An adulterous, evil and adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given
to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas." In other words, the scriptures.
The scriptures are sufficient for anyone who is seeking the
Lord. God has revealed himself in his
word. But these people want a sign. In John, chapter 2, he turned
to a group of them once and he said, I know why you're following
You're following me because of the miracles. That's why you're
following me. But Christ didn't reveal himself
to them. And there's a time he said, I
know why you're following me. Because you ate the loaves and
the fishes and were filled. And our Lord took those five
loaves and two fish and fed the multitude. Oh, that impressed
them, that really impressed them. But they're always seeking a
sign, a sign, a sign, a sign, a sign. Where are the Greeks? They seek after wisdom. Something
clever, something new, something unusual. I'll show you a summary
of that in Acts 17. Acts 17 verse 19. When Paul was
down in Corinth, well he's in Athens here, he was in Athens,
and preaching to the philosophers. And this summed them up. This sums them up, Acts 17, 19. They took Paul, Acts 17, 19,
and brought him under Areopagus. That was the highest court in
Athens, Mars Hill, where these fellows met and debated, argued,
disputed. Serving to Paul, may we know
what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is. We are always
interested in something unusual. But I bring a certain strange
things to our ears. We would know therefore what
these things mean for all the Athenians, Grecians, and strangers
which were there, spent their time in nothing else but either
to tell or hear some new, unusual word of wisdom. One satisfied
with old truth. God's truth, they wanted to hear
something new. But it hasn't changed. Go back
to my text, 1 Corinthians 1, 22. The religious require a sign. That's still true today. Religious people today are still
trying. Watch them on television, listen
to them, read after them. They're still trying to prove
to themselves and prove to others there's a God. They're trying
to prove it, not by words, but they're trying to prove it by
things they feel and see and do, like healing folks, seeing
signs in the heavens, hearing voices, seeing statues cry. All of this science, science,
science, miracles, wonders, with seeking. And when these things
are not present, which they're not. When they're not present
in reality and truth, they pretend they're present. They pretend
to heal people. They screen them and pretend
to. They pretend. They can't speak
in other languages, so they pretend to. They don't have a word of
inspiration, so they pretend to have a word of knowledge.
They can't prophesy the future, so they pretend to. All this
is pretense. tongues, signs, healings, all
these things, they're not satisfied with the word. Show us a sign.
Prove this to God. Prove that he's all powerful. And the world today is not this
true more than ever given over to man's wisdom. They seek after
those things which appeal to and satisfy the human intellect. Instead of training our preachers
in the house of God, in the church, training our preachers and missionaries.
Instead of training them under experienced postures like Paul
trained Timothy, Elijah trained Elias, Timothy trained another
one. Instead of that way, we send
them away somewhere to schools, to seminaries and colleges and
special institutions where men will teach them the word of God
is not so. Isn't that right? The same thing today, the religious
seek a sign to prove there's a God, and the world seeks wisdom. But, verse 23, we preach Christ
crucified. The Christ of the cross, did
you hear that last verse he sang? The Christ of the cross is the
theme of my song. the wonderful Christ of the cross. Let others who will praise the
cross of the Christ. The Christ of the cross is my
theme. It's not the cross we worship, it's the Christ who
died on that cross. It's not the cross that saves
me, it's the blood he shed on that cross that saves me. So
we preach while the Jews seek after a sign, and the world seeks
after wisdom of some new clever unusual thing. We preach Christ
crucified, our substitute who took our guilt and our sins in
his body on the tree and satisfied the holy law of God and the justice
of God that we might be saved. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We preach Christ crucified to
the Jews, to the religious, a stumbling block. Why would Christ crucified
be a stumbling block to the religious? The Bible all the way through
talks about the lamb slain, the Passover lamb, the lamb slain on Jewish altars,
all the way through it talks about the lamb slain. But here
is the reason Christ crucified is a stumbling block. Because
a religious man can't have his righteousness and Christ's too.
You see what I'm saying? They want a cross. They don't
mind having a cross. The cross can serve as an example. The cross can serve as a martyr's
throne. The cross can serve as the pulpit
for a moral reformer. But not as an altar. on which
a substitute dies and sheds his blood for our sins." That's right. We're a wall cross, we'll put
one on the steeple, but we're not going to trust him who died
on the cross, because we want our righteousness and his, too.
We want our works and his, too. What we do, we show you that
in Romans 10. These religious Jews, this is
what Paul, nobody knew them better than Paul, but he said, I'm one
of them. In Romans chapter 10, listen.
Romans chapter 10, verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for these people is they might be saved, these
religious Jews. I brought them with me. I knew
them. I was a Pharisee. I was a member
of the highest Jewish court. Concerning the law, I was blameless. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I
was a member of the Sanhedrin. I know these people, and here's
the problem. They have a zeal of God, but it's not according
to knowledge. For they're being ignorant of
God's righteousness. What is God's righteousness?
It's Christ. Christ is God's righteousness.
Christ in his perfect life, in his perfect obedience, as a man
born of a woman, born under the law, tempted in all courts as
we are, yet without sin, he imputed to us a perfect holiness, a perfect
righteousness. You can't have his in yours.
You see that? But they're rejecting his, they're
ignorant of his, and they're going about to establish their
own righteousness. The Pharisee who prayed in the
temple, he said, Lord, I'm not like other men. I fast twice
a week, you only require one time, but I do it twice. I give
powers of everything I possess, everything I own, and I cut off
the tip. I'm not an adulterer, not ugly
little lady. I'm not an extortioner, not so's
anybody can tell. I'm not this, that, or the other.
I'm a good man. Here I am, Lord, accept me. You
can't have your righteousness in him because yours is filthy
rags. Yours is pretense and put-on
and play-like. His is real! Perfect. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness and will not submit themselves to the
righteousness of God. Verse 4, For Christ is the end. What does that mean, the end
of the law? He's the goal of the law. The Lord wasn't given
to save, he was given to drive you to Christ. He was given to
reveal your sins so you'd trust him. The Lord wasn't given to
put away sin any more than a mirror can put away dirt on a man's
face. But the mirror shows him he's got dirt and he goes to
the fountain and washes. You see that? The Lord wasn't
given to save anybody. It was given at the time it was
given on Mount Sinai. They were down there worshiping
a cow, dancing around it naked. worshiping the God of gold and
silver, at the very time God was writing the law of Israel,
these religious people were down there behaving like pagans. The
law wasn't given to say, Christ is the end of the law, the goal
of the law, the consummation of the law, the fulfillment of
the law. He fulfilled it. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law, I came to fulfill it. So that's the problem. Why, you
say, why in the world would the cross be a stumbling block to
a religious man? He can't have Christ's righteousness
in his. He can't have Christ's works
in his. He can't have Christ's perfection in his imperfection.
He can't have Christ his lone, sole, only, complete representative
to God. He's got to have a hand in it
somewhere or give it up. He said, I count all these things
I did but done that I may win Christ and be found in him. I
count it as garbage. Every dime I've ever given as
a child, every work I've ever performed in the name of God,
every prayer I've ever prayed, every worship service I've ever
attended, as far as righteousness is concerned, is garbage in the
light of his holiness. That's hard for religious people. They don't like to go and do
it. I was just sitting there and
I'm going to hang on to it. Please don't do that. Because
they're going to come before God some day and say, Lord, we
preached in your name. I never knew you. Yeah, but we
cast out devils. I never knew you. But we did
really wonderful work. We built churches. We gave to
missionaries. I never knew you. That's the problem. We preach
Christ crucified to us a substitute, to us a savior, to us a redeemer,
to them a stumbling block. And to the Greeks, just plain
foolishness. Just plain foolishness. But verse 24, unto them which
are called, to them who are enlightened, the call of God. You know, Peter
talked about them on Pentecost. He said, This promise is unto
you, and to as many as I, Lord, shall call. Unto the call, listen,
unto the call of both Jews and Greeks. The Lord calls some people
out of religion. He saves some people out of the
traditions of religion and the false professions and the self-righteousness
and the works. He saved me out of that. I pastored
a church, a Southern Baptist church for three years and didn't
know the gospel, trying to get people to do something for God.
When what needed to be done, he needed to do something for
the preacher. I preached out in the heart. One time there
were two pastors present. One of them found out that he
wasn't saved. So he told the church that the
Lord had saved him, and they fired him. Fired him for being saved. That's
the true story. We're still close friends. Another
young man in the same meeting, pastor of a Baptist church, said
the Lord saved him in that meeting, and they fired him. But he's
pastor of a church in Oregon, I preached for him last November.
He knows the gospel now. And to those that are called
both Jews and Greeks, isn't the Lord saving people out of intellectualism? Saul of Tristis was one of them.
Don't you remember when he stood before King Agrippa? And Felix,
and Festus, those fellows, those kings and princes? And they listened
to him, and one of them, they knew him. They knew his background.
He was Saul of Tarsus. He was, like I told you, one
of the highest men in Jewish religion. But one of them said
this to him. He said, Saul, much learning
made you mad. You lost your mind. You studied
too much. The Lord saved Paul out of intellectualism
and religious tradition. And unto them that are called
by God, Christ is the power of God and he is the wisdom of God. We have a sign. We have signs. Turn to Isaiah. Here's a sign. The religious seek after a sign. Well, we have a sign. Look in Isaiah 7.14. Therefore
the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and you call his name Immanuel, God
with us." What a sign! The Word of God, on my side.
He fulfilled it too. And I tell you another time this
word is used to believers, or to people who are going to be
believers. The angels came down at the birth of Christ and appeared
to the shepherds. And they said, now this will
be a sign to you. You'll find a baby, wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger, born of a woman. And he said to the
kings, there's a sign that there'll be a star over his birthplace.
And Simeon said, when he blessed God for revealing to him the
salvation, he said, this infant will be a sign spoken against. The world will speak against
him, but he's a sign. Oh yeah, he is the power of God
and he is the wisdom of God. In Christ I see the mysteries
of God. That's right, the mysteries of
God. The manifold mysteries of God.
Turn to Ephesians 3. Let me show you that. I see in
Christ the manifold mysteries of God. How God can be just and
justify. how God can reveal and exalt
all of his attributes. Did you know every attribute
of God is revealed in Christ? You can't name an attribute of
God that's not in Christ, can you? They're revealed at the
cross. You go to the cross, that's where
you see God. Where you see God. Listen to
Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3 verse 9. And to make all men see what
is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ,
to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
heavenly places might be known by the Church, or through the
Church, or the redemption of the Church, the manifold wisdom
of God." revealed in his saving grace
in the cross, the manifold wisdom of God according to his eternal
purpose, which he purposed in Christ our Lord before the world
began. The manifold wisdom of God. You see, unless you are a believer
in God's eternal covenant, eternal purposes, you can't see the manifold
wisdom of God. Because the manifold wisdom of
God is revealed in Christ according to his eternal purpose, which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's right. That's exactly
right. That's exactly right. Turn to Psalm 85, verse 10. At
the cross, that's where you see all the attributes of God and
the wisdom of God. Look at Psalm 85, verse 10. Psalm 85, verse 10. Mercy and truth are met together. Now how can that be? Mercy, forgive
a sinner. Truth, punish him. Mercy, put
away his sins. Set him free, justify it, truth,
soulless sinners must die. Only a place those two attributes
can meet is in Christ, crucified, our substitute. Listen, righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. Now you tell me where I'm concerned. I'm a sinner. I've broken God's
law. I don't want to fit in one place
big enough to the whole shooting match, as Ralph used to say.
guilty before God. How is God's righteousness and God's peace going to kiss
where I'm concerned? There's only one way, and that's
for my substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, to give to me a righteousness
that God will be satisfied with, that he'll take pleasure in.
that he'll receive, and exactly in that righteousness and peace
on my part in righteousness, yes, at the cross. One of our
men read a scripture, if you can find it quickly in the book
of Micah, chapter 7, verse 18. Now, there's only one place that
this can be true. Micah 7, 18. Who is a God like
unto thee? Who is a God like unto thee?
Listen, that pardons iniquity. Passes by the transgression of
the remnant of the heritage. Who retains not his anger forever. Who delights in mercy. The world's
gods are not like that. The world's gods are cruel, violent,
territorial, damn you. Our God delights to show mercy,
forgives iniquity, pardons a transgression. Verse 8 and 19, he'll turn again,
he'll have compassion on us, he'll subdue our iniquities,
he'll cast all our sins and our debts from the sea, how can he
do that? And still be God. Christ bearing our sins in his
body on the tree. And God can do what he said he
would do. And the righteousness and peace
just at the cross. And you don't have a hope in
this world and I don't either apart from that promise right
there. So we preach Christ crucified.
I want to show you something here that's very important. Christ
is the power of God, the power of God to save, the power of
God to save wisely. God will save all whom he can
wisely save, not without his wisdom, righteousness, truth,
peace, and mercy. That's just so. Verse 25, that's
what I want you to look at now for a moment. Because the foolishness
of God is wiser than man. Now there's no foolishness with
God. God's not foolish. We are. But what he's saying here is
what men call foolishness is the wisdom of God, wiser than
anything we've got. Creation. In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth. That's a whole lot wiser than
the Something happened out in space, rode around a few million
years, picked up something else that was out there in space and
fell into the ocean and became a tadpole, and swam up on land
and found he could walk. Then he climbed a tree and found
out he could swing by the tail, and then he became a man, and
he degenerated further. Now that's not too smart. The
wisdom of God, what men call foolishness. They won't let you
teach creation in school. You can teach that other thing,
but you can't teach creation. But what men call foolishness
is why isn't anything they come up with. How did sin get into
the world? How did sin get into this world? How did Tadpole become a sinner? Well, God tells us how man became
a sinner. He created man in his own image,
holy and upright. And that man listened to the
wrong voice. He disobeyed God and fell. Virgin birth, that's
foolishness to the world. But that's the only way God can
become a man, is born of a virgin. If Jesus Christ has a human father,
he's just like me, he's lost. He's a sinner. He's born in sin. He's an imposter. He's the biggest
liar that ever walked on the earth if he's born of a man.
Incarnation is foolishness. They said, you can't be God,
you're a man. He can if God sends him down
to him. Comes himself to death on the cross, that's foolishness.
The resurrection, that's foolishness. So what we call foolishness is
a lot wiser than anything man has ever come up with. Anything. And then the weakness of God.
This is interesting. I looked at that so long. The weakness. What men call the
weakness of God. And you know what it is? The
very means that God has ordained to bring us to himself. The very
means. God's going to have a people. They're going to be willing in
the day of his power. And God's going to use means to bring them.
And they're going to come. But the very means that God has
ordained to bring us to him and to salvation, eternal life, is
called weakness by the world. Let me read you a scripture in
2 Timothy 1. I want you to listen to this
now, 2 Timothy 1. Paul writes to young Timothy,
a young man, and tells him in verse 8, Don't be ashamed of the gospel.
Why would a man be ashamed of the gospel, the testimony of
our Lord? Because it's foolishness to the world. The world calls
it foolishness. The world calls it weakness.
The world calls it nonsense. And so therefore, the natural
man is ashamed to be identified with it. And Paul said, don't
be ashamed of the gospel, and don't be ashamed of me, the Lord's
preacher. My son, Paul, never did tell
me this when he was growing up. He told me this not long ago.
He said, when I was a teenager in the 60s, I was ashamed that
my daddy was a preacher. I wish my daddy could have been
anything else other than a preacher. See, the preacher's weakness
is foolishness to the world. And yet, by God's grace, he's
a preacher now. Maybe his little girl's ashamed
he's a preacher. I don't know. But this is weakness
with the world. But God's not going to save you
without a preacher. Whoso shall call on the name
of the Lord, and that's weakness, seeking the Lord is weakness.
But you'll never find him if you don't seek him. Prayer to
the world. You're ashamed of prayer? You believe a man says he's not
praying? No, but I believe he says he will pray. Who says you'll call on the Lord
shall be saved, but how do you want to call on him in whom you
have not heard? And how do you want to hear him
without a picture? All these things, humility. Humility is contrary to the way
the world works. You're cocky. Proud, arrogant,
what's those athletes? I remember a coach one day talking
to the team, he said, now I'll tell you fellas, when you make
a touchdown, and you go to gyrating around and pointing to the sky
and doing all these things, I want you next time you fumble to do
the same thing. Next time you drop the ball,
and the other team will come as they point to the sky and
dance around and do all these things. No. Not that he's ashamed. The very things you shamed of,
the very things that will cause weakness, humility, love, forgiveness,
prayer, seeking the Lord, calling on his name, praising his name,
rejoicing in him, looking to Christ, that's the way you're
going to be saved. God's going to humble everybody
that he exalts. God resists with the proud, he
gives grace to the humble. That's right. Don't be ashamed. This is still true. Listen to
me. You know what I'm about to read.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, as is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn, they'll be comforted. Not the smart alecks, they'll
inherit the earth. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst for righteousness, attend the services, listen to
the preacher, rejoice in the word, not ashamed of it, they're
going to be filled. Blessed are the merciful, they'll
obtain mercy. The foolishness of God, what
this world calls foolishness, is wiser than anything you'll
ever come up with, or anybody else will. It's the wisdom of
God. And the weakness, what men are
ashamed of, what my precious preacher self was ashamed of
one time is now his glory. Think about that. Is now his
glory. But he had to come that way though.
You never get clothed until you get stripped. You'll never be
raised from the dead until God kills you. Just kills you, just
kills you. Never be exalted until you're
humble. Until all the starch is taken out. And that happens
every day. That's not a once for all deal,
that's every day. You keep coming to Christ. Alright,
here's the thing that will convince you of the power and wisdom of
God, if you'll consider something, verse 26. Just consider your
calling. That will give you an insight
into the power of God. It took God to save you, boy.
It took God to save you, lady. You see, your calling. We're going to look for a minute
at the caller, the call, and the reason. It says here, you
see your calling, brethren. And down in verse 27 it says,
but God hath chosen. And down another few lines in
verse 27, God hath chosen. And down here in verse 28, God
hath chosen. Did you choose God or did he
choose you? It says God chose you. God hath chosen. He's the
caller. He's the one who chooses. You
see, salvation is a new birth. Who begets who? The baby doesn't
beget itself. God does. Salvation is an adoption. Who has the authority to an adoption?
All of the children. Salvation is a temple built by
God. He says, I'll build my church.
Do the stones select themselves and put themselves in the building,
or does the builder select them? Eternal life is the gift of God.
If a person merits something or earns a prize, it's not a
gift. A gift is freely undeserved, unmerited, given by the choice
made by the giver. God has chosen. Well, whom do
we choose? Well, listen. Not really wise
men after the flesh. Listen to me. God's people aren't
fools. The world's the fool. The fool
has said in his heart there's no God. But what this says, he
has not many wise men after the flesh. After the flesh. Wise men in the things of the
flesh. Wisdom confined to the flesh,
to the world. God's people know the real wisdom
of God is Christ. You're a wise man. The world's
the fool. But there are not many wise men
after the flesh, and not many mighty men after the flesh. When you are in Christ, you are
strong. The weakness is in the will.
I can do all the things through Christ that strengthen me. I
can walk through a dark valley and rejoice in the Lord, if Christ
will strengthen me. I can see the mysteries of the
kingdom of God, if Christ will reveal them to me. That's might,
that's power. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. But not many mighty men in the
world, not many noble, that the blood of kings doesn't flow through
my veins. But the blood of the king has
made me a king. You see what he said? Not many
wise men after the flesh. Not many mighty men after the
flesh. Not many noble. after the flesh. But God had chosen, God had chosen
the base things of this world. What the world says is base.
God had chosen, let's go back up a little farther, God had
chosen the weak things of the world. Why? To confound the mighty. Charles Spurgeon said this, sooner
or The wise men of the world will be brought to shame and
confusion to see people they regarded to be fools seated with
Christ in glory. It will confound them. Absolutely
confound them. And the base things of the world
have God chosen. The things that we despise have
God chosen. The things which are not to bring
to naught the things that are. He said, who on account of their
birth, their possessions, their talents, their attainments, their
learning, have received in this world much honor, power, glory,
and thought themselves to be something, and thought what they
did to be something, will find in the end that they're nothing. He will bring these things to
naught, to nothing. They'll find they're nothing.
They'll find that all that they have done, and upon which they've
depended, burned up. Look back at verse 19. I'll destroy
the wisdom of the wise. I'll bring to nothing the understanding
of the people. Well, verse 29. Why? Here's the
answer. that no flesh should glory in
his presence, not in their birth or nationality, not in their
might or power, not in their wisdom or riches, not in their
works or righteousness, not in their religion or their tradition,
but glory in one thing, him. Let me read you Jeremiah 9 and
I'll close. Verse 23 and 24. Thus saith the
Lord, Let not the wise man glow in his wisdom. Jeremiah 9.23. Let neither let the mighty man
glow in his might, let not the rich man glow in his riches,
but him that gloweth, gloweth in this, that he understands. Understands. What is this understanding? The Son of God hath come and
given us an understanding that we may know him that is true.
This is the true God. This is eternal life. That's
the understanding. He understands. He knows me. He knows me. And I know him. Like Paul said, that we know
God or rather that we're known of God. We know him because he
knew us. We love him because he loved
us. He knows me. that I am the Lord which exercised
loving kindness and judgment and righteousness. How did he
do that? Loving kindness and judgment.
How did he judge my sins and forgive me? How did he punish
me and set me free? How did he receive full payment
for my transgressions and yet I didn't pay a dime? It's the only place you can know
loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in this earth.
And in these things God says, I delight. And let me read verse
30, our text. But of God are you in Christ
Jesus. He put me there. When? Before the world began. Who of
God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
that according as it is written, he that gloweth, let him glow
in the Lord." Now then, I've got to give you this. Jim read
it in Psalm 139. Preacher, you said that he put
you in Christ before the world began. Where did you find that? A lot of places, but just a while
ago Jim read it to us in Psalm 139, verse 13. Listen to it. Thou hast possessed
me, my reins, that's my life. My reins are my innermost being,
my guts, kidneys, life. Thou hast covered me in my mother's
womb. I will praise thee for I am faithful
and wonderfully made physically and spiritually. Marvelous are
thy words. He did it. And that my son knows
right well. Listen now, my substance. My
body, my strength was not hid from me when I was made in secret,
when I was conceived. Everything about me goes back
to that one act of conception, that one little microscopic seed
that the color of my eyes was in. The height, my rhythm, everything
was in it, in that seed. My substance was not hid, my
body, my being was not hid from you when I was made in secret
and curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth. Where
was that? That's the mother's womb. That's where we were wrought,
that's where we were conceived, that's where we were formed,
in our mother's womb. Christ came to the lower parts
of the earth. That's not hell, he came to our womb. Mary's womb. Thine eyes did see my substance
when yet unperfect, unformed. In your book all my memories
were written, which in continuous refinement, when there wasn't
any of them. They didn't even exist. Yet God
wrote them in a book, in the Lamb's book of life. Oh boy,
that's my conclusion, how precious also are thy thoughts unto me.
Oh God, how great is the summer. It's a big book. It's a big God. It's a great salvation.