WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.679 Grab your Bibles. We're going to jump right into 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:05.080 it this morning. Let's open our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:11.380 2. I know we just came off a long week, Passion 00:00:11.380 --> 00:00:14.359 Week. What a blessing that was. But two Sundays 00:00:14.359 --> 00:00:17.960 ago, we first dipped our toes into this second 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:21.399 chapter of 1 Corinthians, and we got a feel for 00:00:21.399 --> 00:00:25.739 Paul's mindset in that time that he first came 00:00:25.739 --> 00:00:29.350 to Corinth to present the gospel. And we heard 00:00:29.350 --> 00:00:32.250 him describe the simplicity of the message that 00:00:32.250 --> 00:00:34.429 he brought in that day and the methodology that 00:00:34.429 --> 00:00:37.549 he employed as he represented Christ to the Corinthian 00:00:37.549 --> 00:00:40.649 people and how he wanted to see people converted, 00:00:40.729 --> 00:00:43.929 not by means of human persuasion, but through 00:00:43.929 --> 00:00:47.009 the supernatural power of God's spirit moving 00:00:47.009 --> 00:00:50.270 in the heart. That was his goal. So if you look 00:00:50.270 --> 00:00:51.890 at verses one through five, let's look at them 00:00:51.890 --> 00:00:54.369 again. Here's what he wrote in that section. 00:00:54.590 --> 00:00:57.659 He said, when I came to you, brethren, When I 00:00:57.659 --> 00:01:01.219 arrived in Corinth, I did not come with superiority 00:01:01.219 --> 00:01:05.239 of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the 00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:08.700 testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing 00:01:08.700 --> 00:01:11.620 among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 00:01:12.579 --> 00:01:15.500 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:18.120 much trembling, and my message and my preaching 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:22.200 were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in 00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:25.840 demonstration. of the Spirit, and of power, so 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:28.459 that, here's the purpose statement, so that your 00:01:28.459 --> 00:01:31.859 faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but 00:01:31.859 --> 00:01:35.180 on the power of God. So he brings this simple 00:01:35.180 --> 00:01:38.079 message to Corinth, Christ crucified. Remember 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:40.420 in chapter one, he called it simply the word 00:01:40.420 --> 00:01:43.079 of the cross. He didn't bring flashy rhetoric 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:46.019 or complex philosophy, the types of things that 00:01:46.019 --> 00:01:48.599 Greeks loved and were used to. He brought the 00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:51.849 essentials of the gospel message. And it seems 00:01:51.849 --> 00:01:53.750 that it was Paul's goal to simply lay out the 00:01:53.750 --> 00:01:56.650 basics and then get out of the way so that the 00:01:56.650 --> 00:01:58.790 Holy Spirit could work according to his perfect 00:01:58.790 --> 00:02:01.870 will. And he knew that God would save whom he 00:02:01.870 --> 00:02:04.349 would save, right? In his sovereignty, he was 00:02:04.349 --> 00:02:06.290 going to save, even if those numbers were small, 00:02:06.489 --> 00:02:08.930 he was going to save whom he would save. And 00:02:08.930 --> 00:02:10.770 the rest of the Greeks in Corinth would turn 00:02:10.770 --> 00:02:13.030 up their noses at the message and just say, this 00:02:13.030 --> 00:02:16.030 is foolishness. But he trusted God completely. 00:02:16.650 --> 00:02:19.030 Now, much of Paul's letter thus far has been 00:02:19.030 --> 00:02:21.949 about drawing a contrast between, on one hand, 00:02:22.050 --> 00:02:24.909 man's wisdom, and on the other, God's wisdom. 00:02:25.210 --> 00:02:27.849 And the Corinthians, like us today in the West, 00:02:28.069 --> 00:02:31.250 we have been strongly influenced by all kinds 00:02:31.250 --> 00:02:35.270 of philosophical arguments and all kinds of cultural 00:02:35.270 --> 00:02:38.210 norms. And the one thing that Paul didn't want 00:02:38.210 --> 00:02:40.909 to do when he came to Corinth was to bring a 00:02:40.909 --> 00:02:43.409 mixture of the gospel with all these philosophical 00:02:43.409 --> 00:02:46.409 arguments in order to try to compete with all 00:02:46.409 --> 00:02:49.229 the other ideas that were flying around the city. 00:02:49.310 --> 00:02:51.169 Why do that? What would be the purpose in that? 00:02:51.449 --> 00:02:53.849 How would that set the message apart? So he brought 00:02:53.849 --> 00:02:56.430 nothing but the purity of the cross. And yes, 00:02:56.509 --> 00:02:59.009 that was a shocking and repulsive message to 00:02:59.009 --> 00:03:01.629 most Greeks. But again, Paul's not trusting in 00:03:01.629 --> 00:03:03.469 his own words. He's trusting in the power of 00:03:03.469 --> 00:03:06.550 God to save whom he would save. So what he wanted 00:03:06.550 --> 00:03:09.069 to do was simply come humbly, he said, in weakness 00:03:09.069 --> 00:03:12.629 and trembling, and to draw that contrast for 00:03:12.629 --> 00:03:15.310 the Corinthians, for those who had ears to hear. 00:03:15.729 --> 00:03:18.009 And the message was simple. You can stand on 00:03:18.009 --> 00:03:20.949 human wisdom and all the rhetorical flourishes 00:03:20.949 --> 00:03:23.550 and the dramatic presentations that go with it, 00:03:23.590 --> 00:03:27.150 or you can recognize the purity of divine wisdom 00:03:27.150 --> 00:03:30.280 and be saved. from this wicked generation. That 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:32.860 was the contrast he was drawing. Now, two Sundays 00:03:32.860 --> 00:03:35.939 ago, I ended that message with a caution. I said 00:03:35.939 --> 00:03:38.020 that if we're not careful, we can find ourselves 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:41.120 out of balance on the issue of the simplicity 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:44.379 of the message, Christ crucified, and the use 00:03:44.379 --> 00:03:46.900 of wisdom and strategy in the sharing of our 00:03:46.900 --> 00:03:49.460 faith. And some of you guys had questions about 00:03:49.460 --> 00:03:51.659 this. You came up to me afterwards, and I thought 00:03:51.659 --> 00:03:53.719 it might be helpful to talk about some of the 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:55.930 things that you brought to me. One of the things 00:03:55.930 --> 00:03:58.169 I said two weeks ago was this. I said, it's true 00:03:58.169 --> 00:04:00.610 that we don't want to put our trust in human 00:04:00.610 --> 00:04:03.370 wisdom, but at the same time, if we're trying 00:04:03.370 --> 00:04:05.870 to do effective ministry, if we're trying to 00:04:05.870 --> 00:04:08.710 do effective evangelism, we shouldn't ignore 00:04:08.710 --> 00:04:11.990 the role that human wisdom can play in developing 00:04:11.990 --> 00:04:15.250 those strategies, right? In our ministry and 00:04:15.250 --> 00:04:17.790 our evangelism. So the question was this, how 00:04:17.790 --> 00:04:20.930 do we employ wisdom? And think strategically 00:04:20.930 --> 00:04:24.110 while at the same time never watering down the 00:04:24.110 --> 00:04:26.850 offensiveness of the gospel and trusting in the 00:04:26.850 --> 00:04:28.850 power of the Spirit alone to convict the hard 00:04:28.850 --> 00:04:31.870 and save. How do we find that balance? We talked 00:04:31.870 --> 00:04:35.050 about how the content of our preaching has to 00:04:35.050 --> 00:04:38.870 remain fixed, right? The things that we share 00:04:38.870 --> 00:04:41.709 with the lost. The message is fixed, but the 00:04:41.709 --> 00:04:44.209 strategy can be personalized to our audience. 00:04:44.810 --> 00:04:47.550 And so, yeah, that requires employing human wisdom 00:04:47.550 --> 00:04:50.410 in how we approach unbelievers. So, for example, 00:04:50.529 --> 00:04:53.410 I know for a fact from Scripture that Paul would 00:04:53.410 --> 00:04:55.930 employ a different strategy when he's sharing 00:04:55.930 --> 00:05:00.189 the gospel with a Jewish brother versus a Gentile 00:05:00.189 --> 00:05:02.410 Greek. Why? Because they have different backgrounds, 00:05:02.629 --> 00:05:05.170 they come from different cultures, and most importantly, 00:05:05.389 --> 00:05:08.110 a Jew and a Gentile in the first century would 00:05:08.110 --> 00:05:11.430 have completely different presuppositions. in 00:05:11.430 --> 00:05:14.730 their past that inform their belief system and 00:05:14.730 --> 00:05:17.149 how they listen to things. So he would have a 00:05:17.149 --> 00:05:19.529 different strategy. But in either case, whether 00:05:19.529 --> 00:05:22.490 Jew or Gentile, he would always come back to 00:05:22.490 --> 00:05:24.990 the gospel basics, right? Because that's the 00:05:24.990 --> 00:05:27.709 only power to save, the gospel basics, Christ 00:05:27.709 --> 00:05:30.850 crucified. He knows that the determining factor 00:05:30.850 --> 00:05:34.310 isn't gonna be his strategy or his methodology. 00:05:34.730 --> 00:05:37.170 It's gonna be the demonstration of the power 00:05:37.170 --> 00:05:39.290 of the Spirit, which is what he said in verse 00:05:39.290 --> 00:05:42.660 four. So for you and I, and I'll just speak personally, 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.240 I'd employ a different strategy when sharing 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:47.860 with a person who grew up in the church or has 00:05:47.860 --> 00:05:50.779 a background in church life versus somebody who 00:05:50.779 --> 00:05:53.860 has no real context for Christianity. That's 00:05:53.860 --> 00:05:56.180 going to be two different conversations. Or witnessing 00:05:56.180 --> 00:05:59.319 to an American versus somebody from a completely 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:01.959 different country or culture who comes from a 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:04.740 worldview that I don't yet understand. That's 00:06:04.740 --> 00:06:06.899 going to be a different conversation. Or a person 00:06:06.899 --> 00:06:10.360 who's deeply entrenched in philosophy or politics 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:13.699 or science versus somebody who kind of comes 00:06:13.699 --> 00:06:16.139 with a blank slate. Two different conversations. 00:06:16.740 --> 00:06:18.959 So each of those situations is going to require 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:22.339 thought and prayer and having a plan. But again, 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:24.860 no matter how I approach any of those people, 00:06:24.939 --> 00:06:27.279 what's in the back of my mind is this person 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:29.779 is not going to come to trust in Christ unless 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:31.839 the Spirit of God works on his or her heart. 00:06:32.810 --> 00:06:36.610 True? Does that make sense? Good. So for my part, 00:06:36.689 --> 00:06:39.949 I employ all the wisdom I can. I prepare. I present 00:06:39.949 --> 00:06:42.730 with as much excellence as I can. And then I 00:06:42.730 --> 00:06:46.129 lay out the basics and I get out of the way because 00:06:46.129 --> 00:06:49.050 it can't depend on me or how well I presented 00:06:49.050 --> 00:06:52.050 the gospel. Let me address one other thing because 00:06:52.050 --> 00:06:54.529 one of our Okies came up and asked this really 00:06:54.529 --> 00:06:56.870 insightful question. He said, does our approach 00:06:56.870 --> 00:06:59.910 in evangelism change with the amount of opportunity 00:06:59.910 --> 00:07:03.339 that we have? And the answer is yes. If you're 00:07:03.339 --> 00:07:06.300 sharing your faith with, for example, a coworker, 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:08.339 somebody that you work with all the time, or 00:07:08.339 --> 00:07:11.839 a neighbor, or an extended family member, in 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.240 those situations where you know you're going 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:16.800 to have a lot of opportunity to have multiple 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:19.300 conversations, you're going to have a much more 00:07:19.300 --> 00:07:22.569 long -term strategy. What you want to do in those 00:07:22.569 --> 00:07:25.209 situations is build a real friendship that is 00:07:25.209 --> 00:07:28.329 marked by real care and concern for that person's 00:07:28.329 --> 00:07:30.449 soul. You're going to start asking insightful 00:07:30.449 --> 00:07:33.269 questions. You're going to establish a camaraderie. 00:07:33.589 --> 00:07:36.550 So in those cases, you can get to Christ crucified. 00:07:36.769 --> 00:07:38.649 Remember, the message doesn't change. You've 00:07:38.649 --> 00:07:41.149 got to get to Christ crucified, but that might 00:07:41.149 --> 00:07:43.089 take a little longer. It might go a little bit 00:07:43.089 --> 00:07:46.110 slower versus a scenario like this. You're just 00:07:46.110 --> 00:07:48.910 sitting at a coffee house, and you have an opportunity 00:07:48.910 --> 00:07:52.860 to share. Or you're in a doctor's office waiting 00:07:52.860 --> 00:07:55.019 room. Or you're standing in line at the DMV. 00:07:55.220 --> 00:07:57.639 Or you're engaging with a waitress in a restaurant. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:00.519 Or you're volunteering at the ambassador's well 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:04.360 table. Right? In those situations, your time 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:07.180 is short with that person. Your window of opportunity 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:10.620 is narrow. So you're not going to delay in getting 00:08:10.620 --> 00:08:14.379 to Christ crucified. Does that make sense? Still 00:08:14.379 --> 00:08:17.199 requires thought and strategy. And I recommend 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:20.259 that every one of you have a strategy for if 00:08:20.259 --> 00:08:22.939 you meet somebody in a very short window of time, 00:08:23.060 --> 00:08:26.319 you know exactly how you would present the basics 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:28.439 of the gospel. But that is a unique situation 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:31.959 that hopefully requires a loving and gracious 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:36.279 approach, but not with a delay. Just remember 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:39.779 this principle, unique approach with unchanging 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:43.830 content. Unique approach, unchanging content. 00:08:44.169 --> 00:08:46.870 We share the word of the cross with everyone. 00:08:47.230 --> 00:08:50.990 Amen? Okay, let's look at our passage for today. 00:08:51.090 --> 00:08:52.529 Let's look at verses six through nine. That was 00:08:52.529 --> 00:08:54.870 just a flashback to two weeks ago. How many of 00:08:54.870 --> 00:08:58.309 you guys remembered that? My wife did, that's 00:08:58.309 --> 00:09:02.809 good. That's super helpful. Okay, verses six 00:09:02.809 --> 00:09:04.830 through nine. Four verses for this morning, that's 00:09:04.830 --> 00:09:07.409 all. It's loaded. One of the things you're gonna 00:09:07.409 --> 00:09:09.149 notice right out of the gate, beginning in verse 00:09:09.149 --> 00:09:12.769 six, is a change in pronouns. from the first 00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:14.870 five verses, actually from the entire first chapter. 00:09:15.129 --> 00:09:17.330 Up to this point in the letter, Paul's been speaking 00:09:17.330 --> 00:09:21.190 in the first person singular, saying I quite 00:09:21.190 --> 00:09:23.730 a bit. Now he's going to shift to the first person 00:09:23.730 --> 00:09:28.070 plural and use the term we. So after discussing 00:09:28.070 --> 00:09:31.450 his message and methodology in using the plural 00:09:31.450 --> 00:09:34.610 we, what he's doing is linking himself to the 00:09:34.610 --> 00:09:37.730 methodology of all the apostles of Christ. who 00:09:37.730 --> 00:09:39.750 are representing them among the Greeks of the 00:09:39.750 --> 00:09:42.309 ancient world. It's a we, it's all of the apostles, 00:09:42.549 --> 00:09:45.450 okay? Makes sense? How all of the apostles would 00:09:45.450 --> 00:09:48.929 be handling this question of human wisdom versus 00:09:48.929 --> 00:09:51.990 divine wisdom. So look at verse six. Paul says, 00:09:52.090 --> 00:09:55.629 yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature. 00:09:56.230 --> 00:09:59.110 A wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the 00:09:59.110 --> 00:10:02.710 rulers of this age who are passing away. But 00:10:02.710 --> 00:10:06.399 we speak God's wisdom in a mystery. the hidden 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:08.899 wisdom which God predestined before the ages 00:10:08.899 --> 00:10:12.440 to our glory, the wisdom which none of the rulers 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:15.659 of this age has understood, for if they had understood 00:10:15.659 --> 00:10:18.700 it, they would not have crucified the Lord of 00:10:18.700 --> 00:10:21.639 glory. But just as it is written, things which 00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:25.539 eye has not seen and ear has not heard. and which 00:10:25.539 --> 00:10:28.720 have not entered the heart of man, all that God 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:31.559 has prepared for those who love him. So we're 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:33.320 going to simply walk through these four verses 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:34.860 this morning. There's a whole bunch of practical 00:10:34.860 --> 00:10:37.879 things that we can find in this passage, and 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:40.340 in particular, how we view the world that we 00:10:40.340 --> 00:10:43.320 live in, how we approach people in the world 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:46.080 that we live in. So in addition to changing pronouns 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.799 here, Paul's going to make another shift as well. 00:10:49.340 --> 00:10:51.320 Up to this point, he's been very clear about 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:53.860 saying, look, this gospel that I bring to Corinth 00:10:53.860 --> 00:10:56.799 is what? It's foolish and it's weak. That's the 00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:59.120 way it's seen by you guys, foolish and weak. 00:10:59.299 --> 00:11:02.639 And he admits, I made no attempt to try to present 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:05.980 this message with typical rhetorical flourishes 00:11:05.980 --> 00:11:08.279 that Greeks are used to. He says, I didn't come 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:10.799 with superiority of speech. I didn't come with 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:14.299 persuasive words of wisdom. And that was by design. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.539 That was by design. But look at verse six now. 00:11:18.740 --> 00:11:23.919 Know this, we, the apostles, do speak wisdom. 00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:28.759 We do speak wisdom. It's as if Paul's saying, 00:11:28.820 --> 00:11:31.519 look, it may not sound all that impressive to 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:34.399 you Greeks, right, who are inclined towards complex 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:37.879 philosophies, but listen, I'm not out here peddling 00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:41.679 fruitless nonsense. I'm speaking wisdom. This 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:44.279 is real wisdom. In fact, Paul's going to make 00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:47.120 the case that what he and the apostles are imparting 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:49.480 as they share the gospel is actually the highest 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:53.100 wisdom of all, the highest possible wisdom, because 00:11:53.100 --> 00:11:55.460 it's a wisdom that comes from the infinite, eternal 00:11:55.460 --> 00:11:58.600 mind of the very being who designed all things, 00:11:58.659 --> 00:12:01.779 including man. How can you get higher than that? 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:05.320 But it's a wisdom that's aimed at a particular 00:12:05.320 --> 00:12:07.139 audience. In fact, let me give you this word 00:12:07.139 --> 00:12:09.639 here. Those who are capable of understanding 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:12.759 it a group that Paul calls in verse six, those 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:17.559 who are teleos, okay? This is the group capable 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:21.000 of understanding this highest of all wisdoms, 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:23.500 those who are teleos. Now, the NAS translates 00:12:23.500 --> 00:12:27.500 it as those who are mature, and though that translation 00:12:27.500 --> 00:12:29.799 is within the range of meaning of that word, 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:32.139 I actually don't think it's the best translation 00:12:32.139 --> 00:12:34.620 because it can be misleading. A more helpful 00:12:34.620 --> 00:12:37.620 translation would be, we speak wisdom among those 00:12:37.620 --> 00:12:41.879 who are perfect or complete. Of the 19 times 00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:44.779 you find this word in the Greek text, it's almost 00:12:44.779 --> 00:12:48.960 always translated complete. So I don't believe 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:51.340 Paul is making a distinction here between mature 00:12:51.340 --> 00:12:53.559 and immature believers. That doesn't fit the 00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:56.500 context of the writing. The context tells me 00:12:56.500 --> 00:12:59.700 he's making a distinction here between believers 00:12:59.700 --> 00:13:03.960 and unbelievers. That's the context of this passage. 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:07.519 So when he uses the word teleos, complete or 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.279 perfect, he's speaking of those who have been 00:13:10.279 --> 00:13:14.399 completed in Christ, perfected by the sacrifice 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:16.659 of Christ. In other words, those who have been 00:13:16.659 --> 00:13:20.120 positionally justified in the sight of God. They've 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.419 been made perfect in the sight of God. Does that 00:13:22.419 --> 00:13:24.779 make sense? So he's talking about believers here. 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:28.200 So to this audience of believers, Paul says, 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:31.600 look, we do speak wisdom because the believer 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:34.799 has the mind of Christ. And the believer has 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:37.759 the spirit within him, so they alone are able 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:41.200 to understand what the Greeks call this simple, 00:13:41.340 --> 00:13:44.419 weak, foolish message, but is actually the highest 00:13:44.419 --> 00:13:47.279 wisdom of all. We can do that. We, as believers, 00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:49.679 have the mind of Christ. We have the spirit within. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.480 So Paul's basically saying, look, we don't have 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:55.480 any intention of imparting this highest of all 00:13:55.480 --> 00:13:59.179 wisdom to the natural man in human terms just 00:13:59.179 --> 00:14:02.129 so he can grasp it. We're not going to bring 00:14:02.129 --> 00:14:04.429 it down to just human terms so he can grasp it 00:14:04.429 --> 00:14:08.450 because it's not, get this now, not a message 00:14:08.450 --> 00:14:11.929 of this world. It is not a message of this age. 00:14:12.009 --> 00:14:15.710 It is not a message of this culture. No, he says, 00:14:15.809 --> 00:14:18.950 we speak in words and concepts taught by the 00:14:18.950 --> 00:14:22.750 Holy Spirit to those who are spiritual. In other 00:14:22.750 --> 00:14:25.330 words, to those who are known by God, to those 00:14:25.330 --> 00:14:27.929 who are led by the Spirit, to those who are being 00:14:27.929 --> 00:14:30.710 sanctified by the Spirit, to those who are producing 00:14:30.710 --> 00:14:33.250 the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. That 00:14:33.250 --> 00:14:35.809 is the audience of this highest of all wisdoms. 00:14:36.110 --> 00:14:39.669 Make sense? So, this is an important principle 00:14:39.669 --> 00:14:42.629 for all of us to grasp. Unless God is doing a 00:14:42.629 --> 00:14:45.289 work in the heart of man, a man or woman who 00:14:45.289 --> 00:14:48.659 is of the flesh or of the world has no ability 00:14:48.659 --> 00:14:53.120 to recognize God's wisdom and embrace it. They 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:56.639 have no ability. Apart from the Holy Spirit within 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.720 who is a teacher and a guide, it's just not possible. 00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:02.019 Now, I'm not saying an unbeliever can't pick 00:15:02.019 --> 00:15:04.519 up a Bible and open it up and read the words. 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:07.120 Obviously, they can do that. They can come to 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:09.080 church and they can hear a message preached. 00:15:09.419 --> 00:15:13.100 But if God isn't at work enlightening their mind 00:15:13.100 --> 00:15:16.620 and massaging their heart to life, it is not 00:15:16.620 --> 00:15:19.580 going to land. It is not going to make an impact. 00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:22.879 It is not going to bring change. And how many 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:24.779 of you guys would acknowledge that's sort of 00:15:24.779 --> 00:15:26.879 the way you've seen things happen in your life? 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:30.799 You've shared a billion times with a friend or 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:33.299 family member the gospel. You think you've shared 00:15:33.299 --> 00:15:37.600 it clearly and nothing. Or you drag them to church, 00:15:37.779 --> 00:15:40.379 you know, good job. And they sit through a message 00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:44.840 and they heard it and they read the verse, but 00:15:45.149 --> 00:15:48.610 What? Nothing. Paul's explaining why some of 00:15:48.610 --> 00:15:51.629 that is going on here in this passage. And yet 00:15:51.629 --> 00:15:54.830 to us, right, those of us who have the mind of 00:15:54.830 --> 00:15:57.070 Christ, who have the spirit, it all makes so 00:15:57.070 --> 00:15:59.830 much sense, right? This is a supernatural thing. 00:16:00.049 --> 00:16:03.129 It makes sense to us. It's plain as day. For 00:16:03.129 --> 00:16:05.750 us who have the spirit, it's the most beautiful 00:16:05.750 --> 00:16:08.429 message we've ever heard. Every time we listen 00:16:08.429 --> 00:16:10.850 to it, it changes our thinking. It transforms 00:16:10.850 --> 00:16:14.470 our lives. We see it as the infinite wisdom of 00:16:14.470 --> 00:16:18.120 God. On display, unsearchable, unfathomable, 00:16:18.179 --> 00:16:21.159 so far beyond us that even those of us led by 00:16:21.159 --> 00:16:23.940 the Spirit will never plumb all of its depths. 00:16:24.899 --> 00:16:27.580 That's the way we see it. And what we get in 00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:29.940 this lifetime as believers is sort of a sneak 00:16:29.940 --> 00:16:32.039 peek of what's to come because the fullness of 00:16:32.039 --> 00:16:34.980 this will be known in the age to come. But we 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:38.039 get a sneak peek at it when we look at the beauty 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:40.539 of nature all around us, right? We're just saying 00:16:40.539 --> 00:16:43.049 God of wonders, right? When we see... the beauty 00:16:43.049 --> 00:16:45.590 of nature all around us, when we see the complexity 00:16:45.590 --> 00:16:48.649 and the fine -tuning of the universe, we get 00:16:48.649 --> 00:16:51.190 a sneak peek at the infinite wisdom of God. When 00:16:51.190 --> 00:16:55.250 we see how God providentially sustains us in 00:16:55.250 --> 00:16:58.029 this life, meeting our needs, we see his wisdom, 00:16:58.129 --> 00:17:00.509 right? We see it in all the ways that we relate 00:17:00.509 --> 00:17:03.730 to one another as beings made in his image. It 00:17:03.730 --> 00:17:06.609 is obvious to us. It is everywhere around us 00:17:06.609 --> 00:17:10.410 because, Paul says, you and I as believers have 00:17:10.410 --> 00:17:13.900 been made. complete or perfect in Christ. So 00:17:13.900 --> 00:17:16.579 we see it. Most of all, we see God's infinite 00:17:16.579 --> 00:17:20.539 wisdom in all the aspects of salvation. And this 00:17:20.539 --> 00:17:23.119 is what the unbeliever misses most. And this 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:25.019 is what should break our hearts, right? That 00:17:25.019 --> 00:17:27.680 unbelievers don't see this, can't see this. This 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:30.579 is what urges us to share the gospel with everyone. 00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:34.819 All the aspects of salvation, his decree of election, 00:17:35.099 --> 00:17:39.140 the incarnation of God the Son. the atonement 00:17:39.140 --> 00:17:41.960 for sin that takes place on the cross, the resurrection 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:45.720 and the victory over sin and death. We see it 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:47.980 in God's effectual drawing of sinners, in the 00:17:47.980 --> 00:17:50.920 regeneration of the human heart, in the gifting 00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:54.140 of faith, in his decree of justification, in 00:17:54.140 --> 00:17:57.339 adoption into his eternal family, in sanctification 00:17:57.339 --> 00:18:00.440 by the Spirit, in the perseverance of faith that 00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:03.619 we will have in this physical life, and the promise 00:18:03.619 --> 00:18:07.579 of eternity, glorification in heaven. All of 00:18:07.579 --> 00:18:09.700 those things, they come back to the unsearchable 00:18:09.700 --> 00:18:12.940 wisdom of God in the gospel that Paul brought 00:18:12.940 --> 00:18:16.460 to Corinth. And yet, right, we look at that list 00:18:16.460 --> 00:18:19.200 and we're like, mind blown. And yet he comes 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:21.339 to Corinth and the majority of the Corinthians 00:18:21.339 --> 00:18:24.019 go, no thanks, doesn't sound very impressive. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:30.339 No thanks. Didn't come with the flourishes we're 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:35.549 looking for. Sounds kind of foolish to us. And 00:18:35.549 --> 00:18:38.349 it makes no sense to us. Why? Well, because their 00:18:38.349 --> 00:18:43.769 minds are set on human wisdom, not on the divine. 00:18:45.009 --> 00:18:49.150 That's what we should actually expect, and we'll 00:18:49.150 --> 00:18:51.750 get to that a little bit later on. Now, to the 00:18:51.750 --> 00:18:53.930 fact that the gospel is divine wisdom understandable 00:18:53.930 --> 00:18:56.809 only to believers, look again. Paul adds two 00:18:56.809 --> 00:18:59.150 more very interesting descriptors in verse 7. 00:18:59.250 --> 00:19:02.849 First of all, he says this wisdom from God is 00:19:02.849 --> 00:19:06.890 a mystery. Previously hidden, and secondly, it's 00:19:06.890 --> 00:19:10.250 a wisdom rooted in eternity past. Look at verse 00:19:10.250 --> 00:19:14.369 seven again. We speak God's wisdom in a mystery, 00:19:14.509 --> 00:19:18.549 the hidden wisdom which God predestined before 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:23.210 the ages to our glory. And what this tells us, 00:19:23.230 --> 00:19:26.049 obviously, is that the gospel message, and I'll 00:19:26.049 --> 00:19:28.549 just shorten it down to Christ incarnate, right? 00:19:28.630 --> 00:19:30.910 Christ crucified, Christ raised from the dead. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:33.599 That was not some kind of new idea that God just 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:36.980 came up with 2 ,000 years ago, right? God isn't 00:19:36.980 --> 00:19:40.460 making up his plans as human history chugs along. 00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:42.980 And the world tends to think that that's what's 00:19:42.980 --> 00:19:45.599 going on, that God's responding to us. No, that's 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:48.460 not what it says. According to the counsel and 00:19:48.460 --> 00:19:50.980 wisdom of the Trinity, all of this was planned 00:19:50.980 --> 00:19:55.440 before creation ever came into being. Predetermined, 00:19:55.460 --> 00:19:59.420 preordained before all ages. That means the gospel 00:19:59.420 --> 00:20:03.599 is a transcendent form of wisdom. Transcendent. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:06.359 It proceeds from the infinite, eternal creator. 00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:10.359 It's a wisdom established even before man existed, 00:20:10.579 --> 00:20:13.500 before he came into being. And therefore, it's 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:16.240 wisdom that's far beyond any human philosophy, 00:20:16.460 --> 00:20:19.980 far beyond any human plan or purpose. In fact, 00:20:19.980 --> 00:20:22.140 it's something that no man could ever have conceived 00:20:22.140 --> 00:20:25.859 of. It is a wisdom that no man could ever have 00:20:25.859 --> 00:20:29.950 even imagined. God's that far beyond us, is he 00:20:29.950 --> 00:20:33.069 not? And notice the last phrase in verse seven. 00:20:33.130 --> 00:20:36.130 Let this blow you away. It was predestined before 00:20:36.130 --> 00:20:39.990 the ages to our glory. Now, we're used to hearing 00:20:39.990 --> 00:20:42.529 about all things to God's glory and amen and 00:20:42.529 --> 00:20:45.670 amen to that, but because believers, we belong 00:20:45.670 --> 00:20:50.130 to him, his gift of salvation has its final fulfillment 00:20:50.130 --> 00:20:56.130 in our glory with him. Wow. The unchanging truth 00:20:56.130 --> 00:20:58.789 that we are going to spend all eternity with 00:20:58.789 --> 00:21:03.430 the glorious one. That should be an amen right 00:21:03.430 --> 00:21:11.849 there. I mean that. Wake up. That's amazing stuff 00:21:11.849 --> 00:21:16.650 to our glory because we belong to Christ. So 00:21:16.650 --> 00:21:18.650 that's one additional descriptor. It's rooted 00:21:18.650 --> 00:21:21.430 in eternity past. The other one is that God's 00:21:21.430 --> 00:21:24.579 wisdom is a mystery. Now, biblically in the Greek, 00:21:24.660 --> 00:21:27.619 musterion doesn't carry the same meaning that 00:21:27.619 --> 00:21:29.819 we tend to think of it in the English language. 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:32.920 A mystery in the Bible doesn't refer to something 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:35.240 that, oh, that's just impossible to explain. 00:21:35.339 --> 00:21:38.279 We'll never know about that. Like Bigfoot or 00:21:38.279 --> 00:21:44.799 something. I don't know. I'm a Bigfoot fan, by 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:49.819 the way. Do you have a list of questions you're 00:21:49.819 --> 00:21:52.079 going to ask God when you get to heaven? Bigfoot's 00:21:52.079 --> 00:22:01.220 in my top 10. Okay, that's a levity break. Am 00:22:01.220 --> 00:22:05.500 I red now, hon? Okay, a mystery in biblical terms, 00:22:05.660 --> 00:22:08.759 in biblical terms is something that was previously 00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:12.740 hidden to mankind's full understanding, but now 00:22:12.740 --> 00:22:15.819 is revealed in all its fullness. This is important. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:19.680 So the gospel was once a hidden wisdom. that's 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:22.119 now been revealed in all of its beauty and glory. 00:22:22.259 --> 00:22:24.480 This is an example of what we call progressive 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:28.220 revelation, that God is slowly revealing more 00:22:28.220 --> 00:22:31.059 and more to mankind, right? We have all of these 00:22:31.059 --> 00:22:33.000 things in the Old Testament that were hinted 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:36.319 at, that were veiled, types and shadows, that 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:38.119 if you were living in that age, you wouldn't 00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:40.970 have fully seen or understood. But at the same 00:22:40.970 --> 00:22:42.869 time, we know now, looking back, that they were 00:22:42.869 --> 00:22:46.289 pointing forward to this newer age, the age that 00:22:46.289 --> 00:22:48.710 we're in today, when the fullness of those types 00:22:48.710 --> 00:22:51.750 and shadows would be progressively revealed. 00:22:52.410 --> 00:22:54.470 You heard Paul talk about this in our call to 00:22:54.470 --> 00:22:56.690 worship passage at the beginning of the service. 00:22:56.769 --> 00:22:59.269 In Ephesians 3, he writes of the stewardship 00:22:59.269 --> 00:23:02.190 of God's grace that was given to him for the 00:23:02.190 --> 00:23:04.369 sake of the believers in Ephesus. And he writes 00:23:04.369 --> 00:23:06.789 this, look on the screen, that by revelation, 00:23:06.990 --> 00:23:09.549 there was made known to me the mystery of Christ. 00:23:10.829 --> 00:23:13.670 Okay, hint of that in the Old Testament, fully 00:23:13.670 --> 00:23:16.710 revealed in the New. The mystery of Christ, which 00:23:16.710 --> 00:23:19.730 in other generations was not made known to the 00:23:19.730 --> 00:23:23.410 sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his 00:23:23.410 --> 00:23:26.549 holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. And 00:23:26.549 --> 00:23:29.170 what's the purpose? To bring to light what is 00:23:29.170 --> 00:23:31.950 the administration of the mystery, which for 00:23:31.950 --> 00:23:38.180 ages had been hidden in God. Wow. So when Paul 00:23:38.180 --> 00:23:40.079 comes to Corinth, and in fact, everywhere he 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:43.759 went, he's bringing with him this previously 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:47.460 hidden mystery of the gospel message, right? 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:50.519 Salvation to the Lord Jesus Christ and who he 00:23:50.519 --> 00:23:53.519 was and both his person and his work. And that 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:56.839 message and that truth is not graspable through 00:23:56.839 --> 00:23:59.660 human means. It's only understandable through 00:23:59.660 --> 00:24:02.359 divine revelation applied to the mind and the 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:05.640 heart by the Spirit. Again, all Paul had to do 00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:09.250 was present it. And get out of the way and let 00:24:09.250 --> 00:24:11.789 God work. Now, throughout the New Testament, 00:24:11.809 --> 00:24:13.690 we find all kinds of things that are said to 00:24:13.690 --> 00:24:16.289 be a part of this mystery. Things that have now 00:24:16.289 --> 00:24:18.329 been revealed under the new covenant. I'm going 00:24:18.329 --> 00:24:20.309 to give you a list of them. And again, I want 00:24:20.309 --> 00:24:22.609 your mind to be blown by all these things. These 00:24:22.609 --> 00:24:25.250 are all things that under the old system, under 00:24:25.250 --> 00:24:28.390 the old covenant, could not have been fully grasped 00:24:28.390 --> 00:24:31.990 by the saints of that day. Here's the list. How 00:24:31.990 --> 00:24:34.450 the sacrificial system of Israel pointed toward 00:24:34.450 --> 00:24:38.230 one ultimate sacrifice. Capable of covering the 00:24:38.230 --> 00:24:42.089 sins of all mankind. That's a mystery that's 00:24:42.089 --> 00:24:45.210 been revealed to us. How the office of the human 00:24:45.210 --> 00:24:48.049 high priest in the earthly tabernacle anticipated 00:24:48.049 --> 00:24:51.789 the coming of a final high priest who would minister 00:24:51.789 --> 00:24:54.809 in the heavenly tabernacle and become the only 00:24:54.809 --> 00:24:57.970 mediator between God and man. Could not have 00:24:57.970 --> 00:25:00.829 been understood under the old covenant. How the 00:25:00.829 --> 00:25:04.000 Passover. Not only puts on display God's wrath 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.200 for sin, but also provides a picture of the ultimate 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:10.880 Passover lamb whose blood will save us from that 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:15.079 wrath. Amazing. The complete identity of the 00:25:15.079 --> 00:25:18.099 Messiah who is seen, the servant of God who is 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:20.700 seen throughout the Old Testament, that somehow 00:25:20.700 --> 00:25:24.299 the fullness of deity would dwell in the Messiah, 00:25:24.339 --> 00:25:26.940 that he would literally be God who took on a 00:25:26.940 --> 00:25:30.579 human body and a human nature. That mind -blowing 00:25:30.579 --> 00:25:33.240 mystery, right? The mystery of the indwelling 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:36.539 spirit, right? The spirit that's always been 00:25:36.539 --> 00:25:39.440 there, but now indwelling believers, promised 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:42.799 and sent to us by both the Father and the Son. 00:25:42.900 --> 00:25:47.559 How about this one? That the Gentiles, former 00:25:47.559 --> 00:25:51.599 pagans, us, right, would become fellow heirs 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:54.059 and fellow members of God's family, along with 00:25:54.059 --> 00:25:57.259 the Jews, being grafted into that tree of promise. 00:25:58.190 --> 00:26:01.309 That's a mystery. Any Old Testament Jewish saint 00:26:01.309 --> 00:26:04.789 would say, now that's a wild one. The mystery 00:26:04.789 --> 00:26:08.069 of the church, right? The church, Jew and Gentile 00:26:08.069 --> 00:26:10.569 worshiping the Savior side by side, believers 00:26:10.569 --> 00:26:13.789 from every race, tribe, and tongue, all one in 00:26:13.789 --> 00:26:16.490 Christ. That is just a partial list of the mystery 00:26:16.490 --> 00:26:20.250 that's been progressively revealed to those of 00:26:20.250 --> 00:26:23.650 us who are perfect in Christ. Wow, that's an 00:26:23.650 --> 00:26:26.720 amazing list, isn't it? Which, by the way, this 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:29.299 is why, and I was looking at the book of Romans 00:26:29.299 --> 00:26:31.740 in this, Paul in the book of Romans gives us 00:26:31.740 --> 00:26:35.880 these two amazing doxologies. One like tucked 00:26:35.880 --> 00:26:38.759 into the middle and one at the end. And it seems 00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:41.180 to come from the sense that as Paul is laying 00:26:41.180 --> 00:26:44.960 all this out, he is so blown away by it that 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:47.920 he has to break out in praise. In chapter 11, 00:26:48.019 --> 00:26:50.880 he just stops and he says, oh, the depth of the 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:54.039 riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. 00:26:54.539 --> 00:26:57.900 How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable 00:26:57.900 --> 00:27:00.319 his ways. And then closing out the letter, the 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:02.640 very last words he writes in the book of Romans 00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:07.500 is this, to the only wise God, through Jesus 00:27:07.500 --> 00:27:12.059 Christ, be glory forever, amen. And that's how 00:27:12.059 --> 00:27:14.940 we should respond to this, you guys. And so that's 00:27:14.940 --> 00:27:17.400 my transition into my next point. Guys, can we 00:27:17.400 --> 00:27:20.710 stop and talk about how blessed we are? To be 00:27:20.710 --> 00:27:22.950 among those who've been given this understanding 00:27:22.950 --> 00:27:26.170 of this infinite wisdom that's been revealed 00:27:26.170 --> 00:27:29.190 to us in our day? We take it for granted, right? 00:27:29.309 --> 00:27:33.349 But how blessed are we? Right? To be among those 00:27:33.349 --> 00:27:37.069 who can understand this. Now, I say that, it's 00:27:37.069 --> 00:27:39.029 only true if we belong to Christ this morning, 00:27:39.089 --> 00:27:41.519 and I don't want to assume too much. If you're 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:44.119 here this morning and you haven't yet trusted 00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:46.319 in Christ alone and you don't have any intention 00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:48.980 of doing so, then probably what I've shared thus 00:27:48.980 --> 00:27:51.779 far has gone right over your head and hasn't 00:27:51.779 --> 00:27:55.039 impacted your heart at all. All I can do as a 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:57.019 preacher is what Paul did in his day, and that 00:27:57.019 --> 00:27:59.519 is to hope that you have an open mind this morning. 00:27:59.619 --> 00:28:01.960 And I can pray that God will work in your heart, 00:28:02.019 --> 00:28:04.059 that he will begin to take away the veil that's 00:28:04.059 --> 00:28:06.920 over your eyes. And begin to massage your heart 00:28:06.920 --> 00:28:09.940 to life so that you can see these amazing things. 00:28:10.119 --> 00:28:12.859 How incredible the infinite wisdom of the gospel 00:28:12.859 --> 00:28:14.920 is. And if you're here this morning and you don't 00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:17.859 know Christ, that's my prayer for you. And I 00:28:17.859 --> 00:28:19.660 hope you would pray that way as well. If this 00:28:19.660 --> 00:28:21.740 is true, you want to pray that God would make 00:28:21.740 --> 00:28:25.480 it real to you. Listen for the voice of the Spirit. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:27.700 For those of us who belong to Christ, I want 00:28:27.700 --> 00:28:31.079 you to see how blessed you are by looking again 00:28:31.079 --> 00:28:36.190 at verse 9. Look at verse 9. And the statements 00:28:36.190 --> 00:28:39.549 are up on the screen. As it is written, things 00:28:39.549 --> 00:28:43.029 which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, 00:28:43.109 --> 00:28:46.230 which have not entered the heart of man, all 00:28:46.230 --> 00:28:49.009 that God has prepared for those who love him. 00:28:49.690 --> 00:28:52.910 Now, do you know that these words are often read 00:28:52.910 --> 00:28:55.750 at funerals? It's one of the most commonly preached 00:28:55.750 --> 00:29:01.009 funeral passages anywhere in America. Because 00:29:01.009 --> 00:29:03.369 we tend to think of those things as, well, those 00:29:03.369 --> 00:29:04.950 are the things that we get when we get to heaven. 00:29:06.250 --> 00:29:09.549 Can I burst your bubble now? That's really not 00:29:09.549 --> 00:29:11.529 what it's talking about. That's not the context 00:29:11.529 --> 00:29:14.730 here. Context doesn't really support that application. 00:29:15.130 --> 00:29:17.609 It's not completely out of sight because heaven 00:29:17.609 --> 00:29:20.029 is going to be absolutely amazing, right? So 00:29:20.029 --> 00:29:22.509 it's not completely out of sight. But the context 00:29:22.509 --> 00:29:24.269 here, and by the way, Paul's quoting here from 00:29:24.269 --> 00:29:27.329 various places in the book of Isaiah. It's referring 00:29:27.329 --> 00:29:32.500 to what believers have right now. It's what we 00:29:32.500 --> 00:29:34.559 have right now. The point he's making here is 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:36.720 that human beings could never dream up the truth 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:39.579 about the gospel of salvation on their own. No 00:29:39.579 --> 00:29:43.059 eye could have ever seen it. No human eye could 00:29:43.059 --> 00:29:45.440 have ever seen this. No human ear could have 00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:48.059 ever heard and discerned the fullness of the 00:29:48.059 --> 00:29:50.700 gospel. No human heart could ever conceive or 00:29:50.700 --> 00:29:53.039 imagine of these things. Not the incarnation, 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:56.319 not the cross, not the empty tomb, not the giving 00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:59.119 of the spirit, not justification, not sanctification, 00:29:59.460 --> 00:30:03.420 not glorification, none of it. No eye, no ear, 00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:06.579 no heart. And for the same reason we talked about 00:30:06.579 --> 00:30:09.180 earlier, because these things are not humanly 00:30:09.180 --> 00:30:12.900 discovered. They're divinely revealed. And God 00:30:12.900 --> 00:30:15.500 has now revealed them to us in our age, in the 00:30:15.500 --> 00:30:18.180 person and work of Christ, but only to those 00:30:18.180 --> 00:30:20.380 who what? Look at the end of the verse. To those 00:30:20.380 --> 00:30:25.339 who love him. And those who love him are those 00:30:25.339 --> 00:30:30.319 whom God has drawn to himself. Those who have 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:33.279 been brought to life. Those who have been made 00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:37.980 positionally complete or perfect. Again, how 00:30:37.980 --> 00:30:40.119 blessed are we that God has done that work in 00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:42.559 our lives? Raise your hand if you think you deserved 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:47.980 it. You didn't, and I didn't, but God has done 00:30:47.980 --> 00:30:50.920 this work in our life. Let me share with you 00:30:50.920 --> 00:30:53.680 another practical outcome of this passage. It 00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:55.920 speaks to the expectations that we should have 00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:59.440 when we're out there in the world. Today, this 00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:02.680 week, interacting with people in the culture 00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:05.460 and the world system that we live in. We have 00:31:05.460 --> 00:31:07.539 to always keep in mind that our unbelieving friends, 00:31:07.940 --> 00:31:10.720 they're out there using their senses every day, 00:31:10.779 --> 00:31:12.180 their eyes, their ears, their hearts. They're 00:31:12.180 --> 00:31:14.140 using all of them all the time. They're reasoning 00:31:14.140 --> 00:31:16.880 over things. But when it comes to God's wisdom, 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:22.160 they have no ability to do that. We're told in 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:24.019 Scripture that there's this veil that remains 00:31:24.019 --> 00:31:26.640 over their senses. They are blinded from the 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:28.700 truth by the prince of this world. They're actually 00:31:28.700 --> 00:31:31.130 blinded by their own fallen nature. by their 00:31:31.130 --> 00:31:34.529 own sinful hearts, by their love for the things 00:31:34.529 --> 00:31:36.750 of this world rather than the things of God. 00:31:36.809 --> 00:31:39.069 They are veiled, they are blind to these things. 00:31:39.630 --> 00:31:41.730 But it's confusing to them because they know 00:31:41.730 --> 00:31:43.650 about their senses, they use them all the time, 00:31:43.809 --> 00:31:46.490 but when it comes to divine wisdom, they don't 00:31:46.490 --> 00:31:48.950 have the ability to really grasp these things. 00:31:49.730 --> 00:31:52.569 So is it any wonder then that natural men and 00:31:52.569 --> 00:31:55.250 women struggle to figure out all the deep problems 00:31:55.250 --> 00:31:58.009 that plague mankind? Have you thought about this 00:31:58.009 --> 00:32:00.319 before? Have you noticed we don't ever fix any 00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:04.660 of them? They just go on and on and on. It's 00:32:04.660 --> 00:32:06.859 because the natural man can't figure it out because 00:32:06.859 --> 00:32:10.660 they don't have divine wisdom. They can't explain 00:32:10.660 --> 00:32:16.960 things like goodness or love or evil or man or 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:18.799 woman either, right? I mean, the world's gone 00:32:18.799 --> 00:32:22.099 crazy. When they try to solve the deep issues 00:32:22.099 --> 00:32:24.779 of the human heart, they just run around with 00:32:24.779 --> 00:32:26.799 their theories and opinions and put Band -Aids 00:32:26.799 --> 00:32:31.160 on gaping wounds. Because they can't understand 00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:34.859 divine wisdom. When they seek to change the moral 00:32:34.859 --> 00:32:37.420 character of a person. Again, opinions and theories, 00:32:37.500 --> 00:32:41.880 but no real answers. No real change. Because 00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:44.440 transformation by the Spirit is a concept beyond 00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:47.660 their understanding. This is why we believe so 00:32:47.660 --> 00:32:50.579 strongly in biblical counseling. Because that's 00:32:50.579 --> 00:32:54.059 the path to real change. So we shouldn't be surprised. 00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:56.660 We shouldn't be angered or frustrated by the 00:32:56.660 --> 00:32:59.480 inability of the people around us. to not be 00:32:59.480 --> 00:33:02.519 able to see what we see or not be able to hear 00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:05.099 what we hear or to know in their hearts what 00:33:05.099 --> 00:33:08.619 we know. We shouldn't be angered by that because 00:33:08.619 --> 00:33:10.960 they haven't bowed to the revealed truth of God's 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:13.240 word. They don't have the spirit of God to guide 00:33:13.240 --> 00:33:16.819 them. So don't get frustrated with it. Expect 00:33:16.819 --> 00:33:20.519 it as you're talking to people. It should also 00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:24.319 help us to understand why some of the unbelievers 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:26.640 around us are probably gonna make fun of us. 00:33:27.690 --> 00:33:29.950 They might mock us. They might blaspheme our 00:33:29.950 --> 00:33:32.410 God. They might express hatred towards you and 00:33:32.410 --> 00:33:35.309 I. It's because they don't have divine wisdom. 00:33:35.349 --> 00:33:39.210 They have a wisdom that's of this age, that's 00:33:39.210 --> 00:33:41.630 of this culture, that's of this world. And by 00:33:41.630 --> 00:33:44.910 the way, our response to that, when people hate 00:33:44.910 --> 00:33:47.710 us or blaspheme our God, it has to be theologically 00:33:47.710 --> 00:33:49.990 and biblically sound. It has to be rooted in 00:33:49.990 --> 00:33:53.269 passages like this one this morning. Again, remembering, 00:33:53.390 --> 00:33:55.880 they can't see what you see. They can't hear 00:33:55.880 --> 00:33:58.119 what you hear. They can't feel in their hearts 00:33:58.119 --> 00:34:00.400 what you feel in your heart. So our response 00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:04.619 cannot be arrogance or pride. It cannot be, well, 00:34:04.700 --> 00:34:07.960 you punch me, I'm going to punch you back. It 00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:10.420 can't be those things, right? Again, we didn't 00:34:10.420 --> 00:34:12.739 deserve the grace that we have from God to see 00:34:12.739 --> 00:34:15.599 and hear and know things. Our response has to 00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:18.840 be, you know what? I understand that. I understand 00:34:18.840 --> 00:34:22.139 why they're reacting that way. It has to be compassion 00:34:22.139 --> 00:34:25.239 and understanding. It has to be a heart set on 00:34:25.239 --> 00:34:28.159 loving those folks in spite of their attacks 00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:31.300 against us, right? Praying that God would effectually 00:34:31.300 --> 00:34:34.940 draw them into a saving relationship and into 00:34:34.940 --> 00:34:38.139 an understanding of divine wisdom. Amen? Does 00:34:38.139 --> 00:34:42.019 that make sense? Good. So how we interact in 00:34:42.019 --> 00:34:45.900 this world, this passage really speaks to that. 00:34:46.699 --> 00:34:48.739 Okay, last thing I want to touch on this morning, 00:34:48.780 --> 00:34:52.880 and this is a caution for us. I want all of us 00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:55.820 to realize that God's wisdom is otherworldly. 00:34:57.679 --> 00:34:59.880 If I haven't made that clear yet, listen to that 00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:03.139 again. What you and I believe, what we subscribe 00:35:03.139 --> 00:35:07.019 to, what we trust above all else, is otherworldly. 00:35:07.639 --> 00:35:10.440 Paul said it in verse 6. God's wisdom is not 00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:14.260 of this age. It's not of this age. On the flip 00:35:14.260 --> 00:35:16.239 side, the wisdom of the world that we face every 00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:18.880 day, that we operate within in our normal lives, 00:35:19.039 --> 00:35:24.260 it is... contrary to the wisdom of God. You can 00:35:24.260 --> 00:35:27.099 have so many interactions this week where ideas 00:35:27.099 --> 00:35:30.139 are coming at you, concepts, people, language, 00:35:30.219 --> 00:35:32.780 all kinds of things, and it's all contrary to 00:35:32.780 --> 00:35:35.039 the wisdom of God. What that means for us in 00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:37.659 our daily lives is we have tough choices to make 00:35:37.659 --> 00:35:43.420 and things to watch out for. The wisdom of this 00:35:43.420 --> 00:35:45.519 world that we live in is just that. It's of the 00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:49.090 world. That means it is constantly in flux. It 00:35:49.090 --> 00:35:52.710 is constantly, it is just temporary in nature. 00:35:52.809 --> 00:35:54.789 In fact, in verse six, Paul says it's all what? 00:35:55.170 --> 00:35:58.130 Passing away, katergeo. It's passing away. It 00:35:58.130 --> 00:36:00.630 means that the wisdom of the world, all the things 00:36:00.630 --> 00:36:03.210 coming at you next week, it's all gonna come 00:36:03.210 --> 00:36:05.590 to an end. It comes to nothing. That's what the 00:36:05.590 --> 00:36:09.530 verb means. It all comes to nothing. So when 00:36:09.530 --> 00:36:12.150 you're out there next week, no matter how interesting, 00:36:12.329 --> 00:36:14.829 enticing, and seemingly brilliant the wisdom 00:36:14.829 --> 00:36:17.590 of the unbelieving world is to you, know this. 00:36:18.090 --> 00:36:22.210 Know this, soon enough it will change. Soon enough 00:36:22.210 --> 00:36:26.250 it will fade away. Soon enough it will be replaced 00:36:26.250 --> 00:36:29.849 with something else. It has no lasting value. 00:36:30.710 --> 00:36:32.909 So the picture that Paul is drawing for us is 00:36:32.909 --> 00:36:35.989 this. As the glory of God's wisdom increases 00:36:35.989 --> 00:36:40.869 over time for all eternity and us with it, the 00:36:40.869 --> 00:36:44.170 wisdom of man is what? Decreasing and fading 00:36:44.170 --> 00:36:49.400 away and coming to an end. So that raises the 00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:51.059 all -important question for us as believers. 00:36:51.139 --> 00:36:54.599 In light of that comparison, where should you 00:36:54.599 --> 00:36:57.940 invest your time, your energy, and your resources? 00:36:59.579 --> 00:37:02.619 In things that will last forever or in things 00:37:02.619 --> 00:37:05.840 that are fading away? I want you to think about 00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:08.260 that this week. Don't raise your hand, but how 00:37:08.260 --> 00:37:12.260 many of us are deeply invested in worldly wisdom 00:37:12.260 --> 00:37:16.579 and relatively absent from investing in the things 00:37:16.579 --> 00:37:21.699 of God? Be challenged by that question. Because 00:37:21.699 --> 00:37:23.559 one's going to last forever. One's really going 00:37:23.559 --> 00:37:26.179 to matter. And the other's going to come to an 00:37:26.179 --> 00:37:29.719 end. Notice, by the way, Paul's focus on the 00:37:29.719 --> 00:37:33.500 rulers of this age in verse 6. He probably has 00:37:33.500 --> 00:37:36.099 in mind both Jewish and Gentile rulers. From 00:37:36.099 --> 00:37:38.480 the Jewish world, he probably has in mind the 00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:41.360 chief priests and the scribes. From the Greco 00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:42.940 -Roman world, he's thinking about governors. 00:37:43.079 --> 00:37:45.300 He's thinking about philosophers. These would 00:37:45.300 --> 00:37:47.760 have been the most powerful and influential people 00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:50.940 in society in that day. Today, we have similar 00:37:50.940 --> 00:37:53.920 people, right? We have politicians. We have celebrities. 00:37:54.519 --> 00:37:56.519 We have these new things called influencers, 00:37:56.980 --> 00:38:01.820 right? We have podcasters, right? All these people 00:38:01.820 --> 00:38:06.420 that we're listening to. In spite of all they 00:38:06.420 --> 00:38:09.199 possess in the world, Paul says, no matter how 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:12.539 intelligent and educated they might be, remember 00:38:12.539 --> 00:38:15.440 as you're listening to all their ideas, all their 00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:19.019 concepts, they're unable to see, hear, or understand 00:38:19.019 --> 00:38:22.940 God's transcendent wisdom in the gospel. So all 00:38:22.940 --> 00:38:24.920 the power, the influence, the intelligence they 00:38:24.920 --> 00:38:27.019 have that you think you listen to go, that's 00:38:27.019 --> 00:38:30.699 so interesting. It's all fading away. It's all 00:38:30.699 --> 00:38:33.510 temporary. Because it's rooted in human wisdom. 00:38:33.690 --> 00:38:36.010 Listen to what Dr. MacArthur said once in a sermon. 00:38:36.130 --> 00:38:37.730 And I wrote this down because I thought it was 00:38:37.730 --> 00:38:40.570 so brilliant. He says, there are like blind men 00:38:40.570 --> 00:38:45.449 in an art gallery. Think about that. There are 00:38:45.449 --> 00:38:48.090 like blind men in an art gallery or deaf people 00:38:48.090 --> 00:38:52.789 at a concert. They find their seat. They feel 00:38:52.789 --> 00:38:54.590 the frame of the painting, but they haven't got 00:38:54.590 --> 00:38:58.019 any idea what it looks like or sounds like. And 00:38:58.019 --> 00:39:01.599 so they come up with all kinds of incorrect conclusions 00:39:01.599 --> 00:39:07.159 about life. Duh. Of course they do. And yet how 00:39:07.159 --> 00:39:10.860 much time do we invest in listening to them and 00:39:10.860 --> 00:39:14.139 their ideas versus listening to the infinite 00:39:14.139 --> 00:39:16.980 wisdom of God? And just to prove his point, Paul 00:39:16.980 --> 00:39:19.360 points to the most obvious example in verse 8. 00:39:19.960 --> 00:39:22.400 The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age 00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:24.900 has understood. Because look, if they'd understood 00:39:24.900 --> 00:39:27.880 divine wisdom, they would not have crucified 00:39:27.880 --> 00:39:31.059 the Lord of glory, right? How bankrupt is the 00:39:31.059 --> 00:39:34.099 wisdom of man? So bankrupt and blind that they 00:39:34.099 --> 00:39:37.500 would murder God in the flesh. Someone who never 00:39:37.500 --> 00:39:40.639 sinned, never did anything but speak divine truth. 00:39:40.820 --> 00:39:42.840 But again, they couldn't see it. They couldn't 00:39:42.840 --> 00:39:46.590 hear it. And they couldn't grasp it. And this 00:39:46.590 --> 00:39:48.889 is the pattern, listen guys, as Christians, this 00:39:48.889 --> 00:39:51.050 is the pattern of the world. It's gonna go on 00:39:51.050 --> 00:39:53.210 until the very end. What did they do with the 00:39:53.210 --> 00:39:55.269 prophets? When the prophets came and spoke God's 00:39:55.269 --> 00:39:58.449 word, what did the Jews do? They persecuted them, 00:39:58.570 --> 00:40:01.710 they killed them, right? What happened after 00:40:01.710 --> 00:40:04.590 Jesus? What to the apostles? What did people 00:40:04.590 --> 00:40:06.789 do to them? They persecuted and killed most of 00:40:06.789 --> 00:40:10.150 them. What do missionaries for the gospel face 00:40:10.150 --> 00:40:14.489 today in distant lands, persecution and death? 00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:18.300 This is the pattern. They're gonna mock us and 00:40:18.300 --> 00:40:21.239 curse us and threaten us because they can't see 00:40:21.239 --> 00:40:24.360 and they can't hear and they can't understand. 00:40:24.900 --> 00:40:27.260 It's gonna be this way to the very end. And it's 00:40:27.260 --> 00:40:29.860 all because of that truth that God's wisdom is 00:40:29.860 --> 00:40:32.599 otherworldly and that means to some it's gonna 00:40:32.599 --> 00:40:35.500 be a threat to their power and their influence. 00:40:35.900 --> 00:40:38.500 So you and I are surrounded by man's wisdom every 00:40:38.500 --> 00:40:41.900 day. Are you on guard? Do you walk into your 00:40:41.900 --> 00:40:46.940 day on guard for the wisdom of the world? By 00:40:46.940 --> 00:40:49.179 the way, I'm not exhorting you to be anti -intellectual. 00:40:49.719 --> 00:40:52.880 Don't get me wrong. I mean, I intake a lot of 00:40:52.880 --> 00:40:55.480 content every single day. So I'm not saying be 00:40:55.480 --> 00:40:57.360 anti -intellectual. I'm not saying you have to 00:40:57.360 --> 00:40:59.840 completely unplug from all of the ideas out there 00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:01.900 in the world. Here's the question I'm asking. 00:41:02.039 --> 00:41:05.500 As you engage with the ideas of influencers and 00:41:05.500 --> 00:41:08.239 writers and podcasters and conference speakers 00:41:08.239 --> 00:41:11.519 and teachers, are you filtering what they say 00:41:11.519 --> 00:41:16.440 through the lens of God's wisdom? Are you filtering 00:41:16.440 --> 00:41:20.059 it through what you know is true to test it? 00:41:21.420 --> 00:41:24.199 So important. Remember how Jesus prayed for us 00:41:24.199 --> 00:41:26.780 in John 17. He said, Father, don't take them 00:41:26.780 --> 00:41:29.699 out of the world, but sanctify them by the truth. 00:41:30.880 --> 00:41:33.940 What an incredible example for us. Father, I 00:41:33.940 --> 00:41:35.820 don't ask that you take them out of the world, 00:41:35.880 --> 00:41:39.400 but sanctify them by the truth. Your word is 00:41:39.400 --> 00:41:44.739 truth. John 17, 17. Your word is truth. Consider 00:41:44.739 --> 00:41:47.780 Paul's warning in Romans 12, so timely for us. 00:41:47.920 --> 00:41:50.480 Paul doesn't write, remove yourself from the 00:41:50.480 --> 00:41:53.480 world entirely. He says, don't be conformed. 00:41:53.800 --> 00:41:56.960 Don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed 00:41:56.960 --> 00:41:59.900 by the renewing of your mind. Renewed by what? 00:42:00.860 --> 00:42:03.760 By God's word. That filter, right, that tells 00:42:03.760 --> 00:42:06.360 you what is divine wisdom and what is human wisdom, 00:42:06.500 --> 00:42:11.199 what is true and what is false. Again, none of 00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:13.559 this is new for Christians. This is what the 00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:15.360 Corinthian believers were facing in the first 00:42:15.360 --> 00:42:18.139 century. Every generation of believers has been 00:42:18.139 --> 00:42:21.300 faced with the same kind of challenge. So friends, 00:42:21.440 --> 00:42:24.760 this week, be careful out there. Recognize the 00:42:24.760 --> 00:42:28.000 time that we live in, the time of a billion voices 00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:30.980 chatting at you, right? Recognize that the days 00:42:30.980 --> 00:42:34.280 are evil. Spend your time, energy, and focus 00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:38.820 on eternal things. Recognize the contrast between 00:42:38.820 --> 00:42:43.170 man's wisdom and God's and commit yourself. to 00:42:43.170 --> 00:42:45.769 diligently, faithfully, consistently reading 00:42:45.769 --> 00:42:48.590 and studying the word of God so that you're being 00:42:48.590 --> 00:42:53.389 continually exposed to the only wisdom that's 00:42:53.389 --> 00:42:57.449 gonna last forever. Amen? Let's bow our heads. 00:43:01.010 --> 00:43:03.429 Father, we thank you for the beauty of this passage, 00:43:03.469 --> 00:43:07.750 for the way you speak to us continually through 00:43:07.750 --> 00:43:11.289 your word. And how practical it is, Lord, to 00:43:11.289 --> 00:43:13.309 look at the beautiful theology in these four 00:43:13.309 --> 00:43:16.829 verses and to know that it's gonna help us even 00:43:16.829 --> 00:43:19.590 this week as we walk out into the world. It's 00:43:19.590 --> 00:43:22.710 gonna help us by contrasting your wisdom with 00:43:22.710 --> 00:43:25.750 the world's. It's gonna help us, Lord, by putting 00:43:25.750 --> 00:43:28.010 us on guard so that we're filtering things well. 00:43:28.780 --> 00:43:30.800 It's gonna show us what expectations we should 00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:33.619 have as we talk to unbelievers. Lord, seal these 00:43:33.619 --> 00:43:37.239 truths to our hearts and strengthen us. Strengthen 00:43:37.239 --> 00:43:39.980 us this week in our walk. Strengthen us to have 00:43:39.980 --> 00:43:42.679 eyes focused on you and eyes focused on the lost 00:43:42.679 --> 00:43:45.639 around us and to respond well for your glory. 00:43:46.349 --> 00:43:48.650 Thank you for this time, Lord. We ask now as 00:43:48.650 --> 00:43:51.989 we respond by singing again, Lord, that this 00:43:51.989 --> 00:43:54.369 just wouldn't be something that we do by rote 00:43:54.369 --> 00:43:56.250 memory, but it would come from the depths of 00:43:56.250 --> 00:43:58.590 our hearts. Cause us to do that well now. In 00:43:58.590 --> 00:44:00.269 Christ's name we pray. Amen.