The Hidden Wisdom of God — 1 Corinthians 2:6-9 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. We have all the past programs available of course on video as well as in print, so if you'll just call us or write to us and we'll get the information to you as quickly as we possibly can. The little booklets are really catching on as they're on the screen, and we find that busy people especially are more apt to read than they are to sit down and watch a video. So for those of you who are like that, we just love to have you write to us so we can get these little books into your hands. We took almost 700 up to Minneapolis in our last sojourn up there, and every last one of them went. So like I said, the little books are catching on. Now for those of you here in the studio, and for those of you out in television that join us with your Bible in hand and your notebook, we're going to go right back and pick up where we left off in our last program, which is in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We more or less stopped at verse 8, but I want to back up just a few verses and remind you again that throughout this early part especially of 1 Corinthians, Paul is constantly bringing up the word, wisdom. It's usually in a comparison of man's wisdom with God's wisdom. Of course the Apostle Paul was probably more aware of the emphasis on man's wisdom than we can have any idea for, because just shortly before he came down to the city of Corinth, remember he was at the very seat of philosophical thinking, which was Athens. And you remember up there at Athens as he confronted all those Athenian philosophers, and they subscribed to him the term, babbler. Remember that when we were studying the Acts, what would this babbler have to say? Well you see compared to the philosophers of his day, it was really the other way around. Paul was the one who had the heavy stuff, the philosophers had the babble. And you know what? It isn't much different today. The world's heavy thinkers and the think tanks and everything else that we read about, compared to the word of God, they're nothing but babble. They try to envision what's going to happen and how things are happening, and here the writers of Scripture knew it thousands of years ago. And so as Paul now comes on the scene to Corinth, as we explained in the last several programs, a city that was beset with idolatry, steeped in the mythological worship of the gods and goddesses, and then along with that of course gross immorality. We think we're in a bad state today, but listen, we're not yet as far as they were at Corinth. And into the very midst of all that comes this apostle, as we'll see a little later in the first Corinthians letter. He didn't come with oratory, he didn't come with smooth talk, he didn't come with a big advanced team getting him ready for big crusades or anything like that, but he just came in I imagine into the synagogue first, and from the synagogue probably out into the busy marketplace, and he just simply began to approach people, as he says in this little book of Corinthians, with the preaching of the cross. And I've maintained as long as I've been teaching, when pastors, and I know we have a lot of pastors listening to us, if pastors would forget about the gimmicks, forget about programs, and just simply start preaching the Word again. And I think they would find that their church would once again find new life and would begin to grow, because this is the way God has ordained it. God has not ordained that we use gimmicks and programs. And so here in first Corinthians now chapter 2, I'm going to back all the way up for a little bit to verse 6, because again I think this sort of hits the nail on the head. Now the word perfect in the King James really means mature, and so these Corinthian believers, even though they were carnal, yet they had enough of the basic fundamentals of Paul's gospel that could refer to them as mature. And yet he says, not the wisdom of this world does he bring to Corinth, or to us in 19 whatever. He says, not the wisdom of this world, nor the princes of this world that come to nothing. Now here's the flip side again. Paul says, I didn't come to you with the wisdom of this world. I didn't come with all the approval of the philosophers up there on Mars Hill, but I came to you with the simple gospel of the cross. And you know the gospel of the cross hasn't lost its power one iota. We have heard in just the last few months of people who have just watched a portion of our program, not even the whole program, and the Lord has just entered their lives, and transformed them, and just totally changed the direction of their life. Now that's not less Feldick. That's the power of the Word of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit, and any one of you can experience the same thing as you share the gospel with those with whom you come in contact. So He does not come with the wisdom of this world. He does not come with all the attributes of the princes and the nobility of this world, but verse 7, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Now again I like to use as much Scripture as we can, because this is a Bible study. This is not a preaching service or anything like that. Now come back with me again to a verse that we've used over and over through the last several years, Deuteronomy 29. Because from this verse that I think Paul is constantly using that same word, mystery in the Greek, but it's also secret. And so back in Deuteronomy 29.29, we see that very word secret as being a part and parcel of God's dealing with not only Israel, but the whole human race. Are you with me? Deuteronomy 29.29. Every time I say, are you with me, I can't help but remember when we were in Haiti, and we had those 700 folks out there, and of course I was working through an interpreter, and we were teaching the book of Revelation of all things, and I just thought this was just going over their heads. But every once in a while I'd say, are you with me? He'd translate, are you with him? And all those beautiful white teeth, those shining faces would just nod their head, and I could tell by the questions that they came up with afterwards, you bet they were getting it. So back to the text now, Deuteronomy 29 .29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of the law. Now that of course is Moses writing to Israel, but you see the same thing applies to us today. God has seen fit to keep things secret until such time in His sovereign grace, He saw fit to release it and reveal it. Which of course is this whole Pauline doctrine. It was secret. The Old Testament knew nothing of what we call the Gospel of the grace of God. The Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John know nothing of Paul's Gospel which went out to Jew and Gentile alike. And so Paul uses the word over and over, behold I show you a secret or a mystery. I would not have you ignorant. I'm going to reveal another secret. Now if you're back in I Corinthians chapter 2, this is exactly what he's referring to. That the wisdom that God had now given to this apostle, the revelations that have now been given to this man have been kept secret. And now they're coming out into full view and into full understanding and reading on 9 verse 7, we're not speaking the wisdom of the world from verse 6, but we speak the wisdom of God that has come out of a secret. That's what he's really saying. He has now had the privilege of being revealed or having revealed to him this secret, even the hidden. Now I could take you back to Genesis again, but I'm not going to. But you see back when Abraham first had his encounter with Jehovah, if I'm not mistaken the Hebrew name that God ascribed to it at that time was Jehovah Olam. I hope I'm right, all this comes up as I'm teaching, I didn't prepare this. But the Hebrew word for Jehovah when he dealt with Abraham was Jehovah Olam. Now the word Olam as you come all the way up through the Old Testament can be used in various other settings, and David refers to themselves, why O Lord have you hidden these things? Well what do you suppose is the Hebrew word for hidden? Olam. And so way back there in Genesis we already realize that God in His sovereignty does keep things hidden from human understanding, as I've already said earlier, until it's His time to reveal it. As Paul is constantly referring to this fact, that these things that have been revealed to him were indeed hidden in the mind of God. And again I always have to take people back to Acts chapter 2 where Peter is preaching to the nation of Israel concerning their having crucified their Messiah. And he said, Him who by the determinate counsel of God and His foreknowledge you crucify. So was God surprised when Israel rejected the Messiah? No. Was God surprised when Rome crucified Him? No. It was all predetermined back in eternity past. And the same way with these truths. This wasn't just God changing His mind all of a sudden and say, well I guess I'll do it. No. This was all in the predetermined sovereign plan of the ages that through this man now God would reveal these hidden wisdoms. I read on in verse 7. The hidden wisdom that had been kept secret, which God ordained before the world unto our and I think Paul could have used the word my, unto my glory. Turn with me now so you'll know what he's talking about. Go back with me to Galatians chapter 1. We've looked at these verses over and over, and I'm going to keep repeating. You know why? Because letter after letter, phone call after phone call says less how we appreciate your repetition. It's the only way we can learn. Just keep repeating and repeating. So I'm going to without apology. So we've looked at Galatians 1 many times before, but we'll look at it again. And here's the Apostle Paul's own account of how these revelations came to him. Beginning of verse 11, Galatians chapter 1, beginning of verse 1. And remember this is one of the letters of Paul to a Gentile congregation. He says, I certify, or I guarantee you brethren, that the gospel which is preached of me is not after man. See that? In other words, he's not just falling into someone else's footsteps and taking up their material and passing it on. No, no. He's starting with something that is totally new. Read on. Galatians 1.1-2 Verse 12, I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it by man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now stop and think. Where was Jesus Christ when He revealed these things to the Apostle? Well He's already in glory. This is after His ascension. This isn't during His earthly ministry. This is after His death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension to glory, and now from the glory. God is revealing these things to this Apostle, so that He can take it out to Jew and Gentile alike. Now verse 13. He says, You have heard, you know about my manner of living, as the other word for conversation. You know about my manner of living in times past, in the Jews religion. That's all Judaism had become by the time Paul comes on the scene. It was just another religion. It was just watered down with man made laws and rules and regulations. I hope you all understand that. When Israel was living under the Law, even during Christ's earthly ministry, that was a far cry from the pure Law of Moses. See by the time Christ came to the nation of Israel, it wasn't just the Ten Commandments that made up the Law. In my land I used to know how many there were, but there were a hundred and some rules and regulations that now comprise the Law of Judaism. Now when you do that to anything that God has left of the human race, it becomes nothing more than religion. And that's what Paul is alluding to here, that he had been steeped in the Jews religion. And how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church, or the assembly of God, and wasted it. Which of course referring to those Jewish believers of Christ's earthly ministry after He's gone there at Jerusalem, over whom Peter was preaching in the book of Acts. Then verse 14 in Galatians 1, And I profited in the Jews religion, above many my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the word of God. But what? Traditions! And you know what? People in Christendom today are not one with different. If people could come and say, unless I'm steeped in the Word, I wouldn't have any problem. But they don't. They'll call, and they'll come with their various ideas of the tradition in which they have lived for the last many, many years. People haven't changed a bit. In fact I was just talking to a gentleman this morning, and I said, don't go by what I say, don't go by what the next man says, but take what I say to whet your appetite to get into the Book. Because that's where it's at. Paul was no different. So he was steeped in the tradition of the fathers. Now verse 15. Another flip side, isn't it? Now as he comes out of the traditions of the fathers, when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb. In other words, when was Saul of Tarsus already on the mind of God? In eternity past. And so at the appropriate time, Saul's mother conceived, and the baby in her womb was all part of God's preordained plan. And that's what he says, see? It was God who formed him in the womb. It was God who brings him to the birth. And he says, and he called me by His grace. Now you all know Paul's background as the persecutor, as the one who hated Jesus of Nazareth with a passion. And yet God saw fit to save that man, not because he deserved it, not because he had earned it, but because of what? Grace. And so by grace, Paul says, God saved him. And then verse 16, and what was God's purpose? To reveal His Son in me. Now of course, he's speaking of the Christ, the resurrected, crucified, and risen Christ. To reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him, not amongst the Jews, but the heathen or the Gentiles. That's why he was commissioned back there in Acts chapter 9. And never forget this, and you know I get a lot of my points for teaching from some of my people who have come to understand the Scriptures. I've got a young man out in North Carolina, and it's going to thrill him to death when he hears me talk about him on television. He picked up our program several years ago off the satellite, and the first thing he did was order all the tapes and all the books, and he just became a rabid student. And after he had gotten it down solid, and I mean he could rehearse Genesis to Revelation with me over the phone. Now he says, I've got this knowledge, and I'm just bubbling over with it. Why doesn't God give me a chance to use it? I said, just wait, just wait. Well he called the other night, just as excited as a kid with a new toy, and he had become a shortwave radio operator, a ham operator, and he said, I've got a whole class of men on the shortwave. And he said, it just comes out, and now they are beginning to get on the shortwave, and they said, hey my wife has a question. And I said, see, I told you, you wait and God will give you the opening. And he is just thrilled. He has as many as 20-25 men listening now to him unload the Scriptures over the shortwave. So anyway, Paul now says that he had been called by grace to preach among the Gentiles, and when he was called to preach among the Gentiles, immediately says, I conferred not with flesh and blood. Now what does that tell us? Well logically from the human standpoint, there old Saul was now up there in Damascus, and the Lord has just totally made him his own, has brought him off his high horse of Judaism. What would have been the logical thing to do? Well go back to Jerusalem, and look up Peter, James and John, and say, hey fellas, you were with the Lord for three years, fill me in. You certainly know a lot of things that I don't know. But see he makes the point by inspiration, he didn't. Why? Because God wants to keep him as far from the Twelve as He possibly can, because He doesn't want the revelations He is going to give to Paul mixed up with what the Twelve of course had already understood. So he makes the point, I conferred not with flesh and blood, and to make sure that we understand what he is saying, the next verse qualifies it. I didn't go up to Jerusalem to them who were apostles before me, but instead where did God take him? Out into Arabia, and I think into Mount Sinai, and Betty always knows what I am referring to. She has a good little slide presentation of the old Mount Sinai, and that's where I think Paul went to receive his revelations, just as surely as God took Moses up there and revealed the Law. We've had that on the board more than once over the last several years. Well anyway, now then the apostle makes it so plain that all of this that had been given to him, and which comes out in his letters, was by revelation. He didn't go to some seminary in Jerusalem taught by Peter, James and John. He did not go back and pick up their notes and do some research, but instead God took him to the desert, and I think alone, and there if I understand my Scriptures correctly, for three years the Lord revealed to this man these tremendous doctrines of grace, which you'll find nowhere else in your Bible. Now then, maybe that's sufficient to bring us back to I Corinthians chapter 2. So this is the wisdom that Paul refers to as having been revealed to him as the apostle of the Gentiles. Now then, verse 8. We went over too hurriedly in the last program, and that's why I had to go through it again. Now then, this wisdom that had been revealed to this man, how that Christ was the Son of God, He was the Messiah, the King of Israel, but His own people rejected Him, they crucified Him. But it was all part of God's eternal plan for the ages, that it had to be in order to purchase the salvation of every human being who would respond. So now verse 8. This wisdom is the which none of the princes of this world knew. Now that word knew there is more than just a casual recognizing, yeah, there was a fellow who came out of Nazareth and so forth. No, they did not know Him as the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel. None of the princes of this world, not of Israel, nor of Rome. For had they known Him, known what? Who Christ really was. Had the leaders of Israel, had that high priest, had those Pharisees, had they known who Jesus of Nazareth really was, would they have ever cried for His death? Why, no way. Pilate came close, you remember. He said, I can find no fault in this man, and on top of that, you know, he'd gotten what, a dream of his wife, don't touch this man. He came close to seeing it, but he didn't. And so Pilate also put his stamp on the crucifixion. And so this is what Paul is now alluding to, that the princes, the leaders of that then known world, did not know who Jesus of Nazareth was. And consequently, they went ahead and crucified Him. But if they would have known, they would have never carried it out. But they did not know. They had the wisdom of men, they had the wisdom of religion, but they did not have the wisdom of God. Now then I guess we're ready to make a little headway. Verse 9. And so now after comparing the wisdom of men with the wisdom of God, he said, but as it is written, and when Paul says that, of course, he's going to take us back to an Old Testament reference, and we won't take time to look it up now. But he says, Verse 9. And as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Now I know that in our present day Christendom, we hear a lot about it. We hear almost nothing of the lake of fire, the eternal doom. But you know it's gotten to the place where we don't even hear much more about heaven in some real definitive terms, do we? We just hear of it as some place we'll go when we die if we're saved. But listen, this verse gives us again a whole train load if we'll just think on it. There has never entered into the thoughts of man. We can't even begin to comprehend the things that God has already prepared. He's not going to someday. It's already there for those who love Him. You know, I've been emphasizing in my classes here in Oklahoma over the past many years, my as a believer, get excited about your eternity. Get excited about what's ahead of us. This whole world has nothing really, even though we in America have it so good, but it's nothing compared to the glory Paul says that will one day be presented to us. That of course comes out of Romans 8. But here he says that nothing has entered into our thought processes. We certainly have never been able to see anything like it, and those of you who have traveled you know there are areas in our country that are beautiful almost beyond description. I love the mountains, I make no apology for it, I'm an old flat lander from way back, but I still love the mountains, and if I could live my life over and could make a living out of scenery, I think I'd be living out in the Rocky Mountains. But as we drive through it, I always tell Iris, it's gorgeous, but you can't eat it. It just gives you a little glimpse, and I guess that's why I love the mountains, they are so eternal. They are so much the work of the fingers of God, and I just can't help but feel a little bit closer to Him as we drive through those tremendous mountainous areas. But even that beauty is nothing compared to that which is still coming. And always keep that uppermost in your mind. This old world is a pig pen compared to that which is coming. Less Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, OK 74552 That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, OK 74552 Through the Bible with Less Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible with Less Feldick.