"The Benefit of Knowing Nothing" 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 Sunday Evening Worship Service

Well, if you have a Bible with you and I hope that you do, open with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians chapter 2.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

We investigate what the Apostle Paul implies about the benefit of knowing nothing.

I think all my teachers said that about me as I was going through school.

Best five years of my life were fourth grade.

The benefit of knowing nothing.

If you were or are a naval aviator, perhaps the name Doug Hegdahl may ring a bell.

I first met Doug Hegdahl in 1980 in San Diego when I was going through SEER school.

It's the school they put aviators and Navy SEALs through.

It's POW training.

And I was a war criminal, as they called us.

Doug Hegdahl had been a petty officer in the Navy, and he was now retired and an instructor at that course.

As the story goes, in April of 1967, 20-year-old Doug Hegdahl was on his ship in the Gulf of Tonkin.

They were doing heavy bombing from five-inch guns on board his ship, and unfortunately, one of the concussions of the guns stirred him and knocked him overboard at night.

He was never discovered that he had fallen overboard.

And hours later he was actually picked up by North Vietnamese fishermen and turned over to the Dorn Vietnamese soldiers who took him to the Hanoi Hilton, the infamous Hanoi Hilton.

He became, as a 20-year-old Navy petty officer, a prisoner of war.

Now, as a very young petty officer, he had heard stories of what the North Vietnamese had done to downed aviators, Air Force, Army, and Navy, and the incredible torture and inhumane conditions that were specifically that North Korea had and North Vietnam was doing to our men in the Hanoi Hilton.

And so he quickly surmised that the best thing that he could do was to make it look like he knew absolutely nothing.

That he was really a young petty officer that had nothing to give them by way of information, intelligence information.

And he was slapped around and tortured minimally just for a few days.

But eventually he convinced the North Vietnamese captors that he knew absolutely nothing.

And they let him alone.

In fact, they gave him free reign of the entire camp, the Hanoi Hilton.

And they actually gave him a nickname.

They called him the Incredibly Stupid One.

A nickname that he grew to actually love and when came to his advantage.

And that's when it hit him of how he could use what he had convinced his North Vietnamese captors.

It was a benefit of knowing nothing that he was now able to roam that POW camp.

And with great bravery and great boldness, he went around that POW camp and introduced himself to and memorized the name, rank, social security number, the shoot down date, the method of capture, and a bunch of other personal information of more than 250 downed U.S.

aviators that were being held captive in the Hanoi Hilton.

Our government was mostly unaware that these men were actually still alive.

In fact, the government had listed most of these men as either missing or presumed dead.

And now he had gathered all of this information.

And he memorized it with a photographic memory that he had.

He memorized it to the nursery rhyme tune, Old McDonnell Had a Farm.

It's a list and a jingle he can still recite to this day, I've heard him do it.

As a as a gesture, which was really a propaganda move by the North Vietnamese, in August of 1969, Hegdahl and two other POWs were released.

And it was then that he came back to the United States and recited Old McDonald Had a Farm with the information that we were desperately looking for on 250 lost Americans.

Doug Hegdahl, the benefit of knowing absolutely nothing.

He proved that sometimes there is great benefit in knowing absolutely nothing.

But what he did know saved the lives literally of hundreds of American servicemen.

We see here in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and specifically verse 2 of our passage, that the Apostle Paul writes to the church at Corinth that he decided to know absolutely nothing except two things: Jesus Christ and him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

And the benefit of the Apostle Paul seemingly knowing nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified is that not only hundreds, but I would submit millions of people, you and I, our lives were literally eternally saved.

If we think about it, if what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 10 and verse 17, if faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, then for Paul to preach nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified, every one of us had an opportunity to hear, to be impacted by, and to accept the gospel.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

It's the benefit of the Apostle Paul knowing nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Aren't you thankful that's all he preached?

Hallelujah.

Let's read our text.

Follow along with me.

We're in 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

We're just going to look at the first five verses, the benefit of knowing nothing.

Paul writes, and I, when I came to your brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.

And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

We know a little bit about Paul's interaction with the church at Corinth from Dr.

Luke's account in Acts chapter 18.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

In fact, when we go to Acts chapter 17, we see Paul is engaging with the probably some of the smartest minds of the known world then in Athens.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

And it was there in Athens that Paul proved he can go toe-to-toe with those 50-pound head philosophers.

He could hold his own with them.

But it was time to move on.

And his gospel journey continued, and he went on to the city of Corinth.

And it was there that he met and lived with and worked with fellow tradesmen, tent makers, Aquila and Priscilla.

And the scripture tells us, as Luke writes in Acts 18, that Paul went to the synagogue every single week with the full gospel, the full counsel of the scripture, and he shared week in and week out for a whole 18 months.

A year and a half, he continued to teach the Word of God, the full counsel there in the synagogues.

And his ministry, we know, was quite successful.

Many of those in Corinth had come to Christ.

The church had been formed.

Even the leader of the synagogue, a man by the name of Crispus, had come to saving faith.

But we also know that that new church was not without problems.

Later, as Paul continued his gospel journey, he winds up in Ephesus.

And it was there in Ephesus that he receives accounts, multiple accounts, of what the church is going through.

He finds out that there's quarreling, corruption, and even immorality are being tolerated in the young church in Corinth.

So Paul, like a good shepherd, he writes a letter.

We have it, 1 Corinthians, to his sheep, challenging them, reminding them of why he came, what he taught them, but reminding them that they should flee from sin and lean into godliness.

I would submit to you that the scriptures that we just read here in 1 Corinthians 2, they really stand as a bedrock of truth, written from a shepherd to a sheep, and they validate the simplicity and the power of the gospel message: Jesus Christ and him crucified.

That's it.

I want us to unpack these five verses tonight about what the Apostle Paul's message teaches us about the benefit of knowing nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

And we're going to look at three things.

We will look at, first of all, what he preached, what Paul preached, what he preached.

Secondly, we'll look at how he preached what he preached.

And finally, we'll look at what he preached, why he preached, how he preached what he preached.

We'll look at what he preached, we'll look at how he preached what he preached, and why he preached how he preached what he preached.

Let's start, first of all, with what he preached.

There will not be a quiz.

Let's look first of all at what Paul preached.

Look what it says in verse 1.

He says, When I came to you, in verse 1, just a reminder, he's saying, look back at Acts chapter 18, what Luke wrote about Paul's initial visit to Corinth.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

He reminds them again in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 of why he came.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

And he also speaks about how God views the wisdom of those men that he interacted with in Corinth.

Again, Paul proved in Athens that he could go toe-to-toe with those philosophers.

But he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, he says that God turns that whole wisdom idea on its head.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

In fact, what he says is those that seem to be so wise in their own eyes, the things of God are foolish to them.

Paul says in another place in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 that those that are perishing are the ones that are following after something.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

That is not the gospel, that is worldly wisdom.

And so Paul says, When I came to you, I reminded you that the gospel is not for those that are wise and wordy and flowery who get the most noise.

The gospel is for those that are really pursuing after God.

It's the pure and simple wisdom of God's redemptive story.

He continues in verse 1.

He says, When I came to you, I did not come to you with lofty speech or wisdom.

The terms lofty speech and wisdom of verse 1 are really, they describe a certain communication style that was commonly associated with the gifted orators of Paul's day.

Great crowds would flock to hear these worldly men because of the they spoke in such a style of traditional Greek rhetoric that had extensive vocabulary, literally, literary, literary illusions and a rehearsed style.

Today we might say that these Greek orators, they would be some kind of a combination like the silky smooth demeanor of, let's say, a Morgan Freeman with the clever wit of Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy Kimmel or for your old timers or Johnny Carson.

People were drawn to them as if they were some kind of a warm blanket with hot cocoa in front of a Hallmark Christmas movie.

They were syrupy and they were soapy.

We seem to have a lot of them that we're witnessing on Christian television today.

They even seem to fill stadiums, sometimes a place even like Yankee Stadium.

Or they fill arenas in towns like Houston.

You know who I'm talking about.

Paul could have done this, he could have matched them wit for wit, cocoa for cocoa, movie for movie.

But that's not why he came.

Remember, Paul, as a well-educated rabbi, he knew Greek, he knew Hebrew, he knew Aramaic, he probably knew Latin as well.

He had studied under the feet of Gameliel.

He could hold his own in any common argument.

If Paul wanted to show off his intellect, he certainly knew how to do it.

But we know from reading about Paul's life, he didn't come as a philosopher or as a salesman.

He came as a witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As evidence in Athens, Paul was a brilliant scholar.

He could have overwhelmed his audience in Corinth, as he demonstrated in Athens, with lofty speech and wisdom.

While this, his lofty speech and wisdom may have led to a measure of intellectual affinity with those who are of the same intellectual caliber, it probably would not have led them to saving faith.

Faith that depends on clever arguments can always be outdone with somebody who has more clever of an argument or some better orator that comes along.

Paul's point was that the faith is only to be grounded in the power of the Holy Spirit, not in the ability of a man's clever tongue.

And in taking this approach, Paul understood that he was not catering to what his audience may have desired.

Many in Corinth seemed to be put a premium on the veneer of false rhetoric and clever conversations.

Even today, many people use slick or entertaining methods to get people in the church.

They say we just want to be able to get them in the church.

We don't care what it takes to get them in, because then we can give them the gospel.

But remember that axiom what you draw them with is what you draw them to.

So Paul rejected the lofty speech and wisdom approach because Paul didn't really care what other people thought about him.

His reputation was not important.

They say Paul thought he must increase and I must decrease.

He wasn't worried about what other people thought about him.

And you know, much to Paul's delight, he probably would not have made it very well on any of today's Christian television networks.

After all, as far as we know, the Apostle Paul, I don't think, owned a single pair of skinny jeans.

I doubt if the Apostle Paul sported any specific or hip tattoos on his body.

I doubt he wore bling.

I doubt he had thousand-dollar suits.

I doubt that the Apostle Paul had his own website, his own YouTube channel, his own Instagram page.

I doubt he had any of those things.

In fact, think of how his enemies described him in 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

2 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

Here's what they said about him.

His letters are weighty, yes, and strong, yes.

But his bodily presence is weak.

And his speech is of no account.

He would not have made it in modern television in our day.

He just didn't seem to fit the mold of what most people are looking for.

He was right as what he said about himself.

He didn't come with any lofty speech or wisdom.

And friends, you know, I think we need to be very, very careful as to how we select and how we evaluate those who preach and teach the Word of God.

Would we even have welcomed Paul to take our pulpit on some Sunday?

It seems like in American Christianity we are drawn to those who elevate and emulate celebrity pastors.

They idolize endless blogging over solid preaching.

They seem to prefer education over sanctification.

They promote appearance over substance.

They seem to emphasize cultural relativity over scriptural accuracy.

We need to be careful that we don't fall into that trap as well.

Because what Card struggled with, we could easily struggle with as well.

Paul didn't come with any lofty speech or wisdom.

He came to preach only Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Paul continues in verse 2.

He says, For I decided to know nothing.

He decided, he made the decision that he would stay away from lofty speech and wisdom.

He made a decision, he decided to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.

That doesn't mean that Paul did not preach the full counsel of Scripture.

We know that he did.

Scripture tells us he preached the full gospel, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth while he was in Corinth.

And Paul did not look for people's applause because he didn't want them to focus on the speaker.

He wanted them to focus on the Savior.

How refreshing that is.

He wanted them not to have them say, what a marvelous preacher you are, but rather what a marvelous savior you are.

So the Apostle Paul decided to cut away the chaff and the flowery speech in order to concentrate on and only on the sole importance of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross.

It wasn't enough for the Apostle Paul just to tell people about the life of Jesus and all the nice fun things that he did.

But he had to tell them about why he died.

And that for fact that he did die.

Jesus Christ and him crucified.

This was absolutely paramount for the Apostle Paul, and he did it throughout his entire life.

In fact, we know towards the end of his life, the Apostle Paul was worried that this story of Jesus Christ and him crucified would continue.

And so listen to how he writes to his spiritual understudy, Timothy, in 2 Timothy chapter 4.

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

We know that Paul is sitting in a Roman prison about to be headed, beheaded by Emperor Nero.

He wants the gospel to continue.

And so he begins his final plea to Timothy, his spiritual understudy, his spiritual stun here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, beginning with this very, very weighty exhortation.

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

Listen what it says.

Paul writes to Timothy, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.

But having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth, and they will wander off into myths.

But as for you, always be sober-minded.

Endure suffering.

Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Paul said to Timothy, preach the word.

When they want to hear it, preach the word.

When they don't want to hear it, in season, out of season, you need to preach the word.

Reprove, rebuke.

Preach the word.

Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Preach the word.

Well, not only do we see what Paul had preached, what he preached, but secondly, let's take a look at how he preached what he preached.

Look at verses 3 and 4.

This is how he preached what he preached.

Paul said, I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.

Remember, when Paul says he was with them in weakness and fear and much trembling, remember where he had been prior to coming to Corinth.

Paul had been beaten and imprisoned in Philippi.

He'd been run out of Thessalonica and Berea.

And in Athens he had rebuffed and rebuked in Athens.

And now here, Paul is coming to Corinth to share the good news of the gospel.

He preached the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

No matter what they would do to him, that's what he did.

He preached the gospel.

But the scripture says he came in fear and with much trembling.

I don't believe Paul thought that the gospel had lost its power, and he knew that he personally would not be harmed.

Because remember Acts chapter 18, Paul had a vision while he was ministering in Corinth.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

Here's what God said to him.

He said, Do not be afraid, Paul, but go on speaking and do not be silent.

For I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you.

For I have many people in the city who are with me.

God had told him that he would not be harmed, that he should continue to preach the good news of the gospel.

But yet the scripture says he was fearful and trembling.

Why was he fearful and trembling?

I believe it's for two reasons that Paul was fearful and trembled.

The first did not have to do with him, but had to do with those that he ministered to.

I believe that Paul, the apostle, was so overwhelmed by those who may choose to reject him and reject the gospel and the consequences that they would face should they reject his gospel message, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

I believe the Apostle Paul was so overwhelmed with that, that thought, that somebody could be eternally lost, that he came to them with great fear and trembling, knowing the responsibility he had.

Secondly, furthermore, I believe he was also struck with fear, and he was trembling because he never wanted to stand in the way.

That nothing about his life, the sinfulness of his life, or his inability to preach the good news of the gospel would somehow keep them from coming to Christ.

That anything he may have done might seem to be an obstacle for them coming to know Christ.

I can't speak for the other teachers or preachers in the room, but I can tell you that anytime I open up the Word of God, anytime I'm standing before a group, whether it be three or three thousand, my stomach is a mess.

Because I understand the responsibility that I have to open and accurately teach the good news of the gospel.

I believe I share with the Apostle Paul this fear and trembling that somehow that somebody may reject the message that I would deliver, and somehow that I may be the stumbling block that would cause them to not clearly understand.

That's why the Apostle Paul, remember what he said to Timothy, it's the Iwana verse in 2 Timothy chapter 2.

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

He said this: He said, Do yourself best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, because you rightly and accurately handle the word of God.

That we spent the diligent study and that we're bold enough to proclaim what the good news of the gospel says.

Remember what Paul said to the Galatians when they were wrestling with a gospel that was not quite on track?

Paul said, if anybody is telling you, teaching you another gospel, let them be, here's key words, eternally condemned.

Eternally condemned.

So that the teacher of the Word of God, the preacher, the teacher of the Word of God, would be diligent enough to prepare and then present the good news of the gospel accurately, the truth of the gospel, lest they be eternally condemned.

That'll bring you to tremble, and that'll cause you to be fearful.

Paul understood what James would tell us later on that preachers and teachers of the gospel are held to a higher standard.

I understand that.

Thus my stomach turns.

The reason that Paul felt weak, fearful, and trembling was probably his sense of personal inadequacy, I can relate.

Who am I to stand before you, to be stand before the lost and share with them the good news of the gospel?

In effect, what Paul was communicating was, he said, I came preaching simply as a frail, insufficient human being.

I came with fear and great deal of trembling as I realized the importance of preaching the eternal gospel.

But he says, as it is in verse 4, but nonetheless, I preach.

I come, I preach as a demonstration, not of my power, but of the ultimate power of God by way of the Holy Spirit.

If God can use a broken vessel like me, a sinful, fearful, trembling person like me, there's proof that the Holy Spirit is at work and it's not me.

Charles Spurgeon said, we might preach until our tongues rotted, till we would exhaust our lungs and die.

But never a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit be with the Word of God to give it the power to convert the soul.

Those of us who stand before others and preach or teach, we're merely the vessels that the Holy Spirit is somehow working through us.

That we would be bold and consistent and accurate in teaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Paul preached strong but with an understanding of his shortcomings and his inadequacy, so that the Spirit could be demonstrated and the Spirit's power would be glorified.

At the end of the day, the Holy Spirit's the one who gets the credit.

We're merely the vessel that God is using up here, the mouthpiece that God is opening up and allowing the message of the gospel to come through.

The reality of that responsibility, I submit to you, cannot be underestimated.

So we've seen what Paul preached, how he preached what he preached, but finally let's look at why he preached, how he preached what he preached.

Why he preached, how he preached what he preached.

And the simple answer of why the Apostle Paul preached what he preached, how he preached what he preached is found in verse 5.

It's because he wanted the faith of the Corinthians not to be dependent on his ability to convince them, but rather on God's ability to save them.

That's why he preached how he preached what he preached.

He wanted them not to be responding to the Apostle Paul with lofty speech or wisdom, but to responding to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, to conviction of God.

Not Paul's ability to convince them, but the Holy Spirit, God's ability to save them.

Thus Paul says, in verse 5, he says, I didn't use any special style of persuasion or rhetoric.

And we know that that fascinated so many in the Greek culture, so many in Corinth.

He didn't do that so that their faith might not rest in the Apostle Paul, and when he left town, they lose their faith.

But he wanted them to have their faith rest not in the wisdom of men, but rather in the power of God.

I believe that what the Apostle Paul was doing was exactly what he taught in Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

He wanted the gospel and not the Apostle Paul to do the work of salvation.

Remember what the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 1, verse 16.

Romans 1:16

Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

And I think as we study the New Testament, we have to say, Paul was not ashamed.

Shipwrecked, left for dead, snake pit, stoned and thrown out of the city, got wrapped back up and went straight back in.

Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He went on to say in Romans chapter 1, verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

Romans 1:16

He said, but it, it, the gospel, is the power of God for salvation.

Jesus Christ and him crucified.

That's the gospel.

And Paul said, I'm not ashamed of that.

But it, the gospel, not Paul is the power of God to salvation.

It, the gospel, is the power of God for salvation to all who believe.

Friends, we need that really clearly, we need not mess with the gospel.

Try to somehow pretty up the gospel.

The gospel speaks for itself.

It is the power, the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

Sometimes we seem to shy away from sharing with somebody, somebody who's not a believer in Jesus Christ, sharing with them the gospel.

The good news that Jesus Christ in him crucified, we need to let the gospel do its work and sometimes deliver the gospel and then just kind of back away and let it do its work.

Let me give you an illustration.

I recently bought a new chainsaw.

I bought a nice chainsaw, a steel farm boss chainsaw.

It's a manly chainsaw.

That thing takes two hands and then some to get that thing started and run.

My son and I were out the other day cutting on some trees, and for a couple hours that chainsaw was humming.

We felt like we were somebody.

Then the chainsaw just stopped working.

I got the manual out and I'm looking at all these carburetor settings on the low side and the carburetor settings, high side, and I looked at my son Ryan and said, I got this.

I got my screwdriver out, and I'm in there messing with the carburetor settings.

And then I look at the manual.

It's got this big balloon on the side that was written by them.

It says, Don't mess with the carburetor settings.

These were set in the factory by experts.

Allow the chainsaw to do its work.

If you mess with the carburetor settings, you'll reduce the power of the chainsaw.

Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

It, the gospel, is the power of God.

Not Paul, not me tweaking it some way.

It wouldn't be great if it said on the side of Romans chapter 1, verse 16, there was a little bit of a balloon there that said, don't mess with the gospel.

Romans 1:16

In fact, you might want to write that in your Bible tonight.

Put a little balloon there that says, Don't mess with the gospel.

Let the gospel do its work.

Some have said that the great preacher, Jonathan Edwards, actually read his sermons word for word, so that he would never be found guilty of using human persuasive techniques to gain a response.

He wanted only the gospel message and the gospel message alone, and the power of the gospel to bring the results.

Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I think anytime we look at the scriptures, we need to make an application for both the believer and the unbeliever.

Obviously, the scripture is given to us as believers.

All scriptures inspired of God, Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3.16, and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training this training, so that the man of God, the woman of God, verse 17 says, may be found to be adequate, equipped for every good work.

So we apply the scriptures, obviously, to us.

But I believe every time we look at the scriptures, there's also an application for those that are not believers, those that have yet to come to faith in Christ.

Because Romans chapter 1, Paul wrote that even unbelievers are aware of the truth, but the scripture says they suppress it in unrighteousness.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

The fact that they suppress it in unrighteousness does not mean they won't be held accountable to it.

And so I want to make the application both for the believer and the unbeliever tonight about Paul's benefit of knowing nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.

First of all, for the believer in Jesus Christ, I would say our responsibility is very, very simple.

We need to deliver the gospel and let the gospel do its work.

But we need to deliver the gospel.

Remember what Jesus said in Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

He said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

And we know at the moment of our salvation that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us, it indwells us, is the technical term.

And the Holy Spirit also baptizes us.

It means it brings us into fellowship with the body of Christ.

And the Holy Spirit also seals us.

You can't lose your salvation.

And the Holy Spirit begins to gift us.

So when Jesus said to his disciples, that applies to us, he said, you will receive power in Acts 1.8 when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you not might, or you kind of will, but he said, You will be my witnesses.

You're it.

There's not anybody else that's going to be it.

I remember when I went off to the Naval Academy, my mom was not real happy.

It was right towards the end of the Vietnam War, and she was concerned, not my son.

I remember I said to my mom, I just had this spark of wisdom, and I said, Mom, if not your son, whose son should it be?

Jesus said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you, not your neighbor, not somebody else's son, but he said, You will be my witnesses here in Jerusalem, locally, home, Judea, a little further out, Samaria, the remotest part of the earth.

Matthew 28.

Go into the world, share the gospel, make disciples, baptize, teach them to obey all that I've commanded.

That's for us.

You and I are to deliver the gospel.

I am thankful for this chapter in 1 Corinthians 2.

And Paul didn't say, boy, when you deliver the gospel, Joyce, you've got to be a lot smarter.

Use a lot better vocabulary.

You've got to use a lot better illustrations that you use.

I'm thankful that Paul said, I didn't come to you with any lofty big stories or worldly wisdom.

I came to you knowing nothing but two things: Jesus Christ and him crucified.

But friends, you and I are called to deliver the gospel and don't mess with the gospel.

That's why I read in the opening Call to Worship is 1 Corinthians 15.

We ask this as a question when you become a member here at Emmanuel Bible Church.

When you have your interview with the elders, we'll sit down with you and say, tell me a little bit about your testimony and tell me what is the gospel.

We want to hear it.

We want to really hear you be able to tell us what it is.

To be able to fulfill that great commission, to be able to be the witness in Acts 1.8 that Jesus calls us to be.

That's why I love what the Apostle Paul says, and I'll repeat it again, the call to worship.

Because this is what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15.

He said, Now I make known to you the brethren.

Here it is what he said, the gospel.

This is it.

He says, This is what I received.

I preach to you, which I also received, in which you also stand, by which you are saved.

If you hold fast to this, the word that I preach to you, unless you believed in vain, and here he is in verse 3 of 1 Corinthians 15.

He says, I deliver to you as of first importance.

That means the most important thing in the world.

I deliver to you as of first importance what I also believe, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures.

And that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

And that is Paul's sum total of the gospel.

In summary, it's Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Don't mess with the gospel.

Don't use lofty speech or wisdom of the world.

Just preach the gospel and allow the gospel to use its power.

It is the power, not you, not me.

It is the power of God for salvation to all who believe.

We as believers need to deliver the goods, deliver the gospel.

Secondly and finally, I would make the application for the non-believer.

That may be you or maybe somebody listening or watching.

You've never put your faith and trust in Christ.

The gospel is powerful, but you put up your shield and said, I'll do it my own way.

Oh, friend, let me warn you.

Let me be very, very clear, if nobody's ever been clear with you before, that the gospel is powerful.

But you can reject it.

You can turn your back on the gospel.

Every one of us will go through life and have to make a decision about Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I believe it or I don't.

It's really a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

But let me warn you should you make the decision to reject Jesus Christ and the gospel, there's more to the story.

Because the Bible is very clear that it tells us that God has prepared a place for those that put their faith and trust in Him.

He explained it to His disciples in John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

I go, Jesus said, to prepare a place for you.

The only way you can get there, John 14, 6, is Jesus said, and I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And no one comes to the Father but by me.

That's Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

You put your faith and trust in that.

But he's also prepared a place for those that choose to reject the gospel.

And my encouragement to you who may be hearing the gospel preached, and you're rejecting it, is let me encourage you to receive it.

We deliver it, and we're going to ask you to receive it.

At most, you may live 80, 90, maybe 100 years here on earth.

But every one of us is going to spend the eternity somewhere.

And if you choose to reject the power, the overwhelming power of the gospel, that's a powerful decision you will make.

But you also be separated from God for all of eternity.

There'll never be a time when you're up for parole.

There's never a movement from hell to a place called purgatory where you're working off some kind of sins or bad decisions.

It's permanence in hell.

I read as a closing this morning after Stu Weber's message about how we, as the body of Christ, will join in Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

We will stand before the throne of God and sing his praises and honor and glory.

And we will do that forever and ever and ever.

There never will be a time that we will stop.

No more pain, no more suffering, no more sin.

We will always be in the light and the love of Jesus Christ.

We will be one with him.

We will know him better even every single day.

That's heaven.

But set that same clock in a place called hell that never, ever, ever, ever, ever changes.

We're called to deliver the gospel and not mess with it.

But, friend, if you've never received it, you need to receive the gospel.

There is no hope outside of the gospel.

I can't tell you how thankful I am for the Apostle Paul.

We're probably so like-minded.

I have a picture that he looked a lot like me with long hair and a beard.

He probably spent the same number of years in fourth grade that I did.

But I'm thankful that he said he knew nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.

It took me 14 years to get through seminary.

I say that publicly.

But what I know are the underend of those 14 years, Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I need no nothing else.

Let's pray together.

Father, I'm thankful for the clarity of Paul's message to the Corinthians here.

We can always muster up some funny, smart things and witty things and wise things to say and kind of sugarcoat the gospel, but it doesn't change the story at all.

I'm thankful for Paul and how he reiterated that what we really need to know, preach, and teach, and ask others to accept is simple.

Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, and him crucified, the act that saved us.

And Father, I do pray that we will be faithful to deliver the goods, not mess with the gospel, but be very clear in our presentation, persistent in our approach, and prayerful and hoping for a response.

And I too pray, Lord, for those that may be here or are presented with a gospel that choose to turn the other way, Lord, that you would have the Holy Spirit work upon them.

The conviction would set in.

They would ponder their eternity and realize the gift that they have been offered by putting their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Lord, would you bring that conviction and that salvation that only you can do?

We thank you that we have your word.

We thank you for the application we can make.

We ask you to send us with their power.

In Christ's name.

Amen.

Thank you for being with us today.

And now a parting word from Pastor Jesse.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, emmanuel Bible.church.

If you're not a member of the local church and you live in the Washington, D.C.

area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel.

I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service.

But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church.

Now may God bless you this week as you speak Jesus constantly, serve the Lord faithfully, and share the gospel vocally.