These first few chapters here
of Corinthians, I mean, that's ultimately what Paul is getting
at as he closes out the first chapter. He said that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now men are going to glory in
something. That is just the nature of us. We are going to glory in something. Sometimes we might glory in our
grandchildren, or we might glory in our accomplishments, or we
might glory in all sorts of things. Paul says this, if you are going
to glory, and you are. See, every man is going to glory
in something. He said, if you are going to
glory, let us glory. in the Lord. And that's why the
Scriptures unfold the work of salvation in the way that it
does. It's so that man can't take credit
for anything. Now if you have a thought process
that gives you the place to take credit for anything, then you,
that's worth taking credit for, let me put it that way, then
you I have got the wrong line of thought because, you see,
God is the one who brings all these things to pass for His
purpose, whether you can understand it or whether you like it or
not. See, that is what men, by nature,
they want to find a religion that suits them. I mean, that
is what men are doing by and large. They are going out here
and finding a religion that suits them. And that is why in these
modern day churches, by and large, that's what they're doing. They're
trying to make something where it suits people. You know, where
it gets people to like it. It's like going in a buffet line
and you've got all this food and you can just get whatever
you want. I mean, they've got it all. And so that's the way
it is, by and large, is that the religious world is spread
out there like a buffet, and people can just pick and choose.
And, well, I like this, and I like that, and this, that, or the
other. And that's fine. I mean, men are going to be religious.
They're going to seek out those things. But there's only one
place that the people of God are going to find rest, help,
and hope, and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what Paul is saying here. And that's why, as we looked
last week at verse 30, and we said that this is the summation
of the gospel. If you wanted to put the summation
of the gospel in one verse, this right here would be it. And look
how he precedes it, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Now what is there
in that verse that speaks about something that man did? Is there anything in there? I
mean, can you twist it around and turn it? I mean, even the
strongest free will preacher on earth can't read that verse
right there and come up with something that man has done. Because it's of Him, through
Him and to Him that all glory must come. in the matter of the
salvation of His people. And so that's why Paul said to,
he upbraided them to start with when he said, some of you say
I'm a Paul and a Paulist, there's contentions and divisions among
you because it's a matter of personality differences and one
of you is clinging to this one and one of you is clinging to
that. He said it's all done. It doesn't make any difference.
He said it doesn't matter who baptized you or anything else.
He said here is the crux of the matter, that no flesh is glory
in His presence. There is nothing to glory in,
in anything that we think we know. Now brethren, there are some
things in the Scriptures that we can know, doctrinal truths
that we can know. We can know that man, according
to what Scripture says, is totally and absolutely depraved. There
is not a shred of good in any man. Now, you don't really, if
you want to make folks mad, you don't have to go much further
than that. If you want to just get people mad at you, just tell
them how sorry they really are. And you know, a man will get
a belly full of that because he's all right with you when
you just tell him he's you know, no good within him. But don't
dwell on it. Because if you go far enough
with it, he'll say, oh, but wait. But you see, that's the place
that Scripture indicates that man is by nature. There's none
good, no, not one. There's none that seeketh after
God. None. Not some. But what about, what did it say? And so it is that there is no
place to glory. But back to my point. Now, we
believe that doctrine to be true. We believe to be found in the
Scripture. But we don't glory in the doctrine
or glory because we know it. I mean, we can't take pride in
it. Oh, brother, we believe in total
depravity. Now, some people like the glory
in those things. They've got a flower that they
go by, and it's the tulip, you know, total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance
of the saints. And they'll paste that up on
the wall sometime, and there's glory in it. Brethren, we're
not interested in glory and in the doctrine. But we are glorying
in the One who reveals these things to us in the Scriptures.
We're not going around here trying to prove to somebody something
that's in the Scriptures. You can't prove a thing to a
man from the Scriptures. You can't do it. I've tried it.
I used to think you could do it. You can't prove to a man
one thing in the Scriptures. Only the Spirit of God can take
a man and show him what the Scripture is and what it means. Now, we
hope by the grace of God to be shown what the Scripture means. I know what it says. There's
nobody that knows how to read, can't read what it says. But
just like Brother Al was pointing out there this morning, you can
read that Mizraim was born and who his ancestors are. But you
see, you can't understand that God had a purpose for him and
that he ordained all of his offspring in that, apart from the grace
of God, manifesting the glory of that truth to you. Now you
might learn it. like you would go to school and
learn it. But see, you can't glory in it, except that the
Lord give it to you, and then the only glory that there is
in it is not knowing that. I mean, we don't go out of here
and glory because we can tell somebody that, and we can tell
them how smart we are. Well, look what we know. No. But it's the glory is of the
Lord. Look at what the Lord has done.
It's wonderful. It's marvelous in our eyes. These
things are amazing. And so, he said, He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. That's the only place I want
to be found gloried. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. Now, number one, notice what
it is that he came declaring to them, and that was the testimony
of God. Now, that is the truth that comes
from God, that which is about God. See, the preaching of the
gospel is not about men. Now the glorious thing that we
see in the Scripture revealed is that Jesus Christ did bleed
and die for guilty sinners. And that's a glorious truth.
And men do indeed benefit from what He did there. And He did
do that in the behalf of sinners and for sinners. But make no
mistake about it that the preaching of that message is not for the
glory of men, but it is for the glory of God. And we are not
preaching the gospel in order to try to get some folks to do
something. Now, Brandon, we desire for men
to believe the gospel. There is joy in heaven over sinners
that repented. And if there is joy in heaven
over sinners that repented, should there not be joy on earth? Those
are the same thing. I mean, would we not delight
to see a man embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ and fall down
on his face and worship God? I mean, that's a glorious thing.
Well, sure we would desire that. But that's not why we preach.
See, we're not preaching to try to get people to do something.
What we're preaching for is to magnify the glory of His grace
in the earth. And He'll cause men to hear that.
And it'll be a sweet sound unto their ears. And they'll say,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, just like that
Ethiopian eunuch as he went on his way rejoicing. Why? Because he came to see something
that he'd never seen before. He saw the revelation of Christ
as that one sent from God, as the Redeemer, and he glory did
it. Not simply because of the benefit
to him, but he gloried in the One who was sent. Now you see,
that's why we preach the gospel. It's so that the One that was
sent might be glorified. That's what the Scripture says,
every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. Now what
does that tell us? It tells us that Christ is the
center, the sum and the substance of everything that God would
manifest unto men. There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, not where we
might be saved or where the opportunity exists for us to be saved. What
does it say? Must be saved. I mean, the people
of God must be saved. It is something that has got
to happen. Because something is predestined to happen does
not mean it does not have to happen. See, because something
is predestined to happen, it has to happen. That's a glorious
thing if you pause and think about that. Because you see,
that's what God has done, and that's what He would magnify.
And so Paul said He came to them declaring unto them the testimony
of God. That is, it came from God, and
it's about God. And the only revelation we have
of God is Jesus Christ. Philip, when he stood before
the Lord, he said, Well, show us the Father and it will suffice
us. And the Lord said, Hey, have I been so long with you and you
didn't know who I was? What did he say? To me, it's
one of the clearer passages of Scripture that we find about
who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He said, Philip, he that hath
seen me, has seen the Father. Now what does that tell you?
Huh? That tells me that because He
goes on to say, I and my Father are what? One. I mean, that's pretty plain it
seems to me like. He is the Father. In fact, Isaiah
said that would be His name, did he not? He shall be called
the Everlasting Father. A glorious thing. Now, you know,
men try to complicate these things because they can't figure that
out. How can He be the Son and the Father? And so they come
up with all kinds of doctrines and stuff and call you a heretic
if you don't embrace it, just like they say it. And I believe
probably there's no other doctrine over time that has caused more
deaths and persecutions by religious men than the doctrine of the
Trinity. There's been plenty of people
that have been put to death because they didn't embrace it in the
way that somebody else said it was. And yet there's no other
doctrine in all the Scripture that's a greater mystery to the
human mind and understanding than that and who among us can
delineate it. If you can delineate that in
such a way that everybody that doesn't think of it just like
you do is worthy of death, then you know too much. You think
you know too much. But I'll tell you this, there
are some things about that that we do know, and we do know that
we have one God, and we do know what His name is, And we know
that he doesn't have a bunch of names. Now, he has set forth
and described his attributes and his purposes through many
names, but he has one name. And he said, that's a name, dear
brethren, which every tongue shall confess. Now, if you get to wondering,
See, what people want to do, people want to make out God to
be like they want Him to be. And so they say, well, I think
God is Allah. And so He's the one I'm going
to serve. And that's fine. I don't have
a problem. I mean, people worship all kinds
of God. That's not a problem to me. I
mean, they can worship whoever they want to. That's all they
know. I mean, that's what they're going
to do. But you see, when we come to declare who God is and who He is not, there's no
equivocation over what we believe the Scripture says. It doesn't
make a difference what people think. It doesn't make a difference
what I think. But it does make a difference
what God says. And if this book be the Word
of God, which I believe it is, then indeed there is one name.
It is the only name He has shown the men that He would be known
among men by. And it is the name of Jesus,
the Master, the King, the Lord, the Everlasting Father. And so
it is. Our brethren, when I came to
you, you came not with excellency of speech, In doing what? Declaring the testimony of God
because the testimony of God is its own witness. See, it doesn't
need a bunch of men running around out here explaining it to people. Now, does the Lord use men to
send forth the gospel? Of course He does. Scripture
plainly says that. But don't ever consider that
The Lord needs men to do that. See, there's a difference in
God using men to do something and God needing men to do something. Now today you hear a lot of preachers
talking about what God needs from you. He needs your money. God doesn't need your money.
Why? Because of His money. The only
reason you got any of it is because He gave it to you. So He sure
don't need your money. Now, does that mean that God's
people ought not to give to the things of God? Well, a man would
be a fool if he read the Bible and thought that. That's not
it. But it's not a matter of need,
dear brethren. It's a matter of being wise stewards
of those things God has placed within your hands. How will you
use them? Consume it upon your lust or
to use it to do good? I mean, what is the thing that
you're going to do with it if you've got it? And so it is. that it doesn't need the enhancement
of men. That's why he said, I didn't
come to you with the excellency of speech. That is, I didn't
go and become trained, although he was a trained man. What did
he say about those things? He said, I counted them as done.
He said, I was all of these things. I was trained in the law. I was
a Jew of the Jews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees. But he says,
I'll tell you this, he said, I don't count it to be worth
one plug nickel. And neither should we. Because
he said, I didn't need to come to you with excellency of speech,
with the wisdom of men. Because what was he talking about?
He was talking about the wisdom of the world and how the gospel
is foolish. Did he think he could keep men
from thinking the gospel is foolish? No. But he said, I came declaring
the truth to you, for I determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now here is how you can always
tell if somebody is preaching the truth, if that is what their message
is, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Not Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
and now what are you going to do? But Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. You see, that's what Paul said,
I didn't come preaching some other message to you. I determined
to know not one thing. Now, on one hand we can say,
well, that's not exactly true because he taught a multitude
of things, did he not? Well, he did in the sense that
he laid out the supporting cast, but the message that Paul preached,
you can't come to any place where Paul preached that he preached
anything else insofar as what the purpose of God and the glory
of God is in the salvation of His people than Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. There was never any doubt in
anything Paul has ever preached that that was not the sum total
of His message about what salvation is. There's no other name under
heaven. This is it. Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And He says, I didn't come trying
to persuade you, trying to build a case that would just sweep
you off your feet with wisdom and oratory. Brethren, there
are some strong orators in the world today. There are some people
who are just learned people. They know how to say everything
just right and all of those things. And you know, people like to
listen to them, and I like to listen to them too. But at the
end of the day, all of that stuff is nothing. It doesn't amount
to a hill of beans. Because the only thing that makes
any difference is the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Him alone and nothing else. And so the sad thing is that
most of these orators don't know that. They think it's a multitude of
things. But it is only one thing. And that's what Paul said he
was determined. He said, I'm determined. He didn't
say, I'm halfway committed to this. He says, I'm determined. He says, I'm not going to do
anything else. I don't care if nobody listens to me. I don't
care if nobody agrees with me. I don't care what happens as
a result of it. And plenty happened to him, did
it not? But he said, I am determined, determined. Oh, that God would
give us a holy determination that we will stand for nothing
but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Because that's the only thing
that's going to make any difference. May the Lord help us and give
us a mind that's not interested in man's wisdom. or our own? Did we figure it out? Did we get this doctrine right
or that doctrine right? I hope we do have the doctrines
right. I believe we need to have the
doctrines right. But when all is said and done, it
is what we are determined to know and do Is it Jesus Christ
and Him crucified? Because, you see, we believe
Jesus Christ was crucified for a people. Now, if we preach Jesus
Christ and Him crucified, we are not just talking about the
fact that He just was crucified, but that He was crucified for
His people. And if He was crucified for His
people, And we're determined to know
nothing else. Does that not mean that we are
determined with all that's within us to be found in His presence? Now what can we do about that?
Not a thing in the world. But I mean as far as getting
ourselves there. But you see, that's the work
of the Spirit of God in His people to cause them to desire that.
Every one of God's people wants to be found in Christ. I mean,
you know, when a man is awakened by the Spirit of God, he wants
to be found in Christ. And that is what Paul said, I
determine not to know anything else. I do not care about anything
else. I have shared this with you before,
but I remember listening to a fellow by the name of B.B. Caldwell,
and he was asked at the time when the charismatic
movement was going real strong and everything and these young
guys that really had a lot of respect for B.B. Caldwell. And they came to him
and said, Well, Brother Caldwell says you need to get this blessing
here. And he said, Well, what I believe,
get me to Christ. And they said, Well, sure, sure
it will. He said, that's as far as I want to go. That's as far
as I want to go. Dear brethren, that's as far
as I want to go. I don't want to go further than
that. I don't want to shoot on by. I want to be found in Christ. May the Lord help us.