1 Corinthians 1:18-25 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 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. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Continuing: Jehovah Jireh God gives us supernatural access to counterintuitive godly wisdom and to spiritual discern between those things that cause us to perish and the things that will cause us to prosper and thrive in this life through the lifelines of His everlasting ways of the kingdom of Heaven. The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. The cross of Christ is upside-down, counterintuitive to unbelievers as sacrificially dying to save and live appears backwards. We normally believe what we see with our own two eyes as proof; seeing is believing so we require a visible sign as if God is the one on trial to prove that He is real. But, it is the fallen, perishing in sin people who are on trial. Sanctified Christian know and understand this Gospel truth and those who are not won’t because they do not know God. Also, to those who depend upon naturalistic wisdom, the super-naturalistic wisdom of the cross of Christ will not satisfy their desires; it sounds like folly or crazy to them. Can Almighty God do signs and wonders? Of course, but He doesn’t have to prove themselves to doubters, who struggle with the concept of God dying on a Cross to save sinners and have no desire to believe, so do not reach out to God.
Deuteronomy 8:18-20 “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
Pastor Kyle gave us three facts about the counterintuitive nature of Divine wisdom. (1) People who do not know God are perishing and they refuse God’s lifeline in Christ. Skeptics say that Christianity is a crutch the weak, a waste of time, childish fantasy and foolish. Yet, the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Because the unbeliever has not fully embraced the freedom of the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ, they do not know what can come from God. In Matthew 16:24-27 Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. How do we find our life by losing our life? By faith.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Until someone repents and surrender their sinful life to the Lord, whether they can realize it or not, are perishing and they cannot save themselves. Luke 13:3-5 “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” We have to come to a place where we recognize that the sinful way that we are living our life right now is not working. Until we give our life over to the Lord, we will just continually grab for the wrong lifeline time and time again while keep swimming against the riptides of life and perishing. If you are not a repentant, born-again believers in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, a consecrated, sanctify, regenerated and transformed disciple, and you continue in your unsaved, fallen ways, genuinely not knowing if you’d go to Heaven when you die, then you can and need to repent and accept the free gift of redemption and forgiveness by the grace of God in Jesus.
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 “Thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.”
True Christians remember a point in their lives when they realized that their lives were sinfully pagan and were hellbound for their rebellious sins against a just and holy God. But, grabbed that counterintuitive life line of the redeeming Cross of Christ to save them by His atoning sacrificial blood for the forgiveness of their sins, surrendering their selfish will and sinful way for His righteousness. Life after salvation is living for the Lord on this journey of Sanctification; even with temptations and spiritual battles along the path, we are learning, growing and maturing with the help of the Holy Spirit, for the word of the cross is the power of God. Now, by the great commission of our Lord (Matthew 28:18-20), our mission is to bring as many others as we can into the family of God and the kingdom of Heaven by the Gospel with a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That is called witnessing for Christ through discipleship (making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you).
In John 10:27-29 Jesus affirms, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”
Let's conclude pastor Kyle's message on "perish-proofing" our life in Christ on the next post.
In Christ, Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment