This is chapter two of Martin Lloyd Jones' book Setting Our Affections Upon Glory nine sermons on the Gospel and the Church This is chapter two entitled The Great Watershed One Corinthians two ten says But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea even the deep things of God I want us to consider the second chapter in Paul's first epistle. I want us to consider the second chapter in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. I would like to look at the whole chapter because as I'm hoping to show you, the apostle deals with one theme and one theme only in this chapter. Indeed, he keeps on repeating it every single verse. It's a very modern theme. That is the marvellous thing about Scripture. It's always up to date, always contemporary. Here the great apostle deals with what, in many senses, is the most urgent problem in question confronting the Christian Church at this moment. Let me put it like this I think these things are characteristic of modern men and women that must amaze us and come as a problem to us. The first is that amid all today's perplexities and problems, and they are truly stupendous and alarming, wars and possibilities of wars and the whole state of society in every country throughout the world, nevertheless, modern men and women, faced with such problems and baffled by them, refuse to consider the only solution to them, namely the one that is found in the Bible. They will listen to statesmen or philosophers or poets, they will listen to anybody, but they will not listen to the message of this book, which alone can deal with their problems. The second thing that is extraordinary about modern men and women is that they are hero worshippers. They are prepared to stand for hours to get just a passing glimpse of a movie star and will even stand in the rain in order to do so. They are always ready to turn someone into a hero. I'm not here to criticize that. But what is astonishing is that people who are so interested in remarkable and unique personalities have such little interest in the greatest figure, the greatest personality this world has ever known, the Lord Jesus Christ. The third thing that characterizes people today, and the three things of course belong together, is this people are interested in great events, any remarkable happening. And yet when they are confronted by the greatest event that has ever happened or ever can happen, namely the unique death of the Son of God on the cross on Calvary's Hill, they pass by unconcerned or with contempt and derision. Now it really is remarkable that people contradict themselves at these most vital points. The great question for us is to discover why this happens, and it is because that very problem is dealt with in one Corinthians two that I am calling your attention to it. Why do modern men and women not consider the message of the gospel? Why do they not believe it and accept it and apply it? I think the answer quite simply is this their whole approach to this gospel is entirely and completely wrong. And because their initial approach is wrong, obviously they will be wrong with respect to the gospel in every single way and in every single detail. Now, the great apostle Paul deals with that very subject early on in the first epistle to the Corinthians. Paul had been to Corinth and had preached the gospel. Many had believed it, and a church had been established. But he hears to his amazement that many are now reverting to their old ways of thinking and are going back to human philosophy, human wisdom. This is one of the great reasons he had for writing to the church in Corinth, and he takes up this matter immediately in the first chapter. Christ, he says, sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, but not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. And from there, really until the end of the fourth chapter, the apostle simply deals with this one great question. He is astonished at them. He points out that if they persist in this way, the cross will be of none effect. Indeed, they are going to make everything that he preached to them of none effect. They do not realise this, but the devil has come in, and in a very subtle way he is undermining their whole Christian position by getting these people to go back to their old style of thinking. So in these four great chapters, 1 Corinthians 1 to four, and it is because it is summed up so perfectly in the second chapter that I am dealing with this in particular, we have the great apostle putting before us the essential contrast between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man, the wisdom of this present world. And my suggestion is that so many today not only do not believe this gospel but reject it without even considering it, for the simple reason that they approach it in terms of human earthly wisdom, and fail to see from the beginning that it does not belong to that realm at all, but it is altogether and entirely different. Now this is such a vital matter that I do not apologize for taking you through it all in detail. Let us start with human wisdom, the wisdom of this world, as the apostle describes it in one Corinthians two verse six. For this, of course, is what is controlling the thinking of people today, and alas is not only controlling the thinking of those who are outside the church, but the thinking, it seems to me, of the vast majority of those who are inside the church. Here I believe is the great watershed that divides Christian people today. We are all on one side or the other. We either believe in God's wisdom and revelation, or else we submit to the wisdom and philosophy of man. Let us look at this human philosophy. You're all familiar with it. Human wisdom is always the same, though from age to age it assumes different forms. And the favourite at this present time is of course the scientific. This is what is controlling people's thinking. They look to the scientists. Scientists have become the new authority. People are prepared to listen to whatever a scientist says on any subject. Scientists have all knowledge, all understanding. The great characteristic of this age is that it is governed by a scientific outlook. And I want to show you that it is because of this that people reject the gospel and so deny themselves the results of this great salvation. What are the characteristics of the scientific outlook, the scientific approach to all problems? We have been told so much about it on radio and television and in books that we are all familiar with it. The scientific outlook is an outlook that starts with man and his ability. It is all based on that. It believes that people have the power and the capacity to understand everything and to conquer their environment. How does this happen? Well, you start by observation. This is the scientific method. You observe. You look at the universe around you. Then having made your observations, you collect your facts and put them together, and you collate them. Then you look at them and examine them, and you discover that certain rules or certain laws are evidently in operation. For instance, you see that every year, with a strange regularity you have spring, summer, autumn, winter. The scientist observes this, notes it, and sees that there is a law here that produces this cycle. One thing leads to another, cause and effect. And scientists also listen, they use their ears, they hear the sounds and collect them and coordinate them, collating them and proceeding to analyze them in the same way. And again, having done this, they arrive at a number of rules and laws, which are commonly called the laws of nature. But scientists do not stop at that, they now begin to reason about what they have discovered, and they say to themselves If this cause leads to that effect, surely that in turn might might be a cause that will lead to another effect. And so they put up their hypotheses and say we'll try to see what happens when we turn this into a cause. Will it produce the effect? So they make an experiment. This is the essence of the scientific method. You arrive at facts, and on those facts you build up a theory, and then you test your theory. You make an experiment. It's trial and error. Take for instance the amazing things done by the great American nation in the twentieth century. For example, landing men on the surface of the moon. How did that happen? Well, to put it simply, scientists set off a rocket and it went up so high. Then they said Now if we put up another rocket into the first one and arrange that it should go off when the first one stops, more distance will be covered. Then if we put another one in that, it will go up even further. And on and on and on you go until eventually you land a man on the moon. Of course, you do not always succeed the first time, but this is the method trial and error, experimentation, verification or rejection of your theories, and at last you make your grand discovery, and you shout out your Eureka. That is the essence of the scientific method. The scientific method is based on human ability, man's brain, man's understanding, man's power to experiment. It is based entirely on man's capacity, and it really believes that there is virtually nothing that is impossible to human beings. Some foolish men in England, I am sorry to say, men who have been in high positions even in the University of Cambridge, have the audacity to say that man is soon going to become the creator and God will no longer be necessary. Now modern people are controlled by that outlook. That determines their attitude toward everything, and that is why they reject the gospel. For here we have something that, as I want to show you, is the exact opposite of the approach I have just been describing to you. Let us note it together. I make no apology for taking you through every single verse in this second chapter of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. Why did the apostle go to Corinth? Did he go to join the research team that was investigating truth or trying to discover reality? Was he a seeker and a searcher after the truth? No no, here is the word declaring unto you. It is the exact opposite. It is not seeking, it is declaring, it is pronouncing the testimony of God. Notice that the subject matter is entirely different. Then verses two and three, for I determined not to know anything among you. He knew many things, he was a learned erudite man, this apostle, but he deliberately decided and determined to proclaim anything except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And as he goes on, I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. You will not get very far in the modern world if that is your condition, we are told. If you want to get on, you must be self confident and assured. You must believe in yourself and in your powers, you must express yourself. But here is the exact opposite weakness, fear, much trembling. Then verses four and five. And my speech and my preaching watch the negatives was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but what was it then? It was in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Why? That your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Note the contrast there is an antithesis in every single verse it is not human wisdom, it is the power of God. Then verses six to eight. At first Paul appears to be contradicting himself when he continues, how be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect? But then, lest you think he is contrac contradicting himself, he hastens to add, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught, but but oh the contrast, the absolute contrast but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. It is altogether different. And then to make absolutely certain that everybody has grasped this, Paul says which none of the princes of this world knew. Remember, when he says princes, he is not thinking so much of members of royal house houses or royal families as of the great men, the leaders in every realm and department of life, the great philosophers, the thinkers, the great religious leaders, all of them. These are the princes who did not know God's wisdom. Now the princes of this world are not to be despised. They are able men, and they are very able when it comes to recognizing one another. A great physicist recognises another great physicist, a great philosopher recognises another, a great scientist of any description recognises a great scientist, a great poet recognises a great poet, and so on. But the tragedy of the world is this, that none of the princes of this world knew him, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Here is still the tragedy of the world. These great men, these able men who seemed to be able to do almost everything, did not recognise, even recognise the Son of God when they were confronted by him. They said, Who is this fellow? Who is this carpenter? What's this nonsense about a redeeming death upon a cross? None of the princes of this world knew him, and yet the Christians in Corinth were going back to the wisdom of these princes. And people are doing exactly the same thing today. In verse nine then Paul adds a most amazing statement as if he anticipated the mon scientific method. But as it is written, I hath not seen. I told you that the first step always in the scientific method is observation. I was trained as a medical man, and I shall never forget that we had drummed into us as medical students. Our teachers always used to tell us now, don't rush at patients and begin to examine and examine them, look at them first. Observation It is the first rule in the scientific approach. But the apostle tells us here that it is no good. I hath not seen. Man is very proud of his seeing, is he not? We are all proud of the giant telescopes that we have in different countries. They can penetrate so far. In England we have a marvellous telescope in a place called Jodrel Bank, and it can see immense distances. But concerning the truth of the gospel, our Jodrel banks are useless. Eye hath not seen, and never can see. Not only the eye, but the ear is equally useless. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. Even your poetic imagination is useless, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. The truth is entirely different. The things you rely on in the realm of science are already ruled out of court here. They are useless. In verse ten then Paul caps it all off in his mighty statement, but God hath revealed them unto us. This is not about seeking and searching. It is not research, it is not trial and error, and error and error. It is revelation by his spirit. For the spirit searcheth all things, yea, even the deep things of God. Verse eleven then comes as a great question for the modern man. For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the deep things of even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. What does that mean? Well, how does a man recognise a man? He is able to recognise another man because they have the same spirit. A dog can be a very intelligent animal, but a dog could never really know and understand a man. Why not? It is because a dog has the spirit of a dog, not the spirit of a man. Before you can have true knowledge, there must be a correspondence of spirit. I can put this quite simply to you like this. There are many great scientists in the world, but they may get nothing out of poetry. There are many great poets in the world, but they may get nothing out of science. Why? Because if you do not have the poetic instinct or you do not have the scientific mentality, you are not going to be able to understand the other realm. There must be a correspondence of spirit. 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. This is a basic statement, and yet this is what the modern world is incapable of seeing. Men and women believe they can arrive at any knowledge, every knowledge, but they cannot, by definition. As a dog can never really know a man, so a man can never know God in and of himself. The spirit of God is essential. Verse twelve then, to make absolutely certain that we have all understood Paul, he goes on Now we Christians have received not the spirit of the world that is no good but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that we arrive at as the result of research? No, that are freely given to us as of God. You do not do anything about them, you just receive them in your utter helplessness. There is a complete antithesis in every sentence, in every verse from beginning to end. Verse thirteen then which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual is not the essential trouble in the Christian Church today that people are ever handling theology in terms of philosophy. They are going back to human wisdom and they use great philosophical terms. They are speaking in the words that human wisdom teaches, but that is a denial of the truth, for this truth can only be expressed in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Let me illustrate this. Imagine a man who has been trained in the classics, who is a poet by nature, trying to understand how men can be sent up to the moon. Or picture him going into a lab laboratory and reading extraordinary scientific formulas, the poor poet. It's all gibberish to him. He does not understand it at all. He does not understand the language or the terminology. Or if you take your scientist, as I say, and give him the classics or a great bit of poetry, he may feel it is nonsense. And music may mean nothing to either of them, but this is the very confusion that is characterizing a modern world. People do not realise that you must compare spiritual things with spiritual. Every discipline has its appropriate language. The scientist speaks in his scientific terminology. Technology, the poet speaks in his particular way, and these cannot be mixed. What would you think of a scientist, I wonder, who, anxious to propose to a certain young lady, sends her a list of scientific formulas? The idea is ridiculous. You don't express love in scientific jargon. You do it in words that convey love and that can be understood by the object of your love. But that is the whole essence of the modern confusion. People will handle spiritual things in scientific and philosophical terms, in terms of human wisdom. But spiritual understanding requires God's wisdom, and this wisdom can only be spoken in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Verse fourteen, then but the apostle says to make this his point abundantly clear, the natural man receiveth not the sick the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them. There it is. It does not matter who he is. He cannot know them. Why not? Because they are spiritually discerned. The type of Christian I can never understand is the Christian who is disturbed in his mind and spirit because these great scientists are not at all Christians, and some of them proclaim that they are atheists. Some Christians are troubled that these great men with their brains should not believe the Christian truth. My dear friend, you should not be surprised. The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. They were foolishness in the first century, they are still so today. It does not matter how great we may be or how great our brains, if we are lacking the spirit of God, we cannot understand the things of God, and of necessity find them foolish. The modern scientist who denies the gospel is confirming the gospel. fifteen But he that is spiritual, this man who is born again of the Spirit and has the spirit in him, judgeth or understands all things, yet he himself is judged by no man. When people become Christians, they become a problem to their friends who see the change and say what's wrong? Their Christian friends are different. They believe things they used to ridicule. Of course, Christians are judged of no man that is because they now have spiritual understanding. And then in verse 16 comes the close of Paul's argument for who hath known the mind of the Lord? That is what we're talking about that he may instruct him. And then comes one of the most astounding things the apostle ever wrote. But we, that is, Christian people, have the mind of Christ. I think I've established my contention that in every verse in this chapter the apostle has been showing us the utter and complete contrast between the wisdom of the gospel, i.e. the wisdom of God, and every form of human wisdom. And here, as I say, is the whole tragedy of the world and of the church today. As they did in Corinth, so they are doing today. They are mixing these things up and causing unutterable confusion. Some reject the gospel altogether because of their human wisdom, others are turning the gospel into something that is of no effect. Even the cross becomes useless because it is expressed in terms of human wisdom as they try to understand it in their philosophies. This is the remarkable situation by which we are confronted today. But why is the gospel, the message of salvation, essentially different from everything that belongs to the realm of human wisdom? Why is it that the two have nothing in common? The apostle gives us the answer in one Corinthians two. It is because the gospel deals with a subject matter that is entirely and altogether different. And because the subject matter is different, the method must be different. I've shown you the scientific method. What is its subject matter? What is the science concerned with? It is concerned with gadgets, radio, television, rockets. That is its realm. That's all right, I'm not criticizing that. Those are the things with which human wisdom is competent to deal. Thank God for it, and all glory to these men and women and their scientific achievements. That is the realm in which they are operating. But what is the gospel of Jesus Christ about? Is it about scientific matters or politics? Of course not. As we have seen, the apostle tells us the subject matter of the gospel in the very first verse of this chapter. And I, brethren, when I came to you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, the attested truth concerning God. The subject matter of the gospel is the blessed Holy Trinity. Notice it in this chapter God the Father, Jesus Christ, God the Son, and then the Holy Spirit. God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. The gospel is not primarily about man but about God. It is a revelation of God, a revelation of the great mystery of God. And the apostle goes on to expound this and to unfold it. And the moment you realize this, you realize the utter uselessness of all human wisdom, even at its best and at its very highest. Canst thou by searching find out God Job eleven seven can a man ascend into the eternal realm where God dwells? God who is light and in whom is no darkness at all? The thing is preposterous. God is spirit, no man hath seen God at any time, John one verse eighteen. It is impossible. And yet the modern man says I don't understand this, and because it doesn't conform to the rules of my scientific outlook, I am going to reject it. Oh what a fool the modern man is. What a baby he is, even in the realm of thought. Fancy bringing his abilities and his methods into a subject that by definition excludes it all. If people could understand God, they would be equal to God. God by definition is altogether other. He is the absolute and the eternal, the everlasting God. That is the subject matter of the gospel. And then the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I determined not to know anything among you save except Jesus Christ. And again, Paul goes on to elaborate, he says, 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 princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. What is the subject matter of our gospel, of our Christian message? It is Jesus of Nazareth. Who is he? Here is the mystery of mysteries, the wisdom of God in a mystery. The world said of him this fellow. They dismissed him. The princes of this world did not know him. They looked at him and saw nothing in him but a man, and so they rejected him and regarded him as an imposter. But who is he? Here is my message, says Paul, and here is something that eludes the highest and the greatest human wisdom. This is the Lord of Glory. Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. This is the subject matter of Christianity. The mystery of Christ, God and man, two natures in one person, the incarnation. Here is our theme. It is so entirely different from everything that man is interested in and is competent to deal with. Let me put this point to you in the words of Charles Wesley in one of his hymns. He puts it so perfectly. He seems to invite us to go with him to Bethlehem and to enter the stable and to look there at the little babe lying in a manger. I will look at him, says Charles Wesley. Who is he? Oh, says the world, it's just a little baby lying in a manger. There's nothing to get excited about. Wait a minute, says Charles Wesley. Veiled in flesh the godhead see, hail the incarnate deity. Here is mystery, here is paradox. The maker and creator and the sustainer of the universe lying as a helpless babe in a manger. This is what we're talking about. What is the value of your scientific formulas here? Where is your philosophy? Where is all the wisdom of the scribes of this world? How utterly foolish it is, and how mad man is in his determination to unravel the mystery. The apostle Paul never said he understood it. He stands back one afternoon and says Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. That is it. It is entirely out of the realm of human wisdom in every single respect. And then Paul tells us about the death on the cross, Jesus Christ and him crucified. Oh that the mystery and the marvel of the cross, Isaac Watts says, When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died what a paradox What a contradiction The Prince of Glory dying madness impossible but it has happened. My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. The pride of knowledge and philosophy and all the learning that has been garnered in the university says that it is ridiculous. The Prince of Glory dying, but this is the subject matter, the atoning sacrifice, God's way of redemption. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. And then Paul goes on to tell us that all this happened for us. This is the wisdom of God and a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world, unto our glory. All this happened that we might be redeemed. The Son of God died that we might be forgiven, that we might be reconciled unto him, and the Spirit is sent, and he comes and does his amazing work of regeneration. God puts his spirit into us and gives us an understanding that we never had before. And so we have the mind of Christ. This is what the gospel is about, and the moment you realize the essential character of the subject matter of this gospel, you see how utterly monstrous and ridiculous and foolish it is for men and women to come with their wisdom and learning and understanding and apply it to this. They have already gone astray, and that is the whole tragedy of the world and of the church at this moment. My dear friend, we must make this perfectly clear. When you come into the Christian church and listen to this gospel as it is as it is in truth, you must realise that everything you are in this world is of no value. It does not matter who you are, what your natural ability is, what your degrees and diplomas and academic attainments may be. It is all useless to you. When you come into the realm of the church, the Pharisee is as helpless as the publican. He said on another occasion, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed good in thy sight. And yet, people depend on their human wisdom. The outsider does and rejects the gospel. Even inside the church men and women bring their philosophy and their learning and their ability and make the cross of Christ of no effect through their human wisdom. This is the great problem in the church at this very moment. It is a failure to see this basic elementary truth that the very character of the gospel makes it impossible for human wisdom ever to understand it or to be competent with respect to it. What is the subject matter of the gospel? The apostle tells us in the tenth verse God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. What is it? For the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. It is the infinite depths of the wisdom of God. Let me again sum this up in the great words by Charles Wesley. Tis mystery all, and it is from beginning to end the immortal dies. And then notice the boldness of Charles Wesley. Who can explore his strange design? In vain the first born seraph tries to sound the depth of love divine. Tis mercy all let earth adore, let angels minds. You might as well give up, says Charles Wesley. You will never understand it. It is a mystery to you, this manifold wisdom of God, the deep things of God. So it is because of the subject matter of the gospel that human wisdom is utterly incompetent and should never enter into this realm. I close by making this remark. Is it not astonishing that men and women are annoyed by this instead of thanking God for it? We ought to thank God that the gospel is as it is. People want to understand it, do they not? They want to understand through their own minds and abilities, and if in their utter folly they say If I don't understand it, I'm not going to believe it. Oh this is the tragedy of humanity. Their ultimate trouble is intellectual pride and conceit. They glory in themselves instead of doing as Paul has told us to do at the end of this first chapter. He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Why should we thank God that this gospel is as it is? Well, if it depended upon human wisdom and knowledge and capacity and understanding and power, then it would only be a salvation for a very few great and exceptional people. What if you did not know philosophy and science in order to understand salvation and receive it? Then just a handful of people would be saved, and the rest of us would be irretrievably damned and lost. Thank God that his way of salvation is so utterly and entirely different from ours. Human wisdom and science postulate ability in our effort and seeking and our searching and our striving. But what does the gospel demand of us? Simply that we know that we are paupers, simply that we repent and admit and confess that we have nothing at all, that we are blind and lost and damned and hopeless and helpless. Oh the tragedy that men and women should object to the most glorious thing about the gospel, that it is the power of God unto salvation and not the power of man. Because it is the power of God, there is hope for all of us. Do you see how ridiculous the situation has become? So many today seem to think that unless you have great understanding and can read philosophy, you cannot understand the gospel. If that were so, there wouldn't be a point of sending foreign missionaries to the heart of Africa or to the Australian Aborigines. What would be the point of sending people to preach the gospel to men and women who do not even know an alphabet or have never read a word in their lives but cannot follow any kind of argument or disputation? It would be useless. But that is not the gospel. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and it is revealed by the Spirit. It is his power, not our understanding, that makes salvation possible. It is by the power that he gives to us that we are enabled to understand. The whole basis of the missionary enterprise is that this is the revelation of God and of the Spirit of God, that these things are freely given to us of God, and we but receive them in our utter, absolute helplessness, and then proceed to understand them and enjoy them. So the moment you begin to think about it, you see that human wisdom is an utter contradiction of the gospel in every single respect. And this is the final tragedy of the world. The apostle puts it like this we speak wisdom among men that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. And this is what we must say to the world today. The world is proud of its wisdom, proud of its understanding, its achievements, proud of its scientific method. But do you know where all of that will bring the world? The apostle has told us it comes to naught, nothing, a cipher. It appears to be wonderful, but in the end there will be emptiness, a void. Yet people hold on to their wisdom and reject this great and glorious gospel, which is the wisdom of God and the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Why is it that men and women reject such a gospel? I am afraid the answer is but too plain and clear. It is because they feel that it insults them. They want to understand, they want to rely on their own abilities, and they hold on to these. And here they are with their world in flames, going to hell, and yet they still hold on. They will not submit, they will not come down. They say any fool can do that. And they talk of their learning, of the advance of knowledge and of education. We're asked to deny it all, they say. We can't commit intellectual suicide so they will not accept it. And their world goes on hurtling itself from disaster to disaster and will end in final doom. And all because of human pride. Let me close by quoting to you that great hymn of Horatius Bonard in which he states it all so perfectly. I heard the voice of Jesus say Behold I freely give the living water. Thirsty one stoop down and drink and live. Remember the invitation. Our Lord invites us to drink. Why does the world refuse? Well, the explanation is given in the last line stoop down and drink and live. Stoop down. That is the problem. Everything the world needs is there in the gospel. The fountain was opened on Calvary's Hill. There is the water of the word of life, everything you need. But you cannot drink from a fountain standing erect. Before you can drink you have to bend on your knees, or you may lie prostrate on the ground, you must stoop down and drink in order to live, and the moment your parched lips touch that cooling stream, everything is changed. But modern men and women will not do this. They prefer to stand and stagger on their feet in their inability and go to hell. If they would just become little children and stoop down and drink, they would be able to join Horatius Bonar and saying I came to Jesus and I drank of that life giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in him. My dear friends, this is the great question of the hour. Are you banking and basing your whole position on human wisdom and understanding and knowledge or on the revelation of the wisdom of God in the Lord Jesus Christ made known to us in the infallible word of God? Oh the great tragedy, the folly of pitting human wisdom and understanding against the deep things of God. May God apply his message to us so that we all may know we are ready to be fools for Christ's sake. If any man, says Paul in verse eighteen of the next chapter, seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool and believe this gospel. Let him become a little child that he may be made wise.