May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in His Word let
us turn to the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians and
the first chapter and we'll read verse 21 the first epistle of
Paul to the Corinthians the first chapter and reading verse 21 The world, by wisdom, knew not
God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. It is for our benefit to realise
that the Apostle Paul was able to write to the Corinthians in
such a way as he has done in this first chapter directing
the Corinthians to the importance of hearing the preaching of the
Gospel and things haven't changed of course since the time when
the Apostle was on the earth because in those days people
quite clearly derided the preaching of the gospel they thought it
was foolishness as we hear in this world in this word it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The great and important truth
is that everyone needs to be saved, everyone needs to be converted,
everyone needs to realise they are indeed a sinner and realise
there is only one Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. and to be
blessed with the wonderful strength and ability to come by faith
and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Apostle really
emphasises this when he tells us in the 17th verse, for Christ
sent me not to baptise, but to preach the Gospel. he's not preaching
or speaking against baptism but he's just emphasizing the great
need there was for the preaching of the gospel and therefore he
says but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. And it's
interesting to think upon that, and you young people, to realise
that the Bible, generally speaking, is very simply written. If you read it through, you won't
find there are really long words that you're not able to understand
or to find out quite readily. It's a great blessing to have
the Bible written in simple language so that we today are indeed naturally
able to understand it. I know of course we need the
Spirit of God to give us a spiritual understanding but nonetheless
it's good that we have the Word of God written as it is for our
favour and for our blessing. And so he says, for Christ sent
me not to baptise but to preach the Gospel. not with the wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
It wasn't that the Gospel was to be preached with flowery words,
complicated sentences. It was to be very simply spoken. Indeed, we could summarise preaching
by just saying it is really the proclamation of the Gospel. The proclamation of the Gospel. Years and years ago, when there
was important news to be transmitted, there weren't, of course, newspapers,
there wasn't radio, there wasn't television. So the only way that
they could transmit news was to have what they referred to
as a town crier. And the town crier would go around,
usually with a bell that he could ring to draw people's attention,
And then when they gathered together, he would tell them then what
the relevant news was that they needed to hear. Well, really
that's similar today with the preaching of the gospel. And
it has been, of course, for so many, many years. And indeed,
we really go back to the Old Testament in the beginning of
time. And especially we can think of the days of Jonah. You may
remember about Jonah, I'm sure Jonah was the person that got
thrown into the sea and a whale swallowed him up and then the
whale cast him onto the dry land and he went then and preached
the gospel to the Ninevites. He refused to when God told him
to to start with and he thought he'd run away. But God didn't
allow him to run very far. He got on a ship and thought
he was safe, but he wasn't, because God knew he was there. And of
course, God knows where you and I are. We can never run away
from God. I don't think you can escape
from God. You cannot. And God had a work
for Jonah to do. And Jonah wasn't able to escape
from that work. Jonah was to go and preach the
gospel. And so he did go and preach the
gospel. And of course when he did preach
the gospel, when the Lord spoke to him, we're told the second
time, He didn't then run away, he didn't then refuse, but he
went and preached the gospel to the Ninevites and the blessing
was the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah from all
their sin. and turned to the Lord and they
were delivered and God had mercy upon them so that's just an Old
Testament statement about the preaching of the Gospel there
are many more occasions we can read of Noah who was classified
as a preacher of righteousness he went about doing his work
building an ark and no one believed what he was doing but nonetheless
he still preached the Gospel And so, down through the ages,
God has ordained the preaching of the Gospel. We should never
think that it's foolishness. We should never think it's a
waste of time coming to hear the Gospel. We should realise
it is a great and wonderful blessing. Because verse 18 tells us, For
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish that means
those that are lost those who do not believe 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 a tremendous statement
if you just think about that On the one side, the preaching
is foolishness. On the other side, the preaching
is the power of God. And I suppose the relative point
is today to all of us, to every one of us, the preaching even
today is either foolishness or it is the power of God. and it will be a great blessing
therefore for you and me today if the preaching of the cross
is powerful to our souls and it is real and it is true and
it has a good and a gracious and a wonderful effect and so
the apostle goes on to emphasise the importance of this and he
says for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Well, many people, you see, strive
all their life to gain knowledge, natural knowledge, about the
things of time. they struggle to gain and to
understand and perhaps make inventions and the things of time but these
things will not last forever they will all rust and decay
and perish and so such concentration is really foolishness as the
Apostle says here that God will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent
and he goes on and says therefore where is the wise? where is the
scribe? where is the disputer of this
world? hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? but then we come to this 21st
verse and this is what it says for after that In the wisdom
of God, the world, by wisdom, knew not God. The truth is that you and I cannot
just imagine we can come to know God by natural learning. Now, let me be clear, I'm not
speaking at all against natural learning I'm not speaking at
all against the study of the Word of God which is obviously
important and very relevant and very necessary but the point
is this you and I cannot find out God find out the blessing
of God by just a natural study we need God to bless that study
and give us a spiritual understanding as we study the Word of God.
And really what it means is this, that God comes and opens our
spiritual eyes. You see, we have what we might
term natural eyes. You and I can see all around
us. We can read with natural eyes. And that's good and proper,
nothing wrong with that. But the blessing is when God
then gives us what we can term spiritual eyes, then we then
understand what the Bible is really speaking to us about. And what it's really speaking
to us about, it's speaking to us about eternal things. It's speaking to us about our
soul. It's speaking to us about the
life of our soul. It's speaking to us about what
we should believe. and how we should believe. It's
speaking to us about how we should worship. It's speaking to us
about how we should honour and glorify God. It's speaking to
us about how we should obey the things of God, the truth of God,
His Word. This is, you see, the great blessing
if the Holy Spirit of God then comes and opens our spiritual
eyes to then understand in a spiritual sense the great truths of God. And then what is it? Well, we've
said what it is. It is then the power of God. And what does it do? It affects
our heart. You see, natural understanding
just affects our brain. But spiritual understanding comes,
if you like, through our brain into our heart and touches our
innermost being, our soul. And it's our soul, my friends,
that lives forever. And that's what you and I need
today. We have the wonderful evidence that God is working
within us. And if we have that evidence,
well, you can praise God today. you can thank him for it you
can rejoice in it and it's not natural wisdom it's the wisdom
of God and that's why we have this great statement for after
that in the wisdom of God the world by natural wisdom knew
not God it pleased God it pleased God to by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. This is God's way. This is God's
ordained way. God has called poor, weak, sinful,
foolish men to preach the gospel so that no one who preaches the
gospel is really able to say, well, I am a great man. I have
a great knowledge. therefore God has called me to
preach the gospel no you see it's not like that at all God
as we read in this word but God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise and God has chosen the weak
things of the world you see God's chosen those who are weak in
themselves but strong in the Lord that's the difference God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base
things of the world not people who are good and wonderful but
poor sinners unworthy sinners but saved sinners base things
of the world things which are despised hath God chosen? yes, God's servants, God's preachers
are often despised but you see God's chosen them and the reason
is so that He will be lifted up He will be honoured and glorified
and people won't look at a man and say what a wonderful man
it's a bad thing if they do because if that happens very often God
removes such men out the way because God will have the honour
and God will have the glory that no flesh should glory in His
presence. God will have the glory. God
must have the glory. And He will have the glory. And
so what a blessing it is to realise this is the way and the plan
of Almighty God. And so we have this statement. It pleased God. by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And then he gives examples. He gives examples of the Jews
and the Greeks. And he tells us this. The Jews
require a sign. They want something that they
can understand and they can see in a physical way. They want
a physical sign to actually be able to believe. And the Greeks
seek after wisdom. They want something that their
minds can assimilate and concentrate on and work out so that they
are satisfied with their own ability, if you like, to have
solved the problem. Well, what does the Lord say
about both of those situations? First of all, He comes and says,
but, this is what the Apostle says, we preach Christ crucified. And what is Christ crucified?
Unto the Jews? A stumbling block, they can't
understand it. Because the Jews expected a wonderful
earthly king. somebody who had great natural
majesty had a wonderful natural kingdom that's for who they were
looking for for the messiah they couldn't believe that this jesus
who men exalted and honored and glorified this poor man was the
messiah they couldn't believe it you see they were leaning
they seek a sign, a clear vision that this was the Messiah. And unto the Greeks, foolishness. The Greeks thought how foolish
it was to think that this man was indeed the Messiah. And so the apostle goes on. But unto them which are called. Now you see here is the secret.
God comes. and he calls his people and how
does he call? well if I was to call out your
name you would know it was you that I was calling wouldn't you?
well God calls us individually he speaks to our heart yes he
speaks in that way and it's a spiritual call what does it produce? it produces a change within us it's a call and what a blessing
it is but unto them which are called so here we have this statement
those who are called so if you and I are called by God and all
of us need to be called by God and this is what the Apostle
says but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ
The power of God and the wisdom of God. You see, here we come
to the real centre of true religion. And what is the centre? The centre
is very simple. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the central theme of
the Gospel. And to every saved sinner, Jesus
Christ and Him crucified will mean something. Why? Because if you and I are
called, the Holy Spirit of God comes and shows to us where we
are, where we stand. We're not a wonderful person.
As we stand before God, We are a condemned and a convicted sinner. We could say a criminal before
Almighty God. And because we have sinned, we've
disobeyed God, we're therefore a criminal, and therefore we
are deserving of punishment for that sin. Indeed, we are deserving
to be cut off we are deserving to never be blessed with a gift
of eternal life when God calls He convicts of
sin and He convicts us to realise that we are unworthy of any favour
we are unworthy of any notice and that's why we have to come
and plead to God that He will look upon us and he won't cast
us off as we deserve because of our sin and then you see it
is that this great God who calls us to see something of ourselves
and also calls us to view the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ
and then we come back to these words that the Apostle says for
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Perhaps at some time it was to
us. We just cast it aside. We thought anybody who believed
in Jesus and the crucifixion were, well, foolish and idiots
and it was just anyway, it wasn't true. But if a change comes,
if the blessed God calls us that inner calling then you see we
understand then it is that we are directed to the Lord Jesus
Christ and we understand then the preaching of the cross that
which was to us foolishness is no longer foolishness but what
is it? it's the power of God well my
friends this morning it will be a wonderful thing if the Holy
Spirit convinces us of the need to hear the preaching of the
Gospel you see the the Apostle when he wrote to Timothy and
he said very many wonderful things to Timothy we preached on Timothy
recently and he said this is a faithful saying That means
it's true and it's worth listening to. It's worthy of all acceptation. Don't cast it aside. That Christ
Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this world. Why? To save sinners. It's wonderful, isn't it? To
think that Almighty God came down this world to save such
sinners as you and me. And you see, nobody comes outside
of that gracious and glorious word. No one can think, well
I'm just too bad, there's no hope for me. There is hope for
the worst of sinners and the apostle just highlights it when
he comes and says, of whom I am chief. Well, the Apostle, before
he was converted, was an anti-Christian. He did everything he could to
stop Christianity being spread. He hated it, but God had a time in the Apostle's life to call
him out of darkness into the glorious light of the Gospel.
What a blessing for you and me today if in our lives there has
been or there is or there will be a time when God comes to us
and calls us. There we were in a state of darkness
and He comes and shines into our heart. What? the glorious
light of the Gospel oh it's good news yes we don't understand
everything immediately but it's as though we see a chink of light
sometimes it's like this you know if you if you had a pitch
black room a room totally dark no ability for any light all
the windows sealed up the doors sealed up all the cracks sealed
up total darkness you know and if you were to just light a match
perhaps light a candle with that match just a very single flame
that would light up the room you might not see every corner
clearly but there would be light you would see the room and that's
really like it is with the wonder of the gospel when that light
shines It may not appear to be a very big light, but it is a
light, and it does shine, and it does have an effect, and it
does reveal to us, if you like, the greatness and the glory of
the gospel. Not all the detail, but you can
rejoice in it. and you can bless God for that
light like you would if you were in a dark room and you needed
light just a very small light it would indeed shine so we're
not to, the word of God tells us we're not to despise the day
of small things you're not to despise a small light you're
to praise God for the small light and to thank him that light has
shone blessed be God and so, what a wonderful thing it is
to have been able to have observed in our lives the light of the
Gospel the glorious light there it was before meant nothing to
us is it nothing to you, says Jeremiah in the Navantage is
it nothing to you or you that pass by Yes, that's how it was. The gospel meant nothing really.
Just some kind of theory which some people believed on. Didn't
mean anything. But, when the power of God comes,
and shines the light of the gospel, and you see that will direct
us to the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You may say, well,
why is that important? It's important from this perspective
that you and I, my friends, because of our sin, we've disobeyed God
and we have a great debt. We owe a great debt, which we
can't rectify, we can't pay ourselves. And we need that debt to be taken
away. We need it to be removed, that
means all our sin, to be taken away and removed. And you and
I can't do it. You can't do it. Sometimes people
think, well I'll change and I'll turn over a new leaf and I won't
sin anymore, I'll live a perfect life and then I'll be alright.
Well of course, we can't live a perfect life. It's impossible. because we're sinners we might
desire to change and we will change but we won't be able to
eradicate all sin you won't be able to eradicate thoughts which
rush into your mind sometimes sometimes words which spit out
your mouth you won't be able to just eradicate all these things
but you'll need them to all be forgiven to all be taken away
and you and I won't be able to do it well that's why perhaps
the Apostle Paul going on to the next chapter he tells us
he says and I brethren when I came to you came not with excellency
of speech or a wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God
for I determined a lovely word isn't it I determined not to
know anything Among you saved Jesus Christ and him crucified. Because he realized the importance,
the relevance of Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus being crucified. Because by that crucifixion on
the cross, he satisfied the demands of a holy God. He gave his life
as a sacrifice for the sin of the whole Church of God. And
what a blessing today. If you and I can believe that
our sins were washed away in the precious blood of our Saviour
on that day at Calvary so many years ago. It's a wonderful picture
to think the Almighty Son of God died upon that cross so that
you and I may be recipients of the glorious gift of eternal
life and to realise that we are saved not because of what we've
done, but we're saved because of what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. in living that perfect life and
dying that sin-atoning death upon that cross at Calvary. That's
why I often say, and I never tire of saying it, never weary of coming to the cross, never
weary of meditating upon what the Lord Jesus Christ has done
in order to redeem your soul. You see, redemption means the
debt which was on our head has been paid. The great and glorious
Saviour. It's really beyond our little
minds to capture the greatness of that transaction. To think
that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, loved us so much
and He was willing to suffer, to bleed and to die, that you
and I might receive this gift of eternal life. And you see
then, you see the glorious Saviour, He rose from the dead. Death
could not hold Him. He'd obeyed the law. He'd kept
the law. He'd made it honourable, which
you and I have failed to do. And now he rose from the dead
a conqueror. And now then he ascended up into
glory. And there today he sits on the
right hand of the Father on the throne in glory. There to intercede
for us as we pray to our Father in heaven. I think the Lord Jesus
Christ stands between us and a holy God and intercedes. Him right has it. In garments
dyed in blood. Yes, the suffering Saviour. A glorious scene there to think. And again it's so amazingly humbling
to think that the blessed Saviour takes notice of us so small so
insignificant so unworthy and yet hears our prayers and presents
them to his Father and they are heard and answered oh my friends
may we not say today what a God what a Saviour what a Gospel that we rejoice in it today. And so as we hear here, it pleased
God. This was the way. It pleased
God by the effusion of preaching to save them that believe. The great and vital thing for
all of us today is to know that we are saved. We're not lost. We're saved that the Lord Jesus
Christ came, as I've already said, came into the world to
save sinners, came into the world to save you, came into the world
to save me. You see, if the Holy Spirit reveals
this to us, we have the blessed evidence
that the power of God It's come into our hearts. You see, there's
power isn't there required to raise naturally a dead body. You and I could not do it. You and I are spiritually dead
and we need power for our soul to be raised from that state
of deadness. And you and I cannot do it. But
bless God. The Lord Jesus does. He does. What a mercy if you can say,
and He's done it for me. I have passed from death to life. There is life within me. It's that which God has done. Yes, it's not that which I've
done. You know, the apostle didn't
think himself a great preacher, but God blessed him. And he said,
you know, he didn't have great natural ability, but God used
whatever ability he had to preach the gospel. What a wonderful
thing it is, therefore, to know that today we have the same God
that the Apostle Paul had. The Lord hasn't changed. He hasn't
weakened. He's the same yesterday, today
and forever. My friends, today he still blesses the preaching
of the Gospel. So, never despise the preaching
of the Gospel. Never think, well, I needn't
hear the preaching of the Gospel. It is the ordained way that God
has chosen to call sinners out of darkness into the glorious
light, to give unworthy sinners a right and a spiritual understanding
of the great truths of God. I know, of course, the Lord does
come and bless us as we read the Word and reveals Himself
to us through our reading, and it's right and good and proper
and wonderful. But the Lord has said, through the foolishness
of preaching, people would never think that God would come in
this way. And the reason is that God will
have all the honor and God will have all the glory. Yes. You know, the apostle tells us
what he was like. He says, and 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 the power that your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God
and if it's in the power of God, my friends, it'll stand it's
just in the wisdom of men it won't stand what a blessing it
is if God has come and blessed us and encouraged us and given
us to believe that what He has said is true and what He's done
emanates from Him And we can truly then rejoice. Well then,
the preaching of the cross today, what does it mean to you and
me? What does it mean? Do we love
to think of what Jesus did? Do we tremble to think what Jesus
did? Do we realize the tremendous
cost of our salvation? Would it cost God? to save us. God died. The Lord Jesus Christ
died. The second person in the Trinity.
He died to save our souls. And he rose again a conqueror.
Now he is today in glory. And one day, one day by his grace,
we shall be with him in glory. To view the Saviour face to face. What a day that will be, won't
it? And to think then, we shall be forever with the Lord. Well, these are great and wonderful
truths, aren't they? and realise this is the wisdom
of God, this is the plan of God. It's not the plan of man. Man
would never have planned a plan like this. Man would have planned
like the Jews thought, some wonderful person would be born who would
be an amazing natural king who would be very rich and own everything
in the world and that kind of thing, but no. The problem is
that, you see, such would be worshipped. We are to worship
God. And it's therefore the Lord Jesus Christ came down into this
sinful world to suffer and to bleed and to die that you and
I might receive the wonderful and so important and so necessary
and so vital gift of eternal life. Well, with mercy then today,
if you and I have the evidence that we possess the gift of God
of eternal life. And if we do, it's only through
what Christ has done at Calvary. And it's only because, by the
grace of God, we are able to hear Him speaking to our hearts
and revealing Himself unto us. as it is not unto the world. Well today, may we praise God
then from our very heart and recognize the great truth of
these words. For after that in the wisdom of God, not man's
wisdom, the word by wisdom, not by their own knowledge, knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe.