By nature all men are dead, spiritually
dead. We are dead in trespasses and
sins. There is no life in us which
cries out to Almighty God. We may think we live, we may
think we have life in this world, But even the natural life from
the moment we're born is dying. We all know that we will pass
from this world at some stage. We all know we're dying. We feel
in our flesh the effects of death. We feel the illness. We feel
the weakness. We feel the disease. We feel
the inability. We're dying. We live but a few
years and then we're gone. But despite the natural life,
from the moment we're born, spiritually we're dead from that very moment. We know not God. And should someone
speak to us of God, of the reality of God, of where we stand before
God, of the fact that one day we will answer to God, We shut
our ears. We hate to hear that there is
a life after death. We hate to hear that there is
a God to whom we are accountable. We do not comprehend, we do not
understand because we are dead. All men, women, children, by
nature, are dead. And it takes a certain power
to make a dead man live. It takes a power to make a dead
man live. You cannot persuade the spiritually
dead to change themselves. You cannot by reason, or persuasion,
or by teaching, or by many words, or by the influence of the flesh,
even by emotion, even by eloquent preaching, even by what men call
dramatic, charismatic, powerful preaching, you cannot by words
persuade a dead man to live. You can take the spiritually
dead and draw out from them a profession of religion. But they're still
dead. They still have no life within
them. It's all just words, it's all
just in the head. It takes more than words to make
a dead man live. It takes a certain power. It
takes a certain voice. It takes a certain being to speak. As John made plain in chapter
5 of his Gospel, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God and they that hear shall live. When the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. If any man is brought to life,
if you or I are to ever live, and ever know God, and ever be
delivered from the desperate straits in which we are born. Born in sin, born under judgment,
born under the wrath of God, heading for condemnation, heading
for eternal punishment, if we're ever to be delivered from the
wrath to come, if we're ever to live, then we will hear the
voice of the Son of God. They that hear shall live. There's no other way. Man is not born in a state where
he can be reasoned with and come to a persuasion. Man does not
have faith by nature. Man does not have faith that
he can place in a certain message he's dead. and he must hear the
voice of the Son of God. There is a power which must be
exerted upon the dead soul for life to enter in. Ezekiel was taken by God to a
valley full of dry bones. And God said unto him, prophesy
unto these bones. They were dead bones. And God
told Ezekiel to prophesy, to speak, to command the bones to
live. And when Ezekiel preached unto
those bones, the flesh came upon them and they were brought to
life. Well it wasn't Ezekiel's speech
that brought the life and it wasn't Ezekiel's mere words that
brought the life but the fact that God sent Ezekiel to those
bones. God said speak and God spake
by Ezekiel. The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they
that hear shall live. takes a power. Lazarus lay dead in the tomb. Four days. Utterly dead. Yet when Christ called out unto
him, Lazarus come forth. Life entered and he walked forth
out of the tomb. That the effect of the gospel. and the voice of the Son of God
in his Gospel. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1
verse 23, 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. We preach Christ crucified which
unto those who are called unto those who hear and live is Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Yes, it takes a power
to make the dead live and what is that power? It is Christ,
the power of God. He's the power. He's the wisdom. He is the very life which makes
the dead live. And He is preached. We preach Christ crucified. the power of God. Now see in this, in this verse,
in this passage, how closely Paul equates Christ himself with
the gospel. In verse 17 he says, For Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. The preaching
of the gospel, the preaching of the cross, he says, is the
power of God. And yet in verse 24 he says,
Christ is the power of God. Then the preaching of the cross
conveys Christ. To preach the gospel truly is
to preach Christ the power of God. They are inseparable. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. 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? Have not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? 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 believe. For the Jews
require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach
Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God. This message of the Gospel, the
preaching of the Gospel, which Paul was sent to do, he was sent
to preach, sent of God with this Gospel to preach. The preaching
of this Gospel is that which conveys Christ, the power of
God. Here, in verse 24, Paul refers
to Christ, the power of God. Earlier in verse 18 he says the
preaching of the cross is the power of God and in Romans 1
16 and 17 he says he's not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it
is the power of God. Well there are not many powers
of God so referred then it is clear, it is sure, it is certain
that Christ the power of God is conveyed by the preaching
of the gospel. Now there is a preaching which
can declare words concerning Christ, which can speak of Christ,
which can speak of his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection. which can convey doctrine and
truth concerning him, which does not convey Christ. And you may say, well, that doesn't
convey Christ. I've heard that preaching. I
saw people hear that preaching and they didn't live. How can
you say that that conveys Christ, that that is the power of God?
That's the message. Christ himself is the person.
Surely they are distinct. Well when the message, the words
are delivered by those whom God never sent, simply as words of
men, then yes that's distinct. But Paul was sent by Christ to
deliver his message in power, to speak by the Spirit of God. And when that is preached, Christ
is preached. Christ is preached. You see,
preaching the gospel Truly preaching the gospel is not just declaring
a message, it is not just delivering the words, the right words. But it is actually by the Spirit
of God, by the decree of God, by the sending of God to preach
Christ Himself. To convey the life of Christ
to the souls of dead men. To convey that life by which
they live, by which they're brought to faith, by which they see and
receive and believe the message preached. Christ the power of God is made
known through the preaching of his gospel. Paul says he was
sent to preach the gospel, but not with wisdom of words, as
men would call them, but by the foolishness of preaching. He states that to preach the
cross as he did, truly, not in the letter as others do, but
as one sent to preach the cross in power. He says that to preach
the cross is to preach the power of God. And in the second chapter of
1 Corinthians, when he goes on in this argument, goes on in
this declaration of the power of the cross, the power of the
gospel, He says plainly in verse 4 that his speech and his preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men but in the power of God. And there's a huge difference
between that preaching which comes in power in demonstration
of the spirit and of power and that preaching which is with
the enticing words of men's wisdom. There's a difference. And the
difference is to this end that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Because if your
faith, if the gospel you trust in, if the message you believe
in, if the Jesus you follow is simply that in your head, which
has come through enticing words of men's wisdom, if it is simply
knowledge, then it will crumble. When the trials of life come
your way, when persecution comes your way, when the arguments
and contention of men and of false religion come your way,
all you will do is crumble. But that faith which is of God
will stand and it stands not in the wisdom of men but in the
power of God. Consider the wisdom of men. What is the wisdom of men? Well the wisdom of men does not
truly lead to God. Men by wisdom know not God, even
with the Scriptures, even with religion. There are
many who take this book, the Bible, and take the Gospel, and
claim they believe it, and claim they follow God, and claim they
know Jesus, and they do not. This is why in the so-called
Christian Church there are so many different denominations,
so many different splinters and factions, so many different persuasions,
so many different arguments, so much division. because one
says this and the other says that and they do not speak with
the same mind and in the same judgment which is the very reason
that Paul had to write here to the Corinthians because there
were divisions amongst them, there were contentions amongst
them. I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be
no divisions among you but that you be perfectly joined together
in the same mind and in the same judgment. Well where the wisdom
of man enters in, whether it be entering in amongst true believers
as it did at Corinth, or wherever it enters into those false churches
that pretend to be the church but have never had any power
in the mixed. Wherever the wisdom of man enters
in it leads to division, it leads to contention, it leads to differences
because there is no power. What brings the unity? What brings
the same mind and the same judgment? Life does. The power of God does. Christ does. If we are all born
again of God, if we are all in Christ, if we are all fed on
Christ, if we are all built up rooted and grounded in Christ,
If it is by the power of God, the gospel of Christ, the preaching
of Christ that we're brought to life and that we're fed and
sustained and built up in life, then there will be a unity. Because
it's the same God, the same Savior, the same life, the same gospel,
the same message on which we feed. But where the wisdom of
man is, there is difference. And though they come with their
wisdom to the Scriptures and the Gospel, each man comes to
a different conclusion. Each man takes up the cross and
sees a different thing. Each man takes up the message
of Christ and reaches different doctrines, different opinions,
different viewpoints. And the result is division because
there is no power because it's the speech, the wisdom of man
and not the speech of God which is in Jesus Christ. Such wisdom
may produce preaching but there's no power because it's not God
who is preaching. God preaches by his spirit through
those whom he sends and when he doesn't send no matter how
much a man may mirror and imitate a true preacher no matter how
much a man may know of the true gospel in the letter if God hasn't
sent him then it's just words And ultimately, men in such state,
little by little, step by step, begin to step away from the truth,
and step away from the unity, and step away from God's means
and God's methods, and step away from the preaching of the cross,
and step away from the centrality of the gospel, and the vitalness
of the gospel. Men by wisdom despise foolish
preaching. They despise plain speaking and
simple language. They exalt the intellect. They exalt the might and the
wisdom of man. They praise and glorify the eloquent
speaker, the naturally gifted, the naturally able. Men by wisdom
train others to preach in their colleges. They teach them their
doctrine. They teach them their theology. They teach them their languages.
They teach them how to speak. And they send them forth as ministers
with the gospel they say. But Paul has a description of
them, that they are ministers of the letter. They have a ministration
of the letter, as 2 Corinthians 3 speaks. And a ministration
of the letter is a killing letter. It's a ministration of death.
It has no life, it is death unto death, it brings no life, it
can never bring life. there is no power. And in the
wisdom of men they train up these preachers in their churches and
send them forth and put them over the people and as a congregation
they bemoan the fact that today there seems to be no power in
the preaching. Oh they hear many right things,
oh he's a faithful man he teaches us faithfully this that and the
other but there's no power and there are few saved and the
people come and go and it's lifeless and sin enters their lives and
they bemoan that they are full of sin and they bemoan that God
is far away and they bemoan the lack of life. But by their wisdom, they have
sought what they have, and they keep what they have. And by their
wisdom, when God sends them a preacher who preaches the gospel, they
say, that's foolishness. And it becomes a stumbling block
unto them, and foolishness. They bemoan the fact that there's
no power and they blame God. But God never sent these preachers. For if he had, they would have
come with a message called the Gospel, which is the power of
God. a message which conveys Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God, a message which when
preached causes the dead to hear the voice of the Son of God. because the gospel is sent. The gospel is not a message you
can divorce from the one who sends it and the one who speaks
it. This is why Paul connects Christ
himself, the power of God, with the preaching of the cross, the
gospel, the power of God. Christ is the power, but Christ
speaks. Christ is the word of God. He is God's speech. And when
God speaks, he speaks through Christ by the Spirit who conveys
Christ's words. And his means to speak is to
call and send forth men with those words, like Ezekiel, like
Paul, whom he says, go unto this people and prophesy. Go to these bones and prophesy. Speak that they may live. and unless God sends that man
there will be no life and no power. You cannot divorce the
message from God from Christ and you cannot divorce it from
those whom he sends. If you hear the message of God
in power from a preacher it's because God has sent that preacher. Now God is sovereign God can
speak through one word of his scriptures. At times God can use the wicked
by whom he speaks. God can send a Balaam and speak
truth out the mouth of a wicked, a wicked man. But he still sent
that man in your pathway. And he still put his words in
his lips and he still spake. And God sent Paul, one who knew
the grace of God. And he said, go unto this people
and speak that they might live. was sent. The power of God, the
gospel is sent. Christ was sent, Christ was sent
into the darkness of this world to deliver his people from their
sins and he is sent in his gospel to make known under his people
what he has accomplished for them in his death. That he came
into the darkness of this world that he should be slain in their
place, that he should take their sins upon him, that he should
take the judgment, the wrath of God which was due unto their
sins and he should take it upon himself and suffer and bleed
in their place and take the judgment away and bring in its place for
them the righteousness of God. That's what he did at the cross
for sinners, that's why he came and that's why Paul was sent
to preach the message of the cross, that sinners might know
of a saviour who died in their place, that the called, those
who are called to hear and believe that message might know what
has been wrought on their behalf. He's sent. He comes to whom he
will. He comes to whom he will today
in his gospel. He's sent. And he sends forth
preachers with his message that sinners might hear that message
and might believe. In Genesis 24 we read of the
servant who sent forth to find a bride for Isaac, the servant
sent, except that servant was sent, then that bride would have
never heard and never been brought to Isaac, never been found. But we read, thou shalt go unto
my country and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son Isaac. Isaac himself was not sent to
that country. He would not return. He'd come
out from then to his father Abraham in the loins of Abraham. Abraham
had been delivered from the darkness and Isaac would not return but
Abraham sent this servant into the darkness of that country
to bring a bride out for his son. And this is a picture of God
sending forth His servant, ultimately the Spirit of God, but the Spirit
of God who operates through those preachers whom He sends, sending
forth a servant into the darkness of this world, where Christ once
was, but where Christ will not return until the end because
He drains on high and He sends forth His servant to find the
bride and bring it unto Him. Likewise in John's Gospel we
read of John. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.
He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that
light. He was sent and he was sent with
this message. And Paul was sent. Paul was sent
to Corinth. Paul was sent with the Gospel
to Corinth, the power of God. That the heathen, that the wicked,
that the children of wrath in Corinth, upon whom God had set
his love from before the foundation of this world, those who sat
in darkness, might see a great light. He sent his gospel to
Corinth to save sinners. And if you who sit in the darkness
of this world today should hear the gospel in power by one whom
God has sent into your pathway, it is because God has set his
love upon you. to deliver you out of darkness,
to open the eyes of the blind, to open your eyes to see, to
save. Paul was sent. but having been
sent to Corinth, and having seen the mighty power of God at work
in the souls of that people to deliver this hard-hearted, carnal,
evil-minded people from their sins, to pour life into those
who were dead, time had now passed. And Paul the sent preacher and
his preaching was no longer with them. and though God had blessed
that congregation with other preachers and other preaching
yet time had passed and the wisdom of man had entered in and the
effects of the wisdom of man had entered in and the people
had become divided error had crept in, sin had crept in, the
world had crept in and the wisdom of man had crept in and false
teachers had crept in and it all led to division. Some said
I'm of Paul. they waited for Paul to return
and they wouldn't listen to any other preachers that God sent
unto them. God sent Apollos, God sent Cephas
and they wouldn't listen to Apollos and they wouldn't listen to Cephas
because they held Paul in such esteem and they shut themselves
up to one man even though God spake by others. And some fearful
of following any man fearful of glorifying the preacher said
I won't follow man at all I'm of Christ and they took the spiritual
high ground when in reality they supplanted Paul, Apollos and
Cephas with themselves and took the scriptures and said I will
follow Christ alone by my judgment and my wisdom and my understanding
as the Spirit of God leads me directly. When the Spirit of
God had sent Apollos and Cephas in their midst when Paul was
not with them to speak unto them through those sent preachers,
through his word, through his gospel whom he had sent. And
should they shut their ears to Apollos and to Cephas, what arrogance
to expect God the Spirit to continue to speak to them personally.
What presumption! You cannot presume upon it. You cannot presume if you shut
your ears to the gospel from those whom God sends to preach
it in power that you can then go to the scriptures yourself
and come to a right understanding. More often than not it leads
to you going astray and this is exactly what had happened
at Corinth. These people had heard Paul,
they'd heard the gospel but some of them shut their ears to Apollos
and some shut their ears to Cephas and some said I'll only hear
Christ. and they all became divided because there wasn't the unity
because they weren't listening to the Spirit of God because
the Spirit of God spake by Paul, spake by Apollos, spake by Cephas
and spake by Christ through them all. The wisdom of man. It's about
life. You can have the knowledge. You
can say, well I heard all I needed to from Paul and I heard all
I needed to from Apollos and I heard all I needed to from
Cephas and I've got the scriptures now, I understand the gospel,
the Spirit of God will lead me and you can go off and read this
and read that and read this passage and read that passage and apply
yourself to it and seek to live by it. and presume that you will
continue to stand and in reality the power is not there the words
are there the doctrine's there your knowledge is there your
contention is there your so-called standard for what you think is
the truth is there but all that enters in is hardness and bitterness
and coldness and division It have been declared unto me of
you, my brethren, that there are contentions among you, because
you ceased to listen to that which is the power of God, Christ
the power of God. Paul was sent, and he was sent
again with this message when he heard of these contentions.
this message in this letter to bring unity where there was division. Now what would the wisdom of
men say to this problem at Corinth? What would men do with this division? What would men do with the reports
of sin? wicked sin which had arisen amongst
some of the people at Corinth? What would men do with the disorder
in their worship of everyone speaking at the same time? What
would men do with the way that they had treated the Lord's table
and made it into some feast? What would men do with the rejection
of the headship of Christ which had come in, in the manner in
which the women flaunted the authority of man and the authority
of Christ over man, and gathered in the worship with their heads
uncovered, displaying their own glory, figurative of the church
of Christ, displaying its own glory, its own hair, where it
should be covered that the only glory that should be seen in
the midst is Christ. It's all about glorying. He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Well here's a people with
wisdom in their midst who were glorying in their knowledge,
their wisdom, their understanding. But what would men say those
problems. What would the wisdom of man
rush in with to solve those problems? It would rush in to solve the
issues. It would confront the wicked,
the sinful in the midst and say sort this person out, cast them
out, condemn them, judge them, deal with them, tell them where
they're going wrong. It would race in and it would sort out
the Lord's table, it would race in and deal with the rebellion
of headship, it would race in and deal each issue head on. It would sort out the sin, confront
the false teachers, rebuke the wayward. It would rush in with
the wisdom of men and say we must rebuke sin, we must exhort
the people to live right, we must deal with this issue and
that issue. It would discuss, debate and
contend. The wisdom of man would do just
about anything but start by preaching the gospel. Christ crucified. message of the cross to this
people. The wisdom of man would say well
they know that this is a church these are believers they've heard
the gospel but they've got all of these problems coming we need
to deal with the problems we need to exhort and rebuke. Man's
wisdom will go and deal with the issues head-on Because to
man's wisdom the gospel is a stumbling block of foolishness. It is the wisdom of religion to set aside the gospel and to
tackle other things. In the wisdom of religion the
gospel has become that which is truncated as it were to a
simple historical message regarding the cross by which people are
first called to believe on Jesus. The gospel to many is that evangelistic
message you present of Christ dying for sinners but once they've
believed, once they're in the church you need to move on from
that. There's not just the gospel they
say. You need to move on from the
gospel to teaching. So when things go wrong, what
do you do? You correct them with more teaching,
more wisdom, more of man's wisdom, not the gospel. Well, not so Paul. He begins
with the gospel and he continues with the gospel. when he hears
of division, when he hears of contention, when he discovers
a people whose conduct and life and words and deeds do not match
their professional faith in Jesus Christ, he does not come at them
with rebukes, with condemnation, with debate, with argument. He comes at them with the gospel. And you who think you are so
wise and so knowledgeable in the scriptures, if you knew this
properly, would know that the answer to all the issues, the
answer to the false professors, the answer to the carnal behaviour
you see some exhibiting in the churches, is the gospel, the
power. You can instruct all you like
but if the life is left to ebb away, if the life isn't fed,
if the life isn't conveyed, then you achieve nothing. Paul begins
with the Gospel, that is the answer, that will bring the unity,
that is the power of God. The power of God unto salvation,
the power of God unto perfection, unto everlasting life, unto the
unity of one mind in Christ Jesus. Yes, the power to unite is the
gospel. It is also the power to save,
but Paul doesn't tackle the issues head on. He doesn't tackle the
table, the headship, the sin, head on, he tackles it with the
gospel. And to this end, Paul emphasises
his calling, his sending. He was not sent to baptise, but
to preach, to preach the gospel first and foremost. That's what
God sent him to. yes there are other things that
he as a minister of God would do, yes there are times when
he would baptize, yes there are times when he would counsel,
yes there are times when he'd be involved with this and that
but overwhelmingly his sending was to preach and to distract
him from it is to take away the most precious gift that he could
bring For preaching is rare, true gospel preaching is rare
and true gospel preachers are rare and faithful preachers today
are rare and the most precious thing they are sent with is the
gospel. Oh thank God if you are sent
a preacher with the rarity of the truth of the gospel, as those
taught by God. Such preachers may have other
gifts, they may have wisdom to convey, they may be good to discuss
the scripture with or doctrine with, you may love to get them
on their own and have a good discussion with them and take
up their time. They may be the very ones that
we would most want to go to for counsel or guidance, and God
can certainly use them for those things. But their paramount calling
is to preach. Paul was not sent to baptize,
though he did baptize a few, but his sending was to preach
the gospel. There were others who could baptize,
there were others with gifts in the church who could deal
with that, this and that, but Paul's treasure that he was sent
forth with was the gospel, then let him preach it. And let us
pray that God sends us today preachers like him, preachers
with power, preachers who preach not in word only, but in the
Holy Ghost, with power in the Holy Ghost and with much assurance. And let us not distract them
from their calling. The gospel Oh the gospel is not
simply a message you hear to bring you to life and then you
move on to teaching. The gospel encompasses all of
God's good news towards sinners to bring them to life. It's everything
good concerning Christ, concerning God, concerning the kingdom to
come, concerning God's people, concerning the church. It's everything
that God has to say that brings life to his people. The gospel
is not a small message, just historical facts of the cross.
It is all of Christ. It's in all the scriptures, New
Testament and Old Testament, gospels and epistles, doctrine
and exhortations. It's in the doctrinal and the
practical, it encompasses it all, it conveys the mind of Christ
and the life of Christ. Not just to convert the sinner,
but for all their life, all their walk, all their pilgrimage. It conveys Christ. What is the
Gospel for? To convey Christ. Convey the power of God, to convey
life, to make the dead to live and continue to live. To feed
them. To feed us on Christ and to cause
us to grow in Christ. And the Gospel, the preaching
of the Gospel continues to convey Him. It's a savour of life unto
life. It continues to feed that life
which it begets and it is a saver to those who will shut their
ears and who know not God of death unto death. If you hear
this gospel and never see and never receive and never believe
it will simply be death unto you. but it is also that which
is life unto those that believe. It is that by which we begin
this life, it is that which brings life, by which Christ is conveyed
in the new birth, in the heart of sinners, by which they are
born again, but it is also that by which we grow. It is that
which brings unity where there is division and nothing else
does. Yes the gospel brings life, we
must be born again. We can only be born again when
the Spirit of God comes unto us and says live. But when the
Spirit of God speaks, he speaks by the Word of God and the Word
of God is Christ. When the Spirit of God says live,
he says live by Christ, by his gospel. and he speaks and preaches
that gospel by those whom he sends with it. Oh how we need
the life of Christ. Without Christ we're nothing.
Nothing. But the preaching of the gospel
is that which brings him. It conveys him. It brings life
and nothing else does. It is the power of God. Christ
is the power of God. And as Paul says in the second
chapter, as such, as the power of God. It is the ground of faith. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men but in the power of God is why Paul was
sent preaching not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in
demonstration of the spirit and of power. Faith stands in this
power. It has no other foundation but
Christ and his gospel. Faith comes by this power. Faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We are born
not of corruptible seed but by the word of God. When this gospel
is preached by those whom God sends it comes in power and it
brings faith, it quickens unto life and that faith stands, remains,
continues to the end by this gospel. that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor
of the princes of this world that come to naught. But we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of
the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory, But as it is written,
I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God have prepared for them that
love him. But God have revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. For the Spirit teacheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God. But what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so
the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not
in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the
natural man receive if not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual
judgeth all things, yet he himself is judge of no man. For who have
known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have
the mind of Christ. 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.