Beware the Silver Tongued Devil (2)

Intro:

Good morning and thank you all for being here today. I love Sundays. I love getting to gather with God’s people and worship King Jesus. I love to fellowship with you all and enjoy getting to see all of you. I also love the book of 1st Corinthians. It seems like each week that God is speaking to directly to situations in our lives, and I bless his name for that this morning. Today’s message is no different. I believe that it will speak to us practically, personally, and deeply.

Before we get started, I want to ask you all something. Have you ever met someone who was a very talented speaker? I have. When I was in middle school a man came to visit us for an assembly to talk about the drug addiction problem in American schools. We all groaned and didnt want to go, but when we got there that all changed. This man had a way with words that was unbelievable. He could have been reading pages from a phone book and would have been able to hold everyone’s attention. He spoke with clarity, was very knowledegable about the subject he presented, and spoke with a passion that moved many to tears. He was an excellent orator that captivated our minds with not only what he said but how he said it. This was my first experience with this type of thing. Some years later I heard a story of a preacher who was late for a graveside funeral service. He got turned around on his way there, but before long came to a place where a crowd was gathered and a hole was dug. Believing this to be the funeral he got out of his car, stepped up on the mound of dirt and began to preach. He eulogized the deceased, preached the gospel, and stirred the crowd into a frenzy of tears and exclamation. When he finished he shook everyones hands, hugged a few people who were crying, and left the scene. After the preacher left one of the men looked at his friends and said ‘I’ve seen a lot of things, but this is the first time anyone has ever preached at a septic tank burial.’

I know that was funny, but I told that story to make a point later on.

We live in an interesting era in the church today. Men who preach like I do are all but gone, and the ones we are being replaced with scares me to death. Today, churches don’t look for the man who has been called by God to preach. They look for the one who is the most talented, polished, and popular. The anointing of God is all but forgotten, and we now have people who see preaching as a career path rather than a calling from God to storm the gates of hell with the gospel preached in power! With God as my helper this morning, I want to preach on the thought of ‘ Beware the silver tongued devil’

If you have your Bible, turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 2, and we’ll start reading in verse 1. The Bible says

The New King James Version Chapter 2

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

We finally made it to the second chapter of 1st Corinthians, and I believe these first few verses really set the tone for the rest of the book. I say this because we are given a glimpse of Paul’s reliance on the Spirit of God. He begins with reminding the Corinthians of when he first came to them, saying that he didn’t come with excellence of speech or wisdom. In Paul’s day, greeks were obsessed with philosophy. They would debate ideals and ways of looking at the world and gave birth to public speaking. Oratory was seen as a great thing, and Paul himself was educated in this fashion. He studied secular learning in Cilicia. It was here that he learned of the poets he quotes in various places in scripture. Paul was a trifecta of speaking dynamite. He was educated as a Pharisee in Jerusalem, studied in Greek universities, and was a Roman citizen. Greek cultivation, Roman polity, and the divines of the Jews combined in this one man by God’s providence made him the perfect executor of God’s plan to graft in the gentiles to salvation. He could have gone to