Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
2, please. I will say straight up front that the inspiration
for what I had to say, or have to say, hopefully I can express,
was last Wednesday night's message, which David preached again in
Lexington. It was outstanding. If you haven't
heard, you ought to, you ought to make it a point to hear how
that the Lord told Joshua to march Israel around Jericho to bring it down. And I want
to title what I've got to say this morning is standing in the
gospel. Let's read the first five verses
of 1 Corinthians 2. And I, and that's the Apostle
Paul speaking there, the Apostle Paul now, I want to emphasize. When I came to you, I came not
with excellency or superiority of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony The gospel is what that is, the testimony
of God. For I determined, and you can
even insert the word decided there, I decided 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, embellished words of man's wisdom,
but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Let's get right to it. In the
first few words of these verses one and two, Paul sets forth
how he is going to address every problem and ungodly situation
that has shown itself in this church. How's he gonna address
it? The divisions among them were
numerous, you can read 1 Corinthians chapter one, or the whole book
of 1 Corinthians at your leisure, and you will find that the solutions
that the men invented, that man does invent for these divisions
are numerous. You can go any direction to solve
them in man's mind and in man's logic, but Paul's solution Paul's
solution to these divisions was inspired by God's spirit. And
it is so plain and so narrow, his solution, that the world
in its wisdom is totally frustrated in their attempts to know and
see it. or even grasp it. And in that
fact lies their destruction. We all know that the wisdom of
this world is not destroyed by might nor by power. God's Spirit
told us that. It's written and revealed in
this book. But if that's true, then the question becomes, how
is the wisdom of this world destroyed? It's destroyed with a message. A message. And that message is
to say that it's destroyed with words. Written on this page,
words. And it's destroyed with doctrine.
And where did the message and the words and the doctrine originate? It originated from heaven. And
it was given to us in this book, This, God spoke from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear him, listen to him. Look at verse one. It begins
with the word and, which refers back to chapter one. In its context,
it's a declaration that he will use no fleshly means and no element
of the world's wisdom to address this church and their many problems. Not even counseling. Don't go
to the pastor for that. Not even medications, and I know
what I said there, to address this church. And all their divisions
stem from one problem, one problem. They have forgotten the glory
that is due Christ. Simply stated, that's all it
is. And they've given priority to their own prejudices and their
inclinations, and they've given priority to their own logic and
their desire to exalt themselves. And Paul immediately, Very first
thing, clears the air in the very first phrase. When I came to you, I came not
with excellency of speech or wisdom. What does that mean? It means that when he came to
Corinth, he came as a common man, common man. And most of us know that he could
have come as an intellectual because he was an intellectual. Humanly speaking, Paul was a
genius, but that's not how he came to this
people. He presented himself as a tent
maker or a common craftsman. This Paul, the apostle, Do you
realize, can you appreciate the fact that he once was miraculously,
miraculously caught up in the third heaven and he heard unspeakable
words, which he describes that way, unspeakable words, which
he was even unable to utter or express in the language that
he spoke and in the intellect that he obtained or that he had. But he came as a man of no means
other than the skills of his hands, and he asked nothing of
this people in Corinth. He didn't come with great oratory,
great excellence of speech, because his heart's desire was
one thing. It was the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ. He had counted all things, all of his intellect,
all of his status, all of his education, but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, he said, for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but
done that I may win Christ. The excellence of speech of false
teachers is their great swelling words and their status and their
logic. And the apostle Peter describes
them as following the way of Balaam. That's what Peter calls
them. Another apostle, Paul came differently
and it was on purpose because the glory of God was at stake.
That's the reason for this preface to what he's writing to this
people. He didn't approach this people as a scholar, setting
forth the gospel in the terms and language of a Princeton University
professor. He spoke as a common man, a sinner,
and he described himself as the greatest sinner of all, saved by grace. He spoke as a
dying man to dying men. Look at the last phrase in verse
one. He was declaring unto you the
testimony of God. That's the gospel of God. It
was and it still is the testimony of God. God's testimony. And I thought about that last
night. It was what God has said and what he has revealed about
himself. Consider how serious that is. You can. If you look at it, just consider
it just for a second. That's what came out of our mouths.
That's what should come out of our mouths in this pulpit. Everyone
that stands here, the testimony of God. Thinking about it seems rather
insurmountable when you stop to think about it. And never
should we forget where it's found. It's found in these scriptures.
The older I get, the more I enjoy reading this book. And I'm ashamed
of how little that I have to this day. You know something? Some men
give themselves to the study of this book and never ever understand
what's in it. They don't understand a word
of it. For Paul, at this particular time, it was the testimony of
Christ found in the Old Testament. Have you ever considered that?
The only thing that man had to read or to have that revelation
given to him from is the Old Testament, Genesis through Malachi. And what he had found in that
revelation from God, he reduced to four words and one thing,
Christ and Him crucified. That's all he found, Genesis
to Malachi. In John 5, our Lord said, search
the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life, and there they which testify me. And you won't
come to me. You will not come to me that
you might have life. And Paul said in Romans, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of
God and the salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greeks, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. The next time someone asks you,
and they have, maybe not in these terms, but the next time someone's
around you and expresses a lack of knowledge about what the Bible
is all about, if they ask you, what is the Bible about? You
try telling them. that it can be explained in four
words, Christ and Him crucified. That's all it's about. It's on
every page. They may not try to stone you,
because that's against the law. But they'll sign the papers to
admit you to the funny farm. I had a lady in the nursing home
way back a long time ago. And it's the only encounter that
I ever had in taking care of old folks that I experienced what I experienced. Walked by this lady's room and
she was reading her Bible. And I walked in, she was from
White Plains. I can't think of her name. Walked by the room,
she was reading her Bible, stuck my head in, I said, Maude was
her name. I said, Maude, what you reading
about? She laid her Bible on the little
table next to her, turned around and said, it's not what I'm reading
about. It's who I'm reading about. And
that shut me down, boy. Christ and Him crucified. Look at verse two. Verse two,
Paul declares the testimony of God. And his determination was
to preach that one thing alone, Christ and Him crucified. He
is determined, did you see that word? He is determined to know
nothing among these troubled people other than Christ and
Him crucified, because that is the testimony of God, Christ
and Him crucified. Notice that this determination
that Paul had was a personal thing. He said, I determined,
I decided not to know anything among you,
but Christ and Him crucified. The word know there, I found
this interesting. The word know here in verse two
is the same word, the exact same word that our Lord uses When
he said to Nicodemus that except you be born again, you cannot
see, you cannot know. Same word, know and see. Knowing and seeing has to do
with perceiving, seeing, looking at, knowing, and understanding. So that must mean that Paul determined
to see nothing, he determined to know nothing, and determined
to perceive nothing, and understand nothing, but Christ and him crucified
as the remedy for all of this church's problems. Religion today, preachers and
members of the church both want to know everything but Christ.
They apply it to the flesh, to solve and even absolve their
sins, the sins of the flesh. And they look for solutions in
politics and psychology and personal merit and counseling. And Job's
friends used the same tactics on him. I don't have time to get off
track. But Job's friends used the same tactics on him, as I
said. You know what he called them after they gave their counseling?
the cause of his problems and how he had some secret sin and
he needed to straighten out and do right, all this other stuff.
He called them miserable comforters, and I'd never noticed that before. And he said to them, you're all,
every one of you, are forgers of lies. And all of you are physicians
of no value. And our Lord speaks of physicians
that are no value in that woman with the issue of blood over
in the New Testament, in that parable. Why was Paul so narrow
and restricted in his determination like our pastor was? It's because when the fog lifts
and when everything else is said and done, the only message that
answers The important and vital question is the only message
that convicts, the only message that comforts. It's the only
message that constrains. It's the only message that sets
things in their proper order. It's Christ and Him crucified. Is that the solution to all problems?
You betcha. You betcha. Paul determined,
Paul determined to tell out this one thing over and over and over
and over again. He just kept marching around
Jericho. Because it's truly the only thing
to tell that will impact the soul, everything else might alter
behavior. Let me tell you something. Salvation
is not behavior modification. It's a new birth. It's a new
creation. Our pastor marched like those
Israelites around Jericho to Lexington last week. And when
he got there, he blew the horn. You know what he blew? He blew
the ram's horn. That part of the sacrifice that
sounds only one note, but it was about him. It came from him. It was his horn. It was the gospel. Christ in him crucified, say
it over and over, is the only message that Paul and every true
preacher of the gospel, as well as all believers, must determine
to know and must determine to see. Verse three to five, briefly
here. In these verses, three to five,
Paul continues to describe, continues, to describe and remind these
people how that he was employed in declaring the testimony of
God to them. These verses, three through five,
state an absolute truth that man's wisdom and man's power
and man's ability have no place and they're of no use in the
salvation of a soul. It has nothing, no place in a
man knowing God or trusting in Christ. Man and all of his human
intellect can't know God apart from the preaching of the gospel,
period. As David said, he's not going
to reveal himself to you out in the middle of the lake in
a boat because everything's beautiful and you're having a good time. In fact, something most people
would consider probably a blessing to be able to do that. But I'm
telling you, it can be one of the worst curses of mankind.
Paul confirms this fact by assuring the church at Corinth that he,
in his person, in all of his reputation, can do nothing and was in no
way responsible for their conversion. He's saying, I preach the Word,
the Word, and it is the Word, the gospel by God's Spirit that
does the work in the hearts of men. In verse three, you see that
first word, and? It relates to Paul's determination
in verse two, concerning his preachers, or
his preaching, But it doesn't refer to the content of it, but
it's how it is made effectual and by whom it's made effectual. When he was with them in Corinth, he did not exalt
himself or his position as we've seen. He was an apostle of Christ. He did not exert the authority
of that office. He would at a later time when
he spoke about the authority, his authority in speaking of
a servant being worthy of double labor, double honor, or labor
being worthy of his higher relating to the support of our pastors
and things like that. He said they're deserving of
it. But he didn't use that with his people. He took nothing from
this Corinthian people, absolutely nothing. He made tents and supported
himself and brought them the gospel. And they couldn't accuse
him of enriching himself, selling himself, or promoting himself. He was a tent maker. And the fear and trembling that
he speaks of in verse three there can be a couple of things in
my mind. I think it addresses the early days of his ministry
when he was a hunted man. I mean, he had posses after him.
And they beat him almost to death, left him for dead. And he suffered
greatly for the cause of Christ. And he was often under the threat
of death. That's the fear and trembling that he's talking about
in one sense of the word. He carried the scars that he
suffered for Christ and his gospel, and he referred to those trials
and persecutions as his infirmities when he writes in 2 Corinthians
12, I glory in my infirmities. This lines up with the words
fear and trembling in verse three. And those words may also refer
to Paul's understanding of the power of the gospel and its sure
results. He was given and was handling
that which was life and death to his hearers. And anybody that
stands up here, They'll tremble. Brings the message of life. His
fear and trembling could be and was the realization that he nor
any man is sufficient to handle the things that settles eternity. The eternity of those who are
listening to him. And it's no small thing to tell
Christ and him crucified. The consequences and the result are eternal. In verse 4, Paul
declares that he did not approach these believers with anything
that would impress or seduce the flesh. That kind of speaking
and preaching has an underlying intent of drawing men to the
messenger or the preacher. And he wasn't going to do that. Most are seeking the admiration
and popularity that comes with their
position. This is another proof that the
wisdom of the world has no place in the preaching of the gospel
or the salvation of a man's soul. Paul didn't use his ability to
persuade by technical, logical, legal arguments with his people.
With this people, he refused to embellish the message with
his cleverness and he could have been and instead he practiced
the heart's desire of John the Baptist when John said he must
increase and I must decrease. He was determined, determined,
that word determined from the verses. and deliberate in diminishing
his role in the matter of salvation. And that's something that he
did throughout his entire ministry. Who then is Paul? That's what
he said. Who then is Paul? Who's Apollos
but ministers by whom you believe? By the grace of God, I am what
I am, he said. And I'm less than the least of
all saints. In verse five, rather than attributing
anything to himself, Paul credits everything, everything to the
effectual work of the gospel, to the power of the spirit of
God. In demonstration of the spirit
and of power, that word demonstration, One of the meanings of the word
is to point away from oneself. Let me demonstrate. You point
somewhere else. We've already seen how Paul stated
and showed that principle in verses three and four. But this
demonstration, this pointing away from oneself, may even,
I was thinking yesterday, This may even point to God's Spirit,
the Holy Spirit itself. He always points a way. He always
points a way. The Holy Spirit, although being
God himself, doesn't draw attention to himself. His work in this world, His mode
of operation is within the truth as it's preached from a pulpit. But He won't draw attention to
Himself or glorify Himself. He always glorifies Christ. When
the Comforter has come, you remember that? That's the Holy Spirit.
When the Comforter has come, He'll testify of me, Christ. This word demonstration may also
refer to the fact that Paul, as an apostle, had the gifts
of the Spirit. He could speak in tongues, perform
miracles. Read about it. These gifts were given to the
apostles. They could heal the sick, speak
multiple languages without ever having been trained in them.
These gifts were given to authenticate the man, the apostle, and his
message as being from God. With the New Testament, and if
you're curious, you can look at it later, but when the New
Testament, being finished, and the full revelation of Christ
manifests, is completed in the Word of God, When it's done,
when God has said all that He's going to say and pass to men,
He removed those gifts from this world. That's what 1 Corinthians
13 and verse eight says. They're no longer needed and
they have ceased. It's the power of God. in his word, in the gospel, in
the testimony of God now that works these miracles, that gives
life. And with that said, it's not the wisdom of men. And verse five doesn't need any
further explanation. It's a restatement of Paul's
determination and his reason for that determination, which
he'd already stated in verse 2. Now finally, the determination of each and
every one of us, whether pastor or member, should be for our
faith to stand, not in the words of wisdom, Look at verse 5. Not in the words of wisdom, but
in the power of God. Where's the power of God found?
Where is the power of God found? It's found in a message, in the
words of Christ and Him crucified. That message, that word, solves
all the problems. Every one of them. Thank you.