This evening or this morning,
excuse me, I want us to open our Bibles to first Corinthians,
first Corinthians. I pray the Lord will. Bless this word. To our hearts
and. Give me liberty to. Magnify and
glorify. Our Lord. The Apostle Paul in
chapter two, verse one says, and I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, but declaring
unto you the testimony of God. The Apostle Paul, after saying
that he's writing to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
talking to believers. talking to men and women who've
been redeemed, purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit
has given them life, and they are true believers, the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in this flesh, brethren,
there dwells no good thing. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and will continue to be flesh, and you ought not ever
expect anything good from it. Never look inside for any reason
for hope or comfort. Only look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and His finished work. In the flesh dwells no good thing.
But we're still in this flesh, and we still are carnal. The Apostle Paul's says to this
congregation, I hear of those of the house of Chloe that there
is dissension, there is divisions among you. And he said, this
is what it consists of. Some of you are saying I'm of
Paul, I'm of Apollos, others saying I'm of Cephas, and others
saying, well, I don't have to go hear anybody, I'm of Christ
and I'll just sit home and read the Bible. ignoring that God
has given men for the edification of the church. That's how God
blesses. That's how God edifies his church.
That's how he builds it, by the preaching of the gospel. But
men are, we are all prone to this. And the apostle Paul says,
we are carnal. He says that in chapter three.
We're all carnal. And I confess that I am like
I wish I'd have said it first. Brother Scott Richardson said
it first. But you know, you've heard that story about the Indian
that was trying to send out smoke signals, and all of a sudden
that atomic bomb went off in the distance. He said, boy, I
wish I'd have said that. Well, I wish I'd have said what
Brother Scott Richardson said first. But it's true in every
one of us. I'm just as vain as anybody else. We have to fight and fight against
that. Get out of the way. Pray that
the Lord would bless his word, that the Holy Spirit would take
his word and make it effectual in his people. But the apostle
Paul's saying, This is what God sent me to preach. He didn't
send me to baptize and to draw people after myself. We see false
men, false preachers around the world drawing men after themselves,
making a name for themselves. And this is what he's talking
about. He said, God didn't send me, the Lord didn't send me to
baptize. And by the way, I didn't baptize but just a few of you.
Oh, and also the house of what was his name? Gaius and, and,
and also baptized the house of Stephanas. Besides that, I don't
know who else I baptize if anybody else. I don't know. That's not
what I came to do. I came to preach the gospel.
He said, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should
be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross,
the preaching of the cross, is to them that perish foolishness,
but to them which are saved is the power of God. Here's what
he's saying, this is what we ought to be hearing, no matter
who stands behind this pulpit, or any pulpit that stands, we're
standing speaking the word of God. to the law and the testimony. If they don't speak according
to this word, they don't have the Holy Spirit. They don't know
God. God sends his messengers to preach
his message. It's not our message. We're not
to give our dreams and our interpretations or anything else, but the word
of the cross. And there's a message there.
What does God say in the word of the cross? God is holy. God is just, God is merciful,
God is love. But my text is chapter two, so.
But God is saying God is holy, God is just, God must punish
sin wherever sin is found. And when the sin of his people,
when he, when the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for us. who
knew no sin, the wrath of God fell on his son. Anybody doesn't
believe God will punish sin? I heard this just the other day.
God is a God of love. He will not send anybody to hell.
You haven't heard the message of the cross. God is going to
punish sin wherever sin is found. And when sin, when the Lord Jesus
Christ was made sin, the wrath of God fell on him. I will be
found in him. As our brother said, when Christ
died, that's my only hope, that I die. That there is now no condemnation. Judgment is passed. I'm standing
on burnt ground. Is that good English? I don't
know. The message of the cross, it says it's foolishness of them
that perish, but to them that are saved is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And I
will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish to the wisdom of this world?
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. Bless God it pleased
God. Because man cannot find out God. Man is not going to stumble upon
God. Men are trying to find out who
God is. Find out the origin of the universe.
They're not going to find it out. God is revealed. He reveals himself. And the person
who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is wiser than all these
astronomers trying to find out the origin of the universe, the
origin of life. In the beginning, God. And man
cannot know God apart from the work, the person and work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased God by the foolishness
of what people call foolishness. Men in this world, men and women
in this world, account this foolishness. But you who know the Lord Jesus
Christ, it's food to you. You rejoice. It's foolishness
to the world. Especially because you keep hearing
the same thing. We've heard people say, I already
heard that. Well, I can't get enough. Keep saying it. Foolishness
of them that perish. After in the wisdom of God, the
world by wisdom knew not God. Cannot stumble upon, cannot find
God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that bleed. For the Jews require a
sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified. The person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm getting to that. That's in
chapter two. Unto the Jews a stumbling block
and unto the Greeks foolishness. But of them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than man and the weakness of God is stronger than man.
For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. 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 the base things of the world,
and the things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and the
things which are not, to bring to naught the things that are,
that no flesh should glory in his presence." Apostle Paul is
saying this, you're saying I'm of Paul, I'm of Paulus, I'm of
Cephas, you're glorying in flesh. Notice it says in verse 30, but
of him are you in Christ Jesus. You didn't believe because you
heard Paul preach the gospel. You believe because God put you
in Christ Jesus, in election. God loved you with an everlasting
love. That's why you believe. He gave you life. But of Him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. There's another
message. He's made unto us all, all that
God requires. We're complete in Him. of him
are you in Christ. You see how it's very foolish
and very silly for man to glory in man. And the example that
I have given before is of a table or this podium here. Instruments were used to make
this podium. Hammer, nails, planer, sander. And you imagine these
tools over here on the side, and what if the table could talk?
And this part of the table said, I am of the hammer. And this
part of the table said, well, no, I'm of the planer. You think,
well, that's pretty silly. Well, that's just how silly it
is for men to glory in flesh. Because it's of God. You would
say at this table, no, it's not because of the hammer. The carpenter
puts you in the table. He's the one that chose you.
He's the one that planed you. He's the one that formed you.
He's the one that fits you. And he's the one that puts you
in there on purpose. That's a delight. Of God are
you in Christ Jesus? He's the one that chose you.
He's the one that gave you to Christ, formed you. He's the
one that redeemed you. And Christ has made us wisdom,
the wisdom to know God. Righteousness, to know that he
is all our righteousness. There is no other righteousness.
He established perfect righteousness. Sanctification, in Christ Jesus
I am holy. He put away my sins and I stand
in him perfect. By one sacrifice he has made
perfect forever, them that are sanctified. And redemption, oh,
not only is salvation in this world, but bless God, we wait
for that redemption of our body. One day we're gonna see the Lord,
like Job said, I'm gonna see him with these eyes and not another. body like him. And now, chapter
two, that was an introduction. Here it says, and I, brethren,
remember what he's saying. Don't glory in flesh. You didn't
grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ because
you heard Apollos. And God doesn't bless our eloquence. And I'm not eloquent, but God
doesn't bless rhetoric. God blesses his word. And when God sends a messenger, we
better listen to that messenger, whoever that messenger may be.
He may be an Apollos or he may be a Peter, uneducated. Paul was an educated man, but
Paul said on purpose, sorry, on purpose. I did not use any
of this education stuff. There are people that will not
hear me. And if I'm sent of God, and I believe
the Lord sent me, they better listen. Not for who I am, I'm
nobody. But if God sends a man, they
better listen to him. It may be the only man God sends
him. He says, And I, brethren, when
I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. What is my message? My message is the testimony of
this is God's word. If you don't believe a man, that's
may or may not have some consequence, but it doesn't have long lasting
consequences anyway. But if you don't believe God.
There is no hope. There is no hope if you don't
believe God. This is the testimony of God.
The testimony of God is concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle
Paul said this is the testimony, the witness that God gave. This is the gospel of God that
he witnessed from the beginning. In Romans chapter one, Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be apostle, separated unto
the gospel of God. This is his gospel, gospel given
to us. It didn't start in time. This
is the gospel from eternity. This is God's gospel from eternity.
It was revealed in time, but this is eternal, eternal gospel. In other words, God didn't wait
till man to fall for him to devise a plan. There was a savior before
there was ever a sinner. He's the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. The says the gospel of God, which
he had promised to for by his prophets and the Holy Scriptures
concerning his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, our
Lord, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh
and declared to be the son of God with power, according to
the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. I
came to you testifying of the testimony of God. In chapter
one, he said, it's the word of the cross. In chapter one, he
said, this is the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This
is the testimony. Jesus Christ, He is the whole
counsel of God. The whole counsel of God. The
Apostle Paul warns the believers, he says, don't be entangled.
Don't be entangled. Don't be deceived. Don't go after
strange message. In Christ, you're complete. Don't
listen to philosophers. Don't listen to the wisdom of
this world. Don't listen to traditions of
men or religion. In Christ, you're complete. He's
the whole testimony, the counsel of God. Notice, and here's the
title of the message for I determined. Here's what the Apostle Paul
said, I determined. I on purpose, I determined this. And you know, it takes determination. Because we're so prone to get
sidetracked. And I'll give you an example.
And this is me, and this is everyone in here. We're so prone to get
sidetracked from speaking of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
He's the whole counsel. How many times have you been
in a service and you're just blessed by the word, and you
walk out and you talk about silly things? You talk about I don't
want to get on anybody, but I had to get on myself. Talk about
camping or fishing or some other thing. You get sidetracked. The Apostle Paul said, I determined
to know nothing among you. In other words, when he came
preaching the gospel in Corinth, there were these people that
thought that they were really wise. And he said, I didn't come to
you catering to your economical, so they're people that only want
to preach to certain people. The gospel is for rich, poor,
old, young, children. Gospel's for everyone. Gospel's
for, I didn't come to you catering to certain people. I determined
to know nothing among you. Are they wise among you? That
doesn't mean anything. I want to know this. Do you know
who Jesus is? Now, I tremble to say it. Man, preach a false Jesus. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. But do you know who that man
is? I want to know, do you know that he is God? I want to know
that you know that he is God Almighty, because if you do not
know Jesus of Nazareth to be the God, there's no other God
beside him. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. If you don't know him as God,
you don't know God. And that Jesus that is being
preached, who is impotent, that tries, to do, tries to save,
has done all that he can do, and now must depend on you to
believe in order for him to execute his will, is not the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Apostle Paul is saying, I
want to know this. I determined to know nothing
among you. I want to know this. Do you know that Jesus Christ
is God? He's God. A young girl came to
me several years ago. She's 18 now, it's been a while.
And a little 12 year old girl. And after the service, I was
already outside. Those of you that have been to
Medellin know we have a gate outside. So I was locking up
and I was already outside. And she came up to me, she waited,
she came up to me, she said, I wanna be baptized. Well, I
asked people that want to be baptized, why do you want to
be baptized? That's a simple question. I don't want to know
a lot of that. I want to know why do you want
to be baptized? And she said, I heard that Jesus
is God. We'll be ready next week. That's from a 12 year old girl. She's a delightful, delightful
sister. But you know, it's not how much
you know, it's who you know. Do you know that Jesus, if he
is not God, he cannot satisfy God's demands. Only God can satisfy
God. Bless God, what God requires
of you and I, God has provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
what God provides, God accepts. Do you know that he is God? The
word in the beginning was the word and the word was with God
and the word was God. That word was made flesh. Do
you know him as true man? Do you know that he is truly
a man? This is great mystery. Explain
that to me. No way. I don't understand it
myself. But it's a great mystery. God
was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
If he is not man, brother, he can't be our Redeemer. He became bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh. Now, in the Old Testament, The
eternal Son of God appeared in the likeness of man when it's
called theophanies, but he appeared in the likeness of man when he
appeared to Manoah, when he appeared to Abram. Abraham, when he had
appeared to, you remember the angel of the Lord that wrestled
with Jacob? And then he said, you're no longer
gonna be called surplanter, cheat. You're gonna be called Israel.
He blessed him. Only God could give a new heart. Only God could make a man live. Well, he appeared as a man, he's
the angel of the Lord, the eternal son of God. But in that, he could
not redeem us as God. He has to be man. The law was
placed upon man. Do you know that the Lord Jesus
Christ, why he came into the world? In the fullness of time,
God sent his son made under the law. Made under the law that
he might redeem. He might be our kinsman redeemer.
He has the right to redeem. Bless God, he has wherewith to
redeem and he has the will to redeem. The will to redeem. Do you know? This is what I want
to know. Anything else, it's just not worth knowing. I mean,
we all have troubles. We all have trials. Do we not?
In this world, we have tribulations. And I know, I look out and I
see you have troubles, you have trials. You have doubts and fears
and so do I. But Jesus Christ, do you know
him? Do you know he's God? Do you
know he's man? Do you know why he came? Do you
know this? This is what I determined to
know among you. Do you know Jesus Christ? Do you know his work? Do you know that he is the prophet,
priest, and king? Unless you know that Jesus is
the Christ, he is the fulfillment of all that God promised of the
Messiah in the Old Testament. He is the fulfillment of every
type, picture, and shadow in the Old Testament. He is the
Christ. And as a Christ, he is the prophet
of God, like Moses. He is the priest, like Melchizedek. And he is king, made king with
an eternal oath. The Lord Jesus Christ is He is
the Christ. He is the Messiah. And as our
prophet, he's the one that declares God to us. I love Hebrews 1. It so reminds me of the solitude
and the holiness of God. God. What could you know about God
unless God tells you? What could you know about God
except God opens his mouth and tells you? God. He didn't need us. He's holy, blessed forever. He
doesn't need man. God who at sundry times in diverse
manners spoke. have in these last times spoken
unto us by his son, in his son. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
revelation of the invisible God. You cannot know God apart from
knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only God that will be
seen in glory is the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know he is the
prophet that declares the will of God, declares the will. I've come to declare, I've given
him your word. He said, I don't know how to
speak in my words. I'm speaking the words that God
the Father gave me to say. He is the prophet. He has faithfully
told out God. No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom, has declared
Him. To see Him is to see God. Have
I been so long with you, Philip? And you have not known me. If
you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Do you know he's the
priest? You and I, all men by nature,
but his children went away. Enmity. Enemies of God in our
minds, in our actions. Enemies. And we need to be reconciled. A sacrifice must be made. But
you don't take it on yourself to be a priest. No man takes
it on himself to be a preacher, to be a priest. God made him
to be a priest. God said, thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. And he, as a priest, he offered
to God the perfect sacrifice, his blood on the cross. And,
you know, his sacrifice, what gives value to the Lord Jesus
Christ's sacrifice is whose blood that is. It's the blood of God,
the blood of God. He offered the his sacrifice
of his blood on the altar of his deity. He's God and God is
satisfied. We have that testimony. God is
satisfied. You quoted that earlier. God
raised him from the dead. God declared him to be the son
of God by raising him from the dead. He is our priest. And he's gone in, he's offered
the sacrifice, he's satisfied God, and do you know that? Do
you know that he's made payment for all our sins? Do you know
that? People think, by nature, that salvation is a collaboration,
a contribution. You know, Christ paid for our
sins, And now we're going to collaborate, contribute. That is works. That is works. Mark it down. And listen, there's
this story about progressive sanctification. In Christ, we're
perfect. Anybody that talks about progressive
sanctification, what they're talking about is the law. Going
back to the law, it's the only way they can measure it. Going
back to the law, I stopped doing this, I started doing this. No,
in Christ Jesus, he, with one offering, made perfect forever
them that are sanctified. He said, in the volume of the
book it is written, I come to do thy will, O God, in that will. We are sanctified. We're sanctified. We're made holy, righteous, perfect
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know him as that priest? Do you know him as king? Do you
know that he is the Lord Jesus Christ? You know that no man
knows him who calls him with that flippant familiarity. He
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Even when I read in the scriptures,
when you read in the scriptures, Jesus, he was like, wait a minute,
I need to say Lord Jesus, because that's who he is. He is the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is what I determined to
know. And I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling and
my speech and my preaching was not saying the same thing. I'm not trying to use enticing
words. I'm trying, I'm bringing the
word of God, the testament. It is wisdom. It's the wisdom
of God. Christ Jesus is the wisdom of
God. My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of minds wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and power. Oh, how we need the demonstration
of the spirit and power. God, a person could preach the truth,
but unless the Spirit of God blesses it, it's of no avail. How we are dependent. Preaching
in the power of the Holy Spirit is asking, asking the Lord to
bless his word, to depend on him. to depend on Him to make
it effectual in the people who hear. That is preaching in the
power. It's not doing a bunch of jumping
and dancing and hollering, hooping, hollering. It's preaching depending
on the Holy Spirit to bless His Word to His people. Asking the
Lord, Lord, bless Your Word. Don't leave me to myself. That's
preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit. and demonstration
of the Holy Spirit, God gives life. When I came to you preaching
this message, God gave you life. You didn't believe before, and
then all of a sudden, it surprised you. Wait a minute. I believe
this. I believe God has done something
for me. I can't explain it. I don't know when it happened.
That's just like Regeneration, people like to trace back when
it was they were saved. But you don't know when you were
first came into this world, when you first, you can't trace the
back when you were in your mother's womb. That's when you first had
existence. It was nine months later that it came forth and
there you start crying. But God gives life. God gives life, and then one
day we think, I believe this. Before, I couldn't stand it.
Couldn't wait for that man to shut up. And now, I can't get
enough. I want to come back. and power. This is the message that God
uses to save His people. It says here, that's your faith.
You see, God's people believe God. We have faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our faith is placed on the object
of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith doesn't save us. We're
saved by the faith of Jesus Christ. The faith of him. He, as a man,
believed God. Mystery of mysteries. Him being
God, as a man, he believed God. You know, you believe God, but
you always have doubts and fears. What's that? Unbelief. Doubts
and fears are unbelief. Mistrusting. The Lord Jesus Christ
never. Oh, how beautiful that faith.
That's the author and finisher of our faith. And it's his faithfulness. That is the righteousness of
God. That is the righteousness of God. And bless God, all those
that believe God and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, believe
on him. Where's your faith based on?
not in the Apostle Paul. See, if a man comes teaching
you one thing and he's a pretty good talker and that's all you
learned it from a man, another man can come behind him that's
a pretty good talker and talk you out of it. Is that so? Have
you ever been talked into buying something you thought, well,
that's pretty good deal. Somebody talks you into something. And
then somebody else come back. Whoa, I did a bad mistake. But
you say what it was that I didn't want that in the first place,
but you walked out of there. That's what these people are
doing. They're just trying to convince people I don't. I want
God to use his word and convince, I want you to know Christ. I want you to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want to know that he is your
all and in all. That's what we do. And that's
what I did when I came preaching. And that's what the Apostle Paul
says, that's what made you believe. I used that wrong. That's how
you believe. That's how you believe. I didn't
come with enticing words. I determined to know nothing
among you, save the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that you may trust and believe in him. Those are the ones that
are saved. Brethren, I've enjoyed being
here and may the Lord bless his word to you, to every one of
us.