Let's turn in our Bibles to the
2nd chapter of 1 Corinthians. 2nd chapter of 1 Corinthians. What was the Apostle Paul, what
was he doing in Corinth? Why was he in Corinth? Well,
the first reason why he was in Corinth was because God put him
there. The Lord said to him over here
in the book of Acts, the Lord told him to stay in Corinth.
He said, the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by vision and said,
don't be afraid, but preach, hold not your peace, I'm with
you. And no man will set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much
people in this city. That's why he was there. The
Lord had much people. And he continued there for a
year and six months, preaching the word of God among them. And
then he was incurred, secondly, to declare the testimony of God. Listen to what he says here in
verse 1. And I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not with
excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you testimony
of God. What is the testimony of God?
If you turn to 2 Timothy 1, Paul clearly identifies what this
testimony is. In 2 Timothy 1, verse 8, Paul
said to Timothy, Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel." The testimony
of our Lord is the gospel. It's the testimony of God concerning
his Son, who was made of the seed of David and declared to
be the Son of God with power. Well, he was there because God
put him there. And he was there to declare the testimony of God. And thirdly, he was there to
declare it plainly and simply. There was a young lady who heard
me preach Sunday night who has a Catholic background. She's
not a member of the church where I was preaching, but she has
a Catholic background. a beautiful young lady who was
recently in an automobile accident and suffered severe injuries. And she said to me after the
service, she said, I'd like to hear you preach. I can understand
what you're saying. And that's what Paul is saying
here, not with wisdom of words, not with archaic or persuasion
or excellency of speech. We're not trying to impress people,
we're trying to instruct them. God's servant is not here to
argue the gospel, he's here to proclaim it. He's not even here
to prove it. No man can prove the gospel,
only the Holy Spirit can reveal it. So we're not here to argue,
we're not here, as Brother Barnard said, We're not here to explain
the gospel, we're here to proclaim the gospel. That's our mission. The testimony of God in plain
understandable language. I came not to you with excellence
of speech or of human wisdom to declare unto you the testimony
of God. I determined this with myself
and in my heart. I determined, I put forth a special
effort not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him
crucified. Now Paul is not condemning or
despising education. He had a good education. In fact, one of the kings before
whom Paul preached said, much learning hath made thee mad. They knew Paul to be a man of
learning. Solomon, consider him wisdom. Moses, educated in the best schools
of Egypt. So Paul's not condemning education,
he's not despising knowledge. We need to know the arts and
sciences. We need to know them. It's profitable. You know, let
me show you something over here in Genesis chapter 1. When God
created man, created a man, he didn't create him to sit on a
log somewhere and stare off into space. He gave man gifts and
talents and abilities and told him to use it. In Genesis 1 verse
26, God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth. So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God. Created he him, male and female,
created he them. You know Adam was brilliant. Look at the next verse. And he
blessed them and said, Be faithful and multiply, replenish the earth,
subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, the power
of the air, over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
I tell you, knowledge of our world and nature is essential. That we might productively use
the things that God has given us. Grow the crops. Got a letter
just this week from a friend of mine out in Texas. He's 70,
75 or 6 or 7 years old, about my age. He wrote me and said
I had a good hay crop this year, plenty of rain. He said I got
501 round bales. A round bale is equivalent to
14 square bales. So you know how many bales of
hay that man? 7,500 bales of hay at my age. Pretty good. So he's not sitting
around on a log, staring off into space. God made a man to
be busy. Paul's not condemning that. And
then the knowledge of history and laws and government. and
vocations. This is required if we're going
to be leaders. We're going to have to know something,
we're going to teach our children, we're going to have to know something
if we're going to lead men. But here's what he's saying.
The knowledge of Christ our Lord is essential and to be desired
and esteemed above all knowledge. That's what he's saying. Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And these
other things will be added to you. Turn to Colossians chapter
3. This is Colossians 3. Here's where Paul pretty well
sums that up. The knowledge of Christ and our
Lord God is essential and to be desired and esteemed above
all knowledge. Chapter 2, verse 2 and 3, listen. That their hearts might be comforted,
being lit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance
of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of
the Father, and of Christ, of Christ in whom are hid, all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge, that's where it is, it's in Christ. If the person doesn't know Christ
and whom crucified, all other knowledge he may acquire is worthless. All other knowledge that he may
acquire if he doesn't know Christ is worthless and will someday
bring him grief. A knowledge of Christ brings
me joy, peace, and happiness now, and it will bring me eternal
joy, peace, and happiness. And the knowledge of the things
of this world may bring you some success now and some satisfaction
now, but someday it will be your greatest grief that you spent
your time learning that and not learning Christ. You see, Christ
crucified is the heart of all scripture. To him get all the
prophets witness. Christ crucified is on the way
to know God. The Son of God has come and given
us an understanding that we may know God. This is the true God. This is eternal life. Christ
crucified is essential to life. Our Lord said this is life eternal. He was praising John 17. He said,
Thou hast given me authority over all flesh, that I should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. This is
life eternal, that they might know thee, and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent." That's essential knowledge. Christ crucified is
fundamental to all graces. A man who doesn't know Christ
is a graceless man. I will forget what Brother Bill
Clark said to me one time. We were talking about the coldness
and aloofness of some nationalities, and I said, Well, I reckon it's
a culture. He said, No, it's the absence of grace. That's
what it is. Graceless men are not a lot of
pleasure to be around. Christ is the key to all the
graces. Would you be saved? Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you have hope? Christ can
use the hope of glory. Would you pray? Whatsoever you
ask the Father in my name, he'll give it. Would you have peace
in death? He that believeth on me will
never die. So all knowledge that's worthwhile
has its beginning in the knowledge of God Almighty who is revealed
in Jesus Christ. That's the reason Paul said,
I'm determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ
and crucify him. And I was with you, now listen
to this, I was with you, he was with him 18 months, but I was
there in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. Now Paul,
listen to me, Paul was an educated man. He sat at the feet of the
greatest scholar of his day, Gamaliel. Paul was fearless before
men. He never feared what man would
do to him. And Paul held some of the highest
offices in the Jewish economy and religion. A Sanhedrin, a
member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee. And yet he used words like these,
listen, here's this man with all of this knowledge, revelations,
education, fearless, and yet he used words like this, I'm
not worthy to be an apostle. You'd think you'd feel pretty
worthy, wouldn't you? Folks do today. But he said,
I'm not worthy to be an apostle. He said on another occasion,
I'm less than the least of all the saints. Consider all the saints and put
me on the bottom." He said again, Christ came into the world to
save sinners of whom I'm the chief. Who is weak that I'm not weak,
he said. But he added, when I'm weak, then I'm strong. Our world doesn't understand
this kind of talk. Self-esteem, promote yourself. I keep hearing these folks, they're
going to take a holiday and find out who they are. Well, if you
ever see him, you'll find out who you are, and what you are,
and what you need. But I don't need a vacation to
find out who I am. When we see him, we'll find out.
The world doesn't understand this kind of talk. The religious
world doesn't understand it. The believer understands this
when the Lord said to his apostles, without me you can do nothing. When he said, not by power, but
by my spirit, saith the Lord. Except the Lord build a house,
they are wasting their time, they are laboring in vain to
try to build it. Humble yourselves unto the mighty
hand of God, and he will exalt you in due time. Whatever you
do and where to be, don't do it to promote yourself, but do
it for the glory of God. The hymn writer wrote these words,
Holy and reverent is the name of our eternal King. Thrice holy,
the angels cry. Christ Holy, let us sing. The
deepest reverence of my mind, pay, O my soul, to God. Lift with your hand a trembling
heart to his sublime abode. With sacred awe pronounce his
name, whom words nor thoughts can reach. But a contrite heart
doth please him more than the noblest forms of speech. Isn't that good? With sacred awe pronounce his
name. Sometimes when I hear these television
preachers throwing the name of God around so carelessly and
flippantly and in such a familiar fashion, I want to read this. With sacred awe pronounced his
name, whom words nor thoughts can reach, he dwells in a life
to which no man can approach. But a contrite heart doth please
him more than the noblest forms of speech. And so verse 4 of
Paul says, my speech and my preaching was not with persuasible words,
enticing words of man's wisdom. He made a special effort not
to preach the gospel in such a way that his personality would
shine forward, or his skills, or his arguments, or his debate,
or his means. He didn't even want to see them. But I preached, listen, in the
demonstration of the Spirit and power. The Word preached in the
Spirit and the Holy Spirit power of life and revelation. What
will happen then? Well, verse 5. The faith of the
congregation will stand not in the picture or his wisdom or
his persuasible powers that the faith of the congregation will
stand, and it'll stand. It'll keep on standing. It'll
last. It'll stand in the power of God.
That's what Paul said to the Thessalonians. He said, I know
you're God's elect. I know you're God's elect because
my gospel didn't come to you in word only. It came to you
in power, in the Holy Ghost, in much assurance. How be it? Now here's a good
word, how be it? How be it? Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute now. Dear friends
and all men, let me declare this. How be it? We do speak wisdom. What we're preaching is the highest
wisdom, the greatest knowledge. It's the wisdom of God. How be
it, lest anyone think that the glorious gospel of Christ crucified
is unworthy of their notice and unworthy of their attention because
of the simplicity of it? God forbid. How be it, lest anyone
think that the gospel is unworthy because of the laziness and weakness
of its minister? or the voice presenting it, or
those who believe it, or those who follow it, God forbid. Lest
anyone disregard this gospel, and ignore this gospel because
the worldly wise call it foolishness, and the religious call it fanatical,
and radical, and not to be believed, let me tell you, he said, let
me tell you. preach wisdom among them that
are mature. Let me tell you, we preach the
highest wisdom, the wisdom of God. In Christ we set forth eternal
wisdom. In Christ we set forth grace
and mercy which was given us in Christ. Look at verse 7, we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God obeyed before the world. Before there were any universities
or colleges or school buildings or teachers. This is the wisdom
of God from before the foundation of the world, under our glory. He says here in verse 7, it was
hidden wisdom. What does it mean it was hidden?
The word hidden is contained. It was contained in the promises.
And only those who believed the promises could enter into the
wisdom. It was contained in the prophecies,
and only those who received and believed the prophecies could
understand the wisdom. It was hidden in the types, in
the shadows, in the pictures. It was hidden in all those things
that for centuries revealed Christ, and men like Abraham saw his
day. And God revealed, as I read a
while ago, his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel.
That's all they ever saw was acts, acts, acts, deeds. Glorious deeds and glorious acts.
But Moses knew when. Moses knew the ways of God. But they didn't know, and verse
8 said none of the princes of Israel knew. They didn't know. The natural man has heard, but
he hasn't heard. The natural man has read, but
he hasn't considered. The natural man has seen Acts,
but he never has understood the ways of God. And none of the
princes of this world knew, for had they known, they would not
have crucified the Lord of Glory. Paul said to a king, turn the
book of Acts. You know, these things weren't
done in a corner. These things were done out in
Christ healed the blind. Even Nicodemus the Pharisee said
nobody could do these miracles except God be with them. Christ's
message went all over that particular part of the world. His miracles
raised the dead. Look at Acts 26, chapter 26. And Paul says in verse 23 that
Christ should suffer and be the first that should rise from the
dead and show light to the people, to the Gentiles. And as he thus
spake for himself, Thestas interrupted him. Thestas interrupted him
and cried to the loud voice, Paul, you beside yourself. You're crazy. Much learning hath
make you mad. But he said, I'm not mad, most
noble Festus. I'm speaking forth the words
of truth and soberness. For the King, he's talking to
King Agrippa, the King knoweth of these things, before whom
also I speak freely. I'm persuaded these things are
not hidden from him. This thing was not done in a
corner. God hung a star over that manger.
Kings knew about that star. Wise men came to visit him who
was under that star. Hell tried to destroy all the
babies of certain ages to get rid of this born King of the
Jews. God shook the earth and turned
the sky to blackness and raised the dead. Christ arose and appeared
to over 500 people while he walked in glorified flesh. This wasn't
done in a corner. But they didn't know. They didn't
know. They didn't believe. None of
the princes of Israel knew. Had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Look at verse 9, as it
is written. Where is it written? Isaiah 64,
turn over there, that's where it's written the first time.
Isaiah 64, verse 4. Isaiah 64, let's read verse 4. Since the beginning of the world,
this goes back to Adam's fall, man's spiritual blindness, deafness,
deadness, inability to understand even the truth of God. It goes
back to the beginning. From the beginning of the world,
men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the
eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him
that waiteth for him." Is that talking about heaven? No. No,
it's not talking about heaven. He's talking about salvation,
redemption through Christ. From the beginning, natural men
They saw him, but they didn't believe. They saw him with these
eyes, but not with eyes of faith. They heard his words, but they
never heard his message. It's not referring to heaven,
it's referring to the redemption of Christ, salvation, eternal
life. Why he died. Look at verse 9
in our text. It's written. In Isaiah 64, I
have not seen nor heard, neither have any in the heart of man
the things that God hath prepared. God prepared them. I go to prepare
a place for you. I go to the cross to prepare
a place in glory. I go to the tomb as a scapegoat
to prepare a place in glory. I rise as a high priest and go
to heaven with my blood into the with hands, but into heaven
itself, to obtain eternal redemption for you." That's eternal redemption. They don't believe that. But we do look at verse 10. And
why do we? How do we know these things?
How do we believe these things? But God has to reveal them unto
us. These things I'm reading, are
read in churches all over this country. People have the same
Bible. They don't believe it, they don't
believe Christ, they don't see, they don't hear, they don't understand. God has to reveal it. Now, listen
to verse 2. But God has to reveal these things. God has to reveal them unto us.
Let me show you an example of this. Turn to Acts 16. Some people think, well, a preacher
just gets up and reads the Bible and preaches, and everybody understands
what he's saying. They see what he's saying. They
consider what he's saying and some people decide to believe
it and some decide not to. No. No. He preaches this message and
people hear it with a natural ear and some hear it with a spiritual
ear. Some people mull it over in their
minds and others mull it over in their hearts. Some just hear
words, others hear God. He speaks through his words.
This is what happened in Acts 16. There were a bunch of ladies
down by the riverside that met there, Jewish women. They didn't
have a synagogue in the town, so they met to keep the Sabbath
day and to read the Old Testament scriptures and to go through
the rituals and ceremonies of religion. And on the Sabbath
day, verse 13, Acts 16, We went out of the city by the riverside
where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto
the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia,
a businesswoman, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira,
which worshipped God, she heard us, she heard us. How did she
hear it? Listen. Whose heart the Lord
opened. There it is. God has revealed
them unto us, whose heart the Lord opened, whose eyes, the
seeing eyes of the Lord, the hearing ears of the Lord. I'm
just a voice, that's all I am. And any preacher's got to learn
that he's just a voice. He's got no power to give life
or to convince men of sin or even to reveal Christ. Maybe
the preacher will say something and my husband will hear it.
Well, the preacher is going to say something, but it depends
on God for him to hear it, not the preacher. You'll hear it when God opens
his ears, and you'll see it when God opens his eyes, and you'll
believe it when God opens his heart. God opened her heart,
and she attended to the things spoken of Paul. It doesn't say
a word about any of the rest of the women there. They heard
him too, but it's not a word said about them. But Lydia heard,
and she took him home with her. She was baptized in her household
and besought him, saying, You just need to be faithful, Lord,
come to my house and make my house your headquarters from
here on. She heard. Look at verse 10 again. But God
hath revealed them. Who? That's the work of God, the Spirit,
by his Spirit. To whom? His elect. How? By his Spirit. For the Spirit
searcheth all things. What? The deep things of God. The deep things of God. That's
not how long David reigned. That's not the deep things of
God. I hear about people taking Bible study courses and they
learned who were the kings of the two tribes and who were the
kings of the ten tribes, and when the two tribes and the ten
tribes divided and when they came back together and where
their art was stored and where this was done, how tall was the
tabernacle and how wide was it and how long was it, all this
wonderful Bible knowledge. That's not the deep things of
God. I'll tell you the deep things
of God. Here's one question, where's the lamb? That's what Isaac asked his father,
where's the lamb? Where's your lamb? It can't be
in worship without a lamb. Here's another question, if a
man dies, should he live again? Let's forget how high the tabernacle
was and find out how a man can live again. How can man be clean
that's born of a woman? That's the deep things of God.
How can God be just and justify folks like me and you? That's
the deep things of God. Who should ascend into the hill
of love? Who's going to stand in his holy place? The disciples looked at our Lord
and said, well, who can be saved? That's the deep things of God. With me it's impossible, with
God it's possible. Born again, how can these things
be? Nicodemus asked a good question.
You must be born again, where can that be? Born from above, born of God. What things do you have crashed?
Our Lord asked that question, that's a good one, that's the
deep things of God. Who is this man Jesus Christ?
Why did he die on a cross? What did he accomplish? Where
is he now? What's he doing where he is now?
Great is the mystery of godliness. Look at verse 11, chapter 2 of
Corinthians. What man knoweth the things of
a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the
things of God knoweth no man. but the Spirit of God. These
deep things, nobody knows them, except those to whom he reveals
them. And they shall be taught of God.
And every man that heareth and learneth of the Father, Christ
said, he'll come to me. And verse 12 says, Now we have
received, not the Spirit of the world, that's Satan, he's the
God of this world. Not the carnal disposition of
the people of this world, that's not the spirit we've received.
Not the spirit of pride and covetousness and violence and malice, not
the knowledge of worldly things. We have received not the spirit
of this world, that's not our spirit, but the spirit which
is of God, the Holy Spirit, the gift of God, the spirit of life. We have received the Holy Spirit,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father, that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. What are those things? Think about this a minute, that
we may know the things that are freely given to us of God. Does the verse come to your mind? How about Romans 8? Let's just start with verse 29,
that we may know the things that are freely given us of God. Romans 8, 29. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom
he called them he also justified, and whom he justified them he
also glorified. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be with us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? That's what Paul is talking about.
We have to see, not the spirit of this world, but the spirit
which is of God, that we might know these things freely given
to us of God in Christ. There ain't nothing for a man
outside of Christ worth having. There is nothing of God, there's
nothing of eternal value, there's nothing, nothing outside of Christ
worth having. So, verse 13, which things we
speak? These things freely given us
of God. Not in words which man's wisdom teaches. So leave your
diplomas and your doctorates and your degrees at the door.
And leave your religious training and traditions and ceremonies
at the door. And leave your professions and
experiences and works and honors at the door. And leave the rags
of your righteousness and your morality and your power at the
door. And leave your thoughts of God,
your ideas about how to be saved, and your opinions about the Bible
at the door. And as a child, enter. except ye be converted and become
as a child, you shall not enter the kingdom of God. And as a
beggar, enter, ask, and it will be given. And as a sinner, Christ
said, I didn't come to call the righteous, I came to call sinners. The things freely given us of
God That's what we're preaching, not in words which man's wisdom
teacheth and which the wise of this world delve into and covet and want
to hear, but that which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. That's what we do, and that's
what these elders do here. That's what I try to do. All
true preachers compare spiritual things with spiritual. Spiritual
things with spiritual. The best commenter on the Bible
is the Bible. You see Christ in his own light. You understand him by his own
words. Let him speak. But the natural man, what's he
going to do with it? Well, he's not going to receive
it. He's not going to receive the
things of the Spirit of God. What's his problem? He's angry.
His mind is angry. His mind is angry with God. The
natural mind is enmity. It doesn't say, let's turn over
there and read that. Let's get it, let's do read it
and I'll read it too. Romans chapter 8, verse 7. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. He didn't say it's that enmity,
it is enmity. Cut into a natural mind and all
you can find is hatred for God. Not a God, not their God, not
some God, but the living God. They hate him. So the natural
man will not receive the things of the Spirit of God, a foolishness
to him. Scandalous. Neither can he know
them. First 14, chapter 2, first good. Neither can he know, he can't
know them. Why can't he know them? They're spiritually discerned. They're spiritually, discernment
is understanding. Discernment is understanding
is to be able to see in this thing, the mysteries of Christ and his church. and his kingdom,
and his sacrifice. But he that is spiritual, he
discerneth. You, you discern. You understand, rejoice in, and
delight in what we're reading here. You delight in this. This
is your, as they used to say, cup of tea. This is my meat and
potatoes, this is my bread, this is the children's bread. I understand
what you're talking about, preacher. You mean folks don't understand
this? Why don't they? They're natural men, they hate
God. Now you give him something to
do where he can get some glory and some praise and some recognition,
a medal or two in heaven, he'll do it. But don't talk to him
about grains. Don't talk to him about substitution.
Don't talk to him about sovereignty. Don't talk to him about election.
Don't talk to him about particular redemption. Don't talk to him
about those things that glorify God. He doesn't understand them.
He can't. But a spiritual man discerneth
all things, yet he himself is not understood of others. If the Lord saves you, and you
go back among your family, They don't understand you. Back out
there where you work, they don't understand you. You're talking
a different language from the way you used to talk, the way
they talk all the time. They don't understand you. For
whom hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? I think that's talking about
Isaiah 40. Let's look at that a minute.
I don't want to leave that. In Isaiah 40, who hath known the
mind of the Lord, that he may instruct the Lord? In Isaiah
40, verse 13, who hath directed the Spirit of God? Or being his
counselor, taught him? With whom took he counsel? Who
instructed him? Who taught him in the path of
judgment? Who taught him knowledge? Who showed him the way of understanding?
Who taught God these things? Well, we don't claim to have
any kind of power or understanding like that, but I tell you what
we do have, we have the mind of Christ. That's what it is. We have the mind of Christ. And
I've got another letter this way for Christmas. I read it
a while ago, Ronnie left it on my desk. This is a family in
Spencer, Indiana that listen to our television program each
Sunday over the Washington station. God bless you. God bless you. You really are a called preacher
by God. How do you know that? How does
this man know that I'm called by God to preach the gospel?
He just heard me on television. Because only through the Lord
would you understand and know these things you're preaching.
Only. He said, I know God called you
to preach because he wanted you to be a spirit. You wouldn't
understand what you're saying. So I know who's calling. He wouldn't
understand what I'm saying. So I'm going to lie tonight in
my cellar bed. I believe you're saved. Or you
wouldn't understand what I'm saying. Most folks don't. You do, don't
you? That's why you're here. You understand? So I tell you this, the greatest
gift God can give any human being on this earth is the heart to
love Christ. mind to understand who he is,
what he did, why he did it, and where he is now. My, what a blessing.