Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
Paul introduces himself as the writer with Sosthenes
in the first verse.
Paul called an apostle.
You notice the words to be are in
italics, which means that they were added by
the translators.
They're not there in the Greek.
Just Paul called an apostle of Jesus Christ
through the will of God.
And Sosthenes, our brother.
Now there is a name, Sosthenes, that is
related to Corinth.
When Paul was in Corinth, he was brought
by some of the Jews before the Corinthian
magistrate, Galileo.
And charges were brought against Paul by the
Jews concerning their religion.
And Galileo said, look, if the guy were
guilty of treason or something against the government,
then I should stand in judgment of him.
But because it's just religious matters, why do
you take my time?
And he ordered them out.
And the men that were there beat up
on Sosthenes, who was the chief ruler of
the synagogue and thus probably the chief conspirator
in bringing Paul before the Roman magistrate.
If this is the same Sosthenes, and it
would indicate that perhaps it is, we don't
know for sure.
But if it is, it is very interesting
that this man who was once an enemy
of Paul is now a companion of Paul,
joining him as he is writing back to
the church of Corinth.
No doubt, Paul introduces his name because his
name was a very familiar name to those
in Corinth.
If this is the same Sosthenes, it is
also interesting from the standpoint that here he
was leading this uprising against Paul, and now
the companion of Paul.
And it is fascinating that often when a
person is under heavy conviction of the Spirit,
he gets very cantankerous against God or the
people of God.
Sometimes people are so antagonistic towards the Lord,
we sort of write them off in our
minds.
We think, oh, there's no way they would
ever come.
But what we don't realize is that it's
all a big shell about ready to crack,
and they realize it's about ready to crack,
and that's why they're struggling so hard.
And so Paul joins his name with Sosthenes
in greeting the church of Corinth.
Corinth was the center of the world commerce.
It was an extremely luxurious city.
If you'll take a look at your map
of Greece, you'll find that southern area of
Greece is almost an island.
It is…
Greece narrows down to this very narrow isthmus,
and Corinth was there at this narrow isthmus
of Greece, only four miles across the land.
And thus, any commerce going from north to
south, from Macedonia to Achaia, had to pass
through Corinth.
And it came that most of the commerce
that was coming from east to west also
passed through Corinth.
Because around the southern tip of Greece, the
Cape of Methene was so treacherous that the
early sailors really did not like to sail
around southern Greece.
And so they would usually sail to Corinth.
If their ships were light enough, they would
take them out of the water and put
them on rollers and roll them across the
four miles and then launch them again in
the Aegean and sail on to Puteoli, the
port of Rome.
Or the same thing coming back.
If the ships were too big to transport
across the land, then they would often unload
the ships and just take the cargo across
this four miles.
Nero, seeing the advantage of the shipping coming
through this area, attempted to build a canal,
but he failed to do so.
But those men who built the Suez Canal,
when they were completed with that project, built
the Corinthian Canal.
And today you'll find that there is a
canal connecting the Aegean with the, what is
it, the Adriatic Sea there.
You've got your maps out.
What does it say?
Adriatic.
So yeah, across the Adriatic to Rome, the
Aegean.
So on the eastern side.
So this Corinthian Canal is operable today and
the ships are able to save many miles
of going around the southern end of Greece.
Corinth was not just a commercial center.
It was a center of philosophical thought in
those days.
And there came a phrase, he speaks in
the Corinthian style, which meant very articulate, precise,
and colorful.
And these men were more interested, not in
what they said, but how they said it.
Giving a lot of flair and color and
all to their speeches.
And they loved oratory.
Doesn't matter what the guy said, just so
he's a good orator, you know, and they
were attracted to oratory, but also interested in
philosophical thought.
But Corinth was also one of the most
debased, wicked cities in the world.
With all of their philosophy, they could not
keep that city from sinking into the lowest
kind of debauchery.
And thus, he lives like a Corinthian was
a very common phrase that became a part
of their vernacular to describe a man who
was always drunk and living in open debauchery.
And in the Greek theater, whenever they would
portray a drunk, they would always refer to
him as the Corinthian.
Now, in the midst of this pagan city,
one of the lowest, as far as morals
goes, there was a church of God, the
Ekklesia.
Now, the word Ekklesia is a word that
is common in Greek, but it usually referred
to the city council.
They were called the Ekklesia.
Those who have been called to rule in
the city, they were known as the Ekklesia.
So there was the Ekklesia of Corinth, the
city council, those who ruled over the city
affairs.
But there was also the Ekklesia of God.
Those who are called to reign and to
rule with God, the church and the word
Ekklesia has been translated church, but it is
really those who are called to rule unto
the church of God.
Now, notice he didn't say the church of
Corinth.
I think that we make a mistake today
when we talk the church of England, the
church of Scotland.
As though the church is divided, Paul speaks
of the church of God, which is at
Corinth.
And so we are the church of God,
which are at Santa Ana.
But we are not the only church of
God at Santa Ana.
There are many, but we are one and
we need to recognize and realize that oneness
of the church.
And so he does not address the church
of Corinth, but the church of God, which
is at Corinth, a very important distinction.
And God help us that we will make
that distinction also in our minds and not
think of ourselves exclusively as God's sole representative
in an area.
Or to think that God is limited to
one representation in an area.
There's a very tragic mentality existing
among the local church who have made the
mistake of thinking that God has only one
church in a given area.
And of course, it's the local church they
are in.
All of the rest of the churches they
immediately exclude as Babylon.
And they are the only true representatives of
the unity of the body of Christ within
a given area wherever they go to establish
the local church.
Now, nothing could be more bigoted than that
and foolish as to think that we are
God's exclusive representatives in this area because we
have now affiliated with a local church.
Or we are a part of the local
church, thus we have become.
They did offer us that privilege years ago,
which we promptly rejected as Romain was kicking
them off the ground.
The church of God is the Catholic church
in the true sense of the word, the
universal church of God, of which every true
child of God is a member, is a
part.
You see, there's only one person who can
say my church and that's Jesus Christ.
We are all members of his church, his
body.
And the thing is, you really can't join
it.
You've got to be born into it, born
again by the Spirit.
And so, God help us and deliver us
from that any kind of exclusivism.
And that's, Paul is dealing now, as we
get into Corinth, the Corinthian letter.
There's a division when we get to chapter
12, the beginning of chapter 12.
He says, now concerning spirituals, brethren, I want
to write to you a few things.
In the first 11 chapters, he's dealing with
carnal things.
Those from the household of Cloy had reported
to Paul a lot of the mess that
the Corinthian church was in.
A lot of carnality, fighting, divisions, bickering.
And so, Paul wrote to correct these carnal
abuses that were existing in the Corinthian church.
But then when he finishes that, now he
says, oh, now I want to talk to
you about spiritual things.
Enough of the carnal things.
Now I want to talk to you about
spiritual things.
And he begins to talk to them about
the operation of the gifts of the Spirit,
the supremacy of love, and the power of
the resurrection in the latter part of the
book, the spiritual things.
But he had to get the carnal things
out of the way first.
And so he deals in this early part
with some of the problems that existed.
And one of them was division within the
body.
So he addresses the church of God, which
is that Corinth seeking to show them and
bring them into the consciousness of the universal
church of God, Jesus Christ.
Under the church of God, which is that
Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus.
The word sanctified comes from a root word,
which is hegeos, which is also translated saint,
the root word.
It means one who is set apart for
exclusive purposes.
In the Old Testament, when they constructed the
tabernacle and they made the vessels that were
to be used in the service of the
tabernacle.
Before they use these vessels, the plates, the
cups and all, they sanctified them.
That is, they set them apart for exclusive
use and thus they were never to be
used for anything other than the worship of
God, service and worship of God.
Now you remember when Belshazzar had made the
feast for a thousand of his lords and
all.
And while he was drunk, he ordered that
they bring the golden cups that they had
taken as booty from the temple in Jerusalem,
that they might drink their wine out of
these golden cups.
And as he drank the wine, they praised
the gods of gold and of silver.
But they were desecrating the vessels that had
been set apart for the exclusive purpose of
being used in the worship and service of
God.
And as the result of the desecration of
these, the handwriting came on the wall and
the judgment of God fell that night upon
Belshazzar and the Babylonian kingdom.
You're lying.
God has set it apart for His use,
service to Him.
And so those who are sanctified in Christ
Jesus, set apart from the world, from the
things of the world in Christ Jesus, God
help us not to take the holy vessels
that God has set aside for His use
and use them for our own gain or
pleasure.
Called saints.
Now notice again, to be is in italics
that was added.
You aren't called to be a saint.
You're called a saint.
I like that.
St. Charles got a good ring, doesn't it?
It's unfortunate that the church has designated certain
special persons as saints.
Because as far as the Bible is concerned,
you're all saints.
It isn't some special honor conferred upon you
by a council of men.
After determining that so many miracles have been
wrought and so forth, and thus you are
elevated to sainthood.
You are called by God a saint, and
that's good enough for me.
Called saints.
With all that in every place, call upon
the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both
theirs and ours.
Again, wherever they call on Jesus Christ, He
is their Lord, but He is also our
Lord.
There are those who like to feel that
they have an exclusive claim on the Lord.
And this, the kind of division that was
taking place in Corinth.
Well, we're of Cephas, we're of Paul, we're
of Jesus.
We have exclusive little claims, but He is
their Lord, but He is also our Lord.
And so, this endeavor to break down this
party spirit that created the divisions within the
church of Corinth.
Grace unto you and peace from God our
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace, the word means beauty.
The beauty of giving.
The beauty of giving to those who are
undeserving.
Grace, one of Paul's favorite words.
He expounds on it throughout the New Testament.
Peace.
Now, grace was the common Greek greeting.
Instead of in the morning when you see
someone say good morning or hello or whatever,
they'd say grace.
The Jews, when they greet you, rather than
saying hello or good morning or whatever, they
say shalom, peace.
And so, Paul took these two familiar greetings,
those of the Greeks and those of the
Jews, and he combines them in so many
of his New Testament epistles.
Grace be unto you and peace.
They are always combined in this order, and
it is the proper order, because a person
cannot know real peace until they have experienced
the grace of God.
Now, for years, as a Christian, I did
not really have the peace of God because
I did not know the grace of God.
And it was not until I realized the
grace of God that I then discovered the
peace of God.
Grace and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, in the first ten verses of this
epistle, Paul uses the name of Jesus Christ
ten times.
So, he's really laying the foundation for our
faith and all in the constant repetition of
the name Jesus Christ.
And here in verse two, it was the
name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
And here, from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord is not his name, it's his title,
the kurios.
Jesus is his Greek name, the Hebrew is
Joshua, which means Jehovah is salvation.
It was the name that the angel told
Joseph to call him, for he said he
will save his people from their sins.
So, he was named after his purpose, Jehovah
Shua, Joshua.
Christ is actually, again, his designation, for it
is the Hebrew word Messiah.
And so, again, it is not his name,
but it is his mission.
So, the first Lord is title, the name
is Joshua, and the mission is Christ or
Mashiach, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, unfortunately, we think it's first, middle, and
last name.
Not so.
And thus, people talk about the Lord Jesus.
Not really thinking of that as a title
signifying relationship, which indeed it is.
Jesus said, why do you call me Lord,
Lord, and yet you don't do the things
I command you.
God has given him a name that is
above every name, that at the name of
Jesus, that's the name, every knee shall bow
and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is
the Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.
So, we probably would be better if they
would put a comma after Lord to distinguish
it from his name.
And even a comma after Jesus to distinguish
that from his mission as the Messiah, the
Lord Jesus, the Messiah.
I thank my God always on your behalf
for the grace of God, which is given
you by Jesus Christ.
And so, Christ is the one through which
the grace of God is bestowed upon us.
That in everything you are enriched by him.
That word enriched in the Greek is an
interesting word.
Plutokitos, actually.
And we get our word plutocrat from that
Greek word.
You become a plutocrat because of Jesus Christ.
You're enriched.
And the word means luxuriously rich.
That in everything you are enriched luxuriously by
him.
Oh, the depth of the riches that are
ours through Jesus Christ.
You're enriched in all utterance and in all
knowledge.
Now, this utterance was the thing that the
Greek was especially interested in.
It was the logos.
That's the Greek word used.
But also in the knowledge.
Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed
in you.
Paul wrote to them again and said, you
have no need that I send you letters
of commendation because you are living epistles.
Your lives are my letters of commendation.
So here they're being enriched in Christ in
all utterance and knowledge.
Their lives became the testimony of Christ and
that witness of Christ confirmed by the lives
that they were living, actually.
So that you come behind in no charisma
waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Now, the interesting thing to me is that
as Paul writes to the church of Corinth,
he makes mention that they have all kinds
of charisma.
They do not come behind in any charisma.
Paul devotes three chapters to the charisma, the
gifts of the Spirit, the operation of those
gifts, the proper use of the gifts of
the Spirit.
Because they came behind in no charisma.
They had them all.
But unfortunately, there was an abuse of the
gifts of the Spirit in the church of
Corinth that needed correcting.
And Paul spends chapters 12 through 14 in
correcting the abuses.
But what is interesting to me is that
this New Testament church of Corinth that came
behind in no charisma, that had all of
these gifts in operation, was also the church
that Paul had to rebuke for its carnality.
Now, somehow in our minds there is a
twisted wire that's crossed over and is shorting
out so that we have a false concept
that if a person is using the gifts
of the Spirit, he must be especially righteous
or holy.
And those that do have the gifts of
the Spirit in operation often have that attitude,
well, I'm more spiritual than you.
If you were only as spiritual as I,
you too could have these gifts working in
your life.
And there's just an awful lot of promotionalism,
hucksterism, ballyhooing about the gifts of the Spirit.
But I have observed that even as in
the church of Corinth, so today, many of
those people who are making the most motion
and the most noise about the gifts of
the Spirit are really some of the most
carnal people I know.
They really do not walk after the Spirit.
Their whole appearance is marked with carnality.
Their whole lifestyle is carnal.
Though they are constantly talking about the gifts
of the Spirit and the power of the
Spirit and the anointing of the Holy Spirit
and so forth, yet when you observe their
lifestyles, they are still extremely carnal, much like
the church in Corinth.
They did not come behind in any charisma,
and yet was the church that needed the
most rebuke because of the carnality that was
existing within the church.
Unfortunately, there is a tendency many times to
use the gifts of the Spirit more or
less as a novelty, as a toy, as
a parlor game, where we entertain ourselves with
the gifts of the Spirit and the operation
of the gifts of the Spirit.
Now, please, don't think that I am opposed
to the gifts of the Spirit and their
operation.
False.
I believe in the validity of the gifts
of the Spirit today, all of them.
I only wish that I had more
of the charisma, that working of the Spirit
and the gifts of the Spirit within my
life.
I, as Paul enjoined, covet earnestly the best
gifts.
I desire that God would use my life.
But I also desire that the Lord use
me in such a way that it doesn't
draw attention to myself or that I do
not get lifted up and begin to walk
after the flesh instead of walking after the
Spirit.
The Corinthian church, commended by Paul because they
didn't fall behind in any of the gifts
or the charisma as they were waiting for
the coming.
And the word coming there is the apocalypse,
which is the same word used for the
book of Revelation, the unveiling of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Who shall also confirm you unto the end
that you may be blameless in the day
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, he's talking about the future and Christ
and in the future.
The same idea is given to us in
Jude, where he said, now unto him who
is able to keep you from falling and
to present you faultless before the presence of
his glory with exceeding joy.
When my name is called there at the
judgment bar and I step forward, God said,
read the charges against this fellow and Jesus
will step forth and say, no charges, father.
He's one of mine.
You better believe I'll be praising God at
that moment.
Blameless without fault.
That's how Jesus is going to present me
to the father.
Confirming that work in me, blameless in the
day of our Lord Jesus Christ, for God
is faithful by whom you were called into
the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our
Lord.
Notice how Paul is putting it together.
Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Lord Jesus Christ, just getting him in
there every lick.
Now, you've been called into the fellowship.
That Greek word koinonia is a difficult word
to translate because it has such a depth
of meaning.
It means oneness.
It means communion.
It means fellowship.
It means common.
It means sharing all of these things.
We do not have an English equivalent.
And so we use different words at different
times as it appears in the text, because
all of them are words that define or
help define koinonia.
You've been brought into a sharing in all
things in Jesus Christ.
Now, that's exciting because everything that is his
becomes mine.
I'm an heir of God, but I'm a
joint heir with Jesus Christ as he shares
with me.
Come ye, blessed of the Father, inherit the
kingdom that was prepared for you from the
foundations of the world.
Hey, but don't think that that is a
one way.
That also means that everything I have belongs
to him.
Oh, well, just a minute.
Isn't it interesting how we can get so
excited about everything that is his belongs to
me?
And yet I would hold out my pittance
from him.
I would hold back my might while reaching
for his wealth.
But in reality, all that is mine is
his.
I need to take that view of things.
Lord, you've made me a steward.
You've entrusted me with your goods as we've
entered into this fellowship with each other.
May I use wisely that which you have
entrusted to me for your glory, because, Lord,
it really belongs to you.
Because we have this koinonia, this communion, this
sharing.
Now I beseech you, I beg you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you speak the same thing, that there
be no divisions among you, but that you
be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment.
So Paul now begins to deal with some
of the issues that have been brought to
his attention, these divisions that were existing in
the church there of Corinth, and he is
exhorting them now.
I beseech you, brethren, that you get together,
speak the same things.
Don't want these divisions.
Be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment.
For it has been declared unto me of
you, my brethren, by them which are of
the house of Cloy, that there are contentions
among you.
Now this I say, that every one of
you saith, I am of Paul, I am
of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I
of Christ.
Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you?
Or were you baptized in the name of
Paul?
So they had divided off, and there were
those that say, well, I'm of Paul.
Probably those who were wanting to live under
the umbrella of grace, perhaps abusing the grace
of God, as Peter said some were doing,
using it as a cloak for licentiousness.
And so when someone would rebuke them for
their actions, they'd say, hey, I'm of Paul.
You know, I'm under the cloak of grace.
Probably the intellectuals said, well, I'm of Apollos.
And then there were always those that wanted
to go back to the foundation and say,
well, I'm of Peter.
And then there are always that little segment
that says, hey, we're the only ones, we're
of Christ.
You know, and they have that holier than
thou and we are the most and no
one else is anything because we are the
church of Christ and you don't have the
right name and therefore you, you know, second
-rate, you don't belong.
We're of Christ.
Is Christ divided?
When men divide the body of Christ, who
bleeds?
What a shame that we bring up our
petty differences in such ways that we divide
the body.
Now, I believe that there is room for
disagreement, different opinions.
I can allow for that.
I can accept if you don't understand the
scripture the same way I understand it.
If you have a different idea on baptism
than I have, I can accept it.
If you want to be sprinkled, I'll sprinkle
you.
Sometimes when I'm baptizing people, they say, well,
you put me down head first.
I said, sure, I'll dunk them.
I can, I can make allowances for the
different ideas that people have.
But when we disagree, surely we ought to
disagree agreeably that we not create the division.
Well, you know, he, you know, and we
begin to divide over the issues.
They shouldn't separate us.
Christ is not divided.
Paul said, hey, I wasn't crucified for you
and you weren't baptized in the name of
Paul.
I thank God that I baptized none of
you, but Crispus and Gaius.
Now these who say I am of Christ
make a big divisive issue over baptism and
they'll come and hassle you about water baptism.
And they declare that you aren't really saved
until you're baptized.
And therefore they keep the tank full in
the church all the time so that at
the minute a person is safe, they can
take them right back to the tank and
baptize them.
So they can be saved instantaneous baptisms.
And they feel that that is extremely important
and better to do it here at the
church, because if you're driving to the beach
and you happen to get an accident before
you get there, oh brother, you've had it.
What a shame on his way to get
baptized and he got snuffed.
Now, if water baptism were so essential for
salvation, then Paul here is speaking blasphemously really.
When he said, I thank God I didn't
baptize any of you, but Crispus and Gaius.
And if there are any others, I don't
remember them.
Lest anyone should say that I have baptized
in my own name.
I also baptized, I think the house of
Stephanus, but besides these, I don't know whether
I baptized anybody else.
I don't remember for Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
A very fascinating statement by Paul that once
and for all should put down the concept
of baptismal regeneration.
Water baptism is an obedience to the faith
of Jesus Christ that I have.
It is an outward sign of an inward
work of God's spirit within my life.
It is renouncing my old life as being
dead and now in water baptism buried.
Then I might live now the new life
after the spirit.
But if I am not living the new
life after the spirit, then it means that
the water baptism was not really valid.
If I'm getting in all kinds of carnal
arguments and fights, because a person doesn't baptize
instantaneously, and I divide the body and get
upset and want to argue the issue.
Hey, I don't care if you've been baptized
a hundred times, you're not showing fruit of
a true walk in the spirit, which of
course, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 13,
is marked by love, which doesn't seek its
own way, but believes all things and hopes
all things and endures all things and never
fails.
So, man prone to these little party divisions
when he is walking after the flesh, when
he is living a carnal life.
G.
Campbell Morgan said, I have noted that the
more spiritual a man becomes, the less denominational
he becomes.
Have Paul been writing to the church today
concerning the divisions among it?
I'm sure he would say, but some of
you say I'm a Baptist and some of
you say I'm a Presbyterian and others say
I'm an Episcopalian and others say, well, I'm
a Nazarene.
And there are those who say, well, we're
the church of Christ.
And again, he would say, hey, is Christ
divided?
And he would urge towards unity within the
body to realize that we are all of
Jesus Christ.
Paul was sent to preach the gospel, not
with the wisdom of words, something that they
were very familiar with there in Corinth, as
these philosophers played with words, but God didn't
send me to preach with the wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be
made of none effect.
Lest a person be drawn by the clever
speeches rather than the conviction of the Spirit
in his heart.
For the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness, but unto us which
are saved, it is the power of God.
To the Greek, to the philosophers, the preaching
of the cross was foolishness.
When Paul was there in Athens addressing the
Epicureans on Mars Hill, when he came to
the place in his story where he referred
to the resurrection of Jesus, they said, ah,
come on, let's get out of here.
What's this babbler talking about?
Resurrection.
Foolishness.
Ridiculous.
And they rejected Paul's message when he came
to the cross and the resurrection.
Foolishness.
The preaching of the cross is to them
that perish foolishness.
What is your attitude towards the cross of
Jesus Christ?
Important that you examine it.
For it is written, I will destroy the
wisdom of the wise and I will bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where then is the wise and where is
the scribe?
And where is the disputer of this world?
Talking now about the Greek philosophers, those men
who purported their love for wisdom, the scribe,
the disputers of this world.
Have not God made foolish the wisdom of
this world?
Yes, he surely has.
When I look at the theory of evolution
that they are religiously trying to promote and
realize the incredible paucity of evidence of transitional
forms in the geological column.
I realize all of the hype, all of
the deceit and all that has gone to
promote the theory of evolution.
And then I look at the very concepts
themselves trying to be pawned off onto us
as the wisdom of the world.
Men of science.
Yes, God has made foolish the wisdom of
this world.
To think that I have the capacity to
see, because one day a little amphibian
kind of a creature finally emerged out of
the water, lifting his frontal part above the
water and allowed the sun to beat down
upon it, forming a mutation, a freckle of
sorts that continued in a mutation process until
it became a nerve center and then developed
the optical capacities.
And now thank God to a freckle I
can see.
Yes, God has made foolish the wisdom of
this world.
I don't read comic books anymore.
I read evolutionary books.
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of
this world?
Did you know that when bathtubs were first
introduced that the scientists were warning about the
use of bathtubs, how dangerous they were to
the health?
And the men of science actually had many
cities in the United States form ordinances forbidding
bathtubs in houses.
Oh my, a person will have all kinds
of chronic illnesses and all, they start taking
baths, you know, and in the home and
all.
And there were cities that actually outlawed the
use of bathtubs because the scientists warned them
about the dangers that could come to man
because of their use.
It's interesting to me how often science textbooks
have to be revised.
I'm amazed that facts can change so quickly.
For when I went to school, the world
was only 2 billion years old and now
it's 12 billion and I'm not that old.
See, theoretically that should make me 10 billion
years old.
It's interesting to me that the Bible really
has never needed to be revised.
We may get a new translation that updates
the language structure for better understanding, but let
a person mess with the original text and
he's in big trouble.
We don't have to keep revising the revised
edition.
New, modern, updated.
Didn't have to do that, did we?
God has made foolish the wisdom of this
world.
For after that in the wisdom of God,
the world by wisdom knew not God.
God is the one who is the source
of wisdom, true wisdom.
In Christ it says are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
But the world by its wisdom knew not
God.
That to me is very interesting.
For there is no true wisdom that eliminates
God.
You see, people today so often speak about
being agnostics, the wisdom of this world, the
sophisticated person.
And so often around the universities you bring
up the subject of God, the ultimate knowledge.
The person says, well I'm an agnostic, the
wisdom of this world, knew not God.
But yet a child can know him.
Where are the whys?
The word agnostic in Latin is ignoramus.
But that doesn't sound sophisticated, does it?
Well, what about God?
Oh, I'm an ignoramus, man.
I think it was Eliphaz who said to
Job, who by searching can find out God
to perfection?
The answer is no one.
You can't start with an earth base and
reach God.
That's the history of religion.
Men starting with an earth base, reaching out
for the infinite.
And thus religions are doomed for failure by
their very nature.
But we have in the Bible the revelation
of God through Jesus Christ, which is not
man reaching out for God, but God reaching
down for man.
The infinite, it starts with the infinite base
reaching to the finite.
And thus God is not found or discovered
by man's pursuit in the wisdom of man,
knew not God.
God is discovered by the revelation of himself
to man.
And that revelation is oftentimes made through preaching.
And so the world by its wisdom knew
not God, but it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
So that through the preaching, God has revealed
to man that man might believe.
Now notice it is the foolishness of preaching
and preaching is really a foolish exercise in
a sense, and especially the way some do
it, but it is not the preaching of
foolishness and be careful of that, but the
foolishness of preaching.
For the Jews require a sign.
You remember they said to Jesus, show us
a sign that we might believe.
The Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach
Christ crucified.
To the Jews, it's a stumbling block.
Even to the disciples, it was a stumbling
block.
The idea that the Messiah would be crucified
was a stumbling block.
When Jesus began to say to the disciples,
after Peter acknowledged you are the Messiah, Jesus
said, yes, and I'm going to be turned
over to the hands of simple men and
they're going to crucify me and slay me.
The third day I'll rise again.
Peter said, Lord, be that far from the
old stumbling block.
Peter stumbled over it.
Their Messiah rejected crucified.
Oh, no way.
And the Jews to the present day, for
the most part are still stumbling over the
crucifixion.
In spite of the fact that they have
Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 right before them,
we preach Christ crucified.
To the Jews, it's a stumbling block.
To the Greeks, it's foolishness.
But unto them, which are called both Jews
and Greeks, Christ is 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 man.
The foolishness of God, which is, of course,
the preaching of the cross is wiser than
men.
Weakness of God, stronger than men.
For look around, you will see brethren that
there are not many wise men after the
flesh and not many mighty and not many
noble call for God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise.
And God has chosen the weak things of
the world to confound the things which are
mighty.
And this is the best explanation I can
give you for my being the pastor of
Calvary Chapel.
For God has chosen the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise.
And Calvary Chapel confounds the wise.
They come from all over to study.
Our methods, our techniques, our programs to discover
the secret of how it is that so
many people attend the church, the base things
of the world and the things which are
despised, hath God chosen, yea, the things which
are not to bring to not the things
which are God uses simple things.
And the purpose is that no flesh should
glory in his sight.
Now God would use mighty men and noble
men and all then, then, then these men
would glory in his sight.
People would glory in the men that God
was using.
God doesn't want any flesh to glory in
his sight.
And so he uses the foolishness of preaching
and he uses simple people, base people, not
many wise, not many mighty, not many noble
to do his work because he wants the
glory for the work that he does.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
These are the things that we find in
Jesus and in the preaching of the cross
of Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God.
For God had to establish a just basis
to forgive man their sins, that God might
be righteous when he justified a problem.
How can a just God forgive man his
sins?
When you really analyze it and dig into
it, you find that God had a real
problem and he solved the problem in the
cross where he sent his son to take
the guilt of our sins and to suffer
the penalty of our sins.
And he died that spiritual death and physical
death, which is the result of sin.
The spiritual death first on the cross, he
cried, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?
And they're separated from God because of our
sins.
Secondly, the physical death as he dismissed his
spirit, suffering again the penalty of our sins.
Now, because the penalty has been paid, if
I will just believe in Jesus Christ, God
now has a righteous basis to forgive me
of my sins.
There's been a substitute, Christ, my substitute.
Oh, the wisdom of God in the cross
of Christ.
Therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
A righteousness again, predicated not upon the law
or my works or my obedience to a
rule or code of ethics or a standard
that I have set or others have set,
but a righteousness that is secure and constant
because it is based upon the work of
Jesus Christ in my behalf, not on my
work.
If my righteousness were predicated upon my work,
it would be a very variable thing, very
tenuous.
I would have access to God some of
the time, but because it is predicated upon
the work of Jesus Christ, he has been
made to us the righteousness of God.
So as Paul said, those things which were
gained to me talking about his life in
obedience to the law, I counted loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ,
for whom I suffered the loss of all
things.
I count them, but refuse that I may
know him and be found in him, not
having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, but the righteousness, which is of Christ
through faith.
Christ made to us the righteousness of God.
He's made to us the sanctification.
I need power over sin.
I need power over the flesh.
I don't want to live after the flesh,
but I find the flesh is strong.
It is powerful.
It holds me in its power.
And I try, I struggle, I pray, I
vow, I promise, and still I fail.
Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me?
Well, thank God Jesus Christ has been made
the sanctification of God for me.
And now I see myself crucified with Christ
for I am in Christ and his death
becomes my death, the death of the old
man, the death of the old nature.
So I'm baptized with Christ and I bury
the old life in the old man.
And I come up out of the water,
risen in Christ to live the new life
after the spirit, the new nature of Christ
now in control and living and walking after
the spirit.
Christ has made the sanctification of God unto
me.
Finally, he's made the redemption of God.
Lost, a slave to sin in the bondage
of corruption through the cross of Jesus Christ.
I've been purchased and I now belong to
a new owner and my allegiance to him.
That according as it is written, he that
glories, let him glory in the Lord, that
no flesh should glory in his presence.
Only place I can glory tonight is in
the cross of Jesus Christ and his finished
work in my behalf.
And I brethren, when I came to you,
came not with the excellency of speech or
of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of
God.
Paul didn't come as one of the Corinthian
philosophers trying to stand in the streets and
persuade them by the brilliant oratory to believe
and to accept Jesus Christ.
I wonder where the place of oratory is
in the pulpit.
It's interesting how that we so often admire
the great orators in the pulpit, but I
often wonder if oratory has any place in
the pulpit at all.
It surely didn't impulse pulpit.
When I came to you, I came not
with the excellency of speech or of wisdom
as I declared unto you the testimony of
God, for I determined not to know anything
among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Oh, the common bond by which we are
all brought together.
Jesus Christ him crucified.
That's all I want to know.
And I was with you in weakness, in
fear and in much trembling.
Now Paul had just come from some very
upsetting experiences.
While he was in Galatia, he was wanting
to go into Asia, but the Spirit was
forbidding him and Paul was too sick to
get out of bed.
And so finally he heard the call, a
man from Macedonia saying, come over and help
us.
And so he headed over to Macedonia to
obey the heavenly vision.
And when he arrived in Philippi, as he
was preaching, they grabbed him and threw him
in jail, beat him.
And there in the dungeon at midnight, the
Lord shook the prison and opened the doors.
Paul left Philippi, went down to Thessalonica and
there as he preached, they had a riot.
So he left Thessalonica on the, you know,
sly really to get out of there because
they were waiting for him.
And he went down to Berea and there
a big ruckus was stirred up.
And so he left Berea and headed on
down to Athens.
And there on Mars Hill, he was mocked
as he sought to proclaim to them the
truth of Jesus Christ.
And he comes to Corinth now a broken
man in weakness, trembling, in fear.
And my speech and my preaching, he said,
was not with the enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in the demonstration of the spirit
and power.
It wasn't really man's wisdom.
My speech was a demonstration of the power
of God and of the spirit of God
working.
I believe that there is in the ministry
of the word, oftentimes the gift of prophecy,
the gift of word of wisdom and the
word of knowledge that is being exercised from
the pulpit.
And because of this, I often listen to
my own tapes and are benefited by them.
And I enjoy them.
I know that sounds weird, but I heard
my radio program the other day and I
really enjoyed it.
Good message.
And I, and I said, did I say
that, man, that's great.
That's rich.
Why?
Because it was preaching and the preaching was
the demonstration of the spirit and power of
God.
As there was the anointing and the prophecy,
the word of wisdom and the word of
knowledge coming forth.
And so Paul's ministry to those in Corinth
wasn't the enticing words of man's wisdom, but
the demonstration of the spirit and power that
your faith should not be established or stand
in the wisdom of men, but it should
stand in the power of God.
How be it?
We speak wisdom among them, which are fully
matured, yet not the wisdom of this world
that comes to nothing, but we speak the
wisdom of God in a mystery, even the
hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world
unto our glory, which none of the princes
of this world knew for, had they known
it, they would not have crucified the Lord
of glory.
So that true wisdom, the wisdom, which is
of God, the wisdom by which he speaks
to those who are matured in their Christian
walk and experience.
But as it is written, I has not
seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God
has prepared for those that love him.
Now this is probably one of the most
misquoted scriptures in the Bible because people stop
there and they say, well, heaven is going
to be so glorious.
I has not seen, ear has not heard,
it hasn't even entered into your heart, the
things that God's prepared for you.
Oh, it is so glorious.
But the next verse says, but God has
revealed them unto us by his spirit for
the spirit searches all things, yea, the deep
things of God.
So these things that the world does not
know.
Now he's talking about the eyes of the
world, the ears of the world, the hearts
of the people in the world.
They have no concept, no idea of the
things that God has for us who love
him.
But God is revealing them unto us by
his spirit for the spirit is searching all
things, yea, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of man
except the spirit of man, which is in
him.
Even so the things of God knoweth no
man, but the spirit of God.
So here the spirit of God is attributed
with the same omniscience that God possesses, knowing
the things of God.
Now we have received not the spirit of
the world, but the spirit which is of
God, that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of God.
And so God has given us the spirit
to teach us.
And you have need, John said, that no
man should teach you, but that unction that
you have received, it will teach you all
things.
But the comforter, Jesus said, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in
my name, he will teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever
I have commanded you.
And so God has given to us the
spirit that we might freely know the things
of God as he instructs our hearts in
the ways of God.
And that is why I always encourage a
person before you start reading the Bible, pray,
oh God, let your Holy Spirit illumine my
mind and my understanding to your truth as
I read.
You ever read the Bible and finish the
page and then think, what did I read?
And you realize that your mind was somewhere
else.
You don't remember a word that you read
off of that page.
Your mind was probably in some carnal pursuit.
And here you're trying to read something of
the spirit.
But then you'll say, oh Lord, now help
me to understand this.
And you'll read it again and how the
whole thing just comes alive and begins to
minister to your heart in such a powerful
way.
You're now seeing things that you didn't see
before.
You're now understanding things that you didn't understand
before.
It just sort of jumps off the page
and begins to burn in your heart.
The glorious work of the Holy Spirit in
teaching us the way of righteousness and truth,
which things also we speak, not in the
words which man's wisdom teaches, but with the
Holy Spirit teaching, comparing the spiritual things with
spiritual.
But the natural man receives not the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness unto him, and neither can he know
them because they are spiritually discerned.
So the natural man is at a decided
disadvantage because he cannot know the things of
the Spirit.
He cannot receive them.
He cannot know them because they are spiritually
discerned.
The deaf man cannot enjoy the symphony.
The blind man cannot enjoy the beauty of
the sunset.
Why?
Because he lacks the...
Boy, getting old is terrible.
There are two words I want and I
can't pull either of them in.
He lacks the faculties, thank you, by which
these things are appreciated.
So in the same logic, the natural man
cannot receive or know the things of the
Spirit because he lacks the faculty by which
these things are known.
He lacks the Spirit.
And lacking the Spirit, it's impossible for him
to know the things of the Spirit.
But in contrast to the natural man, he
that is spiritual discerns all things, yet he
himself is discerned of no man, or another
translation, he that is spiritual understands all things,
though he is not understood by man.
Now the natural man cannot understand your love
for the Word of God.
He cannot understand your love for the people
of God.
He cannot understand your love for the things
of God.
There are foolishness under him.
What do you do for fun?
And the natural man is just at a
loss to understand.
He walks away and says, man, he's crazy.
I don't know.
He's talking about the Lord all the time.
You know, what?
Something's wrong.
He which is spiritual, he understands things, though
he is not understood by the natural man.
No man understands him.
And that, of course, makes for difficult relationships
sometimes when these kids come and accept the
Lord, and then they go home and begin
to share the things of the Spirit with
their parents.
All of a sudden, there's lost communication.
For who hath known the mind of the
Lord that he may instruct him?
But we have the mind of Christ.
What does he mean by that?
When he was writing to the Philippians, he
said, let this mind be in you, which
also was in Christ Jesus, who though he
was in the form of God and thought
it not robbery or something to be grasped,
to be equal with God, yet he humbled
himself and took upon himself the form of
a man and came in the likeness as
a man, as a servant, obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
The mind that was in Christ was the
mind that was willing to step down, a
mind of humility.
We have the mind of Christ, Paul said.
That mind which doesn't exalt itself or its
own wisdom, but that mind that submits to
God and to the will and the authority
of God.
We have the mind of Christ.
Oh, God help us that we might indeed
possess the mind of Christ, that that mind,
that mental attitude that Jesus had will be
our mental attitude.
That of not lording over one another, but
serving one another in love.
Next week we'll go on to the third
and fourth chapters as we deal with the
carnal man.
Now that we see three men, the natural
man, the spiritual man, next week we get
the third one, the carnal man.
And he's the one in trouble.
May the Lord give you a beautiful week.
May you walk in the spirit.
May you be led by the spirit.
May you be taught by the spirit that
you might this week experience that enriching of
your life in Christ.
Become a spiritual plutocrat, just wealthy, luxuriously wealthy
in the things of the Lord and in
the things of the spirit as God ministers
to you out of those infinite resources of
his love and grace, wisdom, and mercy.
May you grow in grace and in knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
May this be a special week of the
work of God's spirit in your life and
forming you into the image of his Son.
May you give place and time for God
to work in your life.
In Jesus name.