Infinite Wisdom | 1 Corinthians 2:6-9

Grab your Bibles. We're going to jump right into

it this morning. Let's open our Bibles to 1 Corinthians

2. I know we just came off a long week, Passion

Week. What a blessing that was. But two Sundays

ago, we first dipped our toes into this second

chapter of 1 Corinthians, and we got a feel for

Paul's mindset in that time that he first came

to Corinth to present the gospel. And we heard

him describe the simplicity of the message that

he brought in that day and the methodology that

he employed as he represented Christ to the Corinthian

people and how he wanted to see people converted,

not by means of human persuasion, but through

the supernatural power of God's spirit moving

in the heart. That was his goal. So if you look

at verses one through five, let's look at them

again. Here's what he wrote in that section.

He said, when I came to you, brethren, When I

arrived in Corinth, I did not come with superiority

of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the

testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing

among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I was with you in weakness and in fear and in

much trembling, and my message and my preaching

were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in

demonstration. of the Spirit, and of power, so

that, here's the purpose statement, so that your

faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but

on the power of God. So he brings this simple

message to Corinth, Christ crucified. Remember

in chapter one, he called it simply the word

of the cross. He didn't bring flashy rhetoric

or complex philosophy, the types of things that

Greeks loved and were used to. He brought the

essentials of the gospel message. And it seems

that it was Paul's goal to simply lay out the

basics and then get out of the way so that the

Holy Spirit could work according to his perfect

will. And he knew that God would save whom he

would save, right? In his sovereignty, he was

going to save, even if those numbers were small,

he was going to save whom he would save. And

the rest of the Greeks in Corinth would turn

up their noses at the message and just say, this

is foolishness. But he trusted God completely.

Now, much of Paul's letter thus far has been

about drawing a contrast between, on one hand,

man's wisdom, and on the other, God's wisdom.

And the Corinthians, like us today in the West,

we have been strongly influenced by all kinds

of philosophical arguments and all kinds of cultural

norms. And the one thing that Paul didn't want

to do when he came to Corinth was to bring a

mixture of the gospel with all these philosophical

arguments in order to try to compete with all

the other ideas that were flying around the city.

Why do that? What would be the purpose in that?

How would that set the message apart? So he brought

nothing but the purity of the cross. And yes,

that was a shocking and repulsive message to

most Greeks. But again, Paul's not trusting in

his own words. He's trusting in the power of

God to save whom he would save. So what he wanted

to do was simply come humbly, he said, in weakness

and trembling, and to draw that contrast for

the Corinthians, for those who had ears to hear.

And the message was simple. You can stand on

human wisdom and all the rhetorical flourishes

and the dramatic presentations that go with it,

or you can recognize the purity of divine wisdom

and be saved. from this wicked generation. That

was the contrast he was drawing. Now, two Sundays

ago, I ended that message with a caution. I said

that if we're not careful, we can find ourselves

out of balance on the issue of the simplicity

of the message, Christ crucified, and the use

of wisdom and strategy in the sharing of our

faith. And some of you guys had questions about

this. You came up to me afterwards, and I thought

it might be helpful to talk about some of the

things that you brought to me. One of the things

I said two weeks ago was this. I said, it's true

that we don't want to put our trust in human

wisdom, but at the same time, if we're trying

to do effective ministry, if we're trying to

do effective evangelism, we shouldn't ignore

the role that human wisdom can play in developing

those strategies, right? In our ministry and

our evangelism. So the question was this, how

do we employ wisdom? And think strategically

while at the same time never watering down the

offensiveness of the gospel and trusting in the

power of the Spirit alone to convict the hard

and save. How do we find that balance? We talked

about how the content of our preaching has to

remain fixed, right? The things that we share

with the lost. The message is fixed, but the

strategy can be personalized to our audience.

And so, yeah, that requires employing human wisdom

in how we approach unbelievers. So, for example,

I know for a fact from Scripture that Paul would

employ a different strategy when he's sharing

the gospel with a Jewish brother versus a Gentile

Greek. Why? Because they have different backgrounds,

they come from different cultures, and most importantly,

a Jew and a Gentile in the first century would

have completely different presuppositions. in

their past that inform their belief system and

how they listen to things. So he would have a

different strategy. But in either case, whether

Jew or Gentile, he would always come back to

the gospel basics, right? Because that's the

only power to save, the gospel basics, Christ

crucified. He knows that the determining factor

isn't gonna be his strategy or his methodology.

It's gonna be the demonstration of the power

of the Spirit, which is what he said in verse

four. So for you and I, and I'll just speak personally,

I'd employ a different strategy when sharing

with a person who grew up in the church or has

a background in church life versus somebody who

has no real context for Christianity. That's

going to be two different conversations. Or witnessing

to an American versus somebody from a completely

different country or culture who comes from a

worldview that I don't yet understand. That's

going to be a different conversation. Or a person

who's deeply entrenched in philosophy or politics

or science versus somebody who kind of comes

with a blank slate. Two different conversations.

So each of those situations is going to require

thought and prayer and having a plan. But again,

no matter how I approach any of those people,

what's in the back of my mind is this person

is not going to come to trust in Christ unless

the Spirit of God works on his or her heart.

True? Does that make sense? Good. So for my part,

I employ all the wisdom I can. I prepare. I present

with as much excellence as I can. And then I

lay out the basics and I get out of the way because

it can't depend on me or how well I presented

the gospel. Let me address one other thing because

one of our Okies came up and asked this really

insightful question. He said, does our approach

in evangelism change with the amount of opportunity

that we have? And the answer is yes. If you're

sharing your faith with, for example, a coworker,

somebody that you work with all the time, or

a neighbor, or an extended family member, in

those situations where you know you're going

to have a lot of opportunity to have multiple

conversations, you're going to have a much more

long -term strategy. What you want to do in those

situations is build a real friendship that is

marked by real care and concern for that person's

soul. You're going to start asking insightful

questions. You're going to establish a camaraderie.

So in those cases, you can get to Christ crucified.

Remember, the message doesn't change. You've

got to get to Christ crucified, but that might

take a little longer. It might go a little bit

slower versus a scenario like this. You're just

sitting at a coffee house, and you have an opportunity

to share. Or you're in a doctor's office waiting

room. Or you're standing in line at the DMV.

Or you're engaging with a waitress in a restaurant.

Or you're volunteering at the ambassador's well

table. Right? In those situations, your time

is short with that person. Your window of opportunity

is narrow. So you're not going to delay in getting

to Christ crucified. Does that make sense? Still

requires thought and strategy. And I recommend

that every one of you have a strategy for if

you meet somebody in a very short window of time,

you know exactly how you would present the basics

of the gospel. But that is a unique situation

that hopefully requires a loving and gracious

approach, but not with a delay. Just remember

this principle, unique approach with unchanging

content. Unique approach, unchanging content.

We share the word of the cross with everyone.

Amen? Okay, let's look at our passage for today.

Let's look at verses six through nine. That was

just a flashback to two weeks ago. How many of

you guys remembered that? My wife did, that's

good. That's super helpful. Okay, verses six

through nine. Four verses for this morning, that's

all. It's loaded. One of the things you're gonna

notice right out of the gate, beginning in verse

six, is a change in pronouns. from the first

five verses, actually from the entire first chapter.

Up to this point in the letter, Paul's been speaking

in the first person singular, saying I quite

a bit. Now he's going to shift to the first person

plural and use the term we. So after discussing

his message and methodology in using the plural

we, what he's doing is linking himself to the

methodology of all the apostles of Christ. who

are representing them among the Greeks of the

ancient world. It's a we, it's all of the apostles,

okay? Makes sense? How all of the apostles would

be handling this question of human wisdom versus

divine wisdom. So look at verse six. Paul says,

yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature.

A wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the

rulers of this age who are passing away. But

we speak God's wisdom in a mystery. the hidden

wisdom which God predestined before the ages

to our glory, the wisdom which none of the rulers

of this age has understood, for if they had understood

it, they would not have crucified the Lord of

glory. But just as it is written, things which

eye has not seen and ear has not heard. and which

have not entered the heart of man, all that God

has prepared for those who love him. So we're

going to simply walk through these four verses

this morning. There's a whole bunch of practical

things that we can find in this passage, and

in particular, how we view the world that we

live in, how we approach people in the world

that we live in. So in addition to changing pronouns

here, Paul's going to make another shift as well.

Up to this point, he's been very clear about

saying, look, this gospel that I bring to Corinth

is what? It's foolish and it's weak. That's the

way it's seen by you guys, foolish and weak.

And he admits, I made no attempt to try to present

this message with typical rhetorical flourishes

that Greeks are used to. He says, I didn't come

with superiority of speech. I didn't come with

persuasive words of wisdom. And that was by design.

That was by design. But look at verse six now.

Know this, we, the apostles, do speak wisdom.

We do speak wisdom. It's as if Paul's saying,

look, it may not sound all that impressive to

you Greeks, right, who are inclined towards complex

philosophies, but listen, I'm not out here peddling

fruitless nonsense. I'm speaking wisdom. This

is real wisdom. In fact, Paul's going to make

the case that what he and the apostles are imparting

as they share the gospel is actually the highest

wisdom of all, the highest possible wisdom, because

it's a wisdom that comes from the infinite, eternal

mind of the very being who designed all things,

including man. How can you get higher than that?

But it's a wisdom that's aimed at a particular

audience. In fact, let me give you this word

here. Those who are capable of understanding

it a group that Paul calls in verse six, those

who are teleos, okay? This is the group capable

of understanding this highest of all wisdoms,

those who are teleos. Now, the NAS translates

it as those who are mature, and though that translation

is within the range of meaning of that word,

I actually don't think it's the best translation

because it can be misleading. A more helpful

translation would be, we speak wisdom among those

who are perfect or complete. Of the 19 times

you find this word in the Greek text, it's almost

always translated complete. So I don't believe

Paul is making a distinction here between mature

and immature believers. That doesn't fit the

context of the writing. The context tells me

he's making a distinction here between believers

and unbelievers. That's the context of this passage.

So when he uses the word teleos, complete or

perfect, he's speaking of those who have been

completed in Christ, perfected by the sacrifice

of Christ. In other words, those who have been

positionally justified in the sight of God. They've

been made perfect in the sight of God. Does that

make sense? So he's talking about believers here.

So to this audience of believers, Paul says,

look, we do speak wisdom because the believer

has the mind of Christ. And the believer has

the spirit within him, so they alone are able

to understand what the Greeks call this simple,

weak, foolish message, but is actually the highest

wisdom of all. We can do that. We, as believers,

have the mind of Christ. We have the spirit within.

So Paul's basically saying, look, we don't have

any intention of imparting this highest of all

wisdom to the natural man in human terms just

so he can grasp it. We're not going to bring

it down to just human terms so he can grasp it

because it's not, get this now, not a message

of this world. It is not a message of this age.

It is not a message of this culture. No, he says,

we speak in words and concepts taught by the

Holy Spirit to those who are spiritual. In other

words, to those who are known by God, to those

who are led by the Spirit, to those who are being

sanctified by the Spirit, to those who are producing

the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. That

is the audience of this highest of all wisdoms.

Make sense? So, this is an important principle

for all of us to grasp. Unless God is doing a

work in the heart of man, a man or woman who

is of the flesh or of the world has no ability

to recognize God's wisdom and embrace it. They

have no ability. Apart from the Holy Spirit within

who is a teacher and a guide, it's just not possible.

Now, I'm not saying an unbeliever can't pick

up a Bible and open it up and read the words.

Obviously, they can do that. They can come to

church and they can hear a message preached.

But if God isn't at work enlightening their mind

and massaging their heart to life, it is not

going to land. It is not going to make an impact.

It is not going to bring change. And how many

of you guys would acknowledge that's sort of

the way you've seen things happen in your life?

You've shared a billion times with a friend or

family member the gospel. You think you've shared

it clearly and nothing. Or you drag them to church,

you know, good job. And they sit through a message

and they heard it and they read the verse, but

What? Nothing. Paul's explaining why some of

that is going on here in this passage. And yet

to us, right, those of us who have the mind of

Christ, who have the spirit, it all makes so

much sense, right? This is a supernatural thing.

It makes sense to us. It's plain as day. For

us who have the spirit, it's the most beautiful

message we've ever heard. Every time we listen

to it, it changes our thinking. It transforms

our lives. We see it as the infinite wisdom of

God. On display, unsearchable, unfathomable,

so far beyond us that even those of us led by

the Spirit will never plumb all of its depths.

That's the way we see it. And what we get in

this lifetime as believers is sort of a sneak

peek of what's to come because the fullness of

this will be known in the age to come. But we

get a sneak peek at it when we look at the beauty

of nature all around us, right? We're just saying

God of wonders, right? When we see... the beauty

of nature all around us, when we see the complexity

and the fine -tuning of the universe, we get

a sneak peek at the infinite wisdom of God. When

we see how God providentially sustains us in

this life, meeting our needs, we see his wisdom,

right? We see it in all the ways that we relate

to one another as beings made in his image. It

is obvious to us. It is everywhere around us

because, Paul says, you and I as believers have

been made. complete or perfect in Christ. So

we see it. Most of all, we see God's infinite

wisdom in all the aspects of salvation. And this

is what the unbeliever misses most. And this

is what should break our hearts, right? That

unbelievers don't see this, can't see this. This

is what urges us to share the gospel with everyone.

All the aspects of salvation, his decree of election,

the incarnation of God the Son. the atonement

for sin that takes place on the cross, the resurrection

and the victory over sin and death. We see it

in God's effectual drawing of sinners, in the

regeneration of the human heart, in the gifting

of faith, in his decree of justification, in

adoption into his eternal family, in sanctification

by the Spirit, in the perseverance of faith that

we will have in this physical life, and the promise

of eternity, glorification in heaven. All of

those things, they come back to the unsearchable

wisdom of God in the gospel that Paul brought

to Corinth. And yet, right, we look at that list

and we're like, mind blown. And yet he comes

to Corinth and the majority of the Corinthians

go, no thanks, doesn't sound very impressive.

No thanks. Didn't come with the flourishes we're

looking for. Sounds kind of foolish to us. And

it makes no sense to us. Why? Well, because their

minds are set on human wisdom, not on the divine.

That's what we should actually expect, and we'll

get to that a little bit later on. Now, to the

fact that the gospel is divine wisdom understandable

only to believers, look again. Paul adds two

more very interesting descriptors in verse 7.

First of all, he says this wisdom from God is

a mystery. Previously hidden, and secondly, it's

a wisdom rooted in eternity past. Look at verse

seven again. We speak God's wisdom in a mystery,

the hidden wisdom which God predestined before

the ages to our glory. And what this tells us,

obviously, is that the gospel message, and I'll

just shorten it down to Christ incarnate, right?

Christ crucified, Christ raised from the dead.

That was not some kind of new idea that God just

came up with 2 ,000 years ago, right? God isn't

making up his plans as human history chugs along.

And the world tends to think that that's what's

going on, that God's responding to us. No, that's

not what it says. According to the counsel and

wisdom of the Trinity, all of this was planned

before creation ever came into being. Predetermined,

preordained before all ages. That means the gospel

is a transcendent form of wisdom. Transcendent.

It proceeds from the infinite, eternal creator.

It's a wisdom established even before man existed,

before he came into being. And therefore, it's

wisdom that's far beyond any human philosophy,

far beyond any human plan or purpose. In fact,

it's something that no man could ever have conceived

of. It is a wisdom that no man could ever have

even imagined. God's that far beyond us, is he

not? And notice the last phrase in verse seven.

Let this blow you away. It was predestined before

the ages to our glory. Now, we're used to hearing

about all things to God's glory and amen and

amen to that, but because believers, we belong

to him, his gift of salvation has its final fulfillment

in our glory with him. Wow. The unchanging truth

that we are going to spend all eternity with

the glorious one. That should be an amen right

there. I mean that. Wake up. That's amazing stuff

to our glory because we belong to Christ. So

that's one additional descriptor. It's rooted

in eternity past. The other one is that God's

wisdom is a mystery. Now, biblically in the Greek,

musterion doesn't carry the same meaning that

we tend to think of it in the English language.

A mystery in the Bible doesn't refer to something

that, oh, that's just impossible to explain.

We'll never know about that. Like Bigfoot or

something. I don't know. I'm a Bigfoot fan, by

the way. Do you have a list of questions you're

going to ask God when you get to heaven? Bigfoot's

in my top 10. Okay, that's a levity break. Am

I red now, hon? Okay, a mystery in biblical terms,

in biblical terms is something that was previously

hidden to mankind's full understanding, but now

is revealed in all its fullness. This is important.

So the gospel was once a hidden wisdom. that's

now been revealed in all of its beauty and glory.

This is an example of what we call progressive

revelation, that God is slowly revealing more

and more to mankind, right? We have all of these

things in the Old Testament that were hinted

at, that were veiled, types and shadows, that

if you were living in that age, you wouldn't

have fully seen or understood. But at the same

time, we know now, looking back, that they were

pointing forward to this newer age, the age that

we're in today, when the fullness of those types

and shadows would be progressively revealed.

You heard Paul talk about this in our call to

worship passage at the beginning of the service.

In Ephesians 3, he writes of the stewardship

of God's grace that was given to him for the

sake of the believers in Ephesus. And he writes

this, look on the screen, that by revelation,

there was made known to me the mystery of Christ.

Okay, hint of that in the Old Testament, fully

revealed in the New. The mystery of Christ, which

in other generations was not made known to the

sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his

holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. And

what's the purpose? To bring to light what is

the administration of the mystery, which for

ages had been hidden in God. Wow. So when Paul

comes to Corinth, and in fact, everywhere he

went, he's bringing with him this previously

hidden mystery of the gospel message, right?

Salvation to the Lord Jesus Christ and who he

was and both his person and his work. And that

message and that truth is not graspable through

human means. It's only understandable through

divine revelation applied to the mind and the

heart by the Spirit. Again, all Paul had to do

was present it. And get out of the way and let

God work. Now, throughout the New Testament,

we find all kinds of things that are said to

be a part of this mystery. Things that have now

been revealed under the new covenant. I'm going

to give you a list of them. And again, I want

your mind to be blown by all these things. These

are all things that under the old system, under

the old covenant, could not have been fully grasped

by the saints of that day. Here's the list. How

the sacrificial system of Israel pointed toward

one ultimate sacrifice. Capable of covering the

sins of all mankind. That's a mystery that's

been revealed to us. How the office of the human

high priest in the earthly tabernacle anticipated

the coming of a final high priest who would minister

in the heavenly tabernacle and become the only

mediator between God and man. Could not have

been understood under the old covenant. How the

Passover. Not only puts on display God's wrath

for sin, but also provides a picture of the ultimate

Passover lamb whose blood will save us from that

wrath. Amazing. The complete identity of the

Messiah who is seen, the servant of God who is

seen throughout the Old Testament, that somehow

the fullness of deity would dwell in the Messiah,

that he would literally be God who took on a

human body and a human nature. That mind -blowing

mystery, right? The mystery of the indwelling

spirit, right? The spirit that's always been

there, but now indwelling believers, promised

and sent to us by both the Father and the Son.

How about this one? That the Gentiles, former

pagans, us, right, would become fellow heirs

and fellow members of God's family, along with

the Jews, being grafted into that tree of promise.

That's a mystery. Any Old Testament Jewish saint

would say, now that's a wild one. The mystery

of the church, right? The church, Jew and Gentile

worshiping the Savior side by side, believers

from every race, tribe, and tongue, all one in

Christ. That is just a partial list of the mystery

that's been progressively revealed to those of

us who are perfect in Christ. Wow, that's an

amazing list, isn't it? Which, by the way, this

is why, and I was looking at the book of Romans

in this, Paul in the book of Romans gives us

these two amazing doxologies. One like tucked

into the middle and one at the end. And it seems

to come from the sense that as Paul is laying

all this out, he is so blown away by it that

he has to break out in praise. In chapter 11,

he just stops and he says, oh, the depth of the

riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable

his ways. And then closing out the letter, the

very last words he writes in the book of Romans

is this, to the only wise God, through Jesus

Christ, be glory forever, amen. And that's how

we should respond to this, you guys. And so that's

my transition into my next point. Guys, can we

stop and talk about how blessed we are? To be

among those who've been given this understanding

of this infinite wisdom that's been revealed

to us in our day? We take it for granted, right?

But how blessed are we? Right? To be among those

who can understand this. Now, I say that, it's

only true if we belong to Christ this morning,

and I don't want to assume too much. If you're

here this morning and you haven't yet trusted

in Christ alone and you don't have any intention

of doing so, then probably what I've shared thus

far has gone right over your head and hasn't

impacted your heart at all. All I can do as a

preacher is what Paul did in his day, and that

is to hope that you have an open mind this morning.

And I can pray that God will work in your heart,

that he will begin to take away the veil that's

over your eyes. And begin to massage your heart

to life so that you can see these amazing things.

How incredible the infinite wisdom of the gospel

is. And if you're here this morning and you don't

know Christ, that's my prayer for you. And I

hope you would pray that way as well. If this

is true, you want to pray that God would make

it real to you. Listen for the voice of the Spirit.

For those of us who belong to Christ, I want

you to see how blessed you are by looking again

at verse 9. Look at verse 9. And the statements

are up on the screen. As it is written, things

which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,

which have not entered the heart of man, all

that God has prepared for those who love him.

Now, do you know that these words are often read

at funerals? It's one of the most commonly preached

funeral passages anywhere in America. Because

we tend to think of those things as, well, those

are the things that we get when we get to heaven.

Can I burst your bubble now? That's really not

what it's talking about. That's not the context

here. Context doesn't really support that application.

It's not completely out of sight because heaven

is going to be absolutely amazing, right? So

it's not completely out of sight. But the context

here, and by the way, Paul's quoting here from

various places in the book of Isaiah. It's referring

to what believers have right now. It's what we

have right now. The point he's making here is

that human beings could never dream up the truth

about the gospel of salvation on their own. No

eye could have ever seen it. No human eye could

have ever seen this. No human ear could have

ever heard and discerned the fullness of the

gospel. No human heart could ever conceive or

imagine of these things. Not the incarnation,

not the cross, not the empty tomb, not the giving

of the spirit, not justification, not sanctification,

not glorification, none of it. No eye, no ear,

no heart. And for the same reason we talked about

earlier, because these things are not humanly

discovered. They're divinely revealed. And God

has now revealed them to us in our age, in the

person and work of Christ, but only to those

who what? Look at the end of the verse. To those

who love him. And those who love him are those

whom God has drawn to himself. Those who have

been brought to life. Those who have been made

positionally complete or perfect. Again, how

blessed are we that God has done that work in

our lives? Raise your hand if you think you deserved

it. You didn't, and I didn't, but God has done

this work in our life. Let me share with you

another practical outcome of this passage. It

speaks to the expectations that we should have

when we're out there in the world. Today, this

week, interacting with people in the culture

and the world system that we live in. We have

to always keep in mind that our unbelieving friends,

they're out there using their senses every day,

their eyes, their ears, their hearts. They're

using all of them all the time. They're reasoning

over things. But when it comes to God's wisdom,

they have no ability to do that. We're told in

Scripture that there's this veil that remains

over their senses. They are blinded from the

truth by the prince of this world. They're actually

blinded by their own fallen nature. by their

own sinful hearts, by their love for the things

of this world rather than the things of God.

They are veiled, they are blind to these things.

But it's confusing to them because they know

about their senses, they use them all the time,

but when it comes to divine wisdom, they don't

have the ability to really grasp these things.

So is it any wonder then that natural men and

women struggle to figure out all the deep problems

that plague mankind? Have you thought about this

before? Have you noticed we don't ever fix any

of them? They just go on and on and on. It's

because the natural man can't figure it out because

they don't have divine wisdom. They can't explain

things like goodness or love or evil or man or

woman either, right? I mean, the world's gone

crazy. When they try to solve the deep issues

of the human heart, they just run around with

their theories and opinions and put Band -Aids

on gaping wounds. Because they can't understand

divine wisdom. When they seek to change the moral

character of a person. Again, opinions and theories,

but no real answers. No real change. Because

transformation by the Spirit is a concept beyond

their understanding. This is why we believe so

strongly in biblical counseling. Because that's

the path to real change. So we shouldn't be surprised.

We shouldn't be angered or frustrated by the

inability of the people around us. to not be

able to see what we see or not be able to hear

what we hear or to know in their hearts what

we know. We shouldn't be angered by that because

they haven't bowed to the revealed truth of God's

word. They don't have the spirit of God to guide

them. So don't get frustrated with it. Expect

it as you're talking to people. It should also

help us to understand why some of the unbelievers

around us are probably gonna make fun of us.

They might mock us. They might blaspheme our

God. They might express hatred towards you and

I. It's because they don't have divine wisdom.

They have a wisdom that's of this age, that's

of this culture, that's of this world. And by

the way, our response to that, when people hate

us or blaspheme our God, it has to be theologically

and biblically sound. It has to be rooted in

passages like this one this morning. Again, remembering,

they can't see what you see. They can't hear

what you hear. They can't feel in their hearts

what you feel in your heart. So our response

cannot be arrogance or pride. It cannot be, well,

you punch me, I'm going to punch you back. It

can't be those things, right? Again, we didn't

deserve the grace that we have from God to see

and hear and know things. Our response has to

be, you know what? I understand that. I understand

why they're reacting that way. It has to be compassion

and understanding. It has to be a heart set on

loving those folks in spite of their attacks

against us, right? Praying that God would effectually

draw them into a saving relationship and into

an understanding of divine wisdom. Amen? Does

that make sense? Good. So how we interact in

this world, this passage really speaks to that.

Okay, last thing I want to touch on this morning,

and this is a caution for us. I want all of us

to realize that God's wisdom is otherworldly.

If I haven't made that clear yet, listen to that

again. What you and I believe, what we subscribe

to, what we trust above all else, is otherworldly.

Paul said it in verse 6. God's wisdom is not

of this age. It's not of this age. On the flip

side, the wisdom of the world that we face every

day, that we operate within in our normal lives,

it is... contrary to the wisdom of God. You can

have so many interactions this week where ideas

are coming at you, concepts, people, language,

all kinds of things, and it's all contrary to

the wisdom of God. What that means for us in

our daily lives is we have tough choices to make

and things to watch out for. The wisdom of this

world that we live in is just that. It's of the

world. That means it is constantly in flux. It

is constantly, it is just temporary in nature.

In fact, in verse six, Paul says it's all what?

Passing away, katergeo. It's passing away. It

means that the wisdom of the world, all the things

coming at you next week, it's all gonna come

to an end. It comes to nothing. That's what the

verb means. It all comes to nothing. So when

you're out there next week, no matter how interesting,

enticing, and seemingly brilliant the wisdom

of the unbelieving world is to you, know this.

Know this, soon enough it will change. Soon enough

it will fade away. Soon enough it will be replaced

with something else. It has no lasting value.

So the picture that Paul is drawing for us is

this. As the glory of God's wisdom increases

over time for all eternity and us with it, the

wisdom of man is what? Decreasing and fading

away and coming to an end. So that raises the

all -important question for us as believers.

In light of that comparison, where should you

invest your time, your energy, and your resources?

In things that will last forever or in things

that are fading away? I want you to think about

that this week. Don't raise your hand, but how

many of us are deeply invested in worldly wisdom

and relatively absent from investing in the things

of God? Be challenged by that question. Because

one's going to last forever. One's really going

to matter. And the other's going to come to an

end. Notice, by the way, Paul's focus on the

rulers of this age in verse 6. He probably has

in mind both Jewish and Gentile rulers. From

the Jewish world, he probably has in mind the

chief priests and the scribes. From the Greco

-Roman world, he's thinking about governors.

He's thinking about philosophers. These would

have been the most powerful and influential people

in society in that day. Today, we have similar

people, right? We have politicians. We have celebrities.

We have these new things called influencers,

right? We have podcasters, right? All these people

that we're listening to. In spite of all they

possess in the world, Paul says, no matter how

intelligent and educated they might be, remember

as you're listening to all their ideas, all their

concepts, they're unable to see, hear, or understand

God's transcendent wisdom in the gospel. So all

the power, the influence, the intelligence they

have that you think you listen to go, that's

so interesting. It's all fading away. It's all

temporary. Because it's rooted in human wisdom.

Listen to what Dr. MacArthur said once in a sermon.

And I wrote this down because I thought it was

so brilliant. He says, there are like blind men

in an art gallery. Think about that. There are

like blind men in an art gallery or deaf people

at a concert. They find their seat. They feel

the frame of the painting, but they haven't got

any idea what it looks like or sounds like. And

so they come up with all kinds of incorrect conclusions

about life. Duh. Of course they do. And yet how

much time do we invest in listening to them and

their ideas versus listening to the infinite

wisdom of God? And just to prove his point, Paul

points to the most obvious example in verse 8.

The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age

has understood. Because look, if they'd understood

divine wisdom, they would not have crucified

the Lord of glory, right? How bankrupt is the

wisdom of man? So bankrupt and blind that they

would murder God in the flesh. Someone who never

sinned, never did anything but speak divine truth.

But again, they couldn't see it. They couldn't

hear it. And they couldn't grasp it. And this

is the pattern, listen guys, as Christians, this

is the pattern of the world. It's gonna go on

until the very end. What did they do with the

prophets? When the prophets came and spoke God's

word, what did the Jews do? They persecuted them,

they killed them, right? What happened after

Jesus? What to the apostles? What did people

do to them? They persecuted and killed most of

them. What do missionaries for the gospel face

today in distant lands, persecution and death?

This is the pattern. They're gonna mock us and

curse us and threaten us because they can't see

and they can't hear and they can't understand.

It's gonna be this way to the very end. And it's

all because of that truth that God's wisdom is

otherworldly and that means to some it's gonna

be a threat to their power and their influence.

So you and I are surrounded by man's wisdom every

day. Are you on guard? Do you walk into your

day on guard for the wisdom of the world? By

the way, I'm not exhorting you to be anti -intellectual.

Don't get me wrong. I mean, I intake a lot of

content every single day. So I'm not saying be

anti -intellectual. I'm not saying you have to

completely unplug from all of the ideas out there

in the world. Here's the question I'm asking.

As you engage with the ideas of influencers and

writers and podcasters and conference speakers

and teachers, are you filtering what they say

through the lens of God's wisdom? Are you filtering

it through what you know is true to test it?

So important. Remember how Jesus prayed for us

in John 17. He said, Father, don't take them

out of the world, but sanctify them by the truth.

What an incredible example for us. Father, I

don't ask that you take them out of the world,

but sanctify them by the truth. Your word is

truth. John 17, 17. Your word is truth. Consider

Paul's warning in Romans 12, so timely for us.

Paul doesn't write, remove yourself from the

world entirely. He says, don't be conformed.

Don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed

by the renewing of your mind. Renewed by what?

By God's word. That filter, right, that tells

you what is divine wisdom and what is human wisdom,

what is true and what is false. Again, none of

this is new for Christians. This is what the

Corinthian believers were facing in the first

century. Every generation of believers has been

faced with the same kind of challenge. So friends,

this week, be careful out there. Recognize the

time that we live in, the time of a billion voices

chatting at you, right? Recognize that the days

are evil. Spend your time, energy, and focus

on eternal things. Recognize the contrast between

man's wisdom and God's and commit yourself. to

diligently, faithfully, consistently reading

and studying the word of God so that you're being

continually exposed to the only wisdom that's

gonna last forever. Amen? Let's bow our heads.

Father, we thank you for the beauty of this passage,

for the way you speak to us continually through

your word. And how practical it is, Lord, to

look at the beautiful theology in these four

verses and to know that it's gonna help us even

this week as we walk out into the world. It's

gonna help us by contrasting your wisdom with

the world's. It's gonna help us, Lord, by putting

us on guard so that we're filtering things well.

It's gonna show us what expectations we should

have as we talk to unbelievers. Lord, seal these

truths to our hearts and strengthen us. Strengthen

us this week in our walk. Strengthen us to have

eyes focused on you and eyes focused on the lost

around us and to respond well for your glory.

Thank you for this time, Lord. We ask now as

we respond by singing again, Lord, that this

just wouldn't be something that we do by rote

memory, but it would come from the depths of

our hearts. Cause us to do that well now. In

Christ's name we pray. Amen.