If you would like to follow me
as I speak this morning in the Bible, I'll be speaking from
1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1, and I'll read
portions of verse 20 through 24. Now here's our subject. Christ, the wisdom and power
of God. Christ, the wisdom and power
of God. Now listen to the scriptures.
Paul is writing here to the church at Corinth, and he said, where
is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer, the debater of this world? Hath not God made
foolish the wisdom of this world? For the world with all its earthly
wisdom knew not God, but God was pleased. Now listen, God
was pleased by the foolishness or what the world calls foolishness,
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews, that is
the religious people, seek a sign, and the Greeks or the Gentiles
seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the religious a stumbling block to the intellectuals' foolishness,
but to them who are called Christ is the power and the wisdom of
God. He says the religious seek a
sign, a power, and the intellectuals, they seek wisdom. But when we
preach Christ crucified, the believer finds in Christ crucified
both the sign, the power, and the wisdom of God. You know,
Paul's day was much like ours. There's not much change. Things
are the same. He found in the city of Corinth
the same thing that we find in our cities today. He said the
religious people, the religious people are all seeking a sign,
they're seeking an outward show, they're seeking some manifestation,
an outward manifestation of a sign or an earthly kingdom. They believe
there's power in numbers and power in wealth power and entertainment. They're always looking for some
show or something visible, something outward, looking for a sign. Show me a sign. And then the
worldlings are interested in intellectualism. They're interested
in logic and reason and they want a religion that can be explained
to the satisfaction of the natural mind. That's what the intellectuals
want. That's what the worldling wants. He deals in intellectualism. He seeks wisdom. In Paul's day,
he said, the religious people of my day are looking for a show.
They're looking for an outward manifestation, some kind of sign
from heaven. They run everywhere looking for
a sign, looking for a sign, something in the clouds or something in
the trees or something in somebody's hand, some kind of outward show.
And the worldling, he's interested in intellectualism. He wants
a religion that can be explained, but Paul declares, we preach
Jesus Christ and him crucified And to those who are enlightened
of God and of the Spirit of God, Christ becomes to them both that
power and the wisdom of God. Now, I don't claim to be an authority
on the signs of the times, but I do have some understanding
of the message of the Bible. I have some understanding of
the message of the Bible, that message that runs through this
book. And I can see and hear what is going on around me in
the name of God and in the name of religion. And I know this,
I've come to this conclusion. It's a far cry from the word
of God, a far cry from the scriptures. I'll give you four marks of this
generation. Number one, we have a religious
affluent society in the United States, rich religion, rich religion. And we're prone to judge our
spiritual state by our fleshly comforts. Did you know that?
Oh, how God's blessed me. How he's blessed me. I have two
cars and a fine home and I have good health and my children in
school. We're prone to mistake. and to
judge a spiritual success or spiritual state by fleshly comforts. What did they say in Revelation
3, verse 17? We're rich and increased with
goods and have need of nothing. But God said, you know not that
you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. Well, if we're
so well off on the outside preacher, we must be okay inside, not necessarily. You see, we have a rich, affluent
religious society, and America has good health, food, clothing,
fine homes. We live longer lives. We have
healthcare, social security, retirement. Who needs God? We
have need of nothing. This is what we're interested
in. This is what we have. Oh, they say sick people need
God, and poor people need God, and the down and out need God,
but the average American doesn't need God. That is until he gets
in trouble. And then he starts calling on
the preacher, calling on God. But up till that time, everything's
all right. Yes, sir, it's a rich, affluent
society, and we're mistaking outward comforts for spiritual
well-being, and it's not necessarily so. I tell you the second thing
we have here in this country, we have a popular religion in
America, a very popular religion. It's an accommodating religion,
sort of. It's live and let live. See if
this doesn't describe America's religion. Everybody's right,
nobody's wrong. You worship your God, I'll worship
my God. You worship your way, I'll worship
my way. You read your Bible, I'll read
my Bible, and we'll all meet in heaven in the sweet by and
by. We have the friendly church and we have the church where
everybody's somebody. And we have the church in the
heart of the city for the hearts of the city. We have all those
things except the gospel. We have a God who's all love
and no wrath. We have a God who's all mercy
and no righteousness. We have a God who's all grace
and no judgment. And men and women can be members
of our churches in good standing. and show no interest in Christ,
in God, in truth, in holiness, or in the gospel. Is that not
true? In fact, we boast about how many people we have on the
road. And in our day, in this day of popular religion, we have
substituted a decision for regeneration. We don't preach on regeneration,
we preach on decision. And salvation is not a decision,
it's a regeneration. It's a revelation of God to the
heart. and we have substituted emotionalism for worship. You
read the Old Testament and the New, and you study how those
people worshiped God in awe, in reverence, in fear. Isaiah
said, woe is me, I'm undone, I've seen the Lord. Job said,
I put my hand on my mouth, I abhor myself. I've seen the Lord. Daniel said when he saw the Lord,
his comeliness melted into corruption. John fell at his feet like a
dead man. Thomas fell and cried, my Lord
and my God. And what we call worship is running
the aisles and walking the pews and climbing the walls and throwing
songbooks and waving our arms and clapping our hands and stomping
our feet and hollering hallelujah. Who is this God that we're worshiping?
I can't hardly stand that stuff. I wonder how God stands it. And
we have substituted discussion for preaching. That's right,
we're sitting around in circles discussing the Word of God instead
of somebody coming along anointed with the Holy Spirit preaching
the Word of God. Oh, we've got a popular religion.
It'll suit anybody's fancy. Live and let live. You do your
thing and I'll do mine and God will have to accept it. No, he
won't either. And then I'll tell you something
else we have in this country. We have a professional ministry.
Prophets have gone out of style. That's right, the Elijahs, the
John the Baptist, the Pauls, men who are definite and determined
and doctrinal in their messages are not welcome anymore. You
see, we want a peacemaker and a moderator There's no voice
in the wilderness today. There's no disturber in Israel.
Preachers are excellent compromisers. People do not go to the house
of God to hear a word from God anymore. They go to fulfill a
duty. They go in order to feel good. They don't wanna be disturbed. And church people today will
not endure sound doctrine. but they've heaped to themselves
teachers having itching ears. Preachers are hired and fired
by men. Preachers are called and dismissed
by boards. Preachers are assigned to churches
now and removed the same way. These are not servants of God.
These are servants of men. That's how men hire them and
fire them and call them and dismiss them and assign them and remove
them. It's a professional ministry. You entered the ministry now.
There was a time when Paul said, God put me in the ministry. And then I'll tell you this.
Now you watch this. This moves right into what I've been reading
from 1 Corinthians. We have a spiritually ignorant
generation because of this religious affluent society. because of
this popularized religion with no offense, there's no offense
anymore in the message. Our Lord said, marvel not my
brethren if the world hate you. The world doesn't hate anybody,
not preachers anyway. And this professional ministry
has produced an ignorant generation. Spiritually ignorant. Ever learning. Oh, we're always reading something.
Ever learning, Paul said, but never coming to a knowledge of
the truth. You see, my generation, now listen
to me, my generation knows practically nothing of the true character
of God. God is love, but my friends,
God's chief attribute is holiness. God is holy. Read the Old Testament,
he doesn't call his angels his loving angels, he calls them
his holy angels. God is not in his loving temple,
he's in his holy temple. The Bible is not his loving word,
it's his holy word. The tabernacle was not the loving
place, it was the holy of holies, God is holy. and just and righteous,
as well as love and mercy. But we don't know anything about
the holiness of God because it hasn't been preached. And my
generation knows nothing of the true character of sin. We know
nothing of the fall and its consequences. What happened in the garden?
What happened when Adam ate the forbidden fruit? Well, death
and judgment and condemnation, the scripture says, came upon
all men. They died. dead in trespasses
and sin. My generation knows nothing of
covenant mercies. I was in Florida one time, I
wanted to go to a church and I looked into the yellow pages
and I found the Covenant Baptist Church and I called this church
and the secretary answered and I said, why do you call your
church the Covenant Baptist Church? She said, I don't have the faintest
idea. And there are not many people who know anything about
the covenant, although it's mentioned in the Bible 300 times. The word covenant, covenant,
the everlasting covenant, God's covenant. He made a covenant
with Noah. He made a covenant with Adam. He made a covenant
with David, made a covenant with Abraham. And there's a covenant
of grace of which Christ is a surety. But my generation knows nothing
about that. And my generation knows little
or nothing about the person and work of Christ. Who is he? Who
is this Jesus Christ? And why'd he come into the world?
Well, what did he do? Well, why did he do that? Why
did he have to die on the cross? Why such a cruel ignominious
death? Why the perfect obedience? Why
live 34 years on this earth? Why not just run down here and
die and go back to glory? My generation doesn't know why,
doesn't know where he is now, what he's doing, why he's there. And my generation knows little
or nothing of Old Testament pictures and types of redemption. Christ
said, Moses wrote of me. Abraham saw my day and was glad.
He quoted Jonah, Isaiah, all in connection with his own ministry
and life. And my generation knows nothing
of true salvation, true regeneration. Or they get religion and they
turn over a new leaf and they quit a few bad habits and they
join the church and they have a good young people's program
and they have a social organization and they, you know, feel good
and have an experience, but they know nothing of a new creation
in Christ Jesus. They know nothing of the inward
well of living water. They know nothing of the oneness
of the vine and the branches. They know nothing of the oneness
of the head and the body. They know nothing of that new
birth, that coming to know God in an everlasting relationship. They slip in church and slip
out just about as quickly. They get religion, don't know
they got it and lose it and don't miss it. Because it's just something
they do for God after all. And my generation believes and
preaches like the Galatians, a mixture of grace and works.
I listen to preachers and I try to hear the note they're sounding.
Are they sounding the note of free grace, free grace, free
grace? No, they're not. They're sounding
a mixture. Now God's done all he can do,
it's up to you. And God's back here wanting you to do something,
but he can't violate your will, make you do anything, so you
just have to volunteer. I wonder if Noah volunteered
to build that ark or did God tell him to do it? Did Abraham
volunteer to leave his father's house or did God tell him to?
Did Moses decide to offer a lamb in Egypt or did God command him
to? Zacchaeus, did he volunteer to
come down or did Christ tell him to come down? What about
Lazarus in the tomb? Did he just decided to get up and walk out
or did Christ command him to come out and give him life? My
generation has a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
They're always talking about God, but he's got no power. He
can't do anything anyway. He'd like to save everybody,
but they won't let him. God's hands are tied. He has
no hands but your hands. That's what they tell me. God's
got no feet. He's an odd God. He's got no
eyes either, except your eyes. No hands but your hands. No tongue
but your tongue. God can't do much, can he? Sounds
like an idol to me. But God, the living God said,
my hand's not short that I can't say, my ear's not heavy that
I can hear, he said. None can stay my hand to say
unto me, what doest thou? My generation's got enough religion
to make them miserable and not enough to do them any good. But in the face of all this,
the religious are still looking for a sign. not a person, a sign. And the whirling is still seeking
his wisdom and logic and all these things. But I'll tell you,
in Christ crucified, to those who hear and believe, they see
the power of God and the wisdom of God. At the cross where I
first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away, it was
there by faith I received my sight, spiritual sight, and now
I'm happy all the day. You know why? Because at the
cross, the true character of God is revealed. At the cross,
the true character of God is revealed. There you see the love
of God demonstrated at the cross. God so loved the world, he gave
his son. But at the cross, you see the
justice of God demonstrated. God must punish sin. And in the
person of his son, he's punishing our sins. God must be holy. At the cross, you see the holiness
of God because he turned his back on his son. Christ said,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because of God's holiness. He can have nothing to do with
sin. And Christ was made sin for us. That's where we see the
character of God at the cross. At the cross, you see the love
of God, you see the justice of God, you see the holiness of
God, you see the righteousness of God. For Christ fulfilled
the law, honored the law, satisfied the justice of God, and gave
to us a perfect righteousness with which God can be pleased
and which God can accept. That's the power and wisdom of
God. And then at the cross, you see the true nature of sin revealed. two charges against our race.
In the Garden of Eden, we tried to throw God off his
throne. We said, we'll be like God. And when his son came down
into this world, we spit in his face and nailed him to a cross. And we said, we won't have this
man reign over us. And when you stand at the foot
of that cross, and looked there hanging on that cross. There's
true holiness hanging on that cross. He went about doing good.
He knew no sin, had no sin, did no sin. He healed the sick, raised
the dead, fed the hungry. True holiness personified and
what's man's reaction to it? They nailed him to a cross. There's the true nature of man.
They say, oh, if a perfectly holy man came to this earth,
everybody'd follow him. They'd spit in his face and nail
him to a cross and send him back to heaven. Right, that's what
they did to Jesus Christ. There's sin. And when you talk
about how good you are and good people are and how to spark a
goodness in everybody, go to the cross and see how good people
are. They hate God. They don't hate their God, they
don't hate their idols, they don't hate their interpretation
of God, they hate the living God, the holy God, the just God,
the righteous God. And when he stood on this earth
in human flesh, they spit on him, put him on a cross and chose
a thief in his place. That's right, you know that's
right. I'll tell you something else
at the cross, you learn covenant mercies at the cross. Jesus Christ
was a lamb slain at the cross. Yes, sir. For the foundation
of the world too. What God does in time, he did
in eternity. God always has a plan. These
preachers keep talking about God's plan. If you knew anything
about God's plan, you know something about God's covenant of grace,
covenant of mercy. He fulfilled, he said, I purposed
it, I'll bring it to pass. I willed it, I'll bring it to
pass. I've spoken it, I'll do it. and everything that's done
in time is decreed in eternity. That's right, when they cast
dice at the foot of the cross for his garments, God said hundreds
of years before then, that's what they'd do. You see, we carried
out the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God when we
crucified his son. We did what God determined before
to be done. What was done at Calvary was
willed and decreed and purposed and planned by God before this
world began. God left men to their own depraved,
wicked, bound, free wills to do what their will would do.
We acted according to our nature. We always will unless we're interrupted.
We always will unless we're arrested by God. We'll go down the slippery
slide to hell unless God stops us and changes our wills and
gives us a new heart. You see covenant mercies at the
cross. Christ's death wasn't an accident. Christ's death was
purposed and planned by God before the world began. And at the cross,
you see the person and work of Christ. Who's on that cross? That's the Son of God. That's
the Son of God. As man, He suffered. As God, He satisfied. As man,
He bore our sins. As God, He put them away. He's
the Godman, the Godman. and the work he accomplished
at that cross was to redeem a people. He didn't attempt to do it, he
did it. You see, salvation is accomplished. When our Lord died
on that cross, he said, it's finished. All that the Father
gave me to do, I have accomplished. I finished the work you gave
me to do. Christ paid the debt, all the debt I owe. Sin left
a crimson stain and he washed it white as snow. There's something
else you see at the cross. You see, Paul said, I preach
the cross. I preach Christ crucified, the
power and wisdom of God. And in this cross, you see all
the Old Testament patterns and pictures and types fulfilled. You should stand and look at
the cross. Your mind goes back to Abel and his brother Cain. And Cain brought her the fruit
of the fields and Abel brought a lamb. and shed its blood by
faith. And that's what you see at the
cross. As you stand and look at the cross, you see Abraham and
Isaac walking up that mountain, Mount Moriah to sacrifice and
worship God. And Isaac looked at his father
and said, father, here's the wood, here's the fire, where's
the lamb? And as I stand at the foot of the cross, Jesus Christ
dying on that cross, I hear the words of Isaac echoing over those
thousands of years. My son, father, where's the lamb? And Abraham answered, my son,
God will provide himself a lamb. There he is. When I stand at
the Calvary's cross and look upon Jesus Christ suffering and
dying, my mind goes back to Egypt. 400 years, Isphra was down there
in captivity and bondage. And God said, I'll pass through
the night at midnight and slay the firstborn. But you, my people,
select the lamb, first thing of the flock, without spot or
blemish, put it away four days, observe it, slay it, put the
blood on the door. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And I'll tell you, as I see Christ on that cross,
I see the blood of the Lamb and God's Passover. Christ, our Passover
is sacrificed for us. Go through the whole Old Testament.
It's fulfilled at Calvary. Moses wrote of me, but my generation
doesn't know that. And you know why? Nobody's taken
the time to preach it to them. They've been too busy playing
ball and entertaining people. trying to get folks down the
aisle and telling them to believe and not telling them what to
believe or whom to believe or why to believe. And I'll tell
you at the cross, mercy and truth met together. Righteousness and
peace kiss one another. And that cross enabled God to
be just and justifier of all who believe in Jesus Christ.
Oh, the religious world seeks after their show and their signs
and their emotionalism and entertainment and the world seeks after wisdom.
But when a man ever is taken by the Spirit of God to Calvary,
Christ crucified, he'll see there the power of God, and the wisdom
of God, and the character of God, and the nature of sin, and
the mercies of the covenant fulfilled, and the person and work of Jesus
Christ, not attempted but accomplished. and the patterns and types of
the Old Testament, all of them richly fulfilled and salvation
accomplished and mercy and truth meet together and a holy God
enabled by the sacrifice of his son to justify the ungodliness. And we preach the glory of His
person. We preach the excellency of His
character. We preach the power and efficacy
of His blood. You say, Brethren, what do you
mean efficacy? He got the job done. Our Lord didn't try to
save anybody, He saved them. There's no sin so black, no guilt
so great, no life so vile, no heart so evil, no mind so corrupt
that the blood of Christ cannot cleanse as white as the snow.
and we preach the continuation of his intercession. He ever
lived to make intercession and we preach the promise of his
glorious return. Christ crucified, the power and
wisdom of God. Now I have two messages on this
tape that I'd like for you to have. The one I preached last
week on the oneness of true believers and the one this today on the
Christ, the power and wisdom of God. If you want them, you
write to them and send $2. That's what it cost us to prepare
them for you, and we'll send them. Until next week, may the
Lord bless you.