Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: 1 Corinthians 1 | Date: March 13, 2022 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

1 Corinthians Chapter 1

Redemption Applied

1 Corinthians chapter 1, we’re continuing our series on the doctrine of salvation. We’ve looked at redemption planned, redemption accomplished by Christ. We’ve tried to sort through the various details of that. And now we’re getting into the third major area, and that is salvation or redemption applied. And today, we have been looking at various features of that: Christ ascended to the throne, Christ pouring out his Spirit upon the world, the Spirit coming in his power. Last time we looked at the subject of saving grace, and now today we look at the subject of divine calling.

And I think the passage of Scripture that deals with that most thoroughly is here in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I’ll begin reading with verse 18. Well, I’ll back up to verse 17:

“Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 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’s the one who is wise? Where’s the scribe? Where’s the debater of this world? 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. Where Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the 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. Or consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in this world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, ‘let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, our hearts have rejoiced as we’ve looked into these glorious themes of the gospel. It’s been good for us; it has been enriching. And we ask again now that as we look at this new subject now, this next subject of divine calling, that you will give us a greater appreciation of your grace to us in Christ. May we go from here glorying in what we have in him, we pray in his name. Amen.

Well, as you can tell from reading through the passage, even just quickly like this, this passage sets in contrast for us, on the one hand, the blindness of the fallen human mind, and then on the other hand, the effectiveness of the grace of God. On the one hand, the blindness of the human mind in its natural state, and on the other hand, the grace of God—in particular, the effectiveness of the grace of God.

In verse 18, which sets part of the theme for the passage, we read that the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. It’s just a horrible description of humanity: the very worst condition you could be in, what you need the most, the gospel, you think is foolish. That’s verse 18. The word of the cross is foolish or folly to those who are perishing. We see the same thing in verse 23. We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to the Gentiles. Paul’s speaking of his own experience in preaching the gospel. We go to the Jews and the Jews have their idea of what Messiah should be: that Christ will be a great political figure; he will lead over the nations and triumph over them all. They weren’t wrong in that; they’re just wrong in their timing. And they had no category for a suffering Messiah. And this idea of Christ crucified, Messiah crucified—that’s just, “I can’t get over that.” And they stumble right over the gospel when it’s preached to them. Greeks, on the other hand, the more philosophically minded, want to figure all of this out, and you preach the same message to them, and they think, “Well, that’s stupid. You’ve got a savior who’s triumphed in crucifixion and death, and the most ignominious and humiliating death. Go somewhere else. That’s a stupid message. How dumb must people be to believe something like that?”

Well, that’s the sense of verse 18 and verse 23. The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. We preach Christ crucified—a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. This is—if we see it anywhere in Scripture, we see it here—the depravity or the blindness of the human mind. It is not that people are stupid; it’s not that they lack mental capacities to understand the gospel; it’s just there’s some blindness to it. We will see this later in the series in terms of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, that the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so that they don’t see. They just don’t see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We’ve talked about this in other contexts; the technical term that’s used today is the “noetic effects of sin,” the blinding effects of sin on the human mind. So the things that are patently obvious, like the glory of Christ, the simplicity of the gospel, just don’t register. There’s a blindness to it, and then even often a hostility as well.

It speaks then of the bondage of the human heart in sin. It speaks of the depravity of man in his sinfulness. And he contrasts it here in verses 19 and following with the wisdom of the world and the foolishness of God. The world in its puffed-up wisdom thinks it knows so much better and subjects divine revelation to its own scrutiny and decides what is true and what is not. In all of its wisdom, it judges the gospel to be foolish—God to be foolish in essence—and God in his foolishness trumps the wisdom of the wise of the world. And Paul tells us here that this is the condition of every man and woman in our natural state. We think that the gospel is foolish. We see no attractiveness to Christ. We don’t see the glory. And yet, here we are. Believers. One of the things we want the most is to come together and sing about Jesus and to hear about Jesus and have someone open the Scriptures and say, “Here, look at this about Jesus,” and we just love it. What happened? How did that come about?

And the answer Paul gives is in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 9: “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son.” You were called into the fellowship of his Son. Now, a couple of things here that we have to see before we go along. First of all, what is that expression, “the fellowship of his Son”? Called into the fellowship of Christ. Well, that is what we have seen before in this series earlier: this wonderful truth of union with Christ. That Christ is the accomplished Redeemer. He has done what is required to accomplish salvation. God has sent him. He has become incarnate. He has suffered on behalf of sinners. He has taken their place, rendered satisfaction to God. He has been raised from the dead. He has become the successful, triumphant Savior. He’s ascended into heaven. He’s taken his place at the right hand of God at the throne of the universe. He is the ascended Lord who has accomplished salvation.

And now salvation can be had, but only in union with the one who has accomplished it. Salvation, remember we saw, consists in union with the Redeemer. He has accomplished salvation and now all that he has accomplished becomes ours when we are joined to him and in union with him. And so the fellowship of his Son is just that. And then calling—called into the fellowship of his Son—that’s simply the means by which we are brought into union with Christ. Here we were outside of Christ and lost, and none of what he did was of any value to us whatever. We were lost. But yet the Spirit of God comes and he calls us and brings us into union with Jesus. And we now participate in all that he accomplished as our Redeemer.

So here is Christ. He has come. He has died for sin. He’s paid the penalty of sin. He’s done everything that we cannot do. He’s rendered satisfaction to God. God has raised him from the dead. He’s ascended to the throne, taken the seat at the right hand of God and the throne of the universe. He has asked for and has received the Spirit which he has poured out upon this world. And the Spirit’s first work, in terms of our experience individually, is that he calls us. And he calls us into the fellowship of Christ. And joining us to Christ, we now have all that Christ accomplished for us. He’s paid the penalty of sin; he’s been raised from the dead; he’s been vindicated; we’re justified. He’s been raised to new life; we have new life. He’s the Son of God; we’re the sons of God because we’re joined to him. He’s sanctified; we’re sanctified. Everything that we have, we have because we’ve been joined to Christ. And according to verse 9, that all comes when the Spirit of God calls us into the fellowship of Christ.

So you can see now that we are transitioned fully into salvation applied. Salvation planned: God determines this plan of salvation, chooses those whom he will save, and sets this great plan in order. Sends his Son to come. Now we have redemption accomplished and the Son comes. He does all the work necessary for salvation. And now we are called into the fellowship of Christ and all that he accomplished has become ours. Redemption applied. And so that’s where we are now and divine calling is the first step. Called into the fellowship of his Son.

Now verses 18 through 31 develop this doctrine of divine calling, but it does it in experimental terms. It’s just a wonderful passage; it’s one of my favorites. He tells us in verse 18 again, “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing.” Verse 23, it’s a stumbling block to the Jews; it’s folly to the Gentiles. This is a universal condition of mankind. But again, verse 18, now the last half of the verse: “but to us who are being saved, it [that is the word of the cross, the gospel] is the power of God.” The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it’s the power of God.

Here Paul is emphasizing the power of the gospel in salvation. So people think it’s foolish. But look what it accomplishes. This message that the world thinks—its natural condition of its mind thinks is useless, foolishness, might even be offensive at times—it is the very same message by which we come into fellowship with God. So we think it’s foolish, and yet look at what it accomplishes. So there’s this real contrast going on here. And the question that comes up, and Paul answers it in this passage, is: how did that happen? How do people who think that the gospel is foolish suddenly embrace the gospel with all of their heart? How is it that people who think that the gospel is something to be scorned and ridiculed—at best ignored—come now to embrace it with all of their hearts and with such devotion? Many of you can remember before you came to Christ, indifferent to the gospel, and then suddenly you weren’t indifferent to the gospel. What made the change? And that’s what Paul expounds here. And I want to track his thinking here in the passage. I think it’s just wonderfully enlightening for us. And let’s ask a series of questions. And I think that’s what Paul does in this passage is answer these questions.

Number One: Who Are The People Who Are Saved?

Who are these people who are saved? And the answer Paul gives in verse 18 and verse 21 is that the people who are saved are the ones who believe. Verse 18: “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it’s the power of God.” The word of the cross, that is the gospel. They think it’s foolishness, but to us who are being saved, it’s the power of God. That is implied. We believed it, we embraced it, and now we experience its benefits. This is simply another way of saying what Paul says in Romans 1:16: the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

A little more explicit is verse 21: “for since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom [they couldn’t figure it out themselves], it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” So there it is again. Who are these people who are saved? They are the ones who believe. And this is Paul, then, on the necessity of faith. This is the necessity of the gospel preaching, the necessity of gospel witness. There’s no postmodernist pluralism here. There is no what’s called today “soteriological inclusivism” here—that all religions are basically the same, and if you’re sincere, God accepts that. Or even the more Christianized kind of inclusivism that we have today—people who are saying that, well, okay, yes, it’s Jesus who saves, he’s the only Savior that is, but faith in Christ is not necessary if they don’t know of him and don’t hear of him, they still might be saved. Don’t have that here either. It is those who believe are saved. This is the Apostle Paul on the power of the gospel and on the necessity of the gospel. And we have to insist on that. And by the way, there’s no hyper-Calvinism here either—that God will save who he wants to whether or not they ever hear the gospel. No, you don’t find that here either. God saves those who believe. Faith is essential. Gospel preaching is essential. And so our first question: who are these people who are saved? Answer: they are those who believe. Well, that’s pretty easy.

Who Are These People Who Believe?

Now let’s take the second step. Next question: who are these people who believe? Who are the people who are saved? Those who believe. Next question: who are these people then who believe? Verses 22 to 24: “Jews demand a sign and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

So here we have clarified that the gospel is the power of God for us, but it is not the gospel alone. It is those who are called who believe. Who are those who are saved? Those who believe. Who are those who believe? Answer: those who are called. That’s what he says in verse 24. Those who are called are the ones who experience the power of the gospel. So no one is saved without the gospel. But no one is saved by the gospel alone. There must be the Spirit of God at work. This is the old, traditional, Reformed emphasis on the Spirit and the Word. It is not the Word by itself. It is not the Spirit working in a vacuum. It is the Spirit working by the Word. The Word and the Spirit. The Word and the Spirit. The Word and the Spirit. That’s what Paul is giving us here. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, but not by itself. It is to those who are called that it becomes the power of God and the wisdom of God. And that’s why we can hear the gospel over and over and over and over again and still remain indifferent to it until we’re not. When God calls, they come. What made the gospel effective so that we believed, Paul tells us, is divine calling.

Now already you can see then that this matter of divine calling is more than an invitation. In fact, theologians have made a distinction between a general call and a special call. A general call that goes out to all, and a special effective call that effectually brings people to faith. And actually, you can demonstrate that distinction that theologians like to make very simply in the Scriptures as well. In the Gospels, when we find this word “calling,” it is used in that general sense. For example, in Matthew 22 and verse 3, we have that parable of the wedding feast that Jesus tells, and he says he sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding—to call those who were called to the wedding. There’s a general call of the gospel. This is the gospel invitation that goes to all men indiscriminately. And we find that consistently in the Gospels.

When we come to the Epistles, and most famously in the Apostle Paul, this word “calling” doesn’t mean a general invitation to everyone to come, but it takes a more narrow meaning like it has here, and that is it actually secures the result. It is an effectual call, not a general call to all, but an effectual call—more like a summons. A summons accompanied by the sheriff bringing you in. That’s the idea. It’s an effectual calling that secures response. So look at this again in verse 9: we are called into the fellowship of his Son. You see the connotations of that. This is more than an invitation that we’ve received. But God has called us in. He’s brought us in. It’s an effectual call. We have the same in verse 24: those who are called, it is the power of God. The gospel is preached to those who are called; it becomes the powerful instrument of God to bring them into salvation.

So calling, then, is an effectual calling. And we have this everywhere in the epistles. Some of the famous ones: Romans chapter 8, “those whom he foreknew, he predestined. Those he predestined, he called. Those whom he called, he justified. Those whom he justified, he glorified.” And you’ve got the same lot of people all the way through. And if all those who are called are those who are justified—back it up—if those who are predestined are the same ones who are called, and the same ones who are called are the same ones who are justified, and the same ones will be glorified, clearly calling is something that’s effectual. It effects the response. And we come. We find the same thing in 1 Peter 2, verse 9, where it says that God has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. A wonderful description of our conversion experience. We find the same in Jude, verse 1: those who are sanctified are those who are preserved, and those who are preserved are those who are called. Consistently in the epistles, this calling has the connotations of an effectual call.

So it’s the means then by which we are brought into the fellowship of Christ. Who are these who are saved? It’s those who have believed. Who are these who believe? Answer: it is those who are called. It’s not surprising then that in the epistles this word “called” becomes a title—a title of believers. You can call them believers, you can call them the elect, you can call them the saved, or you can call them “the called.” We who are saved are the ones who have been called. We find that here actually in verse 24: “to those who are [and we have the definite article there in the original] the called.” There’s this select group of people who are the called ones, and they are the ones who have responded to the gospel. Well, we find that all through the New Testament. You find that in Romans 8 as well: “the called.” You find it in Jude and elsewhere. “The called” becomes a kind of title for those who are saved. Again, emphasizing that this call is an effectual call. And by the way, this is why, because the call is an effectual call, this is why we pray that God will save our loved ones—because we realize that at the end of the day, it’s not left to them. It is left to God. And no matter how antagonistic or how indifferent they may be to the gospel, hope remains because God’s call is effectual. And so we pray. Because God’s call is effectual, we should never despair of hope and we should continue to pray.

Now the terminology that’s used in theology, as you know, is the term “irresistible grace.” I like the term; I think it’s a good term, but it is open to some misunderstanding and it’s certainly open to some mischaracterizations. Because irresistible grace says it in the negative—irresistible—some have mischaracterized the doctrine of irresistible grace as picturing God saving people who just don’t want to be saved. It’s a senseless argument, but you hear it: “I don’t want it. I don’t want it. I don’t want it.” He saved me. Irresistible grace. I couldn’t. I wanted to resist. I couldn’t. And a complete misrepresentation of effectual calling. The fact is, every one of us who came in believing the gospel came in willingly. It was the most willing thing we ever did.

I remember it well. I was just a young boy. I grew up hearing the gospel. My dad was the preacher. I heard it, and I heard it, and I heard it. I heard it in the home. I heard it in the church. Heard it all the time. Heard it, and heard it, heard it. And then there was that one Sunday morning, and I heard it like it was the first time in my entire life, and I tell you, no one—no army, no nobody—could have kept me back. You think I viewed that negatively? It was the most wonderful day of my life. God brought me to himself. He overwhelmed me with a sense, not only of my need of Christ, but with the glory of Christ and the value of Christ. And I went running to him. Now there is a sense in which the Puritan got it right when he said, “God saves us with our full consent against our will.” There’s some irony to that because the natural human mind thinks the gospel is foolish. But what God does in grace in calling us is he removes that disposition to resist. He opens our minds and our eyes to see for the first time the glory of Christ, the glory of the gospel, and our need for him, and that call becomes effective precisely because it has removed that disposition to resist. He’s repaired, if you will, repaired the human mind to allow us to see what was patently obvious before, but we were blind to it.

Harry Ironside was a dispensational Bible teacher of a previous generation, not particularly known for his—what we call Calvinism—the doctrines of grace. He had a wonderful illustration, I think, of this. He said he was driving through the South. This would have been back in the 40s, I think. He was driving through the South, and it was a Wednesday evening. He was on his way to a meeting somewhere, but it was a Wednesday evening that he had off, and he saw a church that had a Wednesday night meeting, and he thought, “Well, I’ll stop and I’ll attend.” And so he went in, and as it turns out, it was an African-American congregation. He was the only white person there. It didn’t bother him at all. He went in, sat down, and he said immediately they were having this testimony service. Churches used to do that more than they do today—allow time for people to stand and give praise to God for something. And he said one man got up and gave just a marvelous testimony of salvation in Christ. He told a story how God had come to him and his sin had opened his heart, and he expressed how thankful he was that Christ had died for him and taken his sin. It was just a marvelous testimony of God’s salvation and he loved to hear it.

Evidently the man leading the service was not as well acquainted with the grace of God as the man who gave the testimony. Because after the man was done, he sat down and the man leading the service says, “Okay, brother, you’ve told us about God’s part in it, shouldn’t you tell us about your part?” He stood right back up. Dr. Ironside said he stood right back up and says, “Oh yes, oh yes, God done his part and I done my part.” He said, “I done my part—I ran away from God as fast as my feet would take me, and God, he done run me down and brought me to Jesus. I did my part and God done his.”

This is exactly what Paul is telling us here. We all know the same: that we would have continued in our unbelief and our indifference, even hostility. But somewhere along the way, God did something. And that something that God did, Paul defines here as he “called” us. And he brought us into the fellowship of his Son. This accounts for the surprising nature of our conversion. Isn’t it interesting that no one’s ever predicted their conversion? “A week from Sunday, I’ll be there and I’m going to get saved.” It never happens. There’s something mysterious about it, something unpredictable. God comes and he calls. Many of you can remember your own experience before you came to Christ—indifferent to it, perhaps bothered by it, perhaps even hostile to it—and suddenly, suddenly it was different. Suddenly you wanted to hear the gospel, suddenly you want to go to church, suddenly the Scriptures are a new book, and suddenly those hymns are really cool. This is the reason. What Paul is describing here is the reason that you and I have believed. We continue in our unbelief and our indifference until God in grace calls us. And that call is overwhelming. It’s not that he hammers us. He opens our minds and allows us to see Jesus, not in physical terms, but suddenly we understand who he is. And suddenly we understand our need, and we go running to him.

This is not—this is anything but theoretical, abstract, unrelated to life doctrine. This is the testimony of every one of us. Why are we saved? We’re saved because we believe. Why do we believe? We believe because God called us. I remember I was a sophomore, I think I was in college, and I was home on break. I was talking with my dad, and we got into a theological discussion. And he asked me the question, “You’re saved, right?” “Yes.” “The guy across the street isn’t. Why are you saved and he’s not?” Well, I’m a sophomore. I have read a book. I know a lot. It’s an easy question. A theological student, that’s easy. “I’m saved because I believed. And he didn’t.” And my dad pressed the question, “Why is it you believed and he didn’t? Are you less depraved than he is? Are you smarter than he is?” Well, I’m a sophomore. But I knew that wasn’t it. And it dawned on me that if there’s a difference between me and a man who’s lost, it’s a difference that God made. I can’t explain it in anything of my own initiative that I saw clearer than he did. The difference is a difference that God made. We sing this, by the way, in this wonderful hymn by Frances Havergal: “By thy love constraining, by thy grace divine, we are on the Lord’s side. Savior, we are thine.” I love that expression, “By thy love constraining.” There’s irresistible grace. By thy love constraining—he’s not hammering us. He opens our hearts and overwhelms us with a sense of God’s love, and we come running.

All right then, some questions. Number one: who are these who are saved? Answer: they are the ones who believe. Question number two: who are these who believe? Answer: they are the called.

Who Are These Who Are Called?

And the third question, press it further: who are these who are called? And the answer is given to us in verses 26 to 28. The called are those whom God has chosen. And here we have the doctrine of election that we saw in Redemption Planned. Verse 27: “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose that which is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.”

So here now is the viewpoint from God’s side of things. The big picture from redemption planned to redemption applied. Who are these who are saved? Well, it’s those who believe, of course. Who are these who believe? It’s those who are called. Well, who are these who are called? Answer: it’s those whom God chose. So the viewpoint here is from God’s side now. These are the ones that he saw and looked ahead, chose them, and now in time brings them to faith in Christ. God chose us. In time he calls us, we believe, and we are saved.

Now if you’d like, if you are one who marks in your Bible like I do—for decades I’ve had it marked in my Bible—just circle some words and draw lines between them in this passage to follow Paul’s thinking in all of this. In verse 18 you have the word “saved”; you have that again, “save,” in verse 21. Who are these who are saved? The end of verse 21, the word “believe.” Draw a line to that. Who are these who believe? Draw a line to verse 24, “called.” Verse 26, “calling.” Who are these who are called? Verse 27, the word “chose.” “God chose,” “God chose,” “God chose.” And there’s the map. Who are these who are saved? It’s the ones who believe. Who are these who believe? It’s those who are called. Who are those who are called? It’s the ones whom God chose.

I remember some years ago now, Kim and I were sitting in a restaurant with—it was after a conference mainly from people who were not convinced of these truths. There were a few pastors there. Kim was with me, some other people who had come with their pastors. As it happens in those situations, we begin talking theology. And somehow, this matter of divine sovereignty and salvation came up. These people were not convinced of these truths. I was, believe it or not, biting my tongue, keeping my quiet. I said, “I don’t need to get into this now.” But at the table was a young man who had come with his pastor. And he was a sophomore who had read a book. And no one knows more than a sophomore who’s read a book. And this topic came up and he was going to pronounce on it. And I’m thinking, “I don’t need to get into this. I don’t need to do this here.” And he pushed it and he pushed it. And finally I decided, you know, I don’t need to just sit here and listen. And we talked and he got very belligerent with it before I finally spoke up.

But this is the passage I directed him to and it followed up with some emails after that as well. And I asked him, just look through this passage and you tell me who are the people who are saved and how did it come about? And I directed him to think like I just did with you. Look at the steps in Paul’s thinking here and tell me this is not what he’s saying. He contacted me sometimes later and he was pretty upset. I didn’t hear from him for a good long time until the next time I heard about him, he was a student at Westminster Seminary studying for ministry in Reformed congregations. This passage will do that. I don’t know how you can get around this passage other than to say what Paul says here: Those who are saved are those who believe. Those who believe are those who are called. Those who are called are those whom God has chosen. There it is.

Why Did God Do It This Way?

Now, let’s ask another question. And that’s the question: why did God do it this way? Why not just leave it up to you? And we have the answer to that in verses 26 to 29:

“Consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to the worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.”

And now we have a purpose clause: “so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” Why did God do it this way? So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. If the critical move in your salvation—if the critical move in my salvation, the deciding factor—had anything to do with us, our smarts, our connections, our influence, our nobility; if the deciding factor had anything to do with us, then certainly salvation would belong in large part to the rich and the mighty and the influential and the wise of this world. Surely they would get it. And that’s what Paul is saying here. Surely they would figure it out. The gospel’s clear. On the one hand, the gospel has depths that we can’t ever finish exploring. We’ve been in this, what now, for months and we just keep unpacking more and more and more. But on another level, the gospel is just really simple. There’s nothing particularly difficult about it. You’re a sinner. Christ is the qualified Savior. He has accomplished salvation. You may have it freely if you trust him for it. There’s nothing particularly difficult about that. It doesn’t take a genius to see that.

You think Paul’s problem before he came to Christ was an intellectual one? You think he didn’t understand the gospel? He understood it well; that’s why he hated it so much. When you witness to your friends and your loved ones, the problem’s not an intellectual one—that they’re too stupid—that’s not the problem at all. There’s a blinding bias that has to be overcome. If the problem in evangelism were just an intellectual problem, we could convert the world in a moment. This is just too easy and it’s too obvious. If it weren’t that we were so bound in our sins and blinded, then surely the world’s elite would be the ones who are saved. That’s verses 26 to 28.

But what he tells us here is that’s just not the case. Verse 26 again: “consider your calling, brothers.” Just look around. I mean, it’s like Paul says, “All right, people, look around here, the people sitting next to you in the congregation. Is this the world’s elite? Do we look like big shots?” I mean, it’s kind of humbling in a sense what he’s doing here. You’re nobody. He calls it that, “the things that are not,” a bunch of nobodies. Just look around you; look at the people sitting with you. Are we the world’s brightest, the world’s elite? Are we the ones that the world comes to when they have questions how to solve the world’s problems? Verse 26 again: “not many powerful, not many mighty, not many of noble birth.” Well, it doesn’t say “not any.” I’m thankful for that. Spurgeon used to tell of the Countess of Huntingdon saying how thankful she was for the letter M. It doesn’t say “not any,” it says “not many.” And here she was, nobility, and she’d come to Christ; she was thankful for the letter M.

But it is clear here that God has clearly shown some preferential treatment to the poor, the outcasts, the nobodies. It’s a major theme in the Gospel of Luke: Christ’s mission to the outcasts and the undeserving and the disadvantaged. It’s clear that God has shown that kind of preferential treatment. And Paul is saying here in verses 26, 27, 28, that’s clear in the membership role. We’re not the world’s elite. We’re not the world’s leadership in any sense. We’re just your average run-of-the-mill old people. In the main, these are the people—these nobodies—in the main, these are the people God has called and these are the ones he has chosen. Why? Verse 29 again: “so that”—here’s the purpose clause—”so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

And he expands on that. “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom of God, righteousness, sanctification, redemption.” And then another purpose clause: “so that, as it is written, ‘let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.'” So a two-sided purpose here. One, so that you won’t boast. And two, so that if you do boast, you boast in God. That’s why God has done it the way he has. Why has he chosen nobodies? So that the only one who receives praise for it is God himself. That’s why. He is determined that he’s going to save in such a way that it leads us to worship. And he won’t share any of the credit with anybody. He saves in such a way that when we are saved, we have to say he’s done it all. He won’t have anyone saying, “Well, congratulations to me. I saw my way clear to believe.” The only place for boasting, verse 31, is boasting about him.

And so in choosing whom he would save, God just didn’t include very many big shots on the list. He has some, but not many. And if the church—and this is the thinking here—if the church were perceived as a gathering of the world’s elite, it would distract. It would confuse. People would think you’ve got to be somebody. You’ve got to have connections. You’ve got to be smart. You’ve got to be influential. You’ve got to have something. And that would just distract the whole point. And so in choosing whom he would save, God says, “I’ll just save an unlikely bunch of nobodies.” And when we’re done, they’ll all know that I did it. That’s surely the point.

We can say, and I think we should say it, we can say it very rightly: I’m saved because I believe. But we’ve not told the whole story until we say I believe because I was called. And I was called because—I don’t know why—God in grace chose me. And that’s how it came to us. We sing that stuff, don’t we? “Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin in nature’s night. Mine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed thee.” And when we’ve told the story like that in its fullness, what we say at the end is, “to God alone be the glory.” And Paul says that was the whole point. So that he that boasts, let him boast in the Lord. Let’s bow together.