Brother Cody Gruber, one of our
missionaries. Lord bless you, Cody. Thank you, Brother Bruce. It's
a real privilege for me to be with you here tonight. And it's
been a while since I've been here. I don't get up this far
this often. But I'm sure thankful to be here
with you tonight. I will be glad to answer any
questions you have after the message. Brother Bruce said,
I want to preach. And I trust the
Lord will bless His Word to each and every one of us tonight.
How we need the Holy Spirit to take the things of Christ and
show them to us. How we need to to see Him. We are in this world and we're
full of troubles and sin and doubt, fears, weakness in the
flesh. But we need to keep our eyes
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep our eyes on Him, the offerer
and finisher of our faith. A believer in this world is a
new creature. A believer in this world is a
new creature created in Christ Jesus. But we still have this struggle
in the flesh. And part of this struggle in
the flesh is envy, strife, jealousy, divisions. And in the letter
to the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
If you will, open your Bibles there with me. And I'm just going to go through
a few verses, skimming what the Apostle Paul is saying. I'm not
going to go through all the verses. My text is found in verse 30. But the Apostle Paul is saying
to the church at Corinth He said, I hear that there's some divisions
among you. I hear there's some divisions
among you. And here's what the divisions
amount to. Some of you are saying, I'm of
Paul. Some of you are saying, I'm of Apollos. And some of you
are saying, I'm of Cephas. And some are saying, I'm of Christ.
And the apostle Paul says this, Christ is not divided. Christ
is not divided for us to say that I'm a Paul and I'm a...
Each minister of the gospel, each messenger that God sends
has the same message. There's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. Those that are sent of God do
not preach themselves. They preach Christ Jesus and
ourselves, your servants. Your servants. We're just your
servants. But we preach Christ Jesus. And
the Apostle Paul said, I didn't come baptizing. The Lord didn't
send me to baptize. That is, to bring a following
after myself. He didn't send me to build an
empire. You see these evangelists nowadays. Everybody talks about them. And
if they have a billboard on the side of the road, their name
is really big. And if they even mention the
Lord Jesus Christ, which is, they're not preaching the real
Jesus Christ anyway, but if they do have the word Jesus on there,
it's a little bitty words on the side. But the Apostle Paul
said, the Lord didn't send me to baptize, but to preach the
gospel. That is my purpose, is to preach
the good news, the glad tidings, the testimony of God concerning
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What has God done? And then he
says, the Word of the Cross. He talks about what the Word
of the Cross is. That is, what does God say? When
He hung His Son on the cross, what does God say? And we have,
I preached a message recently entitled, The Word of the Cross,
where we see the necessity of the redemption, the necessity
of the atonement. That God is holy. That God is
just. That God is merciful. The message
of the cross. What is Christ saying in the
cross of Jesus Christ? And he says, the preaching of
the cross is foolishness to them that perish, but to us that believe
is the power of God. And then he says there in verse,
I'm going to start 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. For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved 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? Hath 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 say them that
believe." What that means is that no man by his natural ability
can stumble upon the knowledge of God. No man by merely reading
the Scriptures in his natural intellectual capacity
can discover God. God is Spirit. God is what can
you know about God? What can you know about God?
What can I know about the true and living God? God is Spirit. You can know nothing about God
except God first reveals it to you. And in the wisdom of God,
the world, in all its wisdom, cannot find God. Man in all his wisdom is sending
rockets and spaceships into the earth, into the space to try
to find the origin of creation, the origin of the universe. They're
not going to find it. It's fine right here. Don't go
over there. It's right here. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. But men are blind to that. Man by his wisdom cannot find
out God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching, what men call foolishness. Men say, well, why do you keep
going there? Keep hearing the same message. Keep hearing the
same foolishness. You know, they want to have something
new all the time. They got ears that are itching.
They want to have something new. Why do you keep hearing this
foolishness? Not foolish to you. You who believe it's the wisdom
of God and it's the power of God. It's the message by which
God saved your eternal soul. It's the message by where God
gave you life and faith, the evidence of that life. It says
here, for that in the wisdom of God, The world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God that by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jew requires
sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified. We preach the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ and His work. Who He is and what He did. Where
He is right now. 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. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than man.
For we see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God
has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world
and the things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, the things
which are not, to bring to naught the things that are, that no
flesh should glory in His presence. Now here's where my text, here's
my subject. But of God. But of God. what the Holy Spirit is telling
us by the Apostle Paul. Believers, we have this sin nature
and we would glory in men. Glory in men. I like the way
this man presents the Gospel. I like to hear that man. Listen,
what we ought to be hearing is the Word of the Cross. whoever
speaks it. Whoever speaks it. The Apostle
Paul, he was not, he said that when I'm coming to you in person,
they say, oh, his speech is, he doesn't speak very well. I
don't know what the difficulty was, but it was not easy to listen. He was powerful in writing, but
not in speaking. Apollos evidently was in order. Easy to listen to. But it's not
who we are listening to, but what is the message this man
is bringing? Is he speaking the Word of God?
Is he speaking the Word of the Cross? That's what we ought to
be listening to. That's what we ought to be listening
for. God give us the grace to look beyond the vessel and look
the water. The water is what we want. You
know, they could have brought this out in a plastic cup. It
would have been just as fine. When I'm thirsty, I want the
water. I don't care about what it looks like outside. Now, if
I start fussing about the glass, I'm not really thirsty. You know?
Start fussing about what kind of glass you're giving it to
me, I'm really not thirsty. But he says here that no flesh
should glory in His presence. God has determined that no flesh
should glory in His presence. No, not the person hearing. We know that we did not give
ourselves ears to hear. We did not give ourselves lives.
It's a miracle that we believe. And no, not the person preaching
is going to get the glory. He's not going to be able to
say, well, I really did preach a good message that time. People
are going to be, that's, no. No man is going to glory in His
presence. But here's, this is, I'm going
to use this example, and I've used it before, and I'm going
to use this pulpit here as an example. You could use any table. You could use a pulpit. I'm going
to use this pulpit. We have different boards in this pulpit that are
assembled, and they're held together by nails and glue. It's been
sanded and finished, and it looks pretty. And over here we have
a hammer, we have saw, we have a planer, we have instruments. And this is going to sound ridiculous
to you, but let's suppose the table could talk. Imagine that
the table could talk and this part of the table says, I'm of
the saw. And this part of the table says,
well, I'm of the sander. And this part of the table says,
no, I'm of the hammer. What do you think? That's silly. That's
silly. Who gets the glory in this pulpit? The builder. Isn't that so? The
carpenter that put it together. The one who chose the wood. The one who formed the wood.
The one who put it in the place where it's at. Held it in place. He's the one that gets the glory.
As silly as that sounds. Excuse me, as stupid as that
sounds. is as silly and as dumb as a
believer glorying in a man. And here's the emphasis. It says
that no flesh should glory in his presence but of him. There's the but. That's what
it's talking about. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus. You didn't believe the gospel
because you heard it of a great preacher, of a great orator.
You didn't grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ because you heard the gospel expounded by Apollos. You're not established by hearing
Peter. It's God who does this. It's
God who does this. Of Him, are you in Christ Jesus? He's the one that puts you in the body. He's the one that
chose you before the foundation of the world and gave you to
Christ. and made Christ to you wisdom. He is made unto us just like
we were given to Christ. We are united to Him. We are
united to Christ. Just like we were given to Christ,
Christ is made to His people wisdom. The Lord said that a
stranger's voice they will not follow. My sheep hear my voice
and they will not hear the voice of a stranger. Why not? Why not? They use the same words. Do they not? They say Jesus,
they say Christ, they talk about the blood. But is it the same
Jesus? It is a false Jesus. It is a
false Christ. Why is it that you're not following
you who know the Lord, who believe the testimony of God? Why is
it that you're not following in that? Why? Because Christ
has made unto you wisdom. Wisdom to know the true God,
the true and living God. Christ has made unto us wisdom.
Wisdom to know the true and living God. It's like the Holy Spirit
is given to His people. Now, the reason we believe, the
reason a person believes is not because the natural man gets
excited and gets to moving and makes a decision. And then after
he makes a decision, the Holy Spirit comes into it. That's
not what the Scriptures reveal. You believe because God has given
you life. A new creation. And that new
creation is Christ in you. Christ reveals Himself. He causes
His people to be born from above. causes His people to be born
from above. And that Holy Spirit in one of His children causes
them to understand that's the truth. When you hear it, that's
the truth. That's the truth. In 1 John 2,
it is that unction from on high, the unction from the Spirit that
God's people receive. so that they do not follow another.
The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you." Verse
27. It's like a tuning fork. You
know what a tuning fork does? A tuning fork responds to a frequency. You get that tuning fork on the
string and it responds to a certain frequency. It vibrates. Well, when the Holy Spirit is
in a person, it responds to the truth. It responds to the truth. That's the truth. The Holy Spirit
is given, Lord Jesus Christ says, when the Holy Spirit comes, He
will guide you to all truth. He will guide you to all truth.
He won't... I'm going to have to read that
too in John chapter 16. When the Holy Spirit comes, He
will guide you to all truth. It looks real different in my
English Bible. It's on the wrong side of the
page. When the Holy Spirit comes, He shall glorify me for He shall
receive of mine and shall show it to you. All things that the
Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that He shall take of
mine and show it unto you. A little while, and you shall
not see me. And again, a little while, and you shall see me,
because I go to the Father." The Holy Spirit takes the things
of Christ and shows it to us. Convinces us. Convinces His people
of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. I'm fixing to get
to that, so if you want to hold that text right there. But go
back to Corinthians. Christ is made unto us Wisdom. Wisdom to know the true and living
God. To know that Jesus Christ is
the true and living God. It says in 1 John chapter 5 and
verse 20, and we know that the Son of God
has come and has given us understanding that we may know that we may
know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even
His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. To know God is eternal life. And this is what He's saying
of Him. It's not because you heard it
from a preacher. is because God put you in Christ
before the foundation of the world in election. And because
God put you in Christ, gave you to Christ, then when the gospel
comes to you, in other words, the Holy Spirit is not doing
something other than what God the Father did in eternity. Those who God the Father chose,
the Son redeemed, and the Holy Spirit is calling through the
preaching of the gospel. And that is the wisdom to know
the true God, to know Jesus Christ, to know the way that we are saved. Wisdom to know the way by which
we may come to God. A man in his wisdom thinks that
he can come to God by works. From the very beginning, man
has tried to come to God by his own works. When Cain and Abel
brought their sacrifice to God. They both believed that there
was a God. They knew that. They both believed that they
must offer a sacrifice. They knew that. But one believed
God, Abel. Cain didn't believe God. Why? Christ was made unto him wisdom.
They both heard the same message from the same Father in the beginning
of time, the beginning of the world, And one believed God and
one of them didn't. One came in his own wisdom, his
own understanding. He tried to present to God what
he would do. That's the message of work. So
it's the wisdom to know the true and living God. We have no knowledge
of God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Thomas said, My Lord
and my God. And the only God we're going
to see in heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ. Wisdom to know
God. Wisdom to know the way to God.
Wisdom to know ourselves. Christ has made into us wisdom
to know that in ourselves dwells no good thing. We are convinced
that there's nothing in us that we could bring before God. But
notice in our text again, of God, not of Paul, not of Paulus,
not of Cephas. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made and does wisdom, and wisdom also to know righteousness." Wisdom to know
that in Christ Jesus we are righteous. The only true righteousness that
exists is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ, when the Son of God came to the world, He established
righteousness. He obeyed God's holy law. Fulfilled
the law in every jot and tittle. We understand what jot and tittle
is. In Spanish, they're little squigglies that go on top of
the letter, the accents. And these little jot and tittles
change the meaning of a word. You know, they could have the
same letters, but if you put a little accent on it, it means
something totally different. Well, the law of God is not only
that which is the letter, but the law of God is spiritual.
The law of God is spiritual. And the Lord Jesus Christ obeyed
the law in thought and deed. He obeyed, honored God. He did
always those things that pleased the Father. The Father said of
the Lord Jesus Christ, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well
pleased. That is the only righteousness.
I will speak of Thy righteousness and Thine alone, Thine only.
The Lord Jesus Christ, He established righteousness. And here's what
the wisdom of this world is. The wisdom of this world is the
religious world who goes about to establish their own righteousness
and are not Apostle Paul says, I bear them
record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge, for they are ignorant of God's righteousness, and going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. Jesus Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes it.
So Christ has made it to us righteousness. He is our righteousness. The
Holy Spirit has convinced us of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment. We're convinced that the only
righteousness that exists is the Lord Jesus. The Apostle Paul
said this, I don't want to be found in my own righteousness.
The Apostle Paul said that. I don't want to be found in my
own righteousness. I don't want to be found in my best prayer.
I don't want to be found in my best message, my best preaching. I don't want to be found in anything
that I do. I want to be found in the obedience to righteousness
which the Lord Jesus Christ established here on the earth. That is the
righteousness that Christ has made unto us. Righteousness.
He is the Lord, our righteousness. Jehovah Tzidkenu. So why would
we glory in man? Why would we glory in Jesus Christ? God has made to us Christ be
wisdom. Our righteousness. Wisdom to
know that in Christ I'm as holy as holy can be. Holy as God. In the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, He is sanctified. He is with one offering. Not
only did He establish righteousness, but when He died on the cross,
He put away the sins of His people. By one offering, He made perfect
forever, then better sanctified. By one offering, He put away
the sins of His people. His people do not have sin. Now, we know that we're convinced
and we say, in our flesh dwells no good thing. Woe is me. Woe is me. Who shall deliver
me of this body of death? But before God, God's people
have no sin. We're convinced that He is our
sanctification. He has made us holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in His sight. And the wisdom to know, Christ
has made us wisdom to know that He is our redemption. He is our
redemption. He has made, He has paid the
price. If in this world only we have
hope, we are the most miserable. Brethren, our hope is not in
this world. Our hope is not in a Jesus that
is on the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
His people, raised from the dead, and satisfied God's justice,
and now He's sitting on the throne. He is risen, a glorified body. And just as He rose from the
grave as the head of His church, everyone, we know, we know, we're
not hoping, we're not hoping that we'll, you know, we'll see
when we die and see if we're going to This is a real thing
right now. This is a real thing right now.
We're not waiting to die to close our eyes to find out if we have
an interest in Christ. We know right now why God has
made unto us wisdom. God has made unto us wisdom.
And according to redemption, not only has He redeemed our
soul, our spirit, but our body. One day He's coming again and
He's going to all His people to Himself. And we're going to
be raised in a glorified, resurrected body like that of His own. That
according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. So, you see, this is the message
that I want us to see. How silly it is to glory in men. The ability that men have, God
gave them that ability. A hammer is a hammer. The hammer
cannot glory in that it's a hammer. The saw is a saw. It cannot glory
in that it's a saw. The Maker made it that way. You
see what I'm saying? How silly it is for one to glory
in that which is made to be that. I don't know if I'm speaking
English now. But that is according as it is written, He that glorieth.
The person who rejoices, the person that boasts, let him boast
in the Lord. Let him boast in God who chose
him. Let him boast in the Lord who Jesus Christ who redeemed
him. Let him boast in the Holy Spirit who regenerated him. God
the Father. That's what it says in Ephesians. This would dovetail real well
with Ephesians chapter 1, wouldn't it? to the praise and the glory
of His grace. I pray this is a blessing to
you. Father, we're so thankful for Your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, and what You've made Him to be for Your
people, the wisdom to know You, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. All things that you require,
all things that you have provided in Christ Jesus, your people
are complete. The Father calls us to always
look to Him and not look to ourselves or to our other men, but keep
our eyes on your Son. Thank you for this time that
you've given us together. I pray that you would bless your Word.
Accomplish Your will. Bring honor and glory to Your
name and the salvation of Your people. Cause us to be used for
the honor and glory, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.