YP Address—C. Hendricks
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Father's throne is seated. Christ the Lord the living one. All his toil on earth completed. All his work for sinners done in the glory. See him God's eternal Son. Next verse is from the glory. Next verse is by the glory. Last verse is well made glory crown him in the ordered place. Someone start that tomb please.
God Eternal Son.
In the morning and night of the rain save. In God save.
Please open your Bibles to 1St Corinthians 1.
One Corinthians one and starting from verse one.
Paul called an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother.
Unto the Church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called Saints.
With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours.
Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming or the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless?
In the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is faithful.
By whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
For it has been declared unto me of you my brethren, by them which are of the House of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say that every one of you saith, I am appalled, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name.
And I baptized also the household of Stephanus. Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved. It is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them the belief. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks.
Foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty.
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And base things of the world, and things which are despised, that God chosen. Yeah, And the things which are not to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that Gloria.
Let him glory in the Lord.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with Excellency of speech, or of wisdom.
Declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of the men, but in the power of God.
Albeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the Princess of this world that come to nought. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the Princess of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, For the Spirit searcheth all things.
Yeah, the deep things of God will stop there.
This is a very unique epistle addressed to the Church of God that was at Corinth. But then he he expands that and he says with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. I've been in bookstores, Christian bookstores, and I would pull out a certain author and wanted to know what he'd say about, say, the woman's place in the 11Th chapter, for instance.
And.
See what they said about it? And usually they ended up with some kind of a comment like that was for the 1St century Christians and things have changed now and it's not the same way. And they just dismissed that particular passage by such reasoning.
That was only for Corinth.
No, it's with all that. In every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.
So the instruction that we get in First Corinthians for the church, and it's mainly A corrective epistle, all the things that needed correction. And it's not only for the Corinthians. He was 18 months there, spent a long time there at Corinth. It was a wicked city. To Corinthian eyes was to fornicate that was quite known well by the world and the people of the world. And they had a case like that in the 5th chapter of this epistle.
Is that just for Corinth, or is it for the whole church? It's with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.
And then he says in verse nine, I'm just going to go through the different chapters to show that what's in this epistle is for the whole church everywhere, no matter where.
It's for and no matter what time in the history of the 2000 year history that we're at the end of verse 9 says God is faithful.
By whom you were called Now he's that he is Christians everywhere, not just at Corinth, but with all that in every place called upon that precious name. And going right down to this day by whom you were called unto the what? To the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. We're all called to the same fellowship. There's only one fellowship. There's only one body. There's only one church. When I was in the hospital, I get to talking, and I had a lot of opportunity to talk to people.
Talk to nurses and aides and I'll always be asked, what church do you belong to?
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And I answered this way. I said let's go back to the 1St century and tell me how many were there the 1St century?
They thought a little bit. Just one. I said That's the one I belong to. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus as your savior? Yes. Let you belong to the same one I belong to. There's only one, just one. And the one that's going to be in heaven is just one because there's just one body and we get those truths. That's not true. Those aren't truths just for Corinth, but for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus and are in that fellowship, the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ. Our it's not the fellowship of Baptists or Methodists or Presbyterian or not Lutheran Lutherans and on and on is the fellowship of his son.
Of his son. That's what you've been called to. That's what I've been called to. And that's what all Christians are called to. And I remember this dear, this dear sister verse. She was the Lords. And she sang to me how great thou art.
As I made there.
Thinking of the greatness of the person of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit tears just.
Ran down my cheeks.
She loved him. The same one I loved.
We're one Christians everywhere.
And soon that's going to be shown to the rest of creation.
Look at the version chapter 4.
Where he says, verse 17. For this cause have I sent unto you.
Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you in remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ. Notice this now as I teach everywhere in every church. The teaching that Paul brought to Corinth and wherever he traveled was the same.
Was the same because the Church is 1 and they needed the same precious truths.
Verse.
Verse Chapter 7 and verse 17.
As God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called everyone, so let him walk.
And so ordain I in all churches. He didn't have one set of teachings here and another one there. No, even as I ordained in all the churches.
With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours.
And we move on in this epistle a little bit.
Verse Chapter 11.
Any man seemed to be contentious, though this is at the end of that discussion of man's place and woman's place and the head covering for the woman and not for the man. If any man seemed to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
Those that were contentious and were arguing that it wasn't necessary for the sisters to have their heads covered.
It wasn't necessary. They taught that. Maybe elsewhere they did, but no such custom, neither the churches of God. All the churches were of one teaching one set of instructions.
Going on to the 14th chapter.
Where you have the gifts in activity.
Verse 32. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not the author of confusion.
But of peace, as in all churches of the Saints, the instruction he gives in Corinth was everywhere applied, as in all churches of the Saints.
And then in the.
16th chapter, verse one. Now concerning the collection for the Saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, Even so do ye, And then he gives instruction. I read those passages so you can see that of all the epistles this one is certainly for all the others were too. But it stated this way, and I think it's confirmed this way because there were things there that.
He knew, of course. God knew what things were going to be like in this century.
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When I was younger, not too long ago now, the women would always cover their heads. Now it's it's very unusual. If they do, they, if they don't follow the instruction, which was not only for Corinth but for the whole church everywhere, we're all called into the same fellowship. What fellowship is that? The fellowship of his son.
Jesus Christ, our Lord, did you notice? I remember one time we were on a bus, my wife and I, and we were going east.
To visit someone, and I read to her aloud. First Corinthians 1 Lord our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, are repeated over and over and over again the Lordship of Christ. And you may have noticed that as I read it this evening, this afternoon.
Let's go back to chapter one, Paul called. You'll notice I left out the to be as though this is a future thing. He was called apostle. He was an apostle by calling. It was very important that he established here especially but elsewhere, his apostleship because he wasn't one of the 12. He wasn't the replacement for Judas Iscariot that was in Acts chapter one. They found a replacement. He was.
One called out of due time.
He was the greatest apostle, by the way.
He was the greatest persecutor of the Church, and he became the greatest defender of the faith.
He learned what it was to suffer, as no other did.
As he stood for the truth of God, so he's a call apostle Apostle by calling.
It was very important because he had his enemies there at Corinth. They were saying he's just out for your money, he's just out to get you your money and so on, because they were very wealthy, assembly, very prosperous.
Paul called an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother. This is not something we assumed for ourselves or voted on by some clerical class, but God called him into that position.
Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth. To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called Saints not to be Saints. The Roman Catholics would have it. They have a a get together of the Cardinals and so on and they canonize someone and they become a St. Well, the apostle was not writing to dead Saints, he was writing to living Saints.
They're all here, down here in this world to the Saints by calling with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.
Are you a St.
You know in the gospels, the Lord Jesus spoken of as a holy one of God, and that word, Holy one, is the same word as Saints. It's the Saints of you could, you could translate it. The Saints of God, that would be in the singular. It's the same word. He was the Holy One of God. And when you're a St. and you are everyone of you who believe the gospel, you're a St. You're a holy one. You've been sanctified, set apart. You're his, and you have his life and nature.
You're called into the fellowship of his son.
Jesus Christ our Lord Grace be unto you in peace from God our Father.
And from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which has given you.
By Jesus Christ, let me just ask a lot of young people here. I didn't know what to speak on. I was wrestling with God about it. And I said there's so many young people here. And then I finally settled on this chapter. You'll see why is like we go through it.
That in everything you are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge.
Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift.
That was a very gifted assembly. In the 14th, 12:13 and 12Th chapter you have the gifts.
13th chapter that you have the love chapter. In the 14th chapter you have those gifts in exercise.
Guided by love.
You saw that you come behind in no gift, very gifted, waiting for the coming. That word coming is more correctly rendered the revelation. It's not the not the rapture, but when he comes and reveals everything here is it is is it of himself or not?
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The Revelation of Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall also confirm you unto the end.
That she may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ as you read through this epistle.
You'll see there were anything but blameless. They had all kinds of faults and needed to be corrected. They needed instruction.
That's why this epistle applies so much to every church, every group of Christians, wherever they may be.
Especially so.
Blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. That day is coming when everything will be revealed. And we will see. We will see.
Just as he sees it.
I've often thought.
Until we go through the judgment seat of Christ.
Will never fully understand grace.
Because you'll find out that you're a lot worse than you thought you were.
And what does that do? That just magnifies the grace of God.
You have to go through that judgment seat to see what you really were.
We all have high thoughts of ourselves. Don't say you don't, because pride is the last thing to die in men.
And it's the worst of all sins. Not adultery, not fornication, pride, pride.
We're going to have pride of position, pride of station in life, pride of this and that. What we own, what we drive around in, clothes we wear, house we live in.
Our intellect.
Our station Pride.
And we all have it.
That was jobs problem.
He said at one time. He said, oh, if I only had an audience with him, I only had an audience. I would might present my cause and he would listen to me. He would listen to me. Well, he had the chance. There's one point in that book. It says the word of jobs are ended. These three friends couldn't get him to condemn himself.
And I when I read that, I say no job, you will speak again.
You will speak again. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself.
And repent in dust and ashes. Well, at the judgment seat of Christ we will be, I think I can say this, divested of our pride.
And it will be God's grace that does it.
When we see.
Just what we were. What he saved us from.
And what he's brought us into.
Thank God for the judgment seat of Christ. We all need it.
Some of us are going through things something like it so down here, but everything he puts us through, it's because we need it.
We need it.
Verse 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. He besought them that that those things wouldn't exist. But they did exist. They were there right there at Corinth. There were divisions internally at Corinth.
And he goes into that, For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the House of Chloe, that there are contentions.
Among you.
Now this I say that everyone of you saith, I am of Paul, I have Apollos, and I have Cephas, and I have Christ.
Is Christ.
Was Paul crucified for you?
Denominationalism.
Has been exposed in that verse.
I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollo's, I'm a Cephas. And then there was that.
Group that.
Thought more of themselves and the rest of Christians, I am of Christ.
I am of Christ and he says right away, is Christ divided?
As Christ divided, just think I am of Christ meant that they made Christ the head of a party.
And Paul the head of the party. Paul and Apollos and Cephas, and then even Christ.
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The head of a party, he's ahead of the whole church.
It's something like the mistake that Peter made when the amount of transfiguration in Matthew 17.
Let us make 3 tabernacles, one for thee, one for.
The other one that was there and one for.
Moses and Elijah, those two.
And the father was very upset, very grieved.
That anyone would dare to put the Lord Jesus with any other great prophet. I don't know how. I don't care how great Moses and Elijah.
So the Father.
Brought the cloud there and.
And whom I am well pleased.
Some comments were made in the reading this morning and the.
One of the mistakes that we can make.
In this passage you've got Paul, Apollo, Cephas and then Christ put in long with those others.
Along with those others I used to think, well, that was the most spiritual ones.
I think they were the most carnal.
They thought themselves better than the others. We don't need Paul. We don't need Apollos. We don't need Cephas. We just need Christ. Well, that's true. That's true. But they thought they were in.
I remember saying once.
Who is this? I am of Christ, And I said that's us.
Is that you? Is that me? You think you're better than other Christians? We've got more light, more truth.
But we do need Paul, we do need a policy and we do need Cephas just as much as any of them.
We need every gift that the Lord gives, and not just.
This super spiritual group.
I am of Christ and he says Is Christ divided?
You know, pride not not only affects me individually, but affects me. I'm talking about myself now. I thought I was better than other Christians because I was in that elite group. That's.
Gathered to the Lord's name.
It's wonderful to be so gathered. We had such precious ministry this morning, showing the difference between the you that the Lord is with all the Christians, wherever they are.
But he's in the midst of those that are scripturally gathered, and there's a difference.
And.
We should be so grateful and so thankful.
Every time we got a member I was away from the table for.
Several months couldn't go.
I never forget the first time I went back there and sat there and at the Lords table and remembered him.
Tears, tears just flowed down my cheeks.
I was. I was where he is in the midst.
Didn't make me any better than my brother that doesn't know that truth.
No more privileged.
We're more responsible than the rest of Krishna. We know more. He's been pleased to give us more light and more truth.
How important that is. It doesn't make us better.
We need the same grace that they need.
Yes.
So here he says as Christ divided.
How often I've been guilty. I've been guilty. I'm talking to myself now, not you. Well, you're included. We're all included. Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name.
And I baptized also the household of Stephanus. Besides, I know not whether I baptized any.
Other for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words.
Lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
I'm going to just turn you over to the 4th chapter for a moment. We'll come right back here.
Chapter 4 verse five. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness.
And will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.
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And these things, brethren, I have in a figure I have transferred to myself, and to Apollo's for your sakes, that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why does thou glory as if thou hast not received it?
Now you're full, now ye are rich. You've reigned as kings without us. It sounds like he's describing the church in the United States of America.
Reigned as kings without us.
It wasn't Paul in the palace that they were trying to exalt, because they didn't like Paul and they didn't like Apollos. But he uses their names and not the names of the ones that were really guilty of doing that, who were trying to get the honor and take it away from Paul and Apollos. But he uses their names to illustrate the the principle.
Principle of exalting man. I am of Christ, I am of Paul, I'm of Apollo, I'm of Cephas and then the Super spiritual I am of Christ group.
Going back to chapter one.
Verse 19, verse 18, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. I'll never forget a gospel meeting. We could say we've had some two very wonderful gospel meetings in this conference.
And his brother was giving the gospel, and he was finished. And he was at the back of the room and talking to those that were leaving. The young man came to him. He waited till he was the last one, and he said to him everything you said tonight was foolishness.
And the preacher looked at him.
He said, Yeah, yeah, you're right. That's right. What it says here, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness and they turn around and walk out. And he left that young man stunned there, he called it foolishness. And he was what, that one that perished.
He got saved that night. He couldn't sleep that night. Just that word. That word, just one scripture, One verse of scripture came home in the power of the Holy Spirit to his soul, and he realized that he was perishing.
Never forget, I got saved as a freshman in college studying electrical engineering and my eyes had I needed glasses and Doctor wood He he witnessed to me about the Lord. I went to visit him once on a Saturday, a very poor choice and there were a lot of people there. And I said, oh, he'll be he'll never have time for me. And he got up and started to walk out. Just then he left one door and he was going right across those people and he said, just a minute, Mr. Hendrix, I got something for you and he handed me a he handed me a paper. It was a Moody Bible Institute paper.
And it was heaven or hell, which I think that was the title, he said. Read that and come back. And during the week when I'm not so busy, well, he was my spiritual father for quite a while until the Lord took him home. And that's how I learned about.
Those called brethren with a small B.
And in that paper.
I read that very proud, conceited young man.
That's what it was.
And the question was asked, You're either going to heaven or to hell. Which?
And I said I'm going to hell.
I'm going to hell out. I remember when I was placed in the MI MRI machine magnetic resonance imaging.
No place to move or sneeze even or do anything. You just locked in there. And when they started the thing, first they said we're going to play some music as background music. What do you like to hear? I said hymns. And so they they played hymns.
When that thing came out.
It was terrible. It was indescribable. I couldn't begin to describe it. And then it stopped. And I said, oh, there's just a pause for a few moments and then we'll give you the next one. And then that's when we won't give you the music this time. And so there was another one, and then there was a third one, and then there was a fourth one. And finally it ended. I was in that machine for 45 minutes.
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And I said to myself, what must hell be like?
It never ends.
It never ends.
I was only 45 minutes in that awful thing. It was like I was in hell.
But it came to an end.
There's anyone here not saved. Get saved immediately. Don't wait a moment.
Hell doesn't end.
The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. What could be more foolish to the natural man than that a man hanging upon a cross, apparently helpless and despised and ridiculed for being wicked and so on, that that would be God's way of salvation, foolishness?
Preaching of the crosses to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, Are you saved this afternoon? Are you saved?
Are you sure of heaven, not hell?
Unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
I got saved as a freshman and I had to elect a course and I elected a real course in religion. That was a terrible mistake, but I didn't know any better. I was just a newly saved Christian and I wanted to know a little bit more. And the the, the the professor was just a modernist and he just laughed at my attempt to.
To raise questions I'll never forget, I always referred to the Lord Jesus just like Paul does in First Corinthians one, the Lord Jesus Christ. And they just said don't say that the Lord Jesus Christ. The more they told me not to say it, the more I said it.
Do you know him as your Lord?
And your savior.
He said. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
Will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? I can't think of anything more foolish, more stupid, more idiotic, more just ridiculous than evolution.
It's You don't have to be a professor. In college, I remember preaching on Skid Row Wilson Ave. first for a long time, pulled the car up. There was no parking place for the at that corner. I had a permit to park at that corner. So I went around, kept going, until finally someone pulled away. And then I pulled in there, got the speaker out, set up the microphone, and I preached and I had to help her. He was the driver of a bus. I never met the man.
I'm sure he was a Christian. He would hear me preaching coming down. Wilson Ave. very busy St. and all the windows were wide open because it was hot summer day and there were buildings right across where you could buy a room, not buy, but rent A room for the night for a dollar and a half. Something like that.
And all the windows were wide open. I didn't see in my audience, but I know they could see me and they could hear me. And this fellow that was driving the bus, he would just come up to the corner and he'd stop.
All the windows opened. He wanted all his passengers to hear the gospel.
Here the guys and I finally they said let's get moving. And so he just crept across that corner just so slow until he got out of the earshot and then he took off.
Another time, well, they finally didn't grant me the permit to use a PA system, and it was just too noisy there, so I went down the Skid Row.
And I I parked in a in a in a lot, right across from.
A mission.
I never preached when the mission door was open and the people that were the men were waiting to go in. As soon as that door opened, I stopped preaching.
Put everything away and left.
I remember this one man. He just stood there and listened to the message.
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Listen to the message and I got through. I went to him and talked to him.
And he was from Dallas, TX.
Why he was at Skid Row, I don't know. Oh yes I do. God sent him there.
We kneel down and this was his prayer.
Lord Jesus, he said.
To think I had to come 1000 miles.
From Texas to a Skid Row.
To hear the gospel.
I've never seen him since. I think I'll see him in glory. Quite sure he wasn't. He wasn't false.
Remember, a man came to me once there and he wanted money. Another one came along and he wanted money. The first one turned to him and said how much do you want?
He said Sony, so I got it, he reached out. He was asking for money.
You don't give them money. You say you want something to eat. You take them across the street, go into a cafe there and say I'll, I'll give you a meal. But I won't give you money. They just want to use it for a drink.
Well, a lot of experiences.
Through the years, I only know one Bill Flanagan.
He was just he was saved at Wilson Ave. came from a Roman Catholic family. He was an outcast.
And.
He got saved. They told him where the meeting room was Wednesday night. We have prayer and reading the next Wednesday. There he was. He was sitting there and he came into fellowship.
And then when we came over to the.
Company I am with now he came to.
He's with the Lord now, he was.
His work was at Moody Bible Institute, sitting in a little Hut, parking cars and.
And one time they came to see him, and he was slumped over, and he was with the Lord.
You know of all those that for the long time that it was preached, there is the only one I'm positive of got saved. I think the one from Dallas, TX was saved too.
After you get saved, what have you done to get the word out?
I used to go every Friday night to on the elevated in Chicago to the County Hospital.
Went downstairs and there's a round circle of young people and they prayed together. And I was growing in grace all the time. And the sisters prayed too, with their heads uncovered. I didn't. That made me feel uncomfortable. And so after I got to know the ropes there, I didn't go there anymore. I just went directly up to the wards and and passed out tracks, ministered to them that way.
I wanted to do it in a scriptural way. What have you done to reach?
Souls that needed to be saved.
Suddenly you a young man once, and he used the Lord's name in vain.
And I said to him, Why don't you talk about somebody you know?
And he said, what do you mean? I know my mother. He had just talked about his mother. I said no, I'm talking about that other person you mentioned. I didn't mention anyone else. He said yes, you did. You said the Lord Jesus. And it is a curse word I did that ended up with an hour discussion. He we talked together. I don't know whatever became of him.
But we have so many opportunities, so many opportunities that the Lord gives us. What are we using the the time for?
So here he says, verse 19, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
You're the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?
Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom, by its own wisdom?
Knew not God.
The world does not know God, this professor in college, you know I've seen the Skid Row bombs.
I've seen the professors in college. Who's worse? The professor in college is worse. I warn you, young people.
If you have a teacher or a professor that laughs at and mocks Christianity and the word of God of the Lord Jesus.
They're 10 times worse.
Skid Row Book.
That's what he's talking about here. After that, in the wisdom of God. The world by its wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. That doesn't mean the means of preaching, but what is being preached. What could be more foolish to the natural man that than a man apparently helpless, crucified on a cross, that that could be the means of saving the lost?
00:45:21
To save them that believe for the Jews require a sign.
You know in John 6 the Lord fed 5000 men. I don't know how many women and children 5000 and just a little bit beyond that they asked him for a sign.
A sign after he'd said 5000 at the end of the end of the book of John. It says many other signs and miracles he did, which, if they were all written one by one, that the world itself couldn't contain the books and they were asking for a sign.
That's the stupidity of unbelief.
The Jews required a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness but unto them which are called.
Both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God. Now that God doesn't have foolishness, but he's just taken up their language, that's what they're charging God with, being a foolishness and fool because of the way he's devised the salvation of lost souls. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see, you're calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world.
To confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world.
To confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world.
And things which are despised hath God chosen, yeah? And things which are not to bring to not things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence, no flesh will ever glory in his presence.
But of him.
Are you in Christ Jesus?
Who of God is made unto us wisdom?
He's our wisdom. He's our righteousness. He's our sanctification or holiness. He's our redemption. We have it all in him.
That according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Now he's going to go to this. When he wrote this, he was going to go to Corinth. And So what did he go on to say? I, brethren, when I came to you came knocked with Excellency of speech. I remember when we were going through some very stormy weather and I was out West and I was going to an assembly which was divided.
And.
I didn't know what to do. I went into the bedroom and the young people came there and I just got on my knees and I said, Lord, I don't know what to say to them. I I don't know what to do.
He was afraid. I was afraid.
When I came to you, I came not with Excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Didn't he know more than that? Oh, far more.
But that's what he needed. That's when he knew they needed. They needed a person before them, not Paul and Cephas and Peter. They needed Christ.
Determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Crucified is the end of our history with this world.
Christ and Christ crucified.
I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling. All the other Apostles were fishermen and men of low stature in life, and so on, but Paul was.
The upper crust.
Educated by Canalio and so on, he was a champion for Judaism, And then he became a traitor to them, it seemed, and he was being persecuted. He was much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but with demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
00:50:17
Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, full, grown, mature.
Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the Princess of this world that come to naughty.
The wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the Princess of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. They had known how God would use that means to bring about his eternal purposes of blessing. They wouldn't have done it.
So intense was their hatred to the God that made them.
But as it is written, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us. By his Spirit you have the Spirit of God.
Everyone of us here is who is His. You have the indwelling Holy Spirit, and he reveals to us with this book.
Which he wrote.
The deep things of God. The Spirit searcheth all things. Yeah, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man.
But the Spirit of God now we have received, not the Spirit of the world.
But the Spirit, which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, the Old Testament Saints didn't have that advantage. They didn't have the Spirit of God indwelling them. You do? I do. I am. We have it. And he wrote it, and he explains it to us.
Which thing also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth or discerneth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
Who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ given, given to us by the Spirit of God, the mind of Christ, so that we can understand this book, which is absolutely a mystery to those that don't have eternal life, that don't have the Spirit of God, that think this is all foolishness.
You know better. I know better.
Oh, we are so blessed.
So blessed.
Let's see number.
In closing.
#4
ere God had built the mountains and Oregon raised the fruitful hills before he filled the fountains that feed the running rills in thee from everlasting the wonderful I am pleasures never wasting wisdom. Is they named. I just want to relate this one count coming here from Las Vegas to to Burbank. I met this young man. I was in the aisle. He was in the window and they were they were loading the plane and I got to talking to him and I said after a little of the discussion I said, I want to ask you the real important question. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior?
He said yes.
And then another woman came in. She was.
Chinese or Korean or I'm not sure which. And then I couldn't continue my discussion with this man, but I heard him talking to the lady that was behind him and he talked about going to church, the LDS Church.
I said you're a Mormon. Yeah, I said. That's terrible.
He said, am I terrible? I said no, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about what you're into.
Well, what do I what am I into? Well, I'll tell you what one of your chief men says. He says as God is, so we shall be, and as we are, he once was.
That's Mormon teaching.
I heard on the way to meeting on Lord's Day morning. Heard on the way to meeting a brother preaching from Moody Church. He's he's one of the greatest preachers I ever heard.
00:55:08
He's he's talking about the Mormons. I was amazed that he would do that. And he was talking about the Mormons.
And he says they'll use exactly the same language that you use. The difference between you and Mormons is they use a different dictionary. They don't mean what that word means in your dictionary. They mean it what it means in theirs. I remember I was working in the garage once and my son Jim, he answered the bell and there were two young men there. And when I came in, he said, oh, I had. I met these nice Christians. And here's their literature.
Latter Day Saints, I said. Nice Christians, hey.
He didn't know. He was totally confused because they can use, I said to him, Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior? He said yes. But he did not mean by that what I would mean or what you would mean something entirely different. So you've got to.
Be careful what you receive when you're dealing with.
With false cults.
Let's sing #4.
Name.