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. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us and
I hope this program is a blessing to you and I hope it is an aid
in helping you to read and to study the Word of God. Now today
I'm going to continue preaching through the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 2, 1 Corinthians 2. The title of the message is Hidden
Mysteries Revealed. hidden mysteries revealed. Now, salvation, well even the
gospel message itself, believed, heard, understood, and believed,
is a revelation from God. It's actually a gift from God.
The Bible tells us that salvation is of the Lord. It's not of man. And even believing it, even believing
the gospel is a gift from God. I quote all the time Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 8 where it says, for by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works lest any man should boast. And then it goes on in verse
10 there, it says, for we are his workmanship. If I'm a sinner
saved by grace, I'm not a self-made person. I'm a work of God. That's God's work. God saves,
not man. You see, people today, they have
the impression that God did everything he could do, now you've got to
seal the deal or make the right choice. My friend, if God saves
you, you will make the right choice because he gives you the
heart and the will and the mind to do so. That's what this passage
in 1 Corinthians 2 is talking about. One of the many passages. So that if I believe the gospel,
if I really receive Christ as my real savior, if I really believe
in him, I still don't have anything to brag about. I can't say, well,
I'm saved because I made the right choice, but these other
people who are lost, they didn't. No, sir. If left to myself, I
would not choose God. And that's the way it is with
you. That's what the Bible teaches. There's none that seeketh after
God. That's man by nature. And of course, the reason I started
this passage in 1 Corinthians 2 is somebody asked me about
this. I always quote this verse quite
often in my preaching. In 1 Corinthians 2 and verse
14, just look over at it just for a moment. This is where we're
headed. When it says, 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, spiritually evaluated, spiritually estimated, spiritually
understood." Now, who is he speaking of here in verse 14? The natural
man. Well, that's all of us by nature,
as we are naturally born into this world. You know, I think
some people really imagine that they were born saved. Well, if
that's true, they were never the natural man, and it's not
true. Nobody is born saved in physical
birth. Salvation is brought about by
a new birth. That's why Christ said you must
be born again. The reason we must be born again
is because our natural birth was born in sin. The Bible teaches
that we fell in Adam. When Adam fell, he brought the
whole human family into sin and death. And as a result of that,
we're born dead, spiritually dead, in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2 and verse 1. And
I've had people argue with me about that, and they would say,
well, we're not sinners until we make the first choice to sin.
Well, the thing about it is, we have to understand that as
we're naturally born, we have no spiritual mind, spiritual
heart. We have a mind, we have hearts,
that is the emotions, the affections, the will. But we have no proclivity,
we have no desire towards God, to glorify God. Now that doesn't
mean we're not religious, because man by nature is religious, but
his religion is wrong. That's what we're going to see
here. The natural man refers to men and women born dead in
sin. I asked a man one time who was
arguing against that. I said, well, if that's true,
then why is it that no human being ever born, wherever that
will be born here on this sinful earth, makes the choice not to
sin? Because we're all sinners. We'll
quote Romans 3 23. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Why is that? It's because we're
the natural man. So this is where we're headed
for this. Now in the last couple of messages
I talked about the Christian worldview. And what I meant by
that is this is how a true believer, a true Christian, views the world. And we're gonna continue talking
about that. But here's what I want you to see today. This hidden
mystery revealed. Look at verse six. That's where
I dealt with last week. It talks about how be it we speak,
this is 1 Corinthians 2 and verse six, how be it we speak wisdom
among them that are perfect. Now who's he talking about there?
The ones he's talking about who are perfect and complete are
believers. Now how? You know what a believer
is? A believer is a sinner saved
by grace. Once a person is saved, that
person does not stop being a sinner in the sense that he now measures
up in his character and conduct to the standard of perfect righteousness. Now, I've heard people say, well,
I'm no longer a sinner. And maybe what they mean by that
is, well, I'm no longer an unbeliever. Well, a believer is not an unbeliever,
but he still has unbelief in him. Have you ever had moments
of doubt? Have you ever got the why me
syndrome? Have you ever complained? Well,
in the Bible, that's unbelief. That's the sin that so easily
besets us, Hebrews chapter 12. And the only remedy is looking
unto Jesus, the author and the completer, the finisher of our
faith. So, once a person is saved, they don't stop being a sinner.
You see, so when he says we speak the wisdom of God, or speak wisdom,
and that's what he's talking about, the wisdom of God, among
them that are perfidious." He's talking about justified persons,
justified sinners. Now what is it to be justified?
To be justified is to be not guilty, not condemned for sin. And it means to be declared before
God legally righteous. Now, how can I, a sinner, be
not guilty and not condemned and legally declared righteous?
There's only one way, and that's by the grace of God based upon
the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am
perfect, not in myself, and you don't have to be around me very
long to find that out. I am not perfect in myself, but
I'm perfect in Christ because He's perfect. I have His righteousness
imputed, charged, accounted to me. And God cannot lay any sin
to my charge. He knows I'm a sinner and I am
a sinner, but He doesn't impute, charge sin to me. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? And for that reason, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ.
Now Paul writes here by inspiration of the Spirit, he says, we speak
this wisdom among them that are perfect. Those who are perfect,
that perfection that they have in Christ is evidenced by their
faith in Christ. And you need to understand that.
Back over in 1 Corinthians 1 in verse 18. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18. He
says, for the preaching of the cross. Now the preaching of the
cross is not simply the historical fact that Christ died, was buried,
and arose again. That's included. But the preaching
of the cross is the preaching of the finished work of Christ
to redeem his people and establish righteousness for them that demands
their whole salvation. their justification before God,
the gospel. Paul said it in verse 1 of chapter
2. He said, verse 2 of chapter 2, we preach Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. That's the finished, that's the
glorious person. God in human flesh, Christ is,
and the finished work of Christ. Well, in 1 Corinthians 1.18,
for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. In other words, when I preach
what I preach, the finished work of Christ, it's foolishness to
them that are perishing. But unto us which are saved,
literally being saved, it is the power of God. And later on
down there, he says, it's the wisdom of God, verse 24. But
unto them which are called, that's the regenerate, that's the born
again, that's believers. First Corinthians 124, both Jews
and Greeks or Jews and Gentiles, Christ, the power of God and
the wisdom of God. You see, only believers, those
who have been, and listen, the Bible, the Bible identifies the
people of God in many ways. They're called the elect of God.
Who are the elect of God? Believers. That's who they are. They're known by their calling,
calling of the gospel. And that's what we're talking
about. The hidden mysteries revealed. The hidden mysteries of God's
grace and mercy in Christ have been revealed to them by God.
They're the justified. We speak the wisdom of God among
them that are perfect. They're justified. They're complete.
Colossians 2 and verse 9 says, In Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. My completeness
is not in myself. My completeness is in Christ.
I'm justified. I'm washed clean from all my
sins. What does that mean? It means
they're paid for. He paid my debt. Jesus paid it all. And
I'm justified. I'm righteous in Him based on
His righteousness imputed to me. And how do I know that I
stand perfect in Him? Because I believe in Him. Now
listen to me very carefully here. Because I believe in Christ as
He's identified and distinguished in the Bible. You know, there
are counterfeit Christ. How do you know the difference
between a counterfeit and the true? Who is Jesus Christ and what
did He accomplish on the cross? Did He die just to make you savable
or make salvation a possibility if you would do your part? That's
a false Christ, I'm telling you. Or did He die to seal it all? Well, He says here in 1 Corinthians
2, He died to seal it all. But now, when we preach the gospel,
it's the wisdom of God. among them that are perfect.
But look at verse 6 again of 1st Corinthians 2. Howbeit we
speak wisdom among them that are perfect. This is wisdom.
Oh, it is. Yet, not the wisdom of this world. Now, as we've been talking about
a worldview, The world's way of salvation is not wise. It's
foolish. It's a way of death. There is
a way that seems right unto men, but it's a way that leads to
death. It's the broad road that leads to destruction. So this
gospel message that declares how God can be just and justify
the ungodly by His grace based upon the righteousness of Christ
imputed and received by God-given faith, it's not the wisdom of
this world. The world has no idea about real
salvation. And he says, nor of the princes
of this world. The princes of this world refers
to the elite, the nobles. the royalty, but not just the
royalty, it also refers to the teachers and the intellectuals,
the philosophers, the theologians, as they call themselves. The
princes of this world would include the ones that the mass of people
look to for answers. You know, everybody's got their
spiritual guru. And we find out, you know, that's
who he's talking about. But what he's saying here is
this. None of those people, none of those people ever came up
with anything like this. This is not the wisdom of the
world. It's not the wisdom of the princes of this world. And
all what they say comes to naught. It says that means it comes to
nothing. It's a big fat zero. It's vanity of vanities as the
book of Ecclesiastes speaks of it. I don't care the smartest
man or woman in the world has no idea of how God saves sinners
according to His justice and His glory until God intervenes
in His Word by the power of the Spirit and reveals it to Him.
And look here at verse 7. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before
the world under our glory. And let's read verse eight. Which
none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Now let me
unpack those verses for you. Here's what he's saying. We speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery. Now, in the Bible, a mystery
is not what we normally think of as a mystery. You might go
to the bookstore or go see a movie that's a mystery. And what you
have there, you have maybe somebody commits a crime and then you
have a detective like Sherlock Holmes or Mrs. Marple or somebody
like that. And they have to figure out who
did this, who committed the crime, by finding clues. And that's
what we normally think of as a mystery. But that's not what
a mystery is in the Bible. A mystery in the Bible is something
that can only be known by revelation from God. In other words, man
cannot by searching find this out. In other words, God has
to intervene. God has to turn the light on.
Man by nature is in darkness. but God has to turn the light
on. Now that doesn't mean that we're not commanded to seek the
Lord. We are commanded to do that.
But here's the bottom line. We're not going to find Him until
He reveals Himself. Now that's the case. God must
reveal Himself. So if you understand and know
this mystery of the gospel, it's by revelation. The Bible says
that the gospel is not the gospel of man. It's the gospel of God.
Romans 1.16, the Apostle Paul wrote, 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 the Greek or the
Gentile also. Verse 17, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written, the just or the justified shall live by faith. Faith is
based upon the revelation of God to His people. And what happens,
see, now the natural man won't receive that. Man dead in trespasses
and sins, spiritually dead, he doesn't have eyes, spiritual
eyes to see spiritual things. He doesn't have ears to hear,
spiritual ears to hear spiritual things. He doesn't have the heart
to desire the things of God. You remember when Christ spoke
in Matthew 13, the parables of the kingdom, the first parable
that he spoke was the parable of the sower and the seed. And
he talked about, what he was talking about is the sower, that's
Christ himself and his ministers going about preaching the gospel
in the world. And he said, in that gospel preaching,
you're going to have different responses from people. You'll
have some who just turn a deaf ear to it. They don't want to
hear it, anything about it. Leave me alone. In one passage,
he told his disciples, when that happens, just wipe the dust off
your feet and go on. You can't force people to listen.
Others, he said, might grab hold of it and claim to believe it. But then later on they'll leave
it. He had two kinds of heirs that way. One's called the stony
ground heir. He left because of persecution
over the word. And the word does bring persecution.
When you tell people that their refuge and their hope is false,
they get upset. and he left. It didn't take any
root, the word did. The other was the thorny ground
hearer. The cares of the world and the
love for riches choked it out and he had other things to do.
But then he talks about the good ground hearer. Now the good ground
hearer refers to a sinner who's been given a new heart prepared
by God to receive the seed of the word. Well, when he spoke
that parable in Matthew 13, the disciples asked him, why do you
speak in parables? And he told them in Matthew chapter
13. I believe it starts with verse 10, but you can read the
whole thing. He said, because they seeing, see not. And hearing,
they hear not. He had preached the gospel in
Judea. And the Pharisees and their followers
rejected it. But then he turned to the disciples.
And he said this, he said, but blessed are your eyes for they
see. Blessed are your ears for they
hear. You've been given spiritual ears.
You've been given spiritual eyes. How does that happen? By new
birth of the Holy Spirit in the power of God, you must be born
again or you cannot see, savingly see and understand and know and
love the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. Well, he says
in verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 2, we speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery. It's a revelation from God. Even
the hidden wisdom. It's hidden from man. Man is
in darkness. And he says, which God ordained
before the world under our glory. This is the oldest message in
the world. It's older than the world. Over
in the book of 2 Timothy, let me read this to you. This is
2 Timothy chapter one. If I can find it here, 2 Timothy
chapter one. The apostle Paul, he was writing
to his young student named Timothy, and Paul was in prison when he
wrote this. And so he tells Timothy in verse
eight of 2 Timothy one, He says, be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. Isn't
that interesting how the apostle Paul called himself God's prisoner. He was in a place where God put
him for a purpose. He says in verse eight, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. You see that? Now back over in
1 Corinthians 2, verse seven, he says, or verse eight, he says,
which none of the princes of this world knew. This knowledge
of God is from God, It is original of God, and it's revealed by
God. None of the elite of this world,
the smartest, the richest, the most powerful, knew this. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. Now here's what he's talking
about. Paul is looking at it from a
purely human point of view. The crucifixion of Christ, was
foreordained by God before the world began. Peter said that
in Acts chapter two. He talked about those who with
wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory, but
they did no more than what God determined before to be done.
Christ told his disciples, he said, this is the very reason
I came into the world, to go to the cross, to die, to be buried,
to be raised again the third day. He had to establish righteousness. You see, God saves sinners. God
shows mercy to sinners. God's grace is for sinners, but
God's salvation, God's grace, God's love, God's mercy cannot
be displayed and enacted except upon a just ground. And there's
only one just ground, that's what Paul's talking about in
1 Corinthians 2, that's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. God
is a God of love, but His love must be based upon justice satisfied. Now that's where we get the word
propitiation. Are you familiar with that word?
It's found, it's actually translated in the King James Version, the
English version, three times in that word propitiation, but
the actual word is found in other places translated other ways.
And one of the places is 1 John 4, 10, where he says, herein
is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Now he's not talking about everybody
without exception there. He's talking about everyone whom
he gave to Christ, everyone whom Christ represented, for whom
Christ stood as surety and substitute on the cross and satisfied their
debt, satisfied justice to demand their eternal salvation. That's
the whole issue right there. So this crucifixion here that
he speaks of, it was ordained by God. But here's the thing. If the princes of this world
knew at that time who Jesus Christ was and is, God in human flesh,
the Messiah, they wouldn't have crucified him. They did it out
of ignorance. Now that's no excuse. So he says
in verse nine, he says, 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 I'm gonna
talk more about this thing of those who love him next time.
But here's what he's saying, it must be revealed, the hidden
mystery revealed. 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
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today and may the Lord be with you.