I Corinthians chapter 2, Paul says, And I, brethren, when
I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world
nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. But we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of
the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,
I have not seen nor heard, neither have 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. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him?
Even so, The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God,
which things also we speak not in words, which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. Comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have
the mind of Christ." Of course, Paul is continuing
his declaration and separation to
the Corinthians about the line of demarcation between
those who are of the Lord and those who are not. And this is
very plainly set forth in this chapter. to me really stands out as he
labors to show that what he came preaching was not the words of
men's wisdom. Now if you want to be considered
to be wise in the world as far as what the world considers somebody
who is really out here trying to do good and is really helping
folks, then you would not be preaching what Paul was preaching.
That's not the wisdom of the world. I mean, what he's setting
forth here is at odds with the wisdom of the world. And he said,
I didn't come trying to get you to believe spiritual things by
using the wisdom of the world. Now, unfortunately, we live in
a day and age when that concept has totally been thrown out the
window. And the whole concept that is prevalent today is that
we're going to take the wisdom of men, we're going to all get
together and we're going to figure out the best way that we can
get folks to join up with Christ. I mean, that's the line of thought. You know, we've put a lot of
research into this and we know that it takes X number of dollars
to get a soul saved. And so we've got to get so much
money gathered up so we can get folks saved, and we're going
to design our buildings where it's all just right. We've got
to get the right lighting, and we've got to get the right kind
of music, and we've got to get this, and we've got to get that,
and all of these things, because that appeals to folks. And surely
if we can appeal to folks, that's going to do them some good. Well,
dear brethren, what Paul says is totally contrary to that.
He says, I don't make any difference whatsoever. None of that means
anything. It's not of any importance. And
he says, I didn't come to you with enticing words of man's
wisdom. I didn't come trying to persuade
you of something. He said, I just came to you preaching
the truth because, he says, I determined to tell you one thing and one
thing only. And that is Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. That is the message of the Gospel.
And you can add all kinds of stuff and do whatever you want
to do, but dear brethren, there is the Gospel. It is Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. And the only thing that is going
to benefit the people of God is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that is what He said. And
that is what He determined to do. And he said the purpose for
this was that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God. Because if your faith stands
in the wisdom of men, if you take the wisdom of men away,
what have you got left? Nothing in the world. I mean,
if your faith stands in what some preacher told you somewhere,
And the preacher dies, guess what? The basis of what you believe
died with him. But you see, Paul said, we didn't
come to you trying to get you to believe what we're saying.
He said, we came declaring to you the truth of God and God
who is rich in mercy is the one who takes that and applies it
to you. Because he said this, he said,
we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, or those who are
set apart, those who are in that place where they have some understanding,
which he describes down in the fourteenth verse. He said, The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
And so he said here that we speak the wisdom of God We speak wisdom
among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world,
not of the princes of this world that come to naught, but we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery. Now are we going out here with
some coded words and trying to keep folks from hearing what
we're saying? No. Was Paul doing that? No. But what Paul was preaching was
an absolute mystery to men. I mean, it is absolutely something
that men cannot know. Now, everybody likes a little
bit of mystery. I mean, you know, we like to
watch Sherlock Holmes and all of these kinds of things, and
we like books and movies and things like that that kind of
keep you guessing and wondering, well, what is the outcome? Well,
that is the way that the Word of God, the truth of God, the
purpose of God is to the natural man, to the world, to the wisdom
of the world. It will never be able to decipher
it. It will never figure it out.
It can't do it because it does not have the ability to interpret
it. Why is that? Because it is hidden. And, of course, we talked about
this in the earlier part of the first chapter, how that it pleased
God to hide these things. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
to His Father, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast hid these
things from the wise and the prudent. and as revealed among
the babes. And so he says here, we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto the glory of every man in
the world. That might be in that new translation
that you were talking about there a moment ago, but that is not
the way that this reads right here, is it? It said, this hidden wisdom which God
ordained. What did He ordain? He ordained
the hidden wisdom for what? For our glory. For the glory
of the sons of God. For those who have been ordained
to receive it. To the weak and the beggarly.
To those who know themselves to be lost. You see, that's those
to whom the hidden wisdom of God has been given. That's who
he's speaking about here. That it was ordained before the
world unto our glory. The Lord purposed to keep these
things hidden from men and reveal them unto His people as it pleased
Him. That's not a thing pleasing to
the ears of men who want to make the way of knowing God to be
all up to men, to be an action of the free will, that a man
can, whenever he gets ready, he can just get the Bible and
he can sit down and he can learn about God and then he can just
decide, well, I think I'll just go and I'll know the things of
God. I'll go off to a school somewhere.
I'll go to a seminary, a Bible school, and I'll just learn about
God. I can know it. No, these things
are not revealed in that fashion, but they are given unto the people
of God. Now listen to the contrast here. He said, which God ordained before
the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world
knew, For had they known Him, had they known what you knew?
Now, take off your theological helmet for a minute and think
about if the Lord Jesus Christ was
here and you know what you know, not theologically, but that you've
been given a love for Jesus Christ and they were going to crucify
Him, what would you do? You wouldn't want Him to crucify
Him, would you? I mean, you'd do everything in your power to
keep Him from being crucified because He is the King of kings,
the Lord of lords, the kindest man that ever lived, the man
who loved without any limit. You'd do everything within your
power to keep Him from being crucified. It wouldn't make any
sense to put the kindest man on earth to death, would it?
What sense would that make? It makes no sense to the world.
And so the Lord said that He hid these things from them, because
if they had known what you know, they would have never crucified
Him. If the Pharisees had known that He was indeed the Son of
God, as you know Him to be the Son of God, they would have never
told Pilate, crucify Him, would they? No, they would have fallen
down and worshipped Him. But you see, God who is rich
in mercy for the great love wherewith He loved us, has He ordained
this truth unto our glory. He kept it hidden from them. And they did not know. Now, some would find fault with
God over that. Would they not? Because you know,
God, I mean, if He is going to be... Well, God has got to be
fair, doesn't He? I mean, he's got to give everybody
a fair chance and a square deal. We just wouldn't want to serve
a God that wasn't like that. But you see, God reveals. that
He had hid these things from the multitudes. He had hid these
things from the princes of this world, those in places of power.
He did not give the Pharisees or the Romans, He did not give
them their understanding of who Christ was because they would
have never crucified Him. But you see, according to the
determinate purpose and full knowledge of God, He had ordered
that Jesus Christ be slain. on a Roman cross outside of Jerusalem
on a hill called Calvary. Because you see, dear brethren,
it was through that means that redemption was brought unto His
people. Now, that's an amazing thing,
isn't it? I mean, don't you marvel when
you think about that just for a moment? that God purposed the
redemption of His people. Like the old fellow said, the
guy came to him and said, Well, preacher, don't God give everybody
a chance to be saved? He said, Salvation is not by
chance. Salvation is not by chance. Everybody
don't have a chance to be saved because salvation is according
to the purpose of God. And it is revealed right here.
He said He ordained these things before the foundation of the
world unto our glory. But He hid them from the princes
of the world because if they had known what we know, they
would have never carried this plan out. It would have never
been done. But it was done because He did
hide it. And they could not see it. They
would not have crucified the Lord of glory if they had known
He was the Lord of glory. But the Lord didn't allow them
to see Him as the Lord of glory. Now, was it plain as the nose
on your face that He was the Lord of glory? It is to me. Isn't it to you? I mean, when
you read the Word of God, don't you say, how stupid could they
be? But you see, it wasn't given
unto them, dear brother. And you see, you didn't get that
because you figured it out. Because if you'd have been there
and there amidst them that day and you had not been given this,
you'd have been right there with the crowd saying, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Because you see,
it was not given unto them to know. But what a privilege it
is. Oh, what a privilege to be given
eyes to see that. Because listen to what He said
here. But as it is written, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him." Now, that verse is usually quoted
at funerals and stuff, and they usually misapply it because it's
not talking about that. I mean, there is an application.
It is a true thing that we don't know what the Lord has prepared
in the eternal ages to come. That's a true thing. But the
context of this passage right here is Paul is sitting here
in wonder at the consideration of what God has done in the behalf
of His people, and he said it's impossible that a man could ever
comprehend that. I'm not amazed that people don't
believe the gospel. How could they? How could you? How could I? Except God, who
is rich in mercy, has shown it to us. Neither hath entered into
the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that
love Him." You see, why do they love Him? We love Him. Why? Because He first loved us. But we do love Him because He
has wrought that in us. And there is a manifestation
of His love. But God, listen, but God has
revealed them unto us. Revealed what? The things that
He has prepared for us. See, He's revealed the things
He's prepared. It's not entered into the heart
of man by his ability, but God has revealed the things that
He has prepared for us. So this passage in its context
is not speaking about things that are going to happen in eternity,
but it's talking about things that have been ordained to be
given unto us in the present time. But it just didn't appear
unto men nor to their understanding. But dear brethren, it has been
given unto us because He says so in that verse, but God hath
revealed them to us. Now how did He reveal them? Didn't
we figure it out through long study? Or we finally heard a
preacher that told us how it was? No. He hath revealed them
unto us by His Spirit. But God hath revealed them. What? Those things that He hath prepared
for us from before the foundation of the world. For the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. What did
the Lord Jesus say about the Spirit? He said, I am going to
send the Spirit, my Spirit, into the world. And He says He is
going to lead you into some truth. Is that what He said? He's going
to partially tell you the truth. No, He said He will lead you
into all truth. Now, dear brethren, let me ask
you, what is all truth? The Lord Jesus Christ said this
to His disciples. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me." If you want to know what all the truth is, it's Jesus
Christ. He is the truth. Now, you know,
people say, but there's got to be more to it than that. Not
according to what the Word of God says. That is the truth. Oh, but brother, you need to
know this. You know, go over here to the book of Revelation
and see this, and you need to know this. Well, brethren, I'm
telling you, you don't need to know anything but Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He is the Savior of sinners.
He is the truth. He is the way. He is the life.
He is the Savior. What more do we need? I mean,
what do we want to know? Oh, brethren, He's shown us the
truth. You see, most all false doctrine comes in when men start
trying to tell men all these things that other people don't
know. We're going to let you in on the secret. Well, dear
brethren, the Lord has let His people in on the secret. Because
there is only one secret. Now it is a secret, and it has
been hid from the wise and the prudent, but it has been revealed
unto babes. And the secret is that Jesus
Christ is the salvation of God. Now that is not, I am not talking
to you in the flesh. I am talking to you as the Spirit
of God shows man, just like that Ethiopian eunuch. who went on
his way rejoicing. He says, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. He says, I believe He is the
One who He said He was. And he went on his way rejoicing.
How did he know that? Because the Spirit of God showed
it to him. And when the Spirit of God shows
somebody something, it can't be taken away because it doesn't
stand in the wisdom May the Lord give us a mind and heart as we
come to this table today to remember the Lord's death until He comes
again, because there is not anything else that the Lord told us to
remember. Now, people remember a lot of
stuff, You know, they have holidays and things and they set them
up and they say, well, we need to do this and we need to do
that. We need to have this memorial and that memorial. Well, the
Lord gave one memorial. He said, this is what I want
you to do to remember me. He says, as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup, you are going to manifest. You
are going to make it plain. to those who've been given eyes
to see. Now, the world doesn't see this. The world sees this as just some
kind of a little thing that you do. I mean, you know, everybody
does it. I mean, you just take a little
wine, and what did old Trump say? You eat your cracker and
your thing. I mean, that's how they look
at it. It's just a religious thing. I mean, there's nothing
to it. But, dear brethren, there is something to this, to those
who've been given eyes to see. Because this, according to what
the Lord said, is the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. Now
we know that it's bread and it's wine. We know that. But you see,
to those who have been given eyes to see, it's more than bread
and wine. And that's why we are to discern
the body of Christ. And if we don't, then we don't
need to be taking this. Because we don't have eyes and
mind towards what this represents. And the fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ has shed His blood for His people. See, that's important. Now some people, they think that's
not really important. Well, you can just believe that
Christ died for everybody and it's fine. Everybody's not a
theologian and everybody doesn't think about that theologically,
but I'm saying this, if a man does think about it theologically
and he says that Jesus Christ died for everybody, then he dilutes
what the whole thing means. Now, I know people can misunderstand
things, and I'm not saying that everybody that doesn't write
out some thesis on who Christ died for and might say something
different than what I'm saying doesn't have an interest in the
blood of Christ. But what I am saying is this.
Those who have been given eyes to see know that Christ shed
his blood for the sins of his people and that there is nothing
else that is necessary for the satisfaction and the payment for their sin
before Almighty God. This is a transaction that took
place. And there's nothing to be added
to it. In fact, God, nothing can be taken from it. It's a
definite atonement. He did something. And that's
why we can't come here. We don't come here just to say,
well, you know, we sure hope this is sufficient. No, we come here saying we believe
it is. We believe it is because we believe
that Christ shed His blood and had His body offered for our
sake. May the Lord help us as we