1 Corinthians 1B

Sermon Transcript

If you noticed here in the latter half of 1 Corinthians chapter 1, the main theme you are seeing is about wisdom. You are going to see this word wisdom or wise appear throughout the latter half of this chapter. And you have to realise that wisdom by God's standard and wisdom by the world's standard are very different things. A lot of things that are considered wise by this world and looked at as examples of intelligence — as Christians, we can look at some of these things and they are some of the stupidest things we have ever heard in our lives, because the wisdom of God is very different than the wisdom of the world.

Verse 17 — The Gospel Without Wisdom of Words

Verse 17 is kind of a transition verse: "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." We talked about this last week — baptism is not part of the gospel, because Paul says I was not sent to baptize but to preach the gospel, showing that baptism is merely a picture or symbol of salvation and not salvation itself. It is something we do after we are saved to show that we believe Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. It does not literally wash away our sins.

But then it says not with wisdom of words. When we preach the gospel it is not with wisdom of words. Why? Lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. If we use wisdom of words it is going to make what Jesus did of none effect — it is not going to have the power that it does. But the gospel and what Jesus did has true power. If we do not use wise words but simply explain the gospel, the power is in what Christ did rather than in our intelligent words.

Now Paul the Apostle is a smart guy. He is an educated guy. He could probably preach the gospel and use examples that are articulate, well thought out, and educated. The problem is not everybody would understand what he is talking about. Sometimes people try to come up with complicated, really articulate examples when they preach the gospel — and you might have a very clever example, but not everybody can relate to it. My background is in maths and I was a soccer player, so maybe I could come up with examples involving maths or soccer. But if not everybody can understand what I am talking about, it loses its power and it becomes about my wise words convincing someone rather than the power found in God's word. When you think of examples found in the Bible you think of a gift — something anybody can understand. You think of being born — something people can relate to. Your own wise words and examples people might not be able to relate to.

Verse 18 — The Preaching of the Cross

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." We see basically two types of people here. You have the unsaved — those that perish, those that are going to go to hell forever — and to them the preaching of the cross, the gospel of Jesus, is foolishness. But to us which are saved it is the power of God. It makes perfect sense. Of course it had to be by Jesus. Of course it is not by my works. Of course it is not by my baptism. What makes sense is what Jesus did for us. And of course there is another segment of people — unsaved people who we preach the gospel to, and as they hear it they are like, man, this is the power of God. They believe on Christ and are saved at that very moment.

Now modern versions of the Bible actually change 1 Corinthians 1:18. At our church we are King James only in the English language. Even amongst Baptist churches preaching primarily in other languages, they are still using the King James Bible as their reference because they understand the King James Bible is the one that has the power behind it. It is the word of God.

But here is what the NIV says: 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. Let me ask you a question — are you being saved? I got saved when I was 18 years old. It is not like, well, I am being saved, it is a lifelong process, I am getting closer. No, that is what the Catholic Church teaches. That is what most generic and Pentecostal churches teach — that you are being saved, that you got your baptism but you have to walk the walk and hold out faithful, otherwise you can lose your salvation because you are being saved but not actually saved at the moment you believe on Christ. But the Bible says the moment you believe on Christ you are saved. Your soul is saved. All your sins are forgiven — past, present, and future, big and small — and your soul is made perfect forever. You can know you have a home in heaven and you will not perish in hell for all eternity. We are not being saved. We are saved.

The New King James says the same thing — to us who are being saved. Even that version, which some say just updates the spelling and archaic words, has the same error. It is not being saved. It is the power of God to us that are saved.

Verse 19 — Destroying the Wisdom of the Wise

"For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." When the Bible says I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, it is talking about wisdom by the world's standard — the false religions promoting this wisdom, the Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawkings of this world that are oh so wise, saying the earth is billions of years old and we evolved from primordial soup. God says I am going to 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 world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" The wisdom of this world is foolishness. And to us that are saved it makes perfect sense — the preaching of the gospel is the power of God. But on the contrary, the wisdom of this world to us that are saved is foolishness. It makes no sense. And God says he is going to bring it to nothing. Now obviously in today's world with social media, books, and the education system, they will prop up and promote the wisdom of this world like it is so wise and it makes sense. But to us that are saved, we realise it is foolishness.

Let me give you some examples of the wisdom of the world. One example is Buddhism. These eastern religions are supposedly all about wisdom — that is what their religion is about. Here is what it says on a Buddhist website: when this kind of direct understanding of the truth is gained, this is equivalent to gaining enlightenment. This opens the door to freedom — freedom from suffering and to nirvana. And then on this same site it says: wisdom is the key thing in Buddhism. In other religions, we find that faith is paramount. In still other religions we find that meditation is supreme. In Buddhism, faith is preliminary. Meditation is instrumental. The real heart of Buddhism is wisdom.

So according to this Buddhist website, Buddhism is all about wisdom. Now is Buddhism Christianity? Not at all. Do they believe Christ died for them? Not at all. This is the wisdom of the world that the Bible is speaking of.

Go to Proverbs chapter 1.

Proverbs 1:5–7: "A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." If you are trying to get to wisdom, it starts with the fear of God. Recently people have posted on some of our videos saying, are you saying the answer is fear? Yes. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. If you really want to get to wisdom and instruction, it starts with fearing God. That is why when we are raising kids, we need to make sure they have a proper healthy fear and respect for Almighty God. There is a God in heaven that loves us and created us and cares about us and wants to have fellowship with us. But it is the same God that is going to send people to hell for all eternity that do not believe on Christ. And it is the same God that will punish us in this life when we do wrong. We need to make sure as parents we do not do this gentle parenting where we just forgive everything and have no punishment. Kids need to understand they will be punished when they do wrong.

So the question is — does Buddhism teach or promote the fear of God? Here is what another Buddhist website says when someone suggested that Buddhists should fear God. The answer from the website: how about asking which of the millions of gods worshipped throughout history should be the one feared? And how is one more threatening than the others? It is taught by some that we should be god-fearing. However, in the first place, there is no particular deity to be feared — even so-called potentially almighty and angry ones, because they do not and cannot exist.

What you are seeing from this Buddhist website is they are mocking the true God. They are mocking the idea of God altogether. And the thing about Buddhism is they are atheistic — they do not believe in a creator God. Many Buddhists are full-fledged atheists. They believe in some supernatural things that could never happen without a god or without a spiritual world, but they reject the idea of a creator God and a God to be feared.

Well, how do we know which of the millions of gods to fear? Let me show you. Go to Jonah chapter 1.

Jonah 1:7–10: "And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid." You are in a ship with people from different cultures and different backgrounds. All of a sudden they are afraid. They feel like God or the gods are judging them. And Jonah's response is I am a Hebrew, I fear the Lord, the God of heaven. All of a sudden the people are exceedingly afraid. Think about Rahab who said we have heard about what your God has done. See the fear. And that actually shows an example of how fear can be the passageway to believing on Christ and getting saved.

Buddhists — who should you fear? How about fearing the God that wrote this book? How about fearing Almighty God, Jehovah God, the God of the Bible, the God that created you? All things were made by him. The Bible says Jesus made all things. How about fearing this God? And the thing is, if you do not fear this God in this life, you are going to burn in hell for all eternity.

Go to Proverbs 14.

Buddhism says they are all about wisdom, right? But they reject the fear of God. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. So you are all about wisdom and you are rejecting the fear of God. You know what the result is going to be? Your religion is going to be stupid and not make any sense at all. Buddhism is a dumb religion. It does not make sense. I do not for the life of me understand why anybody would be Buddhist. It is the most depressing and miserable religion in the world. And yet a lot of people convert to Buddhism — it is the fourth biggest religion in the world. Outside of Buddhism, Taoism or Daoism is known as the ancient Chinese wisdom. And Hinduism is often known as the way of wisdom. As Bible-believing Christians, we look at Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism — does any of that seem like wisdom? In Hinduism they are bowing down to a cow, but supposedly there is this great wisdom being revealed in their scriptures. It is nonsense because they do not fear God.

Verse 21 — The Foolishness of Preaching

"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." The world by wisdom does not know God. If you try to understand who God is by just searching after wisdom you are not going to find out who God is. But in Christianity you are actually going to find that great wisdom — it starts with fearing God, saying I believe God, I am going to obey his commandments. And you can start to get more and more wisdom as you are obeying God and being obedient to what he says.

Proverbs 14:12: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Before I was saved, you know what seemed right to me? If you live an honest and decent life, God will forgive you and let you into heaven. Now technically if you lead a completely honest life 100% and never sin, you have no sins to be judged for. The problem is nobody does that. And it negates the holiness of God. God is holy — holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. None of us are honest enough, good enough, or obedient enough to earn our way to heaven. But it seemed right to me before I was saved. And then once the gospel was preached, I was afraid of burning in hell forever, and the fear of the Lord led me to salvation.

"The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going." The Bible says the simple person, the ignorant, the fool, believes everything they hear. And is it not true that most people believe the wisdom of this world that they hear? Anything in the medical community, any new vaccine that was figured out in a couple of weeks — the simple just says okay, I am not going to research, I am not going to find out, I am just going to do it. They just believe what social media says, what the media says, and get pushed into things. But the question is what does the Bible say?

In today's world you are finding ignorance abounding and people rejecting God's word and believing foolishness. One example fresh on my mind is the world's rejection of spanking and disciplining children. The wisdom of this world says gentle parenting — just give them treats, tell them to obey but never make them fear you. Is fear the answer? Yes, they should fear you. If you are their mum, they should fear you. If you are their dad they should fear you. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and the same principle applies in the home. Kids need to learn to fear God. And here is what is so stupid and foolish about the gentle parenting mindset: when you are raising young children, if you do not punish them and let them do whatever they want, they will start getting into very dangerous situations at a very young age. Every kid gravitates toward the electrical socket. It is very hard to monitor your kids 24/7. But you give them a spank when they get near the socket and they do not understand why, but they start to be obedient because they realise I am going to get a spanking if I go near that socket. Why do you do that? Because I do not want my child to accidentally die. Before they have perfect knowledge and before they are old enough to understand all these things, they need correction when they are doing wrong things. That can help them actually learn. And as they get older they are going to understand. The Bible says "foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." It is almost like God knew what he was talking about.

Verses 22–24 — Christ Crucified

"For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness." The world is trying to figure out the answers to life by wisdom or by signs. The Greeks are kind of like Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, and Jainism today. The Greeks were known for the wisdom of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle. Ancient Greek mythology is supposedly this great place of wisdom, and you look at it and it is no different from modern day Hinduism.

Go to Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17:16–20: "Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing." You have got all these philosophers amongst the Greeks, all this wisdom and various ideologies competing with one another. They are worshipping idols, they have got a temple to the unknown god that they are ignorantly worshipping, and it is supposedly this great wisdom.

Acts 17:29–32: "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter." Paul in a polite way is saying since we are the offspring of God, it does not really make sense to think that we created God by man's device. And the reaction is — they sit around willing to listen to anything, I am sure many people had come up there and said the dumbest things ever and they thought it was interesting. Then Paul actually says something that does make sense and they mock. It just seems way too easy to people that it is just by believing on Christ. People believe the most foolish things because they reject the God of the Bible — and yet they are searching after wisdom.

The Jews wanted a sign. Matthew 12:38–40: "Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." There are atheists all throughout Melbourne and all throughout this world that say give me physical proof that God is real and I will believe. You know what the Bible says? No sign is coming. They are not going to get the sign they want. It is not that the evidence is not there — you look outside and you know God is real. But the sign is of the prophet Jonas. Heart of the earth is signalling not just six feet under — what it is signalling is that the soul of Jesus was in hell for three days and three nights, and then after three days he rose again, both physically and spiritually. That is proof right there. But to other people it is foolishness.

To me it is not foolishness. To me it is the power of God. Yes, people are going to mock, but to us that are saved the resurrection makes perfect sense. What does not make sense is that billions and billions of years ago there was an explosion and here we are today. What does not make sense is Hinduism. What does not make sense is Buddhism. What does not make sense is Greek mythology. That is foolish. But Jesus dying and paying for our sins makes sense. To me it is the power of God.

What This Means for Soul-Winning

So in Matthew 12, the Jews want a sign and Jesus does not give it. In Acts 17, the Greeks want wisdom and Paul does not give it — he just preaches the resurrection. And people mock. This shows us how we actually preach the gospel to people of other religions.

1 Corinthians 1:22: "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom." Therefore, we give the Greeks a creation versus evolution seminar? Is that what the Bible says? Therefore, we give the Jews a sign? Is that what the Bible says? No. "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness." Most Jews and most Greeks are going to reject, but we preach Christ crucified. We explain that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. And yes, most reject — but some do not. Some hear it and believe.

This is very important because there are a lot of religions in this world. There are a lot of philosophies. Do we have to spend months and months studying their beliefs in order to get them saved? No. Because the answer to salvation is the same for the Jews and the Greeks and the Hindus and the Buddhists. It is about explaining Christ crucified. That is how we get people saved.

Go to Romans 1.

Now look, people are going to scoff and say you need to learn what they believe. And by the way, when it comes to these religions, I actually do understand a lot of what they believe. I have preached against these religions. I have read their so-called holy books. But here is the thing — I am a full-time pastor. I am able to study the word of God and learn. But for the average person at the church who is working 50 or 60 hours a week, providing for a family, going to church, going soul-winning — the idea of spending all their free time studying false religions instead of studying the Bible is ridiculous. The great thing is we can just study and learn the Bible and use it to get somebody saved. We can use the real thing to convert someone from a false religion. And what if you talk to a Buddhist who is unwilling to listen unless you look at their scriptures? Have a nice day. You just move on. We are polite with them, but if they are not willing to listen, it is what it is.

Think about it like being a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. When you go door to door you already have your pitch planned. You are not going to show up and then listen to them give a pitch to you. You know what you are talking about. You are there specifically to bring a message you have studied and prepared for. When we go soul-winning we are bringing a message we have prepared for.

Let me prove to you what I am saying is correct. According to the group chat in Melbourne a few days ago, a Muslim man in his early 40s just got saved. And how did he get saved? By the gospel of Jesus Christ. Someone explained the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and how you have to believe on Christ. And the thing is, if that person had said let us look at what the Quran says, the soul winner could say at the back of this invitation is how to go to heaven, or here is a QR code with a video showing you how. But I am not really interested in what the Quran says. That is just the way it works. Yes, the majority of Muslims are going to reject. The majority of Buddhists are going to reject. But honestly the majority of people in general reject. And we do not have to learn all these systems. We just explain Christ crucified.

Obviously if you are going to talk to a Muslim or a Hindu, there might be different things you have to focus on a little bit more in the gospel presentation. With a Muslim you probably do not have to spend as much time on eternal security because what they are going to stumble on is believing on Christ as the way. With someone who is Pentecostal, you are probably going to have to focus more time on eternal security because they are already religious but they reject eternal security. But it is still the same gospel presentation in general with maybe a few different verses here or there.

Romans 1:14–16: "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." The Jew and the Greek — what is the answer? The gospel of Christ. It is the power of God to those that believe on Christ. And let me say also to the Mormon, also to the Jehovah's Witness, also to the Seventh-Day Adventist, also to the Buddhist, also to the Hindu, or whoever. It is the same message about what Christ did. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, and you have to believe that. That is how simple it is.

Romans 1:22: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." When you reject God you will end up being a fool. I have listened to various Hindu swamies and gurus answer questions, and they sound convincing. If you do not know the Bible very well they can sound convincing. But when you actually stop and break down what they are saying, it actually does not make sense at all. They use a bunch of philosophy and logical arguments, but they start with the assumption there is no creator God. They start with the assumption that you do not fear God. Well, you are already wrong. And so all your answers are going to end up being foolish. Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism — they start with the wrong assumptions and they end up with foolishness. And then you look at the atheists of this world — the Richard Dawkins of the world profess themselves to be wise and they are fools. I have read multiple books by Richard Dawkins and I was amazed at how foolish he sounded. I expected wiser arguments. In reality he does not have any good arguments at all. He just sounds like an idiot. Why? Because when you reject God you will be a fool.

Verses 26–31 — God Chooses the Foolish Things

1 Corinthians 1:26–28: "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, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are." You think about the things that confound the mighty — just simple things and basic things. What we explain is that salvation is a gift. We explain being born. These are very simple things. Or you think of atheism — if the earth is billions of years old, why is the centre of the earth still hot? Generally when something is created it cools off. Why is it still hot after billions of years? The average person who believes in evolution just kind of sits there. It does not make sense because God is confounding the wise. Or think about this — these atheists and liberals are so worried that we are going to destroy the earth in the next ten years. But you believe the earth has lasted for billions of years and you think we can destroy it in ten? Do you realise how much billions of years actually is? That is pretty foolish. The world's wisdom is foolishness and the simple things confound their wisdom.

Or how about people that think suicide is a straight ticket to hell? All you have to do is explain — does suicide kill the body or the soul? The body. So why would that take away your salvation? Our soul is what has eternal life. Basic things we can explain to people. We do not have to become experts at all these things. I think we should try to be educated people. I think we should be smart, read, and learn. But honestly it is the simple things that confound the wise.

"That no flesh should glory in his presence." Nobody can just search after wisdom, get the world's wisdom, and then glory and say, hey, I am in heaven because of look at all this great wisdom I got. It is not this wisdom that is going to get you there. It is not your good works that are going to get you there. Nobody is going to glory or brag about how they got to heaven.

But I also want us to realise this verse serves a purpose to remind us as soul winners — the people that you get saved are not saved because of your amazing wisdom and deep study of other religions. If you got a Muslim saved, it is simply because they were willing to listen and because the power of the gospel got them saved. It is not because of your deep understanding of Hinduism and Buddhism. All we are explaining is that salvation is a gift. All we are doing is explaining that Jesus paid it all. Somebody could be newly saved and explain that without knowing everything the Bible says and without knowing anything about these other religions. None of us are going to glory. Even as saved people, we are not going to be in heaven saying hey, I got all these people saved because of the great wisdom I have. No, that is not why you got people saved. It is because you explained the simplicity of the gospel. We want to keep the gospel simple because if you overcomplicate it, a lot of people are not going to understand it.

Verse 30: "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."

What a great chapter in the Bible. A lot of information in 1 Corinthians 1 and we are just getting started on this book. As we go through it, think about wisdom. Think about some of the people in the Bible that did great things for God and had a lot of intelligence and even a lot of the world's wisdom. Jesus was an educated person, but he was just explaining the simple things to confound the wise. Moses was trained in all the wisdom and knowledge of the Egyptians, the Bible says. But is that what he used to confound the Egyptians? No. He used God's word. He was not trying to use his intellect even though he was a very educated man. And Paul the Apostle who wrote 1 Corinthians 1 — he had this great wisdom and he had to basically count it all as dung to win Christ. The Bible says to do great things for God he had to say, you know what, I am not going to use my wisdom. The power is not in all these years of study. It is in the word of God, in what Christ did. He determined not to know anything among us save Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and for this wonderful book and this wonderful chapter in the Bible. Help us to be encouraged as soul winners that we can get people saved with just the gospel of Jesus. We do not have to learn about all this wisdom and philosophy from these other religions. Help us to be zealous soul winners and have confidence that we can get Muslims saved and Hindus and people of other religions, but it is via the power of God and the word of God and the gospel of Jesus. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.