DECEMBER 29, 2024 - "Christ Crucified" 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.

Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 am.

You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.

We hope you enjoy.

God bless.

This morning we're going to be in 1 Corinthians, chapter 2.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

If you have your Bible, you can turn there.

A little over a year ago I preached here in view of a call to become the pastor here at DeSoto Hills and that Sunday morning we preached from 1 Corinthians, chapter 1.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

I told you as part of that service, I told you part of my story, kind of what God has been teaching me and showing me what he had been showing me for really about the three years prior to that.

It all began on January the 6th.

Well, not all began.

This part of the story, I guess Really kind of God revealed his moving and where he was working in me on January the 6th of 2021.

Many of you recognize that date.

You know what happened that day.

It's the day that rioters went into the Capitol building and I told you that day I wasn't going to preach on politics and I'm still not planning on preaching on politics.

But I need you to just hear this part of the story as part of my story, because January the 6th for me it really doesn't center around that.

I just remember at the end of that day, that night, I was getting ready for settling down for bed and I was sitting in my bed and Amber and the kids were in other rooms, and so it was just me there with my thoughts, thinking through the day, thinking through all that had transpired, thinking through what was still transpiring.

And I happened to at that point I was still on Facebook Not anymore, but I was at that time and I was scrolling through Facebook Not anymore, but I was at that time and I was scrolling through Facebook that day and just reading comments on Facebook, and what I found as I was reading these comments, is people were there was no really conversations going on on Facebook that night.

There was a lot of blaming, there was a lot of name calling, but there was not a lot of grace, there was not a lot of compassion, there was not a lot of love happening that evening.

And so I began to ask my question, ask this question to myself Grant, do I need to say something as a minister at DeSoto Hills Baptist Church?

Do I need to wade off into these waters?

Is there something that I need to say?

Is there something that I need to do?

And as I sat there and as I pondered and as I prayed and as I asked God for wisdom, he really led me to 1 Corinthians.

He led me to chapters 1 and chapter 2.

Because here's what he said the basis of what Paul had done is he had come not with wise words, but he had come to preach Christ and Christ crucified.

And as I pondered that and as the Spirit began to work in my life and as he began to unfold this in my life, it really built in me this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

I mean, I can have opinions on other stuff, and I do, but from here what is supposed to happen is Christ crucified is supposed to be preached.

And so I began to do that.

And a year ago, when we were in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, paul was telling why he came to Corinth and when he came to Corinth, what he was going to do.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

He was talking to a city that was a very secular city and there were Jews there and there were Gentiles and they were both in the church.

But but that that society, it was not.

Even even the Jews were not very super religious Jews.

It was.

It was a very secular city and Paul had come and what he was telling them is God he had made what he said was the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.

Here's what he said On God's worst day, which he doesn't have worst days, just in case you're wondering.

But if he did, if God had worst days on his very worst day of having wisdom, it far exceeds the very best day of wisdom that we could have, a wisdom that we could have.

The wisdom of God exceeds the foolishness of God, exceeds the wisdom of man.

And so what?

Paul was coming and he was saying I'm not coming trying to give you human wisdom, I'm coming to preach Christ and him crucified.

And to this society, listen, the Jews couldn't believe that God would die, much less on a cross, and be cursed.

That was foolishness to them, to the Gentiles who were in the church.

They couldn't believe that a God would die, period, that was foolishness to them.

But what Paul said was the foolishness of man.

Oh, while we think it's foolishness, the wisdom of God is that Christ came and he was crucified.

And Paul said I've come to tell you about that.

So that was chapter 1.

Well, chapter 2.

When Paul comes into chapter 2, where we're going to be today, while he had told them what he was coming to do was to preach Christ crucified.

What he does in chapter 2 is he tells them how he's going to do that, how he's going to preach Christ crucified.

What's going to happen, and so what we're going to see in this passage today is is paul?

He expressed his dependence on the spirit of god, the holy spirit, as he preached christ crucified.

And today, as as we look at this passage, I hope we can understand and I hope what we can see is that same Holy Spirit who empowered Paul's preaching is the same Holy Spirit who still empowers all believers today, and I hope we can see not just me, not just David, not just your church staff.

Should we be preaching Christ crucified in the power of the Spirit?

Absolutely, but I hope we can see is that we all need to be preaching Christ crucified in the power of the Holy Spirit, and it will challenge us to proclaim Jesus Christ came, lived, died and arose for us, to the world around us.

We can proclaim that story.

So the question that we want to answer today is this how did Paul come to Corinth?

Not why was he coming, or what did he do when he was there.

How did he preach?

How did he come and preach Christ crucified to them?

So let's read this morning in 1 Corinthians, chapter 2.

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

If you are able, would you please stand with me as we read the first five verses of this great letter.

Paul says this and I, when I came to you, 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 may not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Let's pray together, oh, this morning.

God, we come this morning and we pray that we will see a demonstration of your spirit and power in this place.

We love you, jesus.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen, you may be seated.

So Paul comes this morning.

The question we want to answer is how did Paul come?

How did Paul come to Corinth preaching Christ crucified?

A couple of things we need to see here.

First of all, we need to see that he came not in human wisdom.

He says right there in verse 1, and he says and I, when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

He was not coming in human wisdom.

A couple of things we need to see, though, while we understand this, the word that Paul says here, when he says I come proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

I don't know if you understand this most of you probably do and I'm not telling you anything new but, just in case, we do not have any of the original manuscripts of scripture.

Okay, we don't have the letter that Paul wrote I wish we did, but we don't have the letter that Paul wrote I wish we did, but we don't have that and throughout any of the Bible, we don't have the original manuscript.

So what we have is we have old, old manuscripts dating way, way, way, way back, and there's this study, this scholarly study where it's called textual criticism, this scholarly study where they it's called textual criticism, and what they do is they take pieces and fragments, and they take the old manuscripts that we have and they piece them together, and their goal is to get the most accurate, the most accurate reading of a text that you can have, and so they do that, and they've done it very well.

And people say, grant, aren't you worried about that?

Aren't you worried that they could get that wrong?

No, because I'm convinced that it is the Holy Spirit leading them to do that.

I'm convinced that the Bible that we have in front of us, while it is not the original manuscript, I'm convinced that the Bible that we have in front of us is the Bible given to us by the Holy Spirit.

So we can trust that.

But as we come to this, there's the word for testimony there.

Most of the older copies of this letter have the word for testimony, but some, some of the very most reliable and earliest manuscripts, they have the word that we get witness from and in Greek those two words are very similar and understand.

When they were originally copied they didn't have a printing press, it was all hand copied.

So if a word was very similar, you could see, could you imagine doing by candlelight, dipping something in ink or whatever and and writing just just a one little letter.

So let's understand what paul is saying here.

Let's let's dive into these.

If the word is testimony, which most manuscripts have, the ESV it uses the word testimony here.

If the word is testimony, understand what that means that word?

Testimony means this Paul is bearing witness to what he has seen and what he knows to be true and to be accurate.

True and to be accurate.

He is bearing witness that jesus christ came and was crucified to save us.

That word is the same word that we get the word martyr from.

So really, he, what he's saying is he is bearing witness, he is, he is providing testimony, he is bearing witness to what he knows to be true, at the cost of everything, even possibly his life.

He is bearing witness to Christ, that he has come and he has been crucified.

If the word is mystery, if the word here is mystery and not testimony, here's what he means.

We say a lot about the mystery of God.

Scripture talks a lot about the mystery of God and can I be honest with you this morning, there are tons of mysteries that I don't understand.

I don't understand the Trinity One God, three persons.

I don't get it.

I believe it, I know it's true and when I try to wrap my brain around it, it's just gone.

There's lots of things about even the gospel that are a mystery to me Virgin birth.

There's a lot of mysteries, but what Paul is talking about here is.

He's not talking about a particular mystery of the gospel here.

Here's what he is saying.

What he is saying is if the gospel is a mystery, what has to happen for people to find salvation If Christ crucified, if it is a mystery, if salvation is a mystery, what has to be happen is that mystery and the answer has to be revealed to them.

If he is talking about the mystery of the gospel and salvation, here's what he means In order for us to be saved, it is a working of God, not of us.

The same is true with the testimony, a bearing witness.

If he is bearing witness to what Christ has done, at the cost of possibly even his life, don't you know that salvation, then, is dependent upon the power of god, not on us, not on man?

What paul is saying is he is coming, as he is preaching christ crucified to the church at corinth.

Is what he is telling them is for for for their lives to be changed, for salvation to be a part of who they are and not just a fire insurance policy that they have not to go to hell If salvation is going to be a part of their lives and who they are, and if it's going to change them for all eternity.

Listen, it must be the power of God that does that, not the power of a man.

So Paul comes and he says I am bearing testimony, I'm bearing witness or I am revealing to you from God.

The Holy Spirit has revealed to you who he is and what he has done, but not in lofty speech.

Now, what does he mean by lofty speech?

What's he talking about when he says lofty speech?

Well, he says something similar back in chapter 1, in verse 17.

He says so is Paul telling us?

Listen?

And I have to struggle with this, or I've had to struggle with this, because when you go to seminary or when you go to I went to Mississippi College and majored in Christian studies when you're there and you take preaching classes, do you know what they teach you?

They teach you rhetorical tools to help you stand and share the gospel with people.

They give you tools to put in your tool belt, to share.

This is how you break down a passage.

This is how you make an a passage.

This is how you make an outline.

This is how you do things.

This is how you present this to a congregation.

This is how you do that and it's this rhetorical tool.

So it's paul saying, hey, we don't need to use those things, we should take reasoning out.

I used to tell, I used to have a guy who used to tell me all the time grant, grant.

When you stop, when you stop using notes, man, the Holy Spirit is gonna use you.

My god, do you mean I don't need to study?

Because if I don't study, it's?

I don't think that's what Paul's saying.

If you go to Acts, chapter 17,.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

Even in Acts, chapter 17, here's what it says In verse 17,.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

It says so he.

They're talking about Paul.

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Did you hear that Paul reasoned with them?

And what's going to happen in Acts, chapter 17 is, while he is reasoning in the synagogue, some philosophers and some Gentile philosophers and scholars are going to come by and they're going to hear Paul reasoning and they're going to invite him to the areopagus I hope I said that right.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

They're going to invite him there to to this meeting of all the Greek minds and the philosophical minds, and they're going to invite Paul to come and and reason with them and, on his way in.

Paul's going to see an idol, because they have idols everywhere, because in the, in the greek, in the greek culture, they worship tons of different gods and and paul's going to come in, but they're going to have an idol to an unknown god, just in case they missed one, just to cover all their bases.

And paul's going to say look, you have an idol to the unknown god.

Let me tell you about who he is and why an idol can't represent him and why he is greater than any of these other false gods that you are worshiping, and he reasoned with them.

So when he comes and he says I don't come with lofty speech, I don't think he's saying not to use rhetorical devices to spread the gospel.

I don't think he's saying not to use rhetorical devices to spread the gospel.

I don't think he's saying you don't need to memorize outlines as evangelistic tools.

I think what he's saying is this is anytime, the tools that we use to share the gospel Point more to the person sharing the gospel than it does to Christ crucified, we have a problem.

What should be happening is everything that we are doing is pointing to Christ crucified, not any to a presenter.

So he says I didn't come to you with lofty speech.

I came to you depending upon the power of God.

He says I didn't come to you in wisdom, I came to you in dependence upon the power of God.

Was Paul saying?

We don't need to study?

Absolutely, that's not what he is saying.

Well, paul was aisee before his salvation, he had spent most of his life studying scripture and I promise you it suited him well.

Read romans.

His study absolutely suited him.

Well.

He's not saying not to learn and not to study and not to grow in our, in our wisdom.

What he is saying is that must be centered and dependent upon christ.

He says in verses 19 through 21 and and first corinthians 1.

He says this, for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.

Where is the one who is wise?

Where is the scribe?

Where is the debater of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

What Paul is saying is I didn't come and preach Christ crucified to you depending upon his own skills or abilities.

He did not come and preach Christ crucified dependent upon his great learning or anything like that.

He came and he preached Christ crucified depending upon the Holy Spirit, the only one, the only one who is able to save.

Paul did not come dependent upon human wisdom, but he came in the power of the Spirit.

Listen to what he says there in verses 3-5.

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not 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.

He came preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit.

He admitted he came in weakness.

Even back up in verses 26 and 27 of Romans 1, he said this Consider your calling brothers.

Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

He chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

He chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Paul is saying listen, I am one of those weak things.

I have come to you in human weakness.

He even says in verse 4 of chapter 2, that my wisdom you couldn't even understand it.

You couldn't even understand my wisdom if I brought it to you.

He said I'm coming in human weakness so that the power of god may be revealed.

He also said I come in fear and much trembling.

Now, paul's not talking about being fearful of his life here.

Now, if anyone is, if anyone could be fearful, it would be Paul.

We understand.

There's other places In Paul's messages, in Paul's letters, where he talks about being beaten Multiple times, right to the point of death.

We have read about him being stoned More than one occasion, right up until the point of death.

We have read about how Paul was shipwrecked.

We have read about how Paul was bitten by a viper.

If there was anybody that could say I am fearful of someone killing me, it was Paul.

But that's not the fear he's talking about here.

He says I come in fear and much trembling.

He writes to the Philippians in chapter 2 and talks about fear and trembling.

It's really the only other place where Paul uses those two words together In Philippians, chapter 2, verses 12 through 13.

Philippians 2:12–13

He says therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed me, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation With fear and trembling.

Now, if we read that and you hear that, you say well, is Paul telling people To work for their salvation?

Absolutely not, because that goes against everything else Paul writes.

He's not telling them to to earn their own salvation, he's telling them to exercise their own salvation in fear and trembling.

Why in fear and trembling?

Here's why, in verse 13, he says For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

We exercise our salvation in fear and trembling because we understand that it is God who is at work within us.

Understand that it is God who is at work within us.

And Paul comes and he says he is preaching Christ crucified with fear and much trembling because he recognizes that it is only God.

It is only God who can do anything to change anyone's life.

It is only God who can change eternity for anyone.

It is only God and the power of God that can do anything that is worthwhile in this world.

It is only God who can do that.

And he is coming and he is telling them that he is not dependent upon his own wisdom and his own strength, but he is dependent upon the power of god.

Again he says my speech and my message were not even plausible words of wisdom, but I love this phrase.

He says but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, paul's proclamation of the gospel.

When Paul stood and he proclaimed Christ crucified, it was a demonstration of the Spirit and His power.

Paul wasn't proclaiming in his own wisdom.

He wasn't proclaiming wise words from Paul.

He wasn't proclaiming deep thoughts by Paul.

He was proclaiming the very words of God and praying that the Spirit of God would fill those words and change people's lives so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

A few weeks ago, I guess back in November, on Sunday night, the last business meeting we had, I shared kind of a year in review of DeSoto Hills and in that year I kind of laid out some things I wanted us to do in the next year.

And here's one of the things that I said, and I think this is what Paul is saying here.

I want God to work in such a way through us that the only way to explain it is that it is the power of God.

I want people to see God move and God work.

And I don't want people to say God move and God work.

And I don't want people to say well, you know, they got some good programs at DeSoto Hills.

They got some good Sunday school teachers at DeSoto Hills.

Their pastor studies a whole lot.

He's not great at presenting, but he studies a whole lot.

I don't want that.

What I want is people to see the Spirit moving in such a way here that all they can say is God and we are removed from the equation.

That's what he's saying here in verse 5.

So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

So you say, grant, that's great, what's this have to do with me?

It's a great message for you and it is what's that have to do with me?

Let me share with you a couple of things I think it has to do with us.

One is this I want you to know this is my desire.

My desire as your pastor is to preach Christ crucified in the power of the Holy Spirit week in and week out.

Now let me just go ahead and tell you I am human and I am sinful, so there may be some times that that doesn't happen, and when it doesn't, I need you to come and say, grant, where are you spiritually, brother?

But that's my desire is to, week after week, preach Christ and Him crucified in the power of the Spirit.

Second thing is this I know I don't have to tell you, but you should be sharing the gospel.

I know he uses the word preach here and that scares us because we got preachers that preach.

But that's not what he says.

He says I come proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

What's he doing?

He's bearing witness of Christ and him crucified.

And you know who's supposed to be doing that Every believer.

But I don't come telling you this to say if you're not, you better get up.

Here's what I come to tell you.

Listen to me, find comfort in this.

It may scare you to absolute the ends of the earth to think you are supposed to talk to somebody.

I get it.

Don't.

Do it in your power, do it in the power of the Holy Spirit.

You may say Grant, but I don't have the words to say Listen, I promise you.

I promise you, if you're reading God's Word, if you're studying His Word and you go and share the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, he is going to give you words when you do it in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I need you to hear that message.

I need you to know that, just as my desire is to stand before you and proclaim the Word of God, to proclaim Christ crucified to you in the power of the Spirit, I need your desire.

I think Scripture calls us that your desire should be that you, you are sharing about the testimony of jesus christ and him crucified, in the power of the spirit as well.

I'm not telling you have to get up here and preach I I'm telling you To your co-workers, to your family members, to your friends at school, to your friends, to those people who are around you, whether they know Jesus or not.

You should be proclaiming the message.

You should be a witness Of the mystery Of Jesus, be a witness of the mystery of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and you should be doing it in the power of the Spirit.

Let me end by telling you a story.

Summer of 1998, I spent the summer in Sterling, colorado.

It's in the northeast corner of Colorado, so think Colorado without mountains, think Nebraska.

That's where I was.

I was working with a church planter and his evangelistic strategy.

He was a church planter and so what he would do and what he had us doing, it was me and two other guys and we would go and we would go into these little towns that surrounded Sterling and we would set up a big tent and we would spend a week doing he called it backyard Bible clubs, but it was basically Bible school.

We would go into these little towns and we would do Bible school all week and we would share the gospel with kids all week and as kids made decisions, what he would do then in the next couple weeks is he would follow up with those kids who made decisions and talk to their parents and hopefully, through parents, he could start a Bible study in that town, that Bible study on which they could build a church.

They could start a Bible study in that town that would, on which that Bible study on which they could build a church.

They could plant a church one one.

One week.

We were in this town and this, this little girl, came to me I don't remember her name and she asked me about Jesus.

Listen, zero church background, really very little, if any knowledge of the Bible and of who Jesus was.

And I thought, man, this is my time.

So I sat down and I pulled every tool out of my evangelistic tool belt that I had Outlines, bible verses, everything that I had I gave to her.

I even went back to Adam and Eve and how we are sinners because of them.

And it was nothing.

I mean, there was just no response.

And here she was.

Look, she came to me asking questions, man, if you want to say on a platter, here she was.

She walked away and I was dejected because I had blown it.

God gave me a golden opportunity but I blew it.

But did you hear the key word in that story?

I.

I blew it, I messed up Because all of a sudden I became very dependent upon myself and my ability to talk to kids and my ability to present the gospel in such a way that they would hear and understand and accept.

Later that day there was another presentation of the gospel given to the whole group, an opportunity for people to respond to the gospel call.

And she did.

She came to me and you could just tell by the demeanor of her person that this was a real decision to trust Christ.

And as I pondered that day later, it was a hard lesson but I understood.

It is not up to me to save, and when I present the gospel and the power of what little intellect I have and the eloquence of any speech that I have, and I try to do it in my own wisdom and in my own strength and in my own way, there is no power of the Spirit and I try to do it in my own wisdom and in my own strength and in my own way.

There is no power of the Spirit.

We must, I must and you must Be dependent upon the Holy Spirit and we must share Christ crucified.

I don't know where you are this morning.

You may be coming and saying Grant, what the heck are you even talking about Christ crucified?

You talk about this little girl and she trusted Christ as her Savior.

I've never done that.

Here's what I mean by Christ crucified.

Jesus Christ came and he lived on this earth and he died on the cross to pay the punishment that you and I should pay because of the sins that we have committed.

But Jesus died on the cross to pay that sin debt for us and he arose to give us life and to give us victory.

And if you have never trusted that Christ has done that for you, you are not a believer and my encouragement to you is in just a moment we're going to sing a hymn of invitation and if you have never trusted that Christ died for your sins, today can be the day of salvation for you.

We invite you to come forward as we sing.

We're going to pray for you and there are counselors who will take you out and share with you the gospel of Jesus Christ and how you can be gospel of Jesus Christ and how you can be a follower of Him.

Or maybe you have, and maybe this morning you recognize that not only have you not been sharing the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, you haven't even been living the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.

You haven't even been living the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe this morning you need to repent of that and you need to fall on your knees and you need to walk with Him.

If that's you this morning, I know you can make that decision right where you're sitting, but we encourage you to come forward and let us pray with you.

Let us pray for you, let us walk with you.

Maybe this morning God has brought to mind somebody that you need to share the gospel with.

Maybe this morning you just need to commit to, in the power of the Spirit, sharing the gospel with them.

Maybe this morning you're looking for a church home.

We would love to have you here at DeSoto Hills.

I'm going to pray for us.

After we pray, we're going to stand and sing a hymn of invitation.

If you have a decision to make, we are inviting you to come forward.

Let us pray with you.

Let us pray with you.

Let us walk with you.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at desotohillscom.