May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, the first epistle and the first
chapter, and we'll read verse 21. The first epistle of Paul
to the Corinthians, chapter one and verse 21. For after that in the wisdom
of God, The world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. If we want to find out what the
news is today, or perhaps not today, but in the week, Nowadays
we can do that in a variety of ways. Most of us can do it by
looking at our mobile phones and we can very quickly find
out what the news is or it's there on the radio or on television
and it's very freely available to people today. But if we go
back a few hundred years when there was none of these things
and also There wasn't any printing, because printing's only been
about for about five or six hundred years. Then everything was just
handwritten. Therefore, to actually receive
news was not very easy. And how it used to be done, they
used to have, generally in a town, a person who was called a town
crier. And we'd often be dressed up
in rather gaudy clothes, and you'd often have a bell. and
he would ring that bell as loudly as he could and stand in the
centre of the town and the people would gather together so that
he could then read out from the things which had been handwritten
the news. And that was the way in those
days that news generally travelled. Obviously it did travel from
horseback from one place to another. So it was very different from
what it is today. And you may ask and say, well,
we're not talking about the news today. Well, we are, in actual
fact, because we're talking about the good news. And the good news
is the gospel. And how is that spoken? Well, it was, of course, a town
crier in days old for the natural news. But today, it is through
the preaching of the gospel. Because preaching is really a
proclamation. And it's just what it was in
those days, years ago with the town crier, they proclaimed the
news. Well, we can thank God today
that through his mercy, we can proclaim the good news of the
gospel. So when in the Bible, you come
across this word preach or preaching, realizing it is the proclamation
of the good news of the gospel. Now in this first chapter that
we read together this morning in the Corinthians, Paul speaks
a lot about preaching. And I dare say many of you young
people have never really thought about preaching. You've just
come and you've sat and you've listened and you've gone home.
You perhaps haven't really thought, well, it's the proclamation of
the good news of the gospel. And so Paul tells us that he
was sent by God to preach the gospel. What a wonderful thing
it is. I've said once or twice, I think
since I've been pastor, I've really got the best job in the
world. The best job in the world is to preach the gospel. And
also I've got the best master, the Lord Jesus Christ. So you
think of that. It's a wonderful thing to preach
the gospel. Well, Paul was sent by God to
preach the gospel. And he tells us this, the preaching
of the cross. Now, I wonder if you understand
what that means. The cross, of course, was that
which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified upon. That's why he
refers to the cross. Because what it means is, when
the gospel is preached, we should always come to the cross. And that means we should always
come to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because without
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, there would be no good news of
the gospel. So always we should come to the
cross of Christ. So if perhaps you hear the preaching
of the gospel, you go and hear people preach, and if they don't
speak about the cross, you ought to go up to them afterwards and
say, hey, you didn't preach the gospel. They may not like it,
but it's very important that the cross, the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the course which follows is the resurrection,
is the real Good news. The news today, in the world
today, naturally, it's generally speaking not good news. Generally,
it's bad news. But you see, the gospel is good
news. And it is really good news to
those who want to hear the good news. You may say, well, who
wants to hear the good news of the gospel? Well, today, not
many people. Most people are happy to hear
all the news about the things in the world that happen, the
bad things and many people of course today are crazy about
sport and all those kind of things and that's all they're really
concerned about. But it's a wonderful blessing
then today if we are concerned about hearing the good news of
the gospel. And so Paul tells us it is good
news to those who are saved. And those who are saved very
simply means this, that we are saved from eternal hell. We are saved from the wrath of
God. And all of us deserve hell. We sang it in that hymn just
now. And all of us deserve to be cast
out of the sight of God And you may ask, why is that? It's simply
because we have disobeyed God. All of us, you young children,
you old people, and every one of us, we've all disobeyed God. And because we've disobeyed God,
what does that mean? That means that we've sinned. And no sinner can enter into
heaven. And therefore, none of us, in
and of ourselves, can enter into heaven. We all need to be saved. We all need to be delivered from
our sin. And this, you see, is that which
is classified as preaching. It is proclaiming the good news
of the gospel. The Apostle goes on to tell us,
but unto us which are saved, it is something very important. And what it shows to us is this.
It is the power of God. And you may say, well, I don't
quite understand that. What do you mean? How is it? How do I know it's the power
of God if I'm saved? Well, let me explain what that
is. We are born in our bodies and we are born
alive, naturally. We breathe naturally and we have
life. But what we don't have when we
are born is the gift of eternal life. Because spiritually we
do not possess life. And that new life comes when
God brings it to us. And it's quite obvious, isn't
it, that it must emulate from God. Because if we have no spiritual
life, that means we are spiritually dead. And a dead person has no
ability to do anything. If you've seen a dead person,
perhaps you young children haven't, but perhaps most of us who are
older, have seen a dead person, and you can shout and push and
shove and do everything you like, no reaction. They're dead. And that is just the same as
we are when we're born with regard to our spiritual life. There
is no life. And the apostle, when he wrote
to the Ephesians, and in the second chapter he tells us, these
very strong words, he says, and you, and it's good if it is,
if you and I are amongst those who he's speaking about, and
you hath, he uses the word quickened, and it really means to be made
alive. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. You might ask, what does that
mean? Well, we are born in sin. and shapen in iniquity. That's
where we are. So be very clear that you and
I are born like that, we are dead, and therefore we need to
have received this spiritual life. All of us must have the
evidence of this spiritual life. And the Apostle just gives us
a bit more clarity when he tells us we're in in time past. That
means before that time, we walked according to this world, the
course of this world. According to the prince of the
power of the air, that's the devil. The spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation. We were all like it. Like the
people around us, everybody is like it. until that great and
glorious day when the Lord comes and grants us spiritual life. Now let's be quite clear about
that you see. You and I therefore have no ability
to produce life ourselves. Many people today of course disagree
with that. They don't like what we call
and what the Word of God speaks as the doctrine of election. That means God chooses whom he
will. And some people say, well, that's
not fair. Well, let me put it this way. If we've all sinned, that means
we've all disobeyed God. And if we've all disobeyed God,
we therefore all deserve eternal hell. That's right, isn't it? There's no argument with that,
is there? So we're all in that position. We're all guilty. before God. And what a blessing
it is, therefore, if God does come and bring spiritual life
to us, gives us spiritual life. It is a gift. It's not something
that you and I can think, well, I've done a good day's work for
God today and therefore he's going to give me spiritual life.
Not at all. Because you'll find that sin continues to affect
us. And so all of us must recognize
that God has a perfect right as a king, as a sovereign king,
to do what he pleases with all of us. And what a blessing therefore
today if you and I have the wonderful evidence that God has made us
spiritually alive. And if he has, there would have
been a change. And you know that change would
have done this. We will be a new creature. We'll be a different
person. Because there will be a new life
within us. So just let's stop there a moment
and let's have a look at ourselves. Let's have a look at our own
heart and see whether God has blessed us with that great gift
of spiritual life. Great gift of spiritual life.
And if you can't find it, and if you have to say, well I don't
think so, and do be honest with yourself, don't kid yourself,
it's there when it's not. And if it's not, then pray earnestly
to God that he will give you the great and glorious gift of
eternal life. And this is the power of God. Because what's it done? It's
brought a dead person alive. That, of course, means our spiritual
life. We were dead and he's brought
us spiritual life. Now, you see, this is proclamation,
it is preaching the truth of God's Word. It is preaching the
gospel. And this you see is what the
Apostle Paul was so pleased to be able to do. And all those
who have been called by God to preach the gospel will really
want to preach the gospel. And so the apostle goes on, it's
just worth running through these verses, coming up to our text,
because it's instructed to us. And he tells us, for it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. That means that sometimes
people think they can plan their own salvation. Well, it's not
possible, is it? Because we haven't got any life.
We can't plan our own salvation, can we? We're spiritually dead. And so, therefore, people might
think, I can do this and I can do that. They fail to realize
it's the blessed work of the Holy Spirit. And so, Paul tells
us, God says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Most people who
think, They have an understanding, can plan their own life, and
they can decide when they want to suddenly change their life
and believe in God. Yeah, you see, people think they
can do these things. They can't. They're dependent
upon God. And they're dependent upon this,
the grace of God. And let me tell you what that
is. I often do, I'll tell you again. It's the free unmerited
favor of God. That means you and I cannot think
we deserve it. We don't. None of us. We don't
deserve. And so he says, I will bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent. What does that
mean? That really means that we are helpless. What a great
blessing it is that there is power with God to bring life. Those of us who have received
life will know it is the power of God, and we'll know the effect
it's had in our life. It's a great important question
for all of us to have the evidence that we do know something different,
and that we are therefore a new creature. And so we read, where
is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the dispute of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? You see, before God, the wisdom
of this world is foolishness. And the reason, Jesus is the
one thing needful. Oh, let us remember that. Let
that be written in our heart. As it were, the Bible gives us
an illustration as an iron pen written in the rock. You know,
you write on a piece of paper with an ink pen or a pencil or
a barrow, it's possible to erase it. You can't erase an iron pen's
written in a rock. And this is what you and I need
God to do in our hearts. Well, then we come down to this
verse. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So preaching
is described here as foolishness to the world it is. We only have
to realize that as today, The chapel here is not full with
people from the neighborhood. And the reason? Because they
think preaching is foolishness. And more and more people today
are thinking that preaching is foolishness. You know, I just
had a figure told me yesterday, I think it was, that in 1983,
there were twice as many people going to a place of worship than
there are today. And that wasn't all that many
then. So you see, and that's people going to a place of worship. That doesn't mean to say they're
believers. And you see, therefore, there are very few people today
who want to hear the preaching of the gospel. They don't want
to hear the proclamation of the great truths of the gospel. They
don't want to hear about Jesus Christ. No, they want to carry
on in this world. They don't want to listen and
therefore they classify preaching as foolishness because it's going
to interfere with their lives, because it's going to direct
them in a different way. They're not going to be allowed
in their hearts to do things which they have done. There'll
be a change and it's produced by the grace of God. And what
a blessing it is, therefore, when that occurs. And so we have
this word preaching. And what is it? It is to save
them that believe. And God, of course, gives us
grace to believe. You and I can't suddenly say,
well, today I'm going to believe. You and I need God's grace to
believe. What a blessing when God does
give us grace to believe, so that we are then a true believer. We're not then a false believer.
There's many people today who pretend they believe. Well, first
of all, they don't recognize they're a guilty, lost, ruined
sinner. They don't really have any comprehension
of what it means to be saved. They don't really understand
their need of a Savior. They just hear that admonition,
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they say, oh that's a good
idea, I think I'll do that. The problem is, they don't believe
because they didn't have a need. They didn't realize why they
needed to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So what a blessing
it is when the Holy Spirit comes and convinces us of our standing
before a holy God. That's a work of the Holy Spirit.
It's not something that you and I can conjure up. It's not something
that you and I can work ourselves into a frenzy. People do today,
and they work themselves, having their frenzies. But you see,
that's not the work of the Holy Spirit. What a blessing, therefore,
if you and I possess the work of the Holy Spirit. And therefore,
we are desirous to hear the good news of the gospel. We want to
go and hear the preaching of the gospel. Yes, you know, and you'll want
to come and hear the preaching of the gospel. You want to make
excuses, well, I don't think I can go and hear the preaching
today because I've got a lot to do. I've got this to do and
that to do and the other thing to do. Well, it's a question
of priority, isn't it? It's a question of whether we're
concerned about our natural life or concerned about our spiritual
life. It's a question of whether we're concerned to have the continual
encouragement that we are amongst the true believer, to have the
assurance that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for our sins. Because you and I will want to
hear the good news of the gospel, to know that Jesus has died to
redeem us from our sins. You see, in the preaching of
the gospel, we need to recognize that the God the Father is the
one who elects, we want to realise that it is the Lord Jesus Christ
who redeems us from all our sins. We want to realise that it is
also the work of the Holy Spirit to make us spiritually alive.
So every true believer will be a Trinitarian, that's what I
mean by that, a person that believes in God the Father, God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit and they are all equal. It's an amazing
truth. It's something that you and I
naturally cannot grasp. But what a blessing when God
gives us faith to believe the great truths of the gospel. And
so here we have this statement here that it pleased God. Isn't that wonderful? It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The previous chapter in the Bible
is the last chapter in Romans. And as we come right down to
the end of that chapter, verse 25, we read this, now, to him
that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and
the preaching of Jesus Christ, right, the proclamation of Jesus
Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, that means God
reveals these truths to his people, it's a revelation, it's a blessed
revelation, it's a very humbling revelation, it's a very necessary
revelation, which was kept secret since the world began. But now,
in this gospel day, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures
of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting
God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. To God only wise, be glory through
Christ Jesus forever. Now, the effect of this preaching,
if it comes and touches our hearts and directs us to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and enables us to understand through faith that we do possess
the gift of God of eternal life, it will be that you and I will
desire to praise and to glorify this great and wonderful God
who has looked upon us and has had mercy upon us and hasn't
dealt with us as our sins deserve. Preaching, of course, isn't confined
to the New Testament. It was, of course, so in the
Old Testament, and especially we remember that character Jonah. I'm sure you all know about Jonah,
and how he was told to go and to preach the Ninevites. He didn't fancy it. He thought
he'd do something else, and he ran away and got into a boat,
and off it went, and he thought he was safe, but of course he
wasn't. Don't you try and escape from God. Because God knows where
you go. God knows where you are, every
single step. Don't try and escape from God.
Well Jonah did, but he didn't. And therefore he was found out.
He was found out because this great storm came. Terrible storm. The result was, as I'm sure you
know, he was eventually thrown into the sea and a whale swallowed
him up After three days and three nights in the world's belly,
he began to pray and recognize then that salvation was of the
Lord. It wasn't of Jonah, it was of the Lord. And then we're
told the word of the Lord came the second time to Jonah and
told him to go and to preach. Preach the gospel, preach repentance
unto the the Ninevites and in the Gospel of Matthew the Lord
refers to this and it's wonderful how the Word of God flows together
in the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and verse 41
we're told well perhaps I'll read verse 41st for as Jonah
was three days and three nights in the whale's belly so shall
the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth, the men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with
this generation and shall condemn it, because they repented at
the preaching of Jonah." You see, he was told the second times,
and he did, and he preached, they should repent, and they
did. God had mercy upon them and so we're told here because
they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater
than Jonas is here and of course we're being told about the Lord
Jesus Christ. What a blessing it is therefore
if you and I are moved by the Holy Spirit to be truly sorry
for our sinful way. Some of you are young, Some of
us are middle aged, some are old. The great truth is that
all of us, again without exception, must repent before God of our
sins. All of us. You see, Jonah's given us an
illustration. He cried to the Ninevites and
they repented. The Word of God has been preached
to all of us here, time and again. Have we repented of our sinful
ways? Have we repented of the awful
sins that we've committed? Or do we just brush them aside
and think, well, it's one of those things? Well, I believe
when the Holy Spirit touches our hearts, as we stand before
our holy God and we recognize that we must face judgment and
that we must be on that great day when the Lord comes and returns
and everyone will stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
to realize that when that occurs, that we are amongst those for
whom Christ has died. to take away our sins. You see, if you and I come to
that time and still have got sin, it will then not be forgiven. Forgiveness is in this life. It's not when we passed out of
life. And what an important consideration
it is. Now what a blessing it is. And I hope we all understand
the blessing it is to actually be able to hear the preaching
of the gospel. And it is good news. You might say, well, I don't
think it is. I think it's not very good news. Well, it is good
news because it sets before us death and life. It sets before
us a wonderful blessing of eternal life. And so here the Apostle
tells us, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. Well, I hope today that none
of you are sitting there thinking, well, the old man's foolish. He's speaking things that are
not very important. They don't really matter. Well,
they are very important. And you see, the Apostle brings
before us two types of people in this chapter, Jews and Greeks. You see, the Jews wanted a sign,
they wanted to see something physical, they could naturally
get hold of. Well, the Bible tells us this,
we walk by faith and not by sight. Don't expect to physically grasp
something. But bless God if it gives you
faith to believe the great truths of the gospel. So that was the
Jews. They required a sign. And the
Greeks, they wanted wisdom. They wanted something very fanciful
that their minds could grasp and appreciate and understand
and be satisfied with that. But the gospel is not like that.
The gospel doesn't require wisdom of this world. It is the wisdom
which God gives, which is wonderfully simple. The whole plan of salvation
is gloriously simple. And so what does the Apostle
say? He tells us about those two types. Neither of those two
types are right. What did he tell us? We preach
Christ crucified. He tells us the effect it has
upon Jews and Greeks. To the Jews, it's a stumbling
block. And you might ask me, why is
that? Well, the Jews, of course, had this view in their mind that
there was going to be a Messiah, but he was going to come as a
natural king. He was going to be a great, glorious
monarch on this earth, with all the pomp and situation which
exists to kings. And that was their view. And
because it wasn't like that, they stumbled at it. They fell
over it. They couldn't understand it. And then, unto the Greeks, it's
foolishness. They couldn't believe such a
great and glorious truth could be so wonderfully simple. So,
here he tells us that. But then he goes on. Let's hope
this applies to us. but unto them which are called
and that means we're called we're woken up as it were there we
are asleep we're dead and God comes and calls us and we wake
up from that sleep of death well you see what a wonderful thing
if we've been called by God You've got to answer before God, I don't
know, do I? I can look at you all this morning, I don't know.
God knows whether he's called you and you know whether God's
called you. And if he hasn't, I mean, I wonder
if I ask everybody here this morning, put your hand up if
God's called you. Well, some of you might be sitting
on your hands because you haven't got the evidence. And if you
haven't, pray honestly to God that you may hear his call. And so he tells us this. But
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, there are those
who are of that number, who God has called and does call, Christ,
the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Suddenly, light from
heaven shines into our heart, We see the foolishness of all
the things of time in comparison with the great, wonderful truth.
The things of God and the things of glory and the things which
concern our soul's eternal standing. You see, those who are called,
what a blessing it is for us today. If we are called, if you
and I are called, well, we shall be led into the truth of the
gospel. You may not understand everything
immediately. In fact, you never will understand
everything immediately. In fact, we never will understand
everything inside of glory. It's a wonderful blessing if
God gives us a little. And let me tell you this, the
Bible tells us this, a little that a righteous man hath, that's
one who's called by God, a little that a righteous man hath is
better than the treasures of many wicked. A little that God
gives. If you've got a little that's
God given you, hold it fast. Don't cast it away. Don't listen
to the devil who say, well, that's not very valuable. In actual
fact, that's not much good. You hold it fast. You see, those that endure unto
the end shall be saved. Don't cast away your little hope. Don't think that's not very much.
It is. It's a great value. Don't therefore come and cast
it away. And so the apostle goes on to
say, and it's just worthwhile writing down this, because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God
is stronger than men. For you see your calling brethren. Again, check it out. Check it
out. You're calling with the word
of God. You see your calling brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God has chosen, we come back to what
I started with, the election of the father, but God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God
has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which
are despised hath God chosen. So that's good news, isn't it?
I hope you and I can come within one of those descriptions and
thank God for his great love to such an unworthy sinner. And he goes on to say, and things
which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh
should glory in his presence." It means that you and I would
have to come before God with nothing. Nothing in ourselves of any value. We're bankrupt. We're sinners,
black. There's no hope in ourselves.
But let's remember the words of the hymn, I came to Jesus
as I was, weary and worn and sad. Yes, isn't that a wonderful
truth of the gospel? That no flesh should glory in
his presence, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made unto us wisdom. This is heavenly wisdom and righteousness. his righteousness and sanctification,
his holiness and redemption, redeemed with a precious blood
of Christ. You see the glory of it. And
he finally says that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Well, I hope this morning You
and I may be able to trace out that we have a reason to glory
in the Lord, to glory in his great salvation, to glory in
that great work of salvation, to glory in the truth that God
so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son into the
world, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but
have eternal life. We thank God, I hope we do, for
the great truths of the gospel and to realise it is through
the foolishness of preaching that God ordains the great plan
of salvation. God calls his sinners to hear
his voice and therefore never despise the preaching of the
gospel but do desire to come and hear the preaching of the
gospel and to recognize the wonder of it. You know, the apostle
goes on into the next chapter and just expounds it a little
bit so that we're quite clear. And I brethren, when I came to
you came not with an excellency of speech or a wisdom declaring
unto you the testimony of God for I determined. It's a lovely
word, isn't it? I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. 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 the power that your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
Well, bless God this morning, if you can look into your heart
and find there the wonderful and blessed work of the Holy
Spirit that has called you from death to life, from darkness
to light, and therefore you have the wonderful evidence that you
have received the gift of eternal life, and if so, to know and
to believe that one day you will be in glory with that one, the
glorious person who came into this sinful world to die to redeem
our souls. Surely, of course, to praise
almighty God. Amen.