Book of 1 Corinthians - Ch. 1, Vs. 11-26 (10/08/2000)

John 19:25-26 and the Question of Who Was at the Cross

In the book of John, the 19th chapter, while you're turning, let me ask how many of you fulfilled your assignment for this week? Two, three. How many did not? And I wonder what the rest of you did. Now, there's going to have to be a new rule made, and I'm not going to apologize for it because it's necessary.

I've asked you before to raise your hand before you speak. It's getting mandatory now because I cannot recognize voices, and neither can I see you very well. So when you want to say something, any time, simply raise your hand and I'll recognize you.

That way I'll know who's speaking, and then whoever is speaking, everybody else keep quiet. Only one at a time. It'll help me tremendously, if you will. Now, who knows how many disciples were of the original 12 now, were at the cross to see Jesus crucified?

Greg? Zero? One for sure. Richard? One. Joy? One. One. One. One. One. Anyone else? Greg, I hate to discourage you, but you're outvoted by one. In the book of John, the 19th chapter, let me read the beginning of the verse 25.

Now, there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son.

Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her into his own home. So John was the only one that we have absolute proof of that he was there. But this brings up another question.

When in the 26th verse, he said unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. To whom does the son refer? Jesus? John? All right. Now, come to 1 Corinthians, the first chapter and the 11th verse, I think, is where we stopped last time.

Divisions in the Church at Corinth

For it has been declared unto me of you. Paul is writing to the church at Corinth. The church has a problem and it's not unlike problems today in our churches. So he is ultimately talking to this church.

For it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, that them which are of the house of Cleo, that there are contentions among you. In other words, he says, I have learned from very reliable sources that there are some of you that are in competition, discord, and arguments.

This Cleo was a Christian woman in the church at Corinth. Paul understood from very good witnesses that there were many factions among this church. And in addition to that, he declares the cause of dissensions because some depend on one teacher, some on another.

Some were so addicted to themselves that they neglected all teachers and learned men, calling themselves the disciples of Christ alone, completely ignoring the teachers. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, I am of Christ.

What does he mean, Bill, when he says, I am of? Okay. They were listening to a interpretation. Now, is that wrong? Okay. Now, while I have you speaking, Bill, how is a Christian to know whether they're listening to the right one?

Then what is? So that drives you to study yourself, doesn't it? Under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Please, yes, Clarence.

I think a good thing to think about is, any message that exalts the deliverer of the message for other than our Lord Jesus is a danger on him, Paul's message. And any message that exalts and has all been glory on our Lord and Savior is what our commitment to the Holy Spirit is true.

That's a good point. Joy? I think it's very important to check it out with the Word. That's why we have so many following different ones today, because they're not into the Word, so they don't know. And we can know for sure if we're following the right one.

Absolutely. But it takes work. David?

What Brother Clarence said brought something to my memory. In the 1880s, our church, the founding pastor of our church, followed a big preacher in the country that had supposedly the largest church in the world.

In the Chicago area, we went down and heard him preach a lot. Sometimes we were there for a week at a time to these things called pastor's conferences. So we heard him preach a lot over 30 years. Many sermons, maybe three or four times a day for a whole week for three or four different years that we went down there.

And he seemed like a great preacher. He was a great volunteer. But reflected with hindsight, there were an awful lot of things that he said that we shouldn't have known about. For instance, we found out that he took his shoes off and walked through the woods in prayer.

We found out that he would put blindfolds on his eyes every week so he would know how his blind church members felt. He would do the same thing with his ears every week. He would pray a certain number of hours a day.

All these little things were just suddenly thrown out in the service, but you didn't notice it. But with hindsight, looking back, all the different things that we learned about how great this man was, he would have had to have 48 hours a day at least to do everything that he claimed that he did all the time.

You made a good point. Those things are so subtle, you normally don't, any time you wouldn't notice. But he was doing a lot of preaching about his own ministry, about his own life, and not really glorifying the Lord.

That's so right, and any orator will get caught up in that if he doesn't fight it. But we're here to study the Lord Jesus, not any individual at all. In verse 13, he asks the question, is Christ divided?

Christ Is Not Divided

Now, after David just said what he did, I want to give you a personal example. A good friend of mine, he is no longer alive. He was Church of Christ, but I'm convinced he was saved, but of course I don't know.

But it really bothered him that Bea and I could be so strong and so sure, so positive in our belief and doctrine, and he was in his, and he says, Otis, we can't both be right. Well, you can't. That's looking at man.

Look at the Word, always. Christ is not divided. He's only one and will remain one. The truth is one. Many, many untruths. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

So he's beginning now to give reasons for the divisions, and he said the, not only the division should be avoided, but all of the reasons that would bring it about. He said that by watching and listening to you, it seems that Christ would be divided.

Torn to pieces. He cannot be the head of two different disagreeing bodies. He's only one. Now, these men in this church allowed one and the very same gospel being uttered by another man, and they would loathe the one and adhere to the other, and it's the same gospel.

Try the best you can to not let personalities enter into it. I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius. Now, do you begin to see how Jesus keeps us from future problems even though we're not aware of it at the time?

Here, Paul had baptized only two. Well, he tells us of another one, but by the very fact that he had not entered into a wholesale baptizing, he avoided the very same problem. Well, he does us the same way, and we may never know it, but just trust him that he does.

There's many, many things that could have happened to each one of us if he had not prevented some little incident someplace. Fifteen, lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name. How many times have you heard the preachers on a Monday morning talk about to other preachers, especially, how many they baptized yesterday?

How many they got to join the church yesterday? How many have heard a preacher say, that's my church, I built that church, look at what I did? Sorry to say there are quite a few. Sixteen, and I baptized also the household of Stephanus besides, and I know not whether I baptized any other or not.

This tells us a great deal. Paul didn't keep track of everything. If you'd ask him to give you the number of converts that had been won under his teaching, he couldn't do it. I don't think that's the business of a church or of a minister or of anyone else, because we really have nothing to do with it.

And when we begin to keep total, then we're beginning to do something, and we think that we're doing part of it. No, they're not ours. They belong to Christ.

Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. So we can't just take no for an answer. Absolutely. Absolutely.

The morning note I sent out today said that, did any of you read it? What did it say? You don't remember. That's it. When you get your feelings heard, it's a form of pride. Think about it. Christ sent me not to baptize.

Preach the Gospel Without Human Wisdom

Now, Bill, that tells me that we best know why we're here, or at least why we're not here, if we're not here. He sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Who's that sitting back?

Dennis, what's the word preach mean? Proclaim. Proclaim. What's the gospel mean? Truth. Truth. Proclaim the truth. It actually means to whisper the truth. Have you ever noticed how you can get everybody's attention if Bill would start whispering to Joy, everybody stop and try to listen?

And it actually, gospel, actually means to whisper the truth. Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel and nothing else. Just the gospel, yes. Isn't that it? Absolutely. Thank you, that's a good point.

So once again we see that it's by the blood of Christ only. But to preach the gospel and that not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Not with the wisdom of words.

Burge, what do you think he means wisdom of words?

To be spoken, to understand. John, what do you think? I'm glad what David was talking about here in that preacher. It's not supposed to be about them, it's supposed to be about Christ.

Wisdom of words. I have something here that I want to pass out to you. Or have someone pass out, Greg. And believe it or not it has a tremendous lesson in it, alright?

I think also, at that time the Greeks, or the Gentiles had a tendency to take philosophical wisdom and study it and meditate and look for, they got a joy out of wisdom and they're relying on their own self and that wisdom whereas the Jews have always wanted to sign they wanted to see why we have it.

So I really think in addition to what I've already been saying is he's telling us that just from trying to rely on yourself and study the words of foolishness and all that without the revelation of God, it's not going to happen.

That's right.

The wisdom of words borders on embellishment. Now while those are being passed out, let me give you an example. We've all heard the saying people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Well, if I was to embellish that, I'd say something like this, wisdom of words.

Individuals residing in crystalline domicides should seldom promiscuously project geological specimens. Says the same thing only it draws attention to the one speaking. Now the picture you have is just one that I copied out of a country magazine.

You know, it said not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. And we get to looking at the oratory, we get to listening to the man. I remember one lady in Pecan Heights made the statement to Brother Barney's wife that she couldn't hear a thing he was saying because he was so handsome.

He was a handsome man. So we too easily were drawn to the wrong thing. Now beauty is fine. The picture is beautiful. I'm glad they printed it. I'm sorry we could not copy it in color. But for fear of being drawn into the unnecessary things in this picture lies Jesus Christ.

And I want you to study it, not now. I want you to study it this week and find Christ in it. Now it'll not be philosophical. In fact find Jesus in it. It will not be a picture of a man but it'll be Jesus.

So you take it home with you and when you have time and think of it, get it out and study it and see if you can find Jesus. Now I don't want anybody shouting out right now that they found it. But it's there.

He says, I have been sent by our Lord not to baptize but to only preach and teach the Holy Gospel and that without words with words of easy understanding so that the very words I speak will not detract from the blessed cross of our Lord Jesus.

Brother Barney taught me lots of things. One of them was when you speak or teach or preach do it in such a way that the youngest member in the audience can understand what you're saying. That's pretty good advice.

Because if the youngest one understands the rest have no excuse whatsoever. These people in this church gathered disciples to themselves and not to Christ. They did this in order to brag. Especially about numbers.

The Cross Is Foolishness to the Perishing and Power to the Saved

Eighteen. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Now John what does he mean? The preaching of the cross unto those that perish is foolishness.

People that don't understand. Were any of you ever in that position? Oh come on now. At one time there's an honest man. I dare say we all were. If we're old enough to recognize salvation then we're old enough to at one time to not want to be saved.

So to those that are not saved it's foolishness. But to us that are saved it's the very power of God. The preaching of the cross. The very power of God. Brothers If you just look at That's right. And why would we not think of doing it that way?

He's speaking of himself. But from what does that rationale spring? The rationale that we have that will lead us to believe that. Okay and it's all springing from the sinful nature with which we're born.

Alright. That's right. The carnal world does. But we that are saved have to believe it before we can understand it. So it's just backwards. Everything is just the opposite. The sanctification of we that are saved is of God Almighty.

But to those that are the seed of Satan we appear as fools. It's a waste of time and thought to them that do not believe. This is the way it should be. For the wicked are predestined to their own works.

So be not angry at those that perish. You're not going to change a thing. All you'll do is hurt yourself. And the cause of Christ. 19. For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

David, what does the word prudent.

Mean? Alright.

He says it has been well documented in the Old Testament that God will destroy the wise wisdom of the world and bring to nothing those that seem to be so worldly intelligent. 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? There are no wise. There are no scribes of the word of God. He says show me the wise man of this world. Show me the bookkeeper of this world.

God has made them all foolish in the wisdom of the world. They have the wisdom of the world in us. They think they know but they don't. You take a worldly person, one that is not saved, he can be the most loving, the most kind, the most sociable man in the world, can love his family, I'm sorry to say seemingly more than some of we, but this unsaved person perhaps knows more about what we should do than we do.

And he loves his family and he would fight to the death for his family but he does not really love his family like he will if he's saved. It's impossible because he's loving with the world he loves even though to him it's the ultimate but to us it isn't.

And you cannot explain that. It has to be revealed. In Romans 11 -33, Jesse would you read that to me please? How unsearchable. Greg, that's a mouthful. Unsearchable. No need even beginning to try to find out.

Unsearchable are his judgments and his ways are past finding out. Now go to Ecclesiastes the 8th chapter please. Richard would you read the 17th verse.

For us? In this scientific world digital world.

And I think we're getting very close to understanding that everything is made up of digits. The let's see if I can get the word right genome. Is that right Bill? Can you tell us in a few words what that is?

That's.

A DNA code. Alright. The.

They are now able to extract something of that and I'm not going to try to explain what because I don't know. All I can remember is the final result of it. If you have a neighbor you do not like and you want to eliminate him versus not for you.

But there is on the market substance that you can purchase. You can go to the internet and find out how to concoct it. You can put it in an aerosol can and spray it either in your neighbor's house or toward his house.

Everyone perhaps will get the sniffles except one person the one that you're after and he'd be dead in 10 minutes now. You're talking about science and technology and the awfulness of it. Just think what you could do.

You can single out one individual and by spraying a short burst of whatever this is kill him and nobody else. That's scary to me. Alright. Ezekiel tells us that God's ways are past finding out. You cannot find out.

You can spend all of the money in the world. You can go to all the schools. You can get the highest worldly brains possible. Marianne there's no way that they can discover God. It's because he made it that way.

21. For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Now please remember he controls who believes and who does not.

For that after the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. For after they have gained all of the wisdom of this world they still could not find out God. It is by the seemingly stupidity of preaching that God has chosen all that believe with a belief that has been given to them to be saved.

It's totally God that does it total. How do you know you're here today. Because this was God's will. How many of you know that. Do you think you're here by accident. Do you really know that. And why do we question so many other things.

For the Jews require a sign. They've always required a sign. And we too act like Jews sometimes. And the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block. And unto the Greeks foolishness.

We preach the crucifixion of Jesus the Christ that it was real and it has become to the Jew a holy thing over which they stumble. And to the Greeks it is a thing of pure foolishness. But unto them which are called Greg unto them which are called means what are they all called at the same time.

Does he call two at the same time. That's not what I ask. It's an individual thing. He may call two different people at the same time. But it be an individual call personal individual. All of his people are that way.

There's no shotgun type salvation. But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Jesus the Christ is the wisdom of God. Now tell me Dennis how is it that the disciples were able to make the statement that they had seen and handled eternal life.

Does he give you eternal life. How. What is eternal life. Eternal life is what. That's almost right. That would pass. What is eternal life. Well I didn't want to ask you this next question. But what is eternal life.

What you're saying is true. But I want you to understand the basic principle of eternal life is Jesus Christ. He is eternal life. He himself is eternal life. That's right. So everything you've said is fine.

It's he and us and we and him. It's never ending. It's forever. It's everything that you said. But I wanted you to get down to where he himself personally is eternal life. This is why the disciples can say we've handled him.

We've touched him. We've we've been with him we've talked with him. Eternal life is Jesus Christ. It is not something he gives you on a platter outside of himself. It is he himself. Small point but very important.

I think it is Christ Jesus himself. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And weakness of God is stronger than men. Because and on account of the nonsense of God is far wiser than man's wisdom.

And God if he could be weak would still be stronger than the strongest of men. For you see your calling brethren. How that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called. What's he mean by that statement that 26th verse

Because we are the way he made us. But do we come to him in our nobility. Do we come to him Diane in our strength and might.

No matter now does this mean.

That a wise man cannot be saved. That a rich man can't do. You have to be poor. You said powerful man prideful man. No right. Let me ask you a related question. Can a well known artist say a singer worldwide known.

Can they bring that talent to Christ. We bring nothing. We cannot come in our nobility or in our might. He says. They're just not that way we come. Everybody is saved exactly the same way and on exactly the same footing exactly exactly now.

If you gain notoriety afterwards in the work of the Lord that's fine but you cannot bring your riches and think you're going to benefit.

God exactly any questions on that. Black people out there working on it somebody said. Just look what God would have done if he had the money.

Yes yes that shows you how far off that's how intelligent man is.

Can we go back the way that Christ came into the world himself because he came in the world. He didn't come in as the king or noble or rich. He came in as a partner as a. He was a humble person. He was on earth.

He didn't have all the stuff we're talking about here and he set the example how he walked on earth when he was here. He wasn't like the singer the notary and all that. He was a person that may have been easier to accept for a lot of people.

He didn't come as a king but he came as a common man. That's right. He was born in an outhouse.

He lived on this earth without ever owning.

Anything going by the.

Cross is given to us. David you want to say something.

As soon as he got saved Jesus came walking by and appalled him. He just started giving money away and so he didn't try to gain money for himself any longer. It didn't mean anything to him it was the relationship he had with Jesus Christ.

That's right. Jesus himself said when he said what he did about rich people. The apostle said how can any rich man be saved. And Jesus said with man it would be utterly impossible but with God all things are possible.

That's right. This verse points out about the noble the wise. It looks like you have philosophers anything else.