Folly To The Perishing

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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June 24, 2015

00:00: Well, if you would like to open your Bibles to 1st Corinthians, tonight is the final night in our study entitled Bible Memorization for Evangelism.
00:19: I hope that you have taken the opportunity to memorize each of the ten scriptures that we have looked at.
00:30: This has been a ten-week series, and we're closing it out tonight.
00:34: Many of those scriptures you probably already knew, but some of them I'm sure were ones that you had not committed to memory yet, and I pray now that you have committed those.
00:45: I'm not going to give you a test.
00:48: I'm not going to have a pop quiz or have like a spelling bee, but for Bible verse, a Bible bee.
01:00: But I do encourage you, hopefully you've kept your notes.
01:04: We try to always put our notes together in such a way that you can put them in notebooks and have them, and so that you can always refer back to them in your future study.
01:15: I said tonight I wanted to end with 1st Corinthians 1.18.
01:20: And much like last week, wherein I said it wasn't really a verse that I would use for evangelism, which last week was sort of possibly, because we looked at the verse, that all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable.
01:35: And we looked at that passage, what does it mean for the Bible to be God-breathed, and what is scripture, and what is reproof, and re-correction, and training in righteousness, and teaching, what do those words mean? We looked at all those things.
01:49: And I said, I might not say that to someone when I'm evangelizing, but it's in my mind.
01:55: I know the tool that God has given me to use to reach the lost.
02:01: And it's not my philosophy.
02:03: And it certainly is not my winsome smile or my elegant demeanor.
02:07: It is not those things that is going to win the lost.
02:11: The Word of God.
02:13: Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.
02:18: That's what we use to share our faith, is we use the Word of God.
02:24: It's the tool.
02:25: Well, tonight we're going to look at a final reminder in evangelism, and that is that the message that we bring is to the world a message which is repugnant.
02:49: And the reason why I'm telling you this is not to discourage you in any way, but is to remind you that when you are sharing the gospel with someone, you are not going to out-philosophize someone, or out-talk someone, or out-argue someone.
03:12: I don't know anyone who's ever been argued into becoming a Christian.
03:18: Maybe there is one.
03:19: I'm just saying I've never met the person who's been argued into becoming a Christian.
03:24: It is this message that the world finds foolish, that God chooses to use, and He opens up the person's heart to believe it.
03:40: He opens up the heart to believe something that by nature the heart rejects.
03:49: And that's how we know it's of God.
03:54: We know it's of God because it's not based on philosophy of men.
04:00: And that's how you can tell if a man's preaching the gospel.
04:05: If he's loved by unbelievers, and he's lauded by unbelievers, because it means he's not preaching the gospel.
04:13: He's preaching some philosophy that unbelievers can love.
04:18: I'm thinking of one very famous preacher who is loved by millions.
04:26: His books are sold in the millions.
04:30: And he's really, people like Oprah go to his church.
04:37: I haven't said his name yet.
04:38: I think most of you probably know who I'm thinking of.
04:40: The thing about it is he's loved by so many because he doesn't preach the gospel.
04:52: When asked, do you preach on sin? Well, I don't like to think, I don't like to focus on negatives.
05:00: I giggle because really? We don't want to focus on that which makes the gospel necessary? If we don't understand what makes the gospel necessary, we don't understand the gospel.
05:13: And sin is what makes the gospel necessary.
05:17: The bad news of sin is what causes the good news of the gospel to be good news.
05:24: It's like Ray Comfort said, if you walk up to somebody and say, hey, I paid your speeding fine for you, and the person didn't know they had one, didn't believe they had one, they'd say, that's stupid.
05:34: Why did you pay a fine I didn't know? That's foolishness to them.
05:41: But if you came to the person and you explained to them, you were caught in a traffic camera, you were going to a blind children's convention, I think is the example Ray used, you're going to a blind children's convention, and you blew through, it was supposed to be 15 miles an hour, you went through it 45 miles an hour, they caught you on camera, you are guilty, and you owed a $5,000 fine.
06:02: But I paid it.
06:05: That's the good news.
06:08: Because I understand the predicament.
06:11: I understand the bad news.
06:13: You can't preach the gospel without sin.
06:16: And sin will always be repugnant to the unbeliever, and so the gospel will always be repugnant to the unbeliever.
06:25: And so that's what we're, all this is just setting the stage of what we're about to read.
06:30: Because we're going to read 1 Corinthians 1.18, and then we're going to read the context of it, and then we'll give the outline.
06:38: 1 Corinthians 1.18 For the word of the cross, and this is the ESV, for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved.
06:57: It is the power of God.
07:03: The New American Standard Bible, pretty much the exact same wording, but it does use a small difference here.
07:10: For the word of the cross, instead of folly, it says foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
07:20: Same second half there.
07:23: And then the King James Version.
07:26: For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness, same word as the NAS, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.
07:40: And in the Greek there is...
07:58: That's the reading of the Greek there, and I've given you the Greek words underneath, the words that they fall under.
08:05: And I want to break the statement down, now that we've seen it in three different translations, and for those of you who are new, the reason why I give it in three different translations, and the Greek, is because I don't care how you memorize it, as long as it's faithful to the original language.
08:20: The Bible wasn't written in King James English, in case anybody thought it might have been.
08:24: The Bible wasn't written in 1611.
08:28: The Bible was written through the apostles in the first century of the New Testament, rather than the Old Testament, of course, by the prophets in the Old Testament.
08:36: And we have a 2,000-year-old document, not a 400-year-old document.
08:40: And this 2,000-year-old document came to us in Hebrew and Greek, and some Aramaic.
08:46: And as long as what we are reading in English is faithful to what the Greek says, then it's fine.
08:54: There's nothing wrong with using a translation of a text.
08:57: You know how I know that? Because the apostles did it.
09:02: If you read the New Testament, they often quote the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.
09:10: There's places where you can prove that they're not reading the Hebrew, but they're actually reading the Greek in the New Testament, because they're quoting not from the Hebrew, but from the Greek.
09:20: It's very interesting.
09:21: Reading a translation is not bad, as long as what? It's accurate.
09:26: It's faithful.
09:26: And that's why I like literal translations, not equivalents or paraphrases or anything like that.
09:33: I'm really dry, so I hope you don't mind me taking a drink.
09:37: But I want to break this little phrase down that Paul gives.
09:41: He said, For the word of the cross.
09:42: First, what is that? What is the word of the cross? The message.
09:52: Okay, let's just start with the word.
09:56: Logos is the Greek there.
09:59: It just means word.
10:00: Actually, it's the same word which is used as the title for Jesus in John 1.
10:09: It says, And the word was with God, and the word was God.
10:12: That's logos.
10:15: Enarche en halogos, kai halogos, en prostanteon, kai theos en halogos.
10:19: That's the Greek for, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
10:24: You hear the word logos over and over and over, because that's the word.
10:27: This particular Greek word is used to describe Jesus.
10:32: He is the word of God.
10:34: But in this particular sense, it's more generalized.
10:37: You want to say? You look like you're...
10:42: Oh, as John 1.
10:43: Absolutely.
10:44: Word of God, not a God.
10:46: Jehovah Witnesses like to really twist the Anarthus noun there in John 1.
10:53: I don't usually, if I'm dealing with Jehovah Witnesses, try to go to John 1 right off, because they got litany of argument.
11:01: None of it's good.
11:02: I remember, was it FF Bruce who said, They demonstrate nothing but their lack of understanding of Greek or something.
11:08: Or their ignorance of Greek.
11:11: When they argue for the indefinite article.
11:15: Yeah, the a God argument, which is silly.
11:18: Because then you become polytheistic.
11:20: Yeah.
11:20: So anyway, that was kind of awful.
11:23: But logos here is the word or message.
11:27: You could say the message of the cross.
11:30: What is the message of the cross? The death of Christ.
11:36: Yes.
11:37: I would say I would expand it in this context to include the gospel.
11:41: I would say the message of the cross is the gospel.
11:45: So we could say that would include death, burial, and resurrection, of course.
11:48: So the logos or the message that is offensive is the gospel.
11:54: Now you could argue.
11:56: I'm not going to.
11:58: But you, excuse me.
12:00: You could argue when he says the word of the cross is foolishness, those who are perishing.
12:05: That it's the whole of scripture.
12:06: Because we know that the whole of scripture points to one event.
12:12: And that's the cross.
12:13: The Old Testament points forward to the cross.
12:15: New Testament points backward to the cross.
12:17: And even to now we look back to the cross.
12:19: You could say all of scripture is foolishness.
12:22: But I think that's going a little broader than Paul's context.
12:27: But I wouldn't say it's out of the range.
12:29: I would just say it's the specific context is the gospel.
12:34: The word of the cross is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
12:37: That's the gospel.
12:38: And that's what's offensive.
12:41: Yes, the message of propitiation.
12:43: Very offensive.
12:44: So the word of the cross, the gospel, is to those who are perishing.
12:49: What? Foolishness.
12:52: Now the Greek word, if you look over foolishness there.
12:55: Moria.
12:57: Moria is the same root where we get the word moron.
13:06: Or moronic.
13:08: So the word of the gospel or the word of the cross is to the perishing moronic.
13:20: It's foolish.
13:22: It goes against what they would consider, what the world would consider to be right philosophy.
13:35: I heard MacArthur and I thought this was a funny quote.
13:42: He said, we don't need philosophy.
13:46: And it was funny because Sproul is different.
13:48: Sproul talks a lot about philosophers.
13:50: And he talks about people like Kant and other guys.
13:53: Some of them, different types.
13:55: He talks a lot about Plato and different types.
13:57: I read his book, The Consequences of Ideas.
14:00: Which talks about the different teachings of different philosophers.
14:03: And then of course MacArthur on the other side said, we don't need philosophy.
14:06: At all.
14:08: He said because if it agrees with scripture, you don't need it.
14:15: If it doesn't agree with scripture, you don't want it.
14:17: So he said, so what's philosophy? All we need is scripture.
14:24: So I thought that was kind of funny.
14:25: I kind of agree.
14:27: We don't really need philosophy because what is philosophy? What does the word philosophy mean? It's worldly wisdom.
14:36: It's a breakdown of two different words.
14:38: Philo for love.
14:40: And sophos is wisdom.
14:44: So philosophy is the love of wisdom.
14:48: That's where the word philosophy comes out of.
14:51: But when we talk about philosophy, there are two different types.
14:56: There is biblical philosophy.
14:58: And there is worldly philosophy.
15:01: You know the Bible tells us to love wisdom.
15:03: Doesn't it? The Bible tells us to seek after wisdom.
15:06: The whole book of Proverbs is nothing but a wisdom book.
15:09: And it's designed to teach us to be wise.
15:12: And to walk in the path of wisdom.
15:14: Yes.
15:20: Yeah, we're going to read the whole context in just a minute.
15:25: No, absolutely.
15:27: We're going to read the whole thing because that's it.
15:28: He tells us that.
15:29: Because that's the whole point.
15:31: And that's the context of this passage.
15:33: It's the division over worldly wisdom.
15:36: There's division in the church over worldly wisdom.
15:39: Because why? People want to bring in their own philosophies.
15:43: People don't want to just receive the philosophy of the cross.
15:45: Or the teaching of the wisdom of the cross is to them foolishness.
15:52: So, we have biblical philosophy and human philosophy.
15:55: And human philosophy means it's what I think.
15:59: It's what you think.
16:00: It becomes a matter of an exchange of ideas.
16:05: And often that's all we got.
16:08: You talk to an unbeliever.
16:09: You ask them, you know, who's your authority? I am.
16:14: I am the arbiter of truth.
16:16: I'm the one who determines good from bad, right from wrong, up from down, left from right.
16:21: I am the arbiter.
16:24: It's all me.
16:26: Because you'll say to them, you'll say, well, what about the Bible? Well, I don't believe the Bible.
16:30: Well, what does it matter what you believe? If you didn't believe in gravity, you step off that roof, you're still going to fall.
16:36: You don't have to believe in something for it to be true.
16:39: Your lack of belief in something doesn't make it true or not true.
16:42: And your believing in something doesn't make it true or not true.
16:44: God either exists or He doesn't.
16:46: And your believing in Him won't make Him exist.
16:49: And your not believing in Him won't make Him not exist.
16:54: Your belief in something doesn't make it true.
17:01: That's just profound thought.
17:04: Our faith sustains us.
17:09: But our faith doesn't create God's reality.
17:13: See, people think that.
17:14: I remember one lady saying that.
17:16: She said, well, you believe in God, that's fine.
17:19: That's true for you.
17:20: And I don't believe in God.
17:21: And that's fine.
17:22: It's true for me.
17:23: No.
17:24: It doesn't work that way.
17:26: One of us is wrong.
17:29: We can't both be right.
17:34: So, I'm getting a little off subject.
17:37: It's foolishness.
17:38: The word of the cross.
17:39: The gospel.
17:40: The message of salvation through Christ.
17:43: Who died a perpetuatory death.
17:45: That is foolishness.
17:47: To who? The perishing ones.
17:51: The ones who are perishing.
17:53: Those who are perishing.
17:55: It's the lost.
17:59: And again, that's the vast majority of the world.
18:04: It's a scary reality.
18:05: Every time I think about that, you know, I get a little lump in my throat.
18:09: Because there's a reality that the vast majority of the world, the gospel is foolishness.
18:13: You don't think that's true? You watch, you know, some of these late night talk shows and stuff when the gospel comes up.
18:20: Or the message of the cross.
18:22: Dr.
18:22: James White recently went on a show.
18:27: A television show.
18:29: Wherein he had the opportunity to stand for the Christian view on homosexual lifestyles.
18:37: It was actually dealing with the Bruce Jenner situation.
18:41: And it was on a show called Dr.
18:43: Drew.
18:43: I don't even know if you know who Dr.
18:45: Drew is.
18:46: He's a psychologist to the stars.
18:52: He's sort of like the Dr.
18:53: Oz of the brain.
18:55: Where Dr.
18:55: Oz is the Dr.
18:57: Oz of something else.
19:00: He's a very famous psychologist.
19:04: He's a psychiatrist guy.
19:06: And Dr.
19:07: White went on a show via satellite.
19:10: You know what that means? He was on the television while they had people in the studio.
19:14: While he was there, he was simply saying about the nature of mankind created in God's image.
19:21: And he was talking.
19:21: He wasn't there to bash Bruce Jenner or the situation.
19:26: He was just there to stand for the biblical worldview.
19:28: I was amazed they let him on.
19:29: He was able to present the gospel.
19:31: He was able to present it to hundreds of thousands of people that would not have heard it otherwise.
19:36: Praise the Lord.
19:37: But after he was cut off, because the via satellite thing, they can cut you on, cut you off.
19:42: They cut off.
19:43: And it's just laughter.
19:45: It's just absolute.
19:49: What a fool.
19:51: What an idiot.
19:52: What a moron.
19:54: This guy is one of the smartest people I've ever met.
19:57: And yet, to them, an utter...
20:00: But you know what he did? I don't want to go too far in the story, but you know what he did? He went back in studio.
20:06: He called them.
20:07: He said, you guys talked about me after I got off, and I want to come back, and I want to be able to deal with this with you in person.
20:14: So he went into the studio.
20:17: I mean, he's done debates in mosques in South Africa.
20:20: He's not afraid of them.
20:21: And he went, and he said, you know, they're a lot nicer face to face when they actually can't cut you off.
20:29: Anyway, I just...
20:31: The point that I'm getting around to is the response of the world is what? You're a moron.
20:36: You're a fool.
20:38: And you have to be ready for that in evangelism.
20:41: Bringing it back to the application.
20:43: You've got to be ready for that in evangelism.
20:46: The people of the world who hate the gospel and hate the truth will see you as a fool.
20:52: That's okay.
20:54: It's better to be a fool for God than to be anything else for anyone else.
21:03: So it goes on to say, but to those who are being saved.
21:07: And I like the phrase being saved.
21:10: I don't want to spend too much time on this.
21:12: But you guys understand that when we talk about salvation.
21:17: There's always the already and the not yet.
21:20: That's in view.
21:22: We talk about salvation.
21:24: Salvation comes into us in three terms in scripture.
21:28: There's the have been saved.
21:31: There's the being saved.
21:33: And there's the will be saved.
21:35: And I'm going to deal with this some when I go through my series on salvation on Sunday morning.
21:39: Because Romans chapter 5 tells us in verse 1.
21:43: Therefore having been justified by faith.
21:47: That's past tense.
21:48: That already happened.
21:50: When did our justification happen? Yeah.
22:01: And you could argue that the sin was paid for at the cross.
22:04: But all that's past.
22:07: That having been justified.
22:08: That's done.
22:09: The application of course at regeneration.
22:12: That's when we move from being a child of wrath to adopted in the family of God.
22:17: And that's again adoption.
22:18: All those things happen.
22:19: But that's a past tense thing.
22:22: But sanctification.
22:23: Being saved.
22:24: We are progressing in our conformity to Christ.
22:29: And thus that is our being saved.
22:32: This is why we talk about the fact that we are not perfect.
22:40: Is there anybody in here who didn't sin today? Is there anybody in here who didn't sin at all this week? No.
22:53: And the Bible says what about us when we sin? I write these things to you so that you will not sin.
22:59: But if anyone does sin.
23:01: He what? Has an advocate with the Father.
23:05: Jesus Christ the righteous.
23:08: Christ is our advocate always.
23:11: And we're being saved.
23:12: Every minute I'm being saved.
23:14: I don't have to worry about whether or not I'm going to go to heaven.
23:18: Because I'm being saved every moment of my life.
23:21: There's not one moment where I'm lost.
23:23: I'm not like the Pentecostals who have that kind of up and down yo-yo thing.
23:26: Where I'm saved today and I'm lost tomorrow.
23:28: And I'm saved as long as I go to the altar on Sunday.
23:30: And I don't mean to just pick on the Pentecostals.
23:32: A lot of people believe you can get saved, get lost, get saved, get lost.
23:37: It will wear you out.
23:39: Having to worry.
23:41: We're being saved.
23:43: And we will be saved.
23:45: That's glorification.
23:47: When we go from this temporal body.
23:50: That is a body of flesh that will decay and rot.
23:55: And when this body is changed into a body that no longer will have pain.
24:00: Oh praise heaven.
24:02: Praise the Lord.
24:03: Praise God.
24:04: No more pain.
24:05: No more suffering.
24:08: No more tears.
24:09: No more separation from God.
24:11: Revelation tells us.
24:13: The dwelling place of God is with man.
24:16: That's the blessing of heaven.
24:18: People ask me, what's heaven going to be like? I don't know.
24:21: But I know that's where God is.
24:22: And that's where I want to be.
24:23: That's where it says the dwelling place of God will be with man.
24:28: And so to us who are being saved.
24:33: The message of the cross is the power of God.
24:39: Now that word power has been, I think.
24:45: We somewhat are anachronistic.
24:47: The dunamis in Greek is the word where we get the word dynamite.
24:53: But some people say so it's the dynamite of God.
24:56: Well that's sort of anachronistic because they didn't have dynamite 2,000 years ago.
25:00: So that's not what the word meant then.
25:04: But it did mean power.
25:07: It means power.
25:08: It's God's power.
25:10: It's the message that is the power of God.
25:14: It's not you.
25:16: It is not your wisdom.
25:18: It is not your slick talk.
25:20: It's not your ability to sell Jesus.
25:22: It's the word that's the power.
25:25: That's what we have to get through our knuckleheads.
25:29: Because we got knuckleheads.
25:30: All of us little knuckleheads.
25:31: We got that knucklehead.
25:32: We think it's us.
25:35: And you know how I know that? We come home disappointed when we share the gospel with someone.
25:40: And they didn't receive Jesus.
25:41: As if we had something to do with their receiving Christ.
25:45: We should be praising God that he opened up a door for us to share the gospel.
25:49: Now I understand that if the person doesn't receive.
25:51: We'll be disappointed on their behalf.
25:53: That they're not at that moment falling down on their knees and trusting in Christ.
25:57: But we should never be ashamed of ourselves.
25:59: As if we did something.
26:02: We proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
26:05: That's what's going to save.
26:06: Not our slick talk.
26:11: Our ego.
26:12: Yeah, our ego gets damaged when somebody doesn't receive Jesus.
26:15: And if that's the case.
26:16: Who are we really sharing Jesus for? Ourselves.
26:24: So all that being said.
26:25: That's the breakdown of the text.
26:26: Now let's look at the text in its context.
26:30: We've looked at the language.
26:31: Now let's look at the context.
26:34: It really is a long context.
26:36: Begins up in verse 10.
26:38: And even before that.
26:41: Paul is dealing with.
26:43: This whole section Paul is dealing with divisions.
26:46: He's dealing with division in the church.
26:49: You'll see in verses 10 down to verse 17.
26:52: He deals with the divisions of people.
26:55: Who would claim that they're of one leader or another.
27:00: Says I appeal to you brothers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27:05: That all of you agree.
27:06: And that there be no divisions among you.
27:09: But that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
27:13: Now this is interesting.
27:14: Because later the apostle Paul will say.
27:17: I hear there are divisions among you.
27:19: And there must be.
27:19: Because divisions are who show the true from the false.
27:23: He says that in chapter 11.
27:25: So it's interesting that here he's calling for unity.
27:28: And later he says.
27:29: But there will be divisions.
27:30: Because they're always going to be the false.
27:32: And the false are the ones they need to be divided from.
27:36: So the reason why I'm saying that.
27:38: I'm mentioning that.
27:38: Is because don't ever take verse 10.
27:41: And his appeal for unity.
27:43: For an appeal for a lack of discernment.
27:46: Because that's what people have done.
27:48: They've taken the gospel call to unity.
27:51: And said well because of unity.
27:52: We can't have any talk about doctrine.
27:55: Because doctrine divides.
27:57: We can't talk about truth.
27:58: Because truth divides.
27:59: We have to talk about truth.
28:00: And we have to divide over certain issues.
28:02: There's a reason why we don't worship with Jehovah Witnesses.
28:08: Because the Jehovah Witnesses have denied the deity of Christ.
28:10: There's a reason why we don't worship with Mormons.
28:15: Because the Mormons are the most polytheistic religion in the world.
28:20: They have more gods than anybody else.
28:22: Even the Hindus.
28:23: They have more gods.
28:24: They have an eternal regression of gods.
28:26: Meaning that there's gods all the way back into eternity.
28:30: There's always been gods that create more gods.
28:34: And Jehovah was once.
28:36: Or no.
28:36: Elohim was once a man who lived on a planet that surrounds a star named Kolob.
28:41: And because of his commitment to Mormon teachings.
28:43: He became a god.
28:46: And he populated this world.
28:48: And before him there was another god.
28:49: And before him there was another god.
28:51: And on and on and on and on.
28:53: Mormonism is the most polytheistic religion in the world.
28:56: And I've said this.
28:57: And people get mad at me.
28:57: It's the truth.
28:58: Islam is closer to biblical Christianity than Mormonism is.
29:01: By far.
29:03: Doctrinally.
29:07: Oh absolutely.
29:09: Absolutely.
29:11: It is not the church of Jesus Christ.
29:12: It is not the church of the Latter Day Saints.
29:15: They have a false Jesus.
29:16: A false god.
29:17: And a false bible.
29:19: And like I said though.
29:20: That's why we can't unify with them.
29:23: So Paul's call to unity here is not a call for us to give up any discernment.
29:30: Verse 11.
29:32: It's been reported to me by Chloe's people.
29:34: That there is quarreling among you my brothers.
29:37: What I mean is that each one of you says.
29:39: I follow Paul.
29:40: Or I follow Apollos.
29:42: Or I follow Cephas.
29:43: Or I follow Christ.
29:46: He's saying.
29:47: There are people among you.
29:49: In the church.
29:50: In the same church.
29:52: A true fellowship of believers.
29:54: Which gathers around the gospel for worship and study.
29:57: And the exercise of the ordinance.
29:59: And the practice of the mission of the gospel.
30:02: And you guys are divided by your loyalty.
30:05: Some of you say.
30:06: You know Paul is who taught me the gospel.
30:09: And other people say Apollos is who taught me.
30:12: And others would say Cephas.
30:14: You know who Cephas is.
30:15: That's Peter.
30:16: You know he was.
30:17: He's the head of the apostles.
30:18: Catholics say he's the head of the whole church.
30:20: You know.
30:22: And some.
30:23: The very spiritual.
30:25: Well I just follow Jesus.
30:26: You ever had somebody tell you that? Well I don't listen to John Calvin.
30:29: I just listen to Jesus Christ.
30:32: And so.
30:34: And that's the way it is today.
30:37: In a lot of situations.
30:38: We do have these artificial divides.
30:40: We see artificial divisions in the church.
30:46: That are unnecessary.
30:49: But they have stood for a reason at certain points.
30:53: They've kept certain separations which are good.
30:56: For instance.
30:57: Where does Presbyterianism come from? Presbyterianism is the outgrowth of the Reformation teachings of John Calvin.
31:06: Okay.
31:07: And the Presbyterian church is really built based on the teachings of Calvin.
31:12: But what.
31:13: There's two divisions among.
31:14: Well there's multiple Presbyterian churches.
31:16: But there's two major divisions.
31:18: What are they? Well liberal and conservative.
31:22: You have the PCUSA.
31:26: And the PCA.
31:28: What's the difference? They're worlds apart.
31:33: Absolutely.
31:34: They're different on almost everything.
31:37: But they're still called Presbyterian.
31:40: Which is the scary thing.
31:43: The PCUSA is the liberal one.
31:44: By the way.
31:45: It's easy to remember.
31:46: Because they use more letters.
31:49: It's PCUSA.
31:50: If you're ever wondering which is which.
31:52: And then you have the OPC.
31:53: Which is the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
31:54: And the RPC.
31:55: The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
31:56: There's a lot of Presbyterian churches cropping up.
31:58: But they're all holding on to that same title.
32:00: Why are they all holding on to the same title? Presbyterian.
32:04: It's a form of government.
32:05: Connects them to their root.
32:07: Of their Calvinistic root.
32:09: And that's not bad.
32:10: I'm not saying it's a bad thing.
32:10: But it's titalistic.
32:12: They're all Presbyterian.
32:13: It's the same way in the Baptists.
32:15: Like I said.
32:15: I don't want to pick on just Presbyterians.
32:16: Baptists too.
32:17: You've got the American Baptists.
32:18: Southern Baptists.
32:19: The Independent Baptists.
32:23: Independent Fundamentalist Baptists.
32:26: Missionary Baptists.
32:29: Primitive Baptists.
32:31: So you've got all these people.
32:32: They're all holding on to what? They're Baptists.
32:35: Because they're...
32:37: And again.
32:37: It goes back to their form of how they believe.
32:40: The ecclesiastical structure of the church.
32:41: The members are received through repentance of faith and baptism.
32:45: And that's part of that.
32:47: Believers baptism.
32:49: Yeah.
32:50: Credo baptism.
32:51: Baptism by believers only.
32:53: So I'm simply mentioning that from this.
32:55: Because Paul is saying the church is divided then.
32:58: But it was divided by name.
32:59: It still is.
33:01: Methodists follow Wesley.
33:03: Presbyterians follow Calvin.
33:06: Baptists tend to follow a whole line of men.
33:09: But if you look back at the early Southern Baptists.
33:11: You have men like James Pettigrew Boyce and people like that.
33:14: You know.
33:14: It's often times that is the situation.
33:17: There's a lot of divisions.
33:18: And it's over these names.
33:21: And he's calling for a unity in the church.
33:26: But again.
33:27: It's not a unity in error.
33:29: And that's where some of these divisions in chapter 11.
33:32: He says some of them are necessary.
33:33: Because it shows the truth from the error.
33:35: So you've got to find the balance here.
33:37: I think there's too much division in the church.
33:41: But I think at the same time.
33:42: Some division is necessary.
33:44: I think we've lost balance.
33:46: We've become so imbalanced.
33:47: That now you go down the street.
33:49: And there's every church.
33:51: There is no unity anymore.
33:52: You've got the church of the ladder up to heaven number one.
33:55: And then you go a little further.
33:56: And you've got the church of the ladder up to heaven number two.
33:58: Because they split off from the church of the ladder up to heaven number one.
34:01: Because they weren't happy.
34:02: You heard about the guy who got found on the desert island with the three huts.
34:05: Right? He was found on the desert island.
34:08: He had three huts.
34:10: And they said, well, what are the three huts? He said, well, this one is my home.
34:13: And they said, well, what is that? This guy is by himself.
34:15: He said, well, what's the second one? He said, it's my church.
34:17: They said, well, what's the third one? He said, that's the church I used to go to.
34:23: I just couldn't stand it anymore.
34:25: So we divide and we separate.
34:27: And there is a lot of separation.
34:29: That's why I like that we joined FIRE last year.
34:33: FIRE is the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals.
34:36: And we didn't join them just because we love snappy names.
34:39: But we love that we joined them because we agree that the church should be in fellowship.
34:44: And these local bodies, which we call churches, the local church, is part of the universal church.
34:49: It's part of the church worldwide.
34:51: And we need to be connected with one another, working out missionary endeavors, things like that, as the body of Christ together.
34:59: Sharing resources, sharing opportunities, ministering with one another.
35:23: Yes? Yeah, we identify ourselves as Reformed.
35:27: But we have the caveat that we would identify ourselves as Baptist, not Presbyterian.
35:37: Because the Reformed church, historically, identifies more with the Presbyterian movement.
35:47: But Reformed, Baptist rather, the first major Baptist confession of faith, I think it was 1644.
36:01: The second major Baptist confession of faith, which was written, was in 1689.
36:07: 1689, the second London Baptist confession of faith was produced by men who would identify themselves as Baptists.
36:15: And it was very Reformed, other than the fact that it taught Believer's Baptism in a little different ecclesiology, a little different structure of the church.
36:25: That's where we would really fall in line as a church, would be very close to what the 1689 taught.
36:31: We differ in a few small areas, but that confession would be very close to where we would be.
36:37: So we would identify Reformed Baptist, would be the identification, because we're Reformed in our belief of salvation.
36:45: We're Baptistic in our belief of how a person is to be immersed in water when they receive the forgiveness of sins and repentance.
36:54: So that's how we would identify ourselves.
36:56: And we do so because we believe it's biblical.
36:59: Not just because we want to fall into a camp, but we believe that those things are true.
37:02: We would deny, as a church, the practice of Infant Baptism, so we would not fall into the classic camp of the Reformed Presbyterians, or maybe the Dutch Reformed.
37:21: Tip, I don't know any that don't.
37:23: I could be wrong.
37:24: I don't want to say absolute, but I don't, I would say, yeah, yeah, yeah.
37:31: So yes, it's part of Presbyterianism is Infant Baptism.
37:34: All right, so I kind of got off a little bit there.
37:37: Thirteen, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.
37:51: I did baptize also the household of Stephanus.
37:54: Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.
37:57: I love this about Scripture, by the way, just throwing out a quick note, the fact that Paul is sort of rambling in a sense.
38:03: He's saying, well, you know, I said I only baptized Crispus, but I actually also baptized Stephanus.
38:08: And if I did any more, just no, I don't want to leave anybody out.
38:13: But I, and here's what's cool about this, it proves, and I would argue this with a Church of Christ person, because they believe in baptism and regeneration.
38:21: It proves that the baptism is not the gospel.
38:24: Because he goes on to say, he says, for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to do what? Preach the gospel.
38:31: They believe baptism is part of the gospel.
38:33: You have to be baptized to be saved.
38:36: Paul said, I didn't go baptizing, I went preaching.
38:43: Church of Christ would argue, there's a lot though.
38:48: Roman Catholicism would teach that, yes.
38:50: And he goes on to say, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
38:55: Why did he mention that? He said, I was preaching the truth, I was preaching the cross, I was preaching the gospel.
39:01: Not with eloquent words.
39:06: Because if that were the case, if it was all about me, if it was all about my eloquence, if it was all about my gift of speaking, then people could say I was saving people.
39:17: And the cross would be robbed of its power.
39:20: But the truth is, I don't have any, I don't have any gift in this at all.
39:25: It's all the gospel.
39:28: It's the power of God.
39:29: And that's when he goes on to say, for the word of the cross is full of folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God.
39:36: And he goes on to verse 19, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.
39:44: 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? That's just a powerful thought.
39:57: Just the idea that all of these philosophers, your Richard Dawkinses, your Christopher Hitchens, all these guys who just make it their business to laugh at the word of God, and to call God names, and to mock God, and yet the apostle Paul 2,000 years ago says, where are the wisdom? Where are these guys? Where is the debater of this age? All of them fall flat in the face of the gospel.
40:21: Verse 21, 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.
40:32: For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.
40:37: A stumbling block to Jews and folly to the Gentiles, but to those who are the called, very important phrase there, those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
40:52: For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
40:56: For consider your calling, brothers, not many of you were wise according to the worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
41:04: I like the fact that he says not many, not many, not many.
41:06: He doesn't say not any, not any, not any.
41:10: The reason why I say that is because there's an idea, I think, among some that if you are of noble birth, if you are of having been born into maybe a higher status as far as socially, that, you know, it's impossible to be saved.
41:23: Some people take that term where Jesus said, you know, it's harder for the camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.
41:29: It doesn't mean it's impossible, it just means it's hard because they've got to humble themselves.
41:33: It's just like the fact that he says not many, he didn't say not any.
41:37: Just thought I'd throw that out there.
41:39: For the foolishness of God, rather, verse 27, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
41:48: God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
41:51: God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
42:00: And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
42:08: What is Jesus to us? Read that again.
42:12: He became to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
42:19: All that we have is wrapped up in Christ.
42:24: Our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, everything is in Christ.
42:29: He became that to us.
42:31: We find it nowhere else and in no one else.
42:35: So that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.
42:39: When we tell people that we're saved, we don't say, I had this wonderful spiritual experience whereby I came to myself and I understood the truth and I came to...
42:49: No, Christ saved me.
42:53: And if I boast in anything, I boast in what's been done for me, not in what I have done for me.
43:01: All right, let me give you the outline now.
43:07: The message of the cross is not actually foolish, but rather it is perceived as foolishness by those who do not believe.
43:21: And that says believer, but it should say believe.
43:23: That's a typo, so I'm sorry.
43:26: The message of the cross isn't really foolish, especially if you think of it in a legal context.
43:34: We are debtors to a righteous God.
43:37: God who is righteous is bound by His justice to punish us who are indebted to Him.
43:44: And He has this wrath that needs to be poured out.
43:50: Christ loves us.
43:51: He willingly takes the wrath that we deserve on Himself.
43:54: And God credits our sin to Him and credits His righteousness to us.
44:00: And in a legal sense, it is very simple.
44:04: Substitutionary atonement or what we call penal substitutionary atonement, PSA.
44:11: That's not public service announcement.
44:12: Penal substitutionary atonement.
44:14: The penalty that I deserve was placed on the substitute whereby the atonement was made between God and I.
44:20: The atonement, the unity which was lost was gained through the atonement.
44:25: So that's a simple thing to understand.
44:28: It's not foolish.
44:32: The reason why I'm saying this is because when Paul says the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, he's not saying the message is dumb.
44:38: He's not saying it's foolish.
44:40: He's saying it's perceived as foolish because why? And this is my second one.
44:44: Because the cross offends unbelievers because it exposes their sinful condition.
44:50: That's why it's foolish.
44:52: Because to understand the cross, you have to understand your sin.
44:57: And the person in the world that is told you are not a good person, you are a sinful person, responds, that's ludicrous.
45:06: I know myself and if there's anything I know about myself, it's that I'm a good man.
45:13: And so it's foolish to tell me that God would punish me.
45:19: What is the old saying? Every man believes in hell, but every man also believes he's good enough to get out of it.
45:28: No man really denies hell.
45:30: He knows it's there, but he believes himself good enough to not need to go.
45:36: And so when you tell a man that he deserves to go to hell because of his sin, when you tell a man that his sin warrants hell, what does he say? You're a fool! So the message becomes foolishness because of the perception.
45:54: And number three, the power of the cross is recognized only by those who understand their desperate need of a savior.
46:05: You see, it's the man who recognizes his sin that recognizes also his need for a savior.
46:11: And it's the man who recognizes his need for a savior who no longer sees the cross as a foolish thing, but sees the cross for what it is, a thing of beauty, and a thing of power, and a thing which establishes our right standing with God.
46:28: Yes, sir? I guess where I can't, you know, I just can't believe this.
47:00: The only way that you can really understand that is knowing that Christ becomes sin on that cross for you to keep you from doing it.
47:10: And that it is only through his death on the cross that you can be saved, because he was the only one that was perfect and sinless.
47:21: So that, to me, it just comes down to satisfying the wrath.
47:30: And I would, yeah, and I would step, and I would say that that adds to the foolishness.
47:35: Because not only is it foolish for a man to, when he says, you're calling me a sinner, that's to him foolish.
47:42: But then you're saying that my sin is so bad that God had to punish someone in my place, that God was willing to punish his own son in my place.
47:50: How foolish is that to the unbeliever? It's perceived as being foolish.
47:57: Let me end with this thought.
47:59: This is from Gordon Fee in his commentary on 1 Corinthians.
48:04: From the standpoint of his new position in Christ, Paul, with this sentence, that is verse 18, sets forth the two basic groups of humankind.
48:17: Formerly, as a Jew, it was Jew and Gentile.
48:20: Just as for the Greco-Roman, it was Greek, Roman, and barbarian.
48:24: Now, it is us who are being saved, and those who are perishing.
48:30: The former groups, Jew and Gentile, continue to exist.
48:33: Indeed, in verse 22, they will serve as representatives for the two most common human idolatries.
48:39: But apart from Christ, they now belong to the perishing.
48:45: You see, before the cross, there was Jew and Gentile.
48:49: After the cross, there are those who are in Christ, and those who are not.
48:55: Whether they be Jew or Gentile, they will be saved either in Christ, or they will be saved not at all.
49:04: Alright, well I hope this series has been helpful for you.
49:08: I hope it's been beneficial for you.
49:10: And I hope that it will encourage you to be more proactive in sharing your faith.
49:16: Let us pray.
49:18: Father, thank you for the opportunity to study.
49:21: I pray that we have been faithful to the Word tonight.
49:25: I pray that we have been useful, Lord, in learning, so that we might be even more useful on the mission field.
49:36: As we go to our jobs or into our communities, or day by day, meeting new people, help us to be more proactive, knowing that the message of the Gospel is what saves souls, and that we are ambassadors who are called to bring that message to the world.
49:55: We thank you for that call.
49:57: In Jesus' name we pray.
49:59: Amen.