All right, 1 Corinthians chapter
1. We're going to look at these
verses a little while tonight and see if the Lord is pleased
to reveal some things to us. In verse 17, the Apostle Paul
says, Christ sent me not to baptize. Now Paul is not discounting here
the importance of baptism at all. This is the way that New
Testament believers confessed Christ was by baptism. But Paul
is saying that he was not sent to baptize. Primarily, the purpose
of God for this apostle was to preach the gospel. The elders
and pastors and deacons would take care of baptizing people.
take care of waiting on the tables, take care of serving the ordinances,
and the other things that are commanded of our God, and things
to which we submit lovingly and willingly. But Paul said, that's
not what he sent me to do, to baptize. He's talking about himself,
primarily. He sent me to preach the gospel.
And then he said, and not with wisdom of words, my preaching
was not with words of man's wisdom. Over in chapter 2, verse 1, he
said, Bradley, when I came to you, I came not with excellency
of speech or wisdom. Verse 4, my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing, persuasible words of man's wisdom. We don't seek to impress people
with our knowledge. and our intelligence. We're not
trying to impress people with the style of preaching, theatrics. That's not what God sent us to
do, not with wisdom of words, enticing words. And there's two
reasons for that, two reasons for that. They're given in verse
17 and 18. Paul said, I didn't come preaching
with style and enticing words and theatrics. and appealing
to man's intellect. There are two reasons for that.
Number one, lest the cross of Christ should be made of non-effect.
What is the cross of Christ? It's the message of Christ crucified. It's the gospel. And when we
preach with theatrical gyrations and and crowd-pleasing,
appealing personalities and intellectualism and this sort of thing, the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ is pushed aside and we present ourselves. We preach. And over here in what
you know the Scripture, Paul said, we preach not ourselves.
We're not trying to impress people with our style and our intelligence
and our knowledge. We're not trying to impress people.
And when we try to, the cross of Christ will be made of non-effect. When people pay attention to
the preacher, they lose the message. And that's what he's saying.
And I fear that's so often the case in this day, that people
are taken up with the way it's said, or the way in which it's
said, or the person who says it. rather than what he says.
I was watching our television program this morning. It's so
different from any other television program, church program. The camera is on the speaker.
There are no flowers, and there's no big pulpit, and no crowds.
The camera is not spanning the crowd. It's just a man speaking
to people. about the Word of God. And when
you have anything more than that, it's distracting from the gospel.
That's just so. People have become taken up with
the beauty of the building, of the surroundings, the flowers,
the theatrics, the intelligence, or the style, and all these things. And that's the first problem.
The message is lost. The cross of Christ becomes a
Donatello. And then the second problem is
the preaching of the cross, the message of the gospel is to them
that are perishing. That's what this word says, to
them that are perishing, that are perishing. It's foolishness. In other words, Paul is saying
here, why should I try to impress them? I can't impress them. Why should I try to impress them with my natural
abilities and wisdom and knowledge when I can't impress them. To
them the preaching of Christ crucified is foolishness no matter
how you say it, no matter how you spell it, no matter how you
present it. You can dance across the stage and say it or you can
bring in a man with the most degrees and in in words of great
wisdom and intellectualism, and it's still foolishness. It's
still foolishness to them, no matter how you present it. We
can't convince men of sin. We can't reveal Christ to the
heart. The Spirit of God has to do that.
It's not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.
So Paul said, I don't preach the gospel with wisdom of words,
because I want my hearers to hear the message of Christ. I
want them to leave not thinking about me, but thinking of him,
not concerned about how I said it or in what words I said it,
but take it up with a message. And then if there is someone
there who is a natural man who does not know Christ, it's going
to be foolishness to him no matter how I say it. But to those who are saved who
are in the congregation, it's the power of God. to those who
are being saved, to those who are perishing, it's foolishness,
to those who are being saved, the gospel is the power of God.
The gospel is what comforts them, or instructs them, or blesses
them. It's the gospel that's the power
of God. The power is not in the preacher,
or in his words, or in his intelligence, or in his skill. It's in the
gospel. Romans 1.16 says, For I am not
ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel itself. First Thessalonians
1, 5, Paul said, Our gospel didn't come to you in word only, no
matter what kind of words, intelligence, wisdom, enticing, persuasible.
It didn't come in word only, it came in power, in whom you
trusted after you heard the word of truth. So Christ sent me to
preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, theatrics, showmanship,
Intellectualism, because those things will, they will cause
the gospel to be made of non-effect. And also because people who are
perishing are not going to hear it anyway. It's going to be foolishness
to them no matter, you can't, you can't, you can't capture
them with your words or your abilities or illustrations. You
cannot do it. To them it's foolishness no matter
how you spell it or say it. But to those who are saved in
the congregation, you can just read the word and they're blessed.
Just read the word and they're blessed. Just in the most simple
and plain way, tell them about Christ and they're thrilled.
They rejoice. And verse 19, listen to this.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will
bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Now you notice
verse 19 starts off, it is written, so Paul's quoting a passage of
scripture from the Old Testament. And he's quoting Isaiah 29, so
take the time to turn over there with me and let's see what Paul
is quoting here. In Isaiah 29, here's what he's
referring to. Verse 13, Isaiah 29. And Isaiah is talking about the
people here in the days of the Messiah. Isaiah was the great
prophet who prophesied of the coming of the Messiah, what would
take place. He's talking about people in
the days of Christ. Verse 13, Isaiah 29. Verse 13,
Isaiah 29. Wherefore the Lord saith, Forasmuch as this people
draw near me with their mouth and with their lips, they do
honour me, but have removed their hearts far from me. Do you recognize
that? Christ said that. The Lord Jesus
said that to himself. He said, you draw nigh to me
with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. The Master quoted
that. All right, read on. And their
fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men. They teach the
commandments and doctrines of men. Therefore, I will proceed
to do a marvelous, that word is miraculous, awesome work among
this people. Now hold that right there a minute,
let me read what I just read from 1 Corinthians 1. Paul said
it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will
bring to nothing the understanding of these people who call the
gospel foolish. All right, let's read the rest
of Isaiah now. I will, verse 14, proceed to do a miraculous,
awesome work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder.
For the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding
of their skillful men will be hid. I'm going to destroy their
wisdom. Now here's what he's saying. These religious folks
who go through their rituals and acts of worship and devotion,
their skillful men, their smart men, their wise men in the things
of the world, They are actors, and they're promoters, and they're
intelligent, they're sharp. But they pray with their lips.
Their hearts are far from me. They own God with their mouths,
but their real innermost being and affection is far from me. And they teach not the truth
of God and the gospel of God, and the sovereign power of God
and the grace of God, they teach the precepts of men, the doctrines
of men. They preach what they believe
is right. Therefore, because of the formality and hypocrisy
of their worship and of their religion, drawing now to me with
lips, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words,
words, playing church, playing religion.
their regard to human ways and human entertainment and human
wisdom and human theatrics. I'm going to do a miraculous
work among them. I'm going to destroy their wisdom. I'm going to destroy the wisdom
of the wise. I'm going to destroy the learning
of the learned. I'm going to destroy the cleverness
of the clever and the philosopher of the philosophers. I'm going
to destroy their wisdom. Their religion is going to become
a foolish formality. That's what I'm going to do.
Oh, they'll maintain their wisdom in natural things and in sensual
things and in secular things, but I'm going to make them such
fools in regard to spirituality that they'll be a laughingstock.
And that's what he did in Romans 1. Listen to it over in Romans
1. He talks about that right here
in Romans Verse 19, Romans 1, 19. Because that which may be
known of God is manifest to them. The word is to them. God showed
it to them. How? The invisible things of
him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power
in God's head. So everybody is without excuse.
God can be known by the things that are made. because of when
they knew God. They didn't glorify him as God.
They weren't thankful. They became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish hearts were darkened, and professing themselves
to be wise, they became fools. Professing themselves to be so
wise, they became stupid fools in the things of God. They changed
the image of God into the corruptible man. You read that Romans 1 and
see the results. So he asks here in verse 20,
verse 19, he says, Now I'm going to do a marvelous, awesome, miraculous
work. I'm going to destroy their wisdom.
Oh, they'll keep playing religion, but it won't be with any wisdom
at all. I'll bring to nothing their understanding.
They just, they believe a lie. Call it truth. So verse 20, where is the wise? Where are they? Where is the
wise? They're not found among the prophets
of Old Testament, so-called wise men. Where is the scribe? Where
is the debater, the disputer of this world? Where are they,
he says? Where are they? Read the whole Old Testament
and find one of these intellectual, skillful, educated giants. God chose simple
men. Humble men. Moses was educated
powerfully, but God took him for 40 years, 40 years, and put
him on the backside of a desert, so that when he did meet God,
he said, I can't even talk. Don't send me down there to deliver
the people, I can't even talk. Well, I'll send your brother
with you to talk for you. But here was a man stripped.
Where's the wise men of the Old Testament among the prophets? Where are the so-called wise
men among the apostles? Peter? James? John the fisherman? Nathanael? Matthew? Where are
the wise men? Where are the scholars? Where
are the philosophers among the apostles? No, God used simple
men to preach the gospel, to write the scriptures. No credentials
whatsoever except their new God. Where's the wise men? They were
crying, crucify him. That's where they were, where
the noble men crucified. We'll not have this man ran over
by us. They're not among the reformers.
I've read all this over and over again, about everything people
have written on the reformers back in the days of Bunyan. He's a prisoner, 12 years in
jail. John Bunyan, 12 years in jail. Keep naming those men, the reformers,
the martyrs. There wasn't a wise man, a scholar
among the martyrs. The missionaries whom God sent,
William Currie, Judson. Look now, the missionaries. Are any of these intellectual
giants going to the heathen to preach the gospel? Where are they among the men
whom God is using to reach his sheep? I tell you, without Christ
crucified, all our religion is vain. Without Christ crucified,
all roads lead to ruin. Without Christ crucified, all
wisdom is foolishness. Without Christ crucified, our
roads of recognition and righteousness are filthy rags. I'm going to
do a marvelous work. Their so-called wise men and
scribes and disputers of this world will make them foolish. Verse 20, hath not God made foolish
the wisdom of this world? Where is the wise? In the kingdom
of God. Verse 21, let me paraphrase verse
21. I'll read it first. For after
that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. When the world was with all of
its so-called wisdom and knowledge, our Lord Jesus Christ came. There
was the temple in Jerusalem, there was all the Pharisees and
Sadducees and Sanhedrin and scribes and the Greek knowledge the Greeks
had and all these people. But he was in the world, and
the world was made by him, and there wasn't a single one of
them knowing. He came unto his own, he came
to his own temple. He walked in there. He walked
among his own people, all of these scholars and skillful men,
the so-called wise men, the wise men, you know. Herod asked them,
where is this Christ going to be born? In Bethlehem. What's
he going to be called? Son of David. All these smart
fellows. They received him not. In the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God. So God in his great wisdom, look,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. When the world with all its so-called
wisdom and knowledge, searching of the scriptures, failed to
perceive and recognize and know the Son of God when he came,
God in his great wisdom was pleased to do through what the world
calls foolishness, preaching, to reveal himself and save sinners. Pleased God to do that. The Lord
Jesus himself began to preach. Preaching. He sent his disciples
out and he said, you go preach the gospel. Go preach the gospel. I, several years ago, was reading
over here in Psalm 135, if you'll turn over there a minute. Psalm
135, that's been many years ago now. But I was reading verses
4, 5, and 6 of Psalm 135, and it says here in Psalm 135, 4,
"...for the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel
for his peculiar treasure." For I know that the Lord is great,
that the Lord our God is above all idols, all false gods. And whatsoever the Lord pleased,
what he pleased, that's what he did in heaven, in earth, in
the seas, and in all mysterious deep places. And I looked at
that and I thought, well, the Lord does what he pleases in
all these places. So what did it please him to
do? What does it please God to do? So I looked it up in the
concordance, and I found some very interesting scriptures that
I want you to look at, and I want you to jot these down if you
don't already have them written down. The first reference I found
was in 1 Samuel, chapter 12. And Israel was repenting here
for having asked for a king. You remember a few sermons ago
I talked about They asked God to give them a king, he gave
them Saul, and he did. So here in 1 Samuel 12, verse
19, look at this, 1 Samuel 12, 19. All the people said to Samuel,
pray for us, pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we
die not. We have added unto all our sins
this evil, to ask the king. We've done wrong. And Samuel
said to the people, Fear not, you have done all this wickedness. Yet turn not aside from following
the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And turn
not aside, for then shall you go after vain things. Don't leave
the Lord. You go after vain things which
cannot profit nor deliver for they are vain. The Lord will
not forsake his people. for his great namesake, because
it pleased the Lord to make you his people. You're in pretty
good shape, because it pleased him to make you his people. But
I've done wrong. Still, don't mess up now and
leave the gospel, because you're his people because he chose you.
It pleased God to make you his people. That's so of all his
sheep. They're his sheep. I put in the
bulletin whether they're lost or wandering or away or wherever
they are, they're his sheep. They've always been his sheep.
That's what he's saying here. So he made them his sheep, pleased
God. Here's a second scripture in
Colossians 1. Turn to Colossians 1, verse 16. Colossians 1, verse 16, talking
about the Lord Jesus. It says in Colossians 1, 16,
For by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible, invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions.
Principalities or powers, all things were created by him and
for him. And he's before all things, and
by him all things are held together. He's the head of the Church,
head of the body of the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, and in all things Christ might have the preeminence,
for it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell."
Now, everything is in Christ. Everything God has for these
people whom he has chosen is in Christ. He pleased God to
put it that way. Do you follow me? That's right.
Everything is in Christ. All things. The Father loveth
the Son, hath given him everything. Now here's the next one I found
in Isaiah 53, verse 10. It says here, talking about the
crucifixion of Christ In Isaiah 53, he was wounded, he was crucified,
by his stripes were healed. Why? Verse 10. It pleased God
to bruise him. It pleased God to bruise him.
He put him to grief. He made his soul an offering
for sin. It pleased God to do that. So
it pleased God to make you his people. It pleased God to put
everything in Christ. It pleased God to crucify him
in your stead. Now watch this in Galatians 1.15,
Galatians 1.15. And then it pleased God, Galatians 1.15,
who separated me from my mother's womb before I was ever born. He said,
Jeremiah, before I found thee in the belly, I knew thee, before
you came out of your mother's womb, I sanctified thee. So Paul the apostle, who was
40 years old before God met him on the road to Damascus, he said,
it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace to reveal his Son, not just to me, in me,
the life of Christ in me, that I might preach him among the
heathen. All right, now we've got to please
God to make you his people, that's what he said. to invest everything in Christ,
everything vested in him, all fullness, all the Godhead, the
fullness of the Godhead bodies. It pleased God to crucify him
on the cross. And it pleased God to stop you and me on our
Damascus road of ruin and reveal Christ to us, to shut our mouths
and crumble us and strip us and bring us down and reveal Christ
to us. How did he do it? My text, 1
Corinthians 1. How does he do it? 1 Corinthians 1.21, I just read
it. When the world, with all its so-called religiosity and
wisdom and gains, by wisdom knew not God,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. Preaching, to save
them that believe. That's how he's going to save
his people, by preaching. You can't change the first four.
You can't change God to please God to make you his people, or
to put everything in Christ, or to please God to birth him,
or to please God to reveal him. And you can't change this. It's
to please God for the foolishness of preaching. To save and to believe. And I'll
tell you what the message is as a preacher. This is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. That's the message. shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him
of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sinned?" And Paul
said, he didn't send me to baptize or organize or preach the gospel. And not with
wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be lost among my theatrics
and showmanship and misbehavior. and carrying on all these things,
presenting myself. Because you can't convince a
natural man. The preaching of the cross is
to him foolishness, no matter how you say it. But to those
who are saved, it's the power of God. And he pleased God by
this, preaching of the gospel to save them that believe. Now
here are the two schools of religion, verse 22. Four, here's the problem
we're facing. The Jews require signs. Who are
these Jews? They're the religious people.
They require signs. They said to Christ, I read you
this morning, in my text this morning, they said, what sign
do you show? Moses gave them bread from heaven. What sign
do you show? Show us a sign. They kept saying to Christ, show
us a sign. You seek signs and wonders. No
sign will be given, he said. But that's what the religious
Jews and that's what the religious people today are doing. They're
trying to prove as a God by what they feel. They're trying to
prove that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever because he
healed somebody. They're trying to prove to themselves
and to others that God is by what they feel, what they see,
by gifts of tongues and healing and great works they perform.
Now you can see that God is real because he healed this fellow.
God is real when that fellow dies or whatever he dies with. You don't have to prove God.
God doesn't need me as his private secretary to take up his case
and prove him. But that's what the world wants.
They want a sign. Show us something. Show us something. This church
is a dead church because people don't run around and act like
they're fools and haven't got any good sense. Now we're not
looking for feelings, we're looking for understanding. We're not
trying to show anybody anything. God reveals himself to the heart,
not to men's fleshly desires, by performances, carried on foolishness. These Jews seek a sign, show
me a sign, do something, and convince me. That's what that fellow said
in hell. Lifted up his eyes, said, Father
Abraham, send Lazarus to get this thing in water and cool
my tongue. I'm tormented in this place. Abraham said, Between
us is a great gulf fixed. Folks can't come from there here,
and folks can't come from here there. When I have five brothers
at home, would you send Lazarus back so that my brothers don't
come to this place? Abraham said, They have the word
of God. They have Moses and the prophets.
He didn't even say they had a New Testament. They got Moses and
the prophets, the word of God, the Old Testament. Let them hear Moses and the prophets. Oh, no, no, that's not enough.
If one rose from the dead and went back, they'd believe what
Abraham said. They won't believe, though one
rose from the dead. If you, if you think for one
moment that your natural friends are going to believe the gospel
because you performed a miracle in front of them, you are not
wise in scripture. They will not believe though
one rose from the dead. Wait a minute, one did rise from
the dead. His name is Jesus Christ. If
that's not enough to convince them, how would your being raised
from the dead convince them? Tell me. This showmanship, that's
what it is. And the cross is lost, the truth
is lost, the grace of God is lost, the power of God is lost,
and we convert men to ourselves. We convert men to our systems.
We convert men to our own way of believing. We convert men
to our own way of religious doing. That's exactly what this world
is doing. The Jews require a sign, a sign,
a sign, a sign, and no sign is going to be given, Christ No sign of a beginner, but the
Word of God. And then the Greeks seek out
the wisdom. This is what most of the religious
folks in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia and Southern Ohio,
they are the whoop-de-doo type, you know. They want to feel things
and see things and gifts and tongues and healing, but the
most of the world's religion is philosophy. Philosophy. It's intellectualism. It's when
the preacher puts on a robe, and all the choirs robe, and
the atmosphere, and the organ. They got a hundred thousand dollar
pipe organ with all these things up here, you know. And the church
building is designed so that it creates a religious atmosphere.
And the preacher gets up there with his form and intellectualism
and his wisdom of the ways of the world and his philosophy
and his great thoughts, you know, and wisdom. He lulls them to
sleep. God loves everybody. God has a wonderful plan, and
here's the way God works. And they love it. But Paul said,
that's not my preaching. Verse 22, the Jews require a
sign, a hook to do, some kind of feeling, something to see
with the naked eye. The Greeks seek after wisdom
and intellectualism. But what do you preach, Paul?
Christ crucified. Christ crucified. The best outline
I've found on that, four things. And you put this to anybody,
this is the gospel. Who is he? Christ. Who is the
Lord Jesus Christ? The God-man. God-man. Eternal God, Son of Man. What
did he do? He came to this earth in human
flesh. I just tell you this frankly and plainly and simply and quietly.
I don't have to jump over this book. He has to get your attention
now, do I? He came to this earth and he
obeyed this law, 100% obeyed it. He glorified God on this
earth in flesh on your behalf and imputed to you a holiness,
a righteousness with which God Almighty himself is well pleased. He went to that cross and took
all your awful, wicked, filthy sins in his body on the tree
and he suffered something terrible under the wrath of God to save
your soul. That's what he did. Why did he
do that? That's the third question. He
did it to God. He didn't do it to make you feel
sorry for him. He didn't do it to make you cry. He didn't do it to make you get
your cross and die. He didn't do it as an example.
He did it to God. He did it to satisfy God's law.
He did it to satisfy God's justice. He did it in order to free the
hands of God and His holiness to be just and justify you and
me. That's why he did it. He did it. He got the job done
too. God's reconciled. He reconciled God to every one
of his people. God's reconciled. He's got nothing against you.
No more, not since Christ died in your place. He's at the right hand of God
where He is our mediator. Now I don't need to carry on
a bunch of foolishness up here to get that across to you. And
I don't have to say it in words that you can't understand. All
you do is go out wondering where I got my degrees. I give you that because that's
what the Word says. Now you can rest on that, you
can bank on that, you can believe in that, you can trust in that,
you can go to heaven on that. But to the religious, listen,
we preach Christ crucified to those Jews, that's a stumbling
block, because it doesn't fit in with what they're doing. It
doesn't fit in, they can't do their methods, and here's two,
they can't do what their religion calls on and believe on Christ,
they can't do it. It's a stumbling block. And to
the Greeks, it's a pack of foolishness. It's a pack of foolishness. I'll
tell you to them who are called, look at verse 24, but to them
that are called, this outfit here tonight, to you that are
called, who are they? Whom he foreknew, he did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom he did predestinate,
he called with an effectual call of the Spirit. And whom he called,
he justified. And whom he justifies, he glorifies.
To those people, listen. Both Jews and Greeks, you were
one time in this religious foolishness. Some of you were in intellectualism.
But Christ to you is the power of God. He's our sign. There's
plenty of signs. Behold, the Lord himself will
give you a sign. The Virgin shall be with child.
You call his name Emmanuel, God with us. Those signs, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of the angels, preached to the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in the glory.
There's plenty of signs. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory. There's plenty of signs. To you,
he's the sign, he's the power of God. There's plenty of wisdom,
too. Christ is the wisdom of God,
that's right. To you who are called Jews and
Christ is the power of God, he's the feeling. We see him, we hear
him, we feed on his word, he's the power of God, he's the wisdom
of God. I see in Christ how God can be
just and justify. I see in Christ the attributes
of God all fulfilled, holiness, justice, righteousness, mercy,
love. At the cross, mercy and truth
met together. At the cross, righteousness and
peace kissed each other. But look at verse 25, because
the foolishness of God. Now, there's no foolishness with
God, but this is what men call foolishness. What men call the
foolishness, what I preach, they call foolishness. But it's wiser
than men. It's so wiser than what they
can come up with. I'll give you some examples. Creation. A place
that God created, the heavens and the earth. They say they
just came out of nowhere. Now, mine is a lot wiser than
that. That's a lot better, to have an almighty sovereign God
make things so that they all fit together. I don't believe
that things just happen, they don't all function properly,
do you? But he's got all the stars in a certain certain orbit
so they wouldn't run together. And the sun is just exactly the
right place it's supposed to be to keep us from burning up
or freezing to death. Creation, what they call, that's
foolishness. Your creation theory is foolishness.
It's not a theory. And the fall of man. Now evolution,
man was brilliant and now he, I mean man was a fool and now
he's brilliant. That's backwards. With Binyon, now he's a fool. Man's not Binyon. We have to scratch around and
find somebody to run for an office. That's right. Man's not Binyon.
Man was born Binyon. God made him Binyon. He's queried
upright. He's become a fool. My belief
is a lot better than that. The purposes of the Old Testament
are the incarnation of Christ, the way of salvation. They say
that a holy God is just trying his best to save me and I won't
let him. I can't figure that. If he could
save Abraham, why can't he save me? If he could stop Paul on
the road to Damascus and strike him blind and reveal the truth,
why can't he do that? Everybody wants to do it, but
he can't. What they call foolishness is wisdom. And Christ satisfying
the justice of God and the holiness of God, that's beautiful wisdom.
It answers all the questions of Job. It does. Let's tell about Job a minute.
Everybody's snowed in, so let's just take a little while. Job
14, listen to this. He asks some questions here in
Job 14. Job 14.1, listen to this. A man that's born a woman is
a few days and full of trouble. Job 14.1. 2. He comes forth like
a flower and is cut down and fleeth as a shatter and continues
not. First question. Do you open your eyes on such
a one? I say he does, because he found
it in himself to do it. Not in us now. He found it in
himself. The love was in himself. The cause was in himself. Because
he's God. Because he's loved. What is man
that I admire? He will open his eyes. Secondly,
will you bring me in judgment with you? Will you fix me so
I can stand in your presence and not be cast away? Yeah. In Christ? Yeah, but I'm
unclean. Verse 4, who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? Not one. Yes, there is one who
can. Though your sins be a scarlet, I'll make them white as snow.
That's wisdom. Verse 10, man dies, he said a
tree can be cut down if it rains on it, it will grow back up,
but a man dies, he gives up the ghost, where is he? He said the
body returns to the ground, the spirit to God who gave it, that's
wisdom. Yeah, but verse 14, if a man dies, should he live again?
Yeah, he says I'll raise him at the last day. Christ will
raise him, how are you going to get him up? Tell me how this world is going
to get these people out of the grave. They all thought about
going to heaven. How are they going to get them up? That's what Joga
asked. And verse 6 said, Lord, you number
my steps, do you not watch over my sins? Don't you see my sins? You see every step I take through
this day, through tomorrow. Don't you see my sins? No, you
don't? No, the blood of Christ puts
them away. The world has no answer for these
things. But the foolish, what they call
foolishness, is answer. It's wisdom. The only answer
to these questions is the power out here. And you young people
listen to your philosophy professor, he's got a lot of questions but
no answers. No answers. And listen to verse 25 again.
The weakness of God is stronger than meaning. What is it? God's
got no weakness. Listen, I've got to show you
this. I saw some light here, got some
light here from somebody else. What is this weakness of God
that the world calls weakness? I'll tell you the first thing.
You're sitting here on Sunday and hearing the Word and seeking
the salvation of your souls and the peace of your heart and acceptance
with God in what you hear. They call that weakness. Get
up and do something for yourself. Change your life. Do this, do
that. Change your ways. No, I'm waiting on Him. Prayer. Prayer. Crying out to God for
His mercy and His grace. That's foolishness to the world.
How about just waiting on God instead of doing what I plan?
The world says that's weakness. It's weakness to just wait. It's
weakness to be still and know that I'm God. But that's strength.
Believe me, that's real strength. Stronger than anything you can
do. Humility, they call that weakness. Loving kindness, they
call that weakness. Forgiving your enemy, they call
that weakness. God calls it strength. That's
strength. In honor of preferring one another,
the world calls that weakness. God calls that strength. I tell
you, the more you can be like Christ and the less like the
people you associate with, the stronger you get. The more you
become like them, the weaker you get, because the weakness
of God is stronger than me. Now think about that. But here
is the greatest proof, verse 26. Do you want proof of the
power and wisdom of God? He tells us here, the foolishness
of God is stronger than men, the weakness of God is stronger
than men, the foolishness of God is wiser. But I'll tell you,
if you want proof of the power and wisdom of God, that it lies
with God and his way and his wisdom, consider your colleague. Just think about your colleague.
God says not many mighty men, not many noble, not many wise
men. But God hath chosen us, what
the world calls foolish. He chose us to confound the world,
O wise, and God hath chosen the weak, to confound the things
which are mighty, and God hath chosen the base things, what
the world... God's people aren't foolish. They're wise in the scriptures,
but they're foolish to the world. God's people are not weak, they're
weak in themselves, but they're strong in the gospel. God's people
are not base, they are to the world. That's what he's talking
about here, what the world calls foolishness, base. They're sons
of God. The things that the world despised
have God chosen, the things which are not, to bring to naught the
things that are. That's us. That no flesh should
glow in his presence. That's the greatest proof I've
got of the fact that salvation of the Lord is my own salvation.
For me personally, the fact that he was pleased to redeem my soul.