Well, good evening, everyone. We're going to be continuing in 1 Corinthians.
So why don't we go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I'm hoping to finish the chapter.
1 Corinthians chapter 1, I'm going to go ahead and read the portion that we have here today.
Tonight? So if you remember, Paul was talking about how there is contentions and schisms and he was saying to them, you know, is Christ divided? People say, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Paul.
Cephas, these sorts of things. And then he says, I'm glad I didn't baptize you lest anyone would say that they were baptized in the name of Paul.
And then he says here in verse 17, 1 Corinthians 1, 17, for Christ did not send me to baptize.
But to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words.
Lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
And then he goes on, for the message of the cross is foolishness To those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved It is the power of God, for it is written.
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing The understanding of the prudent Where's the wise? Where's the scribe?
Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish The wisdom of this world For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God.
It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached. To save those who believe.
For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block and to the Greeks Foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks.
Christ, the power of God. And the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men.
And the weakness of God is stronger. Than men.
I'll finish the other portion here as we go on, but let's continue in prayer.
Lord, again, we thank you for this time we have. We thank you for your word.
We thank you, Heavenly Father, for the Apostle Paul and these letters that he has written.
Lord, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Thank you that we can learn about you and learn about your ways.
Learn about your church and how we can be a part of it.
What you want in the local assembly. We thank you. For this time, just commit it into your hands. We pray that you would get the glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen. So as I mentioned last time, Ray spoke, we saw that the church was filled with contentions and schisms.
Divisions. And so there's an issue happening here in in this church of Corinth. There's… And Paul puts his finger on it later on. So here he's talking about the symptoms.
The contentions, the divisions, and then the reliance on the wisdom of men. And then as we go on, we'll see more. But really the issue that Paul puts his finger on is in In chapter three chapter Verse 1, it says, and I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as to carnal.
As to babes in Christ. So Paul's telling them, look, you are not… Spiritual. You are carnal. You know, carnal is just of the flesh.
Now here he says here in verse… Three in chapter three.
He says, for you are still carnal, for where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you.
Are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? So he's saying.
You're acting like just the unsaved. You're acting like unbelievers. You're acting like unregenerate believers Because you're filled with envy, strife, and divisions.
You're behaving like mere men. And, you know, as a believer, we're not mere men. We're new creations in Christ.
But unfortunately, we can fall back into those old patterns and ways of behaving.
So Paul puts his finger on it. That this is why I'm bringing up these symptoms of what's happening in your church And this is really the issue. You're carnal.
But so continuing on here, one of the uh One of the symptoms were the divisions.
Another symptom that Paul addresses in this passage that I just read. The reliance on the wisdom of words.
And versus God's wisdom. So the Corinthians… You know, they held the wisdom of words in high regard.
So if you remember, Mike did the overview of 1 Corinthians, and he was talking about how the people there, they spent a lot of time listening to rhetorical messages, right? And they were enamored with the speech and being able to persuade people with their powerful speech
And they were taken up with that. That was something that was very important to them. I am of Apollos. Remember he said in verse 1, I'm of Cephas, I'm of this person. It's like I'm on this guy's team. I have his t-shirt. So there's this idea of like, I'm connecting with this person because I really like how he talks.
He speaks and shuts such wisdom of words. And you look up to those powerful speakers.
And really, it's the wisdom of words here that he talks about in verse 17.
It's the art of persuasive speaking, right? Clever sayings. Rhetoric, these sorts of things. And if you remember in Acts 17, when Paul goes to Athens.
He says that, you know, there's many people there that didn't do anything but listen.
To someone get up and speak, to hear something new, right? To tickle their ears, like, ooh, there's some clever saying that was That was a pastime.
They're in this culture. So the Corinthians Not being spiritual, not being mature in their faith. They latched on to some of these things from their culture.
This idea of, you know. These rhetorical speeches.
And, you know, it's not to say in verse 17, Paul says… For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words.
So he's not saying that precise language isn't important. That's not what he's saying. He's not saying I don't speak in a logical manner. It's not what he's saying.
He's saying, I'm not relying on… these rhetorical techniques and persuasive language.
To grab someone's emotions and get them to believe, that kind of thing. It's like, no, he says.
Lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
Where's the power, right? Where is he trusting it? Is he trusting in his rhetorical messages and techniques or is he relying on the power of the gospel?
He wasn't out to impress his listeners. He wasn't out to get attention or favor from the upper class.
Remember we talked about, or Mike talked about the The culture of the day, there were patrons that people would want to please. And, you know, he wasn't looking for a patron. He wasn't trying to impress or find favor with a patron.
You know, so that he could… then find favor with this upper class. No, he relied on the power of the gospel, right? Romans 1, 6, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
For it is the power of God unto salvation. That's what he relied on.
Paul trusted in the message of the cross. And the gospel of salvation.
That is… the wonderful reality.
And to rely on these other things, he says, would make the cross of Christ of no effect. It would rob the cross of its effect.
If he relied on these things. So… Verse 18, he continues on here.
You need to understand Corinthians. It's the message of the cross.
He says in verse 18, For the message of the cross… is foolishness.
To those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
You know, if you're relying on the wisdom of this world, this message is going to be foolish. It's foolish.
To those out in the world, right? Those that are It says perishing.
So why are they perishing? Why are they perishing? Because they think the gospel is foolishness.
How would they stop perishing if they believe the gospel? It says there in verse… end of 21.
It says it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those Who believe. So you believe the gospel. You're no longer perishing. Wonderful.
We can rely on that reality. So the message of the cross is foolishness.
You know, it's the word there, the Greek word, it's where we get the word moronic.
It's moronic. It's silly, right? It's foolishness. You know, to the Greek, to the Roman mind.
That God would… come to this world and be humiliated.
And to suffer and die on a cross that like No way. No way would that ever happen.
To a God. You know, showing weakness Allowing men to do this, God would never do that.
So it's foolishness, that whole idea of that Jesus would die on a cross. That is complete, utter nonsense to the Greek a Roman mine. And, you know, you may say, well, you know, if I was God, I wouldn't do it like that.
I would set up a different way to get people saved. I wouldn't do it like that. That's what people think. It's so foolish.
You know. This is one thing I think, that basically proves that the gospel did not find its origin in men.
Because men would never come up with this, right? That there's nothing I can do of myself. There's no righteousness in me.
There's nothing that I can do to save myself. I need to completely rely on This God who came to this world and died on the cross?
And paid the penalty for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now I just need to believe in him and I'm saved.
We never come up with that. Never come up with that because there's got to be something I do, right? I get some kind of glory and credit, don't I? That's the natural tendency. That's all other religions.
All other religions say that I have some credit that I can say that I did.
So the simple gospel is foolishness. It's silly. It doesn't make sense.
To the natural, to these natural to these people.
But so it goes on. And really, you know, these people, they may even say they believe God. Oh yeah, I believe in God. Sure. I just don't believe that he would ever come down and die on a cross. I don't.
I don't believe that. So those that are perishing coming to ruin, right? That's coming to ruin. And if they die in that condition They spend eternity away from God.
Apart from God. But if they simply believe the gospel, believe the truth of the gospel.
They would no longer be perishing. But it says, but to those… But to us who are being saved.
So that's interesting. Some of your translations may say to those that are saved.
But my understanding is the Greek is this, it is continuing on, so it's this being saved, this idea of sanctification.
So to us who are being saved. We find this reality, this message to be the power of God.
The message of the cross. And that is the whole, everything that the cross means, right? Jesus came and he died on the cross for our sins. He rose again. A simple child can believe that and be saved.
But then it takes a lifetime to understand the entire more than a lifetime, eternity to understand the depths of that reality, what he accomplished for us on the cross.
That is something that would take the rest of our lives.
And we'll continue to find wonderful truths out of that. That's why we come every Sunday and have the Lord's Supper.
It never gets old to talk about what Jesus did on the cross.
We're just scratching the surface. Of what he accomplished for it. We're just getting a little taste of it.
We have yet to understand and see the fullness of that. It'll take the rest of eternity to understand all of that.
So… to us who are being saved.
It is the power of God, the cross. Take a look at real quick Romans 6.
Romans 6. So we believe in this.
And we're saved, we're justified, but we continue to lay hold on it. It says in Romans 6 verse 3, You know, he says, what shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not.
Verse 3, or do you not know that as many of us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.
Even so we should walk In newness of life.
See, the message of the cross is the power that we can walk in newness of life.
Every day. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death.
Certainly, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this that our old man was crucified with him. So it goes on but The power of God, it's the message of the cross. It's the power of God that we can walk in newness of life.
Every day. That's the message of the cross.
That we need to lay hold of. And learn.
So… The wisdom of the world knows nothing of this.
And then, so the Lord, he says, verse 19, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. So the context of this, he's quoting Isaiah.
Your Isaiah 29. And the context of this is If you remember, the Assyrians were on their way to invade Judah and Israel.
Sennacherib, we heard about him on Sunday with J.J. Rowley. And the leaders, they wanted to find, they wanted to make an alliance with Egypt.
And you know what? It makes sense, right? There's an enemy coming that's much stronger than I am. I'm going to try to find an alliance.
So they can help me fight makes perfect sense. Except God said no.
God said, trust me. What are we going to do? Are we going to trust in our own wisdom and understanding of the situation? Or do we trust the Lord?
Well, Isaiah made it clear. Do not make it… an alliance with Egypt, but they did.
And they failed, right? They were… conquered. God wants us to trust him. He wants us to learn to trust him.
And turn away from that turn away from what makes sense to us, right? Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.
Psalm 147 real quick. Psalm 147.
It says… In verse 10.
Psalm 147 verse 10. He does not delight in the strength of the horse.
Where should we find our strength to do this battle? We need a bunch of horses.
Well, no, that's not going to work. He takes no pleasure in the legs of man or the strength of men. That's the idea.
The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him and those who hope in his mercy.
So, you know, our natural tendency is to trust in these other things.
That it makes sense, completely makes sense in the in our In our wisdom, but God says, no, trust me.
I've got this. Trust me. So then it goes on here, verse… 20. Here's almost a challenge. Where is the wise? Where's the scribe?
Where is the disputer of this age? Where were you? I think of Job.
In 38.4, the Lord says, where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Like, who do you think you are?
You think you're wise. You think you're going to stand up before God and challenge him?
Where were you when he laid the foundation of the world?
Your wisdom will fail. If you're a disputer, you're going to fail? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? So he continues to show its foolishness and its failure.
So that people will turn away from that. And turn to him.
See, God doesn't operate within the wisdom. He doesn't operate within that world of the wisdom of the wise.
He will bring it to nothing. All this wisdom falls… Short.
Then it goes on. Verse 21, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God.
It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those.
Who believe. So we can't, in our own natural unaided wisdom, we can never know him.
Now, the Bible does tell us that The stars itself reveals something about him but as far as Redemption, we're not going to know that apart from revelation.
People talk about, well, there's no evidence for God. You know, it's like, well, I'm going to get my test tubes out. I'm going to run my experiments and try to prove that God existed.
He's beyond that, right? I mean, science can only prove certain things, right? They can't… we don't believe, science can't prove that love exists, right? It can't prove that.
There are certain things that science is very limited. So we're not going to… You know, build a tower and get to heaven, right? We can't do that.
The wisdom of this world, you can't know him apart from revelation.
And he reveals himself to us.
So it's only revelation. Now, Romans 1.20 says, yes, we see The universe, we see the creation. We understand his eternal power in Godhead.
So what we do know is… Whoever's out there that created this.
Place. He's powerful and he's in charge. You know, that's what you can learn. But as far as… You know, the Lord Jesus.
That's revelation. Hereby we know the love of God, right? He sent his son to die on the cross for our sins.
The gospel, it's the word of God, it's the Holy Spirit coming into this world.
The scriptures, all these things is what we need for redemption. So then it goes on, verse 22.
For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified.
To the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. So the Jews are looking for a miraculous sign. They're looking for a powerful political leader that was going to come in and rescue them from Rome. He was going to bring victory. They were looking for that.
The Greeks, they're looking for some new wisdom or clever sayings, truth.
Looking for truth. But it says… But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews as stumbling blocks, a stumbling block.
Our Messiah that's supposed to come and rescue us? Came here in weakness as a baby born in a manger.
You know, a lowly, you know, carpenter Carpenter's son and poor and then he died on a cross like it doesn't… You know, it's a stumbling block. It's a stumbling block.
Cursed the Messiah, cursed by God, raised up on a… hung on a tree.
And also… It turns out that this this gospel, it's by faith. It's not by works.
I can't trust in my own law keeping. I can't trust in my I'm being kosher. I was doing everything right my whole life and now those things don't matter. Now it's only faith in Christ. It's a stumbling block.
It's a stumbling block. Romans 9, 30 to 33 will… maybe look at it on your own time.
So… The Greeks.
Like I said, like we said before, it's foolishness. This message of the cross, it's foolishness.
They were after wisdom. But Christ crucified, it's foolishness.
It's moronic. No God would ever allow himself to be humiliated in such a way.
Showing weakness. Well, it turns out exactly what they were looking for Exactly what the Jews are looking for, exactly what the Greeks are looking for is found in Christ.
When you put your faith in him it says But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks.
Christ, the power of God. And the wisdom of God.
So if you put your you're called and you believe in him, you trust in him.
He is the power of God. He's exactly who the Jews are looking for.
The Messiah. That's who he is. The Greeks, they put their faith in him. They realize he is the wisdom of God.
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in him.
Everything that I've been looking for, it's in him. So whoever you are today, what you're looking for is found in him.
So, yeah, the, the, the. The Greeks, they found that he is the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in him.
The Jews realizing that the exceeding greatness of his power towards those who believe.
You're looking for power. You're looking for wisdom. It's in him. It's in Christ.
Verse 25. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. So obviously there's no such thing as the foolishness of God, right? Paul's using a little… A little rhetoric here maybe.
But what seems like foolishness on God's part actually is wiser than anything that we could ever imagine.
And what seems weak You know, what seems weak actually is stronger and more powerful than we can ever imagine.
He is put to shame. The wisdom of this world, the strength of this world.
He's put us to shame. Because of… who we think we are.
So, and that's what happens here. Verse 26, so I'll read this portion now, then we'll… We'll finish up with this portion here.
Verse 26 For you see your calling, brethren.
That not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty.
Not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.
And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty.
And the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen. And the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are.
That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification.
And redemption, that, as it is written. He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
So… So Paul continues this… about who does God use in this world?
Who does God choose and why does he choose them? And for what, right? So when God chooses someone, is that to the exclusion of others?
So take a look at Genesis 12 real quick. Genesis 12.
God chose Abram. Out of all of the families All of the men that lived in that time period God chose this man.
For what? To exclude everyone else?
It says here, Genesis 12 verse 1. Now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great.
Here it is, and you shall be… a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you.
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
So sometimes we think, well, you know, God chose Abram at the exclusion of everyone else.
Well, actually, he chose Abraham to be a blessing to everyone else.
That's how God chose Abram to be an instrument of his blessing.
So that's… I think that's what Paul's saying here in verse 26.
Did he choose the foolish and exclude the wise? Sorry, wise.
You're going to hell, right? I'm only choosing the foolish ones.
These wise ones are going to hell. Is that what he's saying here? No.
He's not. You know what? He chooses the foolish so that the wise realize… I can't trust in my wisdom.
When a foolish person gets saved and the wise man looks down on him and says.
This man has more than I have. There's something this man has that I want.
It puts to shame. His wisdom. I can't rely on my own wisdom.
I can't rely on my own strength. I can't rely on any of these things when I see these other people coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
When I see these people loving the Lord and God working in their lives.
It puts me to shame. It confounds me. It doesn't make any sense.
So, for you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. So that word noble, that's like a high birth, like a pedigree, right? Like, so I I come from this family and, you know, we're, you know, I'm
Thurston Howell the third or whatever. It's like, you know, the high echelon, the elites of the world, right? That's what that is.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.
So, you know, like I said. This foolish person comes to know the Lord and puts the wise to shame.
You know, I think about, remember when the Lord healed the man in John 9, the blind man And here this blind man is.
He's, you know, he's unlearning. Yet he's going in front of these Pharisees and he's telling them You know, he's giving them the truth and like, who do you think you are like He confounded those men. He put them to shame with just the logic and the knowledge that he had about the Lord.
So… He chooses the weak things to put to shame, the things that are mighty.
The base things are the low birth. The people that don't have a pedigree.
You know, the upper class versus the lower class. He chooses the lower class.
Of the world and the things that are despised to put to shame those that are, like I said, the upper class.
So… It is to reach out to these people.
Not to exclude them. From the truth, but to reach out to them.
And then it says… that no flesh should glory in his presence.
So when we stand before him, there's nothing we can say about, well, yeah, you know, I was really good Well, I am from this family, you know.
We're really smart people you know None of those things, nothing, nothing.
It is all him, what he did for us. And that's why he did it this way.
That's why he… doesn't value the wisdom of this world. That's why he doesn't value the might of this world. He doesn't value it.
Can you imagine if it was dependent upon our wisdom? To know God. You know?
I'd be lost. If it was dependent upon My wisdom, my strength.
It's not. That's why God did it this way, so that he gets all the glory.
And then, you know, the thing too. Oh, yeah, so… He chooses the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty. Remember.
Naaman, the king. Who had a leprosy and that young little Jewish maiden girl This weak little Jewish maiden girl told him.
Hey, there's a prophet in Israel. He can help you. The weak little girl puts to shame this mighty king.
And he eventually, you know, he goes to the river and is cleansed.
So the people don't trust in those things. So, and so here in verse 30, we see… really the results.
What are the results of men's wisdom? What's the results of men's might and what are the results of their noble pursuits Really nothing, right?
What's the result of God's wisdom in our lives? What is the results?
It says here, verse 30 but of him You are in Christ Jesus who became for us.
Wisdom from God. God's way, what God did in our lives… What do we end up with? What are the results? We have his wisdom.
And then we also have Righteousness. We have righteousness.
We have sanctification and we have redemption. God's… God's plan works out perfectly. The ends of his plan are awesome. They're perfect. The end of men's wisdom and plans are going to come to nothing.
Now, so we have here… Righteousness.
Sanctification and redemption. Some commentary said that this redemption is a future. So this is… This is, I'm saved, I'm being saved, and one day I will be saved.
I'm going to one day I'm going to have a brand new body. My body's going to be redeemed. I'm going to stand before him.
In wondrous joy, seeing his face. That's what God's plan does. That's the results of his plan. Bringing these weak ones You know, foolish ones.
To stand before him in his righteousness. He became for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
That as it is written, he who glories Let him glory in the Lord. Again.
There's nothing that we can say about what we've done It's all about him and what he has done for us.
So that's… the end of 1 Corinthians… Chapter 1. So I think, Dan, you're on… Next? Okay, great.
All right, let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together. We thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, that We can't rely on anything of ourselves But Lord, thank you that you've done it all.
And that, Lord. Sometimes your ways don't make sense to us, but Lord, we need to trust you.
And Lord, we know that your ways always work out for the best.
Lord, we thank you again for this time together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen