Jesus Christ crucified

Good morning. We're going to be moving soon into this passage that Courtney read for us here. And I just first wanted to share with you a thank you email that I got from Uganda this last week. It reads, and I thank God for the MP3s that you brought. They're working very well. I send you greetings from CBIT students. Those are the ones that I taught and took some MP3 players, too, with the New Testament recorded on them in many of their own languages. And they say, thank you very much for the MP3 players and the CDs you gave them. I also say thanks on behalf of the Lwanda Children's Home for the MP3s you gave us. We gave several dozen to the Children's Home.

By the way, Uganda has a huge orphan problem, and this is some of the response from Christians to the orphan problem. They at one point in time had a 30% AIDS infection rate. So anyway, a real problem. The children can now easily listen to the gospel even if it's not time for the Bible study.

Thank you for your commitment to bring us MP3 players whenever you come. It's my prayer that the Lord may reward you abundantly for all the people who are standing with you in the ministry which was begun with our Lord Jesus Christ. This is wonderful news. So anyway, it's there, thank you.

This is written by Jared, and Jared is one of those whose mother died of AIDS. I asked Jared when I first met him, how old are you? And he, although usually a very happy and jovial fellow, suddenly went serious. And he said, I'm not sure, they think I'm 22. because he was one of those. But obviously he rejoices in the Lord and he's thankful for what the Lord has done in his life. And he also thanks you for your support of the ministry.

Now, let's do turn to our passage. We're starting as we step through this book of 1 Corinthians. We're starting into the beginning part of the second chapter and beginning with 1 Corinthians 2.1 as Courtney read here. And so this primary question comes up.

He begins to address in the very first verse, who will they be impressed with? When it's all done with what we're doing as Christians, who will they be impressed with? Will it be a flashy preacher? What's the stance? I'm not sure I got it right. I'll never have that hair. Anyway, okay. Yeah. Or a glorious Savior. Will they be impressed with a super Christian or Christ the Lord? Who will they be impressed with? That's what Paul is kind of starting off with as his opening comment and point here. You see, the pattern was this.

The more well-to-do Christians in Corinth were trying to climb this supposed social ladder, and they didn't understand that in the church, the social ladder thing just doesn't apply. It's an inappropriate place to try to extend the social ladder climbing process. It just doesn't fit. It doesn't fit with the character of who we are in Christ. But these who didn't understand were trying to use the church as a means for climbing the social ladder. Completely inappropriate, and he was trying to correct the misunderstanding.

They relied on, among other things, we pointed out some of the things and we'll take a look at them as we proceed through the book. They relied on clever speech and worldly wisdom to try to pull it off. And so we have this kind of comical social ladder both on the graphic and on your handout too. Paul told them that when he came to them he didn't rely on those same impressive means, that is, humanly impressive means.

He says, I didn't come to you with that. As a matter of fact, he came to them and he says, you know, hey, I make tents at night, you know, sometimes I sleep. But I make tents at night, but I certainly didn't come to you with some impressive climbing the social ladder kind of language. I didn't use flowery oratory. I didn't use an impressive lingo or clever speech.

Why wouldn't he do that? What would be the great difference that would make Paul stay away, not just not do it, but actually stay away from that kind of an appeal? He wanted to impress them with Christ and not with himself. That's why. It was a big issue. Who will they be impressed with? Who will they be impressed with? In verse 2, he steps into, after all, what is the essential gospel? What is the gospel that must be believed in order to be saved?

Over the many centuries since Christ's first coming, even up to our present day, this question has continued to be debated within Christendom. Now notice how I use the term Christendom because there's all sorts of groups included within Christendom. And yes, this has been debated over the centuries. It's been debated even up to our own day.

One of them, a few centuries after the time the New Testament was completed and the Apostle John had gone home to be with the Lord, one of them was a rule, don't hire a Jew to bless your crops if you want to be saved. That was one of the rules that they had. Here's another one that's been generated less than the last couple centuries.

Someone else can be baptized for you after you've died and then that'll work. So someone has come up with that and these folks are real interested in digging up genealogies and things of that sort in order to be baptized for all the folks that they have in the genealogical tree. Another one is just believe in Jesus. Not in Christ crucified, buried, resurrected, any of that, just believe in Jesus. That's it. And there are those who propose that. They'll leave it at that. Well, there are other teachings as well.

But the question, what is the essential gospel? When you boil it right down, what's the gospel? What is it? Christ crucified for our sins, buried and raised. Believing that is the essential saving gospel. We put it pictorially as well as with words here. Crucified for your sins, buried, and rose again.

That's it. It's that simple. I said it in less than a minute. I think Randy and Jessica went through a class in which the instructor said, give the gospel in, I forget exactly how many, but it was like 20 words or something of that sort. And it is quite possible to lay it out that simply. The essential gospel is something we'll be getting to when we get to 1 Corinthians 15, 1-11. Paul says, essentially, those same things.

Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again, and that you believed, and were saved. Three, one of the things we see is Paul talks about coming in weakness, fear, and much trembling. And, of course, the puzzling question is, why would an empowered apostle sent by Jesus Christ, who is able to perform miracles and heal people, come with weakness, fear, and much trembling? That's kind of a puzzling thing to say, isn't it? Here is Paul, and Paul is not bold and boastful about it, but he is actually one who was personally taught by the Lord, since he did not walk with the other apostles, but was personally taught by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he in various ways and places spells that out in his writings. He was sent by the Lord Jesus Christ as a special messenger from the Lord. and appointed particularly to the lands of the Gentiles. He performed miracles. He not only claimed that as he wrote, but it's recorded by Dr. Luke in the Book of Acts.

Would that kind of a person come? Could we possibly imagine him being weak and trembling? That's kind of amazing, isn't it? We give the example both in brief quote and reference and in picture here of Paul raising Eutychus who was picked up dead, or as they assumed he was dead when he was picked up there as he fell from an upper story window in the book of Acts chapter 20.

But Paul did not want any human level appeal to point to himself and to draw away attention from Christ. He most certainly did not want to rely on these human strengths and resources. After all, he said as he wrote in various places, Philippians is one of them, he says, I've got real human assets to claim.

I'm of the right tribe. I was brought up under Gamaliel, well-trained. I was on the path to being at the very top echelon of Israel. The Old Testament, I had it then. Plenty for him to rely on, and yet when he comes in to tell the Corinthians the Gospel, what does he do?

Oh boy, I don't want to give them the wrong picture. I don't want them to end up looking to me instead of to the Savior. I don't want them to end up looking at what I have in my heritage or what I've gained in my own efforts. as being the point. That's not the point. It's not a great Paul he wants them to see. It's a great Christ he wants them to see. Now, the next verses, we have this question mark.

The Apostle Paul in a demonstration, he after all uses that word, probably not of this kind. Probably not with signs, placards, the emperor is a pagan jerk, right? While believers should make an appeal in both evangelism and teaching that is clear and perhaps even appealing, certainly communicating the gospel, in the end it must be God's own message that comes through. It is possible for human beings to forge something out of God's Word or out of what seems like a good message that grabs people and impresses people with the speaker. impresses people with the message that the speaker has, but ultimately draws away from Christ.

We have, especially in our own day, with the ability to put things out there in the media. We can put things out there in books. We can put things on TV, radio. We can send things out on the Internet. It's possible for someone to make quite a name for themselves within Christendom and Christianity. But Paul says, I don't want to go there. I'll tell you what I want to demonstrate.

The Holy Spirit is always involved in communicating God's message in various ways. The Holy Spirit inspires Scripture. As Paul wrote to Timothy, all Scripture is God breathed. Second Timothy 3.16 and on into verse 17. Scripture is God-breathed. Peter wrote, the Holy Spirit carried these writers along as they wrote God's Word.

The Holy Spirit was involved. The Holy Spirit, as we have in this passage in John 16 quoted here, 13 and the first part of 14, when the Holy Spirit comes, the Spirit of truth comes, He will glorify me. Who's me? Christ. The Holy Spirit has the task not of glorifying Himself, as many are prone to err in these days, but of glorifying Christ, of pointing people to Christ. The Holy Spirit convicts hearts, particularly those of the unbeliever who needs to come to a place of belief, and grows us who have already believed and are beholding the Lord through His Word, even this morning, to grow us from glory to glory. That's the Holy Spirit's work. One of the other things that he brings out in verses 4 and 5 is really this issue of which is better, this or this? Any of you that have maybe endured this kind of thing for glasses or contacts have seen this, which is better, this or this? And one thing you're really sure of, you'll wear anything but that machine the rest of your life. You do not want to go walking around with this machine. Yeah, I'll take those lenses. Okay, here you go.

But which is better, this or this? This or this? As human beings, certainly we're always in a mode of doing some kind of comparison. That's just pretty typical, right? We compare things and that's the way it ought to be. We should do that. So Paul is wanting us to have a clear distinction as we compare between different kinds of wisdom. He says, do you see the difference? Did you do some spiritual comparison shopping here? Earthly wisdom versus God's wisdom. Which is better? This or this? Can you tell the difference? I don't want one to be blurry and the other be blurry too. You want God's wisdom to be very clear.

Because in the end, we're going to have to place our faith somewhere. Yeah, all of us. Every human being walking the planet ultimately has to decide where to place their faith. Someplace. Paul wants to make it very clear our faith is to be in Christ. That is the essential.

There was a fellow some centuries back, I think he died about 1650, known as Rene Descartes. He said, I think, therefore I am. He put his faith in his ability to reason, rationalism. So here's Descartes. I think, therefore I am. Oh, sometime later came this fellow Bertrand Russell, and I'm summarizing his thoughts this way. I think I can't quite know if God exists for certain, but I'm quite certain you're not quite certain, Bertrand Russell. About 17 and a half years ago, I got Lyme disease, and I would say something like this. I think I remember having amnesia. Don't remember that. Everybody on the planet is putting their faith in something. Everybody. Someone who comes to you and they claim to be the ultimate skeptic. You know what they're doing? They are people of faith.

Because every human being on the planet is a person of faith. There is nobody in this room and nobody else walking the planet that isn't putting their faith in something or somebody. That is the way we are made as human beings. We cannot go about without putting our faith somewhere. That is what we will do. We have all got faith. It's only a question, what am I going to do with this? Nobody's going to sidestep it. It is always true.

So it isn't really a question, am I religious? And people oftentimes think of that as a person of faith. Or a skeptic, or whether I'm just secular. No, that's not really the issue at all. The real issue is whether we put our faith in God and His provision through Christ, what He's revealed to us here, or not. That's the real issue. That's the ultimate issue.

See, oftentimes it's couched as, oh, you people who are religious, you're people of faith, you have this religion and you have faith, and it's looked upon as faith is only for those who are religious. No. Every person walking the planet has faith. It's only a question of where you put it. Human beings cannot sidestep that issue. So really it comes down to this question Paul's addressing, what's life all about? Is life about achieving success in some form? Is that what life is all about? What are we doing here on this planet? Is that what it is? Or is it a matter of placing our faith in Christ and His accomplishment and God's work accomplished through Him? In verses 6 through 8, Paul steps into a theme there, eternal wisdom. or the fading fast kind. In God's wisdom, Christ is the last man left standing. Christ being the Son of God is eternal.

Lots of folks come and go. You read about them in the history books. You'll see about them on the History Channel. Folks that come and go. There are all kinds of names. Some of them are more prominent. Today we have our celebrities where, I think according to one saying, they get to be famous for 15 minutes.

But he, Christ, is changeless. He's not of the fading past kind. And what he has done is eternally effective. I have a quote here from Hebrews 7. He did once for all, when he offered up himself, what? for the sins of the people. But that once for all doesn't mean Him for all the people. That means once done, perpetually valid, perpetually accomplished. When He died on the cross, what did He say? It is finished. Done.

All of the purveyors of this world's fading wisdom, and I could add fast fading, And the long parade of this world's fleeting powers are all of the fading fast kind. All of the fading fast kind. You ever see a book of quotes? All clever, clever combinations of things by people whose names you've heard and you've never heard of. But amazing collection of words. You look at them and, oh boy, that was a great thing to say.

Those are all of the fading fast kind. That's the fading fast wisdom. Christ is ever God's wisdom and power. Always and on into eternity. Always on into the time when this heaven and earth is no more. In verses 6 through 8, there is also this theme, revealing the mystery and those who see it and hear it. Our typical use of the word mystery often has the idea of something that remains mysterious. They will say, oh, that's a mystery. And by that we mean something that still remains puzzling, quizzical, ponderous. But Paul's assigned task, what the Lord gave him to do, why the Lord revealed things directly to him, is to reveal those truths that have been hidden for long ages past.

Paul puts it, and I think is the ultimate example passage in Colossians 1.26, He gives the definition of his use of the word mystery, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages past and generations, but has now been manifested to his saints. But for those who wish to hold on to this world's wisdom and this world's definition of power, the eternal wisdom and power of God that Paul proclaimed will remain a mystery to them. It will remain baffling. Huh? I don't get it. I don't understand.

They will try to interpret it in some way. I remember sitting down with a couple of ladies when I was in a Spanish class. I forget whether I said this in Spanish or English, but talking to them about the Lord Jesus Christ and their perception of Him. Oh, He was a man who was a good example and said a lot of good things. And they left it at that. I said, if that's what He did, then you should not follow Him. Because he's a liar. Okay? Because that's not all he came to do.

Do you know he said that he came to die? Do you know he said that he came to die for sins? Do you know he said that he would be risen, raised to new life? He said that. And either he really said it and he really meant it, or he's a liar and you should not follow him. But if he really meant it, you'd better listen, because he didn't die for nothing.

Verses 6-8 in chapter 2 also say that fading fast wisdom is the kind that killed Christ. Certainly, that Christ would die for the sins of all of us and be buried and raised was what he and the Father had agreed to before This present earth was created. See, God didn't think of Christ coming to die for us.

This is sort of an afterthought. Oh, heavens, look what these human beings have done. They've made a mess of themselves. Now look what I'm going to have to do. I'm going to have to send Jesus on earth to come die for these people to fix up this mess. No. Before, God said, let there be light. This was agreed upon. You know, this is what's going to have to happen. Because the Lord knew. Christ gave His life willingly. It was not a matter of Christ being pulled along by the Roman soldiers going, No! No! No! Don't do this! No! I won't let you! No! Stop! He was not doing that. He was instead willingly laying His hands out. Put the nails in. One, two, three. It's finished. Job done. Right?

The Roman soldiers did exactly, though they didn't know it, what Christ wanted. He did it, as Hebrews 12 says, for the joy set before Him. But even when we, we believers, pass through heaven's gates, we'll sing the praise of the Lamb who was slain for us, voluntarily, because He gave His life. His life was not taken from Him. He gave it. But the fading fast kind of wisdom that Paul is talking about here was the wisdom that saw killing Christ as just getting Christ out of the way.

Ah, that was a job well done. Okay, now on to what really matters, right? That's fading fast kind of wisdom. Just get this Jesus out of the way. Because after all, we've got stuff to do. We have more important things to get done than what he has to say. That's the fading fast kind of wisdom. That's what Paul is talking about here.

The last verse, verse 9, what does God have in store for us? It's a really cool verse. I made reference to it. I kind of gave a sneak peek to the Revelation elective here. When God's power and wisdom had been shown to be lasting and superior. Yeah, there will come a time. It will be quite evident. Every knee shall bow. when the fading fast kind of power and wisdom have all been swept away. When that's all gone, when it's history, when it's all dust and less. The Lord has in store for us an eternity with Christ the Lamb. Yeah, a forever with Christ the Lamb. It's described oh so briefly in God's Word. As a matter of fact, I'm rather amazed Very little, by comparison, is said about heaven to describe it. And that's rather curious. It's because our language falls short. I think that's one reason.

Ephesians 2.7 talks about in the ages to come. In fact, let's take a look at that.

In Ephesians 2.4-7, Paul spells out the unending result of having been identified with Christ in Ephesians 2.4-7.

Paul in verses 4 through 6 spells out how he'd been identified with Christ all the way from his crucifixion, remember that's what he preached, all the way to having been seated with him in the heavenlies. He spells that out here in the first several verses. But then in verse 7, so that, what's the so that? This is the consequence of having been identified with Christ in those five ways.

Crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating. So that, verse 7, in the ages to come, not just two years, not just ten, not just a hundred, in the ages to come he might show, by the way that word means to demonstrate visibly and noticeably the surpassing riches, not just the minuscule riches, not the adequate riches, the surpassing, over the top, overthrown, way over the top riches, wealth of his grace.

Do you realize that God has a wealth of grace? Do you know what he's going to be doing with us for eternity? Demonstrating, showing that grace. That's what he's going to be doing for eternity. You'd be wondering what you're going to be doing. We're not going to be having eternal coffee breaks. I don't think we'll be wearing our fingers out just focusing on harps. He is going to be demonstrating for eternity. His grace. And why will that not be boring? Because His grace is amazing. It is indeed amazing grace. My brothers put it this way, grace isn't grace unless it's amazing. I think the way we can look at it here is We have but the briefest of descriptions of what eternity will be like. He puts it in verse 9, quoting out of the Old Testament.

Eye has not seen, ear has not heard. It's not been seen by human beings, not in the full sense. Not heard in a great sense. Oh yes, we've got glimpses of it. Pretty marvelous glimpses of that. But it's still rather minimal. It hasn't even entered the heart of man. No human being would have cooked this up, okay?

It's only been revealed to us by the Lord who loves us in brief glimpses. The immensity of what God has in store for us who have put our trust in Christ for salvation is awesome. It's been witnessed only in little tiny glimpses, as we've been seeing some in our Revelation class, but no human being can imagine or conjure up the nature of it or put it into words. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor have entered into the heart of man. We are going to be gasping, to put it in human terms, for eternity.

And when a million years have gone by, it won't be... It'll be... We will still be amazed. There will be no end to the amazement. We won't be looking down at our Rolexes. Heavenly Rolexes, you know. and saying, boy, I wonder when the next coffee break is. It will instead be a matter of amazement, continual amazement at the awesome, glorious grace of our Lord. Wealth of grace. The over-the-top, overthrown, way out of the ballpark grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That will be impressive, won't it? Forever? Let's pray.

Lord, as we look at this passage here, what places Paul has taken us. He has taken us to the crucifixion of our Lord from an earthly standpoint, a ghastly, disgusting event, and yet glorious, essential to be believed. He has taken us all the way past the gates of heaven to the throne room of our Lord Jesus Christ. whom we will worship forever and ever. Thank you, Lord, for where Paul has taken us. We pray that we would have eyes of discernment and distinction to see the world's wisdom and God's wisdom and the great chasm of difference between the two. We bring these things before you in Jesus' name. Amen.