Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us today. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm continuing a study that I've been doing
through the first two chapters of 1 Corinthians, in the New
Testament, the book of 1 Corinthians, chapters one and two. And we're
in chapter two, and today's message is entitled, A Great and Glorious
Mystery. a great and glorious mystery. Now the Apostle Paul had been
talking in these verses up to this point of the wisdom and
the power of Almighty God that is revealed to his people in
the preaching of the cross. He calls it the preaching of
the cross. He calls it the preaching of Christ crucified. or the preaching
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's all the same message. It's
the gospel. The gospel. When we talk about
the gospel, the good news, we're not just, understand, we're not
just talking about any good news at all. You understand that. We're talking about a specific
message that involves the salvation of sinners. who cannot save themselves,
who do not deserve or earn salvation, but the salvation of sinners
by the sovereign purpose and grace of Almighty God on the
basis of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that's stated
in the Bible in so many different ways. For example, when we talk
about the gospel, remember where the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter
one and verse 16 and 17. Or well, back up in verse one,
he talked about the gospel of God. which involves the preaching
of a person, Jesus Christ, who was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, God-man. Dealt with that last week. Who
is Jesus Christ? He's God-man. God, every bit
God, every bit man without sin. And he said in Romans 1.16, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
and to the Greek also. Verse 17, for therein, in that
gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And
what is the righteousness of God? Well, it's the entire merit,
worth, value of the glory of Christ
in his person and in his substitutionary death on the cross. What did
he accomplish? What did he merit? What did he
earn? His death conquered death. His
death conquered the grave, conquered the devil, conquered sin. His
death brought in an everlasting righteousness whereupon God is
just to show mercy to sinners who deserve nothing but His wrath.
A righteousness whereupon God is righteous as well as merciful. A just God and a Savior. How
can God be both? How can He show mercy? I know
what I am. I'm a sinner. I fell in Adam
into sin and death. I was born dead in trespasses
and sins. I've sinned always. I'm a sinner. How can God show mercy to me,
love me, and how can He be gracious to me and still not deny Himself
in giving me what I justly deserve? There's only one way, and that
is through Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the preaching
of the cross. God shows grace to His people
that reigns through righteousness, just as satisfied, the righteousness
of Christ imputed, charged to them, unto eternal life by Jesus
Christ our Lord. Now, the substance of that message
is something that man, even the best of men, have never thought
of, have never conceived. There's not one religion of man's
origin that has even come close to asking or answering that great
question, how can a holy God be both a just God and a Savior. He must be just whatever He does. He must be just and justify,
the Scripture says. How is that possible? Well, man
could not conceive of that. And that's what Paul's talking
about right here. He says, he told him, he said
that the whole substance of his message is Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. And he said in verse four, look
at verse four, of 1 Corinthians 2. He said, in my speech and
my preaching was not with enticing or persuasible words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Verse
five, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God. You see, salvation is of the
Lord. Salvation does not come through
the methods or the enticing words or human wisdom. It doesn't do
it. There are people today who've
written books on how to get people down an aisle, how to get them
to pray a prayer and confess this and that. That's not how
it's done. We preach the gospel, Paul said, not with wisdom of
words, not with enticing words of man's wisdom. We preach it
as it is in the scripture, Come what may. And it's up to the
Spirit of God, through Christ, who brings his people, he births
them again, born again. He gives them life, he gives
them ears to hear and eyes to see, a new heart, and brings
them to faith in Christ and repentance of dead words. It's not the preachers. It's Christ and the power of
God. So he says, he says in verse
six, How be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect."
Now, what does he mean, them that are perfect? Is he talking
about that we have arrived at the point where we can call ourselves
perfect people? Well, obviously not. There is
a perfection for God's people, but that perfection can only
be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, do you understand what I'm
saying? God requires perfection. God requires holiness and righteousness. Where am I going to find perfection?
Where am I going to find holiness and righteousness? Only in the
person and work of Christ. That's his, my sins were imputed,
charged, accounted to him and he justly died under the wrath
of God for my sins. But he paid the debt in full.
He established righteousness. Now, his righteousness is imputed
to me. That's a legal matter. I stand
before God in a perfect righteousness. I didn't have anything to do
with it because I couldn't have anything to do with it. I'm a
sinner. But my perfect righteousness
before God is Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from
the dead, the merits of His cross imputed, charged to me. But now
what Paul is talking about here, them that are perfect, he's talking
about those who are complete. The word perfect in the New Testament
is a little bit different than what we think of in our natural
English, in our normal English language. The word perfect can
sometimes mean mature. The word perfect can sometimes
just simply mean complete. In other words, it's not that
you're morally perfect, but you are complete. Now, what completeness
is Paul talking about? Well, Colossians chapter two
in verses nine and 10 give us the key. It says in verse nine
of Colossians chapter two, it says, in him, in Christ, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily," and verse 10 says, "...and
you are complete in Him." Now that completeness can refer to
my legal standing before God in Christ based on His righteousness
imputed to me. And it can also refer to the
fact that I have been brought by the Spirit of God to believe
in Him as the Lord my righteousness. So what Paul is saying here,
you could put it this way. He says, how be it, verse six,
we speak wisdom among them that are believers, sinners saved
by grace, surely saved, always saved, Preserve. They're complete
in that way. They're not perfect people. They
are sinners saved by grace. They are kept by the power of
God. They stand before God in Christ as righteous. And he says
in verse six, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes
of this world that come to nothing, to naught, nothing. Now the word
princes, I want you to understand that's not just talking about
the king and the queen's son. It's not talking about royalty,
necessarily. When he uses the word princes,
he's talking about people that the natural man looks up to. and depends on. For example,
it would be the king, the queen, their sons, their daughters,
all of that, nobility. But it also includes religious
leaders, political leaders, economic leaders, people who are of high
esteem in the eyes of the natural man. The philosophers, the thinkers,
the intellectual, all of that. And here's what he says. What
we're talking about here In this gospel, Christ crucified, righteousness
imputed, all of that, it's the wisdom of God, he says. It's not the wisdom of men, it's
not the wisdom of the world, not even the best in this world,
not even the high thinkers, not even the nobles, not even the
philosophers, not even the most religious. of this world because
all of their wisdom, really in light of this wisdom of God,
comes to nothing. Look at verse 7. But we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, a great and glorious mystery,
even the hidden wisdom of God, which God ordained before the
world unto our glory. That's an amazing statement.
First of all, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Now, a mystery
in the Bible is not something that you have to find
out by being a good detective and finding certain clues. A
mystery in the Bible, he tells us right here, even the hidden
wisdom. These are things that only God
knows and only God can reveal. A mystery in the Bible is truth
that man does not know and man cannot figure out with his own
efforts, his own wisdom, his own power, his own intellect.
In other words, if you understand this mystery, it's because God
has sovereignly and powerfully revealed it to you. God has uncovered
it. And if you don't understand this
mystery, then God has not revealed it to you. It must be revealed. Paul spoke of that in Galatians
chapter one. Think about it. Here he was,
a high religious man in false religion, moral, looked up to,
one of the princes of this world, on his way on the Damascus road
to arrest Christians because he hated the message of the cross.
He hated the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It
was preached to him. Stephen preached it. Peter preached
it. The other apostles preached it.
The other evangelists. Paul knew what they were saying,
but he hated it. It had not been revealed in a
saving way. Now you see, that's what we're
leading up to, the natural man. The natural man receives not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, they're
spiritually discerned. Paul didn't have spiritual life then. He
was spiritually dead. Paul didn't have spiritual eyes,
spiritual ears, you see. What he heard, he hated. He didn't
believe it. But then all of a sudden he was
stopped on the Damascus road and Christ revealed himself to
Paul. And here's what Paul said in
Galatians chapter 1. He said, When it pleased the Lord to reveal
his Son in me. And then he saw things that he'd
never seen before. Heard things that he'd never
heard before. Then he came to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works and idolatry. You see, that's what you need
in salvation. First of all, you need a righteousness you can't
produce. There's only one who can give you that, and that's
God through Christ, who is the Lord, our righteousness. Secondly,
you need a new heart. You don't need just reformation
of character and conduct. You don't need outward show of
religion. you need a new heart, a new mind,
a new will, a new affection. Only God can give that to you.
And until he does, it's a mystery that you can't figure out. And
that's what he says, the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before
the world unto our glory. This mystery is the gospel of
Jesus Christ and him crucified, which God set up and ordained
before the world began. And it was given, it was set
up in purpose for the glory of his people. All who he chose
gave to Christ, all whom Christ redeemed, died for on the cross,
and all whom he would raise from the dead in the new birth. Bring
to saving knowledge of Christ. And he says in verse eight, listen
to this. He says, which none of the princes of this world
knew. This message of the cross, This message of the glory of
God in Christ, crucified and risen from the dead. This message
of the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. None of the intellectuals,
none of the philosophers, none of the scientists, none of the
nobles, none of the religious leaders of the world knew this. He says this, he sets up a hypothetical
here. Verse eight, for had they known
it, They would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Who's the
Lord of Glory? That's Jesus Christ. You see, the Bible represents
the world turning against Christ. Now you say, well, I wasn't there.
Well, you were there in spirit. Because that's what, you know,
I heard a preacher say one time that he said if he'd have been
there, he would have stopped it. No, he wouldn't. That is
one of the most self-righteous, ugly statements, false statements
that a preacher's ever made. I'm telling you. I was there
in spirit. That's fallen humanity turning
against the Lord of glory. And what he's saying is if we
knew all this, we wouldn't have needed salvation. It wouldn't
have been necessary because we'd been okay, but we weren't. And
when the Lord of glory came into the world, it says his own received
him not. He was despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief and we did not esteem
him at all. That's our nature. And so he
says in verse nine, now listen to this. But as it is written,
I hath 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 what he's saying there is
this, I have not seen, nor ear heard, nor either entered into
the heart of man the things that God has prepared for his people
whom he has brought to love him. And that is, you see, by nature,
none of us love him. But when He reveals Himself in
this great and glorious mystery of Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
what does He do? He brings His people to love
Him. Not perfectly, but we do love
Him. First John 4.10 says, herein
is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the sin-bearing
sacrifice that brought satisfaction, to be the propitiation for our
sins. And he says, if you have this
knowledge of this great and glorious mystery, you didn't get it naturally. It's not something you just figured
out. It didn't come by your works. It didn't come by your will.
You just didn't up and decide one day that you're going to
accept Jesus as your savior. That's not how it comes. He says,
I have not seen, ear has never heard, nor even entered into
the heart of man. the things which God has prepared
for them. What has he prepared? Eternal
glory is what he's prepared for his people. An inheritance incorruptible
that fadeth not away. And it's all by his sovereign
grace based upon the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to his
people and received by God-given faith. But look at verse 10,
now here's how it did come. It didn't come by the natural
eye or ear or heart or will. He says, verse 10, but God hath
revealed them unto us by His Spirit. That's how it comes. You know, over there in John
chapter one, in verse 11, listen to what it says. John 1, 11. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. Now that's a good description
of all of us by nature. I hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither entered into the heart of man, receive him not. But verse 12 says, but as many
as received him, received Christ, to them gave he power, that is
the right, the privilege, to become or to be called the sons
of God. even to them that believe on
his name. Now, how did that knowledge come to me? Verse 13, which were
born, not of blood, it didn't come to me through pedigree or
natural heritage, physical birth, nor the will of the flesh, that's
the works of the flesh, didn't come by the works of the flesh,
nor the will of man, didn't come by my free will, as people say,
which is a myth. My will was against him. So how
did it come? Which were born of God. It came by the new birth. You
must be born again or you cannot see, or you cannot enter the
kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. So back in 1 Corinthians
2, verse 10, listen to it. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. Now who's the us there? Believers. Those whom he described over
here in verse 18, The preaching of the cross is the power of
God, for those who are being saved. Those who he described
here in verse 24, but unto them which are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Do
you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you trust him? Do
you glory in the Lord? He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. That's the us there. God has revealed these things
to us. Who's the us? Not everybody without
exception, but to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. For
by grace are you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
First, Ephesians chapter two, verses eight through 10. So look
back at verse 10. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit, Holy Spirit, Christ sends the Spirit to give
his people life. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. You see, These things are exclusive
to God the Son, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. Man by nature, I can't reveal them unto you because
they didn't come from me. And the Spirit searcheth all
things, the deep things of God. Now, how do I know what he's
talking about? Verse 11. For what man knoweth the things of
a man save the spirit of man which is in him? What's that
simply saying? It's a rhetorical question. Simply
saying that man cannot rise above what he is. These things of this
great and glorious mystery are things that are divine. They're
high above us and we can't rise above that. All we can know is
the things of man with the spirit of man that's in us. Even so,
the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God, only
God. can know these things, this great
and glorious mystery, and it's the Spirit of God who reveals
them. He is God, the third person of the Trinity. Now this verse
12 is a good key here to understand some of the things that he's
talking about. He says, now we have received not the Spirit
of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. Now how can
we know the difference? This is key. And I will speak
more of this next time. But how can I know if I've received
either the spirit of the world or the spirit of God? Well, listen
to what he says. Verse 12, that we might know
the things that are freely, unconditionally, without a cause, given to us
of God. Now, what does that mean? Well,
man by nature believes that salvation comes to him based on something
he does or something he decides. In other words, you take people
who believe that Christ died for everybody without exception,
even those in hell, but he failed to save them. What makes the
difference then between those in hell and those in heaven?
Well, it's not what Christ did because he died for both. What
makes the difference for such people is either their decisions
for Christ or their works or their perseverance or some combination
thereof. In other words, it's not freely
given. It's conditioned on you. But
what does the Bible teach? What does this great and glorious
mystery teach? What does the Spirit of God teach?
He teaches that all of the conditions of salvation were placed upon
Christ and Christ fulfilled those conditions to secure the salvation
of everyone for whom he died and was buried and rose again,
even their new birth, even the faith that they believe, even
their repentance. It's all freely given. My decision
didn't save me. Did I make a decision? Yes, but
you know why? It was only because God came
and I was born of God by His power and His grace and He changed
my will. I can remember when I despised
this gospel. What changed? Did I have some
kind of a natural Reformation? No. It was all the Spirit of
God. And He showed me that all things in salvation, my election
before the foundation of the world, my redemption of the cross,
my regeneration, my faith, it's all freely, unconditionally,
without a cause, given to me. It's the gift of God. Totally. And that's how we know the difference
between the spirit of the world and the spirit of God. The spirit
of the world is salvation conditioned on sinners. The spirit of God
is salvation conditioned on Christ alone who met those conditions. That's the great and glorious
mystery. And I hope you'll join us next week for another message
from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.