Now, our lesson ended last week
talking about the so-called wise men of the world, how they call
the gospel foolishness. There are people who the world
recognizes as someone of some renown and wisdom, but that's
no reason for us to question the gospel, because they call
it foolishness. Because verse 19, Paul says,
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I
will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Now this is a
quotation from Isaiah 29, verse 14, that men who are so wise
in their own eyes, who are puffed up in their own imaginations,
in the end will be revealed as fools. God will reveal their
so-called wisdom and intellect as foolishness. And you know,
this is a real warning to us, that being puffed up in our own
eyes, thinking that we're a whole lot smarter than we really are,
will keep us from seeing Christ, will keep us from understanding
the gospel. Look back at Matthew chapter
11. Being wise and conceited in our
own understanding will keep us from seeing Christ. Look here
at Matthew 11 verse 25. At that time Jesus answered and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, Because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babes, even so, father, for it seemed
good in thy sight." Now the scribes and the Pharisees of our Lord's
day, they were very wise in the scriptures. They were very wise
and well read in the law. But they missed Christ while
he was right in their midst fulfilling everything that was written about
him in the Old Testament. They completely missed him. The
world by wisdom knew not God. He must be revealed unto you
it is given. It must be revealed. And here,
if you look over a page of 1 Corinthians 3, here's what the wise of the
world should do if they did have any wisdom. 1 Corinthians 3,
verse 18, let no man deceive himself. If any man among you
seemeth to be wise in this world, Let him become a fool, that he
may be wise. Because let him become a fool,
because the Lord reveals these things to babes. Now verse 20,
he goes on and says, 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? Where
is the man that boasts of his wisdom and his knowledge? In
the knowledge of the world, we're talking about wisdom of the world.
And where is the scribe? Where is the biblical scholar
who loves to impress people with his knowledge of the intricate,
hidden mysteries and meanings of the scripture? Where are those
men in the ministry? Does God put those kind of men
in the ministry? The wise are the men who are
wise in the world. The scribe is those who are wise
in biblical facts. The Lord uses neither. Where
are they in God's church? The Lord uses neither. And then
he says, where's the disputer? The disputer, as the word is
used here, is one who looks for hidden meanings in the scriptures
and then debates them in his school, in his classroom. Disputers,
they're common in our day. I heard a man, a disputer one
time, disputing over what would happen to one of God's elect
if they died before they came to repentance and faith. Disputing
over, well, can Christ sin or couldn't He have sinned? Disputing. Why not spend our time marveling
at how God could love a sinner like you and me? There's enough
things that are so plainly revealed in Scripture for us to marvel
at. We don't have to spend our time disputing about these other
matters. Why not marveling at why God would send His Son to
redeem a wretch like me? That'll take the rest of the
day, won't it? That'll take the rest of our life. Why not marvel
at these things? Well, the disputer doesn't do
that because the disputer doesn't enjoy those things. That's why
the Lord doesn't use those kind of men to feed His sheep and
build His church. And all the science and all the
knowledge of this world all put together It's foolishness and
it's empty without Christ. Now, if you understand the things
of this world and the way the Lord makes these things work
with Christ, now that's not foolishness. But without Christ, it's foolishness. It's nothing. Now look at verse
21. For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believed. Now, without
question, men have a lot of earthly wisdom and understanding. The
things that men can do and understand in science and medicine, it's
astounding. But with all that human intelligence,
man still cannot recognize God. With all that just amazing intelligence,
they cannot understand simple spiritual truths. With that wisdom
that is just off the charts, they cannot understand how God
saves sinners and where salvation is found. So God, in his wisdom,
in his grace, is pleased to reveal himself through preaching. Now,
men call that preaching foolishness. But it's that preaching that
saves everyone who will believe, because it's the preaching of
Christ. Now, men should see that God is from creation. Just look
around you. You should see that God is, that
God created this. But they don't. Men should see
God in His Word. This book is in practically every
home and every courtroom in this country. But men don't see God
in it, because with all that wisdom, with all that worldly
wisdom, they can't see. Yet it's God's purpose. Despite
that's our nature, it's God's purpose to save a people, even
though they're sinners, even though they don't know God, even
though they don't love God, even though they would never seek
God. If he didn't seek them first, God sent him a preacher to point
them to Christ, to reveal to them the wisdom of God. And everyone
who hears that message and looks to Christ will be saved. Because
that's God's purpose. Now the world calls that foolishness. Now look at verse 22. Despite
the fact that the world calls that foolishness, for the Jews
require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. See, both
the religion and the heathen, both the religious person and
the heathen, they all call the preaching of the gospel foolishness.
The Jews wanted a sign from Christ to prove he was the Messiah.
Religious people today are the same. They want signs and miracles
to prove that the Holy Spirit is with a man or something. They
want to be impressed with supernatural things that they can see with
their eyes. Well, how many more miracles did those Jews need
to see? They saw the lame walk. They
saw lepers cleansed. They saw the deaf hear. They
saw the blind see. They saw the dead raised. They
saw the thousands fed. How many more miracles did they
need to see? They were religious, weren't they? But blind? How many more miracles do we
need to see than what we read in God's Word that God, in the
blood of his Son, can cleanse a sinner? How many more miracles
do you need to see? But they still require a sign.
More, more, more. The Greeks, the heathen today,
want wisdom. They want to be impressed with
wisdom. They want to be impressed with a man's wisdom. They don't
want to be impressed with the wisdom of God that we read from
his word. They want to be impressed with a man's wisdom and his way
he does things. And the simplicity of the gospel
is foolishness to them because it's too simple. A child can
understand that. The gospel is contrary to human
wisdom. So someone left to just human
intellect, it's always going to be foolishness to them because
the gospel is contrary to human wisdom. The gospel calls the
poor in spirit rich. That makes no sense to the human
intellect. The gospel says those who mourn
are the comforted. The gospel says those who hunger
and thirst after righteousness are the ones who are failed.
The gospel says you rejoice when you're persecuted for Christ's
sake. Well, that's foolishness to natural wisdom. A natural
man can't understand that, can never accept that, can never
love that. And even though both the religious and the heathen,
they both hate the gospel, nevertheless, verse 23, we preach Christ crucified
under the Jews' stumbling block and under the Greeks' foolishness.
We preach Christ crucified. And that's a whole lot more than
just preaching the fact that the man, Jesus Christ, died on
a cross. The preaching of Christ crucified
is the preaching of what happened on Calvary's tree. What happened
when he died on that tree? Preaching Christ crucified is
preaching what did the Lord accomplish in his death at Calvary? That's
what Moses and Elijah came back. to talk to the Lord about on
the Mount of Transfiguration what he would accomplish in his
death. Preaching Christ crucified is preaching that Christ, the
God-man, bore the sins of his people away forever. The sins
of his people were imputed to him on the tree, and he bore
the curse of God that was against our sin that was charged to him,
and he bore that curse away. He put it away in his death.
The preaching of Christ crucified is preaching to sinners. There's
forgiveness for your sins to be found in the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Come to you. He's put the sins
of his people away. You have peace with God through
the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood
that he freely shed when he was crucified. The preaching of Christ
crucified is the preaching that sinners, totally depraved, wretched,
vile sinners are made holy. in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what he accomplished at
Calvary's tree. Now you come to him. But now
that's a stumbling block to the Jew. They stumbled at everything
about Christ. They stumbled at his birth in
a barn. They stumbled at the town he
was born in. Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? They stumbled at his parents. It's his parents. We
know his father's a carpenter. We know them. They stumbled at
his lack of education. They stumbled at his miracles.
They wanted to see miracles. They wanted to see more and more
miracles. But he heals the man on the Sabbath day and they want
a condemning for it. They stumbled at his miracles. They stumbled
at his disciples, just poor fishermen, people that followed him. They
stumbled at those who came to him. This man received sinners
and eats with them. Publicans and harlots were comfortable
in the presence of the Master. And they stumbled at that. They
stumbled at his cursed death on the tree. You see, they understood
from Scripture that the Messiah would abide forever. Well, they
didn't think he could possibly be the Messiah if he died, much
less if he died a cursed death. They stumbled at his death. They
expected him to never die, but to set up a glorious, eternal,
earthly Jewish kingdom where they'd be on Easy Street for
the rest of their lives. They'd be on the top and all
these cruel Romans would be on the bottom. They stumbled. And even to this day, Christ,
the preaching of Christ crucified, what it means when Christ was
crucified, is a stumbling block to the religious. Because the
preaching of Christ crucified tells us that man's goodness,
all of our religious activity, does not contribute anything
to salvation. Salvation is entirely based on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That all of us, Jew and Gentile,
religious and heathen, we're all just as totally depraved
as the drunk in the heart that we look down our nose at. And
the religious stumble at that. And the Greek, the worldly wise
man, they stumble at what they see as foolishness. This can't be that blessings
are received because Christ was condemned, because he was made
a curse. That we can have riches from
poverty? That we can have justification from condemnation? They say,
you boys got that a little backwards, because it doesn't make sense
to the human mind, and they stumble on it. But now, blessed are your eyes,
for you see, I'm telling you, if it wasn't for God's grace,
every one of us would be in the same boat as those Jews and Greeks. Because look at verse 24. I love the word but in scripture,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God. To all those who God
calls out of sin and out of darkness, Christ crucified is the power
of God to save and Christ crucified is the wisdom of God to save
and remain holy, remain who he is, holy. And when God gives
us eyes to see, he gives life, he gives eyes to see, we see
Christ as the power of God. He has the power to carry our
sins away. There's power in his blood to
wash away all my sin. There's the power of Christ to
bear our punishment, the punishment that we could never He comes and sets the captive
free with His power. And when God gives us eyes to
see, we see Christ, the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God is
displayed through Christ crucified. I see, now I see, the wisdom
of God. How God can condemn sin, but
pardon the sinner. I see the wisdom of God. How
God can punish sin. Set the sinner free. How God
can demand death for sin, but give the sinner eternal life. That's the wisdom of God. Only
God could do that. Man never would have thought
that up. Only God could do that. The wisdom of God puts salvation
entirely on the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ. That way,
men can't define it. It's all of Him. That way, I
can never mess it up. It's all of Christ. Jesus Christ. And no matter who
you are, no matter what your background is, whether you're
the religious Jew or whether you're the wise man of the world,
no matter who you are, no matter what your background, that message,
that believing Christ is salvation. If God calls you, I don't care
who you are, I don't care what you've done in the past, if God
calls you, you will see Christ as your all in all. The power
of God and the wisdom of God. And we'll see that what men call
foolishness, men call this the foolishness of God, but what
men call foolishness is a more wise way of salvation than anything
a man could come up with. What men call the weakness of
God is a much more strong, much more sure way of salvation than
anything men could come up with. Every message that men have contrived
can't compare to the wisdom and the power of God in Christ crucified. Now verse 26, he says, for you
see your calling, brethren, for that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God
has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and base things of the world.
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to naught the things that are." Now you
just look around God's church. There are not many wise men after
the flesh. Not many. Not many men who are
women who are mighty in the world. Not many people from the nobility
of this world are called. Now he doesn't say not any. He
says not many. Remember, this city was like
the New York City of our day. A wealthy, powerful city. There
were many wealthy, powerful people of nobility there. But there
weren't many, but there were some God called. God called Crispus,
Gaius, Sosthenes. We read in Romans about their
believers in Caesar's court. So there weren't many. There
were some, but there were not many. But I'll tell you this. If God calls someone like that,
but not many. He'll call some. The very first
thing He'll do is humble them. For no matter who we are, no
matter what our station in life out in the world is, the very
first thing God does in all of us is humble us. No matter who
you are, if God calls you, it humbles you. Humbles us. If we're mighty and noble in
the world, Or if we're weak and nothing in the world and see
ourselves as worthless in this world, either way, we're amazed
that God would call me. We're humbled that God would
call me. I was talking this week on the
telephone to my dear friend Jeff Vandal. Jeff's oldest daughter,
Sarah, this evening is going to be baptized. And we were talking
about it on the phone and he told me, he said, I don't know
how I'm supposed to feel about this. He said, certainly I'm thankful,
but mostly I'm humbled. It's a call of grace. It's humbling. Oh, he humbles
us. You see, God chooses the opposite of the way men would
choose. Men would choose wise men after the flesh to put in
the ministry. They're wise. They've got education.
They've got all the ability. Well, they'll make better preachers
because they're better speakers. But God calls uneducated fishermen. teaches them the gospel, sends
them out in the world to preach the gospel. Men would choose
people who are mighty in the world. People who have a lot
of influence in the world because they can go open doors so we
can go preach. The Lord just calls men that
are nothing because the Lord doesn't need anybody to open
the door for Him. He just opens the door and meets the power
of God. Men would choose people of nobility and wealth because
they can use their resources to spread the gospel. The Lord
just calls plain, ordinary folk and gives them a heart to give.
The Lord said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't ask you. You don't
need wealthy people in this world to give him the resources. He's
the king of the earth. God chooses the things that are
despised in this world. He chooses the things that are
not. That's what the Jews called the Gentiles. They're not. They're
not just that they're zero, not just that they're not. They're
not. They don't even exist. That's who God calls. Everyone,
without exception, that God calls is a not, nothing, just nothing. And God does it that way so that
the high and mighty will be put to shame. Because verse 29 tells
us, why does God do things this way? That no flesh, should glory
in his presence. All of salvation is designed
to give God all the glory, that no flesh has any glory from beginning
to end. Start with election. God elected
a people. He elected a people who were
sinners, who were not, completely undeserving of any mercy and
grace, the worst of the lot. And He did that so that there
would be no thought in anybody's mind that those deserved his
mercy, that they deserved his choosing, so they'd ever get
any credit. He chose people who are not,
so he'd get all the credit in redeeming them. Then God sent
his son to redeem those people. He came, he worked out a perfect
righteousness, and he freely gave it to those people. People
who could never produce any righteousness of their own. It's not just that
they couldn't produce a complete righteousness, they couldn't
produce anything righteous. But Christ gave them his perfect
righteousness so he'd get all the glory making them righteous.
Christ went to the cross and he became sin for his people.
He traded places with those people that the father elected. He actually
became guilty of their sins and put those sins away with his
own blood because he was the only one who could ever pay for
those sins. So he gets all the glory. and
paying our sin debt. God sends the Holy Spirit to
give life to all those that he left it, to all those that Christ
died for, because they're dead. They must be born again. And they receive a new birth,
a new nature. The old one can't be fixed up.
It's not like, you know, you buy a house that's a fixer-upper.
It's dead. It's totally depraved. It'll
never be anything but flesh. And God gives them new life.
Because unless they're given life from above, they can never
see God. They're born from above, of God's will, of God's word,
of God's power, so God gets all the glory in the new birth. And
all those redeemed must be brought to glory. a good shepherd, and
he brings those sheep home. Even after they're given new
life, they can't keep themselves. They can't bring themselves the
rest of the way. Christ keeps us by his power, so he gets all
the glory in preserving his people and bringing them home. Father,
here they are, I and all the children who now is given me.
He gets all the glory in bringing all those children home. Look
back over to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2 But God, verse 4 of Ephesians
2, But God, who is rich in mercy, for whose great unconditional
love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus for this reason. that in the ages to come, he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, he
might get all the glory. He'll get all the credit that
there in the believer is never any pretense of the credit going
to the flesh. It's all of him. Now verse 30,
but of him are ye in Christ Jesus. Who of God has made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. It is of God
that we are in Christ Jesus. It's of God's purpose. It's of
God's will. It's of God's doing. He put us
in his Son. And Christ has made our wisdom. What's a good thing? Because
we're born without any wisdom. Spiritually foolish. ignorant,
void of any understanding. But Christ is our wisdom. We understand the Scriptures
because we know Christ, who is the wisdom of God. When you have
Christ, the wisdom of God, you have the key to the entire Scriptures,
to understand He is our wisdom. Christ is our righteousness.
He is made unto us righteousness. For we are born guilty, sinful,
But Christ is our righteousness. And in Him, we are as righteous
as God Himself. Righteous. Christ is our sanctification. We're born depraved, unholy,
the complete opposite of holiness. But Christ is our sanctification. In Christ, we're holy. Scripture
says, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. Sanctified. Christ is both our righteousness
and our sanctification. He discharges the guilt. He removes
the guilt. And then He sets us free from
the power of sin. He is our righteousness and our
sanctification. And He is our redemption. Now, we're born slaves to sin
with a nature that is a slave to sin, that's a slave to Satan,
a slave to self. But Christ is our redemption. In Christ, we're free from sin,
death, and hell. Christ is all. He's everything. And you notice none of these
are things that Christ gives us. Righteousness is not a thing
he gives us a coat to put on. Redemption is not a thing that
he gives us in a box that you open up on your birthday. These
are not things. These are a person. You see,
that Christ is our wisdom. He is our righteousness. He is
our sanctification. And He is our redemption. Christ
is all. So, verse 31, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now
this eternal, universal truth is written in Jeremiah 9, that
if we're going to glory, If we're going to glory in anything, let
our glory be the Lord Jesus Christ. Who He is. What He did for us. Just glory in that. That'll take
a while. That'll take up the rest of your
time. You don't have to worry about what I'm going to do to you later.
What am I going to do when I finish that? We'll never finish it.
If we're going to glory, Glory in Christ. Amen.