Let's take our Bibles and turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. At the last reading, Brother
Rex read this second chapter of Corinthians to us, and several
things in this chapter kind of stood out to me. And so I, by
the grace of God, would like to just go through the chapter.
We'll just have a devotional type service and go through this
chapter. Well, I want to start tonight
where we are. Well, you say, where are we?
We're sinners. being saved by grace. That's where we're at. That's how Paul addresses every
epistle he writes. He preached to sinners. Christ
told those Pharisees he was the greatest preacher this earth
has ever known. And our Lord said to them, he
said, thank not that I come to call the righteous. I'm not even
interested in the righteous. I'm not even talking to the righteous.
I came to seek and to save sinners. That's where we're at. I listen to the conversations
of others when I work and shop and just a casual conversation
around the community. And I've learned in listening
that most people who talk about the things of God don't know
what they're talking about. Flat, don't know what they're
talking about. I heard one of the fellas I work with talking
to another man. I overheard him talking to him,
and I just stood and listened. And what he was telling this
man, he said, if you'll accept Jesus as your personal Savior,
he said, that's what you do. He said, you come down to the
front. He said, that's the public confession. And he said, you
accept Jesus as your personal Savior, and then God gives you
the new birth. Listen to this. And he used John
chapter 1 verse 10, he was quoting parts of it to this man. And
Don's been preaching on this chapter 1, so this verse was
fresh in my mind. But he says here in verse 10,
he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world
knew him not. You can't call on an unrevealed
God. In verse 11, He came unto His
own, His own nation, His own types, His own symbols. To the
people who knew more about God than anybody else on this planet,
He came to them. Who had the law, the schoolmaster,
to bring them to Christ. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. But to as many as received Him,
to them gave He power. to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name, which were born." Already born. Not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor the will of man, but God. I overheard the job superintendent
down here the other day talking with one of the laborers about
whether or not a man who'd been married twice could pastor a
church. And not too long ago, a man who's
an elder in that big Church of Christ over there on Harrisburg
Road, he straightened me out on sanctification. He said, salvation's
by grace and sanctification's by law. But it says in 1 Corinthians
1.30, but of him, talking about of God. Are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that gloryeth,
let him glory in the Lord. And then in Hebrews 10.10 it
said, by the which will we are sanctified, through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Ignorance. They talk a lot about the things
of God. I listen to them. They're all
involved in things concerning God. They have revival meetings. They have rallies. They have
all sorts of things going on. And I don't question their sincerity. And I do not question their commitment. I'm simply saying that the majority
of what men are calling witnessing and preaching and testifying
to this world is absolute nonsense. It has no foundation. It has no understanding of God. It has no declaration of God.
And it's not in harmony with the scriptures. Israel will shut up. Listen to
me now. Israel was shut up to the Word
of God for how many years, Larry? Four thousand years. The only
nation on this earth who knew anything at all about God was
Israel. Israel. Shut up to the Word of
God. By far and away, they had more
advantage than any people on the face of the planet. And in
Romans chapter 2, verse 17, listen to how Paul described He said,
Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest
thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things
that are more excellent being instructed out of the law, and
art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, and
a light of them that are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish,
and a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge and
of the truth in the law. Now listen, listen to this, Romans
10 verse 2. In verse 1, he said, My prayer to God for
Israel, that's his people he just described, is that they
might be saved. That they might be saved. This
very people that was so confident, so assured that they were the
teachers of God, the children of God, Paul said, My desire,
God will save them. For I bear them record, they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to every one that believes. We're full
of sin, and sin leaves us ignorant. It leaves us in ignorance of
God, and it makes us easy prey for the God of this world. And
he comes along with his high-visibility, crowd-gathering methods, and
eye-catching visual aids, and personality-pleasing preachers,
and he just comes along, and he just draws us in by the thousands. They offer amenities like, it's
like offering candy to children to draw whole families in, Christian
schools, young people's services. They don't go to the regular
service. They go to the young people's service. Gear just for
them, sporting events, weight rooms, clubs, and societies.
and they promote easy believism. Just turn your life around. That's
all you got to do. Just make the decision and turn
your life around and go the other direction. Just accept Jesus as your personal
Savior. Just come down the aisle and
sign this card. Just be baptized. Make your public confession.
Pie in the sky and a sweet by and by. That's what it is. That's
what it is. ignorant of the Word of God,
and then they publish translations of the Bible. This is the new
thing that's in the last 20 years. They've just filled the libraries
with translations of the Word of God, which are not translations
but revelations of their own evil hearts, is what I believe
it is. I believe that most of those
so-called translations are just trying to get around the work
of the Holy Spirit of God, revealing the truth. in you. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. Listen to this in verse 1. And I, brethren, when I came
to you Gentiles, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
to the covenants. No hope without God in the world.
When I came to you, I came not, listen to it, with excellency
of speech. I came not of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined, he did this
before he went, I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." Now, if there
was one apostle in all the New Testament that could have expounded
on the 70 weeks of Daniel, this was him. He said, I ain't going
to do it. I'm not going to do it. And he
said, I was with you in weakness. I was with you in fear, I was
with you in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. And I won't get into that a little
bit tonight. That your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of men, but in the power of God. What is it that blesses your
heart the most? If I were to stand up here tonight
and expound to you the eyes inside the wheels and show you things to come and show you how all those things
relate to our day and how they're going to affect you in the millennium,
is that what Is that what you seek? Is that what makes your
heart leap for joy or treasure in a field? That's what Paul's talking about.
That's exactly what Paul's talking about right here. Gospel truth, gospel preaching,
it's a spiritual matter. It's a spiritual matter. We speak
the wisdom of God, verse 7, in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world under our glory, and none of
the princes, none of the leaders, the great orators, the most influential
of men, none of the kings, none of the counselors, none of the
princes knew, for had they known it, They wouldn't have crucified
the Lord of Glory. But as it is written over in
Isaiah chapter 64, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared
for them that love him. Now why would Paul quote this
verse of scripture out of Isaiah chapter 64? What's he trying
to say? Here's what he's saying, Ron.
You can't tell what you don't know anymore, and you can come
back from somewhere you haven't been. That's exactly what he's
saying. That's exactly what he's saying.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Well, what's
that mean? It means that the Spirit of God
takes heavenly things, things that are infinitely above our
ability to understand, and it communicates them to us
in ways that we can, like treasure in the field. That's exactly
what he said. We looked at this a little bit
in one of my messages the other night, the new birth. There stood a man before him
trained in the highest letter, a man of wisdom, of knowledge.
He was no fool when it come to the Word of God. He could probably
quote half the Old Testament, if not all of it. He could tell
you if there was a period out of place. Our Lord said that he was a master
in Israel, Nicodemus. And what did the Lord talk to
him about? He just stopped him. I mean dead in his tracks before
he ever got a chance to show how smart he was. Before he ever
had a chance to unveil his credentials before the Lord, the Lord just
stopped him dead in his tracks and he said, Nicodemus, except
you be born again, you can't even see the kingdom of God.
You can't even perceive the kingdom of God. You've got to be born
again. And he proved his point with
the response he got, born again. What's that mean? What's that
mean? With all his knowledge and wisdom,
he could not understand what the Lord told him. But listen
to what our Lord tells him next over in John 3, 12. He said, if I told you earthly
things, and you don't understand, what
would you do if I told you heavenly things? Ron, if I told you a story about
treasure in the field, what would you do if God just unveiled his
glory and started talking to you about things you're not even
able to understand? You just, you would know what
to say. But he condescends to speak to
us in ways that we can understand. It's through the simplest stories
and illustrations that our Lord preached to men. Stories about
planting seed. A sow went out to sow. Boy, I
can understand that now. Throws the seed out. I can understand
that. He talks to men about finding
treasure in the field. buying the pearl of great price,
a strong man coming in and overcoming by one that was stronger than
him, boiling his house. I don't know. I wonder sometimes
why don't the Lord bless this or bless that message? Maybe
it's because we really don't know in our hearts by experience
the real work of God. Maybe that's the problem. But
I believe this is the problem. We've missed what it is to preach.
We just quite missed it. Listen to the preaching of Christ,
the only master of divinity who ever lived. Hear him talk about
the heavenly bread, the heavenly bread that comes
down. Listen to him talk about that water that came out of the
rock, the smitten rock. They were talking about the glory
of that temple. He said, let me tell you something
about glory. He said, look at that lily over there. Solomon and all of his glory
was arrayed like that lily. And that lily doesn't work. It
doesn't toil. It doesn't spin. And it outshines
Solomon and all his glory. Simple story, simple illustration. Talks about a woman losing a
coin, had ten coins, lost one, lit a candle, swept the house,
hunted diligently until she found a coin. This is preaching. Taking the revelation of Christ
in me and finding that story, finding that illustration, finding
that allegory, that type, whatever it is that describes what I know. and communicates that truth to
the least in the place, that's preaching. Oh God, give this
sinner, this uneducated, untrained man, the greatest gift of the
ministry, Larry, to communicate. To communicate. Now watch this,
back in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11. What man knoweth the things of
a man Save the spirit of that man which is in you. You can't know what's on my heart
unless I tell you. This is what Paul's talking about.
Communicating from the heart. Even so, the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. Now we've not received 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 words, which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. Comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. To preach in the power of God's
Spirit, then, is to do this. It is to take that work which
God is accomplishing in me and communicate it to you in simple
language. That's what it is. Preaching. And I tell you this, everything
else, whether I do it or you do it or somebody else does it,
everything else is math class and social studies. That's all
it is. Preaching is not educating myself
in doctrine until my head hurts and then trying to communicate
it to you until yours hurts. That's not what it is. It's God's
causing me to experience his grace and then describe what
I've experienced. That's what it is. We do teach
doctrine, but it's the doctrine of Christ in me. Paul said he
revealed Christ in me that I might preach him among the heathens.
It compares spiritual things with spiritual. You can't make
an unbeliever believe. You can't do it. He's got to
be born again. When I stand up here to preach,
I expect you to believe. I don't know if you're believers
or not, but this is the Word of God, and it's empowered by
the Holy Spirit of God, and I expect men to believe. Why wouldn't
you believe? It's not me. It's God. Listen to this. Our Lord said,
when the spirit of truth has come, he'll guide you into all
truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he'll
show you things to come. He'll glorify me. For he shall
receive of mine, and then show it to you. I can preach about false hope
because I had one. I can preach on the inability
of the flesh because I saw mine. I can preach on the will of God
revealed to the heart because God showed me he was willing.
You see what I'm saying? I can preach on being sought
out and found. I don't even have to have notes
for it, Larry. I know what it is. You know, I preached the other
night, and I say this to my shame, but when I was talking to this
congregation, preaching that message, when was it, Sunday
evening on the treasure hidden But Lord blessed that message.
And Ron was so engrossed in the message, he forgot to select
the closing hymn. He didn't want to miss a word.
That's how I want to preach every time I get up here. I can't do
it, but I know what it is to do it. And I seek it. I want it. I want it so bad. And this morning, God gave me
a little bit of liberty, and I was able to communicate just
a little bit of my heart to yours. And he said, well, why are you
saying these things? Am I trying to counsel these two preachers? Oh, no. No, they could counsel
me. I'm saying these things because
this is where God's people feed. This is where we feed. I can
sit at home sometimes in my study, and I can read some of these
old Puritans, and I'm telling you, I don't know if I get anything
out of it or not, other than a headache. And I can't even imagine. We
live in an educated time. I can't even imagine what their
followers must have thought, who had 25-word vocabulary. That's all they knew. And they
were standing in here listening to these men that us educated
people can't understand. Paul said, when I came to this
people, this people who were known over the world for wisdom
and philosophy and education and all these things, he said,
I determined before I ever got there to know nothing except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Why would Paul describe the whole
of the ministry of Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Why would
he describe everything he intended to preach with that description? Because that's where the glory
is. That's where the revelation is, at the cross. He said, God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross. I go to the cross, I see the
glory of His justice. And I see this glory. I see the
justice of His mercy at the cross. I see the pouring out of His
soul unto death, the awful judgment of sin, and the glory of the
will of God, both declared and revealed. And then secondly,
he describes the whole of the ministry as Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, because this is where God and men are reconciled,
right here. I read to you the other night
out of Ephesians 2, verse 16, how that both Jew and Gentile
were reconciled in one body by the cross. That's where you're
reconciled, right there. God is reconciled because His
justice is satisfied, His law is honored and exalted, and His
righteousness is established, and man is reconciled because
there is where God commends His love. Right there. While we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. You see, the cross of Christ
is where the heart of God is revealed. Back in the Old Testament,
there was a veil that hung there. You could just go so far. Just
go so far, and then only the high priest could go in there.
That's where the glory is. That's where the heart of God
is revealed, beyond that veil. And when Christ died, that veil
was rent top to bottom. And now, with eyes of faith,
we go straight up, look straight in, and see the full glory. This is where the heart of God
is revealed. All right? Go back to 1 Corinthians
2. But, verse 14, the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness unto him, neither
can he know because they're spiritually understood. You see, natural
man, he's more in tune with boycotting Harry Potter. That's more in
line with what he knows. He's more in line with a rally
that's going to go out and march down the street with the banners
and the name of their denomination, whatever it is, and they're going
to boycott the sale of alcohol. That's more in tune with with
religion. Natural man, he's more interested
in prophetic dreams and visions and times and seasons. He's more
inclined to listen to a message on practical godliness and family
values. Christ crucified is okay, but
let's move on. Let's move on. There's nothing
more foolish to a natural man than the repetitious preaching
of the cross. He can't stand it. We used to
have the Bible conference up there in Ashland, and one year
we had, I think, five or six preachers, five preachers each
day for five days. Had 25 preachers during that
Bible conference. And the fellow I worked for,
he said, what are you doing? I said, well, we're listening
to these visiting preachers from all over the country. Well, he
said, well, they do. I said, well, they preach. Every day? Yeah, every day. Three in the morning and two
at night? Three in the morning, two at night. He said, I don't
think I could take that. There's nothing more foolish
to a natural man than the repetitious preaching of the cross. Verse
15. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. Read that like
this. He that is spiritual understandeth
all things, yet he is understood of no man. I believe that's what
that says. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, that he may instruct him? But all listen to this. This is what I title the message.
We have the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ. And we glory
in the cross. We glory in these things. Our Father, we thank you. You could have left us where
we were at. You could have left us in our
darkness, in our deceit, and allowed us to finish our
course, the course of this world, walking according to the God
of this world. But by your grace, And for the
glory of your Son, you gave us life and unveiled that grace and that
glory in our heart. And now we ask that you use us
for whatever purpose pleases thee, whether it's to preach or to
carry some preacher's Bible, whatever it is, use us for thy
name's honor and glory. We ask it in Jesus' name.