Go with me back to 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. In the last week and a half, we have had a funeral for a brother. And that led to a message on the glory and the satisfaction of awaking with the likeness of Christ. That's what we looked at last Wednesday night. And because of the wording in Daniel chapter 10, last Sunday night, we had a message on the ministry of angels. And all of this has just had me thinking about heaven and eternity and what's to come after all of this for God's people. And it was that thinking that brought me to 1 Corinthians 2. I'm just telling you why and how I got here. It's that thinking that brought me here. Verse 9 says, but as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." And what a glorious thought that is. And maybe we'll come back, you know, next week or sometime and specifically look at that verse. But while I was here, I read the whole chapter, beginning in verse 1, and The direction of my thought changed. I came here with one mindset, you know, studying and looking at one thing. And then I start, and then as soon as I read the chapter, my whole thought process changed. All the direction changed. I have read this chapter many times. I have preached from this chapter many times. But when I read it this time, these words came alive to me as though they were my own words. I read this and I thought, if I could really say something to you, to this congregation, from my heart, this would be it. This would be it. Paul said something right here under the inspiration of God. God's spirit moved him to say this, but it was out of the sincerity of his heart. And if I could convey something to you out of the sincerity of my heart, this would be it. From the point of view of this position that I stand in, This is the open sincerity of my heart concerning you, concerning this ministry and this calling to preach, calling to pastor. I've titled this message the first three words of the chapter, and I brethren, that's the title of this message, and I brethren. Paul was speaking the sincere desire of his heart and I identify with everything he said And I want to say it with him directly to you. These are the words of my heart to you and I brethren. Let's see if the Lord will open these words up to us. Look at verse one. And I want to also, sometimes I tell you that I don't really want to preach to you tonight. I just want to talk to you. Well, this is one of those moments. Verse one says, and I, brethren, when I came to you, 11 years, four months, and 11 days ago. That's how long it was. 11 years, four months, and 11 days ago. It was 12 years, three months, and I can't remember exactly how many days, that I came to you the very first time. The very, very first time. And boy, the Lord knit my heart to this place, that little building. Boy, that was a cute little building. The first time I got here, I sat on that pew looking around thinking, I want to paint these walls. And we did. And I came back many times over the next, you know, almost a year until I came here. But verse one says, 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. And I say that admittedly. admitting the truth about myself, putting myself down, I guess you could say. I'm not smart on a lot of things like a lot of men are. So I say that admittedly, but I also say that thankfully because I don't want to be smart on a lot of things like a lot of men are. There are a lot of things, there are a lot of doctrinal things and doctrinal isms out there that I don't want to know anything about. There's a lot of religious knowledge, it's religious nonsense that will not help the things concerning salvation. It will only hurt. So I, brethren, I say that admittedly, I came to you not with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. I say that admittedly, I say that thankfully, I say that decidedly. For my good, for your good, for the good of this ministry, for the defense of God's gospel, We're taking a stand for the only thing that will save a sinful soul. By God's grace, by His doing, it's all His doing. It's all to His glory. Verse two says, I determined not to know anything among you Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That was the stance of my heart then, 11 years, four months, and 11 days ago. And that's the stance of my heart right now. I don't say that pridefully. I don't say that to make a good work out of it. I don't say that to give credit or glory to myself. I'm just saying to you that's what God has put in my heart to do. That's what God has put in my heart to do. Preach nothing to you. Know nothing among you except for Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I'm so thankful to Him for that. I'm so thankful. I thank Him for that. There is nothing else that I want to preach in this pulpit, nothing else. I preach the same thing every time I stand up there, every time I stand up here. Has anybody noticed that? Am I the only one who notices that? I preach the exact same thing every single time I stand up here. Man is ruined. God is holy. And the blood of Jesus Christ is the only hope we have. If Christ did not save us on the cross of Calvary, there is no salvation for us. There's no other hope. There's no other hope than Jesus Christ crucified. There's no other hope. The only hope we have is when he cried, it is finished, he was talking about the putting away of our sins. The only hope is that he had us in his mind when he said that to the father, it is finished. If he paid the debt for our sins on that cross, salvation is secured. And if salvation is secured for us, then we will. We don't, you know, then now turn it on you and, okay, he secured salvation. What are you going to do? We don't do that. If salvation is secured, we will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We will cast our all on His cross. We will cast our all on the cross of Jesus Christ. We will beg God for mercy, mercy in His broken body, His shed blood, and we will leave it right there. We will stop right there. We will rest right there. I cannot tell you how many times in the last 11 years, 4 months, and 11 days, people have said to me, I know Christ did all that. I know Christ died on the cross to put away the sins of His people. We need to move on from that. There's other stuff in here. There's other stuff to consider in here. There's other stuff to know in here. We need to be hearing about man's responsibility to the law. And I'm not talking about anybody in here right now. I'm talking about people who left because this was not enough. This was not enough. We need to be focusing on the fruit of the flesh. Can't tell you how many times I've heard that. We need to focus on the fruit of the flesh. We need to be studying Greek. That's what we need to do. We need to study Greek. I, brethren, this is what I want to say to you. By God's grace, I am determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's it. That's it. The first Sunday that I was here as pastor, I made a bulletin and I printed a scripture on that bulletin that declared what the message of this ministry would be, you know, what the focus of our preaching would be. And that scripture is still on our bulletin. First Corinthians two, verse two, for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's it. That's all our hope. That's all our desire. That is all our desire. That's all I want to preach to you. Verse one says, 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. 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 I still am. I still am, but even more so now than I was then. I am weaker now than I was 11 years, four months and 11 days ago. I am weaker now than I was then. I have so much less self-confidence than I used to have. I have so much less self-confidence. When I first started, I had a little bit of self-confidence. And I am so much more dependent on God's Spirit to bless us than I used to be. And I'm thankful for that. I have less self-confidence and I am thankful for that. That's what we need. That's what I need. That's what you need. Verse four right here, he said, my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. That's what we need. Verse five says that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. I don't want you to be impressed with me. I want you to be impressed by God. That's what I want. I thought a little bit about what's the best way to word this, but I wrote in these notes, there may have been a time that I wanted you to be impressed with me. I know my heart. I know my heart. There was a time. And I'm not saying I'm over it. I wouldn't put anything past this flesh. I'm telling you, no man wants to go preach at a conference and fall flat on his face and everybody think, boy, that was terrible. No man wants that. And I don't want that here. I don't want that tonight. But I fearfully say my goal up here is not to impress you. You know, if it was, I pray when you called me, it was secondary to my desire to declare Christ. And I believe that was my desire, but I want you to be blessed. And for that reason, I say my only goal right now is to make this as simple and as plain as I can possibly make it. Word by word, verse by verse, my only goal right now is to preach this Word. That's it. You know, before it's, how clever can I make the outline? You know, can I, you know, can I, you know, wind it up and knock them down at the end? No more. No more. I just want to declare God's Word is simply and is clearly as I can. Again, I already said it, but I don't possess a lot of big words. I just don't know a lot of big words. I have offended quite a few people because of that. People have come to me and talked to me about things, especially doctrinal things, and they use doctrinal words, and I just have to tell them, I'm sorry, but I don't know what that word means. And I believe they think I'm making fun of them or something. I'm not. I'm not. I just don't know a lot of big words. But here's the thing. I don't want to know a lot of big words. Not when we're talking about this. This is too important for people to understand. This is too critical that people understand this and not come here and be impressed by my big words. You know, if I do know a big word, and I've used a couple of them tonight, I've caught myself in the process, but if I do know a big word, sometimes I spend as much time as I can trying to find a smaller word that means the same thing, just in case somebody else is in my shoes and they say, well, I don't know what that word means. Brethren, I, brethren, I want to get rid of enticing words. I want to get rid of enticing words. Verse 5 says that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Look back at 1 Corinthians 1. You probably don't even have to turn your page. Verse 17, it says, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God." What that means is man thinks he's so smart on God, he's totally missed God because of his big words. After that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, this simple preaching. to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is 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. For you 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. Yea, in things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of Him are you 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. 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 power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Paul said, I renounce all of that. I reject the so-called wisdom of this flesh, the wisdom of man, which is no wisdom at all, the wisdom that man is so impressed with. Paul said, I don't want to have anything to do with that wisdom. Verse six, how be it we speak wisdom? It's not wisdom to the world, but it's wisdom to God's people. If we are preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we're preaching the wisdom of God and the power of God. Verse six, how be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, that means among them that are in Christ. That's the only way a man or woman can be perfect, is if he or she is in Christ. How do we get in Christ? Look back up at chapter one, verse 30. But of Him. Are you 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. That's his business. How do we get in Christ? That's his business. That's his doing. Amen. Amen. who Christ is and what he's done for his sinful people. That's all the wisdom that God's people want to know. That's all that his preachers want to preach. That's all that his people want to hear. Christ is our wisdom. Christ is our glory. Christ is our all. Look at chapter two, verse six. He said, how be it 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 a mystery. Great is the mystery, the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. That's it. That's the only excellency of speech that we need. That's the only excellency of speech that there truly is. That's the only one there is. Verse seven, he said, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. I have never, ever noticed those last two words, never. Why do we love this one message of Jesus Christ and the accomplishment of His cross? Why do we love this so much? It's because this is the only message of the only name of the only one who could redeem us from our ruin all the way to glory. All the way to glory. In Him, His glory is our glory. It's our glory. Verse seven says, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. That's glorious. Verse eight says, 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 hath 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 to us by his Spirit, for 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. What that means is there's no way you can know what's in my mind right now unless I tell you. And there's no way that you can know the heart, mind, will, and purpose of God unless he tells us. Thank God, he told us. That's what he's saying. Verse 11, 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, or discerneth, has the ability to discern all things. Yet he himself is judged or discerned of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. That's why we love this message. That's why we preach this message. That's why we believe this message. It's the very mind of God in Christ concerning our salvation. And this is my honest, sincere prayer for you. It's that in spite of my weakness, and if I, you know, if I don't appear weak to you, I'm pretty good at hiding it. But in spite of my weakness, And in spite of my ignorance, and in spite of my lack, everything that I lack in every way, my prayer is that God will give you faith to stand in Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ alone. Not man's anything, not my anything. Don't follow me and my ambition and my anything. Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ and Him crucified alone. If so, if the Lord would give you the faith to do so, you will be standing in the power of God. And if you're standing in the power of God, eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's it. That's it. God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.