1 Corinthians 1, verses 17-21,
the title of the message, The Foolishness of Preaching. What I'm doing right now. What
I do every week. The greatest part of this world,
or the world itself, the world as a whole, calls it foolishness.
It calls this message foolishness. It charges God. In doing so, in saying so, charges
God with foolishness. To come up with such a foolish
message. To say sinners in such a foolish way. That's what the
world says. And the world will never see
the wisdom of God in Christ. No matter how much you tell them. apart from the work of the Holy
Spirit, they cannot and will not see the wisdom of God in
Christ. And the gospel of good news will
always be foolishness to this world until the end of time. It will always be foolishness.
It will never be able to reconcile God's way of salvation with man's
thoughts and way of salvation. He can't reconcile it. That's
not the way it is. That's not the way God saves
sinners. Through Christ alone, His blood alone, His righteousness
alone, His person alone, that is the way God saves sinners,
and that's the only way God saves sinners. That's the only way
God can be a just God and a Savior, is through the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the world cannot see that. No more than a blind man can
see light. And the reason being is because man is spiritually
dead. He has not the life of God in him. And he can't see
it. He cannot think on that level. Cannot think on that level. But
the believer sees the wisdom of God in Christ. Do you see
God's wisdom in Christ? Do you see God's wisdom in letting
us fall in one man and saving us in one man? Do you see God's
wisdom in becoming incarnate, becoming a substitute, taking
our place, satisfying His own law, satisfying Himself, His
own demands? Do you see the wisdom in that? I do now. I do now. We see the wisdom and power of
God in Christ to save. And the reason we see that is
this reason, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. God has given us a nature to
understand, that can understand, that can receive Christ, that
can say, I see, that can hear. He's given us ears that can hear,
eyes that can see the Lord Jesus Christ. We can see His glory
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the reason being
is this, you are born of God. You're born of God. Now Paul says in verse 17, for
Christ sent me not to baptize. That's not the reason I'm here
at Corinth. I did not come here to perform
baptism. That's not why I'm here. We know
that baptism is important. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. I tell you this, he that believes
will be baptized. That person whom God saves and
grants faith to, that person will confess Christ. That person
will identify him or herself with the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism
is not a ceremony. It's an identification with a
person. That's what it is. And when God saves a sinner,
that sinner will identify him or herself with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And be glad to. Be glad to do
it. Want to do it. Desire to do it.
Want to be counted with him. So Paul said, I wasn't sent here
to baptize, but to preach the gospel. To declare the glorious
gospel of the blessed God. To declare the redemptive glory
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why I'm here. To preach
the gospel. And it would do me well to always
remember that. My responsibility, my chief responsibility
here is to stand here and to declare, to preach the gospel
of Christ to you Wednesday night and Sunday, Wednesday and Sunday. Every time I stand in this pulpit
or Dale, Eric or Frank, our responsibility is to preach Christ, is to preach
the gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
my responsibility. And not with wisdom of words.
Now, we do preach the gospel with wisdom. Now, we do preach
it with wisdom, godly wisdom. Wisdom that God has given us.
We preach the gospel with wisdom, but not with wisdom of words.
Not trying to formulate a sentence or words in order to coerce you
into doing something. That won't save anybody. I tell you, you take the truth
and twist it, you don't have the truth anymore. Try to make
it sound good. Try to make it sound pleasant.
Try to make it sound appealing to people. You don't have the
gospel no more. You don't have it. Not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
That's what I'm saying. You don't have it no more. It's useless.
Useless. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish or are perishing. The preaching of Christ
crucified. The preaching of the redemptive
work of Jesus Christ. And all that it involves is to
them that are perishing, which is to the lost, those who are
lost, those who are unbelievers, is foolishness. It's absurd. They hear that, and I'm going
to give you some things that they hear, and they count it
as foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
or being saved, It's the power of God. God can save me from my sins,
from who and what I am in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be a just
God in doing so. God can be God and save me, bring
me into His presence forever in the Lord Jesus Christ. unto us which are saved, it's
the power of God. It's His power. For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. One day all of them are going
to be presented as the fools that they are. The real fools
are going to be exposed. God's going to expose them. Where's
the wise? Where is the wise man? Where's
the scribe? If the man is so wise, why is
he not here? If he's so wise, why does he
not believe God? If he's so wise, why is he not
seeking the Lord? Where's the wise? I'll tell you
where the wise, the wise, the so-called wise man is. He's out
there. He's out there in darkness. He's
out there groping around in darkness. Thinks he knows something, but
he doesn't. He absolutely doesn't know. Where is the scribe? He's the one who reads and translates. Where's he at? He ought to be
here. Where is the disputer of this
world? They're out there in darkness. That's where they are. Out there
groping around in darkness. In their own darkness. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world, by wisdom, knew not God. Man, by his own
wisdom, will not, absolutely will not, find out who God is. Will not find out who God is.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, or what this world
calls foolishness, what I'm doing right now. It pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Do you believe? It has pleased
God to save you. It has pleased God to give you
faith. It has pleased God to call you by His grace. It has
pleased God to grant to you repentance. And He did it through what this
world calls foolish preaching, the foolishness of preaching.
Now, there is a lot of foolish preaching going on. I'm not doing
that. I'm not doing any foolish preaching. No, there's a lot
of that that goes on every day. That's what the world calls the
foolishness of preaching. Let me give you some things that
this world calls foolishness and is offended at. First of all, in the preaching
of the gospel, We preach that there is only one God. The Greeks
believed there were many gods. But the gospel sets forth one
God. You know, I have never watched,
and I can't remember anyway, ever watching a television program
that had anything to do with creation And there's always some
college professor or someone that's got all these degrees
behind his name or in front of his name. I've never heard one of them
talk about God creating heaven and earth. Every time it's evolution. Every time I've heard these men,
it has to do with the Big Bang and all this stuff going on.
It has to do with that. These men who are supposed to
really know something, The wisdom of the world, when they speak
of creation, they leave God out of it. Because if they put Him
in it, they become responsible. You see, you become responsible
when you do that. But if you leave it out there as a big bang,
you're not responsible. You're all okay. You don't have to fear
death. You're not going to be in judgment.
You don't have to worry about this Bible and what it says.
But when you have God, one God, that all acts are to Him, you
better be paying attention. You better find out who He is.
You better find out. The other day, Cole had a book
on dinosaurs, and he wanted me to read it. I said, you read
it to me. And so he started reading it to me, and it's how the dinosaurs
became extinct. And I mentioned this to Vicki
after he read it. It had to do with this big meteorite
hitting the earth, and all this destruction that happened, and
on and on. And I was telling Vicki, I said,
I want you to notice this. They have written this down as
a fact. A fact that they don't know anything about. A fact that
they don't have any right. We've got God's Word on the flood. I don't know if that's when it
was filled or not. It might have been back when
In Genesis, chapter one, in the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth, and the earth was in an outpouring void. Something
happened. Something happened. That might have been when it
happened. But I tell you this, it's not the way they think it
was. And they left God completely out of it, left all that completely
out of it, and all they talked about was this meteorite. And
I said, here he is, Cole. He's taking for fact because
you know he's going to school and this is you know what they
teach you in school everything's right, right? And he's taking it for fact. Here's fact. I'm telling you.
Here's fact. What we have in the Word of God.
This is fact. This is truth. That other stuff
is just something they just scratched their head and said, you know
what? There's a big crater over there. I bet you that meteorite hit that and
killed everything. There's theory. Nothing behind
it. We have something behind it.
We have God's Word on it. We have His Word on it. We have
one God and we have His Word on everything. And the world calls that foolishness. Foolishness. And here's something
else they call foolishness. It's that God is eternal. You see, if you can't scientifically
figure it out or logically figure it out, it must be foolishness.
In other words, if I'm subjecting everything to my intelligence,
boy, I tell you, that's bad, isn't it? When we start subjecting
everything to our intelligence, we don't know much at all. How
many things were discovered, even in medicine, hundreds of
years ago? And now today, it's like, they
used to bleed people. They used to bleed people, thinking
that would help. They'd bleed you to death, thinking
it's going to get a disease out of your body. That shows you
our intelligence, doesn't it? And I can't figure out this thing
of God being eternal, having no beginning of days or end of
life. How can that be? Well, if I were
God, I could tell you, but I'm not. I believe it. You believe it. I believe it.
I believe God's eternal. He has no beginning of days or
end of life. Can I comprehend that? Can I
understand that? No. But I can believe it. He's the
eternal one. And then here's another thing
they call foolishness. It's the absolute holiness of
God. God is absolutely holy, perfect
in every way. A natural man cannot understand,
he cannot comprehend how that can be. How in the world can one be absolute
perfection? And he calls it foolishness.
He calls it foolishness. To say
something else he calls foolishness is God's sovereign reign. He
has the right to do as he will, with whom he will, when he will. And the world does not like that. You know, it's like when the
world can't understand something. Let's say me. You know, if you
say, well, I can't, that's just foolishness. I can't understand,
I can't comprehend, that's just foolishness. That's natural thinking.
That's natural thinking. And when we talk about God being
the only God, we talk about God being eternal, we talk about
God being holy, we talk about God being sovereign over all,
and God saves whom he will, passes by whom he will, the world's
offended at it. And they call it foolishness.
But I tell you what, to us, that's salvation. That God is our salvation. That one God. And here's something
else that offends man. Look over in Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Look in verse 5. David says, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Original sin. at birth. Born in sin. I didn't become one. I was born
one. I didn't do anything to become a sinner. I was born one.
I was born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Not only was I born
in sin and shaped in iniquity, but that iniquity is deep, deep
within. Look over in Matthew 15. In Matthew 15, Look in verse 18. For those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the
man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts. See, this corruption is not just
something I was born with, it's something that's deep within
me. It's who I am, what I am by nature. For out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts, murders, Adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies, these are the things which defile a
man. To eat with unwashed hands, that doesn't defile anybody. Things that defile a man is what's
in the heart. It's what I am by nature. And
that's offensive to this world, and therefore they call it foolishness.
And not only am I corrupt within, I'm corrupt by practice. Look
over in Galatians chapter 5. Look in verse 19. Now the works
of the flesh are manifest, which are these, and they are not pretty. fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like." That's a list, isn't it? He did not
mention one good thing, did he? He didn't mention one good thing
about this flesh. That's what we are. That's it
right there by nature. "...of the which I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." That's offensive. When the world hears what it
is, you describe them right here. The Word of God describes the
flesh. That's offensive. Therefore, they call it foolishness.
And then when you get to the work of Christ, you get to the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, you talk about the Son
of God, who is God, becoming a man, becoming a real man. They count that as foolishness.
They say, that's just foolishness. Look over in Matthew chapter
1. Here's what the world counts
as foolishness. Matthew chapter 1. The world counts this as foolishness,
except on Christmas. They don't count it then. It's
Merchants' Day. Let's see. Matthew 1, look in verse 21. And she, that is Mary, being
a virgin, shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." He's not saving a bunch of good
people. God becoming a man that he might save his people. Notice that. His people. He's not out there just trying
to save people. He's saving His people from their
sins. What sins? The one I just read
you over in Galatians 5. He's saving us from those sins
of the flesh. Those sins of our nature. When
we talk about flesh, we don't talk about the skin. We talk
about our nature. Our nature. And man finds that
offensive. He finds the perfect obedience
of Christ as our righteousness to be offensive. Do you find
that offensive? I don't. Not now. There was a
time all of us found it offensive, but not now. His righteousness
is the only righteousness there is. Apart from that, we don't
have any. We don't have any righteousness.
We can't even think a good thought. Not without sin. Not without
sin. If we could see from where God
sees us from, we'd understand that. We'd understand what sin
is. He became a man. He obeyed the
law. His obedience is our righteousness.
He bore the wrath of God for His people. If you want to find
out How much men really hate God? How much men really hate Christ?
Let's talk about God's elect and Christ dying to save the
elect. I've had some people flat get
mad when talking to them about Christ, His redemptive work,
His glory, His salvation for the elect, and I've had them
get mad. That's unfair. That's not right. That's unfair. What's that got to do with it? We are in the hands of God who
is a just God who can do no wrong. If He's going to give us what's
right, guess what we're going to get? The wages of sin is death. If He's going to give me what
belongs to Christ, that's life evermore. That's righteousness. That's acceptance. That's what
I want. I want that. And then when we
speak of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, the world
calls it foolishness. How He brings us to God. How
He reveals Christ to us. You can't understand. You cannot
understand the Gospel. You cannot understand the redemptive
work of Christ. You cannot see the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ apart from God the Holy Spirit working
in you and revealing Christ. The Scripture says who by searching
can find out God. Who by searching can find out
God. You and I can search all our lives and never find out
God. He must reveal Himself. He must reveal Himself, and He
reveals Himself through the preaching of the Gospel. Now, if you and
I are going to know God, He's going to have to reveal Himself
to us through the preaching of the cross of Christ. That's how
it's going to happen. I'm not going to go out here
in the woods and look at the trees and the animals and find
out God. I'm going to be sitting right
there in the pew, and I'm going to be listening. I'm going to
be listening to somebody. Tell me the gospel. Thirty-some
years ago, I heard a man on television, Pastor Henry, preach the gospel. Until then, I was lost as a goose
in a snowstorm. I didn't know anything until
I heard the gospel. In the power of God the Holy
Spirit, he sent the Word in power. He's the one who takes the things
of Christ and reveals them to us, shows them to us. We're not
figuring this thing out. We read the Word of God. I tell
you what, the Bible, until He opens it up, is a closed book.
You'll take this book and you'll twist it to your own destruction. I can take this to the most intelligent
men in this world, the most scholarly men in this world. I can take
this book to them and they will mess it and mess it up every
time. Every time. Not one of them will get it right.
They won't get it right. But I can take this book and
I can give it to a man that's illiterate. Doesn't even have
a first grade education. And he can understand the mystery
of God. The mystery of the gospel. He can understand how God saves
sinners. that man can understand and become a wise, listen, become
a wise man, the wisest man in this world. If God the Holy Spirit
is pleased to take the gospel and put it in his heart, reveal
Christ who is the wisdom of God. The world will always call the
preaching of the gospel foolishness, the preaching of Christ crucified,
the preaching of His righteousness as our righteousness, His blood
for our cleansing, His death for our life. It will always be called foolishness
by the world. But to you and to me, it's the
power of God. under salvation. And every time
somebody steps in this pulpit, that's what I want to hear. I
want to hear, listen, I want to hear the message that God
is pleased to bless. That's what I want to hear. And
the message that God is pleased to bless is the preaching of
Christ and Him crucified. That's the message God will bless.