The Proof of Salvation
Notes
Transcript
8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
In 1:18-25, Paul showed that human wisdom and worldly reason have absolutely no place in the salvation of a person’s soul. Paul did not play down the place of the intellect if it is used in a Christian context, but his premise is that worldly wisdom has no place in Christian salvation because the message of the Cross is a divine revelation.
For the unsaved man, the gospel is foolishness, stupid, nonsense, absurd and moronic, but for the Christian touched by the sovereign grace of God, it is God’s power for salvation.
In 1:26-31 Paul is going to show human wisdom had nothing to do with the salvation of the Corinthian believers. These Christians were saved by the sovereign grace of God, a way which is totally foreign and contrary to human reason. In fact, it was not human wisdom but divine wisdom which saved them.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, 9 not of works, so that no one should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them.
26 For observe your calling, brothers. Among you, not many wise men according to the flesh, not many mighty men, and not many noble men were called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. 28 And God has chosen the base things of the world and things which are despised. Yes, and He chose things which did not exist to bring to nothing things that do, 29 so that no flesh should boast in His presence. 30 But because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, whom God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1 Brothers, when I came to you, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Exhibit A - The Members
Exhibit A - The Members
26 For observe your calling, brothers. Among you, not many wise men according to the flesh, not many mighty men, and not many noble men were called.
God’s Calling
God’s Calling
He said, “Observe yourselves; consider how you were called.”
Take a good look at your own lives; see what kind of people you are by nature and social standing, and this will prove to you that human wisdom does not save.”
The word “called” is the key to this section.
This is God’s sovereign or efficacious call to salvation which deals with the divine side of salvation. To appreciate the full impact of our salvation, we must understand God called us to be saved. He took the initiative.
Our salvation is by grace and is supernatural from beginning to ending.
The Bible declares that all men are dead in trespasses and sins and are incapable of understanding divine truth.
How then can men believe in Christ, love God and become Christians? They must be called by God.
The Cross will always be foolishness to a person until God irresistibly calls him or her to Christ.
In scripture there are two kinds of calls.
The general call goes out to all, inviting them to believe in Christ and be saved.
There is the effective call of a person to salvation through Christ.
This call comes when one hears the message of Christ and the Holy Spirit enlightens the mind, jiggles the will and moves the emotions so that a person trusts in Christ as Savior and Lord. The efficacious or effective call is referred to here in 1:26, and it is this call that makes Christianity supernatural from beginning to ending.
Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. God, in His wisdom, had chosen not to call many from among the intelligentsia, the politically mighty, the cultured, the rich, the powerful or nobility in the city of Corinth. Not many of these kinds of upper-class people are called because they see no need for a Savior from sin as they exalt themselves in their own efforts and attainments.
Paul’s point was that the things which elevate men in the world, knowledge, influence and rank, are not the things which motivate God to call men to salvation. Jesus said,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
The Apostle James taught the same truth:
5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him?
"Of course, it is possible to be rich and Christian, but frequently at the times the church has been least compromised with culture and politics, the majority of believers have not come from the upper classes of the world. For it is precisely the well-to-do who are often likely not to sense any need for God, because they believe they can buy or manipulate their way into meeting all their needs" (Craig Blomberg, First Corinthians).
Notice Paul did not say “not any” but “not many,” for God does call some from the higher classes. In the Church at Corinth there were a few who had some standing in the community.
There was Sosthenes and Crispus who had been chief rulers in the synagogue. Erastus was the city treasurer. Gaius and Chloe were wealthy business people. There may have been a few other men or women of repute, but the vast majority of the Christians at Corinth were common, ordinary people, those the world regards as foolish; and many were considered riff-raff scum, the dregs of society. Many were slaves or of the working class--artisans, tradesmen, the little people of the world.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. 28 And God has chosen the base things of the world and things which are despised. Yes, and He chose things which did not exist to bring to nothing things that do, 29 so that no flesh should boast in His presence.
God’s Choice
God’s Choice
God calls simple and humble people.
Note the word chosen (exelexato): the fact that men do not save themselves, but God saves them, is stressed three times in the words “calling” and “chosen” (vv. 26, 27, 28).
God is the One who takes the initiative in saving men.
God chose that which the world calls silly, foolish and moronic for salvation in order to confound and shame the wise of this world. He does this so the unsaved might understand that it is not human wisdom that saves, but it is a sovereign God who saves through the Cross of Christ.
13 But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, beloved brothers of the Lord, because God has from the beginning called you to salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief of the truth.
30 But because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, whom God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
God’s Character
God’s Character
It is because of him (God) that you are in Christ Jesus.
The reason any believer is in Christ Jesus is totally because God has sovereignly worked in him. God is the ultimate source of our salvation.
Who has become for us wisdom from God. Because of the sovereign work of God, Christ, who the world claims is an imposter and His message foolishness, has become the ultimate wisdom for the Christian.
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The Christian has divine wisdom because he is in Christ. This wisdom is ours right now but we must claim and use it by faith. This is a type of wisdom the world knows nothing about. It is wisdom that causes us to look at all of life from a divine viewpoint. This wisdom is summed up in righteousness, holiness and redemption.
That is, our righteousness. This is positional righteousness not experiential and is given to the Christian at the moment of conversion.
We actually receive the righteousness of Christ and on the basis of this righteousness (which we do not feel or experience) we are declared righteous before God (justification).
This is a word used in a court when someone who is guilty is cleared of charges by the judge. This righteousness allows God to declare a person righteous in His sight and this makes him or her acceptable to God.
The unsaved person thinks he has to work for righteousness and do things which will impress God because he feels guilty. But the Bible says Christ is our righteousness.
So often Christians do not understand positional righteousness and they still try to impress God so He will accept them. Our new wisdom is that Christ is our righteousness and we are acceptable to God because of Him, not because of ourselves.
21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Sanctification - Holiness. Christ is our holiness and we are set apart to God.
In His eyes, we are already one hundred percent holy positionally.
In our experience, we fall short of what we could or should be, but God sees us as holy in Christ
Those who are positionally holy are to seek experiential holiness of life. We are set apart to God for worship, godliness, witnessing and service. Our new wisdom is that we are set apart to please God. All other purposes in life bring emptiness, dissatisfaction and despair, but pleasing Christ brings the real purpose of life.
And redemption. This is positional redemption and it looks not only at the fact we have been purchased out of the slave market of sin and set free, but also at the final redemption of the body from the presence of sin.
This is the time we will get our resurrected bodies at the coming of the Lord. The new wisdom in Christ tells about freedom in Christ freedom from ourselves, freedom from habits and ultimate freedom in glory from the presence of sin.
Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” God has provided a complete, perfect gracious and supernatural salvation for undeserving sinners.
There can be no boasting on man's part.
Human wisdom had nothing to do with the salvation of the Corinthian believers.
Therefore, the Christians at Corinth (as well as all Christians) ought not to be exalting men. They ought to be exalting God.
Man’s wisdom leaves men to boast in man.
God's wisdom leaves man only to boast in God.
The wisdom of God and the wisdom of man in the area of salvation are fundamentally opposed to one another. There can be no middle ground between the two, and compromise between the two is unthinkable for a Bible-believing Christian.
Exhibit B - The Messenger
Exhibit B - The Messenger
1 Brothers, when I came to you, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Brothers, When I came to you. The Apostle Paul refers to the time when he first came to Corinth. Before there were any Christians in that pagan city, Paul determined to have a message, method and a motivation in his evangelism which would please God and not men.
Paul’s Message Should be Our Message
Paul’s Message Should be Our Message
1 Brothers, when I came to you, I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
It’s not about how we say things as much as it is about what we say.
It’s not about how we say things as much as it is about what we say.
I did not come with superiority (eloquence) of speech. The professional Greek philosophers were masters at making speeches and while they may have said little, they always said it beautifully. Paul was not a great orator who could keep the people on the edge of their seats, who used great illustrations and flowery words to impress people. For some say,
10 “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.”
Preaching the good news of Christ is not delivering edifying discourses beautifully put together, but it is bearing witness to what God has done in Christ for man’s salvation.
It’s not about how we make people DISCERN as much as it about what we DECLARE.
It’s not about how we make people DISCERN as much as it about what we DECLARE.
Or superior wisdom. Paul did not present human reasoning and philosophy to these Corinthians. He preached clearly, accurately and bluntly the Cross of Jesus Christ. Paul was not against using the mind or even using strong persuasion, but the mind was to be used to put down all the false arguments of the unsaved as to why they should not believe in Christ. But when it came to telling the gospel, Paul was a straight shooter and told it like it is.
When Paul arrived in Corinth, the whole city was given over to exploring methods of fulfilling life by various philosophical schools,
by giving themselves over to fleshly indulgences in the worship of sex,
by immersing themselves in various commercial and business enterprises, and
by seeking after beauty, art, music and the aesthetic things of life.
He knew the godless, self-centered culture of Corinth and made a definite decision he would not speak in lofty, flowing phrases or great high sounding words or tell people all they needed was a little knowledge in special subjects or some insightful approach to life represented by a human philosophy. He committed himself to preaching Christ and Him crucified.
Our American culture is much like Corinth. The wisdom of the world sounds so good.
Through various media we are encouraged
“to seek after the good life,"
“to become beautiful people”,
“to live life with gusto,”
“to find the real thing,” and
“to live only for today.”
In America we have swallowed a secular religious approach to life which says all that matters is the “here and now” and because man’s basic nature is good, we need to discover the great hidden powers within us. There are ten thousand variances of this one secular philosophy which says man is “number one” and that he can improve himself, and that by so doing, he can save himself.
The essence of the New Age movement is self-improvement through discovering man’s higher powers which is god in us.
According to the pollsters about
70% of all evangelicals believe people are basically good and become sinful by doing sinful acts, so the key is merely self-improvement where some of the bad things we do drop away.
Declaring to you the testimony about God. Paul preached “the testimony of God," the gospel, God’s message not man’s message. He tells us he received this message from Jesus Christ Himself.
11 But I reveal to you, brothers, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, neither was I taught it, except by a revelation of Jesus Christ.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
It’s about Jesus Christ and Him Crucified that Produces Salvation.
It’s about Jesus Christ and Him Crucified that Produces Salvation.
For I determined.
Paul made up his mind to preach Christ, and Him crucified, because this is the only message which can bring salvation to people.
Why did he make this determination to preach a crucified Christ to them?
The Cross of Christ is a judgment on the wisdom of man. The Cross says all of man’s wisdom, all of his philosophy, all of his good works, all of his achievements cannot bring salvation to him. What did the smart, the powerful and the religious people of Jesus’ day do to Him? They crucified Him. They denied, rejected and put Him to death because He brought judgment upon all their worldly ideas as having any merit in the salvation of a soul.
Modern man still rejects Christ crucified because the Cross still says man cannot save himself by any human effort. Men basically do not reject Christ because they think He is crazy. They reject Him because they think He may be right, and if He is right then they are wrong. If they are wrong, then they have to set aside pride and humbly admit that Jesus is the Savior and He is God. Christ is a threat to modern man because He brings judgment upon human wisdom and says He alone is the way of salvation.
The Apostle Paul understood it was only the message of the Cross which could save worldly men and women, so he made a resolve, a determination to preach nothing else.
To know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ.
Paul preached
Christ as the God-Man,
Christ the Messiah,
Christ the Jehovah of the Old Testament and
Christ the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
He taught Christ was very God and very man. He held back no truth on the person of Christ
And Him crucified.
Paul did not preach Christ the great teacher, or Christ the supreme example, or Christ the martyr, or Christ the ideal man, or Christ the great humanitarian, or Christ the first prophet.
He preached Christ crucified.
When Paul came to Corinth, he did not start with the power of positive thinking.
He began with the fact that people are sinners and Christ died for sinners. To tell a brilliant thinker, or a mighty military man, or a suave politician, or a cultured person in the arts that he is a sinner is not the best way to win friends and influence people, but this is where Paul began in his preaching.
As it is written:
10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; together they have become worthless; there is no one who does good, no, not one.”
Paul explained the only hope for sinners is the crucified Christ, and the only way to be saved is to acknowledge one’s total need of the crucified Christ.
Paul was no compromiser or man pleaser. He never watered down the message of the Cross.
10 For am I now seeking the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? For if I were still trying to please men, I would not be the servant of Christ.
To preach Christ crucified, encompasses many doctrines such as sin, judgment, hell, heaven, substitution, redemption, propitiation, reconciliation, justification, faith, repentance and salvation. The Cross touches every phase of the Christian faith and of Christian living. What Paul was saying is that “Christ and Him crucified” was the kernel of his message and the core of his preaching. He concentrated when preaching to the unsaved on the central truth—the crucified Christ.
The message of Christ was met with great opposition in Paul’s day just like it is in our day, but we cannot stop preaching the message just because men react to it in that way.
16 Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for the requirement is laid upon me. Yes, woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel!
Why? This is the only message which transforms lives.
It is this message which will change the world, for if it turned the world upside down in the first century, it surely can do so today. Paul did not preach social reform but a crucified Christ because he knew people who were converted to Christ would have a social impact upon the world. Therefore, we must dedicate ourselves to spreading the message of Christ which transforms people who in turn transform society.
Paul’s Method Should be Our Method
Paul’s Method Should be Our Method
3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
It did not depend on his Physical Condition.
It did not depend on his Physical Condition.
I was with you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. Paul came to Corinth in physical weakness for he had been physically persecuted just a few weeks before his arrival. He also had some kind of physical ailment. These things only made him totally dependent on God for results. He also came in "fear, and with much trembling.” Paul was overwhelmed by the task of evangelizing the great city of Corinth. His fears were allowed by God to humble him, causing him to rest on the Holy Spirit for results.
It did not Depend on his Mental Capacity.
It did not Depend on his Mental Capacity.
My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom.
Paul's content (message) and method (preaching) were not in any way related to human wisdom. Again we must remind ourselves that the Greek professionals could argue so well they could convince just about anybody of anything. They could devise all kinds of systems for persuading people to acknowledge their particular philosophy or speculation.
When Paul came to Corinth, he did not use previously designed methods for persuading people to become Christians and to accept the doctrines he was preaching. Rather, Paul's method was to rest in the sovereign work of the Spirit to convict and move men and women to respond to Jesus Christ by faith.
Apparently Paul did not beg and plead with the Corinthians to come to Christ but preached Christ crucified and trusted in the Holy Spirit to apply the message to the heart, causing them to be broken by the Spirit so they would turn to Christ in submission, yielding to Him alone for salvation.
It Depended on the Spirit’s Power.
It Depended on the Spirit’s Power.
But in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Paul, in faithfulness and obedience, declared the message of Christ in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, and God started to work, and people began to come to Christ. A few from the higher class believed, and the Spirit of God saved hundreds of common folks in that city. God even reached down to the morally outcast in the community and some of these were marvelously saved.
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God.
Soon there was a spiritual awakening in Corinth, and before they knew what had happened a church was planted in that sinful city. Christians began to witness. Home meetings sprang up. There was a lot of “coffee cup” evangelism. The city was alive with spiritual excitement. There was no mass, city-wide evangelistic campaign. There were people just like you and me sharing what God had done in their lives through Christ This is the biblical way of evangelism. There may be a cultural place in our society for mass evangelistic campaigns, but they are not God’s primary way of getting evangelism done.
What then was Paul’s method?
It was to share the gospel with everyone, depending upon a powerful demonstration of the Holy Spirit.
A demonstration means “a convincing proof,” so it is through the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit that men are convicted of sin and convinced of their need of Christ.
Paul’s methodology reflects his theology--God sovereignly saves sinners by grace through faith in Christ. When Paul came to Corinth, he did not have a fancy evangelistic organization. He did not have a team of advance agents with emphasis upon advertisements on radio, TV and billboards. He did not go after only the influential people, thinking that with them he could make a big impact upon the city.
No! He came in the power of the Spirit to preach to any and all who would receive the message of Christ crucified.
He didn’t target just the rich or the poor, the educated or the uneducated, the corporate executives or the little people.
He targeted any and all for Christ, letting the Holy Spirit save whom He pleased. This was his method in every city where he went.
4 For we know, beloved brothers, your election by God. 5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, just as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
We are living in a day and age in which the methodology of most Christians in America reflects their theology—one that is more man-centered than God-centered.
Consequently, Christians have succumbed to methods of human persuasion designed by wise and intelligent men but which are human wisdom at best.
The altar call is helped along by soft music and constant pleading of the pastor or evangelists for people to come forward to make a decision for Christ (“Just one more verse”). During this time of coming forward, there are no doubt many emotional psychological factors taking place.
Then there are all the canned methods of presenting the gospel, whether they have four, six, eight or ten steps to easy conversion. A person is led along by clever questions and salesmanship psychology, resulting in a point of decision where a person prays a canned prayer or mimics the prayer of the one witnessing to him.
Then in our generation within a few short years the popularity of the “seeker friendly church” has sprung up in which Sunday mornings are used to bring unbelievers to church and a non-offensive, watered down presentation of the gospel is made so as to help people like and enjoy Christ. Then hopefully they will come back and more direct evangelism can be used.
Again, do not misunderstand me. There are many things in the “seeker friendly church” we all can learn from but the one thing we can never do is water down the gospel in order to make it pleasing to people. Certainly we need no human, man-made gimmicks to get people to Christ.
What we want is for the Holy Spirit to convince men of their need of Christ and He can do His work without any artificial means of persuasion.
We need common men and women, preachers and evangelists, to depend upon the Holy Spirit for results as they declare the message of the crucified Christ to all men.
When we do it God’s way there will be two basic results: one is that there will be souls saved and the other is that there will be lots of opposition from the non-Christian world and also from the unsaved and unspiritual people in the church.
When we declare Christ’s message with Christ’s methods, depending on the Christ's Spirit, we will get Christ's results.
Probably not as many people will make professions of faith but far more of those who make professions of faith will stay with Christ and follow Him all the days of their lives when the biblical methods and message are used.
Paul’s Motivation Should be Our Motivation
Paul’s Motivation Should be Our Motivation
5 so that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
The reason Paul preached the message of Christ and did not use the persuasive methods of men’s wisdom was that he wanted their faith to be founded and grounded on the power of God. Saving faith is ultimately rooted in the power of God. Saving faith is the result of the work of God, the Holy Spirit, convincing a man of his sin, of God’s wrath on his life, of the death of Jesus Christ for him and leading him to a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Supernatural saving faith is what Paul preached without any superhuman, superficial methods of persuasion.
Rationalistic faith which accepts Christianity as the most acceptable and logical philosophy of life is not saving faith but a false faith.
Emotional faith that conjures up all kinds of psychological responses and religious experiences in man is not saving faith but false faith.
How often when I talk to people, especially in the deep South, and ask them if they are saved, born of God’s Spirit, at peace with God, they answer, "Well, I went down front in one of the church services. I wept publicly with the pastor. I prayed the sinner’s prayer,” but this is not necessarily saving faith.
It is possible for a person to walk down a hundred sawdust trails, pray a thousand canned prayers, weep over sin and still never be saved.
Why? Saving faith is the work of the Holy Spirit, convincing a person of the work of Jesus Christ on his behalf and leading him into a permanent acceptance of Jesus Christ into his life as Lord and Savior.
It would be a tragic thing indeed if a person had a faith which rested on some rational approach to Christianity or a faith which was placed on some emotional experience but was not true saving faith.
The person would be deceived, thinking he or she was a Christian only to die and discover in hell he or she never had true saving faith in the crucified Christ for salvation.
Human wisdom and methods may deceive men but when men truly are moved by the supernatural power of God, they cling only to Jesus Christ for salvation. Jesus put it this way,
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
What is our exhibition of Cross of Christ?
What is our exhibition of Cross of Christ?
Is it Foolishness or is it the Power of God unto Salvation?
Is it Foolishness or is it the Power of God unto Salvation?