WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.799 Well, it's been quite a winter, hasn't it? Have 00:00:03.799 --> 00:00:06.339 you seen the potholes up on Highway 96, anybody? 00:00:07.860 --> 00:00:10.080 If you haven't, it might be worth your time just 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.720 to take a detour going home and look at them. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:17.960 It's sort of like an amusement park ride. A lot 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:22.320 of similarities. I suppose I'll be filling them 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:24.820 up one of these days, but it concerns me because 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:27.379 I just hope the workmen are sure all the cars 00:00:27.379 --> 00:00:29.480 are out of the potholes before they fill them. 00:00:33.539 --> 00:00:35.479 I don't know what these things are that hang 00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:37.759 on the back of cars in the snowy weather. You 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:44.000 know, behind the wheel, right on the mud flap, 00:00:45.740 --> 00:00:48.140 slush lumps. Maybe we ought to create a word 00:00:48.140 --> 00:00:51.060 for them. Doesn't it give you a wonderful sense 00:00:51.060 --> 00:00:56.079 of power to be able to kick those things? My 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:57.759 wife sat out here in the parking lot a couple 00:00:57.759 --> 00:00:59.979 of weeks ago and watched people come out of church 00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:04.060 and kick them. Leave them in the parking lot 00:01:04.060 --> 00:01:08.620 It just gives you a little bit of power doesn't 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:11.920 it over winter a Little bit of revenge just a 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.480 way to show winter what you think of it to be 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:19.200 able to kick those things off your car Well, 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:22.879 we're going to leave winter behind and Go many 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:25.680 miles to Greece as we read these words because 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:29.480 Corinth was located of course in ancient Greece 00:01:31.019 --> 00:01:34.620 Its citizens prided themselves in their intellectual 00:01:34.620 --> 00:01:40.840 heritage. They of course prided themselves in 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:45.980 people like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, people 00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:51.239 like Zeno, and Epicurus. All of these great ancient 00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:55.659 thinkers were Greeks. For hundreds of years they 00:01:55.659 --> 00:01:58.680 had this tradition of people who were philosophers. 00:01:59.849 --> 00:02:05.930 The Greeks loved speculation, logic, and argumentation. 00:02:07.290 --> 00:02:10.150 John MacArthur writes that the Greeks had perhaps 00:02:10.150 --> 00:02:15.349 50 philosophical parties or movements, 50 of 00:02:15.349 --> 00:02:20.469 them. And each one of them had its own answers 00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:26.050 to the questions of life. Who am I? Where did 00:02:26.050 --> 00:02:32.599 I come from? And what is life all about? Exploring 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:35.800 those kinds of deep questions, the Greeks developed 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:41.259 sometimes very complex systems of thinking, outlining 00:02:41.259 --> 00:02:43.699 what they thought the order of society ought 00:02:43.699 --> 00:02:47.620 to be, or how people ought to relate to one another 00:02:47.620 --> 00:02:54.000 or to the gods. And the Greeks had their favorite 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:58.860 teachers or thinkers and divided themselves in 00:02:58.860 --> 00:03:03.939 their loyalty to them. But inevitably these human 00:03:03.939 --> 00:03:08.560 philosophies led to error inevitably in Romans 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:13.800 chapter 1 it gives us the decay of a pagan civilization 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:17.979 I Believe that that chapter is really written 00:03:17.979 --> 00:03:22.699 about the generation before the flood But it 00:03:22.699 --> 00:03:25.800 applies really to every civilization without 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:29.960 God that turns itself from God It says for even 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:33.629 though they knew God They did not honor Him as 00:03:33.629 --> 00:03:37.729 God or give thanks, but they became futile in 00:03:37.729 --> 00:03:42.770 their speculations, and their foolish heart was 00:03:42.770 --> 00:03:47.669 darkened. Professing to be wise, they became 00:03:47.669 --> 00:03:52.569 fools. And so it was with the Greek civilization, 00:03:53.009 --> 00:03:57.569 and so it is with the Western civilization of 00:03:57.569 --> 00:04:04.199 today. Because they turned from God, they therefore 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:09.580 had no transcendent, objective way of measuring 00:04:09.580 --> 00:04:12.960 what is right and wrong, what is true and what 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:19.519 is false. Their conclusions, though very complex 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:25.160 and humanly wise, were based merely upon human 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:29.240 opinion, and were therefore often contradictory. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.779 Now the spirit of this Greek culture in which 00:04:34.779 --> 00:04:37.360 these Corinthian Christians lived stuck with 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:41.939 them after they believed. Some of the spirit 00:04:41.939 --> 00:04:44.740 and the values of that culture stuck with them 00:04:44.740 --> 00:04:47.660 and like their pagan neighbors they were prone 00:04:47.660 --> 00:04:52.639 to divide themselves over teachers and preachers 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:55.600 and form factions that were based upon their 00:04:55.600 --> 00:05:00.410 own choices. Paul has talked to them about that 00:05:00.410 --> 00:05:03.149 already we're going to pick it up in verse 18 00:05:03.149 --> 00:05:07.310 in our reading For he says the word of the cross 00:05:07.310 --> 00:05:12.189 is to those who are perishing foolishness But 00:05:12.189 --> 00:05:15.250 to us who are being saved it is the power of 00:05:15.250 --> 00:05:18.389 God for it is written I will destroy the wisdom 00:05:18.389 --> 00:05:21.389 of the wise and the cleverness of the clever 00:05:21.389 --> 00:05:26.490 I will set aside Where is the wise man? Where 00:05:26.490 --> 00:05:31.120 is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:37.379 Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 00:05:39.379 --> 00:05:43.339 For since in the wisdom of God the world through 00:05:43.339 --> 00:05:47.920 its wisdom did not come to know God, God was 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:50.519 well pleased through the foolishness of the message 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:56.339 preached to save those who believe. For indeed, 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:59.540 Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom, 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:04.819 but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:09.920 a stumbling block. And to Gentiles, foolishness. 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:14.399 But to those who are the call to both Jews and 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:19.839 Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:25.939 of God. because the foolishness of God is wiser 00:06:25.939 --> 00:06:30.639 than men, and the weakness of God is stronger 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:36.980 than men." These Corinthians still had an ear 00:06:36.980 --> 00:06:43.879 for clever words and for sharp arguments of philosophy. 00:06:45.699 --> 00:06:49.699 Paul warns them in verse 17 about the wisdom 00:06:49.699 --> 00:06:54.879 of words. Which if mixed with the message of 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:59.800 the cross makes the gospel he says void Or empty 00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:03.860 or it neutralizes it What he's saying is that 00:07:03.860 --> 00:07:06.939 the gospel is not intended as a philosophical 00:07:06.939 --> 00:07:12.680 system To appeal to the intellect Not in not 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:17.759 at all the gospel on the other hand is The way 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:21.660 of salvation meant to appeal to the human heart 00:07:23.259 --> 00:07:26.379 Therefore, to base the message of the Gospel 00:07:26.379 --> 00:07:33.720 on human argumentation, or to blend with it clever 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:39.980 speaking that is based on human reasoning, is 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:44.240 to rob the Gospel of its essential power. Now 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:46.819 Paul is now going to explain why in the paragraph 00:07:46.819 --> 00:07:51.779 we've read. In doing so, he warns that faith 00:07:51.930 --> 00:08:00.470 must be based upon God's wisdom, not man's. You 00:08:00.470 --> 00:08:02.949 will notice in this paragraph that he holds up 00:08:02.949 --> 00:08:10.149 two wisdoms. God's wisdom and man's wisdom. And 00:08:10.149 --> 00:08:15.350 he says that faith that saves the soul must be 00:08:15.350 --> 00:08:21.959 based upon God's wisdom, not man's. Dear people 00:08:21.959 --> 00:08:24.759 in Corinth had trusted Christ and His redemptive 00:08:24.759 --> 00:08:31.420 work on the cross, but they still wanted somehow 00:08:31.420 --> 00:08:34.320 to hang on to human reason and human wisdom. 00:08:35.340 --> 00:08:39.000 So Paul is telling them that to do that nullifies 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:43.220 the cross message, and it subverts the glory 00:08:43.220 --> 00:08:47.840 of God. God's wisdom, he says, and man's wisdom 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:53.840 cannot coexist. The two are mutually exclusive. 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:57.039 Now he goes on to explain that. First of all, 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:00.740 he says he talks about the contrasting content 00:09:00.740 --> 00:09:06.980 of the two wisdoms. The contrasting content of 00:09:06.980 --> 00:09:11.659 the two wisdoms. Human wisdom represents any 00:09:11.659 --> 00:09:16.759 number of ideations or schemes of thinking that 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:22.279 exalt human discovery. and human rationalism 00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:28.899 over divine revelation. Human wisdom is a broad 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:33.340 term. It represents a lot of different human 00:09:33.340 --> 00:09:38.700 ideas. These human ideas or understandings become 00:09:38.700 --> 00:09:45.120 world views. And those who follow these ideas 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:50.909 measure reality according to these human ideas 00:09:50.909 --> 00:09:55.750 or worldviews. Let me just quickly throw out 00:09:55.750 --> 00:10:00.549 three that are very prominent in our world. The 00:10:00.549 --> 00:10:03.529 one that has controlled the Western civilization 00:10:03.529 --> 00:10:07.250 for the last number of decades is naturalism 00:10:07.250 --> 00:10:15.769 or evolution. Naturalism precludes anything supernatural. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:21.779 Prima faci, it rules out the possibility of a 00:10:21.779 --> 00:10:25.539 divine being of God. There is no supernatural 00:10:25.539 --> 00:10:32.899 in naturalism. Reality is based upon chance and 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:36.240 the survival of the fittest. Life has no ultimate 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:40.700 meaning to the naturalist. The goal that a naturalist 00:10:40.700 --> 00:10:45.399 works for is some sort of globalism and world 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:48.559 government. for the good of man and the protection 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:55.740 of the environment. That's naturalism. A somewhat 00:10:55.740 --> 00:10:59.220 similar but yet different worldview is that of 00:10:59.220 --> 00:11:03.820 materialism. Now it's similar in that materialists 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:08.720 preclude anything supernatural. Reality is found 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:13.980 in what is material. There is no spiritual. Marxism. 00:11:14.039 --> 00:11:19.200 is an example of a materialistic worldview. Life 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:24.659 has meaning only in things. And the goal of the 00:11:24.659 --> 00:11:27.980 materialist is a new world order that is based 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:36.240 upon socialism. There is a third worldview, or 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:39.179 human philosophy, that is becoming more prominent. 00:11:39.789 --> 00:11:42.870 And you see it creeping into the Western civilization. 00:11:43.009 --> 00:11:45.149 Creeping in is the wrong way to say it. You see 00:11:45.149 --> 00:11:48.389 it flooding into the Western civilization. It's 00:11:48.389 --> 00:11:53.769 what I would term mystical spiritualism. Those 00:11:53.769 --> 00:11:57.090 who believe in this worldview accept the supernatural. 00:11:59.470 --> 00:12:02.009 They know that there is more than what can be 00:12:02.009 --> 00:12:07.149 seen and felt. But they do not believe in a personal 00:12:07.149 --> 00:12:12.059 sovereign God. to those who believe in this mystical 00:12:12.059 --> 00:12:15.340 spiritualism, reality is found in connecting 00:12:15.340 --> 00:12:19.799 to the spiritual through some sort of a mystical 00:12:19.799 --> 00:12:25.039 experience. Whether that spirit will be found 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:29.779 within oneself, or if it be found in tapping 00:12:29.779 --> 00:12:34.419 into some other dimension, calling upon an angel, 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:38.440 or someone who is supposed to be from a former 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:43.740 life to come and be a channel. These people believe 00:12:43.740 --> 00:12:47.740 that reality is found in tapping into the spiritual 00:12:47.740 --> 00:12:51.480 through a mystical experience. The meaning of 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:55.899 life to these people is found in becoming one 00:12:55.899 --> 00:13:00.840 with God, small g, however that might be defined. 00:13:02.919 --> 00:13:06.759 And the goal, really, of these people can go 00:13:06.759 --> 00:13:10.500 one of two directions. There are those who would 00:13:10.500 --> 00:13:13.700 believe that the goal is reincarnation into some 00:13:13.700 --> 00:13:18.240 sort of higher existence. And then there are 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.639 others who believe that the real goal is found 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:27.259 in entering a new age of human harmony. Thus 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:32.419 we get the term new age. The St. Paul newspaper 00:13:32.419 --> 00:13:35.139 last weekend had an amazing article regarding 00:13:35.139 --> 00:13:39.519 how this kind of mystical spiritualism is being 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:42.460 accepted in the medical community. One of our 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:48.299 local hospitals is developing a program to incorporate, 00:13:48.299 --> 00:13:53.320 quote, alternative healings, which embraces this 00:13:53.320 --> 00:13:56.000 very worldview that I've just described to you. 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:01.899 And you need to know that all of these wisdoms 00:14:01.850 --> 00:14:05.370 These human philosophies I just described contradict 00:14:05.370 --> 00:14:10.049 with God's wisdom. James has this comment to 00:14:10.049 --> 00:14:16.230 make about them. James 3 verses 15 and 16. This 00:14:16.230 --> 00:14:20.669 wisdom, human wisdom, is not that which comes 00:14:20.669 --> 00:14:25.710 down from above. It doesn't come from God. But 00:14:25.710 --> 00:14:31.389 he says it's earthly, it's natural, it's demonic. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:37.159 And then he goes on to say, for where jealousy 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:40.659 and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder 00:14:40.659 --> 00:14:44.259 and every evil thing. Isn't it interesting that 00:14:44.259 --> 00:14:49.460 James ties together disorder and evil living 00:14:49.460 --> 00:14:55.620 with these kinds of human philosophies? Now we 00:14:55.620 --> 00:14:59.500 see that in our world, but the reason I pointed 00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:02.779 out is that in Corinth they were embracing this 00:15:02.779 --> 00:15:05.360 human wisdom along with the gospel and it brought 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:08.840 strife and dissension and disorder and factions 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:14.039 to their church. So James and Paul agree regarding 00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:19.679 that. And so on the one hand we have human wisdom. 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:26.139 The content of it is various, but all of human 00:15:26.139 --> 00:15:29.799 thinking, all of human... Philosophical discovery 00:15:29.799 --> 00:15:33.779 falls under this label of human wisdom that does 00:15:33.779 --> 00:15:36.240 not come down from above. It's earthly, it's 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:40.360 natural, it's demonic. On the other hand, there's 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:45.500 God's wisdom. God's wisdom which centers on the 00:15:45.500 --> 00:15:51.559 eternal reality of a personal sovereign God who 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:56.899 has entered the world in Jesus Christ through 00:15:56.899 --> 00:16:02.419 the incarnation, and who suffered and died on 00:16:02.419 --> 00:16:07.700 the cross as a propitiation for human sin, that 00:16:07.700 --> 00:16:12.240 is to satisfy God's justice, and who was raised 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:16.799 from the dead as the victor over sin, death, 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:21.019 and Satan. That, my friend, is God's wisdom. 00:16:22.220 --> 00:16:29.529 God's wisdom is His own self -disclosure. It 00:16:29.529 --> 00:16:34.029 is God telling us about Himself, about our world, 00:16:35.629 --> 00:16:42.610 about ourselves in the Bible. God's wisdom is 00:16:42.610 --> 00:16:45.649 the wisdom that comes down from above and God 00:16:45.649 --> 00:16:50.730 Himself telling us who we are, why we are here, 00:16:51.090 --> 00:16:54.070 and what the end or the purpose of all things 00:16:54.169 --> 00:17:00.009 is. To put it very succinctly, as Paul does here, 00:17:00.889 --> 00:17:04.069 God's wisdom can be boiled down to two words. 00:17:05.609 --> 00:17:11.730 Christ crucified. That is the wisdom of God. 00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:21.589 Christ crucified. The revelation of God. Man's 00:17:21.589 --> 00:17:26.019 wisdom is his own self -discovery. Man's wisdom 00:17:26.019 --> 00:17:30.279 is his own rationalization. Man's wisdom is his 00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:37.640 own experience. God's wisdom is what he has revealed 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:42.799 to us in Jesus Christ and in this written word, 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:47.259 the Bible. Therefore, the contrasting content 00:17:47.259 --> 00:17:51.599 of the two wisdoms. But secondly, I invite you 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:54.259 to look with me at the conflicting appraisal 00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:01.460 of the two wisdoms. In this paragraph, you see 00:18:01.460 --> 00:18:06.599 humans appraising God's wisdom, and you see God 00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:14.279 appraising human wisdom. Lost pagan people judge 00:18:14.279 --> 00:18:19.940 God's wisdom in Christ as foolishness. Verse 00:18:19.940 --> 00:18:28.279 18, again in verse 23, We preach Christ crucified 00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:32.180 he says to the Gentiles or to the Greeks foolishness 00:18:32.180 --> 00:18:39.539 This word means moronic You see the pagan Looks 00:18:39.539 --> 00:18:43.460 for wisdom that meets his definition of what 00:18:43.460 --> 00:18:49.779 is logical and what is reasonable and When he 00:18:49.779 --> 00:18:54.420 hears that real wisdom is found outside of man 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:03.359 that is found in God. And when he hears that 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:07.660 this God came into this world as a human being 00:19:07.660 --> 00:19:13.039 and died on behalf of all men to pay the price 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:18.359 of sin, he says, come on. You know, fairy tales 00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:25.740 are for children. That is too simple. It is simplistic. 00:19:27.210 --> 00:19:32.750 He says that is for half -wits. That just doesn't 00:19:32.750 --> 00:19:37.690 make sense to me. It's too uncomplicated. It's 00:19:37.690 --> 00:19:43.309 just too easy that one person would die for the 00:19:43.309 --> 00:19:49.990 sins of the whole race. And joining in with the 00:19:49.990 --> 00:19:54.319 lost pagan is the lost Jew. who, it says in verse 00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:57.859 23, regards God's wisdom as a stumbling block. 00:19:59.619 --> 00:20:02.339 Christ crucified to the Jew as a stumbling block. 00:20:02.420 --> 00:20:06.400 Why is that? Because the Jew seeks for a sign. 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:13.799 He wants some demonstration, some proof of Messiahship. 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:18.299 And certainly, that could not be in being crucified. 00:20:20.359 --> 00:20:23.880 Messiah is going to put down the armies of Rome. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:27.640 Messiah is going to overthrow the oppressors 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:32.759 of the Jewish people and exalt Israel and rule 00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:38.160 from Jerusalem over the nations. To think that 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:41.960 Christ, the Messiah, would be crucified is a 00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:47.839 stumbling block. Do you know what it really boils 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:52.269 down to? The real problem with God's wisdom to 00:20:52.269 --> 00:21:01.930 man is that God's wisdom assails his pride. God's 00:21:01.930 --> 00:21:06.009 wisdom assaults human ego because human ego likes 00:21:06.009 --> 00:21:10.750 to think that man is sufficient, that man is 00:21:10.750 --> 00:21:13.690 able to find his own way, that man is able to 00:21:13.690 --> 00:21:16.970 discover for himself what is true and what is 00:21:16.970 --> 00:21:21.450 false. and he doesn't really need God. That's 00:21:21.450 --> 00:21:27.009 the real problem with God's wisdom to the human. 00:21:28.789 --> 00:21:34.170 God on the other hand makes man's wisdom foolish. 00:21:34.910 --> 00:21:40.190 According to verse 20, the last question there 00:21:40.190 --> 00:21:44.109 says, has not God made foolish the wisdom of 00:21:44.109 --> 00:21:48.359 the world? That's God's appraisal. of man's wisdom, 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.099 what this means is that God shows human wisdom 00:21:52.099 --> 00:21:56.299 for what it is, that it's part of man's problem, 00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:01.680 not part of the solution to his condition. And 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:06.200 God condemns human wisdom as ineffective in eliminating 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:09.759 man's problems. In fact, he quotes from Isaiah 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:17.150 29 verse 14 in our verse 19 here. Back in that 00:22:17.150 --> 00:22:20.890 context, Isaiah was told not to be fearful because 00:22:20.890 --> 00:22:24.509 the military strategy that King Hezekiah and 00:22:24.509 --> 00:22:28.549 his wise men had put together to protect Judah 00:22:28.549 --> 00:22:35.410 from Assyria would fail. And God is reassuring 00:22:35.410 --> 00:22:38.130 Isaiah not to be worried about that, but he says, 00:22:38.390 --> 00:22:42.170 I will destroy the wisdom of these wise men who 00:22:42.170 --> 00:22:45.880 are surrounding King Hezekiah. and I will deliver 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:49.960 my people myself and show them my power. But 00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:53.299 in doing so, I will destroy the wisdom of the 00:22:53.299 --> 00:22:58.579 wise and the cleverness of the clever." Now quoting 00:22:58.579 --> 00:23:01.660 that verse, the apostle then asks several rhetorical 00:23:01.660 --> 00:23:08.799 questions. He says, where is the wise man? Where 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:12.599 is the wise man? Paul may have had in mind here 00:23:12.599 --> 00:23:15.630 the Greek philosophers. that many of these people 00:23:15.630 --> 00:23:20.750 nearly worship. But then he says, where is the 00:23:20.750 --> 00:23:25.950 scribe? And here Paul may have had in mind the 00:23:25.950 --> 00:23:31.829 Jewish experts in their law. He says, where is 00:23:31.829 --> 00:23:37.309 the debater of this age? Where is the debater 00:23:37.309 --> 00:23:40.230 of this age? These could be Jews or Gentiles 00:23:40.230 --> 00:23:45.549 who love to argue. Now Paul is mocking them. 00:23:46.309 --> 00:23:48.990 He is mocking them because they are not there 00:23:48.990 --> 00:23:52.549 to give an answer as to why man is still in the 00:23:52.549 --> 00:23:56.450 condition that he's in. They have offered their 00:23:56.450 --> 00:24:01.630 best and their best didn't work. So he says, 00:24:01.890 --> 00:24:07.089 where are these worldly wise people? With all 00:24:07.089 --> 00:24:10.769 of their complex thoughts and philosophies, what 00:24:10.769 --> 00:24:15.700 good have they done? because man is still embroiled 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:20.380 in the same problem. And then Paul asks this 00:24:20.380 --> 00:24:23.579 question, has not God made foolish the wisdom 00:24:23.579 --> 00:24:27.619 of the world? And the answer is yes, he has. 00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:32.019 For he has allowed the fruit of human wisdom 00:24:32.019 --> 00:24:36.500 to become evident. And that fruit is further 00:24:36.500 --> 00:24:44.460 decay and division and estrangement. among men. 00:24:46.099 --> 00:24:52.480 God declares man's wisdom as foolishness. That's 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:57.380 His appraisal. Now why? Because human wisdom 00:24:57.380 --> 00:25:02.440 inevitably leaves out God and His revelation. 00:25:05.460 --> 00:25:08.940 And it is God's revelation that provides the 00:25:08.940 --> 00:25:16.079 very answers that man is seeking. Who am I? How 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:20.140 did I get here? And what is life about? You close 00:25:20.140 --> 00:25:23.279 the Bible and set it aside and look in any other 00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:31.519 direction and you come to foolishness. Now having 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:34.160 looked at the contrasting content of the two 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:36.660 wisdoms and the conflicting appraisals because 00:25:36.660 --> 00:25:41.059 each calls the other foolish, let's examine the 00:25:41.059 --> 00:25:47.380 contrary outcome. of the two wisdoms. Consider 00:25:47.380 --> 00:25:50.519 with me first the tragic outcome of man's wisdom. 00:25:53.819 --> 00:25:57.920 Man's wisdom does not help temporally or eternally. 00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:04.519 Now when I talk about man's wisdom, I want to 00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:06.380 just step back for a moment and make it clear 00:26:06.380 --> 00:26:08.680 to you that I am not talking about intellectual 00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:12.420 pursuits and scientific investigations and achievements. 00:26:12.910 --> 00:26:16.970 that have helped all of us. When I talk about 00:26:16.970 --> 00:26:19.609 human wisdom, I am not talking about the progress 00:26:19.609 --> 00:26:21.710 that we've made in medicine or in agriculture 00:26:21.710 --> 00:26:24.910 or technology or manufacturing or any of the 00:26:24.910 --> 00:26:27.890 other areas that all of us benefit from. What 00:26:27.890 --> 00:26:30.390 I'm talking about, rather, is the philosophical 00:26:30.390 --> 00:26:36.150 wisdom that forms the world's beliefs and its 00:26:36.150 --> 00:26:40.690 values and its objectives. That's what I'm talking 00:26:40.690 --> 00:26:46.829 about by human wisdom. Man's philosophies have 00:26:46.829 --> 00:26:52.109 failed to create a utopian society. Man's wisdom 00:26:52.109 --> 00:26:56.750 has failed to create a better human being. In 00:26:56.750 --> 00:27:00.829 fact, it's just the opposite. We can ask, like 00:27:00.829 --> 00:27:03.549 Paul did in that day, where are all the smart 00:27:03.549 --> 00:27:07.269 people in our world, the elite of our society? 00:27:08.789 --> 00:27:12.950 The wise intellects. who have claimed to have 00:27:12.950 --> 00:27:16.109 had all of the answers. Where are they? Where 00:27:16.109 --> 00:27:19.390 are these ones who for years have told us, for 00:27:19.390 --> 00:27:22.690 example, that if we just spend more on education 00:27:22.690 --> 00:27:28.109 without God, that it would produce the best educational 00:27:28.109 --> 00:27:32.589 system in the world? That if we just spend more 00:27:32.589 --> 00:27:36.490 on education without God, we will have better 00:27:36.490 --> 00:27:39.650 people who will be able to compete in a global 00:27:39.650 --> 00:27:44.420 society. In fact, what is happening to the education 00:27:44.420 --> 00:27:49.079 system of America since we shut God out 35, 40 00:27:49.079 --> 00:27:54.180 years ago? It has done nothing but go that direction. 00:27:54.220 --> 00:27:58.059 It has declined. And it will continue to do that. 00:27:58.940 --> 00:28:00.960 But where are these people who for years have 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:03.740 claimed just spend more money on education? You'll 00:28:03.740 --> 00:28:08.789 get the product you want. Where are those who 00:28:08.789 --> 00:28:11.450 have told us that if we just have more sex education 00:28:11.450 --> 00:28:15.730 in the schools we will solve teenage pregnancy 00:28:15.730 --> 00:28:21.589 and reduce sexual activity and STDs, sexually 00:28:21.589 --> 00:28:26.769 transmitted diseases. Sexual activity is on the 00:28:26.769 --> 00:28:30.690 increase. There are more STDs today than ever 00:28:30.690 --> 00:28:33.289 before. It's estimated that one -fifth of all 00:28:33.289 --> 00:28:36.150 Americans have a sexually transmitted disease. 00:28:38.569 --> 00:28:41.250 Well, where are all these philosophers who said, 00:28:41.450 --> 00:28:43.450 well, all you have to do is teach people the 00:28:43.450 --> 00:28:50.390 facts. It hasn't worked. Where are the social 00:28:50.390 --> 00:28:52.710 planners who told us if only we would spend massive 00:28:52.710 --> 00:28:55.430 amounts of money on government programs, we would 00:28:55.430 --> 00:29:01.630 end poverty? Where are the wise people of the 00:29:01.630 --> 00:29:04.170 1960s who told us if we would just do that, we 00:29:04.170 --> 00:29:09.670 would have a great society? We're seeing now 00:29:09.670 --> 00:29:12.069 that their so -called great society is not so 00:29:12.069 --> 00:29:16.769 great after all. By the way, do you know what 00:29:16.769 --> 00:29:22.569 the most dangerous place in America is? The most 00:29:22.569 --> 00:29:25.910 dangerous place in America? It's not living next 00:29:25.910 --> 00:29:32.509 to some atomic energy facility. The most dangerous 00:29:32.509 --> 00:29:37.309 place in America is not even the inner city. 00:29:37.930 --> 00:29:42.150 in some gang neighborhood. The most dangerous 00:29:42.150 --> 00:29:45.289 place in America today is in the university classroom, 00:29:46.930 --> 00:29:50.710 where you have these same human wisdoms that 00:29:50.710 --> 00:29:54.710 have proven to be failures taught over and over 00:29:54.710 --> 00:29:58.829 and over again to our students. That's the most 00:29:58.829 --> 00:30:03.269 dangerous place in America. Where are the politicians, 00:30:04.190 --> 00:30:06.269 the judges, and the bureaucrats who asserted 00:30:06.269 --> 00:30:09.650 a few years ago that Busting school students 00:30:09.650 --> 00:30:13.650 would end discrimination and improve education. 00:30:13.789 --> 00:30:18.809 Where are they? Where are the smart people who 00:30:18.809 --> 00:30:21.289 just a few years ago told us if we would have 00:30:21.289 --> 00:30:24.289 affirmative action we would end racism in America? 00:30:27.869 --> 00:30:30.490 I submit to you that there is more racism in 00:30:30.490 --> 00:30:32.829 America today than there ever has been. More 00:30:32.829 --> 00:30:36.829 deep feelings about racial and ethnic divisions 00:30:36.829 --> 00:30:44.900 today. after affirmative action. Where are those 00:30:44.900 --> 00:30:47.400 who claim that we could educate and rehabilitate 00:30:47.400 --> 00:30:52.779 violent criminals and reduce crime, reduce our 00:30:52.779 --> 00:30:57.440 prison population? We have more people in prison 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:00.200 today than we've ever had in prison. It hasn't 00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:03.859 worked. Where are these social engineers, these 00:31:03.859 --> 00:31:06.599 great society politicians, these educational 00:31:06.599 --> 00:31:11.519 reformers? who have used our society for their 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:15.960 experiments of worldly wisdom and have brought 00:31:15.960 --> 00:31:21.339 upon us our present societal tragedy. My point 00:31:21.339 --> 00:31:26.099 is this. Many of these people have been sincere. 00:31:26.859 --> 00:31:31.339 I'm not mocking them for that. But I mock them 00:31:31.339 --> 00:31:35.660 because their ideas are wrong. They produce no 00:31:35.660 --> 00:31:40.339 lasting good. And yet today we have people who 00:31:40.339 --> 00:31:43.799 are pressing for the legalization of drugs, for 00:31:43.799 --> 00:31:47.480 homosexual marriage, for throwing more money 00:31:47.480 --> 00:31:52.119 into failed government programs, all of which 00:31:52.119 --> 00:31:56.819 are rooted in man's corrupt and unreliable thinking. 00:31:59.059 --> 00:32:01.640 But that's not the worst of it. That's not the 00:32:01.640 --> 00:32:05.720 worst of it. The worst of the outcome of human 00:32:05.720 --> 00:32:12.500 wisdom It's found first in verse 21. The world 00:32:12.500 --> 00:32:16.500 through its wisdom did not come to know God. 00:32:19.779 --> 00:32:23.660 The greater tragedy of human wisdom is that it 00:32:23.660 --> 00:32:26.819 does not bring anyone into a relationship with 00:32:26.819 --> 00:32:31.519 God. Now God and His wisdom established it that 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:34.740 way so that man cannot be truly independent of 00:32:34.740 --> 00:32:41.339 God and self -sufficient. And going with that 00:32:41.339 --> 00:32:44.680 is what is said in verse 18, that man's wisdom 00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:48.299 leaves its inheritance in a state of perishing. 00:32:50.220 --> 00:32:54.059 The word of the cross is to those who are perishing, 00:32:54.259 --> 00:33:00.079 foolishness. Those who follow human wisdom say 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:03.500 the cross is foolishness and they continue to 00:33:03.500 --> 00:33:08.799 be eternally ruined. They live in a perpetual 00:33:10.210 --> 00:33:18.250 acute state needing rescue. That's the outcome 00:33:18.250 --> 00:33:23.390 of human wisdom. And God allows human wisdom 00:33:23.390 --> 00:33:25.910 to bear its fruit so that we can all see how 00:33:25.910 --> 00:33:33.589 foolish it is. One of the philosophers that have 00:33:33.589 --> 00:33:37.089 greatly affected America The Western civilization 00:33:37.089 --> 00:33:42.529 is the German Friedrich Schliermacher. He is 00:33:42.529 --> 00:33:46.150 sometimes called the father of liberalism, theological 00:33:46.150 --> 00:33:51.250 liberalism in particular. The story is told that 00:33:51.250 --> 00:33:54.049 one day he was sitting as an old man on a city 00:33:54.049 --> 00:33:57.950 park bench and a policeman thinking this old 00:33:57.950 --> 00:33:59.890 man to be a vagrant went over to him and shook 00:33:59.890 --> 00:34:05.319 him and said, who are you? And this wise one 00:34:05.319 --> 00:34:09.400 of the world answered honestly and said, I wish 00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:15.920 I knew. That's human wisdom, friends. And that's 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:22.579 where it leads to despair and to lostness in 00:34:22.579 --> 00:34:27.079 the end. What about the outcome of God's wisdom? 00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:34.010 I have good news. God's wisdom is just the opposite. 00:34:34.150 --> 00:34:39.710 It is the power of God to save men from perishing. 00:34:41.329 --> 00:34:46.829 That is, those who believe, verse 21. Those who 00:34:46.829 --> 00:34:51.309 place their faith in it. Those who turn away 00:34:51.309 --> 00:34:57.590 from human wisdom and embrace the cross. For 00:34:57.590 --> 00:35:01.210 them, the message of that cross is the power 00:35:01.210 --> 00:35:05.110 of salvation. These are the ones, it says in 00:35:05.110 --> 00:35:10.849 verse 24, who are the called. That is those that 00:35:10.849 --> 00:35:17.090 God calls out of human lostness to embrace the 00:35:17.090 --> 00:35:19.789 cross. He's going to talk more about that, and 00:35:19.789 --> 00:35:22.789 we'll get into that next week, what it means 00:35:22.789 --> 00:35:25.030 to be the called. So let me just leave it at 00:35:25.030 --> 00:35:29.030 that point this morning. It may be that you are 00:35:29.030 --> 00:35:31.309 here and you have embraced human wisdom in the 00:35:31.309 --> 00:35:34.010 past and you sense in your heart the calling 00:35:34.010 --> 00:35:38.289 of God to embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and 00:35:38.289 --> 00:35:42.309 Savior. Believe on Him and you will know the 00:35:42.309 --> 00:35:48.869 power of God to save. God's wisdom produces results 00:35:48.869 --> 00:35:52.590 that are definite and lasting because it brings 00:35:52.590 --> 00:35:55.469 about a relationship with God that human searching 00:35:55.469 --> 00:35:58.599 can never achieve. That's why Paul said to the 00:35:58.599 --> 00:36:02.739 Romans, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, 00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:06.940 for it is the power of God unto salvation to 00:36:06.940 --> 00:36:11.420 everyone who believes, to the Jew as well as 00:36:11.420 --> 00:36:16.980 to the Greek. I can tell you that wherever the 00:36:16.980 --> 00:36:19.320 principles of God's revelation have been heeded 00:36:19.320 --> 00:36:25.179 has resulted also in man's temporal good. You 00:36:25.179 --> 00:36:27.820 go back and you trace the great universities 00:36:27.820 --> 00:36:30.960 of this country, and they nearly all go back, 00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:34.579 to men who founded them in order to proclaim 00:36:34.579 --> 00:36:37.199 the glory of God and to advance the gospel of 00:36:37.199 --> 00:36:39.539 Jesus Christ. And I'm talking about Harvard and 00:36:39.539 --> 00:36:43.400 Yale, etc., etc. They are far from their roots 00:36:43.400 --> 00:36:48.539 today. Go back and look at who brought the hospitals, 00:36:48.760 --> 00:36:51.920 who brings the healing to the world. It's not 00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:57.869 the human wisdom. It is those who bring the gospel 00:36:57.869 --> 00:37:01.409 of Jesus Christ. Who are those who are delivering 00:37:01.409 --> 00:37:05.929 the pagan people from their terrors and from 00:37:05.929 --> 00:37:09.030 the abuse of their lives and the oppression that 00:37:09.030 --> 00:37:13.610 they feel? It's not the humanist anthropologists. 00:37:14.829 --> 00:37:17.530 It is the missionaries who are bringing the gospel 00:37:17.530 --> 00:37:19.889 of Jesus Christ who are delivering them from 00:37:19.889 --> 00:37:24.719 their darkness. Forever, God's revelation has 00:37:24.719 --> 00:37:27.679 been heeded. It has resulted not only in eternal 00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:33.260 good, but temporal good. Human wisdom can offer 00:37:33.260 --> 00:37:36.920 ideas and opinions. It may even occasionally 00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:41.360 help diagnose the human condition. It may suggest 00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:44.380 solutions. But the problem with human wisdom 00:37:44.380 --> 00:37:49.519 is this. It has a fatal weakness, and that is 00:37:49.519 --> 00:37:58.559 it cannot change the human heart. It can go to 00:37:58.559 --> 00:38:01.900 a neighborhood and say the problem here is poverty. 00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:07.079 Well, that's partly true. It can say we need 00:38:07.079 --> 00:38:09.639 to infuse lots of money into this neighborhood. 00:38:11.380 --> 00:38:17.420 Is that the solution? It can look at our society 00:38:17.420 --> 00:38:21.050 and say this society is racist. And what we need 00:38:21.050 --> 00:38:24.670 to do is to order this change or that change 00:38:24.670 --> 00:38:29.469 by government decree. Is that the solution? No. 00:38:30.030 --> 00:38:31.989 You see, all of these things come back to the 00:38:31.989 --> 00:38:35.889 human heart. Human wisdom, for whatever label 00:38:35.889 --> 00:38:40.050 on it you want to, is incapable of changing a 00:38:40.050 --> 00:38:43.409 person's nature. It cannot deal with the depravity 00:38:43.409 --> 00:38:46.809 of the heart. And that's why Paul concludes, 00:38:46.909 --> 00:38:49.530 as he does in verse 25, that the foolishness 00:38:49.530 --> 00:38:54.590 of God is wiser than men. And the so -called 00:38:54.590 --> 00:38:58.489 weakness of God is stronger than men. Because 00:38:58.489 --> 00:39:01.309 Christ crucified is the power of God and the 00:39:01.309 --> 00:39:06.369 wisdom of God. It seems like foolishness and 00:39:06.369 --> 00:39:10.090 weakness to man, but man cannot transcend it. 00:39:11.489 --> 00:39:14.010 That's why you and I can say with Paul that we 00:39:14.010 --> 00:39:18.210 never need to be embarrassed by the gospel. We 00:39:18.210 --> 00:39:22.610 never need to be ashamed of the cross. We never 00:39:22.610 --> 00:39:24.949 need to wonder if the world is right. All we 00:39:24.949 --> 00:39:29.030 have to do is look around. John MacArthur says 00:39:29.030 --> 00:39:32.469 the simplicity of the gospel gives the complexity 00:39:32.469 --> 00:39:36.150 of human reason promises what the complexity 00:39:36.150 --> 00:39:38.550 of human reason promises, but it never delivers. 00:39:39.340 --> 00:39:42.460 When we come down in the world's eyes to the 00:39:42.460 --> 00:39:47.659 cross, God will raise us up to eternal life. 00:39:48.940 --> 00:39:51.460 I like those words that come out of the song 00:39:51.460 --> 00:39:57.559 El Shaddai that say God's most mighty work was 00:39:57.559 --> 00:40:03.039 done through the, what, did I know? The frailty 00:40:03.039 --> 00:40:07.480 of the Son. The weakness of Christ, crucified. 00:40:08.550 --> 00:40:13.750 God's most mighty work. And we sing, I need no 00:40:13.750 --> 00:40:17.090 other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough 00:40:17.090 --> 00:40:27.449 that Jesus died and that He died for me. So I 00:40:27.449 --> 00:40:29.730 close with this final and crucial question for 00:40:29.730 --> 00:40:34.269 you. Which wisdom forms the choices of your life? 00:40:35.670 --> 00:40:42.579 God's wisdom or man's wisdom? In what have you 00:40:42.579 --> 00:40:46.780 chosen to trust your salvation? Man's wisdom? 00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:50.900 Man's way? There are many ways that seem right 00:40:50.900 --> 00:40:54.059 unto a man, but they end there over the ways 00:40:54.059 --> 00:41:01.139 of death. There was a company owner a number 00:41:01.139 --> 00:41:03.659 of years ago now who wanted somehow to illustrate 00:41:03.659 --> 00:41:07.940 to his employees the gospel. He was a Christian. 00:41:08.889 --> 00:41:11.989 He looked for ways to do this and so one one 00:41:11.989 --> 00:41:15.550 day he put out a notice to his many employees 00:41:15.550 --> 00:41:19.750 and he said Any employee who comes to my office 00:41:19.750 --> 00:41:22.630 on such -and -such a date between 11 and 12 o 00:41:22.630 --> 00:41:27.869 'clock in the morning and brings to me a list 00:41:27.869 --> 00:41:34.010 of his indebtedness and It's total I will pay 00:41:34.010 --> 00:41:42.300 it for him And so on that day, as 11 o 'clock 00:41:42.300 --> 00:41:47.880 began to come around, his employees gathered 00:41:47.880 --> 00:41:50.219 in the street around the place where the man's 00:41:50.219 --> 00:41:52.679 office was. None of them had prepared anything. 00:41:54.059 --> 00:41:56.920 They were talking about the offer and whether 00:41:56.920 --> 00:41:59.500 he meant it or not and would anybody be foolish 00:41:59.500 --> 00:42:03.000 enough to believe it anyway. And 11 o 'clock 00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:07.190 came and nobody entered the door. 1115, 1130, 00:42:07.429 --> 00:42:11.610 1145, and finally one man dashed out of the crowd 00:42:11.610 --> 00:42:13.489 with the paper in his hand and ran in through 00:42:13.489 --> 00:42:17.309 the door. And he went into the man's office. 00:42:18.989 --> 00:42:22.349 He put down the paper. And he said, is this the 00:42:22.349 --> 00:42:24.530 list of all your debts? He said, yes, it is. 00:42:26.030 --> 00:42:28.329 And his employer immediately pulled out his checkbook 00:42:28.329 --> 00:42:33.079 and wrote him a check for the whole amount. He 00:42:33.079 --> 00:42:36.360 said, because you have believed my promise, I 00:42:36.360 --> 00:42:39.699 deliver you of your debt. And he was the only 00:42:39.699 --> 00:42:42.840 one out of all the employees that had the nerve 00:42:42.840 --> 00:42:48.920 to believe what the employer had promised. In 00:42:48.920 --> 00:42:52.639 Jesus Christ crucified, God has made the provision 00:42:52.639 --> 00:42:57.019 available for the sins of all men. But it is 00:42:57.019 --> 00:43:00.599 only those who believe, who claim the promise, 00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:07.500 who will be saved, and the rest will go on perishing. 00:43:09.940 --> 00:43:13.340 Which wisdom are you trusting for your salvation? 00:43:14.699 --> 00:43:17.380 And if you are saved, which wisdom is it that 00:43:17.380 --> 00:43:22.880 you are looking toward for your life? Listen 00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:28.539 to the wisdom in our music today. How much of 00:43:28.539 --> 00:43:34.699 it is God's wisdom? And yet that's what we allow 00:43:34.699 --> 00:43:39.039 to come into our minds and wash over our hearts 00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:49.280 all the time. Who do you go to for counsel? Do 00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:51.699 you go to your friend whose life is already in 00:43:51.699 --> 00:43:55.440 ruins and expect him or her to give you counsel 00:43:55.440 --> 00:43:57.800 that's going to be godly? Or do you go to the 00:43:57.800 --> 00:44:00.579 Bible? Do you go to someone who's a godly person 00:44:00.579 --> 00:44:03.519 and say, help me see? what the issues of my life 00:44:03.519 --> 00:44:07.099 are. Whose wisdom are you listening to? Are you 00:44:07.099 --> 00:44:09.579 listening to the talk shows on television? God 00:44:09.579 --> 00:44:12.260 help you. Are you listening to the radio talk 00:44:12.260 --> 00:44:15.440 shows and hoping to find there some human wisdom 00:44:15.440 --> 00:44:22.099 to direct your life? You will surely end up wrecked. 00:44:22.639 --> 00:44:25.920 Whose wisdom forms the choices of your life? 00:44:26.800 --> 00:44:31.250 That's what Paul wants you to answer today. because 00:44:31.250 --> 00:44:35.409 your life depends upon it and may be your eternity. 00:44:38.630 --> 00:44:43.449 Let's pray. In just a moment, we're going to 00:44:43.449 --> 00:44:48.929 sing a closing hymn. And as we sing, I'm going 00:44:48.929 --> 00:45:01.199 to invite anyone who... to have prayer with me 00:45:01.199 --> 00:45:04.420 to come forward. We're going to form a little 00:45:04.420 --> 00:45:06.300 prayer circle after others have been dismissed 00:45:06.300 --> 00:45:09.519 and praying. I don't know what your issue may 00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:12.300 be. It may be that you need to be saved, that 00:45:12.300 --> 00:45:16.380 you've not trusted the gospel. Or it may be that 00:45:16.380 --> 00:45:18.820 as a Christian you've been listening to bad counsel 00:45:18.820 --> 00:45:24.260 and God's put his finger upon it this morning 00:45:24.260 --> 00:45:26.579 and you know that and you want to come just to 00:45:26.579 --> 00:45:29.059 pray and to turn away from that worldly counsel. 00:45:31.860 --> 00:45:35.239 As we sing 471 in just a moment, I'm going to 00:45:35.239 --> 00:45:39.019 invite you to come and, as I say, we'll have 00:45:39.019 --> 00:45:41.639 a prayer of dismissal and then those who come 00:45:41.639 --> 00:45:46.500 can pray with me. Lord, I pray that today, having 00:45:46.500 --> 00:45:52.300 heard this message, none of us will trust in 00:45:52.300 --> 00:45:55.780 human wisdom for the direction of our lives or 00:45:55.780 --> 00:46:00.780 the salvation of our souls. But may we see the 00:46:00.780 --> 00:46:03.420 life -changing power of the gospel of Christ 00:46:03.420 --> 00:46:12.920 crucified and trust in Him alone. Purify our 00:46:12.920 --> 00:46:17.860 lives where we have trusted in man's thinking. 00:46:18.539 --> 00:46:23.559 Show us where we have erred and bring us back 00:46:23.559 --> 00:46:32.570 to trusting what you have said alone. We pray 00:46:32.570 --> 00:46:40.630 in Jesus' name, amen. 471 says the way of Christ 00:46:40.630 --> 00:46:44.809 crucified leads home. And I invite you to sing 00:46:44.809 --> 00:46:47.829 with me at least the first verse and chorus of 00:46:47.829 --> 00:46:51.929 471. Please slip out quickly if God is laying 00:46:51.929 --> 00:46:54.449 it on your heart to come for prayer. Let's stand, 00:46:54.449 --> 00:47:06.380 please. I must lead to go home by the way of 00:47:06.380 --> 00:47:13.579 the cross. There's no other way but this. I shall 00:47:13.579 --> 00:47:19.360 ne 'er get sight of the gates of life in the 00:47:19.360 --> 00:48:19.690 way of the cross. Just the chorus, please. I'm 00:48:19.690 --> 00:48:21.730 just curious, before we go, how many of you think 00:48:21.730 --> 00:48:24.889 that perhaps there's a possibility that your 00:48:24.889 --> 00:48:27.050 thinking has been tainted a little bit by human 00:48:27.050 --> 00:48:30.650 wisdom? Would you lift your hand? Lots of honest 00:48:30.650 --> 00:48:34.590 people. All of us have been affected by it. And 00:48:34.590 --> 00:48:36.349 that's why it's so important for us to be in 00:48:36.349 --> 00:48:39.710 the Word. To allow the Word to cleanse our minds 00:48:39.710 --> 00:48:43.329 of the kinds of human wisdom that we pick up 00:48:43.329 --> 00:48:46.530 in so very many different ways. So this week, 00:48:46.570 --> 00:48:51.059 let's ask God to show us. where we are thinking 00:48:51.059 --> 00:48:55.719 wrongly. Because that thinking wrongly will lead 00:48:55.719 --> 00:49:00.980 us to behave wrongly. Let's ask God to get our 00:49:00.980 --> 00:49:04.619 minds focused on Jesus and on the truth of God. 00:49:05.760 --> 00:49:08.179 Now Lord may it be so as we go our ways and to 00:49:08.179 --> 00:49:10.619 that end I pray your blessing upon this entire 00:49:10.619 --> 00:49:15.679 congregation that we may think Christianly. That 00:49:15.679 --> 00:49:21.269 we may think of Christ. crucified, the wisdom 00:49:21.269 --> 00:49:23.389 and the power of God. Amen.