is foolishness 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 bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where's the wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness of the preaching of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. This evening I want to continue looking at biblical wisdom. Several months ago I had started looking here on Wednesday night every time I had the opportunity to fill the pulpit of looking at biblical wisdom and what the Bible says about being wise according to what God calls wise. Not what man calls wisdom, not what men call knowledge, but what does God call wisdom. And that is the goal of this evening is for us to look at these two characters, these two categories of people that reside in the world. And just as a forefront, I'm going to tell you the two people that we were looking at. We were looking at the wise fools and the fullest wise people. Those are the two people we were looking at here this evening. And I believe it is vital for the church to understand what is biblical wisdom, because Paul says this in Ephesians 5, 16 and 17, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Church, it is no secret, it's no lie that we understand that we are living in dark times. The more we watch the news, the more we see how darkness, it seems it's creeping more and more closer, not just to the world outside of us, but it's creeping closer and closer to home. But as believers in Christ, as Paul wrote in Ephesians, we are to be wise and we are to recognize that we are to use our wisdom because the days are evil. The passage we're looking at this evening is exactly that. Use the wisdom that God gives. Don't rely on your own wisdom, rely on what God gives us. So as we look at 1 Corinthians, there's, I think, just a need to go over the background. What is going on in 1 Corinthians? Douglas puts it this way concerning the city of Corinth. In Romans times, which is also Paul's time, we got to understand, it's not just a foreign city in Paul's time, but it's also what's going on in Paul's time. Corinth was a city of wealth, luxury, and immorality. Heibert breaks down 1 Corinthians as Paul responding to the church's faults and answering the question that the church brought to Paul. And he breaks it down this way, and I want us to have this understood before we dive deeply into our text this evening. In chapter 1, verse 10 through 620, Paul is dealing with church faults, issues that are arising in the church. 7.1 to 11.1, he's replying to questions that the church brought to Paul. And then in 11.2 through 34, he's dealing with the faults in the church again. And again, 12.1 to 14.40, he's replying to questions. But then he takes a pause in chapter 15, and he's not necessarily dealing with a church fault, but he's dealing with doctrinal error. Because in 15.1 through 58, he's dealing with the resurrection. He's dealing with a serious issue. And then, as he concludes, he's replying to questions that the church brought before him. Now, you may be asking, why are we bringing all this to the forefront? Because we need to have an understanding that the Corinthian city was a Greek city, and the Greeks relied heavily on oratory wisdom. Paul comes in with the message of the cross, and it's fullest to the Greeks. And as is the custom of Paul, where did Paul go to first? He goes to the synagogues of the Jews. So the preaching of the message of Paul's gospels, of Christ's gospel, is foolish to both the Greeks and it's a stumbling block to the Jews in the city of Corinth. Because this city of Corinth was a wicked city. I remember when I was in the teen, Ryan told us that Corinth was the agent city of Las Vegas. It was Sin City because everybody came to this port city and they just lived their life as they so choose because what happens in Corinth stays in Corinth. But Paul is bringing it to the forefront. that for believers to live in a way that is counter-cultural to what the culture is teaching and what the culture believes is to use the wisdom of God. And church, that is what is needed for us today, is to live in a way that counters culture and tells the world that we are God's people. We don't rely on what the world says, but we are God's people. So in our text, Paul is telling the Corinthians that the wisdom of God is found in the preaching of the cross. And in this, as we see what the Corinthians would understand, what we need to understand today, that Paul is demonstrating that the glories of Christ is found in the preaching of the cross of Christ. That's what he's demonstrating, that when we see the preaching of the cross, we see the glory of Christ. How do we see the glory of Christ in the preaching of the cross? Because we see a God of infinite mercy and infinite justice come as a man. He did not have to come. Church, do you understand that Christ did not have to come and save us, but He chose to save us because He's a merciful God? He chose of His own will to come to the earth and die as a martyr. not just as a martyr, but as a substitute. He died for your behalf and he died for my behalf. But the story doesn't end with his death, does it? The story ends with his resurrection, where it proves that who Jesus said he was is exactly who he is. So I think the question we ask here in this text, why is worldly wisdom foolish?" And I think it's because we can answer this as we see in the last verse in our text this evening, that the foolishness of God still far surpasses the wisdom of the world. That what people call foolish of God is still far wiser than any philosophical saying that man can come up with. So church, I ask you this evening, who are you trusting in? Are you trusting in your own wisdom? I remember a couple months ago, I was preaching on the sin and we was looking at the Gnostics and what they believed and how they had this understanding that they were wise and their wisdom saved them. So are you trusting in your own wisdom? Are you leaning on the wisdom of God? As you leave here, as you go through your week, when trials come up, are you looking to yourself to answer those trials? Are you looking at how you can understand, how you can work around and find a solution to those trials? Are you leaning on God and what His Word says to your trials, to your temptations? Church, I would encourage you to look to God to lead you through your trials, to lead you through your temptations. Because as we see, that the need of this text is to reveal the folly of worldly wisdom, and I think the subject of this text is the preach and the cross, because we see Paul brings out the message, the preaching and the cross, the preaching and the cross. Three times he brings out preaching. And it's all connected to the preaching of the cross. So as we look at this, I want us to understand that tonight's message is to trust in the wisdom of God by looking at the foolishness of the cross. So as I said, there are two categories of people. There are two ways of trusting. The first way, as we see tonight, is the way of the wise fools. Notice with me in verses 18 through 22. Our text says again, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Now we can stop there just briefly and just make a couple notes, but we see that Paul is bringing out the core teaching here. What is he saying? He's saying that the message we believe is foolishness to the world. But the preaching that we hold to, our belief system, is what saves us. Let us continue looking at this text. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. yet it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom." Paul's first category of people are those who hold to worldly wisdom. We've seen this, you know, where's the wise, where's the scribe, where's the disputer of this age? To those who are perishing, to those who are lost, they subscribe to worldly wisdom. And I think before we dive deeply into what this text says, we have to have an understanding of what wisdom is. One person writes this, wisdom has a special place among virtues. Other virtues typically allows a misuse or of undesirable surplus. Thus, an intellectually gifted person may use her or his intelligence to commit fraud. And a witty person may use his or her wit to ridicule others. One may be kind to a fault, courageous to the point of foolhardiness, too patient or too generous. But one cannot, it seems to be, too wise or put one's wisdom to bad use. When it comes to wisdom, good use is part of the very notion of wisdom. Did you hear everything they held there? They said, you can be too kind, but wisdom can't be too wise. They said, you can be too patient. But the scripture tells us that we were to be a patient people. This wisdom, being too patient, our God's a God of long suffering. Our God is a God of kindness, of mercy. The wisdom of the world goes in direct contrast to what God is. The wisdom of the world looks at God and says, God, you are not good. Here, let me tell you how you're not good. You're too kind, God. In the Old Testament, you're too strict. In the New Testament, you're too patient, you're too generous. God, if you only had wisdom, you'd be a good God. But is that what the Bible teaches? Because the Bible teaches us, church, that our God is a God of full of wisdom, that his wisdom surpasses even the wisest of people. Worldly wisdom, as we see here, will never produce true godliness. It may produce a sort of kind of godliness, but it'll never produce the godliness that the Spirit produces in us. The wisdom of the world will never produce the godliness that we attain when we rely on the wisdom of God. The Proverbs teaches us that. the wise sayings. Trust in the Lord and you'll be wise. Don't lean on your own understanding, but trust in the Lord. So we see here, verses 18 through 19, the message is stated. Paul's bringing forth the message of Christianity. Notice, he says, for the message of the cross is foolishness. This is the sole message of Christianity, the preaching of the cross. Remember church, a few weeks ago, going towards Easter, when I stated that without the resurrection, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no Christianity. There is no salvation apart from the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This message is foolish to those who are perishing. They say it's silliness. It's absurd. How could you believe the preaching of the cross? Maybe you've heard it like this. How could you believe that God is good by making his son suffer on the cross? Or maybe it's worded this way. How can God be good with all the evil that's in the world? Your message is silly. Your message is absurd. It's unwise. This one who is marked to perish, and that's what they believe. That the message that you and I hold to is foolish, it's silly, it's make-belief, it's a fairy tale to them. So there's this one who's perishing, that's one who's marked for destruction, the one who is lost. This very word used of parricin, it's used by Herod when he is seeking to kill Christ, the infant Christ in Matthew 2.13. This word for parricin is also used of Jesus when he says, I did not come to destroy the lost, but I came to save the lost. That's the very word here used. the people who are marked for destruction because they do not hold to Christ as salvation. In this we can say, we probably all heard, you believe in that fairy tale, you believe in that make-belief, I believe in science. But friends, I want us to understand that we do believe in science. We use answers in Genesis in a lot of our programs here. They are people who are about science, but they look at science through the lens of Scripture. We look at science through the lens of Scripture. We can hold to what science says is true as long as it agrees with what the Bible says. And as another note, they believe in evolution, which is a hypothesis. Do you know what a hypothesis is? This is what the definition is. A supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation. They hold to a hypothesis, something that has no evidence. But we hold to the word of God. The very Word of God that God says He will preserve. That though the grass fades and the flower fades, His Word will last. That's what we hold to. They claim the belief is something they can't prove. They claim the belief is something they have no evidence for, but we believe what God says. We believe the very words of God. I also think of how the worldly wisdom would deny the flood of Noah. It's only a local flood. But yet we see fossils of wells in deserts. I'm assuming they just got up and walked there and died. That's my assumption, I would suppose, is what they would believe. Or maybe the Christians decided to prove that the Bible's true, so they killed whales and drugged their bodies through the middle of the desert to plant them there to say, look, see, it's here. I don't think that's the case. The flood was a worldwide catastrophe that was a result of the judgment of God on the world. But to us, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. That's the message of the cross. It's a power of God on full display. This being saved is this. It's those who are rescued from danger. Those no longer at risk of perishing. That's what that word means. There's two categories again, church. Even in this first section we were looking at, those who are perishing and those who are being saved. Those who are marked for destruction and those who no longer are marked for destruction because they believe in God. Now, this word for power, it means strength, it means might, it means ability. And get this, church, it is miraculous power. That's what that word means. When we see the power of God, it's miraculous power. And how is it miraculous power? The Bible tells us that we were dead in trespasses and sins, but God made us alive. It takes a miracle for that to happen. The preaching of the cross to us reveals the full power of God on display. Again, remember, Christ took the full wrath for you and I so that God can still be the just and the justifier. so that God can still be declared righteous and merciful in forgiving us of our sins. It's the power of God. Now, notice, again, Paul is a wise preacher here, because he is not hanging his theology in open air, but he's grounded it in Scripture. Notice what he says, "'For it is written, "'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise "'and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.'" Now here he's quoting Isaiah 29, 14. All the commentators, they agree that this is Isaiah 29, 14. But that's not the only Old Testament quotation that tells us that God will destroy the wisdom of the wise. Jeremiah 8 and 9 says this, the wise men are sane. They are dismayed and taken. But notice this, listen church, behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord. So what wisdom do they have? They declared themselves to be wise by rejecting the word of the Lord. And Jeremiah asked, what wisdom do they have? I think that's a question we need to be asking. If you reject the Word of God, where is your wisdom lying? Because it's not grounded in truth. It's not grounded in eternal truth. Again, notice in here, he says, I will destroy. It's to put out of the way entirely, to abolish completely. What is he abolishing? What is he putting away completely? What is he destroying? The wisdom of the wise, the wise person. And he's bringing the nothing. It's to do away with, to disregard, to nullify, to reject. That's what God says he's going to do with the wisdom of the world. He's going to put it out of the way entirely. He's going to abolish it completely, and he's going to disregard it. He's going to nullify it. He's going to reject it, the prudent, those who possess knowledge, those who profess to be wise. In fact, as we look at this, one can argue this, to accept the wisdom of the world is to be rejected by God because God says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I'll bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. The hold to worldly wisdom is to say to God, I have nothing for you. I have no need for you, God. And God says, okay, well then I'll bring to nothing your wisdom. I will destroy your wisdom. You think you're wise? I'll show you you're fools. Remember in Romans 1, they profess to be wise, but by their very profession, they show themselves to be fools. Now, we need to understand that this is what Paul is saying. This is the message Paul is bringing forth, that the message of the cross is foolishness to the world who describes that only they can be wise. And God is saying, if you want to claim your wisdom, I will destroy your wisdom. But next, notice Here, the fullest wise people in 20 through 22, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer? The wise, those who possess wisdom, the scribe, the one who possesses religious knowledge but does not have godly wisdom. Church, you need more than just to have somewhat of an idea of what Scripture teaches. Scripture needs to be implanted in your heart. We can say a great deal about where is the scribe. Remember when Jesus came on the scene? The religious people. I did not come to save the righteous. I came to save the ungodly. He was condemning the scribes. He was condemning the Pharisees. Why? Because they professed that we have salvation through the Scriptures, but they did not see the person that Scripture was plainly teaching about. Don't hang your hat on, I live in the Bible Belt. Don't hang your hat on, I have been in church my whole life. You have to have this biblical wisdom, this godly wisdom, that only comes by the supernatural implantation of the Spirit of God in your hearts. Where's the disputer of the age? This is the one who uses philosophy to seem wise. But notice what Paul says. Has not God, has not God made fullest the wisdom of the world? And then 20 through 22, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. The foolish wise people, they didn't claim to know God because they had wisdom. They had no need for God because they were wise, they had the intelligence. They didn't need God because They had scriptural knowledge, but the scripture was not in their heart. The person that scripture teaches about was not in them. So the question is raised. The wisdom of the world cannot fully know God because the wisdom of the world rejects the very nature and person of God. The wisdom of the world looks at God, looks at Scripture and says, this is foolish. It looks at the cross of Christ and says, that is ridiculous. That's absurd that a man would die and be able to save men from their sins. But notice, there's the Jew who requests a sign and the Greeks that seek after wisdom. The Jews who were God's covenant people, they had the promises and they seek to know God by Him revealing a sign. The Greeks are people who love wisdom. Again, looking back at the context of our text, the Corinthian church, the city of Corinth, they prided themselves in oratory skills. How do we know this? Well, if we jump back in verses 10 Paul says, I hear from Chloe's house that some of you say, I'm of Paul. Others say, I'm of Apollos, or I'm of Cephas, or I'm of Christ. And Paul says, is Christ divided? Church, there should be no division in the body of Christ, but we're unified by the understanding that the cross of Christ unifies us in the body. The preaching of the cross is what unifies us. So, let me ask, are you following the way of man? Are you following the way of the foolish, wise people today? Are you looking to yourself? Maybe you're looking at the cross or Christ and saying, that's foolishness. That's absurd. But church, don't rely on the wisdom of the world, but trust in the wisdom of God by looking at the foolishness of the cross. Don't look inward to what yourself can do, look outward to what Christ has done for you. But now, next we see that Paul makes a sift. He's sifting from what the world holds to, now he's sifting to what does the Bible say. Now we see the way of the fullest wisdom in verses 23 through 25. And notice, he says, but we. But we what? We preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks, foolishness. But to us, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greek, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Preaching the cross of Christ is where we find salvation. Not just the preaching, but it's through the action that Christ has taken on the cross that provided the way of salvation. Paul, the goal of godly wisdom is the preaching of the cross. The Christ is crucified. Remember, preaching Christ is a stumbling block to the Jew. How is it a stumbling block? As you recall from my sermon a few Sundays ago, they would hold that, oh, I'm of Abraham. I'm saved because I am of Abraham. Or I'm saved because I kept the law. We even seen that in Paul in his life in Philippians where he says, if anybody has reason to boast about their righteousness, I have the most reasons. I'm a Jew of the Jews. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I was circumcised on the eighth day according to the law. Why would I need Christ to die on the cross? Because I have earned it myself. Why would I need the cross of Christ? Why would Christ need to die for my sins? Because I am of Abraham. But as we notice in Romans chapter 4, all people need to come to the cross of Christ for redemption. Because no one can come to God in forgiveness and in righteousness apart from the cross of Christ. To the Greeks, why is it foolish to the Greeks? Remember, the Greeks were not the Jewish people. They held to paganism, or in our context here in Corinthians, they held to their wisdom. But with a pagan world, they would sacrifice to appease the gods because the gods would have no relationship. They just wanted to kill humanity. But the Christ, God, the God-man died for you and I. It's a foolishness. We, the Greeks, we held that we had to sacrifice to the gods to forgive us, to avert their wrath. And now you're saying that this god died for us? That's foolish. That's absurd. But to us who are called, to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. It's the wisdom of God. So we see this result of the wisdom, of godly wisdom, to those who are being saved. It's the Jews and the Greeks. All can be saved in Christ. No one is excluded from salvation. No one can be dismissed from coming to Christ. The preaching of God, the cross of Christ, reveals God's power. How? Again, the resurrection of Christ. Christ being raised on the third day reveals the power of God, that Jesus Christ is exactly who he says he was. But it's also the making of a new man by the new birth. Remember, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. Remember, you had that heart of stone. But when you came to Christ, he made you alive. He replaced that stone heart with a heart of flesh. But it also reveals the wisdom of God. This wisdom of God. What is this wisdom of God? Well, I think the context of the entire Bible reveals to us that the wisdom of God is Christ. Notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.30 here. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. But also notice Colossians 2, 1-5, and this is what Paul says here. For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea. And for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love and attaining to all riches of the full assurance and understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Christ is the wisdom of God. I think that's exactly what the Bible teaches. But now we see that godly wisdom, as we look here, it glorifies God. Notice in verse 25, because of the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Godly wisdom demonstrates the vastness of God's wisdom. Remember, it's in Isaiah. Isaiah is saying, God is so far surpasses, I can't even comprehend it. God's wisdom is incomprehensible by us. But we all see that godly power demonstrates the might of God over what strength man can muster. That all the armies, as we see in the battle of Armageddon, where all of mankind except those who are saved through the tribulation period. They come against God. They come against Christ. And who does all the fighting? Christ. All the strength of the world comes against Christ and it can't even overcome one person being Christ. You may be saying, that's just one instance. What about after the thousand year reign of Christ. Satan is loose and he deceives a vast multitude again. They come against Christ again and who wins again alone? Jesus Christ. Who created the universe? Jesus Christ. Who sustains the universe? Jesus Christ, who hung on a cross and took the full wrath of God for you and I. Jesus Christ. We, in our own strength, are but nothing in the eyes of God. But God is merciful. And our text, as we see here, is teaching us, rely on the wisdom of God. Because as we understand, the true wisdom of God is Christ. To rely on yourself is to reject Christ. Church, we need to have this understanding that every one of us is called to do ministry together. We are all called to have ministry. Ministry is just not the pastor, but ministry is the entire function of the church. And in order for us to do wisdom well, we need to be reliant on the wisdom of God. In order for the ministries of Sonny Hills Baptist Church to flourish and to continue for years to come, we don't need to rely on our own ability, we need to rely on the wisdom of God. We need to rely on godly wisdom. In order for you to succeed in spiritual life, rely on godly wisdom. So as we conclude here tonight, we see that Paul is writing to the church of Corinth, and these people are confused about wisdom. They're confused about many things. They allow sin to creep into the church and they're not wise enough in Christ to see that even the pagans say this is a gross act. But Paul is saying, The church needs to be wise, not the wisdom of the world, but the wisdom of God. So as we review, who were the two categories of people, we see that there's the way of the wise fools in verses 18 through 22, and then we also see the way of the foolish wisdom in verses 23 and 25. There was this officer who was in charge of the world pew in the chapel in Windsor, England. And he noted that when King George frequented the chapel, he would note of how often King George was blessed. And this is what he said, that if King George had been blessed, he would say with a cheerful voice, that will do very well, that will feed souls. But when the preacher's delivery was cold and his words were lifeless and barren of gospel teaching, he would shake his head sorrowfully. And as he left the pew, he would mutter this under his breath, that won't do. That just won't feed souls. King George's criteria for a good sermon was was it founded in scripture. church today for us to understand what does it take for us to live a solid Christian life is, are you living in biblical wisdom? Are you living in the light of godly wisdom? Are you still saying, I can do it on my own? And I think our message today can feed souls only if we trust in the wisdom of God and not trust in the wisdom of man. So let us pray this evening. Father, as we close here this evening, we are looking at what is wisdom.