The Wisdom of God

Well, let's open our Bibles,
first of all, to the book of Acts, chapter 18. Let me give you just a little
background of Paul's relationship with this church at Corinth.
In Acts, chapter 18, verse 1, it says, After these things, Paul departed
from Athens and came to Corinth. This is his first visit to the
city of Corinth. Now, down in verse 9, it says,
Then spake the Lord. He got in a lot of trouble in
Corinth, an awful lot of trouble. In verse 9, it says, Then spake
the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, and said, Be not
afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee,
and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have much
people in this city, this city of Collins. I have some sheep
here. I have some people here. You
stay here and preach." All right, and he continued there for a
year and six months, 18 months, teaching the word of God among
the people at Collins. Now, the first Corinthians, And Paul departed from Corinth, and after he departed, after
eighteen months of preaching to them, and the Lord, as he
said, had many people there and redeemed many people, raised
up a church there in Corinth. And after Paul departed from
Corinth, false teachers came in. And they disturbed the Church.
They sowed error among the people. The people fell into factions.
You will find that in chapter 3, divisions. Some said, I am
of Paul. Some said, I am of Peter. Some
said, I am of Paulus. Some said, I like this preacher,
that preacher. I'm Baptist, I'm Methodist, I'm
Presbyterian. They divided up into factions,
and they began to misuse the gifts. They began to misuse the
gifts of the Spirit, tongues, healing. Made these things, instead
of means, to be the end. Sound like something you'd expect
in this day. Questions arose about marriage. Whether or not if a man was saved
and his wife wasn't, well, he could leave her. of a woman was
redeemed and her husband wasn't, and she'd go find her another
one. That sounds familiar, too, doesn't it? And going to law
with one another. These people wanted to go to
law to settle their difficulty. They got in a dispute, so they'd
hire them a lawyer. And then some even doubted the
resurrection, and they began to misuse the
ordinances. They misused the Lord's table. They misused baptism. Some of them became careless,
totally careless in their conduct, in their behavior. And then some began to flaunt
their learning. They began to flaunt their human
wisdom and their intellectualism. philosophy and led men away from the simplicity
of Christ. They just departed from the simplicity
of Christ, from the original purpose of the Church and the
Body of Christ and the fellowship. They just departed. So Paul wrote
this letter, 1 Corinthians, this first epistle to the Corinthian
Church And in chapter 2, the chapter that I'm dealing with
this morning, of course it's impossible in one service to
deal with all of these errors that had crept in. But this is the chief error that
led to the others. Putting the wisdom and understanding
and logic of man in place of the wisdom of God. That's what
led to all the other errors, Bob, you see. That's what led
them away into these other things. Well, I think, and this is my
opinion, this is the way I feel about it, this is my judgment. We'll get a committee together
or a Senate or a Presbyterian, we'll discuss this thing and
we'll do what's feasible. We'll share. And this was the
whole problem. What Paul is saying in this second
chapter, he's saying that the gospel of God does not need the
wisdom of me. that the gospel of God is the
wisdom of God. The gospel of God is the wisdom
of God and far above the wisdom of men, as the heaven is above
the earth. God said that through Isaiah.
He said, My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are
not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts,
and my ways are not your ways, as the heaven is high above the
earth. So high are my ways and thoughts
above your ways and thoughts. So the gospel, this business
of salvation, this business of a relationship with God, is not
understood by human wisdom, nor is it preached in human wisdom,
nor is the Church to be conducted on the basis of human wisdom.
Churches pick preachers today who are well-educated, intellectual. A preacher has to finish so many
years of college, so many years of seminary, and the more degrees
he has, the more opportunity he has to pastor a large church.
I know a young minister in Louisiana now that has his B.A. working
on his M.A., and he's headed for his Ph.D., because he wants
to be successful in religious circles. There was a time when
God taught his preachers. The gospel of God is the wisdom
of God, and it's so far above what you can learn in any school
or seminary from any man as the heaven is above the earth. That's
what Paul is saying. You'll see that in a moment.
And the gospel, this gospel of God, the mind of God, the things
of God, are not learned by education, they come by revelation. They
are made known to the heart by the Spirit of God. That's how
they're revealed to men. The gospel is made known to men
only by the Spirit of God, not by the cleverness of the preacher,
not by the arguments of the preacher. You're not going to argue any
man into the kingdom of God. We're born into the kingdom of
God. We're born from above. Salvations of the Lord. The scripture
says that a half a dozen times. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord and of him only. And we might as well face this
because it's crazy. Now listen to me. I'm just telling
you what Paul says here to the Church of Corinth. And the Church
of Corinth is a perfect picture of the Church today, with all
of its factions and divisions and misuse of gifts and intellectualism
and confusion and all these things. The Church is full of these things.
It's divided from one end to the other. And the gospel, these things
of God, are the wisdom of God and not
the wisdom of me. And it's not learned by human
wisdom. People select deacons for their
business management. You go to the average church,
first church in the town, and the men who are deacons are the
men who are through businessmen, or clever men. or powerful men,
or influential men. Deacons are not controllers, they're servants.
They're servants to wait tables and to meet the menial, material,
humble needs of people, not direct the Church's direction and message. nor are
they the wet dogs of the treasurer. But that's the way it is today
in churches. And the next thing Paul solemnly declares is natural
man, the natural man, does not understand the things of God.
He understands his business, but not God's business. He understands his philosophy,
but not God's philosophy. He doesn't understand, and he
can't. unless God reveals it to us.
Now, let's look at verse 1. This is just so, and I don't
mean to be offensive, and I don't mean to be hard, but I sure mean
to be truthful. And I, who is this I? This is the man, this is the
man to whom God appeared on the road to Damascus. Christ revealed
himself to him and taught him his word, his This is the man
God, from his mother's womb, separated to be an apostle to
us Gentiles. That's right, this is the man.
This is the man whom God took to the third heaven and showed
him things that weren't lawful to utter. This is the man. And
he said, I, when I, brethren, came to you, when I came down
to Corinth, I didn't come with excellency of speech to impress
you. to entice you, to persuade you,
I didn't come with excellency of speech, oratory, or human
wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God. What is the
testimony of God? Well, that word is used several
times in Scripture, several times. It's the truth of God. It's the
gospel of God. It is the witness of God. It is the truth of redemption. And Paul said, I didn't try to
impress you. I didn't come there with my gowns on and my different
markings that let you know my degree. That's what, you know
what those markings are, and the different colored scarves
and so forth. That's to show you a man's position educationally. And they found it. I didn't come
to you saying I'm Dr. so-and-so, or Bishop so-and-so,
or Cardinal so-and-so, or the Right Reverend so-and-so. I didn't
come to you with excellent speech and intellectualism and human
wisdom. Now, please listen to me. I'm
not discounting education. I'm not ridiculing education
or scientific exploration. I thank God for them. I thank
God for the advancements in medicine, the advancements in communication.
Just a few moments ago I spoke to this whole tri-state area
on a television. I thank God for advancement in
communication, don't you? I thank God for discoveries which
have made our lives more comfortable. We don't dare put a premium on
ignorance. You say, don't you think preachers
ought to be trained? I certainly do. If a young man
in this congregation announced he felt led of God to preach,
I'd tell him to go over here to the college and study and
learn, learn to discipline his mind, learn to study, learn to
put things together, get an education. But he'll learn to preach and
he'll learn the things of God right here in the Church, under
a preacher who knows God. A bumper sticker says, if you
know how to read, Thank a teacher. I'd like to change that. I'd
like to change it to read like this. If you know how to read,
thank God and a teacher. God gave you the mind and the
eyes. Isn't that right, Ronnie? Thank
God and a teacher. If you know the gospel, you thank
God and a preacher. Isn't that true, too? Not discounting education. No,
sir. I would encourage put no premium on laziness or
ignorance by no means. I see these mountaineers in the
pulpit, and I don't know much, but I know God. Well, if you
know God, you know a whole lot. God's much. You know, there's
no premium on that, you know. That's not what I'm saying. But
what I'm saying is this. The things of God are not discovered
by human wisdom. I just read that to you. The
things of God are not discovered by education. The more highly
educated a man is does not mean he knows more of God or is even
able to know more of God. The things of God are revealed
through the word of God. Let me show you some scripture.
Turn to Job 11. If you listen to me and follow
the word, then you'll understand what I'm saying, at least in
our heads. In Job 11, listen to this. Education only equips a man for
truth as it enables him to read. But God must reveal the truth.
Listen to Job 11, verse 7. Can you by searching find out
God? Can you find out the Almighty
under perfection? Why, it's high as heaven. What
can you do? It's deeper than hell. What can
you know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth and broader than the sea. Turn to Romans 11, Romans
chapter 11. Listen to the Apostle Paul in
Romans 11, verse 33. Now listen carefully. Romans
11, 33, all the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and
the knowledge of God. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God Almighty. How unsearchable
are his judgments, his ways past finding out. For who hath known
the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor? Let's
try John chapter 6. Listen to this. John the sixth
chapter. In John 6, verse 44, the Jews
had just murmured against what our Lord had said, and in John
6, verse 44, he said, No man, whatever his credential, whatever
his heritage, no man can come to me except the Father which
sent me draw him. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. It's written in the prophets,
and they shall be, O, taught of God, taught of God, not of
men, taught of God. And every man, therefore, that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father, he cometh to me."
Are you with me? Go back to our text. We're not discounting or ridiculing
education by any means. This congregation has at least
five or six or seven teachers, high school and college, and
I commend them, congratulate them, thank God for them. But
Paul says in verse 1 of chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians, Brethren,
when I came to you, I didn't come with excellence of speech
and of human wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified." My friend Paul was a well-educated man. He was
educated in Jewish learning. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel,
the best teacher in his day, highly educated. He was well-educated
in Greek literature and in government. Paul appeared before kings. and
national leaders. In fact, one of them said to
him one time, You've studied so much, you've lost your mind.
That's what he said to him. But Paul's subject matter here
in verse 2, Paul's subject matter even among the Greeks in Corinth,
and this was the city of philosophers, debaters, educators, intellectuals. His subject matter even among
these Greeks, and he said, I'm determined to make it my subject
matter. I determined Paul could have conversed with them and
debated with them on any subject. Don't you know that? Any subject.
But that's not what they needed. And we don't need our preachers,
and God's preachers won't be involved in it. We don't need
our preachers involved in politics. We don't need them involved in
education. We don't need them involved in
business enterprises. We don't need them involved in
the medical field. Paul could have come to the city
of Paris and straightened out the government, led a rebellion
on human rights. He could have fought all the
justices and injustices. He could have gone down to the
university and debated with the intellectuals. But he said in
verse 2, that's not the way I came to call it, and that's not why
I came to call it. With excellence of speech and
oratory and human wisdom, and I determined in my heart, I determined
from the start that I would know nothing among you, I'd preach
nothing among you, I'd be involved in nothing among you but Jesus
Christ and him crucified. That's my determination. Or he
could have challenged any of them. He could have debated and
conversed with them on laws, Old Testament laws and their
laws, holy days, peace days, other subjects. But Paul knew
the needs of men and women. And Paul knew something about
the glory and will of God, and Paul knew something about the
terror of God. And that's the reason he said
over here, cross the page. Look back at 1 Corinthians 1.
Look at it carefully. Verse 18, for the preaching of
the cross. Let me read this to you in the
amplified version. Let me read it to you. You just
look up, you're kind of familiar with 1 Corinthians 1, 18 through
23, but let me read it to you in the amplified. Listen to this.
For the story and message of the cross of Christ is sheer
nonsense. and foolishness to those who
are perishing. But to us who are being saved,
it's the manifestation of the power of God. For God has said,
I will baffle and render useless and destroy the learning of the
learned, the philosophy of the philosophers, the cleverness
of the clever, the discernment of the discerner, For where is
the wise man? Where is the philosopher? Where
is the scribe? Where is the scholar? Where is
the logician of this age? Hath not God shown up the folly
of this world's wisdom? For when the world, with all
its earthly wisdom, fails to perceive, recognize, and know
God by means of their philosophy, and is that not true? This world
does not know God. They're trying to know God by
means of their philosophy, but they do not know God. This world
does not know God. Christ said to the religious
leaders when he preached on this earth, he said, you don't know
me and you don't know my Father. When they fail to know God through
their, by means of their philosophy, God in his wisdom was pleased
through the foolishness of preaching and its foolishness to the world,
the preaching of Christ and salvation by Christ. God has chosen by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So
back to our text. So brethren, when I came to you,
and getting to the heart of this, you listen to me, don't leave
me. I didn't come to you with of speech, to impress you, to
entice you. I didn't come to you with human
wisdom, because men do not know God by human wisdom. I declare
unto you the truth of God, the testimony of God, the gospel
of God, the wisdom of God. And I determine, I determine,
because the living God is only known in and through Christ So
I determine not to know anything among you, not to have any goal
or objective among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Now listen to me. No man has seen God at any time. No man. And I don't care what
the television preachers say, the Lord said to me, and I saw
the Lord in the vision, he's a liar. and the truth not in
him. No man hath seen God at any time. Even Moses couldn't look on God
in the middle. No man hath seen God. The only
begotten hath declared him. And now what it says, Christ
hath declared him. Listen to this verse, No man knoweth the
Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Turn with me to Hebrews 1. Listen
to what this says in Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1, verse 1, 2, and
3. Now, listen to this. I'm talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. My business is to preach Christ,
and I'm determined to be about my Master's business. The first words recorded that
our Lord spoke on this earth when he came down from heaven
in the form of a man. His mother and his foster father
came looking for him, and they said, We were worried, concerned
about you. He said, and wished ye not that
I be about my Father's business. My Father's business is not to
straighten out Washington. My Father's business is not to
straighten out this government. My Father's business is not to
demand human rights for all human beings. My Father's business
is to make Christ known. I'm telling you that. That's
my Father's business. That's what Paul is saying here.
And if we know Christ, these things will straighten out. If a man knows Christ, he'll
straighten him out. That's exactly right. Hebrews
1 verse 1, God, who at sundry times and in different manners
spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom he made the world. So I say to you,
now listen to this, if you would know God, If you would know God,
you're going to have to know Christ. And if you know Christ,
I'm going to have to preach Christ to you. I preach this is why
I preach Christ. Christ in his eternality, Christ
in his incarnation, Christ in his righteousness, Christ in
his sacrifice, Christ in his resurrection, Christ in his exaltation,
Christ in his glory, Christ as our example, as we studied this
morning. Christ, our prophet, priest, and king. Christ, our
mediator. Christ, our great high priest.
Christ, our sinner offering in sacrifice. Christ, I've got to
preach Christ to you. And let me tell you this. Listen
to me now. You don't hear anything else
I say, hear this. I say to all men, then if you would know Christ,
if you would know Christ, who is the wisdom of God? Of God
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom.
Would you know God, would you know God, the wisdom of God?
Then you leave your degrees and your diplomas and your doctorates
at the door and come to Christ. Okay? I'm telling you. I'm a
little more intelligent than the rest of you ordinary common
people because I've graduated from college and I have my master's
degree. That just makes it harder for
you to come to know God. It does, it just makes it more
difficult for you to come to know God. God saves nobodies,
not somebodies. I'm telling you the truth. I
may offend you, but I'm still telling you the truth. You leave
your degrees and your doctorates and your diplomas at the door,
and you come to Christ as a child. And then you leave your religion. This is one of the things that
keep men from Christ. You leave your religion, your
religious traditions, your religious training and your religious theology
at the door, and you come to Christ. Nothing that a man has, knows,
does or can do will commend him to God. Nothing. Not naturally. The man who has a lot of religious
traditions and a lot of degrees is at a disadvantage. And you
leave your professions. One lady told me she'd been told
another, a friend of mine, she'd been baptized three times and
wasn't going to do it again. I don't blame her. Leave your professions, your
baptisms, your experiences, and your works at the door, and you
come to Christ. I'm telling the truth. And you leave your rags of righteousness. I'm just glad you've never smoked
a cigarette, you've never Like one man said, liquors never pass
these lips. There's a lot of corruption come
out this way, though. Maybe not much has gone in, but
a lot's come out. And that's the problem. It's
not what you put in that's defiled you, it's what's come out of
you. Your trouble's not outward, it's inwardly. So please leave
your rags of righteousness and your morality and your holier-than-thou
pie at the door. Leave it at the door. I'm telling
the truth. If you want to come to Christ
now, and you leave your thoughts of God and your ideas of the
way of life, well, I'll tell you what my old grandmother said.
She didn't know too much, mine didn't. Your ideas of the way of life
and your opinion of eternal life, leave it at the door. Now, listen
to me, and come to Christ as a child. as a little child, except
you be converted and become as what? Children. You'll never
exceed the kingdom of God. Come to Christ as a sinner, for
except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall no case enter the kingdom of God. Come to Christ as a penitent,
except you repent, you'll perish. Come to Christ as a helpless
one, except a man be born again, he can never see the kingdom
of God. All grace and love and fullness dwells in Christ, and
the only way I can come to Christ is with nothing in my hands.
That's right. That's right. Well, what about
the preacher? Let's look at verse 3. You've
been talking about us, preacher. What about your preachers? Listen
to Paul, I determined, verse 2, to know nothing but Christ.
Now, and I, I, the apostle describes himself and his attitude, and
I was with you in weakness. Is any man weak, Paul said, and
I'm not weak? I tell you, I despise this doctrine
of the clergy and the laity. that lift preachers up here as
some object of worship and adoration. The Apostle Paul describes himself,
he said, I was with you in weakness and in fear, in fear, in trembling,
fear of the responsibility. He said, who's sufficient for
these things? We're nothing, we're nothing but messengers
of God. We're just messengers of the servants of the living
God. That's all a preacher is. He's a messenger and a servant
of the living God. He is a man who, like you, is
seeking the Lord, wanting to know Christ. Christ is the wonderful, the
counselor, the authority, not the preacher. I'm with you in
trembling and fear and weakness, and verse 4, and my speech and
my preaching It was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. I didn't come to you with gimmicks
and wisdom. Persuasible words, it's persuasible
words. Tell you, every time I see this
this altar call, when preachers stand up and preach and then
start raising hands and propositioning the people and offering them
heaven, if they do certain things for God, and then they bring
them down to the front. This man stands like some kind
of Savior, some kind of heavenly authority, some kind of spiritual
vicar of Christ, and he says, you pray this, and they pray
that, and now you're saved. Now you're saved. And if you'll
write to me, I'll send you my book on how to stay saved. He'll need your book. You saved
him, you'll have to keep him saved. But Paul put himself right
down with these people. He said, I'm determined not to
know anything but Christ, because I'm with you in weakness and
fear and trembling. And my preaching, my speech,
was not with persuasible words of man's wisdom, but I preached
to you in demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power. I preached
my gospel. What is it that quickens life
in a dead sinner? It's the word of God. It's not
the word of the man. It's the word of God. Of his
own will begat he us with the word of truth. And what I'm doing
this morning, what I try to do here every Sunday, is preach
this glorious gospel as truth. Tell the truth about God in his
majesty and glory. Tell the truth about sinners.
Brother Maine, you shouldn't offend people who are prominent
and influential and powerful in the city and community, they've
got to be offended. They've got to be stripped if
they're going to come to know God. I can compromise with them
and cater to them and butter them up and get some of their
money to help support this work, but they'd go to hell and I wouldn't,
too. So I've got to tell them the truth. A Jew has got to come
to God just like a Gentile. A rich man has got to come to
God just like a poor man. An educated man has got to come
to God just like an uneducated man. He's got to come empty-handed,
straight up, bulk on a center, in the dust, at the feet of Christ,
looking to Christ for mercy alone. I've got to do that. I do it because that's the message
of our Lord. That's why I've got to do that.
But I've got to come the same way I've got to come with him. I've got to come with him. I
have no corner on God. And watch verse 5. Now, here's
the key, and here's the key to this whole thing. Here's the
conclusion of the whole matter. That you're faith. That you're
faith. Now, let me tell you something.
We're saved by faith. Faith in Christ, justified by faith. Abraham
believed God. Abraham believed God. I believe
God. My ancestry has nothing to do
with my relationship with God. It's all in Christ. My preaching
and deeds and works and so forth have nothing to do with my acceptance.
I'm accepted in the beloved. I come to God as a fool, as an
empty-handed beggar. I come to God as a I come to
God as a guilty man, I come to God as a son of Adam. We all
come the same way. It's faith in Christ. Paul said,
I want to preach and declare this word in such a way that
when men hear me, that when they look, they might not look to
me, but look to him. That when they bleed, they might
not bleed me, but bleed him. That when they rest, they might
not rest in me, but rest in him. You see what I'm saying? Well,
I got a lot of confidence in Brother Mahan. Don't! He can't
help you. Put no confidence in the flesh.
My confidence is in Christ. Well, I believe he's a man that's
telling the truth. He wants to. But the measurement
of truth is this Word, not me. You go home and search the scripture
and see if I'm telling the truth. Because I want your faith, the
rest not in me or any theological position, or even in the old
Puritan, but in Christ, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, I say it's got
to be in Christ. Oh, verse 6, we speak wisdom,
all right. We speak wisdom. We speak wisdom
among men that are perfect, that are mature, yet not the wisdom
of this It's not the intelligence of this world, the philosophies
of this world. No, it's not. Nor are the leaders
of this world that come to know it. But we speak the wisdom of
God. And it's a mystery how God can
be just and justifier, how he can be cleanest born of a woman,
how God can be satisfied with a righteousness perfected and
performed by another. And this is the righteousness
and the wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory.
Let me show you a scripture in 2 Timothy. Turn over there just
a moment. I won't be much longer. 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1, verse
8 and 9. 2 Timothy 1, 8 and 9. Do not, he says to Timothy, be
not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Don't
be ashamed of this gospel. Nor of me, his prisoner. But
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. God ordained this before
the world, but he manifested it in Christ. Verse 8 says, And none of the
leaders of this world knew that, had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. The Pharisees said to
him, Do you teach us? He said, before Abraham was,
I am. They said, well, you're not fifty
years old, how can you be before Abraham? This is, see, how can?
How can? How can? It's human wisdom. Instead
of subjecting our so-called human wisdom to the word of God, we're
just submitting it to the word of God. When Christ came, if
they'd have said, well, here is the Son of God, let's listen
to him. Here's the very Word of God incarnate. Let's hear
it. No, we've got to say what we think. And here, I stand in
the pulpit here and other places, and I read this Word. Other foundations
can no man lay than that which is laid in Christ. I'm the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. And men say, well, I don't believe that. You know, match
in our human wisdom against God's wisdom. Let God speak. Let God
be true and ever man a liar. That's what I'm saying. Whoever
he is, just let him be a liar. That's what we are, we're born
liars. But, verse 9, it's written, I
have not seen, the ear has not heard, neither hath the inner
of the heart of man the things God has prepared for them that
love him. I want you to study that word, things, in this chapter,
the things. What are we talking about things? The covenant of God, the kingdom
of God, the glory of God, the righteousness of God. the forgiveness
of sin, the mercy and grace of God, mercy and justice, peace
and righteousness meeting together, how God can be just and justified,
how God can accept folks like me and you. These are the things
God has prepared. It's not just religion and going
to heaven when I die and will the circle be unbroken and all
this foolishness that we've given ourselves to. We think sentimentality
and emotionalism and waving our hands and cheerleaders and shouting
and whoop-de-doo, it's going to move God. God's moved by truth,
truth, integrity, righteousness, holiness. Do you have it? No,
sir. Well, you'll perish. I don't care how many hands you
raise or how much whoop-de-doo you raise. Well, let's get down
to business and shuck off our rags of self-righteousness and
come to Christ. God has sent him forth as a propitiation. God has sent him forth as a mercy
seed. God has sent him forth as a covering. God has sent him forth as an
intercessor, that God may be just and justify. Don't bypass
him with your human wisdom and so-called influence and knowledge.
Get to Christ as a broken sinner, as a humble sinner. You're a
nobody. I'm a nobody. I'm nothing. I'm a son of Adam,
and so are you. And I'm weary and sick of prestige,
influence, power pushers, and everything else, in the church
and out of it. We're just a bunch of no-good, good-for-nothing,
hell-deserving nobodies. God's had a little mercy on some
of us. And anything this side of hell is mercy. Thank God, verse 10, he's revealed
them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things,
the deep, deep, deep things of God. What's the deep things of
God? Mercy of God, grace of God, grace
of God. Down here in verse 13, and I'm
speaking these things, these things I'm talking about. The
average pastor today is not talking about justification. He's not
talking about redemption. He's not talking about righteousness.
He's talking about going to heaven. He's talking about rewards. He's
talking about Armageddon. They don't know anything about
Armageddon. He's talking about the premillennial return. He's
talking about crowns and rewards in heaven. He's talking about
descent and judgments that have never been judged in their hearts
about sin in reference to Christ. I'm talking about real things,
the deep things of God, the living things of God, a relationship
with God Almighty. Read on, verse 13. And I'm talking
about things which God, not man's wisdom, teaches. I'm talking
about things which the Holy Ghost teaches, and I'm comparing spiritual
things with spiritual things. I'm comparing sanctification
in Christ to how God pictured it in the Old Testament with
the Washington Baptism. I'm talking about a sin atonement
and a sin offering that God pictured in Abel's sacrifice and the Passover
legume. I'm comparing these things with
these things, and I'm coming up with the same answer, Christ. I'm comparing man's restoration
to man's fall. In Adam I died, in Christ I'm
made alive.

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