[0:00] to read the Word of God as we find that in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. And we're reading in chapter 1. First letter to the Corinthians, chapter 1.
[0:12] I'm going to read from verse 10 through to the beginning of chapter 2. Down to chapter 2, verse 5.
[0:25] So 1 Corinthians, chapter 1 and verse 10. Or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ.
[1:00] Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.
[1:16] I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beside that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
[1:36] For the word of the cross is folly 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 the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.
[1:50] Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
[2:10] For Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
[2:28] For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards.
[2:41] Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
[2:53] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
[3:04] He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
[3:15] Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
[3:27] For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.
[3:38] And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
[3:55] Amen. And may God follow with His blessing again our reading of His Word. Before we turn to this passage, we're going to sing once again, this time Psalm number 90. Psalm 90 on page 349.
[4:10] Singing to the tune Martyrdom. And beginning singing at verse 8. Verses 8 to 12. That's the six stanzas to the end of verse 12.
[4:24] Our sins, thou, and iniquities, dost in thy presence place, and setst our secret faults before the brightness of thy face. For in thine anger all our days do pass on to an end, and as a tale it hath been told, so we our years do spend.
[4:41] And so on to the end of verse 12. And so to count our days, that we our hearts may still apply to learn thy wisdom and thy truth, that we may live thereby.
[4:53] Our sins, thou, and iniquities. Our sins, thou, and iniquities.
[5:09] Just in thy present place, and setst our secret faults before the brightness of thy face.
[5:33] For in thine anger all our days to pass on to an end.
[5:50] And as a tale that hath been told, so we our years to spend, three score and ten years to sum up, our days and years we see, what if I reason of for sin, and some for score they be.
[6:42] Yet doth the sin of such a man that grief and labor prove, for it is soon cut off, and we our heads and soon remove.
[7:15] who knows the power of thy wrath according to thy fear.
[7:33] So is thy wrath, Lord, teach thou us, our friend and mine to bear, and so to count our days that we our hearts may still apply, to learn thy wisdom and thy truth, that we may live thereby.
[8:30] Let's turn together now to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where we read, and especially looking at verses 22 to 25 this evening. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 22, 2 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom.
[8:47] But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
[9:02] You recall last week that we indicated our intention just to look at passages dealing with the cross of Christ, the death of Christ, between now and the communion at the end of next month.
[9:18] So there will be five particular passages that we will look at. It began last week, so this will be the second one, another three, before we come to the communion itself. That's really just by way of emphasizing the fact and preparing our minds for the fact that, of course, the communion is a remembrance of the death of Jesus.
[9:39] And as we find in these passages, there are so many different ways in which the death of Jesus is brought before us and in connection with our own lives as well.
[9:50] Last week from Galatians, we looked at how Paul was saying that he would boast only in the cross of Christ and noticed how that boasting, that rejoicing, had in it the element of trusting in and of confiding in, but exclusively, to the exclusion of all others, of the cross of Christ and Christ in his death.
[10:15] As he put it there, God forbid or let it not be so that I should boast, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he went on to say, by which or by whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world.
[10:29] A separation that has taken place between Paul and the world as Christ has come into his life and as he places his confidence in Christ himself alone.
[10:42] And there's something of that in this passage as well. As you can see in verse 28 there, Paul is saying here to the Corinthians, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
[11:00] Therefore, as it is written, verse 31, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. And there are many connections between this and the passage we looked at last time. But this passage we can see, as we're focusing on verses 22 to 24, this passage really is, in many ways, a contrast between two wisdoms or two types of wisdom.
[11:22] What Paul calls the wisdom of the world on the one hand and on the other hand, the wisdom of God, which is situated in his way of salvation and particularly in the cross itself, in the death of Jesus.
[11:38] So the passage is comparing these two wisdoms in a way that again brings out for us the glory of Christ, the wonder of Christ, and the sufficiency of Christ in his death in the cross as it represents his death.
[11:54] But it's not just these two wisdoms that are contrasted. Paul is actually comparing and contrasting the outcome of living in accordance with each of those wisdoms.
[12:06] Because living in accordance with the wisdom of the world, in verse 18, the word of the cross, is foolish to those who are perishing. That's those who follow the wisdom of the world.
[12:18] That's indicative of a life that is set on perishing, on destruction, on being lost. Whereas the wisdom of God through the cross of Christ or in the cross, it's to us who are being saved, he says, it is the power of God.
[12:38] And that means that Paul is not just discounting the wisdom of the world, but he wants the Corinthians to focus entirely on the wisdom of God as that in which to actually have their trust.
[12:52] The wisdom of the world is then explained somewhat. We're just looking at a few preliminary points before coming to the verses. It's a contrast between these two wisdoms and between the outcome of living by each of these wisdoms.
[13:07] But he also says that the wisdom of the world can be seen in the religion of both the Jews and the Greeks. And we'll see that in more detail as we come to it.
[13:19] But the wisdom of the world, he says, you can actually see it, you can see it worked out, you can discern it in the religion of the Jews and of the Greeks. who both come to the idea or the ideology of salvation or of coming to know God or how you come to know God in their own way, but each of them still follows what he summarizes as the wisdom of the world.
[13:47] Whereas, the wisdom of God is set in contrast with that in the cross of Christ. The wisdom of the world, according to the Greeks, according to the Jews and the way they look at things.
[14:00] Whereas, the wisdom of God, in contrast with that, is set and set forth in the cross of Christ. That, he says, is the power and the wisdom of God.
[14:13] So, we're going to look at these two wisdoms and see the points that are subsumed under that as they arise from the passage. First of all, the wisdom of the world. As he said, that's situated, he says, in the way that the Jews and the Greeks follow their particular mindset and religion.
[14:31] He says, the Jews demand signs and the Greeks seek wisdom. Now, the Jews seeking signs is something which Jesus himself mentioned as he was going through his ministry.
[14:45] For example, you'll find that in Matthew's Gospel and chapter 12, verses 38 to 40. Some of the scribes and Pharisees, or Jews, of course, answering him, said, Ditcher, we wish to see a sign from you.
[15:01] But he answered them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
[15:21] Now, he's obviously talking there about his own death, about his burial, part of his death, the death he died. So, that's really, in a sense, the wisdom of God, the wisdom of the cross that's put in those terms.
[15:34] And he's contrasting that with the religion or the wisdom of the Jews seeking signs. And you find the same in John chapter 6 where, again, they come to Jesus and say, what sign are you giving us so that we may believe?
[15:49] What sign do you do? Are you going to do something similar to what happened in the desert where Moses provided bread for our fathers in the desert? And, of course, Jesus answered that again in his own way.
[16:00] So, in other words, Paul is picking up this tendency of the Jews and although they had abundant evidence as to who Jesus was by the things that he was doing, by the miracles especially, as he himself pointed to, that demonstrated that he was indeed the one who had come to be the savior of the world, they rejected that.
[16:21] They wanted signs according to their own particular way of looking at things. Signs that answered their own ideas as to what a Messiah should look like.
[16:32] Someone who should come and be a glorious conqueror who would release them from this bondage that they were in under the Roman Empire and the Roman Empire under the Roman authorities.
[16:43] They looked to the Messiah as somebody political, somebody would come and release them from that situation. A glorious appearance of this Messiah king who would come and deliver them and be their leader from then on.
[16:58] And Jesus was saying, I have given you the evidence, the works that I do in my Father's name. They bear testimony about me. But they still demanded signs because that did not fit with their idea of how we come to know God.
[17:17] And of course, there's an affinity or a close likeness between that and how we find the thinking of our own present day as well. But let's move to the Greeks who actually seek wisdom.
[17:31] The Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. As you know, from the likes of Paul in Athens in the book of Acts where you find him taken up so much with the idolatry of the book of Athens as it's described there.
[17:49] And he comes to this altar that's got the inscription to the unknown God. Even in the paganism and the gods that the Athenians believed in, they left Rome for a supreme God, for someone above all the rest, somebody who was really the top God.
[18:06] And Paul took advantage of that and he spoke to them about the true God that he knew in Jesus Christ. But the Greeks, as that passage shows, spent a lot of their time debating, listening to eloquent speeches, listening to that sort of wisdom that was distilled into oratory.
[18:33] And it was thought that that was absolutely essential for you to actually gain more and more in wisdom. And if you listen to these great orators of the Greeks as they sought wisdom, that's the way you went about it.
[18:47] That was the route to the gods. That was the route by which you came to know of what it meant to be prepared for eternity. And Paul is saying, the Greeks are seeking wisdom.
[18:59] But we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. For the Jews to be seeking a glorious Redeemer, somebody would come to be the splendid King who would deliver them the preaching of the cross, setting forth the death of Jesus as the heart of the way by which we come to be saved, was something that was a huge stumbling block to them.
[19:30] How could God reveal himself in such a way? How could the Messiah be seen as someone who was weak and crucified to a tree to a cross?
[19:42] And how would that be? How could that possibly be the way of salvation? That's a stumbling block to them. They just could not accept that. And for the Gentiles, for the Greeks who sought wisdom through oratory to them, you see, God was untouchable.
[19:59] Not only untouchable, but God was, in fact, impersonal. God could have no connection at all with pain or with death or with illness or disease or any such thing.
[20:11] He's just out there completely separate and completely detached from anything that goes on in the human world. And you can see why the cross, therefore, where there's pain and agony and actual death, where that is to them just foolishness.
[20:29] Nothing was more foolish to the Greek mindset that sought through wisdom to know God than the idea that salvation was through a crucified man who died on the cross.
[20:43] that's the wisdom of the world. That's the wisdom of human thinking, whether it's in the religion of Jew or Greek.
[20:55] But Paul is summarizing it as the wisdom of the world, and it's still the wisdom of the world, because the wisdom of the world still does not accept the cross of Christ and does not accept that that is really primarily how God has laid out a basis for our redemption, for our salvation.
[21:13] But he said, we preach Christ crucified against that worldly wisdom. We set forth in the preaching of the gospel the wisdom of God. And what is the wisdom of God?
[21:24] Christ crucified, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now remember, Paul is writing to the Corinthian church. Why did he write these things to the Corinthian church?
[21:38] Why did he actually set out these particular details for the church in Corinth? Well, it wasn't the wisdom of the world as he found it in the world, in the boasting of the world, in its own ability, in its own competence, in the competence of human nature.
[21:57] All of that was found in both Jews and Greeks. It wasn't the fact that that was found and a source of boasting in the world that caused him to write to the Corinthian church.
[22:09] It was that that very boasting that he found in the world was also in the church. And the people in the church in Corinth were actually doing the exact same thing.
[22:21] They were looking to human wisdom. They were looking to wisdom as defined by human ability, by human learning, by things which were contrary to what he calls the foolishness of God in setting forth the cross of Christ as the heart of our redemption.
[22:38] That is why in writing to the Corinthians he wrote as he did because they were glorying in men, glorying in human pride, glorying in particular gifts, glorying in human wisdom, boasting in these things.
[22:52] It wasn't just outside of the church among the wisdom of the Greeks and among the sign, looking for signs among the Jews. it's there in God's professing people in Corinth.
[23:06] That's why Paul is so concerned about it. Now, of course, that reminds us that growth in Christian understanding, whether it's in an individual or in a congregational setting, but Christian growth, and it's important to remember this, Christian growth includes unlearning the wisdom of the world because the wisdom of the world is what you and I are born with.
[23:41] It's what you and I naturally turn to as we think of eternal things, as we think of death, as we think of meeting God, as we think of salvation, as we think of how it is we come to be saved.
[23:52] You turn not to the wisdom of God naturally in yourself. You turn to the wisdom of the world. You turn, as the Jews did, as the Greeks did, to doing something.
[24:03] As the Jews said to Jesus, what shall we do? What works shall we do? So that we may know, that we may know God.
[24:14] And Paul is saying, and we take from this, that as you grow as a Christian, as we grow in our understanding together as a Christian people, it involves unlearning that wisdom of the world.
[24:30] More and more taking that wisdom of the world out of our mind, out of our mindset, out of our thinking. And more and more coming by God's grace to be inclined to depend upon the wisdom of God, the cross of Christ, the suffering of Christ, the wisdom and the power of God in these.
[24:54] But let's bring it up to date. And that's what the Jews in Paul's time were actually saying. They're demanding signs. That's what the Greeks were known as. They were seeking wisdom.
[25:05] That's what the Corinthian church was like. Some of that boasting that he found in the world and worldly wisdom was actually taking place. In the church of Corinth. And so it is, sadly, in the church today.
[25:20] And I'm using the word church in its wider setting. Not any particular denomination, but not leaving aside any denomination because I'm sure there are elements of it within our own denomination and within the thinking of people in our own denomination.
[25:35] In any case, if we take the church in its wider setting, it's very clear that the influence of the wisdom of the world has come to penetrate the church. It's come to be seen in its influence in the church.
[25:49] We know what the world's view is of God. We know what the world's view is of the Bible. We know what the world's view is of sin. We know what the world's view is of the cross of Christ. We know what the world's view is of human relationships.
[26:02] We know what the world's view of wisdom is. We know what the world's view of marriage is. We know what the world's view of all of these and other things beside. And it's not a surprise that that's the world's view of these things.
[26:16] But it is a surprise, or should be, and a source of distress to us that they're also found in the church. That that's the view of some in the church.
[26:28] And the problem is that the church is so similar in its thinking to the wisdom of the world that the church has imported or continued indeed to allow for the wisdom of the world as an alternative or alongside of the wisdom of men, of the wisdom of God, the wisdom of men alongside of it.
[26:55] And you see, when these things, and I've said it so often, and you know this yourselves, it's what happens when you put the Bible aside to some extent or you do away with a proper view of the Bible as to what it is as the Word of God.
[27:11] When you put aside the fact that it's God's authoritative Word, that it's relevant for every generation, that you don't change its terms, even if the circumstances in which you're placed means you perhaps change the method by which you convey it to the world, taking advantage of advances in such things as technology and other things like that.
[27:32] But it's still the same Gospel and you're committed to the same Gospel and you don't change the essence of the Gospel and the basic things of the Gospel. You don't take worldly wisdom into account as you think of the question, how can we reach people with the Gospel?
[27:48] How can we see people changed in their lives? How can you really address the social problems of the day? How can you actually take people out of the mess that they are in and try and turn their lives around?
[27:59] You don't say, well, let's see what the world is thinking. Let's see how the world did it. Let's see how the Greeks did it. You don't go to those things, but that's what the church is doing.
[28:13] That's what you find in the church, as I said, in the wider sense. And for Paul, this was not a superficial thing. Now, Paul, this is not just something that is a difference of opinion.
[28:25] It is that. But it's not merely a difference of opinion. It's not an unimportant thing. It is so important indeed that he says there in verse 17, for example, Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
[28:46] You see what's happening? When you bring in the wisdom of the world and put it alongside the wisdom of God as to how people will be saved, how people should conduct themselves as Christians, you're emptying the cross of its power.
[29:00] You're displacing the cross. You're doing away with what God Himself has set as His means of salvation, His means of sanctification. It's emptying the Gospel of something absolutely crucial.
[29:14] What is it? It's the cross as the only means by which people come to have their sins answered for by God. That's why it's important to the Apostle to say these things.
[29:30] That's why He's so insistent on them. That's why He uses such strong language and such clear terms. The wisdom of the world is something that we have to leave behind, something we have to jettison from our thinking.
[29:52] Whatever we gain from our knowledge of the world and the way it does things. The church of God is different because it has to follow the wisdom of God.
[30:04] And especially in terms of salvation, in terms of how people are set right with God, how we come to be accepted and acceptable to God, it's all in Jesus Christ.
[30:17] And it's all in Christ crucified. That's why He's saying here, we preach Christ crucified. That which is a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles.
[30:29] So that's the wisdom of the world. But what about the contrasting wisdom and power of God? Well, you notice in verse 18, he's saying there, the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing.
[30:43] And that's literally how it is in the text of 1 Corinthians, the word of the cross. That's exactly the phrase that Paul is using. But what does he mean by the word of the cross?
[30:55] Well, he's been talking about, if you like, the wisdom of words in the worldly sense. The wisdom of words, whether they're eloquent words or words just of a different kind of caliber, but they're worldly words, worldly thinking, it's the wisdom of words.
[31:12] And what Paul is thinking of is Christ and the cross of Christ, far from being the wisdom of words, it's the word of wisdom. It's God's word of wisdom.
[31:25] And he means by the use of this word word in verse 18, when you say, take into account verse 21, since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach.
[31:41] And then he mentions preaching again in verse 23, and so on. So, it's really the wisdom of God through his word, but especially his word preached.
[31:54] Because the substance, or the center point, of this word that is preached is Christ in his death. It's the cross of Christ. Everything else revolves around that.
[32:05] Unless you include the resurrection, which of course is also so foundationally important. But the cross, followed by the resurrection, that's the heart, that's the centerpiece, really, of God's revelation of himself.
[32:18] And that's the centerpiece, the fulcrum, if you like, of our redemption. Everything else is balanced on that, or revolves around that. That's why he's saying, the preaching of the cross, the word of the cross, is folly to those who are perishing.
[32:38] And the grammar there is important. He doesn't just say, those who will perish. Neither does he say, those who will be saved. It's foolishness, to those who are perishing.
[32:52] The language really is, language of, a personal relationship, or interest to these things.
[33:03] Or you might say, the outcome, of their thinking, of their mindset. Because to see the cross, to see the wisdom of God, as foolishness, is to be indicative of being in a state of perishing.
[33:22] You are perishing, if that's our view of the cross. On the other hand, it is the power of God, to those who are being saved.
[33:35] And again, it's interesting how he puts that, without dwelling too much upon it. Sometimes the Bible speaks about, having been saved, in the past tense.
[33:46] Something that happened. You can relate that, to your own experience. You came to know the Lord, however you came to know Him. What happened then, in coming to know Him, you equate with being saved.
[33:57] You were saved by that. You came, into a state of salvation. But then there's the, ongoing work of God, in a Christian's life, where you can say, I am being saved.
[34:08] I am in the process, by God's grace, and by God's spirit, of being saved. He's working in me, towards my eternal state. And then you can also say, thirdly, I shall be saved.
[34:23] When I leave this world, especially after, the resurrection, and the final order, is established by God, I shall be saved.
[34:33] So the Christian, is all these, already. He is, saved, or she is saved. He or she is being saved. And he or she, will be saved, in the final sense.
[34:46] That's what Paul is saying, is our relationship, with the cross, when we believe. Using the words, believing, and called here. You see, he talks here, those who believe. And he also speaks there, about those who are called, in verse 20, 24.
[35:02] But those who are called, and called there, means called by God, powerfully, into union, with fellowship, with Christ. Saving connection, with Christ. By God's calling, by God's spirit, at work.
[35:17] And to us, he says, who are saved, who are called, the cross, is, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
[35:28] But we preach, Christ crucified. That is the power of God. That is the wisdom of God. It's absolute foolishness, to worldly wisdom.
[35:39] It's foolish to those, within the church of Christ, to think, that this is not at all sufficient, not at all adequate, not at all up to date, not at all relevant, to the age, in which we live, that you would go about, saying, this exclusively, the cross of Christ, is the power, and the wisdom of God.
[35:57] But that's what it's saying. And that's what we need, to be convinced of. Because to add to that, or to do something otherwise, of the wisdom of the world, is to nullify, in many respects, the cross, and the preaching of the cross.
[36:14] That's why, when we're preaching, even in texts, that don't specifically mention, Jesus and the death of Christ, we try, very often, to relate, the death of Christ, and the person of Christ, to these things.
[36:29] Because that's really, at the center, as we said, of God's revelation, and God's redemption. And that's why, in this instance, we're focusing on, these passages, to do with the cross.
[36:41] So let's ask the question. Let's just look at the contrast, between worldly wisdom, the wisdom of the world, and the wisdom of God. Where have you ever found, human power, human ability, breaking the bonds of sin, breaking the grip of death?
[37:04] Where have you ever found that happening? It doesn't happen. It's impossible. Human wisdom can't do that. Human power can't do that. Where have you ever found, human wisdom, devising a way of salvation?
[37:17] Where our sin is actually forgiven, and covered from God's sight, and where we are then, accounted righteous, through faith in Christ? Where have you found, human wisdom, devising such a way?
[37:29] Where have you found, the wisdom of the world, ever coming? Anywhere close, to finding a way, as Paul says in Romans, chapter 3 and verse 26, a really important verse.
[37:41] God being just, and the justifier, of the one who believes in Jesus. God cannot, speaking with all reverence, this is what God himself has revealed, he's not going to give away, his righteousness, his justice, in order to save sinners, some other way.
[38:00] And the beauty, and the glory of Christ, on the cross is this, that God through that, not only deals with our sin, but in a way that is just, and maintains his own justice, in doing so.
[38:17] And when he applies, that salvation, to individuals, and when he comes to account, as righteous, in our justification, he's not being unjust, in doing that.
[38:29] We are the unrighteous, who believe in Jesus. And God is not unjust, to actually accept us, for Jesus' sake.
[38:42] He has found a way. His wisdom has devised the way. His wisdom has set up, this plan of salvation, where he himself remains, perfectly just, as he has always been, even though he justifies, those who are naturally ungodly, when they come to believe, in Jesus.
[39:07] There is no such God, anywhere else. There is no such wisdom, anywhere else. There is no such power, anywhere else, that actually releases us, from sin, from the power of sin, from the grip of Satan, from the death, that is attached to our sin, as its wages, and that actually brings us, even in relation to God, out of a state of condemnation, into a state of full acceptance, in Jesus Christ.
[39:46] And that's why, in chapter 2, Paul goes on, as we read the first part of it, when he comes again, to emphasize, for the Corinthians, that when he came amongst them, he was with them, in weakness, in fear, in much trembling, how different he was, to one of these, Greek orators, or to one of these, Jewish doctors, of the law, who confidently, could stand, and speak of the law, or in the Greek sense, who could stand, and address crowds, with eloquent words, and make long speeches, I wasn't like that, he said, I didn't come, in that way amongst you, in fact, he says, I was with you, in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling, who's speaking here, this is the great apostle, this is this giant, of a man, morally, and spiritually, what's he saying, about himself, he's saying, I didn't come to you, in the wisdom, of the world, I came to you, in myself, in much fear, and trembling, and weakness, and my speech, my message, was not, in plausible words, of wisdom, again speaking of, the wisdom of the world, but in demonstration, of the spirit, and of power, why was this, why was this, so foundationally important, to the apostle, and why does he then, emphasize it here, well he tells us, in verse five, that your faith, might not rest, in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, in a manner of speaking,
[41:24] I and Kenny, I could, begin next week, speaking to you, in words of, worldly wisdom, and say, we were denouncing, cross of Christ, has been, foundationally important, we no longer believed, in the actual resurrection, of Jesus, that we didn't think, the Bible itself, fully sufficient, or in any sense, the word of God, in itself, what good would that be to you, where would that land you, what would that do, to your faith, it would rest, in the wisdom of men, and not in the power of God, and that's why, it's so important, to the apostle, and to ourselves, to have that view, of the cross, that view, of Christ's death, that that is the wisdom, and the power of God, dealing with sin, and the need of us, as sinners, where his power, and his wisdom, are set forth, around, around, 1804, a man called,
[42:36] Thomas Kelly, wrote a hymn, entitled, Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted, I don't know anything, about his background, but, his words, I think are appropriate, just to finish, or study this evening, this is what he wrote, tell me, it's about Jesus, he's talking about Jesus, and his death, tell me, you who hear him groaning, was there ever grief, like his, friends through fear, his cause disowning, foes insulting, his distress, many hands were raised, to wound him, none would interpose, to save, but the deepest stroke, that pierced him, was the stroke, that justice gave, you who think of sin, but lightly, nor suppose, the evil great, here may view, its nature rightly, here its guilt, may estimate, mark the sacrifice, appointed, see who bears, the awful load, tis the word, the Lord's anointed, son of man, and son of God, here we have, a firm foundation, here the refuge, of the lost,
[43:48] Christ the rock, of our salvation, his the name, of which we boast, lamb of God, for sinners wounded, sacrifice, to cancel guilt, none shall ever, be confounded, who on him, their hope, have built, the power, and the wisdom, of God, let's pray, Lord, we give thanks, this evening, for the surpassing, greatness, of your wisdom, forgive us, we pray, when we, still think, in terms, of the wisdom, of this world, as we seek, to approach, the most important, things of life, deliver us, we pray, from such a mindset, day by day, and help us, to look, to Jesus, only, to the death, which he died, and to the way, in which, the impact of such, was so significant, even, in the depths, of God himself, we thank you,
[44:54] Lord, for the cross, and for the preaching, of the cross, for the word, of the cross, we pray, that that will continue, to be for us, not only foundational, and important, to ourselves, but also, constrain us, to reach out, to others, with that good news, in the gospel, that there is, a savior, that there is, a wisdom, far greater, than that, of this world, and that there is, a hope, for human beings, in the cross, of Christ, receive our thanks, we pray now, and all, for Jesus sake, amen.
[45:31] Let's conclude, our worship, this evening, singing, Psalm 110, Psalm 110, that's on page, 149, June, this time, is Zurich, and we're singing, verses 1 to 4, these are words, of course, which are, picked up in the New Testament, in various places, and words, which are, prophetic, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his, not only, his kingship, but his priesthood, as well, as they combine, in him, the Lord said unto my Lord, the Lord said to my Lord, sit here at my right hand, till I make your foes a stool, on which your feet may stand, unchangeably, in verse 4, the Lord, with solemn purpose, swore, just like Melchizedek, you are a priest, forevermore, let's stand to sing, these four verses, the Lord said to my Lord, sit here at my right hand, until I make your foes a stool, on which your feet may stand, the Lord will make your reign, extend from Zion's hill, with royal power you'll rule among, those who oppose your will, when you display your power, your people walk to you, at dawn, our hidden holiness, your youth will come like true, unchangeably, the Lord, with solemn purpose, swore, just like Melchizedek, you are a priest, forevermore, if you allow me to get to the main door, please, after the benediction, now may the grace, mercy, and peace of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with you now, and evermore,
[48:25] Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen,