Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now, here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. I'm preaching this morning
from 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2, and it would be very helpful
if you could get your Bibles and follow along. 1 Corinthians
chapters 1 and 2, I've entitled this message, Preaching the Gospel
as a Mystery. In verse 7 of 1 Corinthians Chapter
2, Paul the Apostle says, But we speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
world unto our glory. What is a mystery? The way the
word is used in the Bible is different than the way we use
it. When we think of a mystery, we
think of truth concealed. But the Bible means truth revealed,
that which we could not have known unless God was pleased
to reveal it in His Word. Now, when we're speaking of mystery,
or when the Scripture is speaking of mystery, it's not talking
about mysticism. Perhaps you've heard that term,
mysticism. Mysticism is revelation from
God apart from the Scriptures, communicated to you apart from
the Scriptures, something you know without God's Word. Now, I don't believe in that
for a second, but I do believe in the mysteries of the Scripture. A mystery is a truth that could
not be known unless God was pleased to reveal it. A mystery is that
which cannot be understood by human understanding. A mystery
is that which is so profoundly mysterious that it cannot be
explained, only proclaimed and believed. Paul spoke in I Timothy
3.9 of holding the mystery of the faith. Let me speak some of the mystery
of God, that which cannot be explained, only believed and
proclaimed. God is, and His isness is revealed
in this book called the Bible, And the Bible claims to be divinely
inspired. 1 Timothy or 2 Timothy 3 16 says
all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Can I explain that? No. Can I prove it? No. But I believe it. And I proclaim it. The Bible
is the word of God. Now, in this book called the
Bible, God reveals His isness. God is eternal. He never began
to be. He dwells in the eternal now. There's no past. There's no future
with Him. He's in the eternal present. Now, can I explain that? No. Do I believe it? Absolutely. God never began to be. Can I explain that? No. Do I believe it? Absolutely. God is one God revealed in three
distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. One God revealed in three distinct
persons. Can I explain that? Can I understand
it? No. Do I believe it? Yes. Do I proclaim it? Yes. God, the Father, God, the
Son and God, the Holy Spirit. Paul said in. First Timothy 316,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
the eternal God. was manifest in the flesh. The
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. God became flesh. Do I understand
that? No. Can I explain it? Absolutely
not. Do I believe it? Yes, I do. God became flesh. Listen to this scripture, Colossians
chapter 2 verse 9 says, In Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. All the fullness of
omnipotence, all the fullness of omniscience, all the fullness
of omnipresence, all the fullness of all of God's attributes, everything
God is, resides in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do I understand
that whole? No. Can I explain it? No. Do I believe it with all my heart? Jesus Christ is God manifest
in the flesh. When Christ came here upon this
earth, everything he did, he did as a representative, being
united with those the Father gave him. The scripture speaks
in Ephesians 3.31 of this great mystery, the two being one flesh.
He said, I speak concerning Christ in the church. God's elect have
always been one with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I was born
on 9-9-59, but I've always had existence before God in the person
of Christ. I'm united to Him, so much so
that when He lived, I lived. When He died, I died. When He
was raised, I was raised. Now, can I understand that? No. But do I believe it? With all
my heart, we preach the wisdom of God in a mystery. Now, these people that God has
saved, that are united to the Lord Jesus Christ, they're going
to be raised from the dead to perfect conformity to Christ.
Listen to this Scripture. Paul said, Behold, I show you
a mystery. There's the word again. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery. Let's look back at verse 6. I'm
going to look at a lot of Scriptures now, and I hope you'll get your
Bibles and follow along. I'm preaching the Word. I'm not
preaching my opinion. I'm not preaching church dogma
or church doctrine. I'm preaching the Word of God. That's where the authority of
this comes from, not because it's what I think. This is God's
Word. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 6 says,
Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. Do you
know every believer is perfect in Christ Jesus? A perfect sacrifice
makes a perfect saint. Somebody says, I'm not perfect.
I am in Christ. I am in Christ. Every believer
is in Christ. If he's perfect, I am, too, because
I'm united to him. Now, we speak wisdom among them
that are perfect. The perfect hear this and they
say, yes, yet not the wisdom of this world. nor of the princes
of this world that come to naught, that come to nothing. 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 that they
wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory, when they crucified
Him, they didn't know He was God. They thought He was some
deluded imposter. They didn't know He was God.
They hated Him. They didn't know He was the Lord
of glory. Verse 9, But as it's written,
I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him, but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. God has revealed his gospel to
us. By His Spirit, who searches all
things, the deep things of God. Verse 11, For what man knows
the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so, the things of God knows no man but the Spirit of God.
Now, who knows what's going on in my mind? Only one person,
me. And the only way you can know
what's going on in my mind is if I'm pleased to disclose that
knowledge to you. Now, the only one who knows what's
going on in God's mind is God. And the only way we can know
it is if he, by his Spirit, is pleased to make it known, if
he gives us a spiritual understanding. Now, he says in verse 12, Now
we've 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. A natural man can't receive this. Look at verse 13, which things
also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which
the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receives
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither indeed can he know them. He lacks the ability
to know them because they're spiritually discerned. You see,
you have to have a spirit to hear the gospel. Well, preacher,
doesn't everybody have a spirit? No. When Adam died in the Garden
of Eden, he didn't die physically. His soul didn't die, but his
spirit died. And the scripture says that we're
dead in trespasses and sins. That's spiritual death. And only
when God gives you the new birth, when God begets you, when God
gives you a spiritual nature, can you hear the Gospel. The
natural man can't even receive the things of the Spirit of God.
They're just foolishness unto him. He lacks the ability to
receive them because they're spiritually discerned. But he
that is spiritual, this is the man God has given the Holy Spirit
to. He's been given a new nature. He that is spiritual judges or
discerns all things. He understands the Gospel. He
understands what he could not understand before. He believes
what he did not believe before. He's got a spiritual discernment.
He hears the truth and he believes it. And he receives it. Only
someone with the Holy Spirit can do that. Yet he himself is
discerned of no man. No man can understand where he's
coming from, a natural man. You know, I understand natural
men because I'm one of them. But they don't understand me
because they've never been a new creature in Christ Jesus. Now,
It takes a spiritual nature to discern spiritual things. For
who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?
But we have the mind of Christ. Every believer has the mind of
Christ to hear the gospel. Now, I want to go back in chapter
one, in verse 17. Paul said, 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, Paul's not taking away from
the importance of baptism. Baptism by immersion is the believers
public confession of Christ. He's saying that's not what God
sent me to do, though. It's not about results, but about
preaching the gospel, declaring the gospel. That's what God sent
me to do, to declare the gospel, not with wisdom of words. That's
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. In chapter
2, verse 1, he said, 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 didn't come with flowery rhetoric
or intellectualism, for I determined not to know anything among you.
Say, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and I was with you in weakness,
and in fear, and 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, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Now, what is it to use wisdom
of words in trying to preach the gospel? What's Paul talking
about? Wisdom of words is man's attempt to make the gospel understandable. Wisdom of words is man's attempt
to make the gospel more palatable, more acceptable to men. It's
packaging the gospel so as to remove the offense from the cross
and making it easier to receive. We see this so much now, the
wisdom of words, packaging the gospel, trying to make it easier
to receive, using words in the wrong way. Now, here's an example
of the wisdom of words. In Acts chapter 4, Peter's been
arrested and John for preaching the gospel. They've healed the
man and they're brought before the Jewish Sanhedrin and they
say, by what name or by what power or authority do you do
these things? Who gave you the authority to do this? Peter could
have replied, God. gave us the authority to do this.
God enabled this man to walk. Jehovah did it all. If he would
have said that, it would have been true, but it would have
been compromise. He wouldn't have been telling
the truth, but that's not what he said. He didn't say God did
this, although God did. He said, be it known unto you
that by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, this man stands before
you whole. It's him You see, if he would
have said God, he would have been using wisdom of words to
save his own skin. But that's not the way he did
this. Now, he says in verse 18, he
says, For the preaching of the cross, or the doctrine of the
cross, or the word of the cross, that's the word, is to them that
perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved. It, the preaching
of the cross, is the power of God. Now, what is meant by the
preaching of the cross? Oh, my dear friend, listen very
carefully. The preaching of the cross is the whole counsel of
God. The preaching of the cross is
the eternal purpose of God. Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken with wicked
hands and crucified and slain. The cross is God's eternal purpose. What's the doctrine of the cross?
The cross tells us who God is. All of God's attributes are seen
in the cross. Does God hate sin? Go to the
cross and you'll see. When sin is found in His Son,
He kills Him. God is absolutely just. He will
not let sin go unpunished. That sin in the cross, sin was
punished even in His Son. God is all wise. He's made a way to be just and
yet justify someone who's unjust in the cross. God is love. Look at His love for sinners.
that He would give His Son to die. All of God's attributes,
everything that God is, is revealed in the cross. The cross is a
declaration of the character of God. The doctrine of the cross
tells us the truth about men. Now, you may have done some very
bad things. You may be ashamed of those things.
But you know, those things that you've done don't really give
the true picture of what you are by nature. The only thing
that gives the true picture is the cross. There, when God let
men do what they wanted to do, they nailed His Son to a tree. We are, by nature, haters of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, a lot of folks say, well,
I don't hate Christ. Well, you don't hate the Christ you feel comfortable
with, the Christ you can control. Nobody's afraid of that Christ,
but I'm talking about the Christ of the Bible. Men hate Him, and
if God left you and me to ourselves, we would put His Son out of business. The cross tells the true nature
of men, but the cross also gives the true nature of salvation.
When the Lord Jesus Christ cried from the cross, it is finished.
The salvation of every one of God's people was accomplished.
Accomplished without their works by what He did. That is the doctrine
of the cross. Now, the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved,
it's the power of God. Now, the power of God. How is
the power of God seen? Well, the power of God is seen
in creation. when He made something from nothing. There was nothing, and He spaked
something into existence by His mighty power. God created the
universe. Now, there's another way that
God's power is seen. Matter cannot be destroyed. Everything in the universe, it
can't just disappear and be no more. It may change forms. You
may set a piece of wood on fire and energy comes out and it turns
to ashes. But still, the matter is still there. Matter never
leaves the universe. Only God can cause something
to not be which was. Now, on the cross, Christ Jesus
made me to be what I was not. He made me to be holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight. He made me to be what I was not. He made something from nothing. And He made my sin to be no more. It's gone. He put it away. He blotted it out. It is no more. What power is seeing the mighty
power of God in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? He says
in verse 19, For it's written, I'll destroy the wisdom of the
wise. I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? You take all the world's wisdom,
it's nothing but foolishness. Now, you have to have a new nature
to see that. But if you have a new nature, you see it. For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world, by wisdom, knew
not God. By all of its philosophies, by
all of its maxims, the world, by its own wisdom, knew not God.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe." This is how God speaks through what I'm doing right
now, through preaching. Somebody says, that's foolishness.
It may be, but that's how God works. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them to believe. Verse 22, for
the Jews, that's the religious fellows. They require a sign. And the Greeks seek after wisdom. The Jews require a sign. Now you say you're telling the
truth. I need some proof. Let me see a miracle. Let me
see something that will prove to me that you're of God. I hear what you're saying, but
I've got to have some proof. I've got to have some evidence.
I need some miracle performed in order to prove that what you're
saying is the truth. Now, if you tell me something
and I say you need to prove it, you know what that means? It
means I don't believe you. This is the cry of unbelief.
It's unbelief that needs a sign. You see, when you hear the truth,
you know it's the truth. It's unbelief that needs a sign
of proof. The Jews, the religious people,
they need a sign because they really don't believe. And the
Greeks seek after wisdom, the philosophy of this world, the
intellectuals, the academics and so on. But, Paul says, we
preach Christ crucified, salvation by what He did. We preach the
person, the God-man, crucified, what He did. He put away sin
by the death of Himself. We preach Christ crucified. Not
just Christ, but Christ crucified. Not just the cross, but Christ
crucified. We preach the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, unto the Jews, this is a
stumbling block. It's a scandal. You mean to tell
me that your works have absolutely nothing to do with salvation?
Why, That will create sin. That will make people not care
about good works. When you talk about grace the
way you do, why, that will lead people to sin. To the religious
people, the gospel is a stumbling block. They find it scandalous.
And unto the Greeks, foolishness. This is the educated. You expect
me to believe you're saved by somebody else's righteousness?
You expect me to believe that the Bible is the inspired word
of God? Why, that's foolishness. But And to them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, thank God He saved Jews and Greeks. But
unto them which are called, not everybody is, but unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God. And Christ, the wisdom of God. He's made a way in His wisdom
to be just, and yet justify the ungodly. Only God could do that.
Because, he says in verse 5, the foolishness of God is wiser
than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now, what is the foolishness
of God? It's the foolishness of preaching.
That's what God uses. What is the weakness of God?
I didn't know God was weak. You look on the cross. He was
crucified in weakness. As a man, oh, how weak he was
on the cross. And yet that act of weakness
was the act of the mighty power of God. God's most awesome work
was done through the frailty of his son hanging on a cross. He magnified himself. He glorified himself. He saved
his people through the work on the cross. Now, he says in verse
26, you see your calling, brethren. Now, he's describing God's elect.
You see, your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty and the base things of the world
and the things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and the
things which are not to bring to naught. the things that are. Now, he gives a five-fold description
of God's elect. Foolish, powerless, low-born,
born of Adam, despised, nobodies, nothings, nothing to recommend
them to God. Now, he describes them like this,
and then he says, here's why God saves people like this. that
no flesh should glory in His presence. He's not going to have
it. But, I love this word but in the Scripture, these same
people who are foolish, powerless, weak and so on, despised, nothings,
these same people, but of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption that according as it is written, He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Now, while in myself I'm foolish,
I'm without power, I'm lowborn, I'm a nobody with nothing to
recommend me to God. And that's the truth regarding
me. Yet I'm in Christ Jesus and I'm wise. I'm the very wisdom
of God because he is my wisdom before God. In Christ, I am righteous. I'm the very righteousness of
God. In Christ, I'm holy. I'm the
very holiness of God. In Christ, I have full redemption. Now, that's the truth regarding
me. That's the truth regarding every believer. Christ has made
into us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption
so that I'm wise, I'm righteous, I'm holy, I'm redeemed. Do I
understand all this? How God can do that? No, I don't. It's a mystery. But I believe
it. I receive it. And I proclaim
it. And here's why God does all things
this way. That according as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now we have this
message on cassette tape, DVD, or CD. If you call the church
right or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Diver, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's
our prayer. Amen. I love you.