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I. PERSONALLY. Christ considered as God and man is —

1. The power of God.

(1) From all eternity. "All things were made by Him," &c.

(2) But when He came to earth He gave abundant proofs of His power in His miracles and resurrection.

(3) He is the power of God now, for "He sitteth at the right hand of God." He hath the reins of Providence in His hands, and is the Sovereign Head of the Church, the Lord of heaven, and death, and hell.

2. The wisdom of God.

(1) The great things that He did before all worlds were proofs of His wisdom. He planned the way of salvation; He built the heavens. Mark the world, and see all its multitudinous proofs of the wisdom of God.

(2) And when He became man He gave proofs enough of wisdom. In childhood He astonished the doctors by His questions; and in manhood He confounded Pharisee, Sadducee, and Herodian. And when He paralysed those who came to take Him by His incomparable words.

(3) And now that He is our Advocate before the throne, now that the reins of government are in His hands, we have abundant proofs that He is the wisdom of God.

II. IN HIS GOSPEL. That gospel is —

1. A thing of Divine power.

(1) How could it have been established if it had not in itself intrinsic might? By whom was it spread? By learned doctors, fierce warriors? No, by fishermen, untaught, unlettered. How did they spread it? By their swords? No, but by their simple words. But what was this gospel? Was it a thing palatable to human nature? No, it was a gospel of morality most strict, it was a gospel with delights entirely spiritual. And yet it spread. Why? Because it has in it the power of God.

(2) How has it been maintained? No easy path has the gospel had. The good bark of the Church has had to plough her way through seas of blood. But "the blood of the martyrs" has been "the seed of the Church." It has been like the herb camomile, the more it is trodden on the more it grows.

(3) I do not wonder that the Church has outlived persecution, so much as I wonder she has outlived the unfaithfulness of her professed teachers. From the days of Diotrephes to the latter times men of all sorts have come into her ranks and done all they could to turn her aside. And, even now, when I mark the supineness of many; when I see the want of unction and prayerfulness, she must have the power of God within her, or else she would have been destroyed.

(4) There are not a few of you who would be ready to bear me witness that I speak the truth. There are some who were drunkards, &c., and now you are here, as different as light from darkness.

2. The wisdom of God. The intellects of Locke and Newton submitted to receive the truth of inspiration. What a vast amount of literature must be lost if the gospel be not true. No book was ever so suggestive as the Bible.

III. IN THE HEART.

1. The power of God —

(1)  For salvation.

(2)  In temptation.

(3)  In trouble.

2. The wisdom of God. If you want to be a thoroughly learned man the best place to begin is to begin at the Bible, to begin at Christ. But wisdom is not knowledge, but the right use of knowledge; and Christ's gospel helps us by teaching us the right use of knowledge.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

WEB: but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.