He tells us in this chapter that
the gospel of God is unknown to the natural man. He tells us that the gospel of
God is made known to his sheep only by his Spirit. The Spirit
of God must reveal the gospel. And he tells us when that gospel
of God becomes a reality, an experience in the heart of a
sinner by God's grace, that that sinner sees and knows and understands
the gospel of God. Now let's look at this chapter.
And Paul says in verse 1, And I, brethren, when I came to you. I like to read about that time
that Paul came to them. Acts chapter 18. It wasn't by
accident that he came to them. It was by the will and purpose
of God. God sent him to Carmel. And God
told him to stay there and preach, that he would be with him. And
God promised him that people would hear him when he preached,
because he said, I've got much people in that city. Look at
Acts 18, verse 9. Then spake the Lord to Paul in
the night by a vision, be not afraid But speak, and hold not
thy peace, for I am with you, and no man shall set on thee
to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city." And he
stayed there and preached. He continued there in Corinth
for a year and six months, eighteen months, teaching the Word of
God. among them. That's how I came
to you, brethren. God sent me to preach to you
the gospel. And he said when I came, I didn't
come with excellency of speech, lofty words, fancy language,
eloquence, human philosophy, and human wisdom. I didn't come
to you with excellence of speech or wisdom declaring unto you
the gospel of God. The gospel of God doesn't need
our eloquence. The gospel of God does not need
to be propped up. It doesn't need to be supported
by or adorned with our arguments and our persuasion. The gospel
of God doesn't need to be defended by us. This virgin once said,
the gospel is like a mighty lion, a mighty lion. You don't defend
the lion, you just turn him loose. That's the way the gospel is,
just turn it loose. It will support itself, the gospel
of God. Then in verse 2, he said, for
I determined not to know anything among you. save Jesus Christ
and him crucify. Paul was well educated. He was
educated in Jewish learning, in Jewish tradition, educated
in religion. He had a good knowledge of Greek
literature and culture. And Paul was capable of speaking
with just about anyone. on about any subject, but his
subject was Christ. And he said, I determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That which was the greatest offense
to others was the greatest joy and delight to Paul, Christ crucified. Foolishness, foolishness to the
Greeks, stumbling block to the Jews. but the power, the power
and wisdom of God. What other men hate is my joy
and delight, the glorious gospel of the grace of God in our Lord
Jesus Christ. And brethren, verse 3, while
I was with you those 18 months preaching to you the gospel,
I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling. What's
he talking about here, I was with you in weakness, in fear
and trembling, weakness? Well, several things may be meant
here. First of all, his physical presence was weak. His physical
strength, he wasn't a strong man. Physically, he was a weak
man. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
10. The Apostle Paul was a small
man, and he was a weak man physically. He wasn't an imposing, charismatic
type of individual. We're told that here in 2 Corinthians
10. Verse 10, it says, for his letters,
his epistles say they are weighty and powerful, but his bodily
presence is weak and his speech contemptible. He wasn't an imposing
man at all. There's so many in this day who
are trusting and depending upon personality and persuasion and
human strength and appearance. But Paul was with him in weakness,
a weak, frail man. Not only that, but he was a very
humble, lowly individual. He was a working man, worked
with his hands. In Acts chapter 18 again, turn
there with Acts chapter 18. Paul was a man who earned his
living and the support of many with him by making tents. He didn't want to be chargeable
to any man. He didn't want these people in
new places where he went to preach to get the impression or idea
that he was there for money. While he was in Corinth and several
other places, he wouldn't take anything from those people because
he didn't want them to suspect, not for a moment, that he was
in the ministry for gain, material gain. And it says here in verse
3 of Acts 18, and because he was of the same craft, He abode with them and wrought,
and worked is that word. For by their occupation they
were tent makers, and that's what he was by occupation. He was a scholar, he was a student,
he was an apostle, he was a preacher. But he was a man who had a craft,
that was tent making. And that's what he did when he
went among people. He wasn't ashamed to work with
his hands while he preached to them. weakness. That's a physical weakness, lowly
existence, a humble man. And when he says, I was with
you in weakness and in fear and trembling, he might also refer
not only to his physical presence and to his lowly, humble existence,
but to his feeling of insufficiency for such a great responsibility. Over in 2 Corinthians, I want
you to look at this, chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Paul talked about here in 2 Corinthians
2, the power of the gospel. When the gospel is preached,
when God sends a man, gives him his message, his true message,
Christ, and gives that man his spirit to preach that message,
and the responsibility of proclaiming that gospel to a group of people. He doesn't preach in vain. To
some, and I hope to all here, the savor of life and delight,
but to some, it's a ministry of condemnation. You see, the
gospel of grace does not offer neutrality. Men either love it
or hate it. It doesn't allow for indifference.
The gospel of Jesus Christ and his grace and mercy to sinners
through his righteousness and precious blood is not up for
debate. And it doesn't allow anybody
to be neutral. You defy me or against me, he
said. You either gather with me or you divide. No middle ground. And Paul knew that. And he knew
when he came preaching the gospel and the power of God's Spirit,
that that was the result. And he says here in verse 15,
2 Corinthians 2, verse 16 or 15, For we are under
God a sweet fragrance. of Christ, in them that are saved
and in them that perish, to one with a savor, the fragrance of
death unto death, but to the other, the sweet fragrance of
life unto life. Now, who's sufficient for these
things? What man volunteers for that
task? What man feels that he's sufficient
or able That's the kind of responsibility. But down in chapter 3, verse
5, he stays on this subject, and he says, not that we're sufficient
of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God. So when he says, when I came
to you, I came in weakness and fear and trembling. He wasn't
afraid of men or what they would do to him. That wasn't it at
all. That didn't even enter in. But his concern was twofold.
Twofold. One, he was concerned that he
might preach the truth of God. Woe is unto me if I don't preach
the gospel. And the second concern of his
heart was that his hearers hear that gospel and believe it. He said, I have great heaviness
of heart, sorrow for my brethren according to the flesh. I want them saved, he said. And
that was the burden of his soul. All right, verse 4, 1 Corinthians
2. And my preaching was not with
enticing words of man's wisdom. What was the preacher's subject?
Well, it wasn't nature. It wasn't the arts. It wasn't
science. It wasn't politics. It wasn't
law or philosophy. It wasn't dry morality. It wasn't
church tradition. His message was Christ. He's
already told us that. My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom. It was simple, sincere,
straightforward, the preaching of Christ. And in demonstration
of the Holy Spirit and power, my dependence was not upon the
might and power of the preacher or the persuasion, but my dependence
was upon the Spirit of God. Not by might, God said, it's
not by power, it's by my Spirit. And then his satisfaction, verse
5, he says that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men. Your faith, your confidence,
it just must not, must not be in the preacher, must not be
in his persuasion. must not be in his personality,
but that your faith should be in the power of God. Who is the
power of God? That your faith, when I preach
to you, this is my earnest desire, that your faith, when you hear
and believe, would not in any wise depend in any way upon me, not in the wisdom of men, not
in the presentation of this message. But that your faith should stand
totally, completely, and alone in the power of God. Look over
at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 24. And this verse tells us to whom
Paul is referring. But unto them that are called.
Verse 23, let's read it. But we preach Christ crucified.
Under the Jews, the religious man, a stumbling block. Under
the Greeks, sheer nonsense, foolishness. But under them that are called
believers, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God. Christ
is the wisdom of God. I came to you, brethren. I didn't
come with lofty words and eloquent speech. With a simple, straightforward
message, sincere in heart, I determine not to know anything among you
save Christ and Him crucified. That your faith should not stand
in the arguments, persuasion, personality of the preacher,
but in Christ. The wisdom of God and the power
of God. Now verse 6, look at this. Howbeit we speak wisdom. We speak wisdom among them that are perfect,
among them that are mature, lest somebody should think that this
gospel of Jesus Christ is unworthy of a man's attention because
of the simplicity of it, or because of the lowliness of
his messengers. because it's Messiah was hanged
on a tree, or because all the great minds
of the world have despised it, or because it's called foolishness. We speak wisdom. We speak wisdom. Among them that
are mature, among those who have ears to hear, they recognize
the wisdom of this message. Those that have eyes to see,
they recognize the beauty of this message. Those who have
hearts to understand, they recognize the wisdom of this glorious,
simple but profound gospel. Yes, they do. Yet, not the wisdom
of this world that comes to naught. We preach wisdom. But it's not
the wisdom of this world nor the princes of this world that
come to naught. You know why the wisdom of this
world comes to naught? Take the very best wisdom down
through the centuries of natural man and it comes to naught. I'll tell you why. Three reasons.
Number one, it's forever changing. There's new discoveries every
decade, every century. We don't go back and study the
books. The medical doctors don't have
in their libraries books written back in the 18th century. They
don't study them, do they? Practically any science doesn't
go back and study books written that long ago. They're changing.
And I'll tell you, if God, if the Lord doesn't come back soon,
They won't be studying our books in 200 years either. That may
shock you, but if you'd have told the most brilliant minds
in medicine and education and science back 200 years ago that
we wouldn't even be looking at their textbooks, they'd have
been shocked. But the wisdom of this world
keeps changing. And secondly, it not only keeps
changing, but it promises what it can't produce. We've been promising peace, no
peace, happiness. There's not much to be found
here. It's a longer life, but people still die. It promises what it can't produce. And then, listen to this, it
brings you a knowledge and a wisdom that you can't keep. You can't keep. In 10 years or 15 years, good
possibility I won't be able to do what I'm doing tonight, because
I won't even be able to quote the scriptures. They'll have
left me. That's true now. It's true of
you too. One reason men have to retire
is because they can't do what they used to do. Can't do it. Isn't that right, Brother John?
The things you once knew, you can't even remember them. I used to know most everybody's
telephone number. I have to look mine up now. It's almost that bad now, that's
a fact. But the knowledge that the human
wisdom brings you, will not remain with you. I always hate to see them interview
these real old people, because they come off kind of foolish,
and I know back they were smart people. President Reagan couldn't come to the convention.
He would have embarrassed himself. He used to be the top leader
in this entire world. He would have embarrassed himself.
And there'll come a time when I'll embarrass myself. And it'd
be better if they wouldn't interview me. Human wisdom, not worth a thing.
There was a man in this town, I won't call the name because
half the people here know him, but he was well-educated, very
rich, and very snobby. He lived in
this community. and cared nothing for the gospel.
He was religious, but he cared nothing for the gospel. I crossed
his path a lot of times. A lot, a lot, a lot of times.
He had nothing for me or what I preached. Scoffed at it. But I saw him when he was old
and doddering. Is that the word? Sitting in my office. trying
to talk to me about the things I'm preaching. And he didn't
have the presence of mind to even enter into them. There was a day 30 years ago
he wouldn't even enter my office. He wouldn't even talk to me about
the things of God. But all of his wisdom, and knowledge,
and pride, and money, and amounted to nothing. And he's trying to
get himself and his best friend baptized so they could get ready
to meet God. Well, that's not the wisdom. We speak wisdom among them that
are mature, but it's not the wisdom of this world. Nor are
the princes of this world that come to know nothing. But, listen,
verse 7, we speak, we preach the wisdom of God in a mystery. It's even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before this world under our glory. We're talking
about the mysterious hidden wisdom of how God can be just and justify
sinners. in our Lord Jesus Christ. How
He can take the fallen sons of Adam, worthy of condemnation
and death, from the very cesspool and dunghill of depravity, and
justly and righteously and wholly cleanse them and sanctify them
and justify them and redeem them and make them sons of God and
take them to eternal glory in a way that His will be cleared
and honored and justified, and His glory served." Now that's
wisdom. And it's hidden. It's a mystery.
Turn to Colossians 1. Let's read this over here. Colossians
chapter 1, verse 25. This gospel, it lay unknown in
the covenant of God's grace, everlasting covenant. All that
we're reading and all that we're enjoying and in which we're rejoicing,
the kingdom of God, the everlasting kingdom, the glory of God, the
saints and sons of God, all of this purpose and plan was hidden
in the everlasting covenant. And it lay unknown in the promises
and precepts, seed of woman, Mystery. Priest after the order of Melchizedek,
mystery. Prophet like Moses who would
come with God's message, hidden in all the types and the shadows
and the promises, unrecognized by most people, unknown. And when that man of Nazareth
walked the streets, He didn't know. He was in the world, and
the world didn't know him. All of God's wisdom, power, and
glory, and fullness was in that man. And the world didn't know
him, and he came to his own nation, who long had expected a Messiah,
and looked for a Messiah. And their
Messiah came, and they refused him. And the Romans and the Jews and
Gentiles and Pontius Pilate and Herod took him out one day outside
the city walls of Jerusalem and nailed him to a cross. The wisdom
of God, the power of God, the fullness of God, the glory of
God, unknown, hidden in that man. And today, that same wisdom,
who God is, How God can be just and justifier, holy, righteous,
just, true, is in this gospel. See if people don't want to hear
it. Oh, they'll listen to a fella. They'll listen to a fella stand
up and rant and rave about human will and self-righteousness and
good works. They'll send their money to some
fella that some preacher and his wife or some self-made prophet
to build him a glass cathedral, all these things. They'll just
promote fellows like that. But let a man come preaching
Christ freely, preaching Christ, effectual preaching Christ, sovereign
preaching Christ, glorious preaching Christ. In verse 25 of Colossians 1,
Paul said, well, I made a minister according to the dispensation
of God given to me for you to fulfill the Word of God, to fully
preach the Word of God, fully preach the Word of God. Even
the mystery which hath been hid from ages and generations, but
now is made manifest to his saints. to whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." I preach wisdom, but it's not the wisdom of this
world. It's not matching wits with the
so-called intellects of this world. I'm preaching wisdom.
The wisdom of God. Hidden wisdom. Where is it hidden? In his covenant. In his promises. In his word. In the types and
shadows and pictures of the Old Testament. In that man of Galilee. In this gospel. Wisdom of God. Verse 8 says, which none of the
princes of this world knew. They didn't know him when he
was here. But had they known it, they wouldn't have crucified
the Lord of Glory. If they'd known who he is. And
don't ever say who he was. He never was, was. He is, I am. Just get that out of your vocabulary
when you talk about the Lord Jesus. Somebody said when he
was here on earth, he's here now. He was, now he is, I am. And they didn't know who He is.
They wouldn't have crucified Him. In verse 9, here's the problem. It's written in Isaiah 64, verse
4. And this is not talking about
heaven now. This is talking about salvation. I have not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love Him. Look over there
at that text. What's written in the New Testament
is already written in the Old Testament. Fulfillment, same
message, same wisdom, same gospel, same glory, same God, same Christ. Isaiah 64, 6, look at it so you'll
know what Paul is saying. For since the beginning of the
world, Isaiah 64, 6, men have not heard Never have. This is no new thing. You say,
people today won't hear anything having to do with the gospel
of Christ. They never did. Since 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 waited for him. Prepared. Our Lord said in John
14, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place, I'll come again and receive you unto myself. That's
why I am there you may be." And he's not talking about preparing
an abode. He's talking about preparing
us for his presence. The cross, the blood, the righteousness,
the redemption, the atonement. That's what he's prepared, salvation,
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. That's what he's
prepared for them that love him. All right, verse 10, let me move
on. In verse 10, but God hath revealed
them this mystery, the things he's prepared for us. You know,
I read in Ephesians 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings,
in the heaven is in Christ. That's what he's prepared for
us. And that's what verse 10 says,
he has revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit
of God searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. I'll show you an example of that. Turn to Acts 16, an example of
what I'm talking about here. Here is a woman in Acts 16. Here's a woman, and perhaps there's
a woman here tonight in this same situation, never has seen
the glory of the grace of God in Christ, never has heard the
true message of redemption through Christ Jesus. Never has understood
how God can save the chief of sinners and be just and holy. One of the ladies visiting here
this morning told me, she said, I came here when I was a little
girl with my father and mother. And
she said, I sat here for years. And I really didn't even know
there was a preacher in the pulpit, because I wasn't hearing what
he was saying, really. Didn't understand it. Then she
said in 1968, I remember, I began to hear. I began to see the glory
of God in the face of Christ Jesus. I began to understand. And oh, how glad I am that he
revealed the gospel to me. You see, the Holy Spirit does
that. And here in Acts 16, verse 13,
and on the Sabbath, Paul and Barnabas went out of the city
by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made. And we sat down
and spake unto the women which resorted hither. And a certain
woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, from the city of Paratow. Here was a intelligent woman.
She was a businesswoman. She was a woman who sold material,
evidently. Who had her own business. She
was a religious woman because she'd come to a prayer meeting.
But she didn't know God. What happened while Paul preached?
She hurt us. whose heart the Lord opened.
And she attended unto the things spoken by Paul, and she was baptized
in her household. And she besought us, saying,
If you judge me faithful to the Lord, come to my house, and make
that your headquarters. And she constrained us." That's
what we're talking about here in verse 10. The natural man,
whether religious or Brilliant. This woman evidently is a brilliant
woman. A religious woman. Proper woman. But didn't know God. And while
Paul preached, the Lord opened her heart and the Holy Spirit
revealed to her what education and all of these other things
can't reveal. Verse 11, For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man, which is in him?
Nobody knows the thoughts and plans of another person, only
that person. Even so, the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. We don't know the mind of God,
purpose of God. Now, we have received not the
spirit of this world, but the spirit which is of God. You see, preachers can get up
and talk all they want to about who they think God is and what
they think God will do and what they believe God will do and
what you ought to do and all these things, but they don't
know the thoughts of God and the mind of God and the purpose
and heart of God unless His Spirit reveals Himself to them. And I say that, as Paul says
here, The Spirit of God revealed to me and to you His purpose,
His will, His glory in Christ. I've seen the glory of God in
Christ, the purpose of God. You don't learn that in school. The best way, the only way really,
the only scriptural way to train preachers is not in colleges
and seminaries and Bible schools. No, sir. a place to train God's
preachers. Let them go to a university and
get an education. That's fine. Learn to discipline
the mind and learn to study and learn to write, learn to read,
learn to talk, learn to do what they need to do. But the place
to learn the gospel is in the house of God, under an experienced
pastor. Sit and listen. to a man who
knows God, who knows the will of God, and the Word of God,
and the purpose of God, and the glory of God, and learn it as
the Holy Spirit teaches. That's where you learn to preach. God gave Elijah and Elisha. God gave Paul, Timothy. You go
on through the Word, they walked with these men, and after a while
they walked on their own. Now we have received not the
spirit of this world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we may know the things that are freely given us of God. Now verse
13, which things also we preach. That's what I'm preaching. Not
in words which man's wisdom teaches. Don't try to get along with this
world by adopting their Is that their way of talking? I heard a preacher the other
day talking about the apostles. He said, now these guys, they
knew all this stuff. What's he trying to do? I'll
tell you what he's trying to do. He's trying to get along
with somebody. But these apostles are not these
guys. These are ambassadors of Christ. And this is not stuff. This is
the glory of God. This is the word of God. Just
don't try to adopt their conversation or their phraseology or their
singing. I don't know why the churches
today have decided that they need to dance around and sing
like the people of the world, to attract the people. And that's
who you'll attract, the people of the world. You're not going
to attract God's sheep. They're not going to eat trash.
They're not going to listen to trash. and that sort of foolishness. It's blasphemy. Let's sing like
God's people have always sung, for the glory of God. Let's talk
like God's people talk back here. Let's use the language of Scripture.