My text this morning is in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and 2. Don't be concerned, I'm not going to preach the whole chapter, all two chapters. But turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and hold your place. And while you're turning, let me give you my title. It's called the gospel hidden in plain sight. The gospel hidden in plain sight. Believers, the child of God, that's who a child of God is, is a believer, one that believes that Christ did for them what they cannot do for themselves. The law of God requires perfection. You and I can't provide that. We're sinners, sin is what we are, not just what we do. We sin because we're sinners. But believers must stand watch over their hearts and their minds to refuse anything that clouds or complicates or corrupts the simple saving truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It all comes down to that. One thing, Jesus Christ, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? Who is Jesus Christ? What did Jesus Christ do for sinners? And this is the greatest danger that believers face, and that has been drawn away from the pure and simple message of Christ's substitution on the cross. You know, Eve, Adam and Eve, Eve was deceived because of this very thing. God said, eat of this tree and thou shalt surely die. And the serpent said, well now Eve, it's a bit more complicated than that. It's not that simple. God said, eat of it and you'll die. The serpent said, you shall not surely die. And God knows this, and He's not telling you that in the day that you do eat thereof, then your eyes are going to be opened. And not only that, but you'll be as God's, knowing good and evil, and evil like that. People today still like to hear that. You'll be as God. And that's the problem in most religions today. Men have made themselves out to be their own God. God's simple, direct, and to the point word was true. And listen, it still is. It's still simple, it's still direct, it's still to the point. And to ignore God's word as our first parents did, brings forth spiritual death. That's what God said. He said, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Yet Adam lived 930 years. So what death was he speaking of? Spiritual death. Dead to God. Sin brings forth death. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sins, it shall surely die. You know these verses. Sin brings death, which in return brings forth wrath and condemnation and eternal judgment. And it's what all of us deserve. By nature, that's what we deserve. And that's why Paul wrote in his second letter to the church at Corinth, he said, but I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled, deceived Eve through his subtlety, through his craftiness, so your mind should be corrupted. That word corrupted means spoiled, ruined from the simplicity. Singleness is what the word means. That is in Christ. This is not a hard message. We say that all the time. Preachers today want to, in religion, want to muddy the waters. They want to make it complicated, but it's simple. It's simple to understand. Impossible to believe unless God intervenes and gives you life within. Now, the simplicity of Christ simply means that Christ alone, that's what we're talking about, singleness, is the focus. I've told you several times about, you know, people asking you, what are you preaching on Sunday? The same thing I preach on every Sunday. And of course, immediately they go, well, how does your congregation put up with that? They love it. We preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The sinner's only hope. I don't want somebody tell me what I must do to be saved when I can do nothing to be saved. I want you to tell me how I can be saved in Christ and what He did for me. The gospel's not about self-improvement. You can go to a bookstore and find all the books you want on self-improvement. This is not one of them. It's not about reformed morality. It's not about straightening up and flying right. You know, I've told you, my mother used to tell me all the time, Dave Lee, you better straighten up and fly right. Well, two problems with that. I can't straighten up and I can't fly right. Because my wing's broken. It's not about human religion. We've got churches on every corner. It's not about that. Not about human religion. It's about Jesus Christ. It's about His person. It's about His work. It's about His death. It's about His resurrection. And there's no other way to the Father. The Lord said that. We talked about it in the first hour. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Isn't that simple? That's a simple message. But by me, there's no other way that saves. Jesus Christ is the way. He's the truth. He's the life. No man comes to God, but by me, he said. No other foundation for peace with God. Christ must be our focus and our motive. We obey, we serve, we endure, not for recognition, not for reward or out of fear, but out of love for Him. We love Him because He first loved us. But I chose Jesus. You've not chosen me, the Lord said. I've chosen you. Christ is not just a part of the picture. He's not just a part of the gospel. He is the picture. He is the gospel. And the simplicity of Christ means that grace by Christ and faith in Christ is the only way to eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that the whole world might be saved? No, no, no. That whosoever believeth in him, Grace alone is the means. God's favor toward us is not earned. Isn't that simple? There's nothing we can do to make God love us. It's completely unmerited. It's unconditional, we call it. It's without condition. God doesn't say, well, if you do this and you do that, I'll love you. No, He loves us. And we love Him because He first loves us. Nothing commendable that we do contributes to being righteous with God. You cannot earn righteousness. It's a gift. If Christ don't give it to you, you'll never have it. God requires a perfection that we cannot provide. Grace is God giving life and forgiveness freely when we don't deserve it. Faith alone is how. It's through believing that we receive God's grace. Faith is, you know, there's been thousands of books written on faith. Faith is simply trusting and believing and relying on Jesus Christ alone to have him put your sin away, which is what separates you from God. Sin is what separates us from God. Faith is not an intellectual agreement. It's not a product of reasoning. Faith is a personal reliance upon Jesus Christ. Grace and faith are the way to life. How are we saved? Ephesians 2.8, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves. Well, it's a simple message to say you're saved by grace through faith, because that's true. And every true believer knows that. But Paul adds, and that's not of yourselves, because he knows that we would make it of ourselves. Right? That's how we are. For by grace are you saved through faith. That's not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Not by works. lest any man should boast." And this message is not simplistic as though it were shallow. It's simple because it's pure and it's direct and it's without mixture. No works, no merit, no personal righteousness mixed in with this message. Only what Christ did for me by His death on the cross, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Has God revealed that to you? Religious tradition and pride and human reasoning only blur the clear simplicity of the truth. 1 Corinthians Chapter 1 and 2, Paul explains here his desire and determination to simply preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Look first at chapter 2 with me, verse 2. You know this passage well. Chapter 2, verse 2, 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote, For I determined not to know anything among you save or except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And that just simply means that Paul desired and determined to focus exclusively upon Christ's death and resurrection. He determined to be simple and clear. His dependence was on God, not on man. By focusing solely on Christ crucified, Paul avoided relying on his own intellect or knowledge. No doubt he was a smart man. Well, he sat at the feet of Gamaliel. He was a fool of zeal. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. Nobody knew the scriptures better than a Pharisee did. And yet didn't know the truth. There's a difference in knowing doctrine and knowing Christ. Paul knew that God saved sinners in and by and through Christ alone. Do you know that? This simple message, it humbles human pride. It exalts divine grace. And it brings eternal life to all who believe. Do you see the need of this simple declaration? To many, it's hidden in plain sight. Paul refused, and so must we, friends, to dress up this simple gospel message with human polish or man's philosophical cleverness. I've told you this before. It would be like going to one of the great museums and taking a crayon and try to touch up one of the masterpiece like the Mona Lisa. What are we going to add to it? How are we going to dress it up? How are we going to polish it? God did this. You're not going to improve on what God did. The simple message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, Paul says, is the power and wisdom of God. And it's revealed only one way, through Christ crucified on the cross. Now let me quickly give you a few things that the substitution of Christ in the believer's room instead teaches us. You know these things, we need to hear them again and again and again and again. How does faith come? By hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing the Word of God. Christ's substitution teaches man something of their sin and their helplessness. Humanity is guilty before God, powerless to save itself. The law exposes sin. The law was never given. Now listen, the law, the Ten Commandments, the whole Levitical law, it was never given for man to keep in order to be saved. It was given by God to show man his inability to keep it. You can't keep the law. Those who say, well, I've kept so many of the Ten Commandments, I haven't kept the first one. Because they've got to be kept perfectly. And we can't do that. Every person stands condemned apart from divine mercy in Christ. This teaches us God, the substitution of Christ in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, teaches us something of God's love and initiative. God, out of sheer and pure grace, sent His Son, not to condemn the world, He said, but to save it. Was He obligated to? God's not obligated to do anything. He's God. That's what makes Him God. The cross wasn't an accident, it wasn't an afterthought. It was God's divine purpose for redemption. There's no other way to be saved. Christ and Him crucified, the cross, substitution, teaches us that the death of Christ on the cross is the Simple truth that the Lord took our place. That's where we should have home. That's what we were guilty of. He bore our sin, he bore our punishment and our shame and the wrath of God that justice demanded. God is holy and just. and His justice demanded it was poured out on the Lord Himself so that mercy could be freely given to us. That's so simple and yet so profound. It teaches us the victory of the cross. The crucifixion wasn't a defeat, it was triumph. Through His death and resurrection, Christ broke the power of sin and death and Satan. And what looked like weakness was a display of God's almighty power. It teaches us faith, not work. Salvation doesn't come by human effort. It doesn't come by religious ritual. It doesn't come by moral reform. It comes by faith alone in Jesus Christ. And the cross leaves us no room for boasting. God Himself God the Son, God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all three God, all three equally God, none less than the other. God the Son died to put your sin away. Those that believe in him. And this teaches us a call to repentance and new life. The message of the crucified Christ calls for repentance. It calls for a turning from sin. And faith in the risen Lord. To many, these things are just hidden in plain sight. The cross exposes our sin. The fact that Christ, the God-man, had to die shows us just how serious sin really is. Yet at the same time, the cross reveals God's love and mercy. It shows us just how far God would go to save his people from their sin. And it demands a personal response. The cross cries, look what your sin cost. Look to Christ on the cross and see what your sin cost. What do you think of Jesus Christ? Is He everything or is He nothing to you? And if He's not everything, He's nothing. Those who believe are forgiven, they're reconciled to God, they're made new creations in Christ. But in order for God to be both just and justifier, The law had to be perfectly kept and justice had to be completely satisfied and it could only be accomplished on the cross. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's our message. That's what you've said here and listened to for nearly 35 years, Lou. The only way this could be accomplished was in and by and through Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what must be preached. In order for sinners to be justly saved, Christ kept the law perfectly. Well, you've already said that. Thank you. I'm going to say it some more time. He kept the law perfectly. The Lord Jesus fully satisfied God's holy justice. I mean to be redundant. I mean to be repetitive. God the Son paid the wages of sin. What are the wages of sin again? Death. Christ gave the sinner His perfect righteousness. That's the only way any of us are going to get it. How righteous must I be to be reconciled to God? As righteous as God Himself. How am I going to do that? He's going to have to give me His. That's what substitution is. It's not hard. It's a simple message. The Lord did all these things that God required of us, and yet the world in general calls it foolishness. Do you see these things? Well, many don't because they're hidden in plain sight. If our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world, little g God of this world, hath blinded. Okay, chapter one, 1 Corinthians chapter one, look at verse 18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it's the power of God. And verse 18 reveals that the cross divides men and women, and it does. Only two kinds of people, those that are perishing and those that are saved. And the dividing line's not morality and it's not intelligence. It's not religion, it's man's response in following Christ. What one thinks of the cross determines who perishes and who's saved. And we see the gospel offends human wisdom. It always has. to the natural mind, the thought that salvation comes through a crucified Savior. Well, that doesn't only seem absurd, it seems weak, and it's humiliating, and yes, even foolish. I had a man tell me one time, he said, so you believe in the Bible, I said, with all my heart. He said, and you believe that the Bible is God's word, I said, with all my heart. He said, well, it was written by men. I said, yeah, under the inspiration of God. God used men to write it. And he said, well, that's the most foolish thing I've ever heard. I said, it is to you, but unto me, it's the power of God. That's what the cross reveals, the power of God. It's the means by which God saves sinners. Christ's blood shed on the cross breaks the power of sin. It defeats Satan, and it reconciles the loss to God. Christ in Him crucified exposes human pride. God deliberately chose a way that human wisdom could never invent, never come up with. It's a way where all boasting is silenced, and glory goes to Christ alone. There'll be those that stand on the day of judgment and say, Lord, Lord, haven't we done many wonderful works in your name? We've done this. We've cast out devils. We've healed the sick. We've done this. We've done that. And what did the Lord say? I never knew you. I don't know who you are. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. Our good works are iniquity to God. The world sees the cross as foolishness because it's been, but it's been revealed to God's children that it's the wisdom and power of God. And the following verses destroy human pride and worldly wisdom. Look at verse 19. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. And the prudent there means those who see themselves as wise. That's what prudent means. God's wisdom reduces them to nothing. Human wisdom, man's philosophy, worldly reason cannot grasp God's purpose in saving sinners through a crucified Savior. It's got to be more truth than that. What must I do to be saved? You cannot do anything to be saved, but believe in this One who did it all for you. Isn't that simple? That's so simple. And it's absolutely amazing the garbage that intelligent men and women will believe instead of the simple truth. The world prizes power and intellect and self-sufficiency, but God saves through what appears to be weak and foolish. Isn't that something? And that being the death of a substitute. It's not by man's cleverness, not by man's merit. True understanding comes by revelation, not reason. God deliberately frustrates this world's wisdom. Men think they got it figured, all figured out. And the God that sits upon His throne laughing. That's right. That's in the Bible too. Why? so no one can boast before Him. Verse 20, 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? He certainly has. The wise, the scribe, the disputer represent the intellectual elite. Here, both of the Jews and the Greeks who were made up of philosophers and scholars and theologians, yet none of them, none, Through human reasoning and intelligence, we're saved, not alone. And none will be. It's by grace, through faith, in a crucified Savior. The cross, what the world calls foolishness, shows us that worldly wisdom leads nowhere in the matters of eternal life. The so-called brilliance of human thought collapses before the simple truth of the crucified Christ. That's what this, that's what 1 Corinthians chapter one and two is all about. Look at verse 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. Now, preaching, true preaching is not foolishness, but to the world it is. And Paul here explains why God made the world's wisdom look foolish. God's wisdom causes human wisdom to fail. The world, by its wisdom, didn't know God. You're not going to know God by worldly wisdom. You're not going to figure it out. You're not going to find some secret formula in the pages of this book to figure God out. I can save you a lot of trouble. It's by grace through faith alone. Isn't that amazing? What the world mocks as weak and foolish, that being a crucified Savior, proclaimed by the simple preaching of the gospel, is actually the power of God unto salvation. That's how God saves sinners. It's a divine reversal. Man's wisdom leads to blindness. What men believe is foolish leads to eternal life. That's just like God to do it that way, isn't it? Verse 22, for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. And again, we see the two ways humanity rejects God's means of salvation. The Jews sought signs. They wanted visible proof. A lot of folks today do. But we want to see miracles. We want to see supernatural things. Well, if you see them, you better be careful who brought them. The Jews wanted a political deliverer. They were under the bondage of the Roman government. They wanted a savior in this world. Christ was not that deliverer. He delivers in the world to come. They wanted one who demonstrated strength to overthrow their oppressors. The idea of a crucified Messiah was offensive to them. How weak and pathetic it was to them. They wanted a visible sign of victory. The Greeks sought wisdom. They treasured philosophy. They loved intellect. They loved eloquence. Flowery speaking, the message of the cross didn't fill their standard, their logic. And both Jews and Greeks missed God. Don't miss God. Don't miss God. The Jews looked for power on their own terms. The Greek wanted intellectual proof. But through faith in a crucified Christ, God provided both power and wisdom. And it's the same today. So what do believers do? Look at this, verse 23. But, so, or because of that, we preach Christ crucified. That's our message. That's our simple message. And unto the Jews, it's a stumbling block. That word means scandal. And unto the Greeks, foolishness. And you know what foolishness means. And listen, we don't offer signs or wonders. We don't preach human philosophy. We don't rely on methods of self-help. We simply preach Christ crucified. It's the only way sinners can be saved. Why would we preach anything else? Is that a stumbling block to you? Is that foolishness to your intellect? Verse 24, but unto them which are called, who does the calling? God does the calling. Both Jews and Greeks. Whether you're a Jew by birth or a Greek by birth, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. To those whom God called, whether they're Jews or Greeks, Jesus Christ is God's power to save and Jesus Christ is God's wisdom to save. Why? Verse 25, because the foolishness of God is wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than man. The foolishness of God doesn't mean God's foolish. Paul uses irony here. That which men call foolish, the cross, the gospel, salvation, the substitution through a crucified Savior, That which the world mocks as nonsense is in reality the only means to salvation. I love the way Paul says it. He says, the weakness of God is stronger than man. It is. The gospel makes clear that man at his highest cannot match God at his lowest. Commit him to come close. He said, my thoughts are so much higher than yours. My ways are so much higher than yours. You know, that's the problem with religion today. They've brought God down to our level. It's blasphemy. And the best commentary on Scripture is Scripture, isn't it? Just when the Apostle Paul had said it all, he says it again. Look at it. Let me read a few verses here, and I'll hurry. Verse 26, for you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flake, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. They're scratching their heads. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And God's chosen the base things of the world and the things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught, to nothing, things that are. Why? That no flesh should glory in its presence. You don't get any credit for that. You don't get any credit for salvation. It's a gift. Somebody gives you a gift for your birthday or Christmas, you don't look at it and go, my, my, look at this. Look what I've done. Somebody gave it to you. It's a gift. No flesh. Glory and His praise. But of Him, verse 30, are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, listen, made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord. No other place for us than glory. What are we gonna glory in? Nothing but Him. It's so simple. Paul here reminds believers, the church, that most of us weren't powerful, noble, or impressive in any way. I've attended this church for 35 years. I've been the pastor now 13 or 14. And we don't have any... dignitaries here, or worldly superior people, do we? Not many noble, not many mighty. God chooses the weak, the base things of this world to confound the wise. He chooses the foolish things, the despised things. Why? There's no flesh at God. in His presence. And that's why the message of Christ and Him crucified is a leveler. A person or thing that levels something, makes it consistent, makes it constant. Christ crucified strips away human distinction and makes men and women's salvation all depend entirely on Jesus Christ. The purpose of the gospel is to remove all grounds for human boasting and give all the glory to God. How many times have I said that? Not enough. Salvation is entirely God's work, not man's. Human pride has no place before holy God. None. The message of Christ's death on the cross, the gospel exalts God's mercy and grace and salvation, and God saves sinners in this way to leave no boast in himself. Every redeemed person stands before God humbled, grateful, and boasting only in the Lord Jesus. Now, look at chapter two, verse one. He said, and I brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. Paul refused to rely on any eloquence of his own. If you came here this morning to hear a great orator, sorry, got an old Western Kentucky boy that can barely speak English. Don't speak it too well. But that's not the issue, is it? It's what we preach that matter. That's why Paul spoke with simplicity. That's why we speak with simplicity. Not with excellency of speech or wisdom. He simply declared the testimony of God. What's that talking about, Tom? The gospel. It's the testimony of God. Verse two, he said, those words that resonate in the minds and hearts of all gods elect, we just read it earlier, for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul made it a deliberate choice to center everything on Christ and Him crucified. Not clever speech, not intellectual arguments, just the simple message of the gospel. And those two words, Christ crucified, they sum up the gospel itself. They sum it all up. God the Son died as a substitute for chosen sinners. He bore the sin and the judgment of those whom God gave him and rose again for their justification. And that's the only way to God is through faith in Him. Our faith's got to rest on Christ. He is the power of God. Our preaching is simple, but it's powerful. Our preaching is simple, but it's full of wisdom. Our preaching is simple, but it's always Christ-centered. Do you see this? Is it hidden to you? As simple as it is, only the Spirit can reveal it. Sin condemned, grace revealed, pride is shattered, faith is exalted, and Christ is glorified. So I'll leave you with Paul's words to Timothy. They're for us too. He said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Here's what it is. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And then he added, of whom I'm chief. And that's what you'll have. Christ came in the world to save sinners. I'm the chief. You'll say, no, I'm the chief. And somebody else will say, no, I'm the chief. That's the only thing that we disagree on. Who's the worst? Christ was wounded for our transgressions. He was wounded for our iniquities. Pay attention to these pronouns. The chastisement, the punishment, the discipline for our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes, we were healed. It was our transgressions He was wounded for. It was our iniquities for which He was bruised. It was our peace that He purchased. It was by His stripes that we are healed. Simply put, the Lord Jesus satisfied divine justice by paying that full penalty of sin, which was death on the cross. Why? So that no judgment remains for you and I whom He died for. No condemnation, Romans 8.1. There's therefore now no condemnation. No condemnation for me. Not if I believe on Him. Has God revealed this simple message to you? You know, to many it's hidden in plain sight. Lord, open our eyes that we may see.