Transcript

There once was a preacher who was at a dinner and was asked to get up and give a short 10 minute talk. But of course, there is danger involved in asking any preacher to give a short talk. And after 20 minutes had expired the preacher was still talking.

After 35 minutes the master of ceremonies gave a little rap on the table with his gavel. The preacher just ignored it and kept right on preaching. After 40 minutes the master of ceremonies gave a little louder rap with his gavel.

Still the preacher kept right on talking. After 1 hour with no end in sight the master of ceremonies hit his gavel as hard as he could. But still the preacher went on. Finally in a fit of anger the master of ceremonies threw the gavel at the preacher.

The gavel sailed over the preacher’s head and hit an old man who was sitting at his table fast asleep. The old man woke with a start and shouted, “Hit me again I can still hear him!”

Paul, and we, have a message that demands that we preach and proclaim it, and which keeps us preaching until we go home.

1 Corinthians 15:14 states “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” Preaching would be a waste of time and pointless if Christ is not risen. But because Christ lives, preaching is not meaningless. Our faith has meaning
We have hope, we have a message, and we have good news to make known.

The old adage for preaching is “Preach not because you have to say something, but because you have something to say.” We have something to say because Christ lives.

And God, by the working of the Holy Spirit, uses the preaching of His Word to lead sinners to Christ under grace and to establish believers in their faith.

1 Corinthians 1:17: “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”

In this verse, the Apostle Paul points out what he was NOT sent to do and what he WAS sent to do. Paul was not sent to baptize, but he was sent by Christ “to PREACH the gospel.”

Later in this letter, Paul reiterated his calling as God’s apostle to preach the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 9:16, he wrote, “for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I PREACH not the gospel!

To advance the cause of Christ in this world, like Paul, we, the church, are called to preach the gospel. And preaching the gospel doesn’t mean you need to have a pulpit to do it.

In the original Greek, the words “to preach the gospel” just means to bring good news, to announce glad tidings. We preach the gospel in any and every way we evangelize and make Christ and His finished work known to others.

Like the apostle, we are to preach the gospel “not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”

By this we learn that it is possible to preach the gospel in a way that makes it of no effect.

A reliance on “wisdom of words” can cause men to trust in men and to take their eyes off of Christ. But Paul did not want anything to draw attention away from the Savior and the truth of the gospel.

Thus, Paul preached the gospel without attempting to impress others by his eloquence;
instead, he simply pointed others to trust Christ and trust Christ alone.

It is not necessary to have degrees, training, clever tactics, or eloquence to preach the gospel. The power is in the truth of the gospel (Rom. 1:16), and we are called to make that message known faithfully, humbly, and plainly by reliance on the Spirit.

“A certain church had a beautiful stained-glass window just behind the pulpit. It depicted Jesus Christ on the cross. One Sunday there was a guest minister who was much smaller than the regular pastor.

A little girl listened to the guest for a time, then turned to her mother and asked, ‘Where is the man who usually stands there so we can’t see Jesus?’”

In preaching, Christ can be obscured either by the presentation or the content of the message. However, we are called to preach the gospel so that all can clearly see Christ and what He’s done for us by His grace.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

“And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

In the same vein as 1 Corinthians 1:17, Paul stated here that he came to the Corinthians “not with excellency of speech or of wisdom.”

Paul did not rely on lofty words of eloquence or human philosophy to convince his listeners. Paul didn’t come to the Corinthians as an orator; he came as a witness, declaring unto them the testimony of God.

The focal point of that testimony was the person and work of Christ: “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” as he stated in verse 2. Like Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2 Cor. 4:5).

Biblical preaching is to be centered on Christ, on Who He is and what He has done. And when we preach the Word, “we preach…Christ Jesus the Lord,” because the Holy Spirit has authored a Book that is all about Him.

Paul came to the Corinthians not teeming with confidence and self-assurance. Instead, as he wrote, “And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling” (v. 3).

Paul came to Corinth after being beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, run out of Thessalonica and Berea by persecution, and mocked in Athens.

To encourage Paul upon his arrival in Corinth, the Lord spoke to him in a vision and told him, “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).

But, despite his weakness in the flesh, Paul was most powerful, because, as a result, his preaching was in the power of the Spirit.

G. Campbell Morgan stated, “So great was [Paul’s] sense of weakness and fear, and so profound his lack of trust in himself that he quaked, he trembled. Those are the secrets of strength in all preaching.”

Paul’s weakness, fear, and trembling kept him from relying on and placing his confidence in himself, and it allowed God’s strength to flow through Him. Thus, Paul’s speech and preaching were “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4).

Paul depended on the power of the Holy Spirit. It was not his experience, talent, or ability that gave power to his preaching; it was the working of the Spirit through Paul’s faith and faithfulness.

Paul knew that preachers are called to proclaim the truth as revealed in God’s Word, knowing and trusting that the Holy Spirit works through His Word. As a result of faithfully proclaiming the Word, on a spiritual level, Paul’s preaching had power.

And the Holy Spirit used Paul’s preaching mightily to reach people for Christ and to transform their lives and hearts.

And the purpose of Paul’s preaching was so “that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” All who proclaim the gospel message or teach the Word of God should make this their constant aim.

He wanted them to trust in God and His power, and not in the messenger or the wisdom of men. The only secure place for faith is in God’s power, not in the wisdom of men.

And the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Through his preaching, Paul wanted people’s faith to be in God and in the living and powerful Word of God and not in man or his wisdom.

The contrast of verse 5 between man’s wisdom and God’s power is between the natural and the supernatural. God’s wisdom as revealed in His Word manifests supernatural, spiritual power and is the only true foundation for our faith to stand and rest.

In these verses we find that Paul did not emphasize or place confidence in himself or the method of his preaching, but rather his confidence was in the message of the cross.

1 Corinthians 1:18: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

The message that Paul made known was “the preaching of the cross.” The gospel is the preaching of the cross. The word “preaching” in this verse is the Greek word “logos,” which means a word, teaching, or what is declared.

The preaching of the cross means all that is involved in the cross, the total, collected teaching, its message and truth.

To the Apostle Paul was committed the preaching of the cross, for through the revelation of the mystery given to Him by the risen, exalted Lord Jesus Christ, we learn of the accomplishments and full benefits of the Cross.

The message of the cross tells us that God the Father “hath made Him [Christ] to be sin for us, [Christ] Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

The preaching of the cross teaches us that Christ has done everything necessary to save us, that we are saved by faith alone and have the forgiveness of all our sins, and that we are redeemed and have eternal life as a free gift.

However, this message of the Cross “to them that perish” is “foolishness.” “Them that perish” are those who are without God or His life. The Word teaches that sin results in death. James 1:15 states, “and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

Outside of Christ, the unbeliever is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). Thus, when a person is still in their sins, they are perishing and will perish. They are heading for the second death of eternal judgment in the lake of fire.

“Them that perish” are those for whom God’s heart breaks, because He desires for all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). It refers to all who have not believed the gospel of grace and the life-giving message of the cross.

And we, the church, have this treasure this message of the gospel that needs to be faithfully preached so that the perishing might be rescued from the wrath to come.

In a small church on the East Coast a pastor delivered a sermon on evangelism, and after the service a German man who once lived in Nazi Germany told the pastor of this true experience: I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust.

I considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because, what could anyone do to stop it?

A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks.

We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars.

Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sound of those wheels because we knew that we would hear the cries of the Jews en route to the death camp.

Their screams tormented us. We knew the time the train came past our church and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns.

By the time the train came past our church we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more. Years have passed and no one talks about it anymore. But I still hear that train whistle in my sleep.

There are people all around us in a similar situation as those Jews in the train cars. They are perishing and their destination is even worse: they are on their way to eternal hell.

As our hearts rightly break as we think of those Jews on those trains, our hearts should break as we think of the unbelieving around us at all times, and where they’re heading.

But let me ask you this, like this story, Do you think the Church as whole is just singing louder as it were? Trying to drown out the thought?

Like our Savior, we must be sensitive to the great need around us at all time and the danger people are constantly in. We have the one thing that is able to save them from eternal death and suffering in the lake of fire: the gospel, the message of the Cross.

And the preaching of the Cross and the preaching of the Word needs to be faithfully and urgently proclaimed by the Church.

Paul points out here that, for the many who are perishing and have not believed, the message of the cross is “foolishness.”

The term “foolishness,” in the original Greek, is moria, from which our word “moron” is derived. The Cross is moronic, absurd, and silly nonsense to those who do not believe.

The reason it’s foolishness to them is that they have exalted their own thoughts and wisdom above God’s revealed wisdom and provision.

The preaching of the Cross seems too far-fetched to many in this world, and they can’t wrap their minds around it that the death of one Man, on one hill, on one piece of wood, in one moment in history is the determining factor for the eternal destiny for every person.

They find it foolish to believe that a virgin gave birth to a Child Who is both fully God and fully man, and that He lived a perfect, sinless life, bore our sins on the Cross, died, and rose again the third day.

The message of the Cross also does not fit with what most think how it ought to be when it comes to determining whether one goes to heaven.

Mankind doesn’t like to think they are ungodly sinners who need a Savior, and that their sins demanded the shed blood and death of God’s Son to pay their penalty.

It makes no sense to them that a Savior should suffer and die for them. The Cross allows no place for man’s merit, man’s attainment, man’s wisdom, man’s perceived righteousness, or man’s ego or pride. Thus, the cross is chalked up as foolishness.

As Paul continued in this verse, he wrote, “but unto us.” The “but” shows a contrast, a division. The message of the cross creates a division within humanity.

The entire world can be categorized into one of two groups: “them that perish” and them “which are saved,” or unsaved and saved, children of darkness or children of light.

You are either one or the other; there is no halfway or middle ground, The cross divides mankind, the saved from the lost.

We find two responses to the preaching of the Cross in 1 Corinthians 1:18: it is either rejected as foolishness or received as the power of God unto salvation.

The message of the cross, to us who believe and rejoice in it, is not foolishness; it is profound wisdom and the very power of God.

It is about God, with power and grace, providing salvation from our sins, and giving us His life and righteousness the moment we believe.

1 Corinthians 1:19-20: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

“Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?”

Verse 19 begins with “For it is written.” It is a quote from Isaiah 29:14. And what was happening in Isaiah 29 is that King Sennacherib, a mighty king over the nation of Assyria, decided to attack the land of Judah and besiege the city of Jerusalem.

God, through the prophet Isaiah, said to Judah, “Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”

The Lord reassured Judah that deliverance was coming and Sennacherib would fail in conquering Judah and Jerusalem. But the Lord told them that it wouldn’t be because of the wise men of Judah or the cunning strategies of the political advisors to the king.

They wouldn’t escape the hand of the Assyrians by their own wisdom, but rather the Lord said that He would do a marvelous work and deliver them Himself to demonstrate the impotence and impermanence of the proud wise and prudent men of Judah. In the end, their wisdom would utterly fail, perish, be hidden, and forgotten.

And 2 Kings 19:35 tells us, “And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”

The angel of the Lord, which is the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, by Himself, smote 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians to deliver Judah out of their hands.

All the wisdom, knowledge, and acumen of Judah’s wise men fell short and were shown to be helpless and weak, and could not bring about Judah’s deliverance. But by the power and wisdom of God, in the person of His Son, God won the victory for Israel.

Likewise, there is no deliverance from sin by the wisdom of man. Man’s wisdom and understanding is utterly helpless and powerless to save man from this, his greatest need. Instead, God, in His wisdom, by His power, through His Son, is how we are delivered from sin. God wins the victory for us.

As God told Isaiah of the deliverance He would bring, “Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder,” and today the marvelous work of God is in the salvation of souls by the Cross of Christ.

By God’s power and His wisdom, as revealed through the Cross and His Son in the preaching of the Cross, He destroys the wisdom of the wise and brings to nothing the understanding of the prudent who attempts to solve every problem by their own ingenuity and knowledge rather than turning to God and His wisdom and power.

God shows man’s wisdom, in which he boasts, to be weak and frail, and it will perish and be forgotten as God has said.

By these verses, Paul proclaimed God’s wisdom as far superior to man’s. In verse 19, Paul quoted from Isaiah 29:14 to certify that man’s wisdom will be destroyed, swept away, and brought to nothing. It is temporary and will be forgotten.

In contrast, God’s wisdom is permanent. It will never be destroyed; it will never be brought to nothing. It is eternal, perfect wisdom. So, the point is, which one should we trust?

Jeremiah 8:9 reads, “The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the Word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?”

When you reject the wisdom of the Word, you reject true and eternal wisdom. Trusting the fallible and ever-changing opinions of human wisdom is what is foolish.

When we preach God’s Word, we are proclaiming true wisdom, wisdom that changes hearts and lives through Christ. We advance the cause of Christ in this world by faithfully preaching God’s wisdom as revealed in His Word.

In light of God one day destroying and sweeping away human wisdom, Paul hurls a defiant challenge: “Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?”

Did God consult them when He created all things from nothing? Can they teach God anything? Could they have ever devised such a perfect plan of redemption? Can they ever rise to disprove or challenge God’s eternal and perfect wisdom? The answer is emphatically obvious: No!

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? These questions are in light of God’s destroying the wisdom of the wise and bringing to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

In light of this taking place one day, these questions mean: Where did they go? They were here a second ago, weren’t they? What happened to them? This verse re-emphasizes the impermanent nature of man’s wisdom.

God’s wisdom is revealed through His Word, through His Son, and through the Cross. And by these things, God has made foolish the wisdom of this world.

1 Corinthians 1:21: “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

Paul wrote that the world with all of its so-called wisdom never knew God. It never reached the ultimate goal of knowing God.

Man in his wisdom in trying to know God has created the beliefs of pantheism, that all is God and God is all. They believe in polytheism that there are many gods. They believe in in atheism that there is no God. They believe in humanism that man is God.

And man, by his own wisdom, actually cannot come to the knowledge of God. Rather, by man’s wisdom, they “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator,” and man turned to graven idols of gold, silver, or stone.

In Athens, Paul challenged the philosophers and wise men of that day, “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device” (Acts 17:29).

I love the second half of 1 Corinthians 1:21: “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” “The foolishness of preaching” means the foolishness of the message preached. Paul is not referring to the act of preaching, but the content of preaching, that is, the preaching of the Cross from verse 18.

God is pleased to save anyone who believes through, as the world sees it, the “foolishness” of the message of the Cross.

God has provided for and accomplished our salvation in a way that no one would have expected: by death on a cross and the resurrection of His Son.

Although the Cross is contrary to and offends the vanity of human wisdom and conceit, when the simple message of the gospel is preached and the world scoffs and calls it foolishness, God saves those who believe it.