Savior
himself endured that, endured the cross so that his people
might be saved from their sins. There's a wonderful statement
in the Word of God, redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. And that means The Lord Jesus
Christ died upon Calvary's cross. He shed his blood to take away
our sins. It wasn't something trivial.
It was an enormous cost. There cannot be a greater cost
that anybody can pay than to actually give their life and
to think that the Lord Jesus Christ gave his life for sinners. And what a mercy today If you
and I have the understanding that Jesus Christ came into this
world, lived that perfect life and died that sin atoning death
on our behalf so that we are eternally safe, that we are eternally
blessed, And nothing less than this will do. We live in a world
today, a very material world, and there's so many things to
distract us. And the devil's a very clever
person to distract us from the things of God. But what a mercy
it is when the Holy Spirit comes and enables us to concentrate
upon the great truth of the gospel and to be found looking unto
Jesus As we read in the Hebrews, looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith, that one who's begun a good work,
a spiritual work in our souls. And if it is so, he will complete
it. But the need is that we not to
know that it has begun. My friends, this morning, this
morning, do we know that? Do we know that we possess? the
work of the Holy Spirit, convincing us of our sin and leading us
to the suffering Savior, to have the wonderful privilege of knowing
that this great God, let us not underestimate the greatness of
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three co-equal persons of the
Trinity, all joined together to save our soul, Just think
the one who spoke the world into being, the great God, condescended
to come in this sinful world to redeem our souls and to pay
that price of being crucified on the cross at Calvary. Well,
I hope you can understand just a little of why Paul says here,
for I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And he knew what it was to be
a convicted sinner. And he knew what it was to look
to the Savior, that one who he had reviled and spoke against. I don't know you. Most of you
here today, I don't really know. I wonder whether you have reviled
the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether you've said perhaps in
your heart, I'm not going to have that man to rule over me. I'm going to enjoy myself in
this world. I'm going to live the life. I'm
not going to submit myself to the will of God. Well, let's
be clear about this. All of us will submit to the
will of God when the Lord takes our life. None of us can stop
the will of God being performed from that position. All of us
will pass out of time into eternity. And it will be a wonderful blessing
and a great favor if we are then amongst those for whom Christ
was crucified upon that cross at Calvary in order to redeem
our never-dying souls. When the Apostle
Paul, he wrote to the Galatians He wrote many letters, as you
know, and he said this, but God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is
crucified unto me and I unto the world. I wonder today if
you and I glory in what Jesus Christ has done. Do you glory in this that the
apostle was determined to speak about and to know that Jesus
Christ and him crucified was the only one that could redeem
our souls? It comes down, doesn't it? Really, what do we think of Christ? What think ye of Christ is the
test? to test our religion. You know,
you and I need to have a right religion. And if you and I have
a right religion, it will be a God-given religion. And you
and I will have the evidence that that has been given to us
by God. God has spoken to our very heart. And as we read together later
on in this chapter, The Apostle says, which things also we speak
not in the words which man's wisdom teaches. You don't learn
these things as a natural man, but you learn them as the Holy
Spirit speaks to our soul. And there's a big difference
between natural understanding and spiritual understanding.
All of us need spiritual understanding. And you must stand before God,
and you must answer that, whether you have a spiritual understanding. You may be a very intelligent
person, nothing against that. But my friends, you and I need
to have the knowledge of Christ as our Savior. And so that's
why the apostle says here, which man's wisdom teaches, but which
the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. And that's how we were
born. And that's how we remain until
the Holy Spirit works in our heart. We don't receive the things of
the Spirit of God because the Apostle says, for they are foolishness
unto him. How many of you have said, oh,
I don't believe that. Oh, that's nothing, I don't believe
that. All that stuff, all that religion,
I don't believe it. Foolishness unto him. Neither
can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. You're
out of the secret. But what a blessing when God
brings you into the secret. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who has
known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have
the mind of Christ. What a statement that is. Now
we only have the mind of Christ if we possess the work of the
Holy Spirit in our hearts. And that is only known by the
individual and God. I can't tell whether you possess
the work of the Holy Spirit. You can't tell whether the person
next to you possesses the work of the Holy Spirit. But between
you and God, it's a personal relationship. it's a glorious
relationship it's a wonderful relationship but it is an essential relationship
it's an essential relationship you may say to me well why is
that? why is it essential? because it relates to our eternal
position our eternal life And again, let us understand that
all of us have a natural life and we must all die naturally. We all possess a spiritual life,
a never dying soul, which will never die. Never die. You may say, well, I don't believe
that. Well, I don't care what you believe. The truth of God
tells you what is true. That's what you and I need to
have. and be convinced about the truth
of God. And therefore to, as the apostle
tells us, he trembled. He trembled. I wonder whether
you trembled before God, trembled that you might be lost, trembled
that you might spend eternity in hell. Have you ever trembled? Or have
you been brazen? Have you embraced him? And have
you said in your heart, perhaps you said in words, I will not
have this man to reign over me. I'm going to live my life. My
friends, you and I are nothing. God hold your breath and my breath
in his hand. It's good if you and I tremble
before God and come to him praying earnestly. that he will speak
to us. God does speak today. He speaks
to us in various ways. God does speak. And again, we
need to answer before God as to whether we have heard his
voice speaking to our very hearts, our conscience. Perhaps you're
fighting against it. God's perhaps spoken to you.
Perhaps you're fighting against it. Because you know that what
you're doing in your life is not good. You're doing things
which perhaps you can think are okay. But you see, Paul tells
us this, he says, all things were lawful for me, but all things
were not expedient. You may say, well just explain
that. Well, he could say, nothing really wrong in that, on what
I'm doing, so I'm okay. Nothing really wrong. But does
it profit the soul? That's the question, isn't it?
It's the question. And perhaps we ought to just
give an illustration like this. Would you be happy doing that
which you think is all right, if God at that very moment came
and took your life? Would you say, I wish I wasn't
doing that, or I wish I wasn't there, or I wish I wasn't watching
that. Yes, you see, we need to have
what the word of God tells us, a tender conscience. A conscience
that desires to do that which is right in the sight of God. Well, then the apostle here then
comes back and says, he determined not to know anything among men
and women, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. He realized
the absolute necessity that people should know, have a personal
knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified. And if the Holy
Spirit leads us in that path, what it will show us is this.
that God has loved us so much that he was willing to die upon
the cross at Calvary. We read in the epistle of John,
the first epistle, not that we loved God, but that he loved
us. It always starts that way around.
It's not your love to begin with, it's God's love to you. Not that
we love God, but that he loved us. and you see if God has spoken
to your soul and you have the evidence of it it's because he's
loved you he loved you if he hasn't spoken to you at all you
question has he loved you? has he loved me? that's so important
isn't it? because if he has loved you it's
because he came in this world and died and was crucified upon
that cross at Calvary to redeem your never-dying soul. Well, there was that determination. And all of us, my friends, in
our little lives need to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified
as our Saviour. And by that I mean because He's
died in our place, He's bore the punishment instead. Now, when that's applied to you
and me by the Spirit of God, the result is this. We say, what
a saviour. What a saviour that should have
saved my soul. What a saviour should have come
into this world and died for me in my place. What a saviour. Well, I wonder whether you can
understand that, if you've come there. You know, we're wonderfully
blessed in our nation today to have liberty of worship. We're
wonderfully blessed in our nation today to have the Word of God
in our own language. And do not turn away from these
blessings. Do not think they are irrelevant. They are very relevant. because there's a relevance with
regard to our eternal standing before a holy God. I cannot overemphasize
the reality of the truth of God that you and I possess a never-dying
soul and that you and I must spend eternity. There is no option. There's no
alternative. You and I must spend eternity,
which is forever and ever and ever and ever, either in heaven
or in hell. We should either enjoy the love
of God forever and ever with the Saviour, with the Father,
and with the Holy Spirit, and with the whole Church of God,
in perfect bliss, with no more trouble, and no trials, and no
temptation, and no sickness, and no illness, but in a perfect
environment, or spend it in utter misery, forever and ever in hell,
where there is no escape. There's no escape. There's no
escape. And remember, God has spoken.
And God has said, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. God doesn't change his mind.
And that's a wonderful blessing. But it's a very solemn consideration. Don't think that somehow you're
going to escape. Somehow you're going to find
yourself in hell and have a second chance. There's no opportunity.
Forever. Forever. Well, says the apostle,
therefore I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Well, my friends today, may every
one of us go away from here with that humble, humble determination
that you may know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, as that
one who died upon the cross at Calvary was crucified there,
that shed his precious blood in order that you might receive
that forgiveness and to know that you are indeed cleansed
from all your sin. You are redeemed with a precious
blood of Christ and that you stand complete in him, nothing
in yourself, as the apostle really speaks of that.