Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

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DEVOTIONAL

Knowing Christ makes the believer wiser than the world.

Lawrence Toombs, in his 1955 article “O.T. Theology and the Wisdom Literature,” said, “Wisdom is to be found with God and nowhere else. And unless the quest for wisdom brings a man to his knees in awe and reverence, knowing his own helplessness to make himself wise, wisdom remains for him a closed book” (The Journal of Bible and Religion, 23:3 [July 1955], 195). It’s wonderful to have the book of God’s wisdom opened to us as believers.

Through God’s book of wisdom it’s easy for any believer to analyze the world. People who have no biblical background find it difficult to resolve controversial issues like capital punishment, abortion, or homosexuality. But the Bible has clear answers for those seemingly complex issues: If you take a life, you should die (Gen. 9:6); the life within the womb is a person made by God (Ps. 139:13); and homosexuality is not an alternate lifestyle but a damning sexual sin like adultery or fornication (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Rom. 1:26-27).

As a Bible-believing Christian you may not be considered “noble” or “mighty” by the world’s standards (1 Cor. 1:26) and may be seen as the refuse of the world (1 Cor. 4:13); but you have the answers to the important questions. Because of God’s sovereign, gracious work, you’ve been ushered into the wisdom of God through fear of the Lord. The apostle Paul said, “You are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God” (1 Cor. 1:30). Once you fear God, His wisdom continually flows to you. Paul told the Colossians that in Christ dwells “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3). Since Christ dwells in you, you possess the very wisdom of God!

Suggestions for Prayer

• Praise the Lord for the privilege of knowing Him and His will through His Word and His Spirit.
• Pray that you might manifest the wisdom of the living God so that the world sees Christ in you.

For Further Study

Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. How does the apostle Paul contrast God’s wisdom with the world’s?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

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SERMON

Sermon #5523

The World by Wisdom Knew not God

A Sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:21

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 that believe.

Originally preached Dec. 22, 1957

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Sermon Description

Why has humanity long rejected the truth and wisdom of God? It is because of the arrogance of humanity. People have always wanted to find truth for themselves, just as when Adam reached for the fruit. In the same way, modern people open a philosophy textbook. In this sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:21 titled “The World by Wisdom Knew not God,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones warns of the dangers of searching for truth apart from Christ. In Corinth, false teachers were denying the miraculous events of the Bible, saying that they cannot be true because they seem unreasonable. They wanted to view Christ as a good teacher rather than as God and Savior. People continually reject the wisdom of God that is revealed in the Bible, nature, and all of history. They turn to their own brain instead of relying on the all-knowing, all-powerful God of the Bible.

Sermon Breakdown

1. The apostle Paul warns the Corinthians against reverting to worldly wisdom and philosophy.
2. The Corinthians were in danger of ceasing to be Christians by abandoning the Gospel for worldly wisdom.
3. The Gospel is not based on man’s wisdom but on God’s wisdom.
4. The Gospel seems like foolishness to the world but it is God’s wisdom.
5. The world failed to know God through its own wisdom. God allowed the world 4000 years to find Him through wisdom but it failed.
6. The world’s greatest thinkers like Plato and Aristotle failed to find God through wisdom.
7. The world is without excuse for not knowing God because of creation, providence, history and human nature which reveal God’s wisdom.
8. Man’s pride and confidence in his own intellect caused his failure to know God. Man wants to judge and assess God as an equal.
9. Christ came because the world did not know God and lacked fellowship and communion with God.
10. Christ came because it pleased God according to His good pleasure and love. God was moved by nothing but His own will.
11. Christ came to reveal God’s wisdom in a way that seems like foolishness to the world. The incarnation and the cross seem foolish but are God’s wisdom.
12. Christ came to save those who believe by forgiving them, reconciling them to God and giving them eternal life in knowing God.
13. We should not try to understand the incarnation, virgin birth, atonement and resurrection but accept them by faith. We will never fully understand them.
14. We should worship and praise God for doing the impossible in sending Christ to save us.