The Foolishness Of Preaching

Q: What does the Bible say about the foolishness of preaching?

The Bible teaches that the preaching of the gospel, though deemed foolish by the world, is the power of God for salvation. In 1 Corinthians 1:21, the Apostle Paul states that 'it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.' This highlights how the very act of preaching the gospel, which may seem foolish in the eyes of the wise and learned, is actually the divinely appointed means by which God reveals His power and grace to the world. It underscores the idea that God often uses what the world considers weak or foolish to accomplish His great purposes and to bring glory to Himself.

Q: How do we know the gospel is true?

The truth of the gospel is affirmed through Scripture and the transformative power it has demonstrated in the lives of believers. The gospel is validated through its divine origin and the transformative change it brings to those who believe. In Romans 1:16, Paul declares that he is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. This power is evidenced in the lives of countless individuals who have experienced the radical change brought about by trusting in Christ. Furthermore, the coherence of the biblical narrative and the fulfillment of prophecies regarding Christ provide additional assurance of the gospel's truth. Ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit who illuminates the truth of the gospel in the hearts of believers, affirming its validity.

Q: Why is substitutionary atonement important for Christians?

Substitutionary atonement is essential as it upholds God's justice while providing believers with redemption through Christ's sacrifice. Substitutionary atonement is foundational to the Christian faith as it reveals the profound love of God in providing Christ as a substitute for sinners. According to Scripture, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), necessitating a perfect sacrifice to satisfy God's justice. In 1 Corinthians 1:30, Paul explains that Christ has become for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This highlights that it is through Christ's sacrificial death that believers are justified before God, receiving forgiveness for their sins. The importance of this doctrine lies in the assurance it provides believers that their salvation is secure, fully accomplished by Christ's merit rather than their own works.

Q: What is the significance of preaching Christ crucified?

Preaching Christ crucified emphasizes the heart of the gospel and the centrality of Jesus' sacrifice for our salvation. The message of 'Christ crucified' is central to the Christian faith because it encapsulates the essence of the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 1:23, Paul states that he preaches Christ crucified, which serves as a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. Yet, for those who are called, Christ crucified embodies the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). This preaching reveals God's redemptive plan, as it was through the sacrificial death of Jesus that sin was atoned for and salvation was secured. By highlighting the crucifixion, preachers point to the gravity of human sin and the unparalleled grace of God, who provided a way for reconciliation through faith in Christ. Such preaching calls believers to a faith that rests solely on the finished work of Christ for eternal life.

Q: How does God reveal Himself to us?

God reveals Himself primarily through Scripture and the Holy Spirit, leading believers to an understanding of His nature and purpose. God reveals Himself to humanity in various ways, but primarily through His Word and the work of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, Paul emphasizes that 'God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.' This indicates that the Spirit searches the depths of God, imparting truth and understanding to believers. Through Scripture, God communicates His character, His redemptive plan, and His expectations for humanity. As believers study and meditate on the Word, they gain insights into God's holiness, love, justice, and mercy. This revelation occurs in the context of a relationship, where the Holy Spirit actively works in the hearts of believers, helping them to comprehend spiritual truths and apply them to their lives.

I want you to turn with me to 1
Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul says in Romans chapter 1,
verse 16, he says, I am not ashamed. of the gospel of Christ. For
it is the power of God unto salvation. Unto everyone that believeth
to the Jew. First and. And to the Greek. Not ashamed. Excuse me. To preach the gospel. Of the
Lord Jesus Christ, which is the power of God. unto salvation. But I have said many times before,
and I say again, that I am ashamed to be associated with a common
class of men called preachers. So-called preaching that goes
on today under the name of the Christian religion is utter and
ridiculous sideshow, a circus of entertainment, and it's getting
more and more preposterous and blasphemous and ridiculous all
the time. And I'm utterly ashamed to be
associated with anything of that sort. But I am not ashamed to
preach the gospel, as Paul said, for the gospel, the old-fashioned
Preaching of the gospel and there's only one But the old-fashioned
preaching of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and
in the gospel In the gospel of Christ which we hear so very
often, and I hope we do not take it for granted in the gospel
of Christ I See the very treasures of wisdom and knowledge the glory
of God is seen in the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ as he's revealed in the gospel. But there's a
world of skeptics. Out there, a world of skeptical,
unbelieving people. Most of whom who have never bothered
to look into this book. Most of those people who are
skeptical of this gospel we preach have never bothered to look into
this book. Nor can they accurately quote
one verse out of it. Yet, they dismiss all that is
said in it as being foolishness and superstition and fiction
that's received only by poor, ignorant people. But the scriptures
say the opposite is true. The scriptures say that the high
learned in high and mighty supposed wise people in this world are
the other fools. And the low poor meek ignorant
unlearned nothing people of this world who believe Christ and
believe this old fashioned gospel are the wise and the prudent.
Verse nineteen in our text says it is written. We read this over
in Isaiah 29. It is written, God says, I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. God says, I'll destroy all supposed
wisdom. Mostly, it's a fact now. This
is happening. This is happening all the time.
Most of the theories and the knowledge of so-called wise men
in the past are now scoffed at as being ridiculous, right? Take a man who makes a very supposed
wise discovery back in the past, a great scientific breakthrough. It won't be another generation
till they're laughing at him as being an old ignorant fool,
not knowing any of that. All because all God Almighty
has to do to turn upside down the theories and the wisdom of
men is to rearrange one little germ. One little microscopic
gene will turn upside down all of the facts that men have accumulated,
and they have to start all over again. Now, look at it with me,
I say, based upon this scripture, that the wisdom of this world
is foolishness. Let's look at some of this foolishness. Verse 20 says, where is the wise? Where is the wise man, anyway?
Where is the scribe of this supposed learned, educated? Everybody's
into education. Where is the disputer of this
world have not God made foolish the wisdom. Of this world or
that is what the world says is wisdom knowledge accumulated
knowledge and wisdom of this world hadn't God made it all
to be foolish or revealed it to be what it really is. Let
me ask you let me say this. I have to seriously call into
question the wisdom of scientists in our day. I seriously call
into question their supposed wisdom of scientists who refuse
to acknowledge the existence of one who is so clearly seen
in the simplest of things throughout this world. The heavens declare
his glory. The firmament showeth his handiwork,
yes, very clearly, but the simplest of things declare there's a God
and all wise, absolute sovereign creator and ruler, the simplest
of things. A flower. A leaf of a tree, it's
as complex as anything on the planet. As a bloodstream you
know leaves have bloodstream that in which green blood flows. A thumb print. The simplest of
things declaring to me God is the simplest of things so I have
to seriously call into question the supposed wisdom of our scientists
today who don't even acknowledge the existence of him don't you. I have to seriously call into
question the wisdom of so-called anthropologists, men who study
man. That's what an anthropologist
is, one who studies mankind, you know, the psychologists,
psychiatrists of our day. I call into question their supposed
wisdom, men who believe as fact, who hold as fact that this marvelous
species called man came from a babbling baboon. I have to scoff at it. It makes
me laugh to think of it. My soul. I do believe in evolution,
a form of evolution. I believe in reverse evolution.
I believe that man started out on two legs and he's ended up
on all fours. I believe man was created upright,
as God said that he was, and he's turned into a monkey. But I'll tell you this concerning
this ridiculous notion of man coming from a monkey, and this
is not my theme this morning, but I'm showing you what utter
foolishness this is. Monkeys will never write a symphony. I challenge you to get the brightest,
if there is, chimpanzee and work with him from now to eternity
and get him to write a simple sonata, much less a symphony. He'll never do it. He doesn't
have the mind. He doesn't have the capacity.
He never will. A monkey will never paint a beautiful picture.
He's got a hand like a foot. A monkey will never build a beautiful
building. A monkey will never even speak
an intelligible word, let alone sing the soprano voice. Isn't that foolishness? Of course
it is. I have to challenge, I have to
seriously call into question the wisdom of historians. Historians
who never bothered to look into His story. His story. Historians who never look into
the one around whom all of time is measured. They say this and
this came from the year so-and-so B.C. B.C. Do they ever stop and
consider what B.C. is? Before Christ. Or this took
place in the year 1010 A.D. Anno Domino. the year of our
Lord, yet they never consider the one around whom time is measured,
the one around whom all of this revolves. I have to seriously
call into question the wisdom of astrologers who sit all day
looking at the stars. I mean, that's ridiculous enough
as it is, but the ones who look at these stars in hope of seeing
and discovering some a far away distant planet upon which will
be some superior life form that's going to come in a ship and get
us all and tell us great things and take us away when somebody
did come, a superior being did come. And all of history records
the event if they don't bother to look into it. Oh, no, we're
looking for a spaceship. We're wise, you know. We've built
four billion dollar telescopes and forgot to put the lens in
it or forgot to clean it. We're wise, all right, gazing
at the stars and don't even consider the one who hung them. I have
to seriously call into question, above all, seriously call into
question religionists, the ones who supposedly are looking into the things of
a God. Religionists all over the world,
who Paul described in Romans 1 as worshipping the creation
more than the Creator. Who though the invisible things
of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, understood
by the things that are made, even God's eternal sovereign
power is Godhead, so that all men are without excuse that there
is God, that God is. And when they knew God or something
of this power of God, this authority, this dominion of God, they didn't
glorify him as God. They didn't worship an all-powerful,
sovereign, independent, working God, but were unthankful, became
vain in their imaginations, conjured up all manner of different gods,
small g, and their foolish hearts were darkened. And he said they
professed themselves to be wise, learned men of God, but they became fools. Why? God left them to themselves.
But religionists all over conjure up all sorts of superstition
and ridiculous Notions of God, a God who they make out to be
less than the creatures he supposedly created. Isn't that utter foolishness? I seriously call into question
anybody's wisdom. Eastern religions, of which I
was dabbling into when I was a young man, in my late teens
and early twenties. Eastern religions, which was
very prevalent in the early 60s and the early 70s. The youth
of our day of drug culture was in the eastern religion you know
for some enlightened experience and all. Eastern religions they
make God. They have several gods. I doubt it. Ridiculous. They
make gods out of animals. But they make God out to be less than a man. They make God out to be one who
cannot do the simplest of things that a man can't like think.
Talk. Walk. Act. Create. Right? They make him out to be
some kind of essence or vapor who really cannot do anything,
and you're a part of him. And here's the wisdom of the
sages and the wise men of the East. You sit cross-legged on
your roof and cross-eyed and hum a mantra and become God. Oh, it's wisdom, and I thought
it was. I did so. Oh, I was enlightened. Wisdom. What foolishness. Hath not God made foolish? The
wisdom of this world? Or the religionists of our day. The religionists of our day.
Mainstream, Protestant, fundamental Baptists who are doing the very
same thing, Henry They make God Almighty out to be less than
almighty. They make him out to be somebody
who can't do the simplest of things that his creation can.
God has no arms but your arm. No legs but your legs is what
they say. Now you tell me if that isn't
foolishness. It's foolishness. It's utter
foolishness. And this is the reason I believe
Paul says in Verse nineteen or verse twenty, where is the wise?
Has anybody got any wisdom around here? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Hadn't
he made them foolish in the scriptures? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdoms of this world in this book? You that look into it.
Doesn't God reveal throughout this book everything that men
are going to say and do even before they say and do it? Yet
men don't look into it. They don't realize it. They fulfill
the scriptures in condemning themselves. Huh? Doesn't God
make them out or reveal them to be what they are? They dismiss
this as utter foolishness, yet they do the very things God said
they were going to do. Down to the very words they're
going to say. God in providence. makes men out to be fools or
reveals them to be fools. Great and learned meteorologists,
this is what weathermen give their, this is the title they
give themselves, meteorologists, I can't even say it, meteorologists,
weathermen and women, they can't predict if it's going to rain
or not. There's no way. Why? You know what controls the
rain? The wind. The wind. A hundred percent chance
of rain. That means it's raining. That's
when they get it every time then. A hundred percent chance of rain.
That means it's raining right then. Some guys standing outside.
It's raining. Tell them it's raining. A hundred
percent chance of rain. We pay you a hundred thousand
a year to tell us that. But they can't accurately predict
the rain because why? The wind blows where it lifts
it. Who controls the wind? God. It's going to rain today. It's going to be ten inches of
rain throughout the county today. Drives a bomb. Don't get a drop. Wise men learn it. Has not gotten
a foolish, the wisdom of this world in Providence, but especially
now, here's where we're getting to. The gospel. Hath not God
made foolish the wisdom of this world and the gospel, which is
the wisdom of God, the power of God, the greatest story ever
told that concerns the eternal destinies of all mankind, all
mankind, but men don't look into it? Isn't that man a fool? His
destiny lies in the balance. His life, his soul, depends upon
this gospel. He doesn't look into it. Isn't
that the most foolish thing you've ever heard of? The greatest story ever told
about the greatest man who ever lived, and men don't bother to
look into this man, this person? Isn't that other foolishness?
But this is all in the wise purpose of God Almighty. Why? He's going
to get all the glory. It says here in our text a minute
he's not going to no place is going to glory in his breath
that wise man is not going to be able to say hey I looked into
this I studied I diligently sought out the things of God and I found
God. Now you poor ignorant uneducated
fellows I'm sorry I've got better talents but I found God. No God's
going to turn it around to where the man who is poor and ignorant
and ill-educated and unlearned, he's going to find God, and this
wise man is going to say, I don't understand. That's what we read
in Isaiah 29, wasn't it? Deliver the book to one who is
at learning, a man who comes out of the seminary, who has
a doctorate, a DD, a fiddle DD, an MA, a BS. Deliver the book
to that man. Let him tell us what this book
says. OK, we'll go into a long dissertation of ecclesiology
in the first century. We'll go into a long disputation
on soteriology and never even say a word about Christ. Christ
said, you look into the book, but you don't have any idea that
is what testifies of me. That's the reason Paul said,
where's the wise man? Where are they? Let them come
forth. But God in wisdom. Look at verse
21. After in the wisdom of God, the
world by wisdom knew not God. The world by wisdom can't figure
out God. Cannot find out God. Can't know
God. You can't do it. Ecclesiastes
8.17 says, Though a wise man seek to find him, he cannot. Cannot find out God, not be able
to find Him. I don't care how much education
he's got. As a matter of fact, education is a hindrance. It really is, folks, based upon
this word. I'm going to show you that in
a minute. How does one come to know God? Now, here's wisdom.
Here's the wisdom of God. The power and the glory and the
wisdom of God. How does one come to know God? By searching, by
studying, by meditating, by going to school, by studying the ancients
and so forth. Look over here in chapter 2,
look at verse 10. It says, God hath revealed these
things of God, them, that's the things of God, unto us by his,
capital S, Holy Spirit. for the spirits, look at this,
only the spirit searches or accurately looks into or understands the
things, yea the deep things of God. God is spirit, I'm flesh,
I don't care how much I meditate. God's infinitely, the ways, the
scripture says the thoughts of God, the ways of God are as high
above us as the heavens are above the earth. Who can Find out God. Going to school, am I going to
find out God by going to school and let another man tell me about
God? I can't let another man tell
me about God. God is going to have to tell
me about God. That's what he says in verse 11. What man knows
the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him.
In other words, you don't know what I'm thinking. I don't know
what you're thinking. Unless I tell you. Unless you
tell me. Now I'm just a man. I'm just
a man. But yet you don't know what's
going through my mind unless I tell you. What about God? Am I going to find out God just
by figuring it out? No. The things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. God must reveal himself. And he says he hides himself
from the wise and the prudent, doesn't he? And reveals himself
unto who? Babies. I've said it so many
times. preschool and grammar school
children know more about theology than the average professor in
the average seminary. Yes, they do. So that's an awful
bold statement. No, it's not. I'll prove it.
One time we were walking out of a church service. My daughter
was then about four years old. And she just out of the blue
said to me, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, She out
of the blue said to me, you know dad, God's our only hope isn't
he? When have you ever heard a seminary
professor say that, huh? No, the wisdom of this world
is God's done all he can do. He can't do any more. Now it's
up to you. You're your only hope is what
they say. Our children say God, they understand
that much. God's our only hope. She asked me another time. A
man was preaching on the television. She asked me, she said, is he
preaching the truth? Oh man, don't you wish people
would ask that? Instead of just whatever the
man says, because he's a preacher. They take it as fact. Don't you
wish people would examine, is this the truth? This is only one statement. Our
children understand that much. God must reveal himself to mortal
man. How does he do this? Let me hurry. How does God reveal himself to
a man? Look at verse 21. In the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, but it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believed. You
see, verse 18, it says, The preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness. It pleased God by what the world
calls foolishness. Now, the world considers a preacher
to be an absolute, utter fool, and most of them are. They really
are. They act like fools, and they
preach foolishness. They are themselves fools, and
they're preaching foolishness, but we preach what the world
calls foolishness, that is, he said, the gospel, the cross,
or verse twenty-three, Christ and him crucified. We preach
the gospel concerning God's Son, not concerning man, concerning
God's Son. We preach the cross, not the
cross we must bear, although that comes later, but we preach
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. for
salvation. We preach Jesus Christ, the person,
the work of him who hung on a Roman gibbet or cross nearly two thousand
years ago as being the only hope of a man's salvation, of his
eternal soul, of the love of God, of being accepted by God. We preach, as Brother Ken laid
out so clearly, substitution, satisfaction, sanctification,
all by one person, justification, propitiation, reconciliation. He says a big word, the Bible
words. We go into great depth in explaining these things. But
what all this is saying, what we're saying about preaching
the gospel, which the world calls foolishness, is that we preach
that salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone plus
nothing minus nothing without man and not with me. All by one
man one man. All the souls now listen to this
all the souls of all men are judged in one man. They're either condemned or justified
through one man. They're either accepted or rejected
because of one man. They're either saved or damned
because of one man. They're either received and loved
or discarded and hated because of one man. And the world says,
no, no, no, we won't have that. Verse 22, the Jews requires time. Don't just preach to us, do something. Right. The Jews, religious people,
they say this is foolishness. Foolishness, the Jews say this,
religious people say this. If any man or woman is sincere
enough, if they live a good enough life, if they're moral enough,
if they're devout enough, if they're pious enough, it doesn't
matter what you believe. Everybody's going seeking God. Everybody's going their own way,
and they're all traveling different roads. We'll all get there in
the end. The Bible says, no, that's foolishness. God stood
on the earth one day, John, and he said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the light. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. There's only one road, right?
There's only one way, right? And the scripture says it's narrow,
it's dogmatic, it is discriminatory, it's singular,
and it points in one direction, that is, to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you may believe in Mohammed, you may believe in Buddha, you
may be as sincere as you possibly can, but unless you believe and
trust and know the Lord Jesus Christ, you perish. Well, the Jews, the religious
man says that's foolishness. And the Greek says this, the
Greek, verse 22, seeks after wisdom. The Greek, or the educated
of our day, they say if a man is intelligent enough, if a man
does enough inward reflection, if a man has enough education,
if a man probes the stars and ponders the ancients, If a man
studies the scribes, he'll find out, God. Yeah, he will. No,
all he'll be is an eccentric idiot and dress crazy. You know, that's what education
does to people. You ever notice that? Some of
you that have some education, have you noticed how eccentric
educated people are? Artists, scientists, they never
comb their hair, you know. They wear their tie crooked. But God is known by revelation. Revelation. He's revealed to
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 23, Paul said,
Now we preach Christ crucified. Christ crucified. That is, we
preach Christ. Christ, what does the word mean? Sovereign. This is the Lord our God, this
is our Messiah, this is the Christ, he's come, he'll save us. The
sovereign one, a Christ, is a victorious, ruling, reigning, protector,
captain, monarch, king, sovereign one. Come to save his people. We preach a Christ, not an attempting
Christ, not one who tries, not just a Jesus, a man, a martyr,
but a Christ in everything that that word means. One who has
absolute authority and dominion, a Messiah, a mediator, our only hope, not
a hope, our only hope, a representative, an umpire, a daysman betwixt
us. That's what it is to preach Christ,
the one who stands between us and an angry God and stays at
rest. Christ! We preach Christ that
must lay his hand on God and lay his hand on us and reconcile
us to God. we preach. Christ crucified. He does all of this by virtue
of what he did as a man. God as the Christ, but God become
flesh as a man. God had to become a man. Why?
Man's got to become God. Right? In order for us to be
with God, We've got to be like God. How are we going to do that? We don't have a foggiest notion
of what God's like. Christ came down here and revealed
the Father to her and said, now, in order for you to get to God,
I'm going to have to do something for you. I'm going to have to
rearrange, I'm going to have to change you drastically. Yeah, I'm going to have to slay
you, kill you. put you in the dust, and create
all over again a new creature, created in the image of God Himself,
like Christ, holy, unblameable, unreprovable, in God's sight,
so that God can have us in His fellowship. And Christ did that
by living the life of a man. And when God saw it, God was
well pleased, and He said, now everybody who believes this Christ
who trust him and looks to him for what he did as a man. I'm
going to make it look like they did it. Not just make it look
like I'm going to actually make them impute to them what Christ
did and in turn, take their evil and their sin and put it on him
and kill him, punish him in our state. And we talk about a vicarious That is a victorious, finished
work by the Lord Jesus Christ. A substitution. The gospel. You want to understand the gospel?
The gospel is in this one word. Substitution. That means that
everything that God requires of me, the Lord Jesus Christ
had to do it for me. And everything that God Almighty
holds me accountable for he had to hold the Lord Jesus Christ
accountable for. Substitution. And I don't stick my foot out
the door. I don't lay my hand, I don't touch the ark, unless
I defile it, do it. I don't add one thing to it.
Christ is all. Substitute. When a man goes into
a ball game for a pinch hit, When a man goes into a football,
when a man goes in to substitute for another man, number 24, come
out of there. I'm in your place. Does that
man who went out of the game, does he say, well, he needs my
help? I know he went in for me. He's
my substitute, but I'm going to help him out. I'm going to
go out there and tell him to play. He may have forgotten. What's
going to happen? The whistle's going to blow. Twelve men on
the field. It ain't going to be two men on
the field in this thing of salvation, is it? Huh? Christ is a substitute. One. One mediator between God
and man. And it ain't Mary. Mary doesn't
help him out. And it ain't St. Christopher.
It ain't St. John. It ain't St. me. One mediator between God
and men. The man. Christ Jesus. One that represented it, one
substitute. And he was crucified in their
place. And the Jews, this is a stumbling
block, verse twenty-three. This is a stumbling block. It
gets in the way. This preaching of Christ crucified
gets in the way of people's religion. It tears down all traditions.
It tears down. Henry, it does completely away
with all the need for outward shows of religion. I say this
gets in the way of our ceremony. Gets in the way of us making
money. It gets in the way of the priest
and the bishop and the cardinal and on down the road, you know.
Gets in the way. It means men and women can come
to God themselves through Christ. That they don't need a priest.
They don't have to go and sit in a dark booth and whisper their
sins into the ears of a man who's doing the same thing they're
doing. They don't have to do that. They can come to God himself
through Christ. They don't need a priest. Put
them out of business, doesn't it? Stumbling block. You know,
Christ, we preach Christ crucified. Preaching Christ does away with
priesthood, doesn't it? Don't need priests anymore. Don't
need the Pope. Don't need his so-called vicar.
We got one vicar, one blessed and most high potentate, and
ain't the Pope John Paul. It's Pope Jesus Christ. It does away with the priesthood.
Christ crucified. Crucified. That one sacrifice
forever, which puts away our sin, does away with all of your
ceremonies, and crossings and all of this rigmarole. Just away
with it. Away with this. That's what God
said in Isaiah 1. Then get this out of my sight.
It's a stench in my nostril. There's only one sacrifice I'll
accept. The Lord Jesus Christ. And He
made it a long time ago, Henry. And there remaineth now no more
sacrifice for sin. Right? Put away your robe, man. Put away your crosses. your holy
waters and all that. Christ is the living water. Christ
is our robe of righteousness. Christ the cross or the crucifixion
of Christ is all we look to and hope in. Well, hurry with me. Verse 24
says, But unto them which are called Then what you call both
Jews and Greeks, and that's some of us, some of us in this crowd,
some of both. There's some people in here with
some education who once thought that they were educated. There's
some people with a lot of religious background who once thought that
they were religious. But we were all fools, weren't
we? We were all fools. Foolish, but called. Thank God
one day he called. He called. How? By the gospel. By the gospel. The simple preaching
of the gospel. And to us which are called Christ,
the power of God, Christ crucified, the wisdom of God, the power
of God. Oh, I wish I could go on here.
I've got three hours worth of preaching. Christ, the power
of God. I tell you what, I see God's
power in making one man represent so many people. But it couldn't
just be a man, it had to be the God man. One man, you could kill
one man, just a mortal man, a million times over and he wouldn't pay
for my sin. But God now, an infinite one, can pay an infinite sacrifice. I see the wisdom of God. I see
something of the infinite and absolute wisdom of God in providing
himself a lamb for the sacrifice, making himself and all he did
in Christ. I see the wisdom of that. God
doing for me what I could not do for myself. Never in a million
years could I scale Mount Sinai. He did it. Never in a million
years could I satisfy God's justice. He did it. Six hours. Never in a million years could
a man figure out a way how God could be just and yet justify
ungodly sin. Never in a million years could
a man figure out how God could punish a man by setting him free.
That's what's got to happen. That's the essence of the gospel.
How God can punish me for my sin and yet set me free. Yet
declare I never did him. Punish me for him, but declare
he never did him. I can't find anything wrong with
it. How? I see the wisdom of God in making
Christ to be that one, that substitute. Well, verse 30 and 31. Of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. all of these things, wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. That according as it is written,
he that gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord. My, my. No flesh is going to glory in
the presence of God Almighty. There's no room. There's no room
for boasting. Brother Terry and I were talking
about this yesterday. To be the most Christ-like means
to be humble and meek and lowly. To be the most worldly means
to be proud. They're opposites, right? They're
opposites. And no pride is going to be allowed
into God's presence. Why? God alone has the right
to be proud. Right? Why? God does everything. God provides everything. God
is everything. Everything we have, everything
we are, is borrowed, right? Is given to us. What do we have
that we have not received? That's the reason the scripture
says, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Why? God gave
it to him. He could be an idiot. He could
be an imbecile. He could have down syndrome. Let not the mighty man glory
in his strength. Why? God gave him the health
he's got. He could be a quadriplegic. He
could have been born with polio. God's made him to differ. Let
not the beautiful woman glory in her beauty. Why? She could
have a disfigured face. But according as it is written,
if anybody's going to do any glory in it, you better be glorying
in God, because it's all of Him. To Him be all the glory. both
now and forever. And let me ask you in closing,
I've got to ask you this. Have you been called by this
gospel? It says in verse 26, you see
your calling, brother. Have you? Have you been called
by this gospel? Have you? Do you see your need
of the Lord Jesus Christ? All those, this is the proof
of being called. All of those who are called,
they come to Jesus Christ as nothing. It says here, not many
wise men, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God
has chosen the foolish things of the world, the weak things,
the base things, verse twenty-eight, God has chosen things that are
not, that is, nothing. Fools, weak, base, nobodies,
nothing. And the first evidence of you
coming to Christ is you come as a nothing. Not here I am. The Lord sure needs me and my
talent. No, I'm nothing. It's not the Lord needs me. I sure need the Lord. We come
as nothing, and He becomes everything that way, you see. We come as
nobodies. I don't know anything, I can't
do anything, I've never been anything, never will amount to
anything. That makes him off, an in-off, right? No place else
to look but up. We come as base, he becomes the
exalted one. We become as broken sinners,
he becomes a savior. We become lost before we can
be found. We come empty. We don't have
wisdom. I don't know anything about God.
We come without righteousness. My morality, my righteousness,
filthy rags. And Christ has made unto us righteousness,
sanctification. We see all our religion in Christ,
all the religion we need, and redemption. We come to Christ
without any hope of saving ourselves. And we see Christ as being the
only sacrifice we need before this holy God, the blood that
we desperately need to be on the doorposts of our hearts,
the substitute, the one we desperately need to represent us before a
holy God. You see your calling, brethren,
some of you, by God's grace, Jew and Greek. have seen your
calling you've heard this gospel and you believe it and you count
all that past education all that past religion like the Apostle
Paul has done cow manure to put it bluntly for the righteousness
the beauty the glory of Christ the wisdom and the power The
wisdom and the power of God is in the gospel of Christ. Hath
not God made foolish this world? He's made you wise. He's made
you wise in Christ. We thank God for that.

The Foolishness Of Preaching

What does the Bible say about the foolishness of preaching?

How do we know the gospel is true?

Why is substitutionary atonement important for Christians?

What is the significance of preaching Christ crucified?

How does God reveal Himself to us?

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The Foolishness Of Preaching

What does the Bible say about the foolishness of preaching?

How do we know the gospel is true?

Why is substitutionary atonement important for Christians?

What is the significance of preaching Christ crucified?

How does God reveal Himself to us?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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