Good morning, good to see you.
I'm going to bring a message today from the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, if you want to be turning there. I was thinking
as Mark was praying there and expressing the gratitude that
we have here, the wonderful privilege and blessing we've had to have
the gospel brought our way. That very message as he spoke
of there that points us to Christ, and that's the subject the verses
we're going to be looking at in 1st Corinthians today 1st
Corinthians chapter 1 Paul here is talking about the gospel We're
going to look at verses 17 through 29, and he he describes the gospel
here He refers to it first of all in verse 18 as it will in
verse 17 he says he sent to preach the gospel that very specific
message and then in verse 18 he calls it the preaching of
the cross and And then in verse 23, he calls it the preaching
of Christ crucified. And then in verse 24, we're going
to see here a description that summarizes what this very message
of the gospel of Christ and Him crucified, what it is and becomes
unto those whom Christ calls unto Himself. where he calls,
he says there, it is Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. So I've chosen that summation
there in verse 24 of what the gospel means to those whom God
saves as the title of today's message. Christ, the power and
wisdom of God. I had planned to actually go
on through the end of the chapter, but instead I've decided to split
this into two parts. And so next week we'll be looking
at verses 30 and 31. We'll stop today at verse 29.
But let me give you a little background leading into the passage
for today before we get to verse 17. Leading up to that, Paul
had been directing his listeners to not look at men. Look with me there in verse 12.
He said in verse 12, Now this I say, that every one of you
saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos. and I of Cephas, that's
Peter, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified
for you? Were ye baptized in the name
of Paul? And then he goes on there, he's directing men to
look away from him, and so here in verse 17 at the beginning
of our text, where we read, he says, for Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Now, first of all, he
had just said in verse 16 that he had actually baptized some.
So he didn't mean that he wasn't sent to baptize any, but rather
the focus of his purpose, what God had sent him to do was to
preach the gospel. And he says, he continues there
and he says, but not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made of none effect. In other words, not with wisdom
of words that would direct your attention to the messenger rather
than to the message, to the preacher rather than this very specific
message that Paul said he was sent to preach. So he's saying,
look, it's not by the art of my debating skills. It's not
by my deep... You could plug all kinds of things
into what he might mean there. But they're all things that would
tend to direct attention to him. Not by my deep theological exegesis
or not by my human eloquence or my oratory. basically the
simplicity of this message of the cross. He had said, you know,
Paul wrote to this same church in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 that
he said, I fear less by the subtlety with which Satan deceived Eve
that you'd be led away from the gospel. And he said, he called
it there from the simplicity that is in Christ. And that word
simplicity there is the word meaning the singleness. That's
the preaching of the cross, the singleness that is in Christ.
And he said, lest the cross should be of none effect. That is, that
we become so enamored with or entranced by the eloquence or
the reasoning ability or just esteem for the speaker that we
look more at the manner of preaching, the manner of the speaker rather
than the message being proclaimed. Well, that leads us then Here
we see, as he goes on into verse 18, he makes this clear, because
he says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness. See, if one is preaching THE
gospel right, you see, he's not going to make the cross of none
effect, because in reality, by nature, all of us are going to
look at the cross, because we come into this world, remember,
at enmity. So we're, by nature, children of wrath as those who
are perishing and so it's a message that we naturally would conclude
is foolishness here and he says for the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God now right away we see he set up two classes
we have those who are being saved that phrase there in verse 18
where it says unto us which are saved is literally translated,
those who are being saved. That is, it's speaking of salvation
in its all-encompassing way. That is, God the Father having
chose us in Christ, unto salvation in Christ, Christ in time coming,
taking in the union with his deity, a perfect, sinless humanity,
and walking on this earth in obedience. strict obedience,
even to the obedience of the death on the cross to redeem
a people. And thereby as a result, a fruit
and effect of that, in each generation, both before and after the cross,
as a result of what took place at the cross, God Spirit graciously
comes and reveals that to us, and causes us to look to Christ.
This is the all-encompassing aspect of salvation, and even
so, as we heard in the 10 o'clock hour quoted, Christ said, and
I'm going to raise them up at the last day, just as He came
up out of that grave, for the righteousness demands life, and
all for whom He brought out that work for, for whom God imputes
The very merits of what Christ accomplished, you see, they have
a sure and certain eternal glory in heaven. Now that's the who
is being saved, that's the sense of that, and that's why I relate
that to you. So we have these two categories,
these two distinctions. Those who are perishing, those
who are being saved. And what is the distinguishing
point made here between these two categories? It's just simply
their attitude toward the message of the cross. Now, their attitude
toward the message of the cross is not what distinguished them.
It is what evidences that they are distinguished here, as Paul
says. It's their reaction to the message. The preaching of the cross, as
I said, is just another way of describing the message of Christ
and the merits of His whole work of redemption. That is, that
righteousness, that perfect satisfaction by His obedience rendering unto
God the perfect, holy, impeccable compliance with His revealed
will that we all need, but none can do for themselves. That obedience
even unto death, for He did that as a substitute for sinners,
and God is just, and He's holy, and sin has to be dealt with.
If any ungodly sinner is going to be reconciled to a holy God,
and so he died for sins, He had no part in producing, but rather
that God judicially imputed or accounted unto Him, and He in
turn for each and every one for whom Christ lived and died, He
judicially accounts unto them the very merits of what He accomplished
in His life and death righteousness. Now that's what the preaching
of the cross sets forth, what Christ accomplished on the cross.
In other words, it's the preaching of that that He accomplished
fully and completely in perfect satisfaction to justice. And
then to them that are perishing, he says, this message of grace
is foolishness. But to those who are being saved,
it's the power of God. You know, it's hard to consider
that verse without being reminded of Romans 1, 16, 17, which I
quote so often. For Paul said there, you may
recall, to the Romans, he said in his letter to them, he said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God. to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. That is not to just those
whom he had pictured what Christ would do in the old covenant,
the nation Israel, but to fallen humanity, members of fallen humanity
from both Jew and Gentiles, to the Jew and the Greek. And he
goes on, he says, Why is it the power of God and salvation? For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed. In other words,
then, this very specific message that Paul is speaking of, it's
an instrument here by which God uses, which God uses to reveal
Christ to each and every one for whom he lived and died, and
he makes us wise unto salvation in every generation so that we
see we cannot know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he
had sent. That's what he said in his high
priestly prayer in John 17. He said this is life eternal.
that they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. And so if this gospel wherein
the righteousness of God is revealed is the power of God unto salvation,
thereby we know that we can't know him, whom to know is life
eternal, apart from that righteousness being revealed to us. That's
much what Paul wrote in Romans 10, wasn't it? of his fellow
kinsmen by the flesh, that they had a zeal of God. They were
religious, but not according to knowledge, not having submitted
themselves to the righteousness of God, going about to establish
one of their own. Well, in verse 19, he continues
and says, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? That verse 19 is quoted from
Isaiah chapter 29. That's what he's referring to
when he says, for it is written. And without you having to turn
there and go through the entire context of that passage, I'll
just briefly summarize that for you. The people of Judah were
being threatened by an attack from the king of Syria. And God's
wisdom, which he had clearly conveyed to that nation, had
told them, commanded them, had even shown them that they were
to depend solely on his faithfulness, his power, to protect them, to
keep them, to deliver them from their enemies so that they could
continue in the land. And yet, and he promised to do
that to the nation. And not only had he promised,
he proved it over and over and over again. You'll recall when
we studied some of those passages, like when they got hemmed up
at the Red Sea, wouldn't God tell Moses to tell them, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. He said, I'll fight
for you. In other words, here they were helpless against a
mighty army from Pharaoh approaching them, hemmed in. And he said,
no, it's going to be all of me. And he showed them and he proved
them. And in spite of that, The wisdom of man, now, the wisdom
of man in that day urged the nation and its leaders to make
an alliance with Egypt. And Egypt was an idolatrous,
heathen nation. And they said, yeah, but we've
got to do something to help ourselves. We've got to, we need to go out
here as difficult or as sad as it might be, but we've got to
go over here with these idolatrous Egyptians and we need to make
an alliance with them to come to our aid to help us against
the pending invasion from Syria. And God had strictly forbidden
that. He told them in very unambiguous terms, do not make alliances
with these nations in order to seek deliverance from your enemies.
And we have in that, and it's interesting, and I go into all
that, for I think that helps us understand what he's conveying
here in 1 Corinthians in quoting that passage. We have a picture
of human wisdom and reasoning when it comes to eternal salvation.
Not just temporal deliverance that he's quoting from Isaiah,
but eternal deliverance. It typifies a sinner, see, who
rather than seeking God, And coming His one way, upon His
one ground that glorifies Him, they trust in their own deeds,
at least to some degree, to some extent. I've got to do something,
see. Something other than or in addition to the righteousness
that's revealed in the Gospel, whereby we know it is the power
of God unto salvation. Well, in verse 20, He continues,
and he says, so where is the wise there? We see from that
dialogue, that text, that what really becomes of these who consider
this message as foolishness. You see, they perish ultimately. Any who persist in that, they
perish in their foolishness. Acts 13.41 is a quote from the
book of Habakkuk. But it was speaking prophetically
of the work that our Lord Jesus Christ would do, and it reads
like this, it said, Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish. He said, For I work a work in
your days, prophetically speaking of the work that Christ would
accomplish. A work which ye shall in no wise
believe, though a man declare it unto you. That should serve
as a warning. and encourage all of us to strive
to rightly understand just what this specific message Paul is
talking about today is this preaching of the cross this preaching of
Christ crucified and so find out what was accomplished there
to find our rest solely there with no contribution from us
the sinner and really in direct contradiction to the foolishness
which is actually, which really is the foolishness of this world,
but which the world considers to be its wisdom. That is the
way that would seem right to us, but the scripture says is
a way that ends in death. And so in verse 21 he says, for
after that in the wisdom of God. Now that phrase, after that in
the wisdom of God, means this, by God skip counsel. That is,
his purpose that's accompanied by, derived from, infinite wisdom. After that, in the wisdom of
God, he's saying, God decided, the infinitely wise God decided
things would be this way. What'd he say? The world, by wisdom, knew not
God. God determined that that's the
way things would be. That by man's natural abilities,
by man's natural consideration of things, that he would not
know God. And he goes on, he says, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That
is, it's God's sovereign pleasure, His good will, and His infinitely
wise decision, see, to determine that sinners would be saved by
a message that the world calls foolishness. That is the preaching
of the gospel. And those to whom he reveals
himself by that word, that preaching of the gospel, foolishness of
preaching, this word of regeneration, when it's welded in the hands
of God's Holy Spirit, those are those who believe, think about
this, they are brought to believe what for the rest of the world
remains to be foolishness. He continues in verse 22 and
he says, But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling
block and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God. I skipped verse 22 there, didn't
intend to. He said, but the Jews require
sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. Before he said, we preach
Christ crucified in verse 23. Christ crucified, as I said,
is just another way of preaching the cross. It's this specific
gospel message wherein his righteousness is revealed. In the next chapter
is that verse we quote often, where Paul said, I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Same, just another way of referring
to the message of the cross. And this message and the Christ
revealed therein is a stumbling block. Now that word means a
cause of offense. It was a cause of offense to
the Jews. You see, they expected a different
Christ, one who would come and reign in an earthly kingdom here. Certainly not one that would
come and die. And you know, there's a way in which we could liken
that to those in our day, the majority who named the name of
Christ, but they won't go for the one that's revealed in this
message, you see. Not this message wherein the
offense of the cross is set forth. As Paul alluded to back up in
verse 17, he said, "...lest the cross should be of none effect."
They'll say a lot about Jesus, just as the Jews. I mean, they
looked to a Messiah who would come and be victorious in at
least some sense in their minds. But today, when you preach Christ
and Him crucified, okay, so that you see that everything was accomplished
based upon His life and death, what He did there, they'll say,
no, no, no, I've still got to do something. They'll talk about
Jesus a lot about Him now, about His death, about His resurrection,
about the historical facts pertaining to Him, and they'll call Him
their Savior. And yet, when it comes to what
makes the difference in their eternal destiny, you see, they
don't want the Jesus who did it all. When I say they, you
know I'm talking about us. We, by nature, the same way. As we'll see here in verse 24,
we have to be called to this gospel. But we look at this,
we say we want Jesus, but the truth is we want to know what
can I do to make sure I get there. And somebody comes along and
preaches the cross and they say, oh no, he met every condition. He met every requirement. And
somebody says, well wait a minute, that wouldn't be fair. What about
me? There's no reason for me to do
anything. You see? That's a manifestation
of our self-absorbed way of thinking. There's no reason for me to do
nothing if I'm not going to get something for it. I don't want
to be in that position like Jonah was in that, well, I really need
mercy. You see? And so I'll have all
kinds of views about Jesus, and I'll trust in all sorts of things
about Christ, and I'll talk about Him, and I'll call Him my Savior.
But when you preach this message of the cross and Him crucified,
and all that a sinner needs to be reconciled to a holy God,
having been completed some 2,000 years ago at the cross of Calvary,
it's a cause of offense. It's a stumbling block, as it
was to the Jews. You know, to those to whom God
has graciously called by His Spirit. To believe that message,
though, this message of Christ and Him crucified, we should
bask in these words of our Lord. that are recorded in Matthew
chapter 11 when he said, And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. That is, to whom this message
of Christ and him crucified. This Christ is not a cause of
offense, a stumbling block. There it said to the Greeks that
this message and the Christ revealed therein is foolishness. I couldn't
help but be reminded of our recent study of Acts 17 and those Greek
philosophers in Athens that Paul preached to on Mars Hill, how
they had those idols all over Athens, an altar on every corner,
so to speak, and they were content with worshiping all those gods,
and no problem, no offense whatsoever there, no foolishness involved.
Therefore, they were the idols of their imaginations. They were
the gods they chose. by their natural wisdom to worship
Him. And Paul comes along and he starts preaching to them Christ
and Him crucified. And the resurrection that said
there's life and there's life nowhere else but based on what
he accomplished in his life and death at the cross. For satisfaction
was made and he tells them God's going to judge you by that. That's
what you've got to have. And the majority of them said,
wait a minute, no, that's foolishness. We don't want anything to do
with that. You could talk all day long, Paul, about religion,
but when you get down and you pour the gospel out to me now
that has me looking to Christ and every single condition and
requirement being fully met by Him, no, that's foolishness.
How can it be that riches should come through the poverty of the
Son of God? That He should be crucified?
And that justification should be by one upon whom God's wrath
was poured out. Well, that wouldn't be man's
natural notions about anything pertaining to how a sinner can
be reconciled to God. How a God, a Savior, would reign
victorious. And so they considered it foolishness,
as most of the world's religions do. because it's just not the
product of our natural human wisdom and understanding. Well,
in verse 24, where I derived the title of the message today
there, we saw, he says, "...but unto them which are called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
The word called there actually means appointed. Appointed, he
says here, from all nations, Jews and Greeks, chosen, see,
from out among all of fallen humanity, to whom Christ, all
of humanity to whom Christ would remain now a stumbling block,
a cause of offense, or foolishness, if not both, apart from God's
calling here. You see, there has to be a divine
calling, but if He chooses what seems to be foolishness of this
message, God is His very word of regeneration by which God
quickens His people. when applied by the Holy Spirit.
This message of Christ and him crucified and the Christ revealed
therein is the power of God and the wisdom of God to God's appointed
ones. And also it is, we know, it is
also to those whom he calls in each successive generation by
his spirit. Well, we'll come back and make
a few closing comments in a moment on this verse, but moving on,
he says in verse 25, because the foolishness of God is wiser
than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now,
he's not here suggesting in any way that God is foolish or that
there's the least degree of weakness in an omnipotent, all-powerful
God. But he's setting forth here the
irony that how it is that those who remain blind in spiritual
darkness so that they consider this message of the cross, of
Christ having met every condition and requirement, that those who
consider that as foolishness or folly, who view Christ and
look, His work is so weak to be insufficient to save them
unless they, the sinner, can do their part. They can close
the deal. And sadly, that was a commentary
on my own life once. I know as it was for many of
you. And having imagined that Jesus Christ died for all men
without exception, and so what He accomplished there really
wasn't the power of God unto salvation. The cross, I didn't
see it there. Now, the power of God unto salvation,
though, I knew it not. Didn't realize that's what I
was doing because, you see, I was blind and I was dead. But it
was based on that little bitty thing that preacher told me I
had to do when I had to walk down that aisle or reach out
my hand or invite Jesus into my heart or whatever condition
or requirement that you imagine procures even the blessings that
you think Christ perhaps played a role in providing for you.
Well, I certainly did. I thought there was some sense
He took away my sins. The truth of the matter is, the
difference between the folks who ended up in heaven and folks
who ended up in hell, by my wisdom, at that time, was, oh, I believed,
I did my part. Well, in reality, you see, those
who see this message of Christ and Him crucified as weakness,
or as foolishness, You see, they're casting dispersion on a message
and a Savior that is actually higher in wisdom and understanding
and power than all human knowledge could ever conceive of. So what
men call foolishness is in God's esteem, in the frame of reference,
the only frame of reference that matters from God's perspective. It is a rich manifestation of
his wisdom and power in conquering sin and death and hell and the
grave and in complete and in total victory for everyone he
represented in his life and death on the cross. So he continues
in verse 26 and says, For we see your calling, brethren, how
that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. And these things of the world, and things which
are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not,
to bring to naught things that are." Back there in verse 26
when he says, how that not many wise men after the flesh. You
could add that phrase after the flesh after each phrase, each
phase or phrase in that sentence. In other words, not many mining
after the flesh, not many noble after the flesh. You know, he
doesn't say not any. He says not many. We know there
were some from scriptural testimony, Joseph, Nicodemus and others.
But he said in his wisdom, he determined there wouldn't be
many. And who are wise after the flesh,
who are mighty, who are noble. And the interesting thing is,
is all that God calls so as to see this gospel as the power
and wisdom of God. You see, they discover, no matter
how mighty, noble they might be after the flesh, you see,
they discover that they're bankrupt, spiritually poor. that they're
not mighty at all. And the interesting thing here
is, think of it, God actually does make those people wise,
wise unto salvation, mighty and victorious in Christ, and noble
as children of the king, princes, entitled to the inheritance of
the riches that the infinitely valuable blood of Christ could
purchase for them and did purchase for them. I think, was it Peter that calls
them a royal priesthood? They're made nobility. When I
consider that verse 26, you can't help but think back on Jeremiah
chapter 9. And one reason is, is when we
get next week, when we get to verse 31, we'll see there that
it's a direct quote from Jeremiah 9, 24. But in verse 23 of Jeremiah
9, God speaking through the prophets, he says, Let not the wise man
glory in his wisdom. That word glory now means to
boast or take confidence in, to find my hope there. He said,
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty
man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. But let him that glory. Glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the
Lord, which exercise lovingkindness, righteousness, and judgment in
the earth. For in these things I delight." In verse 31, he summarized,
let him glory in this, just with this one phrase, he said, let
him glory in the Lord. Then in verse, there in verse
27, he says, but God chose the foolish things of the world to
confound. That word, confound, means to put to shame. And here,
Paul, when he says he's chosen the foolish things, and he says
he's chosen the weak things, he's not calling God's people
foolish or weaklings. But he's expressing how the world
perceives them. For you see, their way of salvation
involves no might of their own. And it involves no wisdom of
their own. And he does that to confound
them, he says. In other words, to bring to nothing,
to set it aside, put to shame, exposing the real value of what
all of us by nature actually highly esteem when it concerns
spiritual matters. We read that in the book of Luke,
don't we? That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination unto God. The things that are highly
esteemed among us are not. The things that our natural conscience
convicts us of, we don't esteem our sin that we're aware of. No, we esteem good works, kindness,
morality. But there's a sense in which
those things which are good in and of themselves, God considers
an abomination. Why? Because they're performed
from a mindset and a motive that imagines that they have something
to do with gaining God's favor. or maintaining God's favor, or
removing his wrath, that we find some consolation. We have something therein to
boast. And that in direct rivalry with
Christ and him crucified, for it took the infinitely valuable
blood of the God-man to put away sins and to work out and produce
this perfect righteousness. And we dare to suggest, see,
And we dare to approach God with things that we esteem, that we
find we're able to do. You see the evil of that? One who God brings to faith and
repentance, you see, they turn from any notion of that, for
they see the power and wisdom of God in Christ and Him crucified,
and they're alone. And so he sets aside what we
highly esteem. So the things that by nature
we think will recommend us unto God are proven to be nothing
in light of the only thing that will remove God's wrath and gain
His favor, the blood and righteousness of Christ. And he says to bring
to naught things that are, that means to annul them. That is,
those who imagine that they are, that is, that within themselves
they possess something are given the gift, given if they credit
God with enabling them to do it, something that allows them
to contribute to possessing some merit before God. They think
something of themselves. They will ultimately discover
here that it will be abolished. It will bring to naught things
that are. And they'll find that when weighed against the standard
of God's righteousness, by which all men shall be judged, That
will serve nothing. What they were will serve nothing
other than just to be a stark reminder and manifestation of
how truly lacking they were when weighed in the balance. when
they weighed against the one standard of Christ's perfect
righteousness and His obedience unto death. And all of this now,
what is the ultimate reason? Why God is speaking of the gospel,
and how by the foolishness of preaching He decided to save
them that are lost. How it would not be anything
that you could contrive of, but it would all be based upon Christ
and Him crucified, and why did God make it this way? Why is
this so? He tells us in verse 29 that
no flesh should glory in his presence. That's why it's this
way. Well, let me make a few closing
comments. As I said, I'd direct you back
to verse 24. Remember that we see in these
verses that all except those who he described in verse 18
as those who are being saved. That all who he described there
in verse 24 as the called, that any others, to them Christ remains
a stumbling block, that is, a cause of offense or foolishness, if
not both. But in accordance with his design,
his purpose, after the wisdom of God Even those who are being
saved, they must be divinely called by this gospel. Otherwise,
it would be the wisdom or the power of men and the flesh we
could thereby boast in his presence. God's not going to have that.
So we have to keep in mind all the scriptural descriptions that
remind us that we come into this world in spiritual darkness. that by nature we're even as
the children of wrath, those who ultimately shall perish. So we must be made wise unto
salvation under the sound of this very message. Well, next
week when we look at verses 30 and 31, we're going to see even
more details, I think, because we'll see how everything we need
for acceptance before God is based solely on that. And I think
you've seen that even today. But there we'll talk about how
He's made unto us our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. But with that in mind, that He
is, He is all that we need. He has finished the work. Look now with me back at verse
24. And I just want us today to try to... I want you to enter
into the appreciation of what sense it is that these whom God
has called through the message of Christ and Him crucified,
how they're brought to see Christ and embrace this message that
they no longer see it as a stumbling block or a cause of offense. They no longer see it as foolishness,
but they're brought to see that it is both the power and the
wisdom of God. And it's striking to me when
you consider what wisdom in contriving such a great salvation. You see,
only by God's way of salvation, that is, based on Christ, by
Him and Christ crucified, is all boasting truly excluded in
me and you, the sinner, so that God receives all the glory. And
think of this, what power in accomplishing what only the God-man
could and did accomplish. so as to reconcile what ungodly,
otherwise hell-deserving sinners unto a holy God. What power! Nowhere can the wisdom and power
of God be seen more than in this gospel message that proclaims
how all of salvation is conditioned solely on the Lord Jesus Christ
based on His finished work at the cross. And the merit of that,
His righteousness, that even being appropriated procured for
the sinner, not by your act of faith, or you're doing your part
to get that for yourself, you see, but by God's judicial reckoning
or accounting of it to you, imputation. So thereby we see it is all of
grace, not even procured or appropriated by any work of the sinner's hand.
And here and there we see the wisdom and power of God being
manifested only in that message. You see, for there alone we see
how God is glorified, how he reveals himself. That is, even
in his redemptive glory, how Christ alone is exalted and how
all ground of boasting is excluded in the sinner. You know, we all
glory. That word, as we read, as we
saw it in Jeremiah 9, as we see it in the passage today, in verse
29, we all do glory in something. In other words, we put our confidence
somewhere. It's not necessarily just speaking
of a boasting that's negative, but we are to glory. We're to
glory in the Lord. And many people glory with all
the many religions and sects of the world and denominations.
There's a lot of glorying going on out there. But this passage
teaches us that there's no basis whatsoever for us to take confidence
in anything other than the cross, in anything that proceeds from
us. You see, He's going to make the wisdom of this world, He's
going to bring it to naught. So we have nothing to boast of,
nothing to take confidence in before Holy God other than in
Christ and Him crucified. Glory in the Lord. You see, there
alone we see God, we know God as He is, including in His redemptive
character as a just God and a Savior. So just consider this morning
the wisdom of God in contriving such a great salvation. Think
about the power of God in accomplishing such a great salvation, and just
behold that, the power and wisdom of God in the gospel of Christ
and Him crucified.