1 Corinthians 3, verse 18. 1 Corinthians 3, 18. The Scriptures has much to say
about a man deceiving himself or being deceived, and here it
says it again, 1 Corinthians 3, 18. Let no man deceive himself. If any among you seem to be wise
in this world, seem to have a grasp of how to get on in the world.
Let him become a fool. Count what he knows in this world,
what he has in this world, what he's learned in this world. Let
him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom, and
this is the reason, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness
with God. The wisest man in this world,
in all of his wisdom, with all of his learning, with all of
his philosophy, And you know how many philosophy books have
been written, how many ethical books have been written on ethics
and morality and reasoning and rationality. And God says it's
all just foolishness. For it is written, he taketh
the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise, that they're just vain, empty, useless. Therefore let no man glory in
me, no glory in their wisdom. and their accomplishments, for
all things are yours. Paul is yours, Apollos is yours,
Cephas or Simon Peters is yours, or things of the world, life
is yours, death is yours, things present, things to come, all
are yours. And you're Christ, and Christ is God's. But it says
there in verse 18, that no man deceive himself. If any among
you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he
may be wise." How do you become a fool and become wise? Well,
the Bible has much to say about being a fool. It has a lot to
say about being a fool. You read the Proverbs, and I'm
telling you, I couldn't tell you how many times fools and
righteous are. A man's a fool in the righteous.
A man's a fool in the righteous. A man's a fool... And always
compare it. I couldn't tell you how many
times. You just look at it, your own self, and how many times
it's referred to as a fool, a man is. And God counted the wisdom
of this world to be absolute and utter foolishness. He counted
it that way. Man, what he does is he devises
his way. He said, this is where I'm going
to go, this is what I'm going to do, this is what I'm going
to accomplish. And when he does all that, he leaves God out of
the equation. He don't even think about God. God don't get in him.
Or else what he does is he remakes God in the situation that he's
in to fit that situation. You know, if I'm in a certain
situation, I heard some fellas talking yesterday, I was watching
these men in prison, and they were talking about, they committed
rape, they committed murder, One woman was praying. When the
man killed her, she was praying, Father, forgive him. He knows
not what he does. And the man offered him a job.
And he killed him anyway. And do you know what he said
about himself? He said, I'm not a monster. So it made God to be. And he
says, now I'm trying to better myself. I'm reading all these
books to give me some wisdom, to give me some knowledge. That
ain't gonna change him. And that's why God says this
is foolish. And a man gets up and he says, well, I know what
it takes to be saved. I know if I go here, if I go
there, if I do this, if I take that thing, do this other thing,
if I pray this way, read this much, then I'll be alright with
God. God says it's all foolish. And
when this, let me give you the definition of a fool, and of
course, When I read it, you know, look at me. A fool is a man whose
stupidity is proven by his actions. A man is a fool whose stupidity
is proven by his actions. And as our Lord said, a tree
is known by its fruit. And there are seven fools that
the Bible will talk about tonight in the Scripture. Seven fools.
Seven fools. that the Bible, the Scriptures,
the Word of God present to our view and gives us an understanding
of, and we look at them. And here he says, you become
a fool that you may be wise. Because whatever you think you
know, and however you think you get known in this world, God
said it's just absolute utter foolishness. And let's look,
and you don't have to look in a lot of places. First of all,
look in Psalm 14. Here's an atheistic fool. Here's
a fool that's atheistic. And you know what's in vogue
right now in the world? Atheism. Atheism. I mean, atheism's a big deal
right now. Everybody talks about being atheist,
you know. God off the money, won't God
cross us. Anything to have to do with the
religion, they want to get done with it. And no matter how foolish
and how absurd it is, but the thing that's in vogue today is
to be atheistic. I heard 210, I saw 210-year-old
boys who wanted to be in the Boy Scouts
and they wanted to leave God out of it because they said that
they didn't believe that there was a God. Ten year old boys.
How in the world is ten year old boys? What does he know? He ain't even old enough to shave
yet and he started talking about there is no God. Ten years old. And look what is said here, Psalm
14 and 1. The fool hath said in his heart, No God. Just leave various out. The fool has said in his heart,
no God. No God. That's what he says. The fool says in his heart, no
God. No God. Look over here at Psalm
10, verse 4. Look what it says. The wicked, through the pride
of his countenance, will not seek Leave Asteroff again. We must seek God. Now listen
to it. God is not in all of his thoughts. And over in the margin it says
this, all his thoughts are, there is no God. That's what he says. There is no God. And our beloved,
he wishes there was no God. So he convinces himself to think
that and say that. But you have, it's rare for a
man, to get in trouble that he don't cry out, Oh God. Oh God. That's what he does. And he's
a fool. A man who says there is no God. A man who says no
God. That man who says God is not
at all in his thoughts. That in his thoughts he says
there's no God. And men say no God. And beloved,
he's a fool. In the very highest degree. He's
a mental fool. He's crazy. I mean, Barnard,
like Barnard said, a man that don't believe God, don't believe
the Scriptures, is a madman. He's a madman. He's destroying
himself day in and day out, and he's going to fight a war that
he cannot possibly win. Not only is he a mental fool,
but he's a spiritual fool. I mean, the evidence that there's
a God is everywhere you look. The very fact that you've got
a mind, that you breathe, that you live and move and have your
being. Where do you get that at? Where
do we get this power to live and move and have our being?
And when that's gone, can you bring yourself back? Who gave
you life in your mother's womb? Who can you say put the stars
in heaven? Who can you say put the mountains
there? Who made the Grand Canyon? Who made those great Found those
trees out there in the great redwood forest. Who made them?
No, you can see God everywhere. And the man says, no God? No
God? He'd rather look at an ape and
say, I descended from Him, as to look at a God that he can't
see, and says, He made me. And I trust Him. And not only
is he a mental fool and a spiritual fool, but he's a practical fool.
Every day of his life, there's evidence of God everywhere he
looks, and he lives like beloved. His whole life depends upon him
and his thoughts and his power and his mental faculties and
his views and philosophical views of this world. And God says he's
a fool. Huh? He attributes everything
to nature, luck, fate, destiny, or the laws of the universe.
Anybody but God. Huh? Now, that's the first fool,
the atheistic fool. That's in vogue today. Look over
with me over in 1 Corinthians 15, I'll show you a rational
fool. You know what? That was the age
of reason. And that was the time, you know,
when men rationalized. They rationalized everything,
the power of reason and all that. And here's a rational fool. I
mean, he goes through his own understanding and doesn't believe
the Scriptures. But look what he said here in
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 36. Verse 35, excuse me. But some
man will say, How are the dead raised up? Paul's speaking about
the resurrection. How are the dead raised up? A
man will say, how are they raised up? That's a good question. How
are the dead raised up? And if they're raised up, with
what kind of a body do they come forth with? Paul says, fool,
that which is source is not quickened except to die. He said, whatever
you put in the ground, it's gonna die. It's gonna die. And that's what he says here.
He doubts, he doesn't believe in the resurrection, he denies
miracles, he doesn't know the scriptures or the power of God.
And that's why Paul goes on to say, and he says in verse 37,
"...and that which thou sawest, thou sawest not the body that
shall be." That whatever body you put in the ground, that's
not the same kind of body that's coming out of it. You put a grain
of wheat in the ground and there's going to be a great big green
shoot come up and have all kinds of fruit hanging off of it. You
put a little old bit of seed, an apple seed in the ground,
and you've got this great big tree coming out of that little
bit of seed. And that's why Paul said, don't you know that what
you put in the ground is not the same thing that's coming
out? And what you put in the ground is not the same thing
that's coming out. He said, don't you understand
that, that when you leave this body in the ground, It's got
to die, and it's died because it is dead. But when it comes
out of the ground, it's going to be something besides something
that went in there. Might go hell out the same way. Oh, what he does is he yields
to his reason. He questions the stance of beliefs. And because it appears impossible
to him, he thinks it's impossible, period. And that's why Paul says,
fool, you don't sow the body that's going to be. Look over
here in verse 45. Oh man, you don't sow the body
that's going to be. He said here in verse 45, And
so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul.
The last Adam, the Lord Jesus, a quickening spirit, one that
gives life. And not only that, but he quickened
himself from the dead. Howbeit that was not first, which
is spiritual. The spiritual wasn't the first
that was made. He was made a living soul. But
that which is natural. Afterward, that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth. He's earthing. And that's the
way we are. We're born on this earth, we
come out of the dust, we come out of the dirt, we're going
back to it. The second man is the Lord from heaven. And as
is the earthly, such are they also that are earthly. You've
got Adam, you're going to be with Adam. And as is the heavenly,
as those that are in Christ, such are they also that are heavenly.
Now watch it. As we are born in the image of
the earthly, listen to it, we shall also bear the image of
the heavenly. If we bore Adam's image, we're
going to bear Christ's image. If we were made dead in Adam,
we're going to be made alive in Christ. As we were made a
living soul in Adam, we're made a spiritual soul living soul
in Christ. And now watch what he says now.
Now this I say, brethren, verse 50, that flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God. Well, that's all we got right
now. This is what we're going to sow,
but this is not what's coming out of the ground. Neither does
corruption inherit incorruption. And I'm going to show you a mystery.
We're not going to all sleep. We're not going to all go by
the way of the great. But we shall all be changed in a moment
in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet
of God shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. His soul in corruption that it
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Oh, put it in the ground. But
it's swallowed up in victory. And that's why he goes on to
say, Oh, death, where's your sting? Oh, grave, where's your
victory? This body that's going in there
is not the same one that's coming out. Not the same one that's coming
out. You know that's why. And man's unbelief. Now, let me tell
you something. Here's this rational fool. There's
no way a man can be rational. What kind of body is he going
to have? Paul answered that question. He said it can't be possible,
and because it can't be possible, so naturally he can't believe
it. Well, man's unbelief and man's weakness and his reason
can't make the Word of God non-effect, no matter how much he reasons
with it. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ
was preaching one day, and he said this. He said, How hardly
shall they that are rich enter into the kingdom of God. And
he said, In verily I say unto you, it is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, who in the world can be
saved? He said, with men, that's an impossibility. But nothing
is impossible with God. So if God can save a man, don't
you reckon He can change his heart? Don't you think He can
change his body? If He can give him a new mind,
don't you think He can give him a new body? If He gives him a
new heart, don't you think He can give him a new body? Oh, my. And I'll tell you, if
you don't have your scripture about your reason, your reason
submits to the scriptures. And let me show you another one
over here in Proverbs 14, 9. Proverbs 14, 9. Here's another fool. Here's the
third fool. Proverbs 14, 9. Look what it says here. Here's
a man that just has no shame about it. A shameless fool. Look what it says here, Proverbs
14, 9. Fools make a mock at sin. Make a mock at sin. How in the
world do you make a mock at sin? How do you mock sin? Well, first of all, you rejoice
in it. You rejoice in it. You have pleasure
in it. And you glory in it. And you
brag about it. And you tell about it. And so
when you're doing this, you're making a mockery. Sin is a deadly
thing. Sin is a dangerous thing. Sin
is a deceitful thing. And the verb sin will always
and has produced death. It produced death in the first
man. It'll produce death in the last man if Christ don't do something
for a man. So they make a mock at it. They
glory in sin in their sin and glory in it, and they do it in
themselves and others. They come to a place where nothing
is sin. They make a mock at it. Herman
was showing me that. Let me have that piece of paper
you got, Herman. Let me have that. Let me read that to these
folks. I'm going to give you, here's a making a mockery of
sin. It's exactly what I'm telling you about. Two brothers died
the other day in a car wreck. They were drinking. This is what
they put on their obituary. Making a mockery of sin now.
Lord, I reckon I'm not much just by myself. I fail to do a lot
of things I ought to do. But Lord, when trails are steep
and passes high, help me ride it straight. the whole way through. And when the falling dust, I
get that final call, I do not care how many flowers they sent,
above all else, the happiest trail would be for you to say,
let's ride, my friend. That's making a mockery of sin.
Not only the people that's dead, but the people who knew of it
before, that's making a very mockery of sin. Die in your sin. People laughing about it. I went
to preach the fellas' funeral one day, Now, a priest never
almost did find that family's funerals to this point. And I
left, and I went back out there, and all of his buddies sat around
his grave, and they all got drunk on beer and stacked their beer
cans up around the dirt piled up around him. That's making
a market sin. It's making a mockery of sin
when that fellow killed those people and then talks about,
I'm not such a monster, I'm a pretty good person. I'm a drug addict,
but I'm a good person. That's making a mockery of sin. Sin is deep, dark, distinctful,
despicable. And nobody is getting by with
it. And all you have to do is look
around in today's society. Make a mockery of every kind
of sin. Homosexuality now. Make a mockery of that sin. Now
you're the one that's the bigot and narrow-minded if you take
a stand against it. And abortion. Killing babies
one after another by the thousands every single day. And people
getting mad at you if you're saying that's the wrong thing
to do. You're killing people that God made. Huh? And adultery now, oh my, they
don't even bother to commit adultery. They just live together and they
get tired. They just go to somebody else. Everything sins just an
absolute markery. Marrying and giving in marriage.
They sin with arrogance. They have a talk show mentality. They listen to too many pop psychologists. And so nothing's wrong for anybody. And I'll tell you, let me show
you something over here in Revelation. But one of these days, that's
a judgment they'll find out. And you know, here's the sad
thing about it. In Revelation 9, people are gonna, these folks
make a mockery of sin. Make a mockery of sin. You know
how else you make a mockery of sin? I don't have no sin. I'm not a sinner. I don't need Christ. I'm not
that bad. That's how you make a mockery
of sin. No seriousness about it? We ought to be more afraid of
sin than anything in this world. People are scared of rattlesnakes. Sin will kill you deader than
any rattlesnake ever did. In fact, you're dead in your
trespassing. And rattlesnakes, this heart is full of rattlesnakes.
Full of them. This heart is so full of venom
that all it does is spit out venom. Strikes out at everything
that disagrees with it. It tries to tell it that it's
wrong. It tries to put people in their place where sin's at.
It just strikes out at it, bites. But oh, look what it says. Here's
some folks that they will gnash their tongue and still refuse
to repent. Revelation 9.20. And the rest of the men, which
were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works
of their hands. Watch this, that they should
not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass,
and stone, and of wood, which can neither see, nor hear, nor
walk. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries,
nor of their fornication." What is this? They're repenting. I'm not going to do it. Look
in Revelation 16. And this is actually the judgment
on men and women. You think sin ain't got power
over men? Verse 9, it says, And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the name of God. which hath power over
these plagues, and they repented not, listen to this, to give
him glory. I'm not going to give him the
glory. I'm just not going to do it. And the fifth angel poured
out his vial upon the sea of the beast, and his kingdom was
full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed
the God of heaven because of their pains and their sorrows,
and repented not. of their deeds. You reckon these folks who had
that put in there will ever repent of that one of these days? Making such a mockery of sin? And, well, the Scripture says
that they have brazen for brass foreheads and there's no shame.
They make a mock at it. Let me show you another fool.
Matthew 7. Matthew 7. I'll tell you something, beloved. Don't never get comfortable
with sin. Don't never get comfortable with
it. And sin is not something that you do. It's your nature. And you do what you do because
you are what you are. A man's not a liar because he
told a lie. He was a liar. That's why he
told the lie. A man's not a thief when he steals
something. He stole something because he was a thief. Start
right here. Start right here. And look at
this thoughtless fool. Here, Matthew 7, 24. Here's the
fourth fool. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And
everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not,"
listen now, "'shall be likened unto a foolish man.'" A fool. which built his house upon the
sand. And the rains descended, the
floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it
fell, and great was the fall." Now, beloved, he is told the
same thing as the wise man. He heard the same thing. He that
heareth these sayings of mine. Right? Everyone that heareth
these sayings of mine. One doesn't, one doesn't, but
they hear the same thing. One does and one doesn't. One doesn't repent, one doesn't
believe. One repents, one believes. But
this man, he starts building his house. And he starts building
it knowing that it's all with this house that he's building
it on. The sands is always shifting. When he's building, he's having
to move things all the time. And so, but he keeps on building.
Yet he keeps right on building his hopes for the future on this
sand. And that's why we sing, on Christ
the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All of
it's sinking sand. They still build the house, keep
right on building their house on the hopes for the future on
sand. On the sand of morality, on the
sand of their merit, I'm a good person, I've done some good things
on the merit of their suffering. You just don't know how I've
suffered on the merit of their own works. And then they'll stand
back and say, look at the house I built. And it's on sinking
sand. Oh, my every boy, he'll say,
I laid that house. I built that house. And every
block is laid by His own self-righteousness. Every wall is raised by His free
will. And then He looks around and
says, you know, all my neighbors got the same kind of houses.
So we're all in the same boat. So I mean, you know, if they
go down, I go down too. And oh, beloved, look at the
results of it. Verse 27, And the rain descended,
floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and
it fell. And great, great was the fall. And when you get there and your
house is there, down it goes. There's only one foundation to
build on, and that's the Lord Jesus. He that heareth these
sayings, and does them. What did our Lord Jesus say about
it, sir? A fellow said the other day, he said this, and I'm going
to write him and tell him. He said, I don't understand how
Christians can say that they're the only ones that has the truth. He says, you know, why don't
the Muslims? Why don't the Catholics? Why don't the Mormons? He started
naming off all these people. Why don't they have it? And it's not that we have the
truth, it's that God has the truth. And we just repeat, Christ
himself says, no man comes unto the Father but by me. Christ himself said, I am the
way. You want to go to the Father, you don't have to go by me. Except you believe I am He, you
know what you'll do, you'll die in your sins. You want to know
the truth, you've got to know me. I am the truth. You want
life? The only place you'll get it
is from me. Now, if you want to take up an argument with Christ,
that's what a man needs to do. But you know why we do this?
Because that's what Christ said. We're not saying it's what Christ
said. And that's where people have their problem. They have
their problem with Christ. They have their problem not with
the truth, but with Christ. Because if they're confronted
with Christ, they don't have to admit that they're sinners
or bound. They don't have to say, oh yes,
what he says is true, and I believe it, and Val Tudor say, no, I
ain't gonna believe that. One or the other. That's why
they're called fools. That's why they're called fools.
And then let me show you another fool. I mean, this is an industrious
fellow. Luke chapter 12, an industrious
fool. A fellow that just worked and
worked and worked and worked and done good. Made lots of money,
well known in town. And look at it. Luke chapter
12, in verse 20. Here's another fool. Thoughtless
fool. He didn't do. The atheist fool. The fool who makes a mark out
of sand. Look what it said here now, in
verse 20. Excuse me, verse 16, I'm sorry.
And he spake a parable of them, Christ speaking now, saying,
The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? Because
I have no room where to dispose my fruits. I ain't got enough
silos. I ain't got enough barns. I ain't.
And he said, This will I do. I'll pull down what barns I've
got, and I'll build some bigger ones. And there I'll have enough
room to bestow all my goods and my fruits. And then you know
what I'll do when I get all that done? I'll say to my soul, I'll
talk to myself, and say, soul that has much good laid up for
many years, take your ease, eat, drink, be merry, don't worry,
be happy. But God said, but God said unto
him, God said unto him, Fool, your actions prove your
stupidity. Fool, this life, thy soul, shall
be required of thee." Huh? Now listen, this man's not a
skeptic. He doesn't make a market sense. Here's a fella, boy, he's
thoughtful. He thought within himself. Ain't
that what he says? Verse 17, he thought within himself.
He's a thoughtful man. He's a thinking man. He thought
within himself. He's an active man. A careful
businessman. Oh my, he's counting everything. You know, he didn't count his
chicken before the egg hatched. He got it all before he needed someplace
to put it. But I tell you, the only thing that he's interested
in is what he can get on this earth. Only thing he's interested
in is his ease, what he'll eat, and his drink, and what he wears,
and how happy he'll be in his old age. His interest was more
money, so he could enjoy life more. He was materialistic. And
oh, my. And oh, he did well for himself.
Men would say, boy, that old boy started out with nothing.
You ought to see him now. That old boy didn't have a pot. He didn't have nothing. Now look
at him. That old boy, he was something. Look at him. Man, look at his
house, look at his barns, look at his tactics, look at his money.
Oh my goodness, that boy's done so good for himself. I tell you
what, let's put him on the, make him chairman of the businessmen's
organization. Make him, put him on all the
boards around here. Put him on the board in the bank
business, so they're telling the banks how to run their stuff.
That fella knows how to make money. If anybody does, you'll
get them straight down. Boy, he did well for himself. Men
would brag on him. But where it really counts, where
it really counts before God, God said, you're nothing but
a fool. You've just been a fool all your life. You see, God weighs
the actions of men. By God, actions are weighed.
And when God says, You are full, you know what He says there in
the last part of verse? Verse 20 says, But God said unto
him, Full this life thy soul shall be required of thee. Now
listen. Then, then, who shall those things be which thou hast
provided? So they'll have a big auction, and people will get everything
you had for about twenty-five cents on the dollar. That's going to be the end of
your life. That great big barn you had there. You put, you put, you had $300,000
in that thing. Somebody get that for $50,000. And then they'll take all your
stuff and start selling it away. That's what your life will be.
Ain't that, can you see how foolish that is? Huh? Oh man, what is
your life? Just a vapor. Then here's a self-confident
fool in Romans chapter 1. Let me hurry up here. Self-confident
fool. Look in Romans chapter 1. Self-confident fool. Romans chapter
1. In verse 21. Here's a fellow that got great
confidence in himself. Look what it says. Because that,
when they knew God, they knew God, knew there was a God, knew
the existence of a God. What did they do? They glorified
Him, not as God. Neither were they thankful that
He was God, and that they were thankful that He made Himself
known to them. But they became vain, useless,
empty, nothing in their imaginations. and their foolish heart was darkened."
Now listen, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. This man knew there was a God, but he didn't lift his hands
up and bless his name. He never said, thank you, Lord,
for the blessings you've given me. Thank you for my home. Thank you for my wife. Thank
you for my job. Thank you for my family. Thank
you for how I was raised, where I was raised." No, no, he looks
and he knows, but he don't say, God, I give you the glory. No,
he just, he just, he's not thankful. And then he becomes like this.
He becomes vain in his imagination. And he starts thinking of all
that he can do and all that he can tell. And then he says, oh,
I'm such a wise fellow. Look how I've got on in the world.
I've done this for myself. I've done that for myself. I
made this by my own way, pulled myself up by my bootstrap. I
understand things, you know. I can read books, and it just
gets us like that. And I'll tell you, it's as foolish
to believe in God, but not to honor Him as God. It's a fool
to believe in God, but not to honor Him as God. If you believe
that there's one God, you do well. The devils also believe,
and they tremble. They tremble. They tremble. And
all beloved, what he did is he put his imagination for the revealed
will of God. He thought that God was all together,
one like himself. The vain thoughts of his heart,
instead of thought, he had the vain thoughts of his own mind,
his imagination, and put that in the place of the word of God
and the will of God. God says, my thoughts are not
your thoughts, your ways are not my ways. But he thought,
God said, you thought I was all together, one like the other.
He says, I see the light. But he's just dwelling in darkness,
dwelling in darkness. And then let me show you the
last one. That was the sixth one. Let me show you the last
one. First Corinthians four. If you don't like this one, you'll
identify with this one. I'll identify with one of them.
The way I've been over the years, ain't you? Oh, I can identify
with a lot of them. But look what he said here, Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 10. We are fools for Christ's sake,
but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong.
You are honorable, but we are despised. Here's the fool who's
a believer. The world counts a believer a
fool. And I'll tell you something, the wise men of this world, they
count as fools those who have seen Christ alone to be the wisdom
of God. Christ alone to be the wisdom
of God. How God can save me and stay
holy, just, and righteous, and make me holy, just, and righteous,
who is a wicked man. How God can take me and my sin,
and put all my sin away, and turn around and make me righteous
in Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. I see Christ alone to
be the wisdom of God. Huh? And oh, beloved, I'll tell
you, when the world thinks that you're a fool when you don't
trust your words, when you don't talk about how bad you were when
you were a sinner, when you don't talk about all the accomplishments
you've done, the souls that you've won, and how you've made the
church to grow, and how many conversions you've had. They
think you're a fool. But I'll tell you, it's better
to be a fool in the eyes of a world that's without Christ than to
be wise in God's sight. It's better to be wise in God's
sight than to be a fool in God's sight and wise in the eyes of
this sin-blinded world. And I tell you what, you're a
fool to religion and everyone else if you don't hold to free
will. If you don't believe in free
will, boy, you're a fool. You mean man don't have a choice?
Oh, yeah, he does. He made it. He made it in his
father Adam. He chose to sin. He chose to
rebel. He chose to resist. He chose
to stand against God. And if God don't come to where
He is, He'll go that way all the days of His life. Live like
He died. That's what He held. Hold to
your own free will. Oh, what about your ability?
Ain't you got some gifts? Ain't you got some abilities
to do things? What? Can I give myself life? Can I
keep my life living? I'm a pretty healthy person.
I try my best to eat right. Run about 20-25 miles a week.
lift a few weights, I try to stay healthy. But when I started
jogging and started running, he dropped dead of a heart attack
in his fifties while he was running. So you know, you do everything
in your power to make yourself healthy and better, but beloved,
when it's all said and done, what can we do to change the
one hair on our head or the statue by one cubit? What ability do
we have when it comes to the things of God? None. Oh, you're a fool if you don't
hold to your giving and your prayer life. Oh, who's on your
prayer chain? How many's in your prayer chain? And oh, I get these emails and
I despise these things. And they'll say, when you get
to the end of them, you know, they'll say, now, God will bless
you if you'll pass this on. And you know, that's superstition.
Just get out your good luck charm or your four-leaf clover or your
rabbit's foot and rub that for all that's going to do. Every
time I get one of them, I delete it. I ain't sending it to nobody.
I've already been blessed of God. I'm not looking for blessings. I haven't been blessed. We're not looking for blessings.
We've already been blessed. You know why we're looking for
them. We've got them. We're blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. What are we looking for? We done
found what other folks are hoping to get when they get to the end
of the way. Those ending places are starting places. Oh, why
do you go so far to go to church? Why do you drive 50 miles? Why
do you drive 60 miles to go to church? Pass all them other churches. There ain't no difference in
them. How can you believe God controls all things? Don't you believe that God is
the cause of everything, the first cause of everything? Is
He the cause of your wife having cancer? Is He the cause of your
wife dying, your husband getting sick? Is He the cause of that
finance? Is He the cause of everything
that happens in this world? Yes. If He ain't, who is? If it's the devil, let's worship
Him. If it's your free will, let's
worship ourselves. If it's by our power and ability,
let's brag on ourselves. But if God rules and controls everything in heaven, earth, and hell, let's
worship Him. Huh? And how can you not believe Jesus loves everybody and loves everybody and loves
everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves
everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves
everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves
everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody
and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody
and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody
and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody
and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves
everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves
everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves
everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves
everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and loves everybody and And that's in his pocket. He
pastored a three-wheel Baptist church out on 127 North. Cumberland
Three-Wheel Baptist Church. And he pulled this thing out
of his pocket, and he said, Did you write this? I said, Let me
look at it. I said, And the title of the
article in the newspaper, Does God Love Everybody? I said, Yes,
I did. He said, well, I'll tell you
what. He said, there's a woman come to church. She read that.
She said, if God don't love everybody, I'm just not going to come to
church anymore. He said, you deserve to call somebody to quit
church. I said, if God don't love anybody,
I'll just quit. And many of us, we believe we
had some conversation that day. Oh my! How do you believe Jesus
loves you? You don't believe that? How do
you believe that God makes a difference in men, instead of men making
a difference in themselves? Look what Paul says here. In
verse 10, 1 Corinthians 14, we're fools for Christ's sake. Go ahead
and count me a fool for Christ's sake. If I count Him to be everything,
I count Him to be my salvation, my righteousness, my justification,
forgiveness in Him, my salvation by Him, that He loved me, chose
me in Christ for the foundation of the world, that I'm in Him. And we're fools, but He says,
but these folks are wise. You're wise. You're the fool.
That's what they tell us. We're the ones wise. You folks
are fools that believe the way you believe. Huh? Oh, we're weak. We say, yes, we're weak. We have
no strength. We have no ability. God's got
to do it. We believe we trust in God for every single thing. But you're strong. You can do
it all on your own. You just need a little help from
God. You're honorable. Everybody honors you. Brags on
you. Talks about what a great work
you're doing for Jesus. But we're despised. We're despised. That's what you
folks are, that believe in this sovereign, free grace of God.
That's what you are. You that believe in election.
You believe that God loves His people with an everlasting love
and chose them and gave them grace in Christ before the world
ever began. We were justified. We were justified in eternity
and made to know it in time. Oh, man, that's foolish. Well,
I'm a fool. I'm a fool for Christ's sake,
ain't you? Amen. Amen.