The Lord sent him to preach the
gospel, miraculously awakened him, revealed
Christ to him, taught him the gospel, and sent him to the Gentiles,
a special vessel, to preach the gospel to us. That's what he said in verse
17 of chapter 1, Christ sent me. Christ sent me, miraculously,
not to baptize, that's not my primary purpose and business,
but to preach the gospel. The gospel of the cross of Christ,
the gospel of the sovereign, free grace of God, the gospel of substitution, the
gospel of full satisfaction. the gospel of the glory of God
in which he gets all the glory. And this gospel, Paul said, to
the religious people of the world is foolishness,
nonsense. And all of you have experienced
that among even your relatives, people with whom you you young
people, among the young people with whom you attend school,
classes, high school, college. This gospel of the grace of God,
even to the religious, is a stumbling block, and to the so-called wise
people of the world, it's foolishness. You dare not bring up the subject
of the gospel to your professors? or to your employers, or to most
of the people with whom you rub shoulders day by day, because
it's offensive. It's really offensive to them.
And they'll grow quite angry with you if you insist on Christ
as the only way, truth, and life, and way to the Father. But there's
some people Paul said, to whom this gospel is good news, to
whom Christ is precious. He said to them, who by the grace
of God are being saved, this gospel, foolishness to the world,
stumbling block to the religious, offensive to natural men, to
them it's the power of God. the power of God, the very wisdom
of God Almighty. Precious to you that believe,
He, in His eternal deity, He, in His glorious incarnation,
He, even in His ignominious, hateful death, is precious. He is precious. How is that to some he's so precious
and to others so offensive. How is it that we have heard
and believed and received, as he said in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians
2, now we have received, not the spirit of this world, not
the wisdom of the world, but the spirit of God. How is it
that we have received the gospel while others and ridicule and
make fun and despise it. Well, the same God who miraculously
called and sent Paul to preach it is the same God who opens
your ears to hear it and your hearts to love it and your eyes
of faith, not these eyes, but the eyes of faith to see in Him
your life and hope and redemption. Believing the gospel is a miracle. It's raising the dead. It's giving
sight to the blind. It's causing the lame to walk
and the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. It's a miracle. For a moment turn to 1 Timothy
3 and let's see if that's not what Paul is saying here in 1
Timothy 3, that the incarnation of Christ, miracle though it
is, is no more a miracle than the raising of a dead center
from a spiritual grave. Look at 1 Timothy 3. The power
of God that made the Son of God a Son of Man is no different from the power
of God that makes these sons of men sons of God. The fact that you believe the
gospel is a miracle. Look at 1 Timothy 3.16, and without
debate, without controversy, grace is the mystery. of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
vindicated by the Holy Spirit, seen, ministered to by the angels,
preached to the heathen, believed on in the world, received up
into glory. The same, in the same sentence,
in which the Spirit of God sent through Paul that God became
a man and was vindicated by God's Spirit and ministered to by God's
angels and preached to worthless pagans and received up into glory. Right in the middle of that,
he said, and believe, don't. And people actually, in their
hearts, sincerely, confidently, believe that gospel. That's a
miracle. That's a miracle. Look at Philippians
chapter 1. Most preachers don't consider
it to be so. Most preachers today do not consider
it to be so. They figure it's an act of man.
disbelieving, but it's not, it's an act of God. They figure that disbelieving
the gospel is something you do. And it is, but it's something
God enables you to do. That it's something that you
find in your own heart, and you do, but God puts it there. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Look at Philippians 1, 29, "...under
you, for under you it is given in the behalf of Christ, because
of Christ, and for the glory of Christ, not only to believe
on him, but also to suffer for his sake."
Both are the gift of God. I am what I am by the grace of
God. And the fact that people with whom I was raised, went to school as a boy, most
often this gospel is offensive to them. But I believe. Neighbors and friends, if you've
lived among All these years, this gospel of the grace of God,
the free grace of God is offensive to many of them, just offensive. That's about the only place where
you really have trouble with most of your neighbors is over
this. Who God is, who Christ is, who you are. It's offensive. It's offensive. Well, it's only
by the grace of God that we believe. It's a gift of God. Miracle of
grace. I started to call this message
the miracle of faith. So let's look at it, just study
these verses as God opens them to us. Paul said, and I brethren,
when I came to you, he came to Corinth. My friends, he never
intended to preach in Corinth. He was going to leave Corinth.
They were about to kill him down there. You remember? And I actually
read it later, chapter 18. And that night, God spoke to
him. Paul didn't want to preach in Corinth. He didn't want to
stay in Corinth. He wanted to leave that place, fearful of
his life. And God came to him that night
and said, you stay in this city and preach. And no one will lay
hand on you because I have much people in this city." And Paul
stayed there and preached 18 months. And God saved many people. This church was formed in that
meeting. God sent him. God sent the messenger. And the same God who sent the
messenger sent the gospel into your heart and soul and life
to receive it. When I came to you, I didn't
come with excellency of speech or wisdom. I didn't come in the
energy of the flesh. I didn't come employing methods
of the flesh and carnal means to try to persuade you to believe. That's useless. I didn't come
that way, declaring unto you the testimony of God. What is
the testimony of God? It's the gospel. It's the gospel. That's what Paul said over here
in 2 Timothy to Timothy. Let's see over here just a minute
in 2 Timothy what the testimony of God. And he says here in 2
Timothy 1.8, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord. Alright, Revelation chapter 1,
John on the Isle of Patmos. He says in verse 9 of chapter
1, Revelation 1-9, I, John, who also am your brother and companion
in trouble and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
I was in the isle that is called Patmos for the Word of God and
for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was a prisoner in exile because
I preached the testimony of Christ, the gospel of Christ. The gospel
of Jesus Christ is the testimony. So that's what Paul is saying
here in chapter 2, verse 1 of Corinthians. Brethren, when God
sent me to you, I came to you, I didn't come with flowery speech
and oratory and persuasible words of man's wisdom, declaring unto
you the gospel. For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him, crucified. Paul, you know this, he was well
taught in the religion of the Jews. He could have argued and
debated and disputed with these men for hours. He could have held his own with
any of them. He was a Pharisee. He was a member of the Sanhedrin.
He was a personal friend of the high priest. He was a graduate
of the top university in his day, the school of Gamaliel.
But he said he was educated in the wisdom of the Greeks, too.
You know, one ruler, Agrippa or Festus or Felix, one of those
fellas, when they brought Paul before them, he said, you've
studied so much you've lost your mind. Isn't that what he said?
Much learning hath made you crazy. Paul was a brilliant man, and
he could have held his own with any of them. He knew. But he
knew all knowledge and all wisdom of the world was worthless if
a man didn't know Christ. And that's the reason he said,
brethren, my calling, my business is to preach Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. That's why I'm here. And he says
in verse 3, now watch this, this message, this gospel does not
depend in any way upon the messenger. It doesn't depend in any way
upon the talents of the messenger, the intellect, the personality. He says, I was with you in weakness. Weakness. Is any weak that I'm
not weak, he said. In fear. Not in fear of men. Paul never feared a man. Fear
of God. or some responsibility of dealing
with holy things in much trembling. I want you to see how he describes
this in the book of 2 Corinthians. Let's go first of all to chapter
4, 2 Corinthians. The message does not in any way
depend on the talents or gifts or intellect of the messenger. The messenger is an earthen vessel,
and he makes no contribution to the quality of the food, none
whatsoever. He's just a vessel, that's all. In 2 Corinthians 4, verse 7,
Paul said, we have this treasure. This, what treasure? It's the
gospel of Christ. The good news of Christ, and
we have it in earthen vessels, clay pots. What's a clay pot
worth? Very little. We have this treasure
in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. We're trouble on every side. We're not free from trouble,
yet we're not distressed. We're perplexed, baffled many
times, not understanding the will of God or the providence
of God. But we're not in despair. We're
persecuted, harassed and hated, but not forsaken. We're cast
down, but we're not destroyed. That's a sad, pitiful vessel,
isn't it? But it doesn't change the message.
The message does not depend upon the vessel, the food, It's rich,
wonderful food, satisfying. Look at 2 Corinthians 10, verse
10. This is the way they talked about
Paul. His letters say they. Talking
about himself, he says in verse 9, that I may not seem as if
I would terrify you by letters, epistles, for his letters say
they are weighty and powerful. But his bodily presence is weak,
and his speech contemptible. That's the apostle Paul. Look right across the page at
chapter 12, verse 7. And lest I should be exalted
above measure, and that won't do, Through the abundance of revelations
and knowledge, God gave me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." Oh,
my friends, the Apostle says the vessel is
nothing. It's the testimony of Christ.
that is of importance. And look at verse 4. And my speech
and my preaching was not with persuasible words of man's wisdom. From this, I draw this conclusion. It's not by human will or human
wit or human wisdom that the gospel of Christ is believed
and received and loved by anybody. It's by the demonstration and
regeneration and revelation of the Holy Ghost. That's exactly
right. Not of him that willeth, it's
not of him that runneth, it's of God that showeth mercy. As
we preach this gospel of the grace of God, Men by nature will
find it offensive, foolishness, nonsense. But somebody over here,
he hears it. And it's music to his ears. And
it's beauty to his eyes. And it's joy to his heart. And
it's a sweet fragrance and odor to his nostrils. And he believes
it and rejoices in it. We pat the preacher on the back
and said, you saved him. Oh, no. Oh, no. Pat the preacher on the back.
You won another soul. Get another star in your crown.
Good for you. I think I'll bring somebody else
to hear you. Won't do you any good. Not expecting him to do
anything. It wasn't the vessel. It wasn't
the servant. It wasn't the messenger. It was
a demonstration of the Spirit of God and power. That's right. Of His own will begat He us with
the Word. That's right. Listen to John
over here in chapter 1. Listen. Turn to John chapter
1. God did it. God awakened. God called His sheep. In John
chapter 1, verse 10, He was in the world. Christ was in the
world. The world was made by Him. They didn't know Him. The
world knew Him not. He came to His own, to His own
temple, His own priest, His own people. They didn't know Him. They didn't receive Him. Somebody
did. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power, power. He gave them the power, the understanding,
the faith, the right, the privilege to become sons of God, even to
them that believed on His name, which were born, begotten, not
of blood, It wasn't a family inherited thing, natural genealogy. It wasn't of the will of the
flesh, his own flesh, his own heart, nor the will of any other
man. But he was born of God. That's what happened. That's
what happened. My speech, verse 4, back in our
text, he said, my preaching, was not with persuasible words,
drawing the net, giving the invitation, imploring people to make a decision. No, sir. Not with persuasible
words, but in the demonstration of the Spirit of God and power. The Word was sown. Oh, yeah,
it fell on hard ground, It didn't accomplish anything. It fell
among thorns, and it was choked. It fell on the rocky soil, and
somebody got excited and then faded away, but it fell on good
ground. And that's good ground is ground
the Holy Spirit made good, prepared and plowed, and got it ready for the Word. And
the Word sprang up, more fruit, 40, 60, 100 fold. And this, Paul
said, is the reason why I didn't come
with oratory and intellect and human wisdom and persuasible
words. That your faith, here's a key
statement, that your faith, your hope and confidence should not
stand in the wisdom of any man, an apostle, a prophet, but in the power of God." My
friends, our relationship with Christ, now hear me, mine and your personal relationship
with Christ Jesus, I love Him, you love Him, I believe
Him, you believe Him. His gospel is precious to my
soul. He's my life and my hope. But
my relationship with Christ and yours does not in any measure
depend upon the wisdom of some preacher, or the personality of some preacher,
or my connections with some preacher, or my friendship with some preacher, or lack of it. or the presence
or the absence of any man. It depends wholly and totally
and completely upon Him. He's my salvation. And that's
what Paul is saying over here right across the page in I Corinthians
3 verse 1. Somebody says, I like Paul. Paul
is my kind of preacher. Another said, I am of Apollos.
Are ye not carnal?" Isn't that carnal? That's not spiritual,
that's carnal. Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? They're just ministers by whom
you heard the Word and believed. Even as God gave, the Lord gave
to every man. He's the one that gave to every
man faith. And to the preacher, the gospel
to preach. I planted Apollos' water Cephas plowed. Somebody else
prayed. God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth
anything. Paul's nothing. And he that watereth,
he's nothing. God could use anybody to do that. Only God can give life. But God giveth the increase,
and he that planteth, and he that watereth, the one. And every
man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor."
We're laborers together with God. That's what he's saying
in verse 5, your faith and confidence. Oh, the most dangerous thing
you can do is have that faith and confidence
in the wisdom of some man, or his friendship or relationship. And it's happened so often that
preachers come and go and people come and go with them. And that's
bad. That's bad. It's not the voice. John, they said, John, who are
you? He said, I'm just a voice. Are you the Christ? I'm not fit
to tie His shoe. Where did you come from, God
sent me? What did you come for? To tell you about Him? And then you fade from the scene
and God will raise up somebody else. Same message. But now verse
6. Dear friends, listen to this.
Verse 6. We speak wisdom among them that
are knowledgeable, them that are mature. Somebody wrote, lest
you think that the gospel of Christ crucified is unworthy
of your notice and unworthy of your attention because of the
simplicity of it. Lest you think that the gospel
of Christ is unworthy of your attention and interest because
of the weakness of its ministers and followers, and the lowliness
of its disciples, lest you disregard the gospel because some wearily
wise intellect calls it foolishness, and the religious enthusiast
calls it radical. Let me tell you, Paul said, we
preach wisdom. How be it, not the wisdom of
this world, nor the princes of this world
that comes to naught. That's not the wisdom we're preaching.
Verse 7, but we preach the wisdom of God in a mystery. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
I speak concerning the mystery of Christ in His church. God
revealed to me the mystery of the gospel. I would not have
you ignorant concerning the mystery of them that sleep. Oh, yeah,
we preach wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom. Where was it hidden? For lack
of a better word, we say hidden, but here is, I believe, a better
word. It was contained in Christ. Even the hidden wisdom contained
in Christ, contained in the promises, in the prophecies, in the tithes,
and now revealed by His appearance. It's the wisdom which God ordained
before man's change in wisdom even came along. It's the wisdom
of God ordained before the world for our glory. Unchangeable,
because it's before all things. And now listen to verse 8, which
none of the princes And if you want to substitute something
for that word princes, leaders, authorities, statesmen, professors, that's what that
word means. None of the princes, the leaders,
religious and otherwise, political, religious, none of them knew. this wisdom of God in this man
Christ Jesus? Had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. They heard Him, but they
didn't hear Him. They saw Him, but they didn't
know Him. The gospel He preached, they
listened to it, but they didn't believe it. Let me ask you a question. For
four days, down in the land of Egypt, about 2 million people, or maybe
3 million, 2 million people, 3 million, that's the population
of the state of Kentucky, were putting up lambs, selecting
lambs without blemish or spot, and putting those lambs up in
special pens, for four days. Do you suppose the Egyptians
and their leaders and their authorities and their professors and their
teachers and their, all these religious leaders, do you suppose
that they were unaware of all that? That they didn't know about that? Well, these Israelites worked
for them as laborers, as maids, As carpenters, as farmers, they
were neighbors. Don't you suppose any of them
ever asked, what are you people doing? Why are you putting up
the lambs? There's going to be a judgment.
God says He's coming through a certain day and destroy the
firstborn in every home. Oh, you've got to be kidding.
No, that's right. Well, what are you doing with
the lamb? God said, put the lamb up and slay it, and roast its
body, and eat it, and put the blood on the door, and go in
the home, and shut the door. And when I come through in judgment
and I see the blood, I'll pass over you." These people knew what was going
on, but they didn't know it. That's why he says, Jesus Christ,
You know, Paul said to that leader, this wasn't done in a corner.
You're not ignorant of his death. You're not ignorant of his message.
You're not ignorant of what he claimed. This wasn't done in
a corner. It was done in the religious
capital of the world, outside the wall. A man died on a cross
that was raised from the tomb. Their problem was they didn't
believe it. That's what I'm saying. They didn't believe it. The people
in Egypt, they didn't believe. The people in Jerusalem, they
didn't believe. The people who put the apostles
to death and the reformers to death, they didn't believe it.
And today it's the same message. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you." And they don't believe it. Isn't that something? Verse 9 says it's written, written
all the way back in the Old Testament. Who hath believed our report?
To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? It's written. I hath not seen, and ear hath
not heard, neither hath it even entered the heart of man, the
things God has prepared in Christ. I go to prepare a place for you,
he said. If I go and prepare a place,
I'll come back and receive you unto myself. In that day he shall say to them
on his right hand, Enter ye, blessed, into the kingdom prepared
for you before the foundation of the world. with the natural man. He hadn't seen it. He'd seen
it, but he hadn't seen it. A lady said to me this morning,
dear friend, for many, many years, she said it was exactly 28 years
ago. You heard her. 1969. that I heard the gospel sitting
in this chair. Oh, she said, I've been here
many times. My parents brought me here. I listened to you preach
many times. Like many young people, I wrote
notes, some through the books, some through the Bible. And you
just talked on and on and on. And Easter Sunday, she said in
1969, I remember it like yesterday, Didn't you? I heard you. I heard
what you were saying. Same old voice. I had nothing
to do with that. Same gospel, same message. But God opened it. Verse 10, "...but God revealed them unto
us, by His Spirit, the things Christ prepared and has prepared
for us, which the natural man does not see and does not hear
and does not believe. We do. I do. You do. I'll tell
you why. God revealed them unto us by
His Spirit. For the Spirit of God, He searcheth
all things, yea, these deep things of God. Profound but simple. Profound if you're blind, simple
if you can see. Deep, so deep beyond our ability
to fathom if you don't see. But if you
do see, clear as a crystal. Christ loved us and gave himself
for us. For 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. And
brethren, we have received, this is the reason, this is the miracle
of faith, this is why we believe, not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit which is of God. Listen, that we may know, I know
whom I have believed. The things that are freely given,
not sold or borrowed, freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not
in words which man's wisdom teacheth." Now, like I said this morning, if you hear from God, you'll
have to hear from someone whom the world calls,
what they call the Apostle Peter and James and John, unlearned
and ignorant men. That's what they call, did you
know that? That's what they call the apostles.
The men who had been to the right schools, under the right teachers,
and had the right credentials, called Peter, James, and John
ignorant and unlearned men. But see, God uses. They're not
ignorant. They're taught of God. But to
the world, who deems this foolishness their ignorant and unlearned.
But if we hear from God, we'll have to hear from His Word. But the natural
man, verse 14, it's just true, he doesn't receive the things
of the Spirit of God. That foolishness to him, Neither
can he know them because they're spiritually discerned, they're
spiritually understood. Now, he that is spiritual, that
is born of the Spirit, he understandeth, discerneth all things, yet he
himself is understood of no one. A man, a person, boy or girl,
young person, man or woman who has been quickened by the Spirit
of God and has the life of Christ, when you teach the Word, he understands
what you're saying. It's clear, clear as crystal. And he believes. He understands
you, but you let him try to explain what
he believes to somebody else and see how they react. And sometimes I like the Word
of God, it's trying to get a swine to admire the pearl. Casting your pearls before swine. They don't have much appreciation
for pearls. And the swine of this world do
not have much appreciation for the pearl of great piousy. And
I'm ready to preach the gospel. Paul said to you that in Rome
also, or anywhere else, but it's very discouraging sometimes
when we present this beautiful gospel and men don't like it. They're ugly, ugly about it. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord that he might instruct us This spiritual man. Who's
going to teach us? I'll tell you who, listen. Those
who have the mind of Christ. That's who can teach you. Compare
spiritual things with spiritual. That's who teaches us.