Grab your Bibles. We're going to jump right into
it this morning. Let's open our Bibles to 1 Corinthians
2. I know we just came off a long week, Passion
Week. What a blessing that was. But two Sundays
ago, we first dipped our toes into this second
chapter of 1 Corinthians, and we got a feel for
Paul's mindset in that time that he first came
to Corinth to present the gospel. And we heard
him describe the simplicity of the message that
he brought in that day and the methodology that
he employed as he represented Christ to the Corinthian
people and how he wanted to see people converted,
not by means of human persuasion, but through
the supernatural power of God's spirit moving
in the heart. That was his goal. So if you look
at verses one through five, let's look at them
again. Here's what he wrote in that section.
He said, when I came to you, brethren, When I
arrived in Corinth, I did not come with superiority
of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the
testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing
among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
I was with you in weakness and in fear and in
much trembling, and my message and my preaching
were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in
demonstration. of the Spirit, and of power, so
that, here's the purpose statement, so that your
faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but
on the power of God. So he brings this simple
message to Corinth, Christ crucified. Remember
in chapter one, he called it simply the word
of the cross. He didn't bring flashy rhetoric
or complex philosophy, the types of things that
Greeks loved and were used to. He brought the
essentials of the gospel message. And it seems
that it was Paul's goal to simply lay out the
basics and then get out of the way so that the
Holy Spirit could work according to his perfect
will. And he knew that God would save whom he
would save, right? In his sovereignty, he was
going to save, even if those numbers were small,
he was going to save whom he would save. And
the rest of the Greeks in Corinth would turn
up their noses at the message and just say, this
is foolishness. But he trusted God completely.
Now, much of Paul's letter thus far has been
about drawing a contrast between, on one hand,
man's wisdom, and on the other, God's wisdom.
And the Corinthians, like us today in the West,
we have been strongly influenced by all kinds
of philosophical arguments and all kinds of cultural
norms. And the one thing that Paul didn't want
to do when he came to Corinth was to bring a
mixture of the gospel with all these philosophical
arguments in order to try to compete with all
the other ideas that were flying around the city.
Why do that? What would be the purpose in that?
How would that set the message apart? So he brought
nothing but the purity of the cross. And yes,
that was a shocking and repulsive message to
most Greeks. But again, Paul's not trusting in
his own words. He's trusting in the power of
God to save whom he would save. So what he wanted
to do was simply come humbly, he said, in weakness
and trembling, and to draw that contrast for
the Corinthians, for those who had ears to hear.
And the message was simple. You can stand on
human wisdom and all the rhetorical flourishes
and the dramatic presentations that go with it,
or you can recognize the purity of divine wisdom
and be saved. from this wicked generation. That
was the contrast he was drawing. Now, two Sundays
ago, I ended that message with a caution. I said
that if we're not careful, we can find ourselves
out of balance on the issue of the simplicity
of the message, Christ crucified, and the use
of wisdom and strategy in the sharing of our
faith. And some of you guys had questions about
this. You came up to me afterwards, and I thought
it might be helpful to talk about some of the
things that you brought to me. One of the things
I said two weeks ago was this. I said, it's true
that we don't want to put our trust in human
wisdom, but at the same time, if we're trying
to do effective ministry, if we're trying to
do effective evangelism, we shouldn't ignore
the role that human wisdom can play in developing
those strategies, right? In our ministry and
our evangelism. So the question was this, how
do we employ wisdom? And think strategically
while at the same time never watering down the
offensiveness of the gospel and trusting in the
power of the Spirit alone to convict the hard
and save. How do we find that balance? We talked
about how the content of our preaching has to
remain fixed, right? The things that we share
with the lost. The message is fixed, but the
strategy can be personalized to our audience.
And so, yeah, that requires employing human wisdom
in how we approach unbelievers. So, for example,
I know for a fact from Scripture that Paul would
employ a different strategy when he's sharing
the gospel with a Jewish brother versus a Gentile
Greek. Why? Because they have different backgrounds,
they come from different cultures, and most importantly,
a Jew and a Gentile in the first century would
have completely different presuppositions. in
their past that inform their belief system and
how they listen to things. So he would have a
different strategy. But in either case, whether
Jew or Gentile, he would always come back to
the gospel basics, right? Because that's the
only power to save, the gospel basics, Christ
crucified. He knows that the determining factor
isn't gonna be his strategy or his methodology.
It's gonna be the demonstration of the power
of the Spirit, which is what he said in verse
four. So for you and I, and I'll just speak personally,
I'd employ a different strategy when sharing
with a person who grew up in the church or has
a background in church life versus somebody who
has no real context for Christianity. That's
going to be two different conversations. Or witnessing
to an American versus somebody from a completely
different country or culture who comes from a
worldview that I don't yet understand. That's
going to be a different conversation. Or a person
who's deeply entrenched in philosophy or politics
or science versus somebody who kind of comes
with a blank slate. Two different conversations.
So each of those situations is going to require
thought and prayer and having a plan. But again,
no matter how I approach any of those people,
what's in the back of my mind is this person
is not going to come to trust in Christ unless
the Spirit of God works on his or her heart.
True? Does that make sense? Good. So for my part,
I employ all the wisdom I can. I prepare. I present
with as much excellence as I can. And then I
lay out the basics and I get out of the way because
it can't depend on me or how well I presented
the gospel. Let me address one other thing because
one of our Okies came up and asked this really
insightful question. He said, does our approach
in evangelism change with the amount of opportunity
that we have? And the answer is yes. If you're
sharing your faith with, for example, a coworker,
somebody that you work with all the time, or
a neighbor, or an extended family member, in
those situations where you know you're going
to have a lot of opportunity to have multiple
conversations, you're going to have a much more
long -term strategy. What you want to do in those
situations is build a real friendship that is
marked by real care and concern for that person's
soul. You're going to start asking insightful
questions. You're going to establish a camaraderie.
So in those cases, you can get to Christ crucified.
Remember, the message doesn't change. You've
got to get to Christ crucified, but that might
take a little longer. It might go a little bit
slower versus a scenario like this. You're just
sitting at a coffee house, and you have an opportunity
to share. Or you're in a doctor's office waiting
room. Or you're standing in line at the DMV.
Or you're engaging with a waitress in a restaurant.
Or you're volunteering at the ambassador's well
table. Right? In those situations, your time
is short with that person. Your window of opportunity
is narrow. So you're not going to delay in getting
to Christ crucified. Does that make sense? Still
requires thought and strategy. And I recommend
that every one of you have a strategy for if
you meet somebody in a very short window of time,
you know exactly how you would present the basics
of the gospel. But that is a unique situation
that hopefully requires a loving and gracious
approach, but not with a delay. Just remember
this principle, unique approach with unchanging
content. Unique approach, unchanging content.
We share the word of the cross with everyone.
Amen? Okay, let's look at our passage for today.
Let's look at verses six through nine. That was
just a flashback to two weeks ago. How many of
you guys remembered that? My wife did, that's
good. That's super helpful. Okay, verses six
through nine. Four verses for this morning, that's
all. It's loaded. One of the things you're gonna
notice right out of the gate, beginning in verse
six, is a change in pronouns. from the first
five verses, actually from the entire first chapter.
Up to this point in the letter, Paul's been speaking
in the first person singular, saying I quite
a bit. Now he's going to shift to the first person
plural and use the term we. So after discussing
his message and methodology in using the plural
we, what he's doing is linking himself to the
methodology of all the apostles of Christ. who
are representing them among the Greeks of the
ancient world. It's a we, it's all of the apostles,
okay? Makes sense? How all of the apostles would
be handling this question of human wisdom versus
divine wisdom. So look at verse six. Paul says,
yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature.
A wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the
rulers of this age who are passing away. But
we speak God's wisdom in a mystery. the hidden
wisdom which God predestined before the ages
to our glory, the wisdom which none of the rulers
of this age has understood, for if they had understood
it, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory. But just as it is written, things which
eye has not seen and ear has not heard. and which
have not entered the heart of man, all that God
has prepared for those who love him. So we're
going to simply walk through these four verses
this morning. There's a whole bunch of practical
things that we can find in this passage, and
in particular, how we view the world that we
live in, how we approach people in the world
that we live in. So in addition to changing pronouns
here, Paul's going to make another shift as well.
Up to this point, he's been very clear about
saying, look, this gospel that I bring to Corinth
is what? It's foolish and it's weak. That's the
way it's seen by you guys, foolish and weak.
And he admits, I made no attempt to try to present
this message with typical rhetorical flourishes
that Greeks are used to. He says, I didn't come
with superiority of speech. I didn't come with
persuasive words of wisdom. And that was by design.
That was by design. But look at verse six now.
Know this, we, the apostles, do speak wisdom.
We do speak wisdom. It's as if Paul's saying,
look, it may not sound all that impressive to
you Greeks, right, who are inclined towards complex
philosophies, but listen, I'm not out here peddling
fruitless nonsense. I'm speaking wisdom. This
is real wisdom. In fact, Paul's going to make
the case that what he and the apostles are imparting
as they share the gospel is actually the highest
wisdom of all, the highest possible wisdom, because
it's a wisdom that comes from the infinite, eternal
mind of the very being who designed all things,
including man. How can you get higher than that?
But it's a wisdom that's aimed at a particular
audience. In fact, let me give you this word
here. Those who are capable of understanding
it a group that Paul calls in verse six, those
who are teleos, okay? This is the group capable
of understanding this highest of all wisdoms,
those who are teleos. Now, the NAS translates
it as those who are mature, and though that translation
is within the range of meaning of that word,
I actually don't think it's the best translation
because it can be misleading. A more helpful
translation would be, we speak wisdom among those
who are perfect or complete. Of the 19 times
you find this word in the Greek text, it's almost
always translated complete. So I don't believe
Paul is making a distinction here between mature
and immature believers. That doesn't fit the
context of the writing. The context tells me
he's making a distinction here between believers
and unbelievers. That's the context of this passage.
So when he uses the word teleos, complete or
perfect, he's speaking of those who have been
completed in Christ, perfected by the sacrifice
of Christ. In other words, those who have been
positionally justified in the sight of God. They've
been made perfect in the sight of God. Does that
make sense? So he's talking about believers here.
So to this audience of believers, Paul says,
look, we do speak wisdom because the believer
has the mind of Christ. And the believer has
the spirit within him, so they alone are able
to understand what the Greeks call this simple,
weak, foolish message, but is actually the highest
wisdom of all. We can do that. We, as believers,
have the mind of Christ. We have the spirit within.
So Paul's basically saying, look, we don't have
any intention of imparting this highest of all
wisdom to the natural man in human terms just
so he can grasp it. We're not going to bring
it down to just human terms so he can grasp it
because it's not, get this now, not a message
of this world. It is not a message of this age.
It is not a message of this culture. No, he says,
we speak in words and concepts taught by the
Holy Spirit to those who are spiritual. In other
words, to those who are known by God, to those
who are led by the Spirit, to those who are being
sanctified by the Spirit, to those who are producing
the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. That
is the audience of this highest of all wisdoms.
Make sense? So, this is an important principle
for all of us to grasp. Unless God is doing a
work in the heart of man, a man or woman who
is of the flesh or of the world has no ability
to recognize God's wisdom and embrace it. They
have no ability. Apart from the Holy Spirit within
who is a teacher and a guide, it's just not possible.
Now, I'm not saying an unbeliever can't pick
up a Bible and open it up and read the words.
Obviously, they can do that. They can come to
church and they can hear a message preached.
But if God isn't at work enlightening their mind
and massaging their heart to life, it is not
going to land. It is not going to make an impact.
It is not going to bring change. And how many
of you guys would acknowledge that's sort of
the way you've seen things happen in your life?
You've shared a billion times with a friend or
family member the gospel. You think you've shared
it clearly and nothing. Or you drag them to church,
you know, good job. And they sit through a message
and they heard it and they read the verse, but
What? Nothing. Paul's explaining why some of
that is going on here in this passage. And yet
to us, right, those of us who have the mind of
Christ, who have the spirit, it all makes so
much sense, right? This is a supernatural thing.
It makes sense to us. It's plain as day. For
us who have the spirit, it's the most beautiful
message we've ever heard. Every time we listen
to it, it changes our thinking. It transforms
our lives. We see it as the infinite wisdom of
God. On display, unsearchable, unfathomable,
so far beyond us that even those of us led by
the Spirit will never plumb all of its depths.
That's the way we see it. And what we get in
this lifetime as believers is sort of a sneak
peek of what's to come because the fullness of
this will be known in the age to come. But we
get a sneak peek at it when we look at the beauty
of nature all around us, right? We're just saying
God of wonders, right? When we see... the beauty
of nature all around us, when we see the complexity
and the fine -tuning of the universe, we get
a sneak peek at the infinite wisdom of God. When
we see how God providentially sustains us in
this life, meeting our needs, we see his wisdom,
right? We see it in all the ways that we relate
to one another as beings made in his image. It
is obvious to us. It is everywhere around us
because, Paul says, you and I as believers have
been made. complete or perfect in Christ. So
we see it. Most of all, we see God's infinite
wisdom in all the aspects of salvation. And this
is what the unbeliever misses most. And this
is what should break our hearts, right? That
unbelievers don't see this, can't see this. This
is what urges us to share the gospel with everyone.
All the aspects of salvation, his decree of election,
the incarnation of God the Son. the atonement
for sin that takes place on the cross, the resurrection
and the victory over sin and death. We see it
in God's effectual drawing of sinners, in the
regeneration of the human heart, in the gifting
of faith, in his decree of justification, in
adoption into his eternal family, in sanctification
by the Spirit, in the perseverance of faith that
we will have in this physical life, and the promise
of eternity, glorification in heaven. All of
those things, they come back to the unsearchable
wisdom of God in the gospel that Paul brought
to Corinth. And yet, right, we look at that list
and we're like, mind blown. And yet he comes
to Corinth and the majority of the Corinthians
go, no thanks, doesn't sound very impressive.
No thanks. Didn't come with the flourishes we're
looking for. Sounds kind of foolish to us. And
it makes no sense to us. Why? Well, because their
minds are set on human wisdom, not on the divine.
That's what we should actually expect, and we'll
get to that a little bit later on. Now, to the
fact that the gospel is divine wisdom understandable
only to believers, look again. Paul adds two
more very interesting descriptors in verse 7.
First of all, he says this wisdom from God is
a mystery. Previously hidden, and secondly, it's
a wisdom rooted in eternity past. Look at verse
seven again. We speak God's wisdom in a mystery,
the hidden wisdom which God predestined before
the ages to our glory. And what this tells us,
obviously, is that the gospel message, and I'll
just shorten it down to Christ incarnate, right?
Christ crucified, Christ raised from the dead.
That was not some kind of new idea that God just
came up with 2 ,000 years ago, right? God isn't
making up his plans as human history chugs along.
And the world tends to think that that's what's
going on, that God's responding to us. No, that's
not what it says. According to the counsel and
wisdom of the Trinity, all of this was planned
before creation ever came into being. Predetermined,
preordained before all ages. That means the gospel
is a transcendent form of wisdom. Transcendent.
It proceeds from the infinite, eternal creator.
It's a wisdom established even before man existed,
before he came into being. And therefore, it's
wisdom that's far beyond any human philosophy,
far beyond any human plan or purpose. In fact,
it's something that no man could ever have conceived
of. It is a wisdom that no man could ever have
even imagined. God's that far beyond us, is he
not? And notice the last phrase in verse seven.
Let this blow you away. It was predestined before
the ages to our glory. Now, we're used to hearing
about all things to God's glory and amen and
amen to that, but because believers, we belong
to him, his gift of salvation has its final fulfillment
in our glory with him. Wow. The unchanging truth
that we are going to spend all eternity with
the glorious one. That should be an amen right
there. I mean that. Wake up. That's amazing stuff
to our glory because we belong to Christ. So
that's one additional descriptor. It's rooted
in eternity past. The other one is that God's
wisdom is a mystery. Now, biblically in the Greek,
musterion doesn't carry the same meaning that
we tend to think of it in the English language.
A mystery in the Bible doesn't refer to something
that, oh, that's just impossible to explain.
We'll never know about that. Like Bigfoot or
something. I don't know. I'm a Bigfoot fan, by
the way. Do you have a list of questions you're
going to ask God when you get to heaven? Bigfoot's
in my top 10. Okay, that's a levity break. Am
I red now, hon? Okay, a mystery in biblical terms,
in biblical terms is something that was previously
hidden to mankind's full understanding, but now
is revealed in all its fullness. This is important.
So the gospel was once a hidden wisdom. that's
now been revealed in all of its beauty and glory.
This is an example of what we call progressive
revelation, that God is slowly revealing more
and more to mankind, right? We have all of these
things in the Old Testament that were hinted
at, that were veiled, types and shadows, that
if you were living in that age, you wouldn't
have fully seen or understood. But at the same
time, we know now, looking back, that they were
pointing forward to this newer age, the age that
we're in today, when the fullness of those types
and shadows would be progressively revealed.
You heard Paul talk about this in our call to
worship passage at the beginning of the service.
In Ephesians 3, he writes of the stewardship
of God's grace that was given to him for the
sake of the believers in Ephesus. And he writes
this, look on the screen, that by revelation,
there was made known to me the mystery of Christ.
Okay, hint of that in the Old Testament, fully
revealed in the New. The mystery of Christ, which
in other generations was not made known to the
sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his
holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. And
what's the purpose? To bring to light what is
the administration of the mystery, which for
ages had been hidden in God. Wow. So when Paul
comes to Corinth, and in fact, everywhere he
went, he's bringing with him this previously
hidden mystery of the gospel message, right?
Salvation to the Lord Jesus Christ and who he
was and both his person and his work. And that
message and that truth is not graspable through
human means. It's only understandable through
divine revelation applied to the mind and the
heart by the Spirit. Again, all Paul had to do
was present it. And get out of the way and let
God work. Now, throughout the New Testament,
we find all kinds of things that are said to
be a part of this mystery. Things that have now
been revealed under the new covenant. I'm going
to give you a list of them. And again, I want
your mind to be blown by all these things. These
are all things that under the old system, under
the old covenant, could not have been fully grasped
by the saints of that day. Here's the list. How
the sacrificial system of Israel pointed toward
one ultimate sacrifice. Capable of covering the
sins of all mankind. That's a mystery that's
been revealed to us. How the office of the human
high priest in the earthly tabernacle anticipated
the coming of a final high priest who would minister
in the heavenly tabernacle and become the only
mediator between God and man. Could not have
been understood under the old covenant. How the
Passover. Not only puts on display God's wrath
for sin, but also provides a picture of the ultimate
Passover lamb whose blood will save us from that
wrath. Amazing. The complete identity of the
Messiah who is seen, the servant of God who is
seen throughout the Old Testament, that somehow
the fullness of deity would dwell in the Messiah,
that he would literally be God who took on a
human body and a human nature. That mind -blowing
mystery, right? The mystery of the indwelling
spirit, right? The spirit that's always been
there, but now indwelling believers, promised
and sent to us by both the Father and the Son.
How about this one? That the Gentiles, former
pagans, us, right, would become fellow heirs
and fellow members of God's family, along with
the Jews, being grafted into that tree of promise.
That's a mystery. Any Old Testament Jewish saint
would say, now that's a wild one. The mystery
of the church, right? The church, Jew and Gentile
worshiping the Savior side by side, believers
from every race, tribe, and tongue, all one in
Christ. That is just a partial list of the mystery
that's been progressively revealed to those of
us who are perfect in Christ. Wow, that's an
amazing list, isn't it? Which, by the way, this
is why, and I was looking at the book of Romans
in this, Paul in the book of Romans gives us
these two amazing doxologies. One like tucked
into the middle and one at the end. And it seems
to come from the sense that as Paul is laying
all this out, he is so blown away by it that
he has to break out in praise. In chapter 11,
he just stops and he says, oh, the depth of the
riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable
his ways. And then closing out the letter, the
very last words he writes in the book of Romans
is this, to the only wise God, through Jesus
Christ, be glory forever, amen. And that's how
we should respond to this, you guys. And so that's
my transition into my next point. Guys, can we
stop and talk about how blessed we are? To be
among those who've been given this understanding
of this infinite wisdom that's been revealed
to us in our day? We take it for granted, right?
But how blessed are we? Right? To be among those
who can understand this. Now, I say that, it's
only true if we belong to Christ this morning,
and I don't want to assume too much. If you're
here this morning and you haven't yet trusted
in Christ alone and you don't have any intention
of doing so, then probably what I've shared thus
far has gone right over your head and hasn't
impacted your heart at all. All I can do as a
preacher is what Paul did in his day, and that
is to hope that you have an open mind this morning.
And I can pray that God will work in your heart,
that he will begin to take away the veil that's
over your eyes. And begin to massage your heart
to life so that you can see these amazing things.
How incredible the infinite wisdom of the gospel
is. And if you're here this morning and you don't
know Christ, that's my prayer for you. And I
hope you would pray that way as well. If this
is true, you want to pray that God would make
it real to you. Listen for the voice of the Spirit.
For those of us who belong to Christ, I want
you to see how blessed you are by looking again
at verse 9. Look at verse 9. And the statements
are up on the screen. As it is written, things
which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
which have not entered the heart of man, all
that God has prepared for those who love him.
Now, do you know that these words are often read
at funerals? It's one of the most commonly preached
funeral passages anywhere in America. Because
we tend to think of those things as, well, those
are the things that we get when we get to heaven.
Can I burst your bubble now? That's really not
what it's talking about. That's not the context
here. Context doesn't really support that application.
It's not completely out of sight because heaven
is going to be absolutely amazing, right? So
it's not completely out of sight. But the context
here, and by the way, Paul's quoting here from
various places in the book of Isaiah. It's referring
to what believers have right now. It's what we
have right now. The point he's making here is
that human beings could never dream up the truth
about the gospel of salvation on their own. No
eye could have ever seen it. No human eye could
have ever seen this. No human ear could have
ever heard and discerned the fullness of the
gospel. No human heart could ever conceive or
imagine of these things. Not the incarnation,
not the cross, not the empty tomb, not the giving
of the spirit, not justification, not sanctification,
not glorification, none of it. No eye, no ear,
no heart. And for the same reason we talked about
earlier, because these things are not humanly
discovered. They're divinely revealed. And God
has now revealed them to us in our age, in the
person and work of Christ, but only to those
who what? Look at the end of the verse. To those
who love him. And those who love him are those
whom God has drawn to himself. Those who have
been brought to life. Those who have been made
positionally complete or perfect. Again, how
blessed are we that God has done that work in
our lives? Raise your hand if you think you deserved
it. You didn't, and I didn't, but God has done
this work in our life. Let me share with you
another practical outcome of this passage. It
speaks to the expectations that we should have
when we're out there in the world. Today, this
week, interacting with people in the culture
and the world system that we live in. We have
to always keep in mind that our unbelieving friends,
they're out there using their senses every day,
their eyes, their ears, their hearts. They're
using all of them all the time. They're reasoning
over things. But when it comes to God's wisdom,
they have no ability to do that. We're told in
Scripture that there's this veil that remains
over their senses. They are blinded from the
truth by the prince of this world. They're actually
blinded by their own fallen nature. by their
own sinful hearts, by their love for the things
of this world rather than the things of God.
They are veiled, they are blind to these things.
But it's confusing to them because they know
about their senses, they use them all the time,
but when it comes to divine wisdom, they don't
have the ability to really grasp these things.
So is it any wonder then that natural men and
women struggle to figure out all the deep problems
that plague mankind? Have you thought about this
before? Have you noticed we don't ever fix any
of them? They just go on and on and on. It's
because the natural man can't figure it out because
they don't have divine wisdom. They can't explain
things like goodness or love or evil or man or
woman either, right? I mean, the world's gone
crazy. When they try to solve the deep issues
of the human heart, they just run around with
their theories and opinions and put Band -Aids
on gaping wounds. Because they can't understand
divine wisdom. When they seek to change the moral
character of a person. Again, opinions and theories,
but no real answers. No real change. Because
transformation by the Spirit is a concept beyond
their understanding. This is why we believe so
strongly in biblical counseling. Because that's
the path to real change. So we shouldn't be surprised.
We shouldn't be angered or frustrated by the
inability of the people around us. to not be
able to see what we see or not be able to hear
what we hear or to know in their hearts what
we know. We shouldn't be angered by that because
they haven't bowed to the revealed truth of God's
word. They don't have the spirit of God to guide
them. So don't get frustrated with it. Expect
it as you're talking to people. It should also
help us to understand why some of the unbelievers
around us are probably gonna make fun of us.
They might mock us. They might blaspheme our
God. They might express hatred towards you and
I. It's because they don't have divine wisdom.
They have a wisdom that's of this age, that's
of this culture, that's of this world. And by
the way, our response to that, when people hate
us or blaspheme our God, it has to be theologically
and biblically sound. It has to be rooted in
passages like this one this morning. Again, remembering,
they can't see what you see. They can't hear
what you hear. They can't feel in their hearts
what you feel in your heart. So our response
cannot be arrogance or pride. It cannot be, well,
you punch me, I'm going to punch you back. It
can't be those things, right? Again, we didn't
deserve the grace that we have from God to see
and hear and know things. Our response has to
be, you know what? I understand that. I understand
why they're reacting that way. It has to be compassion
and understanding. It has to be a heart set on
loving those folks in spite of their attacks
against us, right? Praying that God would effectually
draw them into a saving relationship and into
an understanding of divine wisdom. Amen? Does
that make sense? Good. So how we interact in
this world, this passage really speaks to that.
Okay, last thing I want to touch on this morning,
and this is a caution for us. I want all of us
to realize that God's wisdom is otherworldly.
If I haven't made that clear yet, listen to that
again. What you and I believe, what we subscribe
to, what we trust above all else, is otherworldly.
Paul said it in verse 6. God's wisdom is not
of this age. It's not of this age. On the flip
side, the wisdom of the world that we face every
day, that we operate within in our normal lives,
it is... contrary to the wisdom of God. You can
have so many interactions this week where ideas
are coming at you, concepts, people, language,
all kinds of things, and it's all contrary to
the wisdom of God. What that means for us in
our daily lives is we have tough choices to make
and things to watch out for. The wisdom of this
world that we live in is just that. It's of the
world. That means it is constantly in flux. It
is constantly, it is just temporary in nature.
In fact, in verse six, Paul says it's all what?
Passing away, katergeo. It's passing away. It
means that the wisdom of the world, all the things
coming at you next week, it's all gonna come
to an end. It comes to nothing. That's what the
verb means. It all comes to nothing. So when
you're out there next week, no matter how interesting,
enticing, and seemingly brilliant the wisdom
of the unbelieving world is to you, know this.
Know this, soon enough it will change. Soon enough
it will fade away. Soon enough it will be replaced
with something else. It has no lasting value.
So the picture that Paul is drawing for us is
this. As the glory of God's wisdom increases
over time for all eternity and us with it, the
wisdom of man is what? Decreasing and fading
away and coming to an end. So that raises the
all -important question for us as believers.
In light of that comparison, where should you
invest your time, your energy, and your resources?
In things that will last forever or in things
that are fading away? I want you to think about
that this week. Don't raise your hand, but how
many of us are deeply invested in worldly wisdom
and relatively absent from investing in the things
of God? Be challenged by that question. Because
one's going to last forever. One's really going
to matter. And the other's going to come to an
end. Notice, by the way, Paul's focus on the
rulers of this age in verse 6. He probably has
in mind both Jewish and Gentile rulers. From
the Jewish world, he probably has in mind the
chief priests and the scribes. From the Greco
-Roman world, he's thinking about governors.
He's thinking about philosophers. These would
have been the most powerful and influential people
in society in that day. Today, we have similar
people, right? We have politicians. We have celebrities.
We have these new things called influencers,
right? We have podcasters, right? All these people
that we're listening to. In spite of all they
possess in the world, Paul says, no matter how
intelligent and educated they might be, remember
as you're listening to all their ideas, all their
concepts, they're unable to see, hear, or understand
God's transcendent wisdom in the gospel. So all
the power, the influence, the intelligence they
have that you think you listen to go, that's
so interesting. It's all fading away. It's all
temporary. Because it's rooted in human wisdom.
Listen to what Dr. MacArthur said once in a sermon.
And I wrote this down because I thought it was
so brilliant. He says, there are like blind men
in an art gallery. Think about that. There are
like blind men in an art gallery or deaf people
at a concert. They find their seat. They feel
the frame of the painting, but they haven't got
any idea what it looks like or sounds like. And
so they come up with all kinds of incorrect conclusions
about life. Duh. Of course they do. And yet how
much time do we invest in listening to them and
their ideas versus listening to the infinite
wisdom of God? And just to prove his point, Paul
points to the most obvious example in verse 8.
The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age
has understood. Because look, if they'd understood
divine wisdom, they would not have crucified
the Lord of glory, right? How bankrupt is the
wisdom of man? So bankrupt and blind that they
would murder God in the flesh. Someone who never
sinned, never did anything but speak divine truth.
But again, they couldn't see it. They couldn't
hear it. And they couldn't grasp it. And this
is the pattern, listen guys, as Christians, this
is the pattern of the world. It's gonna go on
until the very end. What did they do with the
prophets? When the prophets came and spoke God's
word, what did the Jews do? They persecuted them,
they killed them, right? What happened after
Jesus? What to the apostles? What did people
do to them? They persecuted and killed most of
them. What do missionaries for the gospel face
today in distant lands, persecution and death?
This is the pattern. They're gonna mock us and
curse us and threaten us because they can't see
and they can't hear and they can't understand.
It's gonna be this way to the very end. And it's
all because of that truth that God's wisdom is
otherworldly and that means to some it's gonna
be a threat to their power and their influence.
So you and I are surrounded by man's wisdom every
day. Are you on guard? Do you walk into your
day on guard for the wisdom of the world? By
the way, I'm not exhorting you to be anti -intellectual.
Don't get me wrong. I mean, I intake a lot of
content every single day. So I'm not saying be
anti -intellectual. I'm not saying you have to
completely unplug from all of the ideas out there
in the world. Here's the question I'm asking.
As you engage with the ideas of influencers and
writers and podcasters and conference speakers
and teachers, are you filtering what they say
through the lens of God's wisdom? Are you filtering
it through what you know is true to test it?
So important. Remember how Jesus prayed for us
in John 17. He said, Father, don't take them
out of the world, but sanctify them by the truth.
What an incredible example for us. Father, I
don't ask that you take them out of the world,
but sanctify them by the truth. Your word is
truth. John 17, 17. Your word is truth. Consider
Paul's warning in Romans 12, so timely for us.
Paul doesn't write, remove yourself from the
world entirely. He says, don't be conformed.
Don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Renewed by what?
By God's word. That filter, right, that tells
you what is divine wisdom and what is human wisdom,
what is true and what is false. Again, none of
this is new for Christians. This is what the
Corinthian believers were facing in the first
century. Every generation of believers has been
faced with the same kind of challenge. So friends,
this week, be careful out there. Recognize the
time that we live in, the time of a billion voices
chatting at you, right? Recognize that the days
are evil. Spend your time, energy, and focus
on eternal things. Recognize the contrast between
man's wisdom and God's and commit yourself. to
diligently, faithfully, consistently reading
and studying the word of God so that you're being
continually exposed to the only wisdom that's
gonna last forever. Amen? Let's bow our heads.
Father, we thank you for the beauty of this passage,
for the way you speak to us continually through
your word. And how practical it is, Lord, to
look at the beautiful theology in these four
verses and to know that it's gonna help us even
this week as we walk out into the world. It's
gonna help us by contrasting your wisdom with
the world's. It's gonna help us, Lord, by putting
us on guard so that we're filtering things well.
It's gonna show us what expectations we should
have as we talk to unbelievers. Lord, seal these
truths to our hearts and strengthen us. Strengthen
us this week in our walk. Strengthen us to have
eyes focused on you and eyes focused on the lost
around us and to respond well for your glory.
Thank you for this time, Lord. We ask now as
we respond by singing again, Lord, that this
just wouldn't be something that we do by rote
memory, but it would come from the depths of
our hearts. Cause us to do that well now. In
Christ's name we pray. Amen.