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Pastor Mike preaches The Cross Of Jesus: Moronic Or Marvelous? - [1 Corinthians 1:18-31].
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.
Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.
What do these people have in common? LeBron James, Donald Trump, and Anthony Fauci. That�s true, all sinners, male, polarizing, did somebody just say that? They are polarizing figures. Some people look at them and think they�re great leaders, great athletes, and other people look at them and think, who are these people?
Seem like that�s the way the world is these days, polarizing issues when it comes to medical care and vaccines or masks. You have people on both sides of the issue, and it just seems like things couldn�t be more divisive and polarizing.
I mean, it also happens in other areas of life. If you go to an art gallery and look at art, you could go and see a picture or a portrait and stare at it for 10 hours, and then other people just walk by it with a glance.
Today we�re going to look at the most divisive thing in the universe. In a day of polarizing issues, we�re going to look at the most polarizing. We�re going to look at something that many people think of as full of contempt.
They hate it. With disgust, with derision, they look at this thing and say, I reject it, a full stiff arm. And on the flip side, other people look at the very same thing and they say, I love that. I admire that.
I am full of gratitude, even with tears of joy. And of course, we�re talking today about the most divisive thing in the universe, which is about the most divisive person in the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ and His cross.
Today is supposed to be Ephesians chapter 3. I had a friend call me this week, and he said, I�m kind of in a pickle. He�s a pastor, and he said, we�re going to have a big snowstorm, and I want the whole congregation to be at the church when I�m in my series through a book of the Bible.
So I thought I might try to pull out something I�ve done before, brush it off a little bit and re-preach it, and I�m feeling bad about it. I said, my friend, do not feel bad. That would be an excellent thing to do, because I�m going to do that very thing this Sunday for Snow Sunday.
You can�t feel bad, because that would make me feel bad. So I have Ephesians all ready. I�d like to have the entire congregation here for that. So today, turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1. You love this passage, and if you already know it, you say, this is one of my passages that I just go to and think, oh, this is wonderful.
As I re-studied it this week, you are going to be full of praise and thanksgiving. You�ll also be reminded, if you�re a Christian today, what did I think like when I was a Christian? So that you�re better equipped for evangelism.
So you remind yourself, oh, that�s how I dealt with things before I was saved. Today we�re going to go through 1 Corinthians 1, verses 18, to the end of the chapter, and we�re going to look at a divisive issue, and some people look at it as moronic, as dumb, as stupid, that is, unbelievers.
But for Christians, we look at it as marvelous. Super simple outline, the cross of Christ Jesus, Jesus himself and his work. Why do some look at it with disgust and contempt, and others look at it with admiration and joy?
Let me read the first few verses. Let�s go to the first nine verses of 1 Corinthians, because most people who go to 1 Corinthians and think, these people are just a bunch of losers, they can�t do anything right, this is a Corinthian church, a carnal church, that all might be true, except these were people that God had done a work in, and was working in.
Listen to what Paul calls them by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 1. Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you, because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you, Corinthians, are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you, Corinthians, to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Don't you love that? Even though the Corinthians were faithless, they didn't always exercise proper attitudes and faith in the Lord Jesus, but God is faithful.
He then gives a charge about divisions in verses 10 and following, and now we come to Jesus Christ and His power and His wisdom found in verse 18 and following. Just to repeat one more time, we're going to have a very simple outline this morning.
Number one, reasons why the world thinks the cross is moronic, and reasons why the church thinks, Christians think, the cross is marvelous. What happens with the cross, it has this bifurcating effect, this polarizing effect.
Number one, reasons why the world thinks the cross is moronic. Before we get into the reasons, take a look at the statement of fact. It is a fact, Paul says in verse 18, for the word of the cross, that is the doctrine of the atonement, the doctrine of a sacrificial lamb, the God-man dying on behalf of sinners so that God's anger might be exhausted and assuaged.
This doctrine, the doctrine of the cross, is folly to those who are perishing. Now, that's kind of an interesting statement, because for us, we don't think that way. I think of singing with maybe my mom or Grandma Evie, that song called The Old Rugged Cross.
Remember The Old Rugged Cross? And you think, you know, it means a lot to me, and it's sentimental, and it's, I mean, some people wear lockets with the cross, or golden chains, or bracelets. We're thinking it's wonderful because we know what it symbolizes, but for them, what's the text say?
It's folly to those who are in the process of perishing. Paul uses a word here, in this particular form, only in 1 Corinthians, and it's where we get the word moronic, and the Greek word is moria, moronic.
The word of the cross is moronic, literally, to those who are perishing. We're talking about wisdom in this section, and now the people look at it as unbelievers, and they think, that's really dumb, that's really stupid.
It doesn't please me at all. So to tease this out, let me give you several reasons why I think, from the scriptures, the unbelievers think the cross is foolishness or moronic. Number one, and I know you know this, but it's good to be reminded, the cross was a device to execute slaves and miscreants.
This was for slaves, for fugitives, for assassins to be crucified. If you were a Roman citizen, you would never be crucified unless you committed treason. But here now, we're executing slaves, and this shameful, disreputable death?
This is for criminals. This is for rebels. And now we think, the Lord Jesus? You mean you Christians look up to this Jesus who died on a cross? One man said, what would you think if a woman came to work wearing earrings, stamped with an image of the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima?
What would you think of a church building adorned with a fresco of the mass graves at Auschwitz? The same sort of shocking horror was associated with the cross and crucifixion in the first century. This is like a swear word, this is like a four-letter word, the cross.
Cicero even wrote, the very word cross should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen, but from his thoughts, his eyes, his ears. There was a stigma of crucifixion for many obvious reasons.
And you think about that person, had to carry his own cross to go be crucified, most likely completely naked, and he, in an agonizing death by slow suffocation, would eventually become too tired to pull themselves up to breathe any longer, nails ripping through the feet and hands.
Titus Vespasian crucified so many Jews in AD 70, one report said that the soldiers didn't have enough room for crosses and not enough crosses for bodies. I mean, this is an awful, gross death. To be flogged first, there's already a bunch of blood.
Not only that, unbelievers think the cross is foolishness, number two, because, I mean, from the naked eye, Jesus couldn't even save himself. I mean, you're the rescuer, turn your Bibles, if you would, to Luke 23.
No wonder Nietzsche called this the metaphysics of a hangman, he can't even save himself. You're here on a rescue mission, you can't save yourself, I'm not going to follow you. This is not a message for upwardly mobile people.
Luke 23, you can just, I can just sense what's going on here, and you can just get a kind of subjective feel of what the attitude was about the Lord Jesus from these unbelievers. Luke 23, verse 33, and when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they cast lots to divide his garments. And other people stood by, watching. But the ruler scoffed at him, saying, He saved others, let him save himself.
If he is the Christ of God, his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over him, this is the king of the Jews.
And now we see it the third time. Unbelievers thinking, this is the most idiotic thing, you're here on a rescue mission, you can't save yourself, verse 39, one of the criminals who hanged, were hanged, railed at him, saying, Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us. Well, back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The unbelievers also think the cross is foolish, because, can you imagine number 3? The fate of every person, according to this religion, Christianity, the fate of every person is determined based on what they think of this particular crucified Jew.
Heaven or hell, based on what you think about this Jew. That seems kind of odd for us, it's normal of course, we've been taught and we're Christians, but for the unbeliever, no wonder they think it's weird.
2 ,000 years ago, some Jew died on a cross, some people think 30 ,000 Jews died on a cross, why do I have to believe on this one? I've never met him, I don't know who he is. One writer said that, one man dies on a piece of wood on a nondescript hill, any nondescript part of the world, and thereby determine the destiny of every person who has ever lived seems stupid or moronic.
Number 4, I think people think the cross is foolishness, unbelievers think it's foolishness, because at least they get this part, they realize that Jesus suffers persecution, suffers crucifixion, and therefore his followers will as well.
Jesus said in John 15, remember the word that I said to you? A servant is not greater than his master, if they persecuted me, they will also what? Persecute you. Why would I want to follow somebody like that in terms of religious context?
I'm going to get persecuted too. I mean think about it, let me give you a fifth reason why I think unbelievers think the cross is moronic, we can't stomach the death penalty in America, and this is crucifixion, this is the death penalty, this is salvation by death penalty.
In America people can still die, not very often, but they can die in the death penalty from lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, firing squad, and hanging. And there's been a long history of how to kill people, capital punishment from the death of a thousand cuts to burning, necklacing, using elephants, hung, drawn, and quartered, the guillotine, the brazen bull, the Catherine wheel, boiling people, sawing them in half.
Salvation through the death penalty, salvation through people getting drawn and quartered, seems weird. Sixthly, I think this is really foolishness, before we get into the bulk of our text today, I think it's foolish because people can't understand grace and they think it's scandalous.
The scandal of grace. You've seen this play itself out many times in America, the one that I think of the most is Jeffrey Dahmer, who was a serial killer, and toward the end of his life he was called in, he called in a pastor, Roy Ratcliffe, and I don't know if Jeffrey Dahmer's a Christian or not, I don't know if he's in heaven or not, but we do know he did call people in, and he called in this pastor, and Dahmer said, I'm so sorry for what I've done, God help me.
I feel very bad about the crimes I've committed, in fact I think I should have been put to death by the state for what I did. I agree with you, the pastor said, you should have been put to death by the state for crimes you've committed.
They tried to kill him in jail and eventually did, but one time Dahmer said, I believe that the only protective grace of our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has saved me from serious injury or death.
Now I don't like it when I say to myself, how could somebody like that be in heaven? That's the scandal of grace, grace just saves people. Christ's death is that great it could just save Jeffrey Dahmer?
And then you think of another person that people would look up to, Mother Teresa. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She for 45 years ministered to the poor and sick and orphaned and lepers and those that were dying.
She rescued 37 children among other things at the siege of Beirut in 1982, stopping the fire between Israel and the Palestinian guerrillas. And Mother Teresa said about God, some call Him Ishwar, some call Him Allah, some call Him God.
But we have to acknowledge that He is who He is. What matters is that we love. Mother Teresa said, make your family one heart full of love, the heart of Jesus through Mary. She said, no color, no religion, no nationality should come between us.
We are all children of God. When she was dying, her friend said, do you convert people, Mother Teresa? Of course I convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu or a better Muslim or a better Protestant.
Once you found God, it's up to you to decide how to worship Him. We never try to convert those who receive aid from the missionaries of charity to Christianity. But in our work, we bear witness to the love of God's presence.
And if Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists or agnostics become better men, simply better, we will be satisfied. I don't know if Mother Teresa is in heaven. I don't know if Jeffrey Dahmer is in heaven. But you can sense the tension where you say, you know what?
If Mother Teresa believed you could get to heaven through Jesus via Mary, and everybody had to be a good person, and if she died believing that, she's not in heaven. And if Jeffrey Dahmer, although he killed 17 people, trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, if he trusted in Jesus on his deathbed, he's in heaven.
That's scandalous. No wonder people despise this idea of grace. One person wrote, the pastor who went to visit Jeffrey Dahmer, it is the sickest part of Christian belief that their God will forgive and not send a monster to hell like Jeffrey Dahmer, but will burn my loving, kind, harmless, sweet grandmother eternally because she was agnostic.
I have no doubt who the worst monster is. I have nothing but contempt for his supporters. And one other member of the congregation said, if Jeffrey Dahmer is going to heaven, I don't want to be there.
And probably the most reason why people think, the unbelievers think that the cross is moronic, is because it deals with, lastly, number 7, I think it is. Is that number 7? Okay, 7. Because it deals with sin.
And if Jesus died for sins, then Jesus is sinless. He didn't die for his own sins, he died for our sins. It's okay these days if you call yourself sick, dysfunctional, ill, but don't ever call yourself a sinner because your self-esteem might get shot.
The message of the cross means that we are all sinners. Jesus had to come to rescue sinners, to die on the cross for sinners. This is the politically incorrect word, the S word, the sin word, S-I-N.
We don't need therapy, we don't need education, we need a savior. Sproul said, sin is cosmic treason. We need to be saved from our own sins. No wonder the Old Testament talks about sin so many different ways.
In the Old Testament, sin could be missing a mark. Sin could be a breach of relationship or rebellion. It could mean perverseness. It could mean a mistake. It could mean godlessness. It could mean serious mischief.
And that's exactly what we were and that's why Jesus had to come and save us. If I had to summarize all this, why do unbelievers think the cross is moronic? It's because they believe in the theology of glory.
The theology of glory says, here, let me explain it this way. Here's a good theology of glory. We need a king. We just finished 1 Samuel, did you ever think we'd make it through 1 Samuel? 2 Samuel is on its way.
We need a king. How does the world pick the king? Most handsome? Tallest. Saul. That's the theology of glory. Oh, wait a second. I'll release, because it's your custom, somebody to you, so you don't, like, foment over with a bunch of anarchy.
Do you want Jesus or do you want Barabbas? A theology of glory, the world picks Barabbas. Because the theology of glory is all about rationalism. I'm going to use my mind to think through this only. It's all about moralism.
Can I be good enough to get into heaven? Yes, I can. And it's about being triumphant. It's about Judas saying, you know what, for 30 pieces of silver, I sell Jesus. Verse 19 of your text, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.
Where's the wise? Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom.
It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews, they demand signs. Greeks, seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified. A stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.
Well, the first section was more bad news. This is going to be good news. Let me give you some reasons why Christians think the cross is marvelous. This is why we as a body think, oh, this is so wonderful.
We used to be the people that looked at the cross and said, okay, no big deal. Or here's some intellectual assent to it. Or kind of a weird deal that they've got going on. Whatever we said. But now we've been changed.
We've been born again. And now we think the cross is marvelous. My kids know I love to look up words and what words mean. And etymology and everything else. I just looked up a bunch of words that were synonyms for marvelous.
These were some synonyms for marvelous. Wonderful. Amazing. Stunning. Spectacular. Excellent. Splendid. Fabulous. For those in the 60s, groovy. I'm not going to call the cross groovy. I just am trying to keep your attention.
Superb. Breathtaking. Fantastic. Impressive. Magnificent. Brilliant. Outstanding. That's what Christians think about the Lord Jesus and His cross. We don't think it's weird. We don't think it's foreign.
We don't think it's odd or unusual or moronic. Look back at verse 18. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved. Here's the first reason the cross is marvelous to Christians.
Because it is powerful. It's powerful enough to save even the worst sinner. Even me. Even you. There is, in fact, power in the blood. I mean, think about how powerful and enslaving sin is. How can we extricate ourselves from that?
We can't. We're going to have to be saved. We're going to have to be rescued. I love it when Paul said, The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. That Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost.
How could someone like Saul, the Christian persecutor, the Christian killer. How could you take Saul, the Pharisee? Saul, the well-educated Pharisee. Who learned a lot of theology. Who knew the Old Testament.
How can you take Paul and make him love what he hates? How can you take Paul and make him hate what he loves? You can't do that. There's no 12-step group for this. There's no... I don't know what just came to my mind.
I watched that special on Gwen Shamblin and the Weigh Down controversy and the cult there. You can't go through some kind of program that you buy. You need power. You need resurrection power that takes dead people and makes them alive.
And that's exactly what he's talking about here. But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. I think Paul never forgot about that. We've talked about that in Ephesians. On the Damascus Road, he realized the power.
Here's the influential, powerful Paul riding that horse. And the next thing you know, he's on his hands and knees, as it were, begging for mercy of this powerful risen Savior. No wonder, Romans 1 that I read earlier, it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.
There's power. You say, well, I have to understand the cross. And I have to figure it out like a Jew. Does it point somewhere? Is there some kind of philosophy behind it? Well, let me just put for display number one is it's powerful.
It works. I don't mean pragmatically, but it is powerful, and therefore, it works. It changes lives. Do you know what every one of us as a Christian, we used to be a sinner. By definition, by characteristic, by name, by culture, and now what are you?
I'm not a sinner anymore in the sense of name, although I do sin, that's true, but I mean my name now is saint. How can you take a sinner and make them a saint? How can you take a blasphemer and turn them into a preacher?
Because it's power. Christ, the atoning sacrifice, sealed by the resurrection. There's power there. This is the power of not creation, even though I think that's impressive. Can you imagine how God made the world?
World, and it exists. And now this is recreating power. He makes us new. He's powerful enough to forgive every one of your sins, to redeem those who are enslaved to sins, to reconcile those to God. For God, 2 Corinthians 4, 6, who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
When you think of the Genesis account, you think of power where God said, let there be light, and there was instantly light. And now Paul is saying, when it comes to your Christianity, one day God just said, let there be light in your hearts, and there was.
It doesn't matter how sinful sin is. It doesn't matter that God is thrice holy, and sin is bad, and God is holy. But this is powerful. No wonder Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13, indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God.
And the power of God that raises Jesus from the dead, saves Christians. I like what Barnhouse said. This makes me think, Jesus is marvelous. Our sins are forgiven. They're forgotten. Cleansed. Pardoned.
Atoned for. Remitted. And covered. They've been cast into the depths of the sea. Blocked out as a thick cloud. Removed as far as the east as from the west. Cast behind God's back. And God saves unrighteous, self-righteous, terrorists, killers, prostitutes, Mormons, and kids that grew up in the church, because He's powerful.
That's marvelous to me. Number two, the cross is marvelous to Christians, because it displays not just His power, but His wisdom. It displays His wisdom. Well, what are we going to do? I thought God was holy.
I thought He's just. I thought He's upright. What's He going to do? Be like some kind of senile grandfather and just say, It's okay, you sinned against me. It's no big deal. All is well. How can God's justice be satisfied?
His law be upheld? How can righteousness and peace kiss each other, as Psalm 85 says? Verse 24 of your text. But to those who are called, affectionately called, called by the Spirit of God sovereignly, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
We look at the cross and say, Power. We look at the cross and say, Wisdom. For the foolishness of God, verse 25, is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. How can God pardon sinners?
I thought He was holy. The answer is the cross. People think it's foolishness, but it's the height of wisdom. How can God justify us and stay holy? Answer, because we deserved the death penalty. God exacts the death penalty on our representative, the Lord Jesus.
Jesus is the one who was the last Adam, who came and perfectly merited for us salvation by obeying the law for us. And so God, in His wisdom, has a substitute, has a representative. And now Jesus is our captain and Savior, and God looks at the Son and treats Him as if He's a sinner at Calvary, even though He's not.
And because of that work, God looks at us and treats us as if we were perfect, even though practically we're not. That's how God keeps wisdom on display, because He's gracious in His holiness. 1 Peter 2, the stone which had been rejected by men is choice and precious in the sight of God.
This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But to those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone. I mean, God is so wise. Think about it. If you had to get to heaven by works, how many works would you have to do?
Answer? I don't know. Keep working. More. You'd be on that gerbil treadmill your entire life thinking to yourself, I just have to keep doing more. You ever watch some of those funny bloopers on YouTube on people falling off treadmills?
That can suck you into a black hole of other things to watch. But you just watch those things, and I just think to myself, just how dumb can people be? As I'm on the treadmill myself, and then kind of slip, right?
How could God devise something so He keeps His holiness and righteousness, yet still can bestow grace? The answer is the cross. But also then, how do we receive these benefits? If we receive the benefits by doing things, well, it'd have to be a perfect doing.
It'd have to be lots of doing. It'd have to be perpetual doing. But God has so arranged it that even it's in His wisdom that the just are saved by faith. Even that's the wisdom of God. How do you receive these benefits?
Faith. I love the story of Ebenezer Wooten. Why don't we name kids Ebenezer anymore? Jonathan, you want to have about five more kids? Name at least. You're done? Here I raise my Ebenezer. It's a good parenting stanza.
He was an evangelist, and he was in England in a little village, and they would put up a tent and preach. The story goes, the last meeting had been held. The crowd was melting slowly away, and the evangelist was engaged in taking down the marquee.
It is what he had set up at the Linford Brook, that's the place in England, in order to conduct the meetings. And as he was engaged in taking it down, a young man approached him, and rather more casually than earnestly said, Mr. Wooten, what must I do to be saved?
The preacher looked up, took the measure of the man, you're too late, son, you're too late. He said it, the account said, in a kind of matter-of-fact way, glancing up from the obstinate tent peg with which he was struggling, it's too late, my friend, too late.
No, don't say that, Mr. Wooten. A new note of pleading coming from his voice, surely it's not too late, just because the meetings are over. Yes, my friend, the evangelist said, dropping the cord, looking him right in the face, it's too late.
You want to know what you must do to be saved, and I tell you, you're hundreds of years too late. The work of salvation is done, finished, it was finished on the cross. Jesus said so with his last breath.
What more do you want? Sounds like he's kind of a New England guy, doesn't it? The New England evangelist. And the account said, that man was converted that day because it's by faith you're saved. It's not even the faith that saves you, it's the work of Christ that saves.
Third reason, the cross is marvelous to us. Yes, it's powerful. Yes, it's wise. Because God is powerful and wise. But number three, because God receives all the glory and salvation. The cross allows no human being to receive glory.
Our part of salvation is sin. Our part of salvation is rebellion. We know us. Now we come to this section here. He says in verse 26, starts to talk about what God did. For consider your calling, brothers.
I mean, when you came to God, Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, it wouldn't matter, but here, Corinthians. How did you get there? Because you're smart? Because you're wise? Because you're a blue blood?
What's the text say? Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards. You don't get to heaven by being smart. Not many were powerful, humanly speaking. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. In other words, God saves people so that when we are there in heaven, nobody would say, angels wouldn't say, wow, I'm glad that guy's in heaven or that gal's in heaven because they did something great.
No, God receives all the praise. Why did God choose Israel? Because she was the least and the weakest. So he would receive the praise. And I like what the text says here, for consider. Do you see it in verse 26, the ESV?
It's where we get the word to see, to look. Just take a good look. Pretend like you're a bird watcher and you get the binoculars and you sit there and you just look. For years, I've always thought bird watchers were kind of weird.
But I realized, essentially, they're just old and that's what they can do, right? If I can't ride the bike up the mountain, I watch the birds. I know some of you are younger. I'm going to get the email.
I can't believe you offended me, pastor. I'm 25. I like watching birds. But he's saying, just look at it. If you have a blepharoplasty, they're going to fix your eyes, your eyelids. This is blepitate.
This is, just consider. And the world is rushing around. Just kind of think about it. Why are people in heaven? Is it just the smart people, just the powerful people? Just deliberate on that, just for a little bit.
And he said, I just want you to think about that. Now, it doesn't say not any. Do you see that? There are not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble. There are some noble. There are some wise. There are some smart people.
Do you know Lady Huntington? She was a very, very wealthy lady. And she used to say, I'm saved by an M. How is she saved by an M? Because if it said, there's not any noble, she wouldn't go to heaven. But it says, there's not many.
And she was noble, so she made it. I'm saved by an M. The world recognizes certain standards. I always think about, okay, what's the kind of prototypical male? These days, it's probably soy lattes and skinny jeans.
But I'm thinking, Marlboro men. Those kind of people. I mean, the Marlboro men make it in. No, only a few of those do. Not many wise, the text says. Not many mighty, those of influence. I mean, Crispus and Sethasnes, they were rulers of the synagogues.
There are some, yes, that's true. Not many noble. That's where we get the word eugenics. Well-born, well-bred. Noble people. Those kind of people don't always make it in. A few do. Celsus knew this in 178 A .D.
Let no cultured person draw near. None wise, none sensible. For all that kind of thing, we count evil. But if any man is ignorant, if any man is wanting incense or culture, if any man is a fool, let him come boldly.
We see them in their own houses, wool dressers, cobblers, and fullers. The most uneducated and vulgar people. He's talking about Christians. He said Christians are like swarms of bats. Ants creeping out of their nests.
Or frogs holding a symposium around a swamp. Or worms in a corner of mud. That's how he sees it. But that's not how the Lord sees it. The church is just filled with ordinary people. If you see a book called Radical, you can just rip that book up.
If you see a church called Radical, you just think that's not the Christianity. This is Christianity. Ordinary. Simple. People that can't save themselves and know it. People that have no pull. I've used this illustration many a times.
But I like to see God's greatness in spite of sinful people. There's a list of things that have gone on with Bible people. That maybe would keep them out of heaven. Or make them like low in society's view.
Moses stuttered. John Mark was rejected by Paul. Timothy had stomach problems. I didn't write this, but I'm just reading it. Hosea's wife was a prostitute. I mean, try to show up at, you know, candidating for a pastor.
And then they want to ask your wife what's she like. Jacob was a liar. David had an affair. Peter was afraid. Paul was a murderer. Jonah ran from God. Miriam was a gossip. This is an older account. Samson had long hair.
Noah got drunk. And my all-time favorite, Lazarus was dead. But verse 28, God chose what is low and despised in the world. He chooses the things that literally are not. They're the nothings. They're the non-existence.
He chooses the nothings. Everybody wants to have a seeker-sensitive service. It should be the nothing service. Less than nothing service. What do you mean? You're going to offer nothing? No, you're nothing.
That doesn't fill up the ranks. This is the low-caste Hindu kind of language. You know, you don't say people work in your home. You don't even call them people. You call them the help. Jesus saves the help.
Because they can't offer anything. And then lastly, why is the cross marvelous? It shows God's power, wisdom, salvation, and also sovereignty. It shows His sovereignty. Do you notice in verse 27? It says God chose.
Do you notice later in verse 27? God chose. Verse 28 starts off with God chose. This is all the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty of God should make Christians sing with joy. We've learned that in Ephesians chapter 1.
Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, even as He chose us in Him. God's the chooser. God's the one who ordains.
God unconditionally elects. Yes, it's counterintuitive, but if you go down to verse 30, you see it right there. Christian, why are you a Christian? Christian, why are you going to go to heaven? Answer, because of Him.
It's all God's work because of Him. By His doing, you are in Christ Jesus. Alistair Begg has that good video snippet about the thief on the cross, and the thief doesn't really know how he's going to get to heaven.
And the other thief is deriding him, and he says essentially, I know I'm going to get to heaven because the man on the middle cross told me I could come. It's by His doing, because He was dying for that thief.
It's because of Him. No wonder John says in John 1,. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God, the exact same kind of language.
And who is Jesus to us? He's wisdom. What's the text say? Take a look at it in verse 30. Who became to us wisdom from God, that is righteousness, Jesus' perfect righteousness, earned by Jesus, given through faith.
And sanctification. We were for dishonorable use, now He set us apart for holy use. And redemption. We were slaves to sin and Satan and the world in our own lust, and He has set us free by His doing. If you are right in God's eyes, it is by His doing.
And Christian you are. If you are sanctified and set apart for holy use, it is not by your doing, it's by His doing. And are you redeemed? It is by His doing. From start to finish, from A to Z, salvation is from the Lord.
That's why it's called the Alpha and the Omega. And it's all because of God's sovereign. Why was one thief chosen and the other ones not? Answer? God's sovereign. There's a better question. Why were either of them chosen?
And what does this all lead to? Verse 31. So that, as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. I mean, verse 29 it says, let no human being might boast in the presence of God, like I saved myself, but when you recognize it's by His doing, He saved me.
Now let those boast, but not in themselves, boast in the Lord. Friends, you were born, just like me, a boaster. You were made to praise. The fall torqued it, the fall perverted it, but we are made to boast.
And you just see that across the world. I don't care if people say, here's my new child, and look at her, and she's been born, and we boast in that, because essentially that's boasting in the goodness and kindness of God.
But people boast in, I don't know if people will be boasting this afternoon in their favorite football team, because New England's out, and Tom Brady's out. I think Tom Brady's out, out, isn't he? But man, we are born boasters.
I remember having a VHS for the first time, like Betamax, and you could actually do something we could never do in our entire lives, freeze frame it, and go frame by frame, just slowly watching. I remember just slowly watching Michael Jordan do some kind of dunk over people, over and over.
And I would just sit there and go, oh, oh. And that is unbelievable. A couple of you just gave me the look like, if you haven't been here for 25 years, you would never do that. If I die, and you candidate a new pastor, and he does that, don't hire him.
You have to earn this, right? Oh, this is unbelievable. No wonder he says earlier, to see, consider. When you consider, you think, now my boasting starts to happen. You think, I just don't have much joy, and I'm kind of down, and I've got a reminder for you, dear Christian, remember, take a good look, take a good picture, and just sit there and think, yes, I, Mike Abendroth, I know some of the depths of my sin, but I don't know it all, but God does, and it's against Him.
And I've sinned against this God. And I, in fact, will die one day, and stand before that judgment bar of God, and then what? I've got one hope. And that one hope, the Lord Jesus, by His doing, while I used to be enslaved to sin, I'm righteous now, accounted righteous, based on the work of another.
This is why death should not scare a Christian, ultimately, the second death, because we're not going to go there, because God sees you as righteous, sanctified, and redeemed. Why would He send you to hell?
The Lord did that. Here we have this boasting. Oh, this is amazing. This is wonderful. Second Corinthians, He said the same thing. But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord. But what I am doing, I will continue to do, Paul said, so that I may be cut off from the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they're boasting.
The unbeliever runs their mouth. The Christian's supposed to be boasting in the Lord. I think you remember the very, very famous passage in Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 9. I think he understood this very thing.
Jeremiah chapter 9. Thus says Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God. Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might or strength. Let not the rich man boast in his riches.
But let him who boasts, boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, declares the Lord.
There's no boasting for us. Where then is boasting, Paul said, Romans 3? It is excluded. So we want to make sure our boasting, our rejoicing is in the Lord Jesus. We live in polarizing times. People look at something and then they're on one side or the other.
I think we have lots of opportunities to evangelize. And today in our passage, I think we get to see the concept of God and the cross that the unbeliever has. And we know it's the power of God unto salvation by preaching the Word and that's what we need to do.
And for us as Christians, maybe what you should do this week is pull up an old Attributes of God book. Because today we've talked about God's power, God's wisdom, God's sovereignty and God's grace. Bow with me, please.
Thank you, Father, for your Word. May it be at Bethlehem Bible Church that we do not boast in our wisdom, nor in our might, nor in our riches. But we want to boast in you. We want to boast in the Father, the Son and the Spirit.
One God, three persons. Even that we boast in. We might not know every little detail because you're infinite in knowledge. But you have told us in your Word, one God, three persons. So we praise today, the Father, the Son and the Spirit.
Thank you for turning our hearts from thinking that the cross was really, really foolish to really, really wonderful.
That old rugged cross. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.
Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.