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 for
today's message. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'll be preaching from the book of 1 Corinthians,
chapter 2. 1 Corinthians, chapter 2. And I'm going to go through this
whole chapter, not just in one message. But the title of today's
message is, A True Christian Worldview. a true Christian worldview. And obviously what I'm talking
about there is how true Christians, true believers, those who know
Christ, who know the gospel of salvation by God's grace through
Christ, how we view the world. And that includes how we view
ourselves as we relate to the world. So a true Christian worldview. Now, before I begin in 1 Corinthians
2, I want to say a word about the Bible, God's inerrant, verbally
inspired word. The Bible's an amazing book.
Before I was converted, to believe in Christ, to believe the gospel.
I had some respect for the Bible, but not near what I should have
had and what I have now. I used to think the Bible was
a pretty good book, morally speaking, but I really didn't view it In
reality, I didn't view it as God's authoritative, revealed,
inspired, inerrant word. But now, this is the book. This is the book of truth. Absolute
truth. And what I found when I first
began to study the Bible is I really didn't know how to study it.
And I'm afraid that's the case of many people today who claim
to believe the Bible. who even call themselves Christians.
They make some errors in their reading. Now certainly the Bible
is the book of God and it's His revealed word and we know according
to the word of God itself, according to the Bible, this book, the
truth of this book has to be revealed by God. It's up to God
to reveal it to His people. Now it's written, but you know
people can read the Bible, they can quote the Bible, They can
memorize the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and still not know
its truth, its real, kernel, vital truth of salvation. For example, if you read the
Old Testament, what do you get out of it? If you read the New
Testament, And basically I'll say it this way, I don't have
time to go through all of that, but basically if you read the
Bible and you miss Christ in the glory of His person, who
is Jesus Christ? He is God in human flesh. And
in the power and victory of His redemptive work to save His people
from their sins and the righteousness that He accomplished, established,
on Calvary when he died as the surety and substitute of his
people. If you missed that, you've missed the Bible. There are Bible
scholars, so-called, who missed that. Christ confronted them
in his day. In John chapter five, he confronted
the Pharisees. In John chapter five, in verse
39, he says, search the scriptures. And the force of the original
there is he's saying, you do search the scriptures. Now, the
Bible commands us to search the scriptures, but what Christ was
saying to these Pharisees is, you do search the scriptures.
They read their Bibles, what they had at that time, the first
five books of Moses, the Psalms, and some of the prophets. You
do search the scriptures. He says, for in them, you think
you have eternal life. And then he says, they are they
which testify of me. Now think about that. And they
read the Bible. They read Moses. But he said,
Moses wrote of me. He said, Moses will be your judge.
So it's not, it shouldn't shock you to understand or to know
that many, many people read the Bible wrongly. And there's several
mistakes they make. One of the mistakes that people
make when reading the Bible is they read it out of context.
They take this verse over here and relate it to another verse
over here. And they don't read it as a whole
unit within the context. You know, there's a general context
of the whole Bible. Then there is a narrower context
of the book, for example. Is it in the Psalms? Is it in
Genesis? Or is it in the Old Testament?
Is it in the New Testament? And then there's a specific context
of the chapter and the verse. And so people read it piecemeal,
you might say. For example, you quote, you've
got favorite verses that you may quote. And that's okay if
you understand what those verses are saying within the context.
What does it say about God and about me and about salvation?
Another way that people misuse the Bible is they inject relativism
in it, that kind of saying, well, there's no absolute truth. And
then they go into pluralism, which says, well, what's true
for you may not be true for me. And therefore, we're all worshiping
the same God going different ways. Well, that's a wrong way
to read the Bible. What happens there is, for example,
if you read a passage of scripture like this, this is 1 Corinthians
2 and verse 14. Now listen to this. It says,
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, spiritually understood. Now, when you read a passage
like that, number one, you need to understand, what is the natural
man? Who's he talking about there?
And another thing you need to understand is, am I included
there, or am I excluded? What is he talking about? Many
people would say the natural man. Well, that's talking about
a, Immoral sinners who live their lives trying to quench their
thirst for materialism or immorality, sexual sins, things like that,
drunkenness. Do you know who the natural man
is here? It's every one of us who fell in Adam and are born
naturally into this world without spiritual life. spiritually dead. That's what the Bible teaches.
That includes me in my nature, in my natural state. That's why
in salvation we must be what? As far as what Christ said in
John 3, we must be born again from above. born of the Spirit. Because born naturally, what
are we? We're spiritually dead. The Bible
teaches that the human race fell in Adam, ruined by the fall. We fell into sin, depravity,
and death. Now that doesn't mean that we're
all raving lunatics or immoral perverts. That means this, man
at his best state, even in his most religious state, in the
natural realm of the world. See, this is the worldview. Man
at his best state is altogether vanity. Man cannot save himself
by his best efforts. But that's who the natural man
is, and we're gonna talk about that later on. Well, let's look
at this in the way as the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit,
began to speak of it. He started out in chapter 2 talking
about how his message, the gospel message, is Christ crucified. Jesus Christ and him crucified. That speaks of the doctrine,
the teaching, the truth of the person of Christ. Again, who
is Jesus Christ? He is God manifest in the flesh. That's who Christ is. He is very
God of very God, as one old writer said, and very man of very man
without sin. Christ has a deity nature that
he's always had before the foundation of the world, the Alpha and the
Omega, same yesterday, today, and forever, the second person
of the Trinity, and that didn't change. But he came to this earth
and humbled himself, made himself of no reputation, the scripture
says, and was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the
Holy Spirit, that's his humanity now, not his deity. His deity
has no beginning and no end. His deity, the nature of deity
is eternal, the I am. But his humanity had a beginning.
created in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit, and he united
himself to that humanity and was born of that Virgin. And
his name shall be called Jesus. For he shall save his people,
his people, that's God's elect. That's the church, that's his
sheep. He shall save his people from their sins. And how would
he do that? By his death on the cross. Because justice had to
be satisfied. Righteousness had to be established. And that's how he did it. That's
Christ crucified. So it's the doctrine of his person
and the doctrine of his finished work. Well, that's an amazing
message that did not come from the philosophy or the religion
or the thoughts of the world of fallen men and women. Study
philosophy. study the religions of man, and
none of them will even come close to this truth that is only by
revelation of God in the Bible. And that's the gospel of how
God can be just and justify the ungodly through the blood, the
righteousness imputed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Imputed meaning
charged, accounted, reckoned, to them. Christ was made sin,
the scripture says. How was He made sin? The debt
of the sins of all His people was imputed, charged, accounted,
reckoned to Him. And He went under the justice
of God, the wrath of His Father, to satisfy that justice through
His death. He's the surety of His people.
He's the substitute. He's the Savior. He was made
a curse for them. And His righteousness, the merit
of His whole work of salvation, His whole work of obedience unto
death, was imputed, charged, reckoned, accounted to His people. So that we who are saved, we
are justified, not guilty, righteous. We stand before God, accepted
before God, not in our own works and not by our own works, but
by the work of Christ, the righteousness of Christ. Now that's a message
from God. No human religion, no human philosophy,
no human think tank could ever come up with anything close to
that. In fact, they don't even consider
the question of how God could be just and justify the ungodly. Even the sacrifices and the blood
sacrifices of false religion are not for justification of
sinners. What they are is to appease a
bloodthirsty idol. God's not a bloodthirsty God,
but God is a just God and His justice must be satisfied. That's
who He is. So when Paul writes here about
Christ crucified, now here's what he says. Look at verse six.
This is 1 Corinthians chapter two and verse six. He says, how
be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. Yet not the
wisdom of this world, not worldly wisdom, nor of the princes of
this world that come to naught or come to nothing. We speak
wisdom. What is the wisdom of God? Well,
look across the page there in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 22. He says, for the Jews require
a sign. Now the Jews were the chosen
people of God under the old covenant as a nation. But that old covenant
is over now. And so that special relationship
that existed between God and the nation Israel is over. Hebrews
10, that which, or Hebrews 9, 8, 9, and 10, which tells us
that that which is old, grown old, has gone away, all right? But he says, he says, for the
Jews require a sign, that's religion. Human religion wants signs and
wonders. Remember Christ told the Pharisees,
a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. What does
that mean? Well, here's what we go by if
we're truly Christian. We don't go by signs and wonders. We go by the written word of
God. Do you understand that? I know
a thing is true because it's written in the book. How do I
know who God is? How do I know who I am? How do
I know God's way of salvation through Jesus Christ, the Lord
of glory? God's word says it. And whatever
dreams I may have, whatever visions I may see or signs that may,
my friend, they mean nothing compared to this. I hear people
today, they'll say, well, I got a revelation from God. Well my
friend, if it's new, it's wrong. Because God's already revealed
himself in this word. Now he may shed more light on
what he's already revealed, and that's what we do when we study
the scriptures. We pray that he'll give us more light. But
the Jews require a sign, that's religion. The Greeks seek after
wisdom. Now he's talking about Gentiles
there. That's philosophy. So religion and philosophy. Verse
23 of 1 Corinthians 1. But we preach Christ crucified. You see, there's our message.
That's the message of the church, the message of true Christianity,
the person and finished work of Christ. He says unto Jews,
it's a stumbling block. They trip over it, sort of. It's
like a trap to them because they're trying to be saved by their works.
Well, we preach Christ crucified. We preach salvation by grace,
not by works. And that trips the Jews up because
they think so highly of themselves. They think so highly of their
works. The gospel light in Christ, who is the light, exposes their
deeds, their religious efforts that they think so highly of,
that they think recommend them unto God, are evil deeds because
they deny the glory of God. They deny Christ. They're the
product of unbelief, the product, the result of self-righteousness.
And he says, unto the Jews, it's a stumbling block. And verse
23, unto the Greeks, it's foolishness. That one would die for another,
and that death is so powerful that it guarantees the salvation
of a sinner before God, that's foolishness to the philosophers
of this world. Now, do you see where I'm headed
here on the Christian worldview? It's totally opposite of the
world's view of itself. And he says in verse 24, now
listen to this. Now Paul said over there, we
preach wisdom among them that are perfect. Now hold on to that
thought, but look at verse 24 of chapter one. But unto them
which are called. Now that calling is the calling
of the Holy Spirit we're going to see in chapter two. That's
what we call the invincible, irresistible call of grace by
the Holy Spirit under the gospel. where he makes God's people willing
in the day of his power, convincing them of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. And he said, but unto them, which
are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and
the wisdom of God. So when Paul writes over here
in verse six of chapter two, we speak wisdom among them that
are perfect, we're preaching Christ. Now he says, we do this
among them that are perfect. Who's he talking about there?
Would you actually go stand before your mirror and look at yourself
and say, well, I'm a perfect person. Would I do that? I hope not. My friend, this the
natural aging process. shows us that we're not perfect,
but there's more than that. First of all, what does this
perfect mean? Well, in the Bible, now this
is where we come into what I call responsible biblical interpretation. What does the word perfect mean?
Well, if he's talking about people who are somehow morally perfect
or sinlessly perfect, as some who call themselves Christians
claim, which is a lie, if he's talking about that kind of a
person, then nobody hears it. There's nobody there to preach
it to. Paul himself did not claim moral perfection within himself.
Read Romans 7, 14 through 25. He said, Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. So who are the perfect here? What is perfect here? Well,
the word perfect does not refer to a moral, sinless perfection
within me or you or anybody. The word perfect in the original
language means complete. It means finished. And what does
the Bible say about sinners saved by grace? Well, we could go all
over the scripture here. But Colossians chapter two and
verse nine says it. It says, for in him, in the Lord
Jesus Christ, dwelleth all, in Him dwelleth, in Him we see all
the perfection of the Godhead bodily. In Him dwelleth all the
Godhead bodily. That's talking about Christ who
was morally sinlessly perfect, but we see the glory, the perfection
of the Godhead revealed in the person of Christ. So in him dwelleth
all the glory of God, in him. Let me just turn over here to
Colossians and show you what I'm talking about because this
is real important, this perfect here. Now remember what Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 2, 6. We speak wisdom, we preach Christ
the gospel among them that are perfect. And how in the world
can any person who's a sinner claim perfection? It's in verse
nine. For in him, Colossians 2.9, for
in him, in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We see the fullness of the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit in the person of Christ as God-man.
And look at verse 10 of Colossians 2. And you, that is believers
now, sinners saved by grace, justified before God through
Christ, you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality
and power. So when Paul writes back here
that we speak the wisdom of God among them that are perfect,
That is believers, sinners saved by grace who are perfect in Christ. They're complete in Christ. Their
salvation is attained and maintained and finished by Christ who is
the author and finisher of their faith. So he's talking about
justified persons, those who are justified before God based
on the imputed righteousness of Christ. So look at it again. Now this is 1 Corinthians 2 and
verse six. How be it we speak the wisdom
of God among them that are perfect? In other words, to those who
are called, to those who are saved, to those who are brought
to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works by the Holy Spirit,
what we're speaking when we preach the gospel, when we preach Christ
crucified, what we're speaking is wisdom to them because they're
complete in Him. Verse six, yet not the wisdom
of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to nothing.
What we're speaking when we preach the gospel of God's grace in
and by the Lord Jesus Christ, of the blood of Christ that cleanses
me from all my sin, past, present and future, of righteousness
imputed. My friend, that is not the message
of the world. The world has a false message.
It may be moral and sound good to people. There is a way that
seems right unto men, but it's the way of death, the way of
destruction. It's the broad road that leads
to destruction. It may be a religious way, as
men see it. It may be a moral way, a sincere,
dedicated way, a charitable way, as men see it. But if it's any
way but by the grace of God in Christ, it's an evil way. There's where that worldview
comes in. How do we view the world? The world at its best
now. Let's not talk about the headlines
or the newscast where you read the newspaper and you'll see
all kinds of murders and robberies and all that, and that's bad.
How do we view that? Well, that's evil. But the true
Christian worldview looks at the world at its best, at its
most dedicated, and says it's evil. Why? Because any way, any
thought, any thing that sinners do by way of what the world calls
goodness without Christ is an evil way. Their deeds are evil. Not because they're immoral in
the eyes of men or insincere, but because they do not glorify
God. You see, the only way a sinner
can glorify God is through Christ, by His grace, based on His righteousness
imputed. Somebody asked me one time, does
God hear the prayers of an unbeliever? Well, what do you mean by hear?
Does God, is God aware of their prayers? Well, yes, He's aware
of everything. He knows everything. Does He
accept their prayers? The answer's no. Who are they
praying to? They're praying to a false God. They're praying
in unbelief. They're praying out of desperation.
True, acceptable prayer and worship only come unto God as a sweet-smelling
savor or accepted in Christ. by the merits of his blood and
righteousness. And so that's where the worldview
begins. And it's not the wisdom of the
world nor the princes of this world. Now the princes of this
world refers to the elite, the religious elite, the philosophical
elite, the intellectuals, the rich, the nobles. In other words, the highest that
man can attain in becoming a prince will come to nothing. It's all
the wisdom of God in Christ. 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.