And now to the New Testament Scriptures and to 1st Corinthians chapter 1. 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verses 10 through 25. 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verses 10 through 25. This evening our text is from verses 22 through 25, but for the sake of context and that we have had a significant break since we were in this passage, we're going to read again from verse 10 to reorientate ourselves in the context. So, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning at verse 10. Again, please give your careful attention to God's Word. I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul. Or, I follow Apollos. Or, I follow Cephas. Or, I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius. so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. And not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Amen. And again, thus far, the Word of our God. Paul says here that the Word of the Cross is the power of God to salvation. But because we live in a culture and in a day and generation which is so opposed to the Word of the Cross, and a culture which wants to organize itself in rebellion against God and His rule in this world, there is always going to be a demand for a different message. The message of the cross is not going to be acceptable to the natural man. The danger, in addition, is that even Christians can be affected by this way of thinking. And so as we come to verses 22-25 this evening, Paul wants to address and to warn the believers in Corinth with regard to this matter. To bring them back to the centrality of the message of the cross. in the midst of a world and a culture that considers that foolishness and who demand alternatives, whether it be signs or human wisdom. So, what do we find here? We find this. In 1 Corinthians 1 23-25, Paul declares that contrary to what human wisdom may think acceptable, the proclamation of Christ crucified is the means by which God makes His Son, Jesus Christ, His power and wisdom to all who believe. Now, it's a fairly lengthy summary sentence. It is one sentence, but it's lengthy this evening. So, let me repeat that and do that a little more slowly for those I know who like to capture that in their notes so they can focus their minds on the rest of the sermon. In 1 Corinthians 1, 22-25, Paul declares that contrary to what human wisdom may think acceptable, The proclamation of Christ crucified is the means by which God makes His Son, Jesus Christ, His power and wisdom to all who believe. Well, as we seek to think about that summary this evening, we're going to consider three things. First of all, human wisdom. Secondly, gospel power. And then thirdly, the continuing challenge. So, human wisdom, gospel power, and the continuing challenge. First of all then, human wisdom. Verses 22 and 23. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles." This was the context in the city of Corinth into which Paul went when he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jews demanding signs. Greeks seeking wisdom. This is how Paul focuses the issue in the cultural context of his day. We see that in verse 22, plainly stated. Now, we might say we're sitting here in 21st century Placidville in the United States. What has Paul's cultural context in 1st century Corinth got to do with us? We don't have a large Jewish community here in Placerville demanding signs. We don't have the ancient Greek philosophers in our marketplace debating with us philosophy. That's not generally what you meet as you walk down Main Street, is it? The philosophers there wanting to engage us in debate. But nevertheless, brethren, the descendants of these Jews and Gentiles are still with us today. in that so many of our contemporaries reject the Christian message, and they do so for identical reasons, though they may be expressed in slightly different terms and ways. There are still those who say, for lack of material evidence, give us a sign. They will not believe. There are still those who say that the gospel of Christ is not intellectually acceptable. It does not square with human wisdom. Therefore, we will not believe. You see, things don't ever really change. They're just said in different ways. Jews and Greeks. Signs and demands for human wisdom and things to accord with it. are still with us very much today. Now, let's go back for a moment. In the first century, the Jews, of course, were always looking for God to appear in splendor and might and power. He had done so in the past, historically. You remember at the Exodus. God had come in mighty power to deliver His people physically from their enemies. Therefore, it was not an unreasonable thing for them to think in these sorts of terms. But what was unreasonable was for them to think that they could control God and say to God that this is how He must work in their day and generation. And that unless He did, they would not believe. And that was the issue. The Jews of the first century wanted Messiah. to demonstrate himself in signs of great power and authority physically, to zap, as it were, the enemies of Israel, to bring the rest of the world into submission to them. Unless he did so, they would not have him. They had their own view of how it should work and how it should be. And they sought to impose their conditions upon God. And by so doing, they effectively blinded themselves to Christ, God incarnate, come in the flesh amongst them. Not simply to bring a physical deliverance, but to deliver them from their greatest and spiritual enemy, sin and death and the evil one. The Greeks were no different, although again, it was expressed in different ways. For the Greeks, it was all about new ideas, about clever arguments. That was everything to the Greeks. Now, if what was being said by Paul was going to be put across with great skill and logic and rhetoric in his presentation, if it was the epitome of the expression of a great human liberal arts education, then it would be worthy of consideration. they'd be very glad to think of these things. But if it was not clever and witty and sophisticated in their eyes, then it wasn't even worth their time to think about. It was foolishness, the message of the cross. That was the demand of the first century. The Jews signed, this way or no way, For the Greeks, similarly, in terms of our human wisdom, or no way. And the great danger here that Paul is bringing before the church in Corinth, that he is only too well aware of, is that the church itself was in great danger of capitulating the message of the cross to the demands of these groups in the culture of his day. Well, again, as we now transport ourselves forward to the 21st century, it's not hard to see that that is still the danger that faces the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have our own contemporary equivalents, as we have said, of Jews and Greeks. And the danger of capitulating the Gospel to their demands is still the danger which faces the Church today. The spiritual marketplace is still very open to miraculous signs. If a man will come and demonstrate great power in sign, people will take note, won't they? They'll send the camera crews and the reporters and chase after whatever. If a man will claim to do great things, things that can be seen, things that can be physically perceived, And of course, in terms of wisdom. Esoteric wisdom is still very appealing. You can be spiritual. That's not particularly offensive to people in our day and generation. You can be philosophical. People will admire that. You can sell ideas. There's no shortage of how to make money at people's expenses by marketing a great idea, so is thought. That's not what's unacceptable in our day and generation. The spiritual marketplace is very open to these things. But it is still very closed, brethren, to that old message of two millennia now about a Savior who was crucified. The message of the cross. You see, there's so much on offer. that seems to be much more impressive than the cross. That Christians are constantly tempted to adapt the message of the cross to the demands of the culture. And so, we can see that the church is never in greater danger than when her leaders and the members of the church are what we might call in modern language demand-led. Now, of course, to be demand-led in commercial terms is a very desirable thing. It means you are responsive to what your customer wants. And, of course, if you're in a competitive environment, then you'd better be demand-led and listening to your customer or you won't survive very long, will you? Because in a commercial marketplace, the customer is king. It's their needs and their requirements that define products and services. That's proper and that's the way it works in a commercial market. But the problem is that the danger is the church takes that thinking on board in terms of spiritual things. And thinks that the church needs to be demand led in terms of the people of this world. It was the challenge in Corinth, the danger in Corinth. It is the challenge and danger today. We begin to imagine that the only way to make an impact upon our culture is to mimic it, to meet its demands, to follow its patterns, and package Christianity in a thoroughly culture-friendly way. In a way that doesn't confront our culture, that won't upset it in any way. To try and seek to get alongside it and be friendly to it. You hear people concerned that if people come into churches from outside, that they ought not to be uncomfortable. Brothers and sisters, if a sinner comes into the assembly of the saints and hears the Word of God and the law of God, what it is to be a sinner, they ought to be uncomfortable. Otherwise, something's drastically wrong. If a sinner can come into an assembly of the church of Jesus Christ and hear the Word of God faithfully proclaimed and not be concerned, there's something wrong. If they can be as at ease in that environment as any other in this world, there's something drastically wrong. And yet, so often the church is heading headlong down this way in our day and generation. Let's make it comfortable. Now, brothers and sisters, I will say in a moment or two that I am not saying that we ought not to be welcoming of people. Of course, we should be. You know that. You know I'm not saying that. But we are not seeking to be as others are, as sinners in this world, simply for them to feel at home here. But rather, we seek to proclaim to them the message that God has given us. That sinners are guilty and condemned before a holy God. And that the only way for them to be saved is a Saviour crucified, blood shed for sinners, and appeal to them with all of the might that God might grant us that they turn to Christ. That's the message of the cross. The perils of the church of Corinth are the perils of the church today. They are still all around us. Brothers and sisters, in every generation, The church is always much more influenced and infected by its culture than we care to admit. We take on too easily, too readily the world's norms, the coloring of the environment around us, even to an extent of not even being aware of it. Let me try and illustrate that a little for you. We live in a celebrity-focused culture, don't we? Particularly here in the United States. Particularly in California. And so we are tempted to think that Christians need to be media-friendly. They need to be celebrity types so that they can appeal to the people. That's what we need more than anything else. Our own celebrities. And so, we should invest in training people to be this way. People who can be eloquent spokespeople on the media, in the media, on the TVs, to deal with the press, to market the gospel, to produce great and impressive websites and so forth. Now, in their right place, these things can be used for the good of the progress of the gospel. I am not saying that we cannot use these in any shape or form. But, the issue is whether we put our confidence in these things alone. That these are the way, the method that will grant success for the gospel. Because if that is where we put our confidence, then we need to ask ourselves again, what do we understand the message of the cross to be? If we put our confidence in these things, why are we putting our confidence in them? We live not only in a celebrity-focused culture, but we live in an entertainment culture. Again, Christians can easily start to imagine that if it isn't fun and entertaining, it won't communicate. You've heard that, haven't you? Maybe you've heard it from Christians, even. This certainly seems to be what lies at the root of much contemporary Christian youth work. Youth work has to be strong on excitement, but sadly often is bereft of gospel content. We hear people tell us that young people don't want to read anymore, so it's pointless studying the Scriptures with them. People tell us that young people don't want to sit and listen and they hate being preached at. So, what do we do? We give up on sermons. And we think that we simply just have to mingle with them somehow and try to be the presence of Christ with them. You don't have to go far in bookstores, brethren, or to listen to various addresses on sermonaudio.com or other places to hear that message propounded to the detriment of the church and the detriment of the gospel of Christ. We also live in an image-obsessed culture where spin and political correctness rule, where what is cool is the criteria of value. We shouldn't be surprised, therefore, to find that the uniqueness of Christ and Him crucified downgrade it. The realities of judgment and hell hardly mentioned. The need for repentance and holiness of life constantly undersold. It's not really an image you can sell to the world very easily, is it? And so, we seek to downgrade it. Maybe not deny it totally, but we certainly don't want to put it in the forefront. That's never going to appeal to people. That's not an image that people want to have. It's kind of like trying to sell something to the customer that they've told you they want exactly the opposite. Which salesman would go out and do that? See, that's the way we are thinking. But when we are led by the culture's demands, we shall quickly become as the Corinthians had become. Divided. Heading off in directions after this and that and the other. Taking on. the characteristics of the pagan culture around them. Now, why is this such a danger? It's so obvious, we might think. Why does it ever infect any local church? Surely people can see this. Well, of course, at first it may look exciting and attractive. It may appeal. People may come in. Well, of course, that must be working then. It must be the right thing to do. All sorts of events and programs can draw a crowd, brethren. There's nothing that is difficult to see in that, is there? But it will only be for a time. Especially when these things speak in contemporary language. What happens when it moves on? That too becomes passé. Let me try and be very specific. What about those churches who have wanted to do the rock concert thing because they think that that's what appeals to young people? If you critically analyze a lot of these things, you'll find that musically, they're not very contemporary at all. They're stuck in a genre that is probably more a middle-aged music than it is actually music of the youth. You see, at a point in time, people thought, well, if we just go this way, this is what people listen to, this is what they want to hear. But you see, you have to keep updating it because that moves on. What happens when the people get tired of that? Well, as many have found, the people came in and they go back out through that same door and do not return. It takes a while. but it does eventually happen. Because what is happening when you do that, in reality, is that the church is not focusing as it should on the ministry of the proclamation of the Word of God, on the proclamation of the Gospel, which is what God has done in Jesus Christ, but rather it is focusing on a ministry of performance Something that appeals to people, that they can see or hear, that entertains them. Where the interest is in what a man is doing now or is about to do at some near point in the future. It's the man that's impressive, you see. All of the attention is on him. What happens when he can't deliver that anymore? When the demand-led customer It says, well, that doesn't do it for me anymore. It doesn't entertain me anymore. It doesn't satisfy me anymore. Then they go out just as quickly as they came in. The presentation can be highly professional, clearly attractive, superbly entertaining even. But if it is not the word of the cross, brethren, then no one will be saved by those means. It's simply the world's wisdom dressed up in a suit of Christian clothing. Now, we do want to say, brethren, that this is no excuse for us being rutted in our own traditions or being obscure in our presentation of the gospel. Still less is it an excuse for presenting the gospel in a way that seems irrelevant or boring even. And we can be all those things. And sometimes, as one commentator put it, cantankerously proud of being like that into the bargain. Paul was not like that. You know that. He was adaptable to his cultural context. He knew that there was a difference in speaking to Jews who were au fait and schooled in the Scriptures of the Old Testament to speaking to pagan philosophers in Athens. To the Jews, he would go into the synagogue and start from the Old Testament Scriptures and reason with them that Christ is the promised Messiah. On Mars Hill in Athens, he couldn't start from that point. He didn't have that foundation of the Scriptures. So, what did he do? He started from the point of creation, the natural law, natural revelation that men could see. And so, he starts from there and then preaches Christ to them. You see, it's not that Paul just had his standard sermon and he rolled it out wherever he went and expected that that would do the job. Paul would say, as he did in 1 Corinthians 9, that he wanted to become all things to all men, that by all means he might win some. But he did not mean by that that he would become again a Jew under Judaism. He did not mean that he would become a pagan philosopher, nor that he would imbibe their presuppositions and norms in order to preach the gospel to them. And that's what is the critical difference here. Again, let's not be distracted by the caricatures that are made. where people say, well, you reformed people, you just simply are stuck in your tradition and your ruts and you have no care for the people who are lost. You're not willing to go to them. You're not willing to preach the gospel to them. Brothers and sisters, if that is true of us, shame on us. Shame on us that we do not care that people are perishing. That we do not care sufficiently to take the gospel of a Christ crucified for sinners to them who are lost. But in so doing, brethren, it is not that we have to become like those who are lost in how they think and how they behave as hell-bent sinners in order to do so." Well, so much for human wisdom. Let's move in the second place to gospel power in verse 24. but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Now, Paul knows, as we have seen, that the cross and the message of the cross will appear a stumbling block to Jews and a folly to Gentiles. But that does not deter him. Not for a moment. For Paul, the key thing is the power of God that is operative when Christ is preached and Him preached as crucified. He expresses here this dominant conviction, doesn't he, in verse 24. To those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. You see, it's this proclaimed message. which has the power of God attendant with it that makes all the difference. The great rhetorician, the Jewish religious person has no such knowledge of the power of God in the preached message of the gospel. The best presentation is not able to do what the divine power of God can do in the way that God has deigned to do it. It may seem foolishness, totally unacceptable to the human mind, but God in humbling human wisdom has determined that He will save people as we have seen previously in this passage by the preaching of the message of the gospel. The content of it is foolish to the human mind, is it? How can God become man in the flesh, shed His blood on a cross and atone for sins? It does not make any sense to human minds, does it? But in the economy of God, it is the wisdom of God that deals with the fact that God must be just and punish sin. but also in the great love of God, the desire to save sinners from the punishment which is their due. There is the wisdom of God displayed, though it be folly to men. And here is the power of God, for it accomplishes what God designed to do. These other things cannot. They do not. They may satisfy for a moment in time But people ultimately go out empty. Yes, they may have been distracted for a moment or two. They may have been entertained. But they are still left as guilty sinners before a holy God. It's only the power of God and the wisdom of God in Christ that can deal with that situation. It's gospel power that they need more than anything else. Therefore, as the church, we are not to be preoccupied with discussing what is power in this world, powerful people, power encounters. It's not discussions of philosophical theory. But what it is, is testimony to God who has worked in His Son, Jesus Christ, on His great rescue mission to save sinners. That's the greatest need of men, women, boys and girls to hear. Not impressive media personalities. Not great entertainers. But gospel preachers who will tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. The Word of the Cross. The expression of the wisdom and the power of God. It is only in the cross that this power and wisdom is demonstrated. It is in no other place by God's design. It is God who has determined these things. They're not up for negotiation. God has determined to save people through the foolishness of what is preached. Human wisdom considers the cross foolishness. We've seen that. But here then, God turns everything on its head. and demonstrates the total folly of human wisdom that rejects the one true way of salvation. Human power, so ready to criticize and despise and deride the message of the cross. What is the message of the cross? In the human eyes, it's the weakness of a crucified king. Where is the power and effectiveness on that? Here was Christ taken, nailed to a cross. Where is His power now? It's revealed in a way that transcends human understanding from a natural point of view. For it was not in physical ways that our Lord came ultimately to demonstrate His power. But in dealing with the greatest enemy of men, their sin, And He does that in the cross. In rescuing sinners from the wrath of God. There is the power of God in delivering His people from their enemies. Thirdly, we come to the continuing challenge. Verse 25, For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. At this early stage in his letter, Paul wants to impress upon his readers the importance of the decisions that they are making, and making them almost without realizing how far-reaching their implications are. They're taking on the ways of the world without realizing where it will lead to. Now, to the unbeliever, both then and now, there is a folly about the gospel. That ought not to surprise us, nor to unnerve us. To the natural man, the gospel is folly. Why does that surprise us, brethren? Why do we suddenly be taken off guard? Whether it be when we go through our community, when we speak to our unsaved members of our families, our co-workers or whatever. It ought not to surprise us. That's how the natural man is. But the paradox of what God has revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ, that through a suffering servant, He saves sinners. That is the message we preach nonetheless. These things are unbelievable to the natural man without the grace of God. But nevertheless, they are the truth. The revelation of God. And that is not changed by the unbelief of sinful man. So, what are the basic things that we ought to focus on? What is the message of the cross? Well, we have said it, but let me summarize it again for you. It is that God became man. He took flesh. He took a true human nature to Himself. That He came into this world. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. that he lived a perfect life to satisfy the law of God. That he was then subjected to death to pay the penalty for sin, for the breaking of that law. That then he was raised from the dead, vindicating that what he had offered to God was acceptable, both in the perfect life and in the atoning death. and that all the blessings of salvation which men might receive flow and flow only from that work. That's the message of the cross. And that is what we must preach. Of course, that would never be reached by human reasoning, would it? The greatest philosophers in the world have never sat down and come to that in the searchings of their own minds. How are men to be saved? God Himself would come and do all that was necessary. If men were to hear that, to know that, it had to be by revelation from God Himself. But the implications of that, you see, are to be worked out in the life of the believer in every area. The Gospel demonstrates the saving work of God for sinners. It declares that this is the only way for me to be saved in this sinful world. And then once saved, it makes demands and requirements of me to live a life of holiness out of gratitude and thankfulness to God. You see, there is implications. And the challenge to us is this. As we preach the message of the cross, are we willing to be faithful to that message? Unacceptable though that is to natural men. You cannot save yourself. You must come to Christ. And in coming to Christ, you cannot live as you please. In coming to a Christ, you come and submit to a Saviour and Lord. You are His disciple. You are His servant. The question we put before people as we present that message, the ongoing challenges it were to them as we preach the gospel, is whether this message sufficiently is embraced and understood such that it makes the transformation it was designed to do. Not just in a word of the lip, but in the consistent action of the line. How had it worked out in the Corinthian church? Well, you see, this is where the challenge was. Did they believe their doctrine sufficiently to allow its truth to mould their lifestyle. We will see in chapter after chapter that Paul had to bring them back to this, but it wasn't. The more the Corinthians hankered for human wisdom and human power in this life, the life of the church suffered. The more they capitulated to the cultural norms of their city, the more the life of the church languished. This is the worldliness that Paul will go on to address in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians, and Lord willing, we'll come to that in detail. But you see, brethren, submitting to the ways of the world, abandoning the message of the cross, both in its proclamation to the lost and in its application of the church, ultimately will kill the life of the church. Submitting to the world and the values of the world means we belong to the world. A world that's in rebellion against God and His rule. If that is the case, how can we then be a flourishing, vital church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Remember that each local church is an expression of the one true universal church, His body. How can that be so if really we are rooted and allied to the world? Eventually, the church will fade and it will die. It will become what was only a professing church of the Lord Jesus Christ, but ultimately will fade away. The more the Corinthians look for the marks of impressive power, success, the outward signs, The more they demanded that God should do for them as they want in the here and now, removing life's sufferings and all of their difficulties, they wanted to live in this super-triumphant Christian life, the further they drifted from Christ. For we're reminded again as we close, the God of the Gospel was not delivered from the cross Himself. His way to glory was through suffering, through obedience to the command of God to live His life in this world in obedience and then to lay down that life a ransom for many. And therefore, the pattern was set for all true disciples. It is through following the Master in obedience which may lead to suffering and rejection as it did for Him. And then the glory. There is no quick fix and quick way by the world's values to glory now on our terms. So, brothers and sisters, the challenge is this. Will we remain faithful to the message of the cross? If we call upon the name of the Lord, we are those whom He has called in the first place, that we might call upon Him, an effectual call, A call has come to many, Jews and Greeks. There's no ethnic distinction. But for those who know that truly, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, that is what we must hold on to. When assaulted by the world, when assaulted even from those within the church to abandon our anchor in Christ, we come back to this. Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Let Jews demand signs. Let Greeks seek wisdom. Let others, though we may warn them, seek to take these things into their midst. But always by God's grace, let us pray that we preach Christ and Him crucified. Let's pray. O Lord, our God, we live in dark and difficult days. not just without, but often the church is assaulted from within. We find, O Lord, that even in our own circles, perhaps even, Lord, with those we may know well, that there is thinking along these lines. The temptation to imbibe the ways of the world that we might be successful grant us, O Lord, to turn from our own wisdom and the wisdom of men, and grant us to believe and to embrace and to remain steadfast in what You have said in the proclamation of the message of the cross as the only way for sinners to be saved. We pray, O Lord, again that we might know what it is to know Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, and that that might be evident in lives that have been transformed by that power and live now in faithful testimony and in lives of gratitude and thankfulness, we pray it for Christ's sake. Amen.