1 Corinthians chapter 1, 17 through
verse 25. Now, you'll notice in verse 17
that it's relevant to what he said before by the word for,
but we'll save time and begin here in verse 17. For Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with the
wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none
effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and 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 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. For the Jews
require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach
Christ crucified under the Jews a stumbling block and under the
Greeks foolishness. Now pause there a minute. I want
you to notice those two things, stumbling block and foolishness,
because we're coming back to that. But under 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
men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now, there
can be no denying that the church at Corinth, we have two epistles
in the New Testament under them. And it was raised up under the
ministry of the Apostle Paul. You have the record of that in
the 18th chapter of the book of Acts. But this church, needless
to say, had a lot of problems. And as one put it, certain evils
had broken out among them. And Paul, upon hearing about
the trouble and the evil and the defections in the church
at Corinth, wrote unto them not one, but two epistles, in order
that he might correct their thinking, and that he might straighten
them out, that he might rebuke them, give them instruction upon
those matters. I thought it might be profitable
if we might very quickly mention the problem that plagued the
church that was at Corinth. Number one problem, and the one
that Paul takes up first, is that mentioning the schism that
had arisen among them over their ministers, and that begins in
chapter 1, And he carries the subject all the way through chapter
four, coming back to it and around to it again and again. Secondly, in the fifth chapter,
we notice that the church at Corinth had tolerated a case
incestuous fornication among them that there was one among
them who was sexually involved with his father's wife probably
his stepmother forbidden in Leviticus chapter 18 and eight in Deuteronomy
22 and verse 30. Now the third problem in the
sixth chapter, some were suing each other at the law. And then
a second problem was that there were some of them there who said
that their sensuous appetite was essentially a natural one
and might be satisfied or fulfilled by fornication. Number four. was the issue of marriage in
chapter 7 and the multiple complicated issues that are involved in marriage. Number 5 was the contention about
the eating of meat that had been sacrificed unto idols in the
idol temple, and that takes up chapter 8 chapter 9 and chapter
10 of the epistle. Sixthly, we find in chapter 11
and 12, 13 and 14, Paul takes up the matter of the
confusion in their worship about the Lord's Supper and about the
exercise of gifts and such things. And finally, chapter number 15,
the matter of the resurrection. Well, there were some there that
denied the resurrection of the dead. And Paul shows them what
effect that would have upon the gospel and the resurrection of
our Lord and Savior. Now having identified all of
those, our text today is in that section concerning the minister,
their ministry, and their preaching of the Word of God among them. Evidently, Paul's critics and
those who were not fond of him had faulted him that his preaching
did not contain philosophy and wisdom, that Paul was not a preacher
of philosophy and of human wisdom. and also that he lacked refinement
as to his delivery as a preacher. His speech was not with enticing
words of man's wisdom. He was not an eloquent speaker
in that sense, as Apollos was, who also ministered among them. And to that, Paul reacts by saying
that he had purposely avoided, quote, wisdom of words, chapter
one and verse 17, by which he no doubt means the wisdom of
the wise, in verse 19, and the wisdom of the world in verse
20 and so forth. He disdained such wisdom in connection
with preaching the gospel and that upon several accounts that
he names in this epistle. Number one, he said, God did
not send him to preach the gospel with worldly wisdom. To preach
the gospel, yes. To declare Christ and to preach
him crucified, yes. But in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse
4, not with enticing words of man's wisdom. So that was his
first reason. Secondly, he would not resort
to human wisdom, chapter 1 and verse 17. Why? Look, lest it
make the cross of Christ of none effect, lest it take away from
the doctrine of the cross of our Lord in his death upon the
cross, lest it cancel out the word of the cross should Paul
lapse into the wisdom of men. Thirdly, In verse 19 through
verse 21, God had vowed to bring to nothing the wisdom of the
world. We read that quoted from Isaiah
chapter 29 and verse 14. And then fourthly, their congregation
showed not many wise men had been called." Chapter 1 and verse
26. We read that Peter and John were
unlearned men in the book of Acts 4 and 13. They were not
learned. They were not trained in the
seminary or in the school. They were but untrained laymen,
and yet mightily used of God and taught the Word. And here's
a point to keep in our thoughts what Paul said, that when the
world, by its wisdom, knew not God, that is, they were not able
by human wisdom to find out the way of God or the way of salvation,
then God used what many count and reckon as foolishness, that
is, the preaching of Christ crucified and of the gospel, to save them
that believe. Now, we'll come back around to
this later, this matter of wisdom. But here, I want us to read again
some verses from the context that we have used today. First
of all, verse 22 again, chapter 1. For the Jews require a sign
and Greeks seek after wisdom. Then the 23rd verse. We don't
preach either. We preach Christ crucified under
the Jew a stumbling block and under the Greek foolishness.
Verse 24 again, under them which are called both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now the thing
to notice for our special edification is not only the mention but also
the comparison and the contrast between the two sorts of people
that we read about, the Jew and the Gentile, concerning their
view and their reaction unto the gospel, to the preaching
of Christ crucified. When Paul preached, he preached
Christ crucified, dead, buried, raised again. He called that
Christ crucified. He preached the word of the cross. The message is the same for both
people, Jew and Gentile, but their perception of it differed
greatly in this consideration, and we look at it. Now, these
two sorts of people are, of course, the Jew and the Gentile. And then we must quickly add
their view and reaction of the gospel concerns each people as
they remain unbelievers. These were not Christian, Jew,
or Gentile, and they were not believers, they were not regenerate. as they remained in their natural
state. And in that state, when they
were confronted with the gospel in their natural state, hearing
without hearing ears, hearing without understanding or perceiving. Now, Jews and Gentile, the major
people in the New Testament. Now, in some things regarding
Jew and Gentile, there was no difference between them. Romans
3, 9 and 10, 12. As to being sinners, as to being
saved, there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. All have sinned, both of them,
and come short of the glory of God. And the same Lord is rich
unto all, Jew or Gentile, that call upon Him. For God is the
God of both the Jew and the Gentile. Romans chapter 3 and verse 29. And as Peter said in Acts 15
and verse 9, God put no difference between them and us purifying
their hearts by faith. So there was no difference in
some way. But in some way, other way, there
were great differences between the Jew and the Gentile concerning
their past or their history, concerning their custom, and
most of all, concerning their religion. And this difference
was by God's design, as we learn in Ephesians 2, 14 and 15. The ordinances of God given under
the Jew had long been a middle wall partition, a divider between
the Jew and the Gentile, but which was abolished in the death
of Christ. And the two peoples are prominent
in the New Testament as the gospel began to be proclaimed among
the Gentile as well as the Jew, though some of each group were
elect and were called. and yet both, that is some or
both of them oppose the gospel. How be it upon different grounds
or shall we use the word principle. They oppose the gospel upon different
principle. Both took offense at the doctrine
of Christ crucified hanging on a tree as the savior of sinners
of men and of women. Now we consider them separately
for a time. The Jew first and also the Greek
is the order in the New Testament. Romans 1 verse 15 and 16. Paul says here In 1 Corinthians
1, 22 and 23, the Jews require a sign. Verse 23, Christ crucified,
therefore, is unto them a stumbling block. Because they live and
desire signs, Christ is a stumbling block. Now the Jews require a
sign. They ask for a sign from God. They demand that one prove himself
that he has come from God by performing a testing, wonders,
signs, and miracles as their credentials as having come from
God and in the name of God. John Gill wrote this. The Jews
had always been used to miracles as confirmation of the mission
of their prophets that were sent unto them, unquote. And consider,
number one, the miracles which God performed in the day of Moses,
both in the land of Egypt and also out in the wilderness. What was the purpose of these
signs that were to be done by Moses? Exodus 4 and verse 5,
that they, that is the children of Israel, may believe that the
Lord God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hath appeared
unto you. Moses, go do all these signs
that they may know and believe that God hath indeed appeared
unto you." In other words, they were attesting miracles that
Moses was sent from God for their good and their benefit. You remember
what Nicodemus said to our Lord. Nicodemus was a Jew, and he said
to the Lord Jesus Christ, John chapter 3 and verse 2 these words
rabbi We know that you are a teacher Come from God for no man can
do these miracle that you do except God be with him Now this
was the feast of the Passover, and the Lord in that season did
many, many miracles. John 2 and 23. And they were
seen by many, and evidently either seen or known by Nicodemus. No man could do that except God
be willing. Then we move into the period
of Enoch and Elijah. During his ministry in 1st Kings
chapter 17, following especially his sign to determine the true
and the living God. Remember the wet wood, the sacrifice,
fire from heaven came down and licked it up. His prayer, ere
the fire of the Lord consumed that sacrifice, 1 Kings chapter
18 verse 36 and verse 37, here we read, Elijah the prophet came
near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of Israel,
let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I,
thy servant, have done all these things at thy word. Hear me,
O Lord, hear me, that the people may know that thou, the Lord
God, and hast turned their heart back again, unquote. Elijah prayed that it might be
a sign unto the people that it was indeed from God. And then thirdly, there were
the miracles done by his successor, Elisha, after Elijah had been
taken up and the mantle had fallen down upon Elisha. A.W. Pink wrote a book on the
life and the miracles of Elisha. Brother Joe, that reminds me,
you read that book a long time ago, and it was such a blessing
unto you. But Pink listed 17 miracles which
the prophet did in the midst and the sight of Israel. Now, the spiritual state of Israel
was not good when Elijah ministered as a prophet among them. He came working miracle. You'll
find the record in 2 Kings 3 and following. And in a way, the
miracles of Elisha reveal the sad state of that nation at that
time. Why? Well, that such drastic
and mighty works were needed was unto their shame. But here's
how Pink put it, and I'm quoting, idolatry had so long held sway
that the true and the living God was at that time little known,
unquote. And so to reestablish God's supremacy
and his authority, sovereignty, and power, he sent the prophet
to do supernatural manifestation among the people that they might
know that God was among them. And then fourthly, but I'll not
get into it in detail, that period of the miracles of our Lord's
Christ and of the apostle that followed. With our thought in
mind, the Jews require a sign. How often they raised that issue
with the Lord, and how often they brought that up. I'll name
a few. In John 2 and 18, the Lord cleansed
the temple. You remember that? He drove from
the temple. and overturned the table of the
money changers, rebuked them for making the Father's house
no more than a den of thieves. And when our Lord had wrought
that havoc among them, they asked, what sign do you show as your
authority for doing these things? What was his authority for what
they considered desecrating the house of God? But again, in John
6 and 30, the same question. What sign do you show us that
we may see and believe? What work will you do that we
may know that you are from God? Matthew 12, 38. Master, we would
see a sign from thee or from you. See also Mark age 11 and
12, Luke 11 and verse 16. Others tempting him saw of him
a sign from heaven. Now remember, our text, the Jews,
seek or acquire a sign. Now, we might think, good heavens
at all these requests of them. They had seen nothing but a continuous
string, an unending string of divine works and wonders and
miracles from the hand of our Lord. Everywhere He went, He
had healed all manner of disease. He had even raised some again
from the dead. And did the apostle Peter not
remind them on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 and verse 22,
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by signs and
wonders and miracles which he did by you in your midst as ye
yourself also know. My word when they ask a miracle,
when the Lord had done nothing but work miracle. But the word
approved in Acts chapter 2 can mean attested, it can mean exhibited,
it can mean proved. Proved to be from God. And yet, in spite of all of that,
they managed to dismiss his casting out of devils as done by Beelzebub. They said, oh, he did that by
the Prince of Beelzebub, Matthew 12, and verse 24, Mark 3, and
verse 22. Here the Lord cast out devils,
and they said, oh, well, he did that under the power of Beelzebub. And they said he was not of God
because he healed a blind man on the Sabbath day in the ninth
chapter of the Gospel of John. So the Jews require a sign, and
Christ crucified is a stumbling block unto them. So now we take
up the question, how, why, was Christ crucified a stumbling
block unto the Jew? Well, the simple answer is because
they did not want to see him on a cross. They wanted to see
him on a throne of government, not on a cross dying. They expected
and they desired him to establish an earthly kingdom, overthrow
the Romans, and set them up as the head of the nations again. This was still on the disciples'
mind in Acts chapter 1 and verse 6. John 6, 14, and 15. They abhorred the thought of
their Messiah dying in weakness at the hands of those they wanted
him to crush. They wanted a king deliverer. They wanted a mighty one. And
they saw in Christ the ability to do that. They did not want
a crucified or a dead Messiah. They wanted a living, mighty
King Messiah upon a throne and them in great favor. Yet his
death and resurrection was the greatest sign of all to that
generation. Now the Lord said so in Matthew
12, 39 and 40. They said to him, show us a sign. And he said, there shall no sign
be given but the sign of the prophet Jonah. Remember in John
2, 18 and 19, again they say, by what authority do you do this?
And our Lord answered in a strange and mysterious way. He said,
destroy this temple, and in three days, I'll raise it up again. They had a hissy fit. They thought
he meant that temple in Jerusalem, but he spoke of the temple of
his body. They sought signs, Paul preached
Christ crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block. You also look
at Romans 9, 33 first Peter chapter 2 and verse 8 that Christ is
a stumbling block. Now, we consider the Gentile
view of the gospel. It was altogether different from
that of the Jew. Christ crucified as the way to
save sinners and to bring them to heaven. That Christ put to
death is the way to eternal life and no other way. And that fell
upon the ears of the Gentile. And we read the Greeks seek after
wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Greeks' foolishness. Verse 23, folly, silliness, they
thought when they heard of a man put to death on the cross as
the savior of sinners. Notice that the Greeks seek after
wisdom. Their God was not Jehovah. Their
savior was wisdom, and education, and learning, and philosophy.
They were what we might call rationalists. That is, they only
received what could be rationally explained and reasonably understood. Wisdom here, wisdom is that word
in the New Testament, sophia, and is more than 50 times in
the New Testament writing. is the same word all along here
in 1 Corinthians 1. No matter what wisdom it is referring
to, it is one and the same word, 1 Corinthians 1 and 2. Whether the wisdom of the world,
chapter 1, verse 20, the wisdom of God, 124, the wisdom in the
gospel, 2 and 6, or fleshly wisdom in 2 Corinthians
1 and verse 12. Earthly, sensual, devilish wisdom
as in James 3 and verse 15. Thus wisdom can mean worldly
or spiritual, higher or lower. the wisdom of man or the wisdom
of God and it is one and the same word. So the wisdom that
the Greeks thought was not the wisdom of God but the wisdom
of the world or of men fleshly wisdom, earthly wisdom, or as
James said, it is not that wisdom from above, it's not from God,
for spiritual wisdom only comes from God. So, When the sophist
Gentile heard the gospel, by sophist I mean a fallacious reasoner. When one who was a reasoner and
a rationalist heard the gospel, this man dead is able to say
to the uttermost. They thought it foolishness that
salvation could be had through a crucified man, and especially
through a crucified Jew, that the blood of a dead man could
put away their sin. Why, the very thought is foolishness
that one who couldn't save himself from the death of the cross was
actually able to save others. So the gospel was irreconcilable
with the fallacious reasoning of the Gentile. Gil summed it
up well. And it seemed to them foolishness,
quote, that there should be life for man in this shameful death
on the cross. However, Paul makes a very powerful
contrast between the Jew who stumbled at Christ crucified
and the Gentile who counted it foolishness. So those who are
called, let's read. Let's look at the other contrast. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse
19. I'm sorry, verse 18. For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Now jump down to verse 24. But
to them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the
power of God and the wisdom of God. Now what makes the difference? Why would one see it and be stumbled
and another call it blessed? Why would one call it foolish
and the other call it wisdom and the power of God? So, Paul
uses two descriptions that set the latter apart from the former. Verse 18, unto us which are saved. There's the difference. Unto
us which are saved. It is the power of God. Some render it us being saved,
to us who are being saved. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation, Romans 1 16, for therein is the saving righteousness
of God revealed. The gospel is not limited to
just the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord, but it includes
everything necessary to bringing the elect to salvation. So when we preach the atonement
and redemption and satisfaction and propitiation, we are preaching
the gospel, the good news of Christ. Paul emphasizes the place
of preaching. In other words, the importance
of preaching. He himself was a preacher and,
thankful for it, called a preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable
riches of Christ, Ephesians 3 and 18. And in verse 21, It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Now
mind you, not foolish preaching, but the foolishness of preaching. Paul's not advocating foolish
preaching. Lord knows there's plenty of
that around. But by proclaiming what the world
considers to be foolishness, God saved those that believed
by it, what the world considers foolishness, proving that the
foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. What men count foolishness is
stronger than human wisdom. Verse 25, just as the weakness
of God is stronger than the power of men. What's he saying? There is a hidden wisdom and
a hidden power that operates, though the wise consider it foolishness
and weakness. Linsky wrote this, so wise is
this foolish thing, so powerful this weak thing, not that there
is foolishness or weakness in God, unquote, but that the wisdom
of God connected under the gospel is greater than what men might
imagine or might do. And if you look at verse 26 through
verse 28, that no flesh should glory in his presence. God discounts
wisdom of man, the wisdom of the world. It has no part in
the saving of sinners, and that with this end in mind, that all
boasting or glorying might be taken away from men. Now, concerning preaching. Much
of today's preaching is pathetic and is anemic. There is a deep
emphasis on old time biblical preaching and exposition. Not much is said about the miserable,
depraved, enslaved condition of man. But a lot is said about
human exceptionalism and human potential. Man is not sinful
today. He's sick. We hear them talk
about people being sick. So he doesn't need a savior.
He needs counseling. Christ, therefore, is presented
today in many places as a doctor or a banker, that he might keep
you well and make you wealthy. And preaching is a mixture of
humanism and psychology. And preachers like Osteen are
nothing more than cheerleaders. Some are finding common ground
between Christianity and Islam. They have abandoned what the
prophet called the old path, and they preach up free will
in our day, that man can do his salvation by his free will. But going back in closing to
Paul's snub of human wisdom in relation to the gospel, some
must have criticized Paul personally or else criticized generally. the preaching of Christ crucified,
and the lack of wisdom that was therein in the preaching. Now, Paul freely admits his avoidance
of human wisdom. However, in chapter 2, verse
1 through 8, especially in verse 1 through 4, he avoided the wisdom
of men. And for a second reason in verse
5, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men. You might be convinced because
a man is a great orator, because he tells great stories and does
it with great skill. But in that second chapter, In
verse 6 and 7 and 8, Paul says, however, we do preach wisdom. We don't preach the wisdom of
the world, but we preach wisdom. We preach wisdom among the perfect
or the mature ones. We preach wisdom, not that of
the world, but that of God. Not that of the world that passes
away, but that of God. Verse 7, he preached God's wisdom,
a hidden wisdom, a wisdom that can only be known by divine revelation,
by special revelation. But what Paul said, this wisdom
was foreordained before the foundation of the world unto our glory. So what does he say? We teach
true wisdom. the wisdom of which God is the
author and the spiritual revelator. And at verse 8, it was from ignorance
of this wisdom that the rulers crucified the Lord of glory. They were ignorant of the wisdom
that is in Christ and in his death, and they crucified him
who is the very essence of the wisdom of God. So I close with
this statement from our text. Christ is to us the wisdom and
the power of God, no matter what others may say. Stumble, the
Jews did. Call it foolishness, the Greek.
But to us who are called, who are saved, who believe, Christ
is both the wisdom and the power of God. Let me say one more thing. Now you're ready to understand
that passage in chapter two Verse 9 through 16, I bet a dollar
that you've always thought the things that God has prepared
for those that love him had to do with what's coming in heaven. I bet most of us at one time
held that view. It's clear that it has to do
with the present time. What he has prepared in the Lord
Jesus Christ for those that love him. In other words, gospel salvation. Thank God. Now you can understand
those few verses if you read it in the overall context.