Would you turn back to 1 Corinthians? Jim Murphy's scheduled to have
surgery in the morning, so everyone remember them that surgery will
be successful for his back. Look in the first chapter now. Verse 22. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified. Under the Jews, a stumbling block,
and under the Greeks, foolishness, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. I've entitled this message, The
Jews, the Greeks, and we. Now Paul reminds them of his
initial coming unto them in chapter two, verse one. And I brethren,
when I came to you, you might remember in Acts chapter 18,
how that the Lord appeared to Paul and not in a vision saying,
fear not Paul, hold not thy peace. I have much people in this city.
And he comes and stays there for 18 months preaching the gospel. And he is reminding them of this
initial visit. And I brethren, when I came to
you, I came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God, for I determined, I made this
my resolve, not to know anything among you, not to esteem anything
as important, not to preach anything else, save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Now, Corinthians, 1 Corinthians
is the second longest epistle of Paul. Romans is the longest. And if you include 2 Corinthians,
that takes up about 40% of Paul's writings. This is how important
these epistles to the church of Corinth are. And Paul is addressing
some problems in the church of Corinth. And there are too many
to mention right now. And he is answering some of their
questions But in chapter one, verse 10, after he gave his initial
greetings, he said, now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be
no divisions among you. Isn't that what a denomination
is? a division, Baptist, Catholic,
Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, whatever. It's a man-made
division and it is wrong. I beseech you that there be no
divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together
in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared unto
me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you, divisions among you, factions. Now this I say that every one
of you sayeth, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas, and
I of Christ. Now, what you had is some saying,
I'm one of Apollos' converts. And somebody else said, well,
I can better that, I'm one of Peter's converts. And somebody
else said, well, I'm one of Paul's converts. So you had these divisions. And then the real pious one said,
I don't follow any man, I follow Christ. That's what was going
on. And he addresses that, but he
doesn't beginning addressing it again until 1 Corinthians
3. He stops and look what he says
in chapter 3. He picks back up. And I, brethren,
could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. But as unto carnal,
even as unto babes in Christ, I fed you with milk, not with
meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet
now are you able. For you are yet carnal, for as
there is among you envying and strife and divisions, that's
what he's talking about when he talks about I'm of Paul, I'm
of Apollos, I'm of Cephas, I'm of Christ. Are you not yet carnal
and walk as men? You're acting like unbelievers
is what he's saying. But in between that, He gives one of the most glorious
defining of the gospel and the message that we'll find anywhere
in the Bible. Now look back again at chapter
two. And our brethren, when I came
to you, I came not with excellency of speech, eloquent speech and sophistry,
the use of clever arguments that are not real. I made this my resolve, verse
2, I made this my resolve for I determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ. and him crucified. Like you, I have opinions. I have opinions about politics. I have an opinion about vaccines. I have an opinion about abortion. I've got an opinion about that
law that was passed in Texas with regard to abortion. I have an opinion about Afghanistan
and about us pulling our troops out of Afghanistan. I've got
opinions. You know what? You're not going to know any
of them. You see, if a preacher starts
getting political, we've got problems. That's not the job of the preacher. Paul said, I determined not to
know anything among you, to esteem anything as important, to esteem
anything as even worth talking about. save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. You see, what is the one thing
that is really important? The gospel. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now I wonder, Do I know what
Paul's saying? Is this true with regard to me? Can I enter in to this, Jesus
Christ and Him crucified and not really being interested in
anything else? And like I said, that doesn't
mean we don't have an opinion on things, we do, but Paul said,
I've determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ
and him crucified. Now look back in chapter one,
verse 13. Is Christ divided? No, no. Was Paul crucified for you? Not
on your life. Or were you baptized in the name
of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none
of you, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I baptized
in my own name. And I baptized also the household
of Stephanus, and besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
I can't remember baptizing anybody else, for Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Now, do you hear that?
Christ did not send me to baptize. Now, is he saying that baptism
is no longer relevant? No. If you believe, you ought
to be baptized. There's no question about that. Whoso believeth and is baptized,
the same shall be saved. Now he doesn't mean by that that
baptism saves you, but what is the requirement for baptism?
Belief. That's it. Do you believe the
gospel? That's what's important. But
Paul says, Christ didn't send me here to baptize. He didn't
send me anywhere else to baptize. He sent me to preach the gospel. Now, if you go on reading, In
1 Corinthians, particularly in 1 Corinthians 15, he gives what
might be the most formal definition of the gospel that we find in
the scriptures. In the first 24 verses of 1 Corinthians 15,
when he begins, moreover, I declare unto you the gospel, and every
verse begins with a conjunction that lets us know that the sentence
really is not over until verse 24. And you and I would do well
to carefully study that, But look in verse 18, the preaching of the cross. That
is the word that most clearly defines the gospel, the preaching
of the cross. I love what Paul said in Romans
1 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of
God. unto salvation. The preaching of the cross is
the power of God unto salvation. And notice what Paul says in
verse 17, 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. Now what in the world does Paul
mean by that? He means I'm to declare it in
its naked simplicity, not trying to dress it up to sell it to
you. This is not a sale. This is not marketing. I don't
need any gimmicks. I don't need to try to make the
cross more attractive, to try to make people understand it
better. This is not what this is about.
I'm to declare the cross in its naked simplicity. And if I don't, what will it
do? It'll make the cross of Christ of none effect. You know what
that means? It'll be my word instead of the word of God. And
as soon as it becomes my word, it loses all power. The power
is not in the preacher. The power is in the message the
preacher proclaims. The message of the cross. Now look what he says in verse
18. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish, to them that are going to hell, it's
foolishness. But unto us which are saved, if the preaching of
the cross is the power of God unto salvation. Now that word
preaching, it's the word in the original Logos, the word. the doctrine of the cross. And that's the gospel, the doctrine
of the cross. Now, what is the doctrine of
the cross? The cross is the revelation of
the character of God. You cannot know God apart from
the cross of Jesus Christ. There is no knowledge of the
character of God, his holiness, his justice, his mercy, his sovereignty,
his immutability, his independence, his omnipotence, his wisdom.
There's no knowledge of the character of God apart from the cross of
Jesus Christ. There's no knowledge of your
own character apart from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let me tell you something about me and let me tell you
something about you. If God leaves me or you to ourselves to do
what we want to do, we will kill his son. What would you do about
somebody that was apt to kill one of your children? They'd
be your enemy, wouldn't they? Every man is so evil, you, me,
it's what we are by nature. I think of that passage of scripture
in Luke chapter 24 where Pilate delivered Jesus to their will. Your will is what you really
are. You know, people talk about free will, that's the biggest
bunch of baloney that there ever was. Your will is controlled
by your nature, and that's what you really are. And when God
left men to their own will, what'd they do? They nailed his son
to a cross. And don't think you wouldn't
do that. That's God's issue with me, that's God's issue with you. Our attitude toward his son.
But not only do we have the true character of God in the doctrine
of the cross, not only do we have the true character of man
in the doctrine of the cross, we have our God save sinners.
You know how God saves sinners? By his son being nailed to that
cross. Doesn't have anything to do with
your works. It has wholly to do with his works. on Calvary's tree, how he made
the way for God to be just, and yet justified except somebody
like me or you. Now, it says in verse 18, for
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish. Them that
are going to hell is what that means. Why, it's foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
It's the power of God. The cross is the power of God. Now, here's what the cross does.
The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember, when I'm talking
about the cross, I'm not talking about the piece of wood. How many pieces of the cross
have been sold over the centuries? If you had the actual wood of
the cross, it wouldn't do you any good. Wouldn't do you a bit
of good. It's what Christ accomplished
on the cross. Here's what he accomplished.
He took somebody like me, sinful, and made me to be without sin
before a holy God. That is the power of God. For the preaching of the cross
is to them the parish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it. The preaching of the cross is
the power of God for it's written. You know that phrase is found
over 200 times in the New Testament. Here's our authority. It's written. Well, what about what so-and-so
believes? Who cares what so-and-so believes? Is it written? That's
the only authority. Well, what about this denomination?
Nobody cares about that denomination either. Is it written? That is the authority. It is written. And what's written? This is God
speaking. And he says, I'll destroy the
wisdom of the wise and I will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. You see, the Lord knows the thoughts
of the wise that they're vain. This is talking about human wisdom.
Human wisdom. What does God say of it? It's
nothing. Verse 20, 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? The world by wisdom knew not
God. I want you to think about that
statement. You take all the wisdom of the
world, all of it, the world by wisdom knew not God. In verse 21, for after that in
the wisdom of God, oh, the Lord's wisdom, For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. What's going on right now? It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Now what does that mean? What
does that mean? I think the clearest Old Testament
illustration of what that means is found in 2 Kings 5, where
Naaman comes to the home of Elisha the prophet. And he comes with
his armies, with his chariots, with his garments of distinction. He's the general, the host of
the Syrians. And he comes to Elijah, and the
scripture says he stops, and there he sits, waiting. He's somebody. He's important. And he waits for Elijah, or Elisha,
to come out to him. You know what Elisha did? He
sent him a nobody. He sent him his servant. I think
that that can be illustrated by Samson destroying the Philistines
with the jawbone of an ass. What does that represent? The
preaching of the gospel. He sits out there and waits.
Does he know who I am? He better come out here. Elisha
sends a nobody and he tells him what to do. You go dip seven
times in the River Jordan and you'll come back as clean as
a baby. Your flesh will be perfectly
whole. Naaman thinks, does he know who
I am? He doesn't even come out to me
and he sends a servant. And the scripture says, he went
away in a rage. He was angry. And then his servant
said, now, if the prophet would have told you to do something
great, you would have done it. But if he just tells you to go
washing the Jordan seven times and you'll be clean. And you
know what, Elisha stopped and said, well, okay. And he went
after that in obedience to the nobody's command that came from
somebody, God. He came back as clean and pure
as leprosy cleansed. Now that's what, the preacher's
nothing. This is not putting an emphasis
on the preacher. Paul said, though I be nothing.
He knew that. I know that. Any true preacher
knows that I'm nothing. This is not some kind of power
in the preacher. But this is the way God deals.
He's gonna humble the sinner. You're gonna hear through a nobody.
That's how you're gonna hear. It pleased God by the foolishness. Somebody says that's an utter
foolishness. Well, God said it was too. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Now look in verse 22. For the
Jews require a sign And the Greeks seek after wisdom. Now let's stop there for just
a moment. The Jews, that's the religious fellas, they require
a sign. They want to be able to see something,
feel something, experience something that they think will prove to
them that God's doing something for them. They require a sign,
something they can see, something tangible that they can feel.
They can see something in their lives that makes them think,
okay, I must be saved because I'm doing this or I'll stop doing
that. They require a sign. The Greeks
seek after wisdom. Now this is the intellectuals.
This is the, not necessarily the religious, this is the, The
Greeks of this world, we need to make the world a better place.
We need to save the planet from global warming. We need to provide
better food for the poor and keep away from everybody starving
to death. And we need to improve technology. We want to make this world a
better place. And we want wisdom to do it.
The Greeks, they're seeking to make this world a better place. But, verse 23, But we, who's meant by we? All of God's elect. This is our message, isn't it?
This is the gospel that saves us. We, every believer to ever
live. This was the message Abel rejoiced
in. message Abraham rejoiced in,
message Moses rejoiced in, David, Peter, Paul, all of them. We
preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ, his person,
and let me tell you who Jesus Christ is. He's the God man. He's the second
person of the blessed Trinity. You know what that means? That
means he's the creator. You know what else that means? That means you're in his hand
right now, and it's up to him as to where your eternal destiny
will be. It's up to him whether you're
in heaven. It's up to him whether he sends
you to hell. That's who he is. He is God. That means He is in
absolute control. Oh, that in Him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We preach Jesus Christ, God's
Christ, God's Messiah, God's prophet, priest, and king, and
Him crucified. Do you know the God-man? was nailed to a pole. I don't
believe, you know, they call it a cross. It was a pole, his
hands and feet nailed. Why? Why was this one who is
God nailed to a pole? For the glory of God. For the manifestation of the
character of God. Why? This is God's eternal purpose. He's called the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Him being delivered by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. This has always been God's
purpose, to have his son nailed to a cross to reveal who he is.
Why was he nailed to that cross? To put away sin. Did He do it? Absolutely. He was manifested to take away
sin. In Him is no sin. Why was He nailed to that cross? As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. lifted up between heaven and
hell on that pole. Now you remember what took place
in Numbers 21? The children of Israel murmured
at God, murmured at Christ. He sent snakes into the camp
of Israel to bite him. Many people of Israel died. And they go to Moses and said,
pray for us, do something. And Moses prayed to the Lord
and he said, you put a serpent on a pole. That's Christ on the
cross. And anybody, listen to this,
anybody who looks, Not looking at yourself, not
looking at other people, not looking at the snakes, not looking
at ways to figure out how to get them to keep from biting
you. But you look to that brazen serpent on a pole, looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Just look, just
look. We preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews. Now that's our message. We preach
Christ, this person, crucified, his work. Now unto the Jews,
this is a stumbling block. It's a scandal. Now you listen
to me real carefully. Somebody says, you mean to tell
me that my works have absolutely nothing to do with salvation. You mean to tell me that all
that is is garbage? You mean to tell me that all
my religious experience, all my doings, all my efforts count
for nothing? You mean to tell me that all
of God's acceptance is in Christ and has nothing to do with me?
You mean to tell me that? Why, that's scandalous. Why,
if I believed that, I'd live like the devil. If you tell me
that how I act and how my conduct is doesn't have anything to do
with my acceptance before God, why, that would lead to the most
sinful, vicious, that's scandalous. to the Greeks. Well, how's this
going to make the world a better place? How's this going to help
global warming? How's this going to help technology?
How's this going to help feed the poor? Why, this isn't foolishness. But, verse 24, unto them which
are called. Is everybody called? No. But those who are called, how
do they see the gospel? But unto them which are, and
in the original, thee called, the definite article is used,
but unto them which are thee called, both Jews and Greeks,
aren't you? Thankful the Lord saves Jews
and the Lord saves Greeks too. He saves people out of every
kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation. But unto them which are thee
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the omnipotence of God,
Christ, the wisdom of God. Now this is what folks believe
when God saves them. They believe Christ is the very
wisdom of God in how God has made a way to be totally who
he is, absolutely just, and yet justify somebody sinful like
me. And Christ is the power of God.
He's the power to execute it. If you'd ask Gabriel or One of
the other angels, how can God be just and justify the ungodly
in a way that glorifies his person? They'd still be scratching their
head, wouldn't they? They couldn't figure it out,
but the believer sees by the revelation of God that Christ
is the power of God. Christ is the wisdom of God. Verse 25, because the foolishness
of God We've already talked about that. Please God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. Paul knows it's foolishness,
he calls it that. The foolishness of God is wiser
than men. And the weakness of God, somebody
says what in the world is the weakness of God? Christ dying
on the cross, he was crucified in weakness. But that's stronger
than anything men can ever come up with. Oh, the omnipotence
of God is seen there. Stronger than men. Verse 26,
for you see your calling brethren. How the not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Look around you right now. Would
you see anybody in here like that? the mighty, the noble of
this world, the wise of this world. I don't see any of those
people here this morning. I don't. You see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but here's God's strange choice. God hath
chosen. Now that word is elected, elected. This is who he has elected. Now salvation doesn't begin with
my choice or your choice, it begins with God's choice. Do you hear that? It ain't my choice, it ain't
your choice. It's God's choice. 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 the base things of the world, and the things
which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and the things which are
not. Nothing. What's nothing? I don't even know how to describe
it. You look in a box, it's empty.
What's there? Nothing. Nothing. Now, somebody that's
a nothing is someone who has nothing to recommend them to
God. Nothing. to bring to nothing things that
are, verse 29, this is a quotation from Jeremiah 9, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. Now, you can glory in your flesh
all you want, but you can't in God's presence. Oh, you're gonna
see in his presence that you have nothing to glory in, you're
a sinful, Sinful, sinful person who has no room to glory in his
presence. But, verse 30, but. There's so much in that word.
But. You'd go to hell. But! But God. That's the difference
between damnation and salvation. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus. In the beloved accepted am I. The only hope any sinner has
is in Christ Jesus. Of Him, are you in Christ Jesus? Who of God is made unto us. Everybody that's in Christ Jesus,
here's what Christ has made to them, and this is what God has
made them to Him. You didn't make Him this. Somebody
says, what will you do with Jesus? You ain't doing nothing with
Him. You can just write that down. You're not doing anything
with it. What will he do for you? What will God do for you? Of him are you in Christ Jesus
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. He is my wisdom. How wise is
Jesus Christ? Oh, he's so wise. He is my wisdom. I'm fit for fellowship with God.
He is my righteousness. Don't you have any personal righteousness?
Nope. Not a drop. He is my righteousness. He is my sanctification. He's
my holiness. Near, so near to God, near I
cannot be in the person of His dear Son. I'm as near to God
as He. Dear, so dear to God, dear I cannot be in the person
of His dear Son. I'm as dear to God as He. He is my sanctification. He is
my complete deliverance, my redemption. He redeemed me. Here we have another one of those,
and according as it's written, verse 31, as it's written, He
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now let me tell
you exactly what that looks like. Paul put it this way, God forbid
that I should glory. Now this is the apostle Paul.
This is the man God used to write 13 books in the Bible. This is
the man God used to reveal the gospel. You know what he said? I don't glory in any of that.
I was taken into the third heavens, I don't glory in it. I don't
find any confidence in it. I was used to establish churches.
I don't glory in it. I was used to write scripture.
I don't glory in it. The only thing I glory in is
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. The only thing I have
confidence in is who Jesus Christ is and what he did. Can you say
that? That's all I glory in. That's
all I have confidence in. Verse one of chapter two, and
I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
I wasn't trying to make a sale to you. I wasn't trying to dress
up the gospel to make it attractive to you. I'm not interested in
that. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling. conscious
of my own weakness, the fear of God, not the fear of man,
the fear of God, trembling, lest I misrepresent him, given my
own thoughts rather than the thoughts of God. And my speech
and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit
and the power. You know what that means? completely dependent upon the
Spirit of God to reveal the gospel to you. It's not my gimmicks,
it's not my enticing words and plausible speeches. Why, Paul? That your faith, verse five,
should not stand in the wisdom of men. You know, I'm not interested
in a faith that stands in the wisdom of men, are you? The reason I came the way I did
was that your faith should not stand in man's wisdom and ability
to convince you and so on, but in the power of God. May that be true of me and you
this morning, that our faith would not stand in man's wisdom. but in the very power of God,
looking to Jesus Christ only. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
glorious gospel of thy son. Lord, cause us to have heard
this message and the power of your spirit, and cause us to
glory only in the Lord. Lord, cause us to make this our
resolve to know nothing save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Bless your word for your glory
and for our good in Christ's name we pray, amen.