Well, if you take your Bible and turn to 1 Corinthians 2, beginning to read at verse 1, "'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 anything 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. Howbeit, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to know it. But we speak the wisdom of God in the mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26, For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen. and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The Church at Corinth had many, many problems. Indeed, if you read through Paul's two letters to the Corinthians, you'll discover some of the issues that he addresses are shocking in the extreme. They really are. And I always feel it necessary to remind people that things In the New Testament, as sometimes we think it was a golden age, things were not too different from what they are today. There's certainly a change in the whole social structure of the Western world, and yet there are many things that remain the same, not least the human heart, because man hasn't essentially changed. And we find when you turn to such letters as Paul writes to the Corinthians that there are some horrendous evils that he addresses in the church. He's not addressing society in general. He's addressing the people of God. The very first problem that he addresses in the first chapter is that of a kind of spiritual sectarianism. Some of Paul, some of Apollos, some of Cephas, that is Peter. And there were even those who were condescending enough to follow Christ. And I hope you notice the sarcasm in my voice. But the kind of issues that the apostle Paul addresses He's really got one solution for them all. So he's not multifaceted in the kind of answers that he has to the problems that he seeks to address. He's got one solution for all the problems. Kind of one size fits all. One medicine for every ailment. And as he comes to the end of the first chapter, He kind of gathers us together for us, doesn't He? And so that no flesh should glory in His presence, Jesus Christ is of God made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So, with the kind of division that there was in that church, the Apostle Paul is seeking to kind of heal this wound and draw it together. And what does he do? Well, he's not using mere human argumentation. It's not a kind of a tut-tut, you shouldn't be like this. You've got to catch yourself on. Too much selfishness. And all of that may have been appropriate, in its place, but what he does is he addresses it as he senses he should. He presents Jesus Christ in this comprehensive fashion, that Christ has made unto us wisdom, that we should comprehend God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. Now, how did he reveal himself in Jesus Christ? Well, there are many descriptions They're too numerous for me to reference here this morning, but holy, harmless, and undefiled, and separate from sinners. That he loved sinners and gave himself for them. That such was his humility that when it comes to the most humiliating of all tasks, at least by the most lowly and menial servant in the house, Jesus takes a towel and wraps it right about his waist, and takes a basin of water and proceeds to wash the disciples' feet, saying to them, "'If I be your Lord and Master of doneness to you, you ought also to do it to one another.'" So there's many, many statements and ways in which our Lord shows something of his character, principally, of course, redemptively. in that he manifests the love of God, this inexplicable love that an infinite, glorious, pure spirit has for those who are sinful and, in every sense, a contradiction to what he is himself. But comprehending God is the ministry of the Spirit of God, and so Paul announces this as the very first feature. Wisdom, righteousness, that we might comply to the standard of His law. Compliance to the standard of the law. What is that? It's righteousness. It's a righteousness you can never attain. Nothing humanly can be done. It's a righteousness that comes down, not a righteousness that rises up or from within, but it's the righteousness of God that is imputed when men and women believe in Jesus Christ. It is the great imputation mercy, the mercy of God, where the sin of sinners being imputed to Jesus The transfer or the exchange, if you like, is that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the believing sinner. Compliance to the law. Thirdly, that he has made unto us this sanctification, that we might be conformed to the image of his Son. And I remind you all again, for I think it's necessary ever to be reminded, because in reading the Bible and listening to preachers, oftentimes we can miss the wood for the trees. And oftentimes, when we do this, we can find ourselves to use the metaphor of John Bunyan and Bypath Meadow. But let me remind you that the ultimate purpose of God conformity to Jesus Christ, Romans 8. This great foreknowledge of God, this determination, this election of God has a particular end and it is conformity to Jesus Christ. That's it. That's the beginning, that's the end. That is the Alpha and the Omega of it all. conformity to Jesus Christ. Lastly, redemption. Redemption that we at last might cast our crowns before him, lost in wonder, love, and praise, present at the great final supper of the Lamb, finally bearing his image in perfection. That's the end of it all, isn't it? This perfect conformity. We're going to use the words of an old hymn writer, cast our crowns before him, lost in wonder, love, and praise. Thus the apostle begins his letter. But then the second chapter might be considered by some as something of a brief, if you like, Interlude. A brief break, because he then begins again, referencing himself and declaring the case like this. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. And then the text for us this morning. For I determined not to know anything among you, Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Well, I have three simple points this morning. The first is this, Paul's serious-mindedness. Secondly, the simplicity of his message. And thirdly, a sense of meaning. The first, then, is this, Paul's serious-mindedness. I suppose it's very, very possible to be considered as very doer, which is an old word that I remember my mother using quite a bit. That means kind of always somber, kind of miserable, you might say. And there's a sense in which, oftentimes, Christians are thought of like this because they are serious-minded. And after all, when you stop to think about the basic essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is this, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. To save them from what? Save them from hell, you first say. Yes, well, save them from hell. That most certainly is the case. But they're saved first from God and the justice of God as executed in His wrath, His giving of His Son, So, deliverance, first of all, amazingly, is deliverance from the justice that God would mete out, because we are sinners. And in believing that justice was met in Jesus Christ, and therefore, for the believing sinners, there's no condemnation. That's serious business, isn't it? I mean, we're here for a very short time. Whether it's three school years in 10, or an extra 10, or even 10 more than that again, or even a few more than that again. But it's like a weaver's shuttle, isn't it? Life passes us by. Those of us who are more senior in years, we make this shocking discovery that time is moving on at a rate. It's an amazing thing, isn't it, that Christians sometimes can be so frivolous and indeed so fickle, and yet we're called to serious-mindedness because we are Christians. We know this God, and we know the consequences of not knowing Him is eternal punishment at His hand. that hell is this real dimension. It is an eternal entity, isn't it? And it's to be considered as such, it's serious. I determined to know nothing else among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul was a very brilliant man, an extremely brilliant man. He would have been described as an academic, He was a man who was no slouch. He could stand with the very best. And you want to hear closely reasoned argumentation of the kind that, with all the great philosophers of this world, is yet even unknown, read Paul's great treatise to the Romans, and read there the kind of reasoning that this man is enabled by God to present to you and to me. to do so, indeed, with great simplicity, and yet in such a way that he's described by some as being hard to understand, as Peter, of course, in his letter would condemn. The Apostle Paul is serious-minded. Christians need to be serious-minded. Does that mean we can't smile, we can't enjoy ourselves? Not at all. But the very core of the Christian life is this truth of the grace of God that has descended from heaven to earth here for the primary purpose of saving us from our sins and the consequences of our sins, and an eternal perdition from whence, from which there is no escape, none whatsoever, once that day dawns. Paul is serious-minded. So we have to think, as theologians might put it, in terms of the otherness of God. That's a strange word, isn't it? Well, let me try to deal with it just very briefly for you. The otherness of God is really very simple. God is different. That is a chronic understatement. God is different from what we are. God became us that we might bear something of the image of God. Natively, we're distinct from him. The glorious truth is, there's something in this otherness of God. He's different. And he's not as the figments of human imagination. For you know how it is with us so very, very often. When it comes to thoughts of God, well, the natural man has his own opinions. And we ourselves, even as Christians, oftentimes can reshape a biblical God to suit ourselves. But we're meant to be conformed to the image of Christ, who is the eternal God. And we reverse the thing, don't we? And it's a very, very easy thing to do. It's called idolatry. That's what it's called. And we've got to be serious-minded in order to avoid this tendency, because it lies within the very depths of your being and in the depths of mine, to make God to be something other than He really is as He revealed Himself upon the pages of Scripture and primarily in the person of Jesus Himself. The otherness of God, which means we must stop thinking of God as we think about ourselves One of the great texts of Scripture that bothers me very greatly, and I have to tell you this morning, is my wedding anniversary. I've been married 51 years, and that's quite something for my wife. She deserves a medal. The wondrous truth is this, that the Apostle Paul would say to me that I should love my wife as Christ loved the Church. I just stagger at that. I stumble at that. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? But there's no human love like this, this agape, this love of God. It passes knowledge, you see. It is the incomprehensible, isn't it? And unless we start to think seriously, of the world in which you and I live, thinking seriously about ourselves and seriously primarily about God, we're going to be in a quagmire and lost. Paul was serious-minded. I'm determined, with all the ability that I have in my own native intellect, that I can employ to impress as many people as would gather about me. I'm going to ditch that as unceremoniously as I can, and there's one thing I determine that preaches Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He addresses this message, serious-mindedness. The second thing, of course, as you would expect, is the simplicity of His message. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I just can't tell you this morning how many years I've been doing this by the grace of God, sometimes better than others. But I can say this, that I've listened at times to preaching, and I've come from the pulpit on all too many occasions for me to embarrassingly tell you this morning, feeling I didn't get that across. I didn't convey what I wanted to convey. Oh, let me be absolutely honest. It's probably the case 99% of the times, and the other 1% I forget when that was. The simplicity of the message. God in His great mercy, and it is a merciful thing, isn't it? God hasn't complicated this. And the wondrous thing is, too, that He is one, isn't He? But three, and he loses us in the mystery of his being, and yet he conveys the fact that he is one, the Lord our God is one, the great ancient Shemal. The Lord is one, one God. You're not given multiple choice in this. God at his mercy has revealed himself as he truly is. and He has manifested Himself principally in this person, Jesus Christ, in the simplicity of a pure humanity. That's the wonder of it, isn't it? It's simple but profound. It is the supreme paradox, isn't it? Simple, complicated. The simplicity of the Gospel is this. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And His message is simply this. Forget any hope that you might have in yourself, because you are. You are a hopeless case. And we're all level and adamant in this. No matter what vain imagination we may have about ourselves, we all stand condemned at the foot of the cross of Jesus. And we stand forgiven, which is a simple thing, isn't it? Choose you this day as the message of Joshua, whom you will follow. It's a simple truth, isn't it? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It's the message of the gospel. It's a message of justifying grace. It's a message of this sanctification. It's a message of glory, isn't it? The simplicity of the message. It can be complicated in so many ways. And this is precisely what the devil does, isn't it? And he is the master at this, isn't he? He has become, hasn't he, so proficient at this? And what have we in our world at this present time but this plethora of gods? Which leaves people with a kind of choice. Well, it doesn't matter who and what you believe as long as you're sincere about it. That's the message. That sounds very comfortable, doesn't it? And in that case then, well, my God's as good as your God, your God's as good as my God, and we all stand together in a kind of strange communion street. But the fact of the matter is, and it is the fact, that there is one God, and belief in this one God is the supreme essential, isn't it? which means that I have to give up on myself, and I have to give in to what God has revealed of me, and to me, and therefore to you. Hope is not to be found in this world, and you can't find it by digging deep down into yourself, because it's not there to be found. Hope is in one person and one person only, in God himself, in Jesus Christ. He is the hope. And Paul writing, or the writer of the Hebrews puts it, that we have an anchor within the veil, a hope that is steadfast and sure within the veil, an anchor which, in the words of the boys' brigade hymn, is anchored fast. anchored fast, cannot be moved. And that's so wonderful. In a world that is tottering and falling apart, there is a place where there is assurance of an anchorage, someone to hold on to, and that someone is God himself who is above us and beyond us, and who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask, we think according to the grace and by the love of God that works in us. It's simple, isn't it? Abandon yourself, and abandon yourself to Jesus Christ, and therefore receive life. Life. Receive it, and live it, and to live it is to live believing it. It's the wonder of it, isn't it? It's simple. It's so, so, so simple. Just believe in Him. And yet, you see, you have, as I've said, this great paradox. Here's a great difficulty. The natural mind receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned or spiritually deciphered. The great code. The great code. There is no code, really, is there? It is simple, but natural eyes are closed. Natural hearts are disinclined. It's all there so very, very clear for those who are willing and are made willing to see it. And they're made willing in the day of God's power. It's a simple message to be offered by serious-minded people to a world that is godless. And finally, there's a sense of meaning. The sense of meaning for the Apostle Paul, he puts it like this. That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught, but we speak the wisdom of God in the mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. It's there so plain to be seen, and yet men are blinded naturally by that prejudice, that human prejudice. They say that jaundice colours the skin, prejudice colours the eyes. Human prejudice is anti-Christ, it's anti-God. Serious-minded people have this serious message for a seriously sick world. It's the responsibility of the people of God to make this to be known. Paul desired that these people and the faith that they should receive should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, a sense of meaning. Here was a man who spent his life as a supreme Judaizer of his generation, had a great lot to say about the life of a Jew, and what it means to be a Jew. With all the complicated laws that developed over centuries of time from the time of God speaking first to Moses, all those man-made traditions, he imbibed them all and understood them all as a mere man. But a single brief encounter on the road to Damascus changed this man. that he sees the seriousness of his sin in following a vain tradition. Here he is, and his desire is that people should not follow cunningly devised fables, but should believe in this gospel, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. I ask you, simply this morning, in closing, where is your confidence? In what is it? Or better, I ask the question, in whom is it? Who is the object of your solid new desire? Who is the object of your worship? Is it Jesus Christ and Him crucified? It has to be.