As the Lord will enable me this
evening in seeking your prayerful attention, I'll seek to direct
you to a verse you'll find in the portion we read, the first
epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 1, and reading again at verse 21. The first epistle of Paul to
the Corinthians, chapter 1, reading together at 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. 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. Paul was here, right into the
church at Corinth. Corinth, the capital of Achaia,
the capital of Greece, the centre of wisdom and learning. And yet,
amongst those Greeks, there were those that were separated unto
Christ. The church in Corinth. But, oh friends, the church in
Corinth is a picture of many churches today. It was a divided
church. A divided church. They had those
that said, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas and
I am of Christ. But Paul had to ask them, is
Christ divided? Is Christ divided? Paul, in the
opening of this epistle in the chapter we read, he preaches
the only gospel that will do sinners good. He preaches the
only gospel that will solve the problem of a divided church.
And that is the person of Christ. That's the preaching that Paul
came unto Corinth with. He preached unto them the finished
work of Christ Jesus. It's perhaps summed up best by
what the dear hymn writer says, when if it Christians all agree,
and let distinctions form, when nothing in themselves they see,
and Christ is all in all. This is what Paul was pressing
here home upon the church at Corinth. There was only one gospel
that he had to preach. The only one gospel he could
preach. We preach Christ crucified. Yes, that which was unto the
Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto
them which had called both Jews and Greeks Christ, the power
of God, the wisdom of God. That's the gospel that Paul came
to preach unto these Corinthians. Well, friends, what was the cause
of the divisions that were found there? These people, this church,
had been found taking their eyes, as it were, off Christ. They'd
been found looking unto their own wisdom. And when we take
our eyes off Christ and we're found looking to anything other
than Christ, we're found looking to our own strength, we're found
looking to our own wisdom, these are the things that cause us
to be divided. These are the things that cause us, as it were,
to lose that bond between the brethren and to be found looking
to our own works. But as you've sung together,
cease from your own works bad and good. Wash your garments,
it is blood. Oh, this is the gospel that Paul
came to preach here. Well, come into the text, friends.
We find the wisdom of man lay to one side. 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. And
this evening, as the Lord may enable me, I want to notice a
few things out of this verse. Firstly, the state of the world.
The state of the world that this Gospel was sent into. The world,
by wisdom, knew not God. This is a description the Apostle
gives of the world unto which this Gospel is sent. Secondly,
the means provided by God of sending this Gospel forth unto
the world. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. The foolishness of preaching.
And then what is the ends of that foolishness of preaching?
To save them that believe. And finally, in conclusion, I'd
like to notice that this means that the Lord has provided, it's
not only according to his wisdom, but it is according to his good
pleasure. It's in the wisdom of God that the world by wisdom
knew not God, but that it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. So firstly, friends, we come
to examine the state of the world as described by our text, by
wisdom new, not God. Oh, we have to prove that mankind
has many notions of what God is. We see many false religions
gone forth into the world, all conceptions of what God is, all
conceptions of what God wants and how God wants people to live
and how God wants them to please him. But, oh, the Lord's people
have to come to prove that by searching we cannot find out
God. We'll never know God as we are left to ourselves by nature.
We have all the manners that the world has been given to us
in the world, as the Apostle tells us in those opening chapters
of Romans. The natural laws, the things
that occur within the world, they declare unto the natural
world the existence of God. But, oh, man cannot receive that
truth. Man cannot see God. Man cannot see God. The works
of nature alone are never sufficient to bring a soul into that relationship
with God through believing. They never work that faith. Faith
comes by the hearing of the Word of God. But man was found as
he was created in that relationship with his Creator. He had that
wisdom. Adam had evident wisdom given
unto him. God brought those creatures unto
him and he named them. He knew his Creator. He knew
that God had created the world. He knew that which poor fallen
man cannot enter into. We read that by faith we believe
the world was created. By faith we believe the world
was created. And that's why we see so many
today sunk, as it were, in the belief of evolution. These things
have to be spiritually discerned. They have to be spiritually discerned.
But Adam was created with that wisdom. He was created with that
knowledge of God, of God as his Creator, as God Almighty. But Adam fell. But Adam fell. His heart, his will, his mind,
they were turned aside. And the understanding was darkened. He could no longer perceive those
things. And we have to prove that we being the children of
Adam, we're brought forth in the same ignorance, we're brought
forth in our understanding darkened. Our understanding is as described
elsewhere in the Word of God, or the analogy can be used, we
read of it, a deceitful bow. That bow which never fires straight,
as it were, but whenever you put an arrow in it and you pull
the string back, because perhaps there's some bend in the wood,
the arrow always goes off the mark. It always misses a point. And that's an apt description,
as it were, of the natural understanding of man. It's deceitful. The Prophet
Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. And who can know it? That's what man has been brought
to through Adamfall. And as we were found in Adam
and as he fell, and as he lost that which he had in that state
of innocence, as he lost his understanding, as his mind became
darkened by the effects of sin, we also being born the progeny
of Adam, we're born ignorant, we're born foolish. And what
is the effect of that foolishness? We read in the Psalms, the fool
says in his heart, there is no God. There is no God. And many,
we see that as proof within our own day and generation. Many,
they think themselves to be wise, but they declare themselves to
be fools by the fact that they say there is no God. The Lord's
people themselves, left to themselves, may also come into those solemn
states, where they also are found, as they were, fools by nature,
and they, for a time as it were, may doubt the existence of God.
Oh, blessed be God, they cannot be left there. But the world
says, the fool says in his heart, the world says there is no God.
Oh friends, if you've been bought this evening to have any realisation
of the existence of God, not just as it were a notion in the
head, but if you've been bought face to face with the fact, there
is a God in Israel still, lives and reigns and works his will.
It's not by your own natural wisdom. It's not by your seeking
out after these things. Job says, can any man by seeking
find out God? No, it's impossible, friends.
It's impossible, and it's impossible because of the truth that's set
before us in our texts this evening, that because in the wisdom of
God, the world by wisdom knew not God. And so the carnal mind
cannot find out God, cannot understand God, cannot believe in God, cannot
understand the way in which he works with his people. And we
see a further proof of it, we read in the Proverbs, that he
that trusts in his own heart, he is a fool, He's a fool. He's lost that wisdom. And oh,
we see so many in this day and generation, they look to their
own heart. They look to what their heart tells them to do.
They look to what their head tells them to do. Oh, but it
constantly leads them astray. It leads them astray because
their natural wisdom has been spoiled. They have no understanding. Their understanding being darkened.
They're found wandering and far off from God. Oh, friends, what
a solemn place this is. What a solemn place it is to
be, be in such a place. Oh, but we see so many, as it
were, in this day and generation, they seek after wisdom. They
seek after learning. They try to better themselves.
They may, as it were, go on in some way. But, oh, what is the
wisdom they're looking for? It's not the wisdom that's described
within our text. It's the wisdom that's described
in the following verse. The Greeks seek after wisdom.
The Greeks were a rational crew. They wanted those proofs that
it were from first principles. They desired everything to be
worked out on paper. Every theorem, as it were, to
be watertight. But, oh, the Lord's people have
to prove their natural understanding. Oh, the ways of God are beyond
natural understanding. We cannot understand the way
in which He works. We cannot always see how He's
working. Oh, we prove that God is above all things. Who can
understand the way in which He works? Who can search out his
workings? But that's what poor natural
man is it were in trying to find out wisdom. He always comes short
of the mark. He will never understand God.
He will never understand God. He will never understand the
way God works. And so we see so many, as it were, in our day
and generation, going astray. Oh, that word already quoted.
It is by faith we understand the world's afraid. So many friends
in science. Calvin said that the only true
scientist could be one of the Lord's people. because he said
it was only when you had the mind regenerated by the spirit,
only when you had the mind as it were renewed, only when you
came by faith to understand the principle of the universe, God
at its centre, God as the creator of all natural laws, the source
of every good, that you could truly understand the things you
were looking at. And, old friends, there is some truth in that.
But we see not only man by science trying to find things out, we
see man also by natural wisdom, by natural knowledge, as it were,
trying to prove the existence of God. But oh, there's a school
of thoughts in apologetics that says that you can never, as it
were, argue with the unrenewed mind from first principles concerning
God. because the unrenewed mind would
always go astray. We're brought forth because we're
foolish, because we have not this wisdom. We'll never understand
as it were those things. We'll never come, and by natural
knowledge, to a knowledge of God. No, these things have to
be spiritually discerned. These things have to be spiritually
discerned. Oh, what a solemn place we're found in by nature,
friends. What a solemn place we're found in, foolish and ignorant.
Yes, that's where we're found. Oh, we come into that state of
which the Apostle writes unto the Romans, the carnal mind is
enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be. Have you come to realise by the
sovereign operations of the Holy Spirit within your heart, that
your heart, your mind is indeed enmity against God? There are
many, many that know not these things. And oh, if you've been
brought to realise them, it's a painful experience unto the
Lord's people. A painful experience to come
to realise that your soul is separated from God. That left
to yourselves you cannot approach unto Him. That you cannot know
Him, that you cannot understand Him. And that effect is the effect
of sin within your heart. Your own sin, as well as your
original sin in Adam. Oh friends, this is a painful
experience to the Lord's people. I've often thought of those words,
blessed is the man who now chooses and causes to approach unto them.
But oh, what are the means that the Lord causes to come into
the hearts and lives of his people to cause them to approach unto
him? Well, one of those things is bringing them to that realisation
that their heart, their mind is enmity against God. And friends,
that's a painful experience unto the Lord's people. But, oh, if
you'd been brought into that state to realise it, that verse
is true, blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causes to
approach unto thee. Oh, when we're brought to realise
something of our own ignorance, there'll be painful experience
unto us. When we're brought to realise
that of ourselves we have no strength, that we are found without
God, without hope in the world, yes, painful experience unto
old nature, a painful experience unto our old heart. But, oh,
what a blessed grace that is, worked in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, bringing us to an end of self, that we may be made
as those that are found looking unto Christ, for our only hope
of salvation. Oh, this is the world, friends,
that's found before us here. It receives not God. It receives
not God. No, it's found afar off from
God. The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned." Oh, this is a further
description, as it were, of these who, through the wisdom of God,
are confined, as it were, into that ignorant state, through
the fall. After that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom
knew not God. Knew not God. A world that knows
not God. Our hearts that know not God
by nature. Oh, this is a state that we're
born into. This is a state we will be in but for free and sovereign
grace. This is a state of so many that
are found surrounding this place this evening, having no desire
to enter it. By wisdom they know not God,
and by wisdom they never will know God. But, oh, blessed be
God, He hasn't left us to perish in our ignorance. He hasn't left
us to perish as fools and far off from Him. But, no, in His
wisdom He has prepared this way, whereby salvation might be declared
unto us. And so, in the second place,
I would like to notice that way that He has provided, the means
that He has provided, whereby our ignorance may be turned around,
whereby salvation might be declared unto us. Here, please, God, by
the foolishness of preaching, the foolishness of preaching. What, friends, is this foolishness
of preaching? Well, I'm not really a Greek
scholar, but I understand when you look at this verse, there
is some disagreement between Greek scholars as to exactly
what is meant by the foolishness of preaching. whether it refers
unto the act of preaching, the proclamation of the word, or
whether it refers unto the subject of that which is preached and
that which is proclaimed. But friends, I believe it can
be taken in both ways. I believe it can be taken in
both senses. We could say here that God is
a pleased God, that by the preaching of foolishness, He is designed
to save them that believe. As well as by the fact that by
the foolishness of preaching, He's designed to save them that
believe. What do I mean? What is the difference? Well,
friends, I'll deal first with the fact. The preaching of foolishness. What is the preaching of foolishness?
It's the preaching of the cross. The Jews require a sign and the
Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto
them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power
of God, and the wisdom of God. O friends, who can search out
the wisdom of God in the means that he has provided for the
salvation of sinners? This is foolishness unto the
natural man. The gospel, you see, cannot be
received by the natural man. He sees it only as foolishness.
Oh, he says, who, how would a loving God send his own dear son into
the world that he should die on behalf of sinners? And friends,
to us it is foolishness. To us, by the carnal mind, it
must be foolishness. We see our own children. We see
those that we love. Oh, friends, it's true that for
a righteous man, some would almost dare to die. But Christ, while
we were yet sinners, while we were yet ungodly, while we were
yet without strength, Christ died for us. Friends, these things
that were are to us foolishness. Why did it please the Father
that he should look upon sinners, upon poor fallen mankind in Adam? Why was he made willing? Why
was he pleased that he should send his own dear son into the
world, that poor sinners might have hope through his death?
Well, friends, this is the wisdom of God. This is the wisdom of
God. And who can say unto God, what
doest thou? O friends, it was undoubtedly for his honour and
for his glory. But we cannot prize the world
into those eternal counsels of Jehovah. They are his ways of
past finding out. But, O friends, does it bring
any hope to you this evening? Does this truth bring any hope?
This foolishness, which the world counts as foolishness, has it
come unto you as the word of life? Has it come unto you as
the word of grace? Is it that which has brought
life and light into your soul and given you a hope of immortality
to come, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners?
This is a gospel that found foolishness unto so many people. Oh, how
many looked upon that poor babe at Bethlehem. They saw nothing
there but a babe, nothing there but man. They could not see that
he was given for the rising and the falling of those words, I
believe, of Simeon, concerning the work that the Lord had been
sent. Yes, a few of them saw that work, but many of them saw
it not. a light to lighten the Gentiles
and the glory of thy people Israel. That was what Simeon saw in that
babe. But oh, how many were ignorantly passed by him, all those years
of his life when he was hidden from men, when they saw him not,
those thirty years in which he was found, living life quietly
as we might live it. They saw not that he was the
saviour of the world. They hastened not unto him. They
desired when he started preaching not to hear his preaching. They
saw nothing as it were but a man. No, those Pharisees, they looked
for one that would arise, one that would restore unto them
naturally Israel. They looked for one that would come with
a strong arm, and instead they found that it were a poor, weak
man. A poor, weak man. A man who could be bound, a man
who could be taken to the cross. A man who they saw suffering
and dying. And old friends, even the disciples, when their dear
Lord had been crucified and laid in the ground, where were their
hopes? Where were their hopes? Their hopes were dead. Oh, they
realized not the salvation that had been accomplished before
their very eyes. Those two on the way to Emmaus,
what did they say? They talked to one another of
the things that had come to pass, and uh... They said, concerning
these things, we trusted that it had been he who should have
redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day
since these things were done. Oh, to their unenlightened eyes,
before the outpouring of the Spirit upon them, these things
appeared but foolishness. And friends, they'll appear but
foolishness to you. And there it will remain to appear
foolishness to you, until the Holy Spirit reveals in the person
of here the sacrifice which He has provided, in the person of
His own dear Son, God made flesh dwelling among us, the Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, that One of whom He was pleased to say
unto Joseph, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. Oh, to the unenlightened mind,
that man will just appear in history, Yes, it is to the Greeks
who seek after wisdom foolishness. And it's foolishness to many
in our day and generation. But, oh, mark out, friends, the
uniqueness of it. There's no other religion in
the world in which the Son of God was made flesh and was made
willing to suffer and to die on behalf of sinners. There's
no other religion in the world by which salvation is provided
freely. There's no other religion in
the world that has a call Come unto me, everyone that thirsteth.
Come by without money and without price, that water provided in
the gospel. No, friends, this is the gospel
which is under the carnal mind foolishness. Why is it every
man-made religion in the world says, work, work, do, do? Because
that's what the natural mind receives. That's what wisdom
receives as being the way of salvation. Good is rewarded,
evil is punished. But oh, when God was pleased
to mete out upon the person of his own dear son the punishment
due unto his people, when he was pleased that by his own dear
son suffering and dying upon the cross, that he should receive
in atonement for the sins of his people, that that sacrifice
should render his people again propitious unto him, that the
breach should be made up, that God and sinners should be reconciled,
that there should be that mediatorial work, one mediator between God
and man, the man Christ Jesus. This, friends, is foolishness
to the carnal mind. It's foolishness to the sinner,
a sunken sin. But, oh, when renewed again by,
when the mind is renewed again by the Holy Spirit, oh, he sees
the perfections in the work of Christ. I love, friends, our
article of faith concerning growth in grace, in which it states
that growth in grace consists chiefly in a daily increasing
knowledge of ourselves as sinners, and of our hopelessness and our
undone-ness, and our utter inability to save ourselves, but set over
against that an increasing knowledge of the perfections of the salvation
which is provided in the person of the Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, freely dying for sinners, Oh, friends, this is when we're
granted wisdom, wisdom by the Spirit of God. That's the effect
of that wisdom within our hearts and lives. Oh, we value this
preaching of foolishness. The subject of preaching is no
longer foolishness unto us. No, it's life. Oh, it's life,
it's understanding. It's that which we ardently desire,
it's that which we ardently seek after. Oh, to hear the things
of Jesus. Give me Christ or else I die.
That's the cry of the enlightened mind. That's the cry of one which
is brought under this foolishness of preaching to find some hope
within the gospel and to prove it all their salvation and all
their desire. You see, friends, the world sees
a saviour that died. They can see not the resurrection.
They understand not the virgin birth. They cover, as it were,
the central points of our most holy faith. But oh, unto the
Lord's people, the least part of the record set before us in
the Word of God, the least jot and titter, as it were, concerning
the Gospel, we see set forth within the Gospel a complete
salvation, a salvation that is worked out in perfection from
beginning to end. Oh, we needed a Saviour that
should be brought forth in our own flesh and blood, brought
forth in the womb of a woman, that he should be made in all
points like unto his brethren, yet without sin. Salvation must
be wrought out by one that is found in the same covenant relationships
of God as the poor sinner that stands condemned under the law.
And so we find that he was born under the law, that he kept the
law through the days of his life upon this earth, perfect, separate
from sin as he was. Sin never tainted his understanding,
never tainted his actions. No, he kept the law, went to
the end of the law for righteousness. And then he gave his life, our
sacrifice upon the cross, shed his blood. Without the shedding
of blood, there can be no remission of sin. He that hangeth upon
a person is he that hangeth upon a tree. Oh, we see how all the
types, how all the prophecies concerning the Saviour were fulfilled
in the person of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Such is
the perfection of that offering. Not one thing failed about it.
Not one thing failed to come to pass. No, it's perfect in
every sense. And, oh, the perfection of the
one that was offered. Oh, you see the poor Israelite
going out to prepare for the Passover, looking through his
sheep, and he looks first at this one and that one, and they
appear perfect on the outside. But, oh, perhaps when he turns
them over, he finds some lameness, he finds some imperfection. And
solemn thing, friends, that we come, as it were, to examine
all our hopes, and we have to prove one after another our hope
is dashed. But, oh, in this perfect Lamb,
this Lamb which the Father provided, there was utter perfection, utter
perfection. Yes, to the Lord's people, to
those who are brought to prize this Gospel, to those who are
brought to see their only hope in a once crucified, now risen
again Slaver. Oh, this Gospel is not foolishness.
These perfections are not foolishness. No, every one of them is seen
as a vital necessity. and they have to praise the God
that provided them, and the Father that sent his Son so willingly
into the world, and the Son that so willingly came and died, and
they have to praise the work of the Spirit within their own
heart, because he's revealed unto them the things of Jesus,
because he's taken away the veil that is upon their eyes, because
he's removed that sin which has darkened their understanding,
that now as it were brought near unto Christ, Oh, they see the
perfections of that gospel that is provided. This gospel is no
longer a stumbling block. It's no longer foolishness. Oh,
we have to prove that, yes, we oftentimes, when we're found
far off, we dream up, as it were, what the gospel is. We're found
as these Jews, we're requiring a sign. We're found as the Greeks,
we're seeking after wisdom. But oh, when the Holy Spirit
comes and reveals unto us Christ, that when Christ is preached
unto us from the Word, when our hearts are opened as the dear
heart of Lydia was, and she received the gospel, Oh, we see there
the perfections of this salvation Christ has provided. This, friends,
is what is preached. This is the foolishness which
is given unto us that is sent forth to minister the word. And
oh, what a burden it is. Oh, how far short we come. If
there's one thing I've regretted so far in my ministry, friends,
is when I've sat down, particularly when I've been speaking concerning
the work and the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
And I just feel to have come so far short of declaring the
blessedness of this salvation that has been provided on behalf
of sinners, the loveliness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Oh, what a solemnity it is that the servants of the Gospel in
the Gospel will feel that it is given unto them that they
should preach this foolishness. Oh, that we should be left to
utter anything that is error about it. that we should be left
truly to utter foolishness. Oh, it's a solemn weight to have
to preach foolishness, to preach this foolishness, the gospel,
the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ unto poor dying
men. And all we have to desire is
Richard Baxter, that we might be found as dying men preaching
unto dying men. Oh, friends, that's as urgent
as it were preaching the gospel. It gives an urgency, it gives
life. And oh, friends, what a precious subject we have to come forth
with. But this is a means that God in his wisdom has been pleased
to be the means that salvation should be brought unto sinners
by the preaching of foolishness. But then, friends, I said that
these words also could be taken in that second sense. the sense,
by the word order which our translators have translated it, by the foolishness
of preaching, as it were the act of preaching. Yes, friends,
the means God has provided appears unto the carnal mind as foolishness. And we see so many friends in
our day and generation turning aside to other means. They're
giving up the preaching. The pulpit's moved to one side
of the church. You go into our national church,
you see the centre of their religion is no longer, as it were, the
preacher of the word. It's the ministering of the sacraments.
You go into many other churches, the pulpit's gone to one side,
for the drum kits and for the bands, for the larger overhead
projectors, for the films that may be shown within the sanctuary.
But, oh, friends, here we have set forth in our text the primacy
of preaching, the means that it's pleased the Father to give.
No other means will do. Oh, friends, may we be found
sticking by the preaching of the gospel. Yes, it's foolishness.
The preaching is foolishness. And oh, friends, it often feels
to me to be foolishness. Sabbath by Sabbath we come to
have to preach the Word. And oh, we feel that we can only
go, as it were, with the same thing. Nothing new to bring forth. Nothing new to bring forth. We seem to utter the same things
over and over again. Yes, to our minds, the preaching
of the Gospel is foolishness. Preaching is foolishness. Why
did God not ordain some other way? Oh, surely if we say sometimes
fondly if we'd been there when Jesus was upon this earth, if
we'd seen his miracles, we would have believed. Why have miracles
ceased? Why have those gifts of the Spirit
ceased? Oh, surely if the Holy Spirit came upon us and we all
spoke forth in tongues, would that not be some tangible evidence
that this God is still working, that what he says is true? But
friends, that's not the means that God has appointed, whereby
He should convince the world of unrighteousness, of their
sin, whereby the gospel should be preached unto them, whereby
Jesus should be set before them as the only means of salvation.
No, the means God has appointed is by preaching and by preaching
alone. Oh, we see this as it were, friends, perhaps I would
not stretch the text, but typified in that the way in which God
appeared unto Elijah. He was not in the earthquake,
in the wind and the fire, not in the things that we might have
expected him to be, but he came in that still small voice. And
the Lord's people have to prove so often. The Lord is not in
other means that they look unto, but he's pleased still to bless
the faithful preaching of the word. He comes as it were, that
still small voice, over that the voice of his servants, and
he's pleased to bless the word that they preach, to the salvation
of sins. Why is he still pleased to bless
it? Because it was his wisdom to be ordained, and it was his
good pleasure to give it. That's what this text sets forth
to us. that by the foolishness of preaching it was God's good
pleasure to save them, to save them that believe on Him. Oh friends, we have to pray that
we will be kept from fancying these things and that as our
churches have been kept as it were faithful to the preaching
of the Word that we might ever hold this Word for. But, friends, it's coming to
a realisation that God's means of blessing his people is by
the continued, as it were, repetition of the Gospel. Oh, we have to
prove it, don't we, time and time again. Yes, the carnal mind
looks for something new. It looks for some fancy, it desires
to come up that the minister might bring forth some obscure
point of doctrine, that he might bring forth, as it were, some
wonder out of the original tongue. But, oh, what is it that the
hungry soul desires after? What is it to one that's had
to prove during another week a fresh breaking out of sin?
What is it to one that's come up fearing himself to be a Pharaoh,
fearing himself to be as one that follows a Pharaoh, that
finds himself to be filled with doubting and with unbelief again?
It's to come up and find that the same gospel that was made
an encouragement to him in times past is still the same gospel.
And do you not have to find, friends, that when the preaching's
been made a blessing unto you, it is in the preaching of the
gospel. It's not in some fancy. No, it's in the preaching of
the gospel. This is the means the Lord has been pleased to
provide, as it were. Here's quite a small voice speaking
unto us week by week, that those things should be driven home
upon our hearts by the operations of the Holy Spirit. Oh, friends,
this is the foolishness of preaching. This is a gift God has given
unto his church. foolishness unto the world in
the subject that's preached, and in the manner that God has
given, whereby it should be declared. But O unto the Lord's people,
this is a most precious gift, this is a most precious blessing,
that he's been pleased to give the Church, and O what a commission,
what a blessing it is, what a promise it is, that comes with that commission. O what a blessing, what an encouragement
it is to his servants as they go forth with the Word, that the commission was to those
first apostles, but it descends unto every minister of the gospel
unto the end of time. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, 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 lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. And friends, he's still with
his ministers today. He's still in the midst of Zion,
and he's still pleased by his presence with us by his Spirit.
to bless the foolishness of preaching unto the salvation of never-dying
souls. Well, friends, in the third place we'd notice the end
of this preaching. Why was God pleased, as it were,
to send forth preachers? Why was He pleased to give the
foolishness of preaching? Why was He pleased to send forth
His Son into the world, that He might be the subject of that
preaching, as the only hope and the only salvation for souls
from their sin? It was to save them that believed. That's the end of gospel preaching,
the salvation of sins. And old Paul said, woe be I if
I preach not the gospel. I fear sometimes, if it were,
we can get very easily turned aside in the ministry of God's
house, taken up with lesser things. But, oh, Paul's woe was if he
preached not the gospel, if he preached not this foolishness
which had been delivered unto him to preach. Nothing less,
nothing more would do. Oh, may we not be taken up when
we're found within God's house with secondary matters. But may
that be the one important thing, the preaching of the gospel.
Paul desired to know not anything among them save Jesus Christ
and him crucified. That was the subject of the preaching
that he came with. But we preach Christ crucified.
Why was that his urgent desire that he should only know that
gospel? Why did he not desire to preach anything else among
them? Why? Because the preaching is bound
up within this. That the end of preaching should
be the salvation of never-dying souls. That it should be that
it might save them, that belief. The Apostle, as it were, gives
a commentary on this subject in that epistle to the Romans. When we read, the 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 news. O friends, this is a means the
Lord has provided. Faith cometh by hearing. Yes, the Lord is pleased that
souls should be raised to a hope in the Gospel, that they should
be brought to a knowledge of themselves as sinners, that they
should be brought to see the perfections of the salvation
that has been provided for them in the person of the Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, as set before us in the Gospel, as our
ears are opened to hear the Word. You see, friends, this is a point
that many are missing out day and generation. They see not
this important word, faith cometh by hearing. But it's true, friends, faith
cometh by hearing the word of God. God is pleased that he's
primarily ordained, and we should not limit God, and I would not
limit God here this evening. The Lord has been pleased indeed
in various and diverse ways to call souls from nature's darkness
into everlasting life. But mark it, friends, that in
the end, sooner or later, even if through some miraculous event
that's come upon them, even if by the works of nature that surround
them, they've been convinced of the existence of God, as it
were, yet their religion can't stop there. It must come to the
word of God. Yes, a man's religion, the work
of grace, it were, some may trace it to a means that is without
the preaching of the word, without even the hearing or the reading
of the word of God. But friends, it is true religion,
it can't rest without that. No, it must come to centre on
the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as he's revealed
to us, and only revealed to us, in his word of truth. Faith cometh by hearing. This,
friends, is why the preaching of the Word is so important.
It's given to the end of the salvation of sinners. And except
there be the preaching, except there be the hearing, there is
no, as it were, salvation. This is why, friends, it's so
important, as it were, that we should be found gathered together
on the first day of the week for the preaching of the Word.
And, oh, if you're found gathered here this evening, If you're
found gathered with a need, if you're found coming, pleading
that you might find salvation for your souls, don't look anywhere
else, friends, even if you should go home this evening, disappointed. Oh, I plead that the Lord might
not disappoint you, but if you should go down disappointed with
my poor ministry, oh, friends, I earnestly urge you, come again
when the means of grace is open, look not to any other means.
No, this is through the foolishness of preaching. The Lord is pleased
to give salvation unto his people. Faith cometh by healing. And
what is the end of this preaching? Well, it convinces us first of
our foolishness. You see, friends, that affected
preaching set before us so beautifully in that 73rd Psalm. Esau says,
as for me, My feet were almost gone, my steps had well and I
slipped. He was envious because of the foolish, the prosperity
that he saw within the world. But oh, he went into the sanctuary
of God. Perhaps, friends, I extrapolate beyond the word. But the sanctuary
of God is inseparably joined with the preaching of the Word,
with the setting forth in the types and shadows in the Old
Testament church of this same preaching of the Gospel, setting
before them the hope of Israel which was to come. Or he went
into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end, and what
did it bring him to? So foolish was I in ignorance,
I was as a beast before them. This is the first effect, friends,
that this preaching of foolishness will have in the hearts of the
Lord's people. It will bring them to confess that they are
fools before God. It will spoil them of their own
wisdom. They will have to be made weary as it were to be made
foolish for the sake of the Gospel. It will bring them to an end
of their own righteousness, an end of their own strength. It
will bring us to a realisation that outside of Christ there
is no hope for us. There is no help. that there
is no gospel other than that which is set before us in the
world. It will bring us to confess that everything else we were
seeking after, all other means we were looking unto, all that
we thought in our wisdom we could search out and could find out,
we have to confess that we were fools, that those things led
us only astray. This is the effect, friends,
first of this preaching of the gospel. We find that it brought
the psalmist to confession in that 69th Psalm also. When he opens the psalm, saying,
O God, for the waters have come into my soul, and he says, O
God, thou knowest my foolishness, my sins are not hid from thee.
There is that realisation brought about through the preaching of
the gospel in the souls of the Lord's people, that they are
sinners, that they have sinned against God, and that there can
be no hope for them, except through this subject, this foolishness
which is preached week by week in the sanctuary of God. the
Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And so, friends,
it's by the working of the Spirit, as this Gospel is preached unto
us, it brings us to that place where we're willing, as it were,
to be made fools. The Apostle says in the third
chapter of this epistle, Let no man deceive himself. If any
man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become
a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God. For it is written, he taketh
the wise in their own craftiness. O friends, this is where the
gospel brings you to. Yes, you're willing to be a fool
for Christ's sake. You're brought to that place
where you're willing to count all things done and dross for
the excellency of the gospel, where your urgent desire is,
give me Christ or else I die, that I might know him and the
power of his resurrection, fellowship with him in his sufferings, be
made conformable unto his death. If by any means you might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead, Oh yes, that wasn't the
things you looked for, friends, before you heard the preaching
of this gospel. No, those things unto you were just as they were
unto these Greeks and Jews. They were foolishness, they were
stumbling blocks. But now, awakened by sovereign
grace, the Holy Spirit revered in something unto you the perfections
of this Saviour set before you. Yes, you desire to be identified
with Him. You desire fellowship with Him.
You desire to be made conformable unto His death. You have that
desire, oh friends, the desire which must seem foolishness to
so many in the world today. Oh, there's so many in the world
today who want a Christless heaven. They want a heaven which continues
their life as they have it here below. But, O, when you are brought
unto the preaching of this foolishness, to see the perfections of Christ,
you have that desire with Paul, if by any means I might attain
to the resurrection of the dead. Yes, you now are found looking
out unto this wisdom, unto this Christ, unto this Saviour. And,
O friends, he is made unto his people, as the Apostle tells
us here. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who God has made
unto us wisdom. Yes, you prove your wisdom in
Him, and He's also made unto you righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. And so you glory, you glory in
your Lord. O friends, this is the end of
this preaching. This is the end of this preaching, that souls
might be brought into this place, where they find themselves in
need of a Saviour, where that Saviour is set before them in
the Gospel, and where faith cometh by preaching, that faith, as
it were, putting forth her little hand, Laying her hand upon the
head of that sacrifice, confessing her sin, finding her full salvation
in Christ, is brought into the hope of the gospel. But, O friends,
what a way also is set before those of us that have been in
the way, those of us that have to prove that despite the Holy
Spirit working within our hearts, left to ourselves, we're still
fools, we're still ignorant. Yes, like Asaph, we're still
taken up with the things of this world. We're still envious because
of the food. Daily, like Paul, we have to
wrestle being burdened. Daily, like Paul, we have to
prove that the good we would, we do not. The evil that we would
not, not that we do. But oh, what does this gospel
ministry also set before us? It sets before us that way of
holiness. That way of holiness. That the prophet Isaiah speaks
of. And a highway shall be there,
and a way. And it shall be called the way of holiness. That is
the person of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The unclean shall
not pass over it. But it shall be for those, that
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not earn their being. Friends,
has that ever ministered comfort unto your souls? Do you have
to confess, Lord, save me, I'm a fool? Save me, I'm a fool. But this gospel sets before us
that way wherein the wayfaring man, though a fool, yes, oft
times prone to start aside, and in our trouble flee from Jesus'
wounded side, to trust in self or something base, instead of
trust in sovereign grace. But oh, this way that's set before
us in the Gospel! Yes, though we may fear oft times
that if ever it should come to pass the sheep of Christ should
fall astray, my fickle feeble soul at last would fall ten thousand
times a day. But, oh, friends, the blessing
is that wafer in man, though a fool, yes, though you're bought
through the preaching of this gospel to realize yourself as
a fool for Christ's sake. Yet, friends, your salvation
is secure. Wafer in man, though a fool, cannot earn that end.
You shall be bought safe at last. Yes, friends, this is the sum
of this gospel. By the foolishness of preaching, it's pleased God
to save them that believe. Well, friends, are we amongst
them? Are we amongst them? Have we been made women, as it
were, to count our own wisdom as foolishness, that we might
prove our wisdom set before us in Christ? O friends, this is
the blessing of the Gospel. This is the blessing of what
Paul had to preach in his Corinthian church, Christ and Him crucified. Do we know these things, or are
we found a stranger to them still? Are we still found dead, as it
were, in the conceit of our own wisdom, thinking we know all
things? But, O friends, if we're left
there, We'll have to prove at last all the things that we doubted.
We'll have to prove them to be true. And all the things that
we've held fast as truth, we'll have to prove them to be the
most solemn and grievous ever. Yes, there are many found in
the world today that think they have wisdom. But, oh friends,
we tremble to think of it, that in that last and great solemn
day, they'll have to prove their wisdom is foolishness. Their
wisdom is foolishness. And they shall spend an eternity
considering that fact. that they have been found fools,
fools at last, but are to be found in Christ who has made
unto us wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our hope
of glory to come. But I wanted friends in the fourth
place to just come and notice for a moment that this means
that the Lord has provided. It's His wisdom. It's according
to His wisdom. And all friends who can question
His wisdom, Yes, we poor sinners, when we're left to ourselves,
we may question the means the Lord has provided. We may, when
left to ourselves, think that we could have devised some other
way. But all the Lord's people, when taught by the Holy Spirit,
have to come and confess that God's ways are past finding out.
And they're especially past finding out, as it were, in the Gospel,
this foolishness that is preached unto us. And we have to come
to confess that it is God's appointment from beginning to end. Yes, no
man. The Lord's people, I'm convinced,
have to come to this place where they realise that no man could
have devised this work of salvation. Many look upon this Bible, this
book that we hold so dear, as but a work of literature. But
oh, when we're enlightened, when our eyes are opened, when we're
born to be fools within our own sights, when we realise the wisdom
that is embraced by God in the person of the Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. that that fullness might be found
there and might reside there for poor needy sinners. I believe
the Lord's people come to confess that this book must be the work
of the words of God. It can't be any less. Why? Because man's wisdom can never
devise down such perfection. No, this work which God has provided,
the work of the person of his own dear son in coming into the
world to save poor sinners from their sins, We see stamped upon
it from beginning to end, the wisdom of God. The wisdom of
God. Oh, friends, if we've been brought
to that place where we see it to be the wisdom of God. Oh,
how much we should rejoice in it. How much we should hold it,
dear. How precious this gospel should be unto us. But, oh, friends,
we read that it's not only His wisdom, not only according to
His wisdom, but it's also according to His good pleasure. His good
pleasure. Oh friends, it's a mystery to
me. It's obviously a mystery to those inspired writers that
wrote in the Word of God, that God should have ever taken notice
of me, that he should ever have taken notice of poor sins. It
was only because of his good pleasure. It was only because
of his good pleasure. We read a bit there in that sacred
chapter in Proverbs 8, that there the son never with the father.
I was by him as one bought up with him, and I was daily his
delight, rejoicing always before him. I said it before recently,
I can't remember where it was, but oh, the beauty that's seen
in that, the perfections that are found within the Trinity.
God is love, the love that's shared between the three persons,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All the perfections as found
within God himself, never needed anything outside of himself,
was self-existent as it were, had everything within himself
that he needed for his existence. Nothing could add to his eternal
felicity as God. And yet what do we read? Rejoicing
in the abysmal part of the earth, and my delights are with the
sons of men. Yes, even then, when there was that perfect felicity
between the persons of the Godhead, Yet their pleasure, as it were,
ran over freely, and ran over to poor sinners of the earth,
that it pleased them. And it pleased them in the councils
of Jehovah, the Father in his electing love, the Son in coming
and saying, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written
of me, to do thy will, O God, so willingly coming. You know
the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Lo, he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty
might be made rich. O friends, where else did it
bring the psalmist? When he saw the works of creation around,
many things it were that God set forth, the beauty and the
wonders of God. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth, who has set thy glory above all
the heavens. When I consider the heavens the work of thy fingers,
what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the Son of man that
thou visitest him? O friends, why is it? When our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ declares it unto us, Father,
I thank thee, that thou hast hidden these things from the
wise and prudent, but hast revealed them unto babes, hast revealed
them unto fools. And why? Because, as the poet
says, deceived and so, father, because it seemed good in thy
sight. This, friends, is the good pleasure of God, that not
because he saw any goodness in you, not because he saw that
you would trust in him, not because he saw that you would exercise
faith, as it were, and be willing to believe in him, No, but He
loved you. He loved you, friends, for eternity
past. He loved you as a fallen sinner,
and He set His love upon you. And thus He sent His own dear
Son into the world, to suffer and to bleed and to die on your
behalf. At Pentecost, He shed forth the Spirit, the purchase
of the work of the Son, upon the Church, that God who in past
times in divers manners spake unto us by the prophets, these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, now revealing himself continually
unto us in the church, in and through the person of the Holy
Spirit, that when he was come he should reveal all things unto
us, and if granted that means by which these pleas of the Spirit
should work, the foolishness of preaching, the word of God
within our own tongue, that by these means He might save them
that believe. Oh, friends, the good pleasure
of God in his provision to Paul's sin. Oh, does it melt your heart? Does it warm your heart this
evening? Did it please God that these things should be so? Well,
friends, if it does, it will make the preaching of the Word
very precious unto you. It will make you want to hold
fast unto it. This epistle was written unto a church, a heathen
church, a church that was gathered out of heathen nations. It was
written unto a people, the Greeks, that desired after wisdom, that
spent all their time, as it were, seeking to understand all the
mysteries of this lower earth. Friends, it couldn't be more
appropriate to us in the day in which we live, a church amongst
a growing heathen nation, a church amongst a people that seek after
wisdom, a man's wisdom, as it were, daily increasing. yet their
knowledge, as it were, of God becoming more and more darkened.
But, oh, friends, this was the gospel that Paul came with unto
the Corinthian church, and it's the means that he still provided
to bless the sinners in our day and generation. And, oh, may
we take heart. May we not be found looking to
any other means. May we not be found looking on to any other
way whereby souls may be converted, whereby the Gospel may be set
forth, but may we prize this precious institution of preaching,
and may those of us that have to preach the Gospel, may we
be encouraged by the fact that we are walking in a divinely
ordered path, a divine commission, and that He has said, though
I am with you always, in the commission, in the preaching
of the Gospel, to the end of time, and so as we gather together,
week by week, may we have that hope, And may we prove that He
is with us, and that He continues to bless the Gospel unto the
salvation of sinners. And may we prove that it is not
unto us as foolishness, but it is unto us as the Word of life,
the Good News, the Gospel, and that which brings joy and rejoicing
unto our heart. Well, 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. May
the Lord bless His Word unto us. Amen.