day about God's revelation, God's
revelation. The apostle says here, in verse
nine of First Corinthians two, that as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared
for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God." It says there that man can't
see, man can't hear, and he can't get it in his heart what God
has prepared, what God has done for His people. And then he turns
right around and says, but there is a people that has seen, that
has heard, and has seen it in their heart. Why? Because God
revealed it to him. God revealed it to him. Now,
God dwells in a light that no man can approach unto. God dwells
in a light. James said it this way. He said,
God is light. And there's no variableness about
His light. There's no shadow of turning.
I mean, He does not cast a shadow. He is light. Perfect, complete
light. And look with me. You keep 1
Corinthians. Look in 1 John 1, verse 5. And this is what I'm
saying, that God is light, that He dwells in the light that no
man can approach unto. In 1 John 1, 5, this is what
He says. This, then, is the message. which we have heard of Him. We
just got through talking about God revealing things. John said
here, this is the message that we heard of Him, that God taught
us, that God spoke to us, that God revealed us. And this is
the message we dare declare unto you, that God is light. And there's no darkness in Him
at all. I mean, He's light. And so we
get back over here in our text, so the apostle begins to talk
about the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God. This God who
dwells in our life, this God who is light, that's what we
declare unto you, that He's light. So the apostle begins to talk
about the wisdom of God here in verse 7. He said, will we speak the wisdom
of God? And he said we speak this wisdom
of God in a mystery, because this wisdom had been hid. This
wisdom of God we speak in a mystery because it had been hidden. It
was the hidden wisdom of God. And when Paul says we speak the
mystery, what he's saying is that we're preaching something,
teaching something, revealing something previously unknown,
but now it's revealed. When you come across the mystery
in the scriptures, it's something that had been hidden, and now
it's revealed. And He says, we're speaking the
wisdom that was once hidden, and it's a mystery, and now we
make this mystery known unto you. And you know our Lord Jesus
Christ, He says, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that thou hast hid these things unto the wise and prudent,
and has revealed them unto babes. For even so is seen good in your
sight. And mystery is talking about
something previously unknown, now revealed. And I want to look
at this revelation of truth, this revelation of wisdom, this
revelation of Christ in God in these verses. First thing I want
you to understand, this revelation cannot possibly, this revelation
of the wisdom of God, this revelation of Christ, of God in the gospel,
cannot possibly be the invention of man. Look what it says in
verse 9. But as it is written, I have not seen, nor heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man." What? So if man couldn't come up with
it, if he couldn't see it, he couldn't hear it, and he couldn't
understand it in his heart, the things God prepared, well, how
in the world then could it possibly be the invention of man? Natural
eyes never saw it. The eye of his carnal mind has
never seen it. The ear of man's worldly wisdom
has never heard it. It's never entered into the heart
of a man apart from the Spirit of the Holy Spirit of God, the
things that God has prepared for them that love Him. He said
down here in verse 14, and he goes to say, yes, but the natural
man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. He sits there
and he hears the same thing everybody else does. He sees the same preacher,
he's looking at the same words. But it's not getting to him like
it's getting to people that's revealed to him. And I'm telling
you that if you ever see it, if you ever hear it, if it ever
gets into your heart, it's because God has revealed it to you. That's
what I'm saying. And Princess didn't see it. Look
what he said here in verse 6. Howbeit we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect, or those that understand, that are mature.
Yet we don't speak the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes
of this world. That's the powerful people of
this world, the elite of this world, the rulers of this world,
because their wisdom comes to nothing. And he says down in
verse 8, the princes of this world didn't know this wisdom.
The princes of the world didn't see this wisdom of God that was
hidden? They didn't know it. For had
they known the wisdom of God, had they had this revelation
of God, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. And the world
didn't see it. The princes of this world didn't
see it. In fact, God said nobody since
the beginning of the world had ever seen it. You keep this and
look in Isaiah 64. And that's what I'm talking about,
God's revelation. And I know something about this
because, beloved, I read a Bible, I preached, quoted lots and lots
and lots of scriptures, was a legalist from the top of my head to the
sole of my foot, a fundamentalist, told everybody else how to live,
tried to live right, whatever that means. And God in sovereign mercy one
day began to open my heart and reveal Himself to me, and I saw
that I was the one in trouble, not everybody else. It was me.
I was the one that had never seen God. I talked how to live,
and how to work, and how to be obedient, and how to pray, and
how to dress, how to memorize scriptures, but I didn't know
anything about Christ. And that's why Paul said, we
speak the hidden wisdom of God. It was hidden. When do you get
it? But God has revealed it unto
us. And I say from the beginning,
God said nobody ever seen this. Look here at Isaiah 64 in verse
4. For since the beginning of the
world, God said, your men have not heard
nor perceived by the ear, neither have I seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath
prepared for them that waited for him." That's what I'm telling you.
I don't care how it don't enter into your mind. Natural man don't
get it. But I'll tell you what it is. It's a revelation from
God. Look what He says. It may not
ever enter into the seam of the eye, or hear with the ear, or
enter into the man's heart. But look what He says. But God
hath revealed, revealed this wisdom unto us by His Spirit. The Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, all the deep things of God. You see, beloved? The Scriptures
tells us in Ephesians chapter 2 that we were dead in trespasses
and sins. Dead man can't hear, dead man
can't feel, dead man can't do anything. But it says we were
dead in trespasses and sins, and we walked according to the
course of this world, according to the princes of the power of
the air, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience.
And we were even by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Listen, but God, but God, who is rich in mercy,
quickened us together with Christ. And so that's what I'm saying.
Only God knows the Son, and He to whom He'll reveal Him. Only
God Himself knows who the Son is. I knew about Jesus, but I didn't
know the Son. I'd quote some scriptures, and
I could tell you about Calvary, and bring tears to your eyes,
but I didn't know the Son. And that's what we're talking
about. Look over here in Matthew chapter 16. Matthew 16, talking
about the revelation. You see, that's why the Lord
says, No man, no man can come unto me, except the Father which
hath sent me. And then the next verse says,
and they shall all be taught of God. They shall all be taught of God. God takes his children and teaches
his children. But it starts with a revelation.
I mean, you know, you're sitting there in your darkness and the
light starts coming. And the mind starts opening.
Truth starts bombarding that heart. Truth starts bombarding
that mind. And you start hearing things
you never heard, seeing things you never saw, understanding
things you never understood. And I don't know how many people
have told me over the years that when they began to see the grace
of God and saw Christ and were converted, that it was like they
got a brand new Bible. that a new world came into their
life. But look what it says here in
Matthew 16 and verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Who do
men say that I am? And that's a good question. I
ask you, who do you say He is? Who do you say Jesus Christ is? And that's what He asked them.
Everybody's talking about me. They're talking about me on television. They're talking about me in documentaries.
Everybody says they're Christian. Everybody says they're praying. But who do you say I am? And
watch what he says now. And they said, some say you're
John the Baptist. You're a fiery, hell-firing,
brimstone preacher. Some say you're Elijah. And others say you're Jeremiah
because you're such a man of solace and acquainted with grief
that you, if you weep all the time, that you're like Jeremiah,
the weeping prophet. And then he turned around to
them and he said, then who say you that I am? Simon Peter? John? James? You young men, you young women,
who do you say he is? Who do you say he is? And Simon
Peter, answer says, out to Christ. You're the one that God sent
from the beginning of the world. You're the one that God promised.
You're the son of the living God. Our Lord answered and said
unto him, O Simon, O how blessed you are, Simon. Flesh and blood
hath not revealed that unto you. Flesh and blood says that he's
John the Baptist. Flesh and blood says he's Elijah.
Flesh and blood says he's Jeremiah. But the Spirit of God reveals
unto thee that Christ, the Son of the living God. That's who
David says. That's why Pilate, when he had
the Lord Jesus before him, he said, Are thou the King of the
Jews? You know what our Lord said to
him? He said, did you say that of yourself? Do you see that? Do you understand that? Did that
come from your heart? Or did somebody else tell you
that I was the King of the Jews? And that's the difference. Do you know it yourself? Or are
you going by what somebody else told you? But do you know it? Or did somebody else tell you?
Is that why you're asking me? If you ask me from your heart,
and if you want to know, I'll let you know who I am. But if
you're just fooling me by what somebody else said, and then
just asking me out of curiosity, you're going to stay just as
dumb as you are. And that's why, beloved, that's why the thief
on the cross, this is what I'm talking about, the revelation
of Christ. The thief on that cross, nailed beside the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he looked over one day, And back in his dying
hour, he looked at the Lord Jesus and said, Lord! And other fellows touched him and
said, why are you touching him? We're here justly. This man's
done nothing amiss. He's a sinless man. He's not
here for anything he's ever done. Don't you fear God? And then he looked and he says,
Lord, remember me. Where did he find out he was
Lord? How did he know he was Lord? And then he said, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. How did he know he had a kingdom? And then the Lord looked, he
said to him, he said, you know what? Today. Today. Not tomorrow. Today. You're going to go over
a piece of paradise. This is what I'm saying. How
in the world does those things happen? The revelation of God. The other fellow, he saw the
same person. He touched him. The other called
him Lord. What was the difference? Ah,
God hath revealed it to you. God hath revealed it unto us.
And let me tell you about the mysteries that Paul talks about.
The mysteries. The mysteries. Even the hidden
wisdom of God. Let me tell you some mysteries.
The things of God that's been revealed under eternal election. That's the mystery of God. I
read the Bible for years. I never saw election. Sovereign mercy. The God who
has separated me from my mother's womb. call me by His grace, and
reveal His Son unto me." Huh? The mystery of sovereign mercy.
Jacob hath a love, Esau hath a hater. It's not of him that
willeth, it's not of him that runneth, but it's of God that
showeth mercy. The incarnation of Christ That
Christ came here and embodied Himself in the womb of a woman
who had never known a man. That God came here and took upon
Him flesh. What a mystery! And the Trinity. One God, but distinctly in three
persons. A God who is the Father, a God
who is the Son, and a God who is the Holy Ghost. Three distinct
persons with three distinct works, but yet one God. Explain that. Can't they explain it? Oh, how do you talk about a man,
the mystery of a sinless life? A man who was born sinless, lives
sinless. Sinless! Sinless! We're so sinful in and of ourselves
that we can't comprehend sinlessness. We can't do it. And in order
to talk about this person, to represent me, he came here not
to live for himself, but to live for other people. He did not live his life for
himself. He didn't come here to live his
life to himself. He came here to live for somebody
else, to live a life that you and I couldn't live. He, we needed
a perfect, sinless, obedient life to God from the cradle to
the death. And our Lord Jesus Christ as
a representative, He lived that life before God. And the Father says, this is
my beloved son. He does always please me. And
now because Christ did that, God can look at us and say, I'm
well pleased with them. I accept them as the beloved. Huh? And oh, not only that, but
beloved, that man who was on this earth in that sinless life
who was born of that virgin was God Himself. That God who dwelt
in a life that no man can approach unto, He came here, and when
you saw Him, you saw God. When He spoke, you heard the
voice of God. When He does something, it was
God doing it. And that's one of the crimes
they charged him with. They said, he'd blaspheme if
this man made of himself to be God. Oh, he was God. And he is God. And he'll ever be God. Jesus
Christ the same today, yesterday, and forever. Huh? And though
I'll be left dead and he died, if he was God, And He was deity. And He was sinless. How in the
world could He die? How can God die? Huh? And then when He died, what would
His death accomplish? What was the purpose of it? What
did it accomplish? You know how you'll know these
things and get the answers to these questions? But God hath
revealed Him unto us. These are the mysteries we're
talking about. And the mystery is resurrection. Men don't rise
from the dead. Every one of us has lost somebody
that we dearly loved, and when they're gone, we said, oh, if
I just had another minute to say something else to them. I
wish God had done this, Bob. I wish God had said that. I wish
God had done this. I wish God had done that. Spend
more time. Said, at least I'd like to spend one of this world
before they left this world. But, beloved, and if you could
raise them back up, you'd say that to them. But you can't do
that. But I know Jesus Christ is lifeless, and His body was
as white as that paper when they took Him off that cross. His
death. Could hear, could see. Mary just wept and wept and wept
and wept, said, Show me His body, show me His body, show me His
body. Just say, Show me His life, show me His body. She went there to see it one
morning and it wasn't there. Do you mean that fellow that
died and they took and put him in a tomb and put a big, big
rock over it? Got there and the rock was gone.
Where's he at? Why seek ye the living among
the dead? Jesus Christ was dead. He said,
I am He that was dead, but I am alive forevermore, and I have
the keys of hell and death on my girdle. And then not only
did he resurrect, oh, what a mystery. After 40 days, the fellows would
stand there talking to him. And while he was talking to him,
look, he went. He left this earth, and they
watched him till he went plum out of sight. And not only did he ascend, but
there's a throne in glory. A throne at the right hand of
God the Father. And guess who's sitting on that
throne? The same man who came here, that was in that womb of
that virgin, that lived that representative life, that lived
that sinless life, that died that death, that it just seemed
impossible to die, who was God in this world, who raised from
the dead and ascended, that same one is sat right now, and God's
right here. And guess what he's doing now?
He's taking up my name. Taking yours, James. Taking yours,
Gary. Taking yours when you're in trouble.
Taking yours when you... When you start asking God on
behalf of somebody else, the Lord Jesus takes your prayers
and presents them to Christ. He perfumes them. He makes them
acceptable. They go through that blessed
censure. So when they get up to the Father, the Father smells
them and says, Boy, they smell good. Oh my. And how did He reveal
these things to us? Look here in verse 10. I'll tell
you how He revealed them to us. These mysteries that's been hidden
now. They may know them now, see. How do you know them? Because
God has revealed them. How did He reveal them to us?
By the Spirit. By the Holy Spirit. That's how
He does it. The Holy Spirit comes. And our
Lord Jesus Christ said, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come,
He shall take the things of mine and show them unto you. Take
my incarnation. Take my nature. Take my person. Take my work. Take my life. Take my death. Take my resurrection. Take who I am and make everything
about me known to them. And, oh, beloved, look what he
says here, for the Spirit searches all things. What does that search
mean? That He goes throughout the Bible. The Holy Spirit takes
the Bible, and He searches out what you need to hear, and when
you need to hear it. And He searches out the deep
things of God. Oh, the deep things of God. You
know, people think prophecy is deep, and they want to hear about
prophecy. When this is going, that's coming, and this is going
this way, and that's going that way, and the horse is going this
way, and somebody's coming that way, you know you don't know where
you're going. Going down, going in, going out, you don't know where
you're going. You know, look over here in Luke chapter, you
want something deep. You want something deep. Let me show you
something deep. Some of the deep things of God.
Luke chapter 1. You know, people think prophecy
is deep. Oh, here's something that's deep.
You plumb this. Plumb this right here. Luke chapter
1, verse 26. Just plumb the depth of this
right here. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth
to a virgin. The spouse engaged to a man whose
name was Joseph. Now watch this, of the house
of David. What was the other house of David? We'll tell you
here in a minute. And the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel
came in unto her and said, Hail! You're highly favored. The Lord
is with you. God has graciously accepted you
or much graced you. The Lord is with you. You're
blessed among women. And when she saw him, She was
troubled at the same. God's graced me much, graciously
accepted me, and cast in her mind, began to wander in her
mind and ponder what manner of salutation this should be. And
the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found
favor with God. You've found grace in God, from
God. And behold, listen to it now,
thou shalt conceive in my womb. and shall bring forth a son,
and this is what you're going to call him. You're going to
call him Jesus. I'm still going to tell you his
name before he's born. Jesus. He shall be great, shall be called
the Son of the Highest. Both of those capitalized. And
the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father
David. That's why Joseph was the son
of David, the rightful heir. And listen, he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever and ever, and the end of his kingdom
there shall be no end. And then Mary said unto the angel,
How in the world shall this be? Saying, I know not of that. Plumb
that. Plumb the depth of that. And
then look what he says, and the angel answered her. Yeah, plumb
the depth of this. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee. The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God." You know anything more mysterious than that? Why do they like to plumb the
depths of this? God made Him. This Son of the Highest. This
conceived in the womb of the Virgin. God made Him. to be sin. The son of the highest, conceived
of a virgin, the throne of David, his kingdoms forever and ever?
You mean God made him to be sin who knew no sin? How can that possible? What?
How are you going to plug the depth of that? God made him to
be sinned. Who knew no sin? And then why? That we can then be made the
righteousness of God in Him. How can He be made sinned and
us be made righteous? I understand what it is for me
to be sinned. I don't understand how to be
made righteous unless it's revealed to you. Ain't that what I'm saying? Huh?
Oh, my. And look what it says, these
things are freely given to us of God. What is this revelation? I've got to, what is this revelation? Oh, this mystery of God. No wonder
Paul said, oh, the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. Who has ever known the mind of
the Lord? Who's ever known it? Who's ever
been His counselor? For of Him, through Him, to Him,
the all things, both now and forever. Amen. My, my. Here I stand. Here you
sit. And you're understanding what
I'm saying, son of Levi. It's in the heart. You're hearing
it with your ear. You're seeing it with the eyes
of faith. And you're rejoicing it. How did you learn these things? How did these things become alive
to you, and real to you, and vital to you? But God has revealed
them unto us by His Spirit. Now, you know what this revelation
is, here in chapter 2, look up in verse 1. What is this revelation?
And thy brethren, when I came to you, God's going to send a
preacher to you. And when I came to you, when
I got over here among these Corinthians, I didn't come with excellency
of speech or of wisdom. You ain't going to be dazzled
by my language and by big words that I use. You're not going
to be dazzled by my speeches. You ain't going to get up and
say, oh my, whoo, that guy just, I never seen anything like him.
No, that's not the way Paul was. He's right there. But he said,
I'll tell you what I am going to do. I'm going to declare you
the testimony of God. Well, what's God's testimony?
For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That's the revelation. If that's
revealed to you, Oh my, the testimony of God concerning Christ and
Him crucified, we start out with the person of Christ. And I'm
going to say something right here, and I hope you understand
it. There's a lot of people talk about the work of Christ, but
never talk about the person of Christ. And you can trust the
work of Christ and say, I'm trusting the cross and this person. It's who was on that cross. It's whose blood that was shed
on that cross. It's who did the work. And if
you know who did it, then you won't have a bit of problem trusting
the work. Huh? I'll tell you all a story. I'm going to quit preaching and
tell you something. Years and years and years ago, Mary and
I, I took her and we went down to a little old trailer, down
in Philistia, Ohio, way out on a creek bank, no electricity,
carrying water. My uncle was going to make a
hog house out of it. And he let us live in that thing. We fixed
it up a little bit and stayed in that. And I was going to make
us a worship stand, you know, to set a pan on. So when you
come outside, the way old-timers used to do that, an old porcelain
pan, you know, and you pour water in it and you wash your hands
before you go in the house or wash your face, you know. So
I was going to be able to, I'm talking about a work now, and
the person. I was going to build us a worship
stand. Well, I'll build a worship stand. And that thing went just like
that. God said something on it, it leaned all the way over. You
don't want me to build you no workstands. My works don't amount to nothing.
My whole life, nothing but a workstand to go. But His work, Him, His work is
perfect because He's perfect. His work accomplished what God
meant for it to do because He was God Himself. Do you understand
what I'm saying? Oh, to know Him. If you can trust
Him, then you'll have no problem at all trusting His work, do
you? And oh, beloved, let me tell
you something about His work. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised for our justification. Look over in Hebrews chapter
3 with me just a moment. Hebrews chapter 3. You know,
when it says here it delivers for our offenses, it delivers
for all the offenses we had toward God. All the offenses where we
offended God. All the sins that we made toward
God. Christ was delivered for all the offenses that we made.
And then He was raised again to justify us, to take away all
of our offenses and make us acceptable, righteous before God. Look what
it says here in Hebrews chapter 3. Our Lord had three appearances,
talking about Christ coming. Look in verse 26. Excuse me,
not Hebrews 3, Hebrews 9. I'm sorry, I don't know how in
the world I got to Hebrews 3. Hebrews 9. I see three appearances. That's why I looked at three.
Three appearings here. Our Lord come, come. Three appearings. Look in verse 26. Here's his
first appearing. For then must the author have
suffered from the foundation of the world, but now wants in
the end of the world, hath he appeared, hath he appeared, what
hath he appeared for? To put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. See, He appeared. To do what? To put away sin by the sacrifice
of Him. That's why Paul said, we preach
Christ. Now watch this. Crucified. Look at His next appearing
in verse 24. This is when He ascended back
to glory. But Christ has not entered into the holy places
made with hands. which are the figures of the
truth, but in the heaven itself, watch it now, now to appear in
the presence of God. For who? Them people had that
revelation. Them people that he put away
for sin. And look what he's going to do
now, the next day, he's going to appear again. Verse 28. So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them
that look for Him shall He appear the second time, happier. Without sin, not going to put
sin away, the work's already done, but He's coming for them. That's looking for Him. I'm looking
for Him. Are you looking for Him? I'm looking for Him. Oh, bless His holy name. And
it's a revelation, not only of Christ and Him crucified, but
it's a revelation of God's superabounding grace. He said, where sin abounded,
and it abounds. Does sin ever seem like it just
abounds in you? Where sin abounded, grace does
much more abound. Grace just superabounds over
sin. What it is, this revelation that
we're talking about, it's a revelation of His ability, of His power
to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him. It's
a revelation that all a sinner needs is in Christ Jesus Himself,
His righteousness, His Word, His Word, and that's all you
need to be accepted of God, is Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory. That's all you need. We may accept
it, we're at the end of the level. Let me tell you this, and I'll
take just a few minutes. Look at the believer's attitude
back over in 1 Corinthians 2. The believer's attitude toward
this revelation. But oh, when God reveals these
things to us, what's our attitude? Oh, what does it do for us? What
does it do for us? Huh? Oh, my. There was a lot of contentious
there in verse 2. It says this, for I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That's the believer's attitude. I want to know nothing but Christ
and Him. That's what I want to know. More
about Jesus would I know. more of His saving fullness see,
more of His grace and love to me." There were a lot of contentions
in Corinth. They was arguing over tongues,
arguing over marriage, arguing over idolatry, arguing over gifts,
arguing over giving, arguing over idolatry. Brothers was taking
other brothers to church, to court, suing one another. Some
said, I'm a Paul. Some said, I'm an Apollos. Some
said, I'm a Cephas. And Paul said, you're just a
bunch of babies. Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? We're nobody.
It's God. It's Christ. And lots of things
can cause contentions today. Lots of things can cause contentions
today. And that's why, beloved, as you
know, Politics can cause contention. Abortion can cause contention.
Gun control can cause contention. Prophecy can cause contention.
Dispensationalism can cause contention. A wagging tongue can cause contention.
Christian liberty. How far can you go as a Christian
with your liberty? All these things can cause a
lot of contention. But in all these things, there's
one thing needed. And listen to me. I get prayed
for people. I get scared for people. I get
burdened for people. There are folks who come one
time, once ever, come three times a week. Then they go down to
two times a week. Then they go down to one time
a week. And then they go down to, once ever, two or three weeks. And that worries me. I can tell
you, and I can make you feel guilty, and I can go after you
for being lax in your church attendance, and lax to the gospel,
and lax not being faithful. But, beloved, I tell you, if
Christ and Him crucified is not sufficient to make you want to
come hear the gospel, me and anything I can say or do other
than just weep for you, and be burdened for you, and be concerned
for you, and hurt for you, And be afraid for you, if Christ
in him crucified, which I preach three times a week, if that's
not enough, then I don't know what's good for you then. I know
that only one thing puts down contention. Only one thing will
do something in a man's heart, and that's Christ in him crucified.
That brings peace among the brethren, that puts grace in a man's heart,
that puts love in a man's heart, that puts faith in a man's heart,
that puts a desire in a man's heart, that puts everything that
a person needs. And if that's not enough, and
if we determine there's nothing else in addition to what people
are going to say, you're narrow-minded. You're narrow-minded. But Paul
said, this is all I'm going to do. And how in the world is this
revelation going to be preached? Well, look what he said here.
Look what he said in verse four. He said, in my speech and my
preaching wasn't with enticing words of men's wisdom. I wasn't
trying to persuade anybody to do anything. I wasn't trying
to convince you of nothing. I wasn't trying to talk you into
something. Didn't catch you in a weak moment.
I didn't use eloquent words. I didn't talk about the superlapsarian,
infralapsarian, sublapsarianism theory of the atonement made
by Dr. Sound and Brass. I didn't talk about what so-and-so
said about something, you know, way back there. No, we're talking
about what the Scripture said right here. I didn't use echoing
words. I didn't use special energy.
But what he says is in the demonstration of the Spirit. What does that
mean? That means that the Holy Spirit
is present to make the gospel alive and real and effectual
and apply it to men's hearts. Without the demonstration of
the Spirit, it's useless in its power. And I've spent a few times,
I feel like, well... And I'll tell you why God gave
us this revelation. Look there in verse... And I'm
done. Why did God give us this revelation?
In verse 7, we speak the wisdom of God. I've been speaking the
wisdom of God today. That wisdom, that was a mystery.
That was hidden. It's hidden in Christ, hidden
in the Scriptures. But, oh man, we're speaking this
now. This is what we're talking about. And God ordained this
wisdom, this hidden wisdom, this mystery of the Gospel. for our
glory. When are you going to get this
glory? When we go with Christ, and we
get it right now. You know what we glory in? Christ. Is Christ enough? Is He enough? Well, what old Scott Richardson
said, He is, if He's all you got. O our Father, gracious God in
heaven, Lord, thank you for your word.
Thank you for the Holy Spirit. Thank you for your people that
listen. Thank you for this revelation. Lord, we know we didn't come
to this naturally. We know we could have never understood
this, never rejoiced in it, never believed it, never saw it, never
heard it. never would have entered into our very soul, our minds,
unless you revealed it to us. And God, I pray that you, in
sovereign mercy, would reveal this to men and women here. Oh God, make them to see, make
them to see with these eyes of faith. Give them eyes to see,
give them ears to hear, give them hearts to believe, for only
you can. And Holy Spirit, take the things
of Christ. Make them real to us, for it's
in His name we pray. Amen.