Well, I hope every person in
this room, if not now, will someday be able to sing from your heart,
say from your heart, Our help ages past. Psalm 90 is where
that's taken from. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling
place from all generations. In Him we live and move and have
our being. Like Nathanael, whence knowest thou me? How do you know
me? Where do you know me? Oh, the Lord said, I knew you
before the world began. Whom He did foreknow, He did
predestinate. Oh God! May everyone in this
room at some point be able to say, Oh God, my help in ages
past and my hope for years to come. 1 Corinthians chapter 1
is a continuation of last Sunday on the cross. And I had to because
one of the ladies, one of you ladies, came up, obviously, We're
rejoicing in the message with tears. Rejoicing with tears,
one of you ladies. And said, oh, why don't you continue
that Wednesday? And I intended to, but Psalm
133 came instead. But here it is. Here it is. Let's read it. 1 Corinthians
10, verses 20 through 31. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Or 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. Jews require
a sign. 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. Because the foolishness of God,
or that is what men call foolishness, is wiser than men. And the weakness
of God, what they think is weak, is stronger than men. You see,
your calling, brethren," he's talking to the called. He's talking
to those called to be saints, remember? You see, your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world. Things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, things which are not, to bring to naught
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him, of God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord." Do you see my dilemma? Which
do I preach on? Verse 30, Wednesday, or John
1, that last verse? God tells us here in this chapter
what true wisdom is. He tells us who a true wise person
is and who is a fool. And let God be true. Not every
man a liar. This is God's Word. He says in
verse 18, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish,
unbelievers, scoffers, mockers, foolishness. But unto us which
are saved, the power of God. Preaching of the cross. The cross.
The cross. We heard it, didn't we? Holy
God. A sinful creature. A rebel. Deserving to be destroyed. Sovereign judge who will punish
them. But God, in great mercy and love
and grace, became flesh to be a substitute for such unworthy
creatures. The preaching of the cross, he
said, is the power of God. Verse 24 says, unto Jews and
Greeks, The religious, intellectuals, whoever, Christ, those that are
called, He's the power of God and the wisdom of God. Preaching
of Christ and Him crucified. Verse 19, he says, It is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. That's what Mac read
in Isaiah 29. He said, I'm going to proceed
to do a work before you, a marvelous work. I'm going to bring the
The wisdom of the wise to nothing. I'm going to destroy the wisdom
of the wise. I'm going to bring it to nothing.
The prudent. The wise and the prudent. I will
destroy all that they believe, all that they trust, and I will
make it all to be nothing. I will make it all come to nothing.
It doesn't matter what they do, what they say, what they think.
I'm going to bring it to nothing. Because it's vanity. It's all
vanity. One person and one thing is not
vanity. I will destroy. Look at Luke
chapter 10 with me. Luke chapter 10. This is powerful. One time, well, look at it. Luke 10 verse 21. The disciples whom he had just
sent out, 70 of them, they're just common, ordinary, Nobodies. Working class. Nobodies. A bunch of nobodies the Lord
sent out to preach the gospel. And it says the devils were subject
unto them through Christ's name. Power. In verse 21, In that hour
Jesus rejoiced in spirit, I believe He laughed, and said, I thank
Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid
these things from the wise and the prudent. and has revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father, so it seemed
good in thy sight." Look at this, and the margin says, some ancient
copies say he turned to his disciples and said, all things are delivered
to me. All things are delivered to me
of my Father, and no man knoweth Who the Father is but the Son,
and He to whom the Son will reveal Him." The world, by wisdom, doesn't
know God, cannot know God, unless God reveals Himself in
the wisdom of God. That's the wisdom of God. He
said, I'm going to bring all their wisdom to foolishness,
show it what it really is. Verse 20, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Bring him
on, Paul said. Paul was a brilliant man. Paul
was a brilliant man in many areas. But the Lord made him truly wise
in the Scriptures, perhaps more than any man ever in New Testament
time. And he said, where is the wife?
Where is the scribe, the scholar? Bring him on. Bring him on. Paul
disputed daily in a school of one called Tyrannus. He disputed
in that school with all those, God, one man alone? Like Martin
Luther, oh Lord, he was a brilliant man. But he said, where is the
scribe? Where is this, the wise? Where is the disputer
of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Huh? You know, it was so then and
it's so now. And I ask the question, where
is the truly wise of this world? Would you show me somebody in
this world? Name somebody in this world that's
truly wise as God says he's wise. Wise unto salvation. Wise toward
God. Would you tell me one person?
Would you give me one single modern-day ruler leader or person highly esteemed among
men. That's wise. Now listen, I'm
not dismissing the gifts of so many, and that's what they are,
gifts. What do we have we have not received?
By the grace of God, a gift, we are what we are. Anybody knows
anything, can do anything, Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom. Let not the beautiful woman in her beauty. Let not
the strong man in his strength. It's all given. Here's a fool
who thinks that they just attained that. Who thinks that they got
it of their own volition. They got it of heritage. Now
there are many who pursue the study of various subjects and
becoming knowledgeable of certain things. that enable them to know
chemistry, anatomies, how to perform surgery, astronomy, physics,
and so on and so forth. And I'm glad and I'm thankful.
The Lord says in one scripture, God put the world in their heart. Why? That they might subdue it
and do things to accomplish things. Why? For God's people. That's it. For God's people. to accomplish things for the
good of His people. But wise? Oh, no. Knowing certain facts of certain
things and subjects and being able to do this and do that and
knowing this and that and the other is not wisdom that the
Lord is speaking of you. To be wise in heart? Do you know
anybody that's wise in heart? Wise in righteous judgment? True discernment? Wise toward God? Truly like Jesus? Who is wisdom? Do you know anybody out there
other than a believer who is like Jesus Christ? If it were so, well, here's the
foolishness. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world of preaching God, in the foolishness of preaching
what men call what I'm doing right now, who I am, they call
my occupation is the least disdained, the most unnecessary, the most
foolish thing on earth. Alright, here's wisdom. And I'll
tell you just how foolish people are. The God in whose hands our
breath is, don't glorify Him. Boy, that's foolish, isn't it? The one who holds your next breath.
I have no fear of God before their eyes. Oh, that's foolish,
isn't it? The fool hath said. It doesn't matter if he's a doctor,
a lawyer, a surgeon, an anatomist, a physicist. He's a fool if he
said there's no God. There's no God. How foolish. How foolish. What's the beginning
of wisdom? Somebody, one word. What's the
beginning of wisdom? The fear. The fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord. If somebody
doesn't fear the Lord, they're a fool. Fool. Fool. No fear? Isn't it a fool
who doesn't seek God, the highest? Knowledge there is to know, is
to know God and not seek Him. Our Lord said He looked down
from heaven. This is what God said. To see if there were any
that did understand. This is wisdom. Any that did
seek God, He said, there's none. There's none. Not until He says, seek Me. Not
until He says, understand. Understand that I am He. Don't call anybody. There's no
why. This is what this says. There's
none why. Where's the why's? Where are they? I'll tell you
where they are. They're right here in this room. They're in Fairmont in a little
stone building up in the mountains. The world says, can anything
good come out of Fairmont? Come and see the power of God
and the wisdom of God. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Let's take creation for example.
Creation itself, the wisdom of God and the power of God, makes
evolution to be utterly nonsense. Come on now, who's wise that
says that this complex, wonderful, amazing, glorious, intricately
made universe, everything is so tied
together, just bang! What an idiot! I'm going to say
that. That's what God says. They're
fools. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day, utter speech. Night
unto night, knowledge. There's no language where this
voice is not heard. They clearly see, without excuse,
the surgeon and all his knowledge of the anatomy. And thank God
he knows something about anatomy. They didn't know anything about
God. He's not wise. He's opening up this body that
David said. Wise man. David, who couldn't
perform surgery, but he could operate on the heart. David said,
I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. David saw wound after wound
after wound from wars and so forth, battles and all that.
And that the body, the healing power of it, it just happens.
Aren't we lucky? Fools that said, no, God. God's
creation makes foolish this notion that it all just happened. They
say, John, it all came out of some ethereal slime. A puddle of muck. That's what's in their heads.
Muck. The only reason we're not there
is because God reveals. And no man knoweth the Father,
but the Son, or the Son, but the Father. No man knoweth God
until I reveal Him. And He reveals His to you, and
you say, well, I was a fool. Everybody's a fool. We're all
a bunch of fools. Let God be true, and every man
a liar. Hath not God made foolish? You know, the heavens declare
His glory, and Romans 1 says the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven. All the time. It keeps coming down from heaven.
It keeps coming down from heaven. Wrath of God. Floods, hurricanes,
tornadoes, earthquakes, drought, drought, drought, drought. Drought
has always been the judgment of God. Drought has always been
the judgment of God. Do men stop and say, Rain. And they've been trying to make
rain for years. They've been trying to seed the
cloud. Trying to do this. Science thinks someday we're
going to figure out a way to make it rain. No, you're not.
No, you're not. You can't do it. It looks like somebody would
say, oh, this water that we depend on just comes out of the sky. Isn't it amazing? Water. Our life depends on it. It looks
like somebody is saying, where did it really come from? Why
does this happen? Oh God, please send rain. Isaiah 1, our Lord said, why
should you be stricken? He keeps sending wrath and judgment. He said, why should you be stricken?
You just revolt more and more. He says, the ox knows his owner.
The ass knows his master's crib. He's man-wise. He's a fool. My
people don't know and they don't consider. Revelation 16. Bonnie, where
are you? I was looking for that verse.
The verse I was looking for is in Revelation 16. It says, He
sent an angel to scorch men with heat and they blasphemed His
name. They didn't repent to give Him
glory. Burn them up with the sun. Flood them with water. They didn't repent. They blasphemed.
Blasphemed. Blasphemy. Look, here's wisdom. Oh Lord. Have mercy on us. Now there's nothing, verse
21, after 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. Most everyone in this
room believes that what I'm preaching right now is the truth. Believe
what we're reading here is absolutely the Word of God, the truth of
God. You've felt its power. And you've known something of its
wisdom, its glory, and you marvel at the wisdom of it. Yet there's
nothing on earth more foolish than preaching and preachers.
And if you'll notice how that Hollywood depicts preachers whenever
they're on TV or whatever, you notice how they're depicted.
Mealy-mouthed, ridiculous, foolish fellows on earth. Nobody pays
any attention to them. That wasn't so of Isaiah. That
wasn't so of John the Baptist. That wasn't so of Ezekiel. That
wasn't so of Daniel. And it's not so of his true people
today. People like Paul, people like
Stephen says they couldn't resist his wisdom. And men raised up
by the Lord like Luther, nobody could stand up to it. Wisest
men on earth, so-called. Calvin, Edwards, Jonathan Edwards,
John Newton, Toplady, Matt and Romaine, call them, Mahan, Richardson,
old coal miner. Oh, that man had profound wisdom. True men taught of God, sent
by God, with the message of God, the power and the wisdom of God.
God's people hear them, and they're smitten, they're changed, got
a new heart, and they glorify God. Please God, by the foolishness
of preaching. It's a humbling thing to have
to sit under a fisherman or a coal miner or an old railroader. It's
a humbling thing. We sure need a lot of humbling. It's just
not the wise that are called, not me. Isaiah 29, he said, did you notice
who he revealed the gospel to in Isaiah 29? The blind, the
deaf, the meek, and the poor. That's who was described in Isaiah
29. Not many wise, not many noble. Verse 22, the Jews require a
sign. Religious people want to see
a sign. That's today, same as it was then. The Jews, remember,
came to our Lord and said, Moses gave us bread from heaven. You
show us a sign, we'll believe you're the Christ. He said, Moses
didn't give you that bread. And he didn't produce bread for
them. He didn't show it. He didn't any signs of miracle.
But that's not what saves. He said, I am the bread. You see that? You see that? Irene,
don't you? He's the bread, true bread. The
Jews said that they thought he was just a man. He has to be
a man. They didn't see the wisdom of
it. I said, you're just a man. He
had to be a man in the wisdom of God and the power of God to
live as a man. Oh my! The Jews saw him crucified
on the cross in weakness. He's weak. Oh, the weakness of
God. He's stronger than man hanging
on that cross. Crucified. Saved the fellow beside
Him. Not just him. Everybody who became
saved. Hanging there in weakness. Oh,
the power of God. Are you with me? Weakened. That Jew said, now, our Christ
isn't coming to die. Our Christ is coming to live.
Oh, He came to... He's living alright. But he came
to die in the power of God, in the wisdom of God. And he's living
right now, alright. The old rain in ruling. The Jews. The Greeks said, oh, we don't
believe all this foolishness of substitution and all that.
Same today. Intellects, educated people say,
and it's just about the majority. This whole gospel substitution,
we don't need that. Show us some philosophical reasons
why we should. Tell us about love and mercy
and kindness and generosity and how we can be like Jesus and
philosophical faith and all that. It's not just blood. It's blood. It's an angry God. Punishing his son on a cross
in the place of people that he judged. Oh, I don't like that. That's
not good. We don't need that. We're above
that. We're civilized. We're educated. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became what? Look at verse 23, but we preach
Christ crucified. Is that what you're going to
preach again, preacher? What else is there? Huh? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? Do you think that this is all
I know? I read as much as the next man. But Paul said in the next chapter,
Paul, who was the most brilliant man on earth at the time, maybe
ever, said, I'm determined to know nothing among you. Corinth
was just like modern America or wherever, western world, full
of the arts and crafts and philosophy and politics and science and
technology and sports, consumed with sports. Greece. Greece. Consumed just like this modern
world. Paul came there and said, I'm
not going to talk to you with words of wisdom, make the cross
of Christ of no effect. I'm not going to dispute with
you about politics and this and that. He said, I'm determined
to know nothing among you save one thing. This is the power
of God, the glory of God, the wisdom of God, the theme of the
Bible, the Scripture of God. This is the center of the universe,
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Greeks, the Corinthians.
Who is this vain babbler? What's this all about? Who cares?
Get him out of here. Let's hear Plato. Let's hear
Aristotle. But unto them which are called, verse
24, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Would you bear with me a little
bit? Christ, the power of God. Listen to it. The power of His
person, the power of His gospel, the wisdom of His person, the
power of His gospel, the wisdom of His gospel, the power and
the wisdom. of preaching Him. Here's His
power, His person, something of Him. His creative power. Our
Lord Jesus Christ is He who made this universe. That man who walked
this planet made this planet that He walked on. All things
were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. You want power? Christ is the
power of God. He spoke it in existence. Let
there be light. And there was light. Yes, Jesus.
No, no, he's just Jesus. No, he's not. His authority, his powerful authoritative
person. He had absolute power even as
a man over the elements, the winds, the waves obeyed his will. Had absolute power over men.
Would do with them what he would, as the rivers of water would
turn their heart with it, so ever he would. Absolute power
over devils. He said, get in those pigs. His voice, no man spake like
this man. He had the power to raise the
dead, heal the blind, heal the lame. Power of this person. In the
garden, one last display of His power before He let them take
Him, which God determined before to be done. Let them take Him. One last display of His absolute
power over everyone and everything. He said, Whom seek ye? They said,
Jesus. He said, I am. And they all fell
backward and laid on the ground. Now take a minute. The power of His person. The
wisdom of His person. Creation, as we said, the wisest,
most wonderful display of God's wisdom. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it amazing? Huh? creative
in his wisdom and the way he did things, but his redemptive
glory, the wisdom of his redemption is the greatest wisdom of all,
the gospel. John Luton called it the genius
of the gospel. Nothing has ever been devised,
nothing has ever been purposed or brought together or architected
like the gospel. Those of you who know something
about it, Know the wonder and amazement of it, the genius of
it, the wisdom of it, how God can be just and justify. His mind, oh my! As a 12-year-old boy, he was
mystifying and baffling scholars and lawyers. Just as a 12-year-old
boy, let alone a 30-year-old man. They came to him, they sent
doctors, they sent lawyers, they sent their best, wisest men of
that day, their most knowledgeable, most educated men of that day
to ask him, to try to trip him up, to try to ask him any question
they could to stump him. And when it was all over, they
were all... So they were amazed by his wisdom.
Where did this man get this wisdom? He's God. You can't stop God. Oh, his power of his person, his
wisdom of his person. Oh my, and the gospel of Christ.
We're talking about Christ, the power of God. We're talking about
the preaching of Christ crucified. The gospel of Christ is the power
of God. It has power in itself. What
I'm doing right now, there's power if God uses it. Well, He
always does. He always makes manifest the
savor of His knowledge by us in every place. The Lord never
returns void. It accomplishes what He sends
it to. This is incorruptible seed, whether it does anything
in here or not. And it does. But somehow, someway,
God's going to use it. That's why He said, preach. Can
these dead bones live? Only one way. The gospel of Christ
is the power of God in itself. Intrinsically, it has power in
itself. How was the gospel spread? Christ came bringing the gospel.
Long before that, but he came preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
And this gospel was spread over all the world. The power of it
was felt over the whole world. How was it spread? Who spread
it? Doctors? Lawyers? Huh? The noblemen of
the day? The wives? The politicians? Did
the king make a decree, let's spread it everywhere? Fishermen! Fishermen! If you're going to
spread some news, you don't pick an illiterate, uneducated fella
to go out with the message. Christ did. Revealing his power. Spread everywhere. And they couldn't
stop it. Why? Power. Spread everywhere, by fishermen.
It wasn't spread by force. It wasn't spread by war. It wasn't
spread by the arrow, by the arms. No. What? How was it spread? Preaching! An old fellow like Stephen or
Philip, nobody, stand up and just preach. What I'm doing now
before everybody, and stand back and watch the power of God work.
Who did this? And it spread like wildfire, until it covered the world. Here
it is, right here. What kind of gospel was it? Was
it pleasing to the flesh? I can understand it spreading
and people receiving if it's pleasing. I can understand everybody
receiving it if it's pleasing to the flesh, if it promises
riches and glory and honor of the world, if it promises licentiousness
and lust like Mormonism does, like Mohammedism does. Mohammedism,
it promised you seven virgins. I can understand people laying
down their lives for that, but no, it's the opposite. It's the
opposite of all that. It's offensive to the flesh.
It's a gospel that's offensive to man, offensive to his wisdom,
offensive to his righteousness, offensive to himself. The fence
of the cross, it doesn't allow sin, it punishes sin, it condemns
sin. It's offensive to human nature,
yet it's spread like wildfire. Why? Power. This is the power of God on salvation. That's how you know it's of God. Against all the opposition men
had against it, could rally against it, against all of the opposition,
oh, how much blood was shed by the martyrs. Someone said that
the sea on which the believers float in the ship of the gospel
is the blood of the martyrs. The gospel has stood against
all opposition that has been leveled against it. The gospel
is the power of God against all the apostasy in the world, all
the false prophets, all the deceivers. Do you know how many so-called
preachers there are today? Mostly false preachers, and yet
the gospel is still the power of God. Oh, and the power of the gospel,
God's gospel in the lives of people. Myriads, myriads of people
attest to its power, life-giving, life-changing power. The gospel wisdom, the wisdom
of the gospel. If these so-called scholars would
just bother to study it, Some of you in here have some
degree of some sort in some field, electrical or civil engineer
or music or whatever it may be. Can you tell me of a subject? deeper, more wise and more glorious
than this gospel? How much of this do you understand?
Huh? There's a lady right back there
with a master's degree. Would you tell me what you know about
How much do you know about God after all these years of studying
Him? About Christ? About the truth? It's deep in
you. It's past finding out. This is
the most wisest, most glorious, most wonderful subject in all
the world. And if men would just bother
to look into it. That's depravity. That's depravity. I read Romans 1. I hate God. Made up all sorts of things.
There's understanding darkened. Oh, the gospel, the wisdom of
it. If studied, if the Greek would study it, if the Jew wants
a sign, oh, there's plenty of signs. Plenty of signs. Christ himself is the most wonderful
sign of all. If the Greek wants wisdom, oh,
just listen to one word. Every now and then, our Lord
will utter just three words and we're just dumbstruck. Aren't
we? Three words! Dumbstruck with
the wisdom of it. They want wisdom? Oh, the book of God. Oh, I've
got to quit. God's Word, 66 books, about 40
different authors, most of them who didn't know one another.
written in an old obscure language, Hebrew, that very few people
speak today. And this book is over 3,500 years
old. The last entry into the book
was well over 2,000 years ago. It all tells the same exact intricate
story. It's all tied together. What
Moses said ties together with Paul, like an intricate woven
tapestry. To the world, it has no logic,
no unity at all. But to the believer, it's a glorious
picture. Christ, the power of God, the
wisdom of God. Why do you believe? Well, look
at verse 26. You see your calling, brother? Not many wise men at the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called. You see, you're calling.
Oh my, the saints sanctified, set apart. Christ said to His
disciples, no man knoweth the Father but the Son, neither knoweth
any man the Son but the Father. I found you. I called you. I came to die for you. I came
for you. And the only reason you know
me is because I knew you. It must be me. It must be me. He must be talking to me. I know
who he is. He must be talking to me because
I've heard, I've seen something of his power and his glory and
his wisdom. I've heard his voice. I follow
him. I don't follow any man except
a man who follows Christ. You see your calling, brethren?
Not many wise? It doesn't say not any, you know,
there's some wise and mighty and noble, but you know what? After they hear the gospel, they'll
say, I'm not wise. Oh, I'm not mighty. I'm weak. They'll say, I'm sure not noble.
But He hath made me a king and a priest and a God. Look at verse 27. I'll close. God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the mighty, and the base things
of the world, things which are despised, hath God chosen, things
that are not, to bring to naught, things that are, that no flesh
should glory if it is present. I'll never forget when I first
read Isaiah 23.9. that the Lord of Hosts had purposed
it to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt
all the honorable of the earth. Let me quote it to you again.
Isaiah 23 and 9. The Lord of Hosts had purposed
it. John, he said, I purposed it. I'll do it. The Lord of Hosts
had purposed it. To stain the pride of all glory,
whatever men glory in, it's vain glory. He's going to stain the pride
of it. He that exalted himself, base. And to bring into contempt
all the honorable of the earth, honorable people, that which
is highly esteemed among men, that no flesh should glory in
His presence. And he that glorieth. You want a glory in something?
Paul said, God forbid, and only somebody who has heard this Gospel
felt the power of the cross can say this, God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ by whom I am
crucified in the world. I don't care what the world thinks
about me said. And I don't care what the world is saying and
thinking. Where is the wise? Where are they? I'll show you
wisdom. I'll show you power. Well, let's sing in closing.
I sing the mighty power of God, number 27. Number 27 in closing. Number 27. We don't sing it very
often, but it goes well. Thank you.