The Bible constantly brings out each one of us as
one of two men, one or the other, saved or lost, righteous or wicked, believer or unbeliever, living or dead, wise or foolish, Right now, God
looks at me either as a wise man or a fool. I've entitled this message, Wisdom
and Foolishness. The only wise people in the world
are people who believe the gospel. Everybody who believes the gospel
is wise. God made you that way. And God
counts you a wise man or woman if you believe the gospel. Now somebody might say, what
do you mean by believing the gospel? Will you believe the
gospel when you trust Jesus Christ only as your righteousness before
God and when he's all you have to bring? That's believing the
gospel. And if you do not believe the
gospel. You are a fool. If you look to your works in
any way, you are a fool and God counts you as a fool. Wisdom and foolishness. Now, if I do not believe the
gospel, I'm not the wise man who built his house on the rock.
I'm the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. And when the rain came down and
the floods came up, my house and myself are wiped out eternally. If I don't believe the gospel,
I'm like the foolish virgins who had no oil. That was what was necessary for
a flame oil. You could have a beautiful lamp,
but if you don't have any oil, there's not going to be any flame.
The wise took the oil in their lamps. The foolish had their
lamps, but no oil. Speaking of the grace of God,
the wise had the oil. They looked to his grace only.
The foolish, they had no oil. Now, according to the scriptures,
the wise of this world are the greatest fools. In the third
chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul makes this statement, quoting
from the Old Testament. The Lord knoweth the thoughts
of the wise, that they are vain, empty, meaningless. You take the wisest man, you
take someone with the wisdom of Plato and Aristotle and Socrates
and Demosthenes and all these Greek philosophers. And they're
nothing more than fools if they don't believe the gospel. And
God put it this way in Romans chapter one, beginning in verse
19, speaking of the philosophers, professing themselves to be wise. They became fools. And change the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image made like under corruptible man. They made their
God like they are. Thou thoughtest I was all together
such in one as thyself. I love what Luther said to Erasmus. Your God's too human. He's too
much like a man. God is other, God is holy. There's no one we can compare
him to. Look in verse 19 of chapter one,
for it's written. I love that. I'm so thankful
for those words. That settles everything. For
it's written. Nothing else needs to be said.
If it's written, this is the way it is. For it's written. I will destroy, this is God speaking,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. You remember when the Lord said,
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. Even so father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. And if it's good in God's sight,
it's good. Amen. Whatever God does is good, right,
just, holy, and true. Go on reading verse 20. Paul
says, where is the wise? Where's the philosopher? Where
is the scribe, the writer of books? Where is the disputer
of this world, the eloquent speaker and debater? Hath not God made
foolish the wisdom of this world? I love the way Paul says in verse
17, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel,
not with wisdom of words. Not trying to market the gospel.
Not trying to make it more appealing. Not trying to hide the offense.
Not trying to preach the gospel in such a way as people will
not be offended by it. I'm not going to market the gospel.
I'm not going to package it to make it appealing to the flesh.
Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be
made of none effect. Any packaging of the gospel destroys
the message. No one is saved by that message. It's only the naked preaching
of the cross that God blesses. Not trying to dress it up with
wisdom of words, but the naked preaching of the cross. Verse 21, for after that, in the wisdom
of God, and this is what God's wisdom declared that the world
by wisdom, what are those next three words? Knew not God. By its own wisdom, by its own
efforts, by its own speculations, by its own philosophy, the world
by wisdom knew not God. In all their wisdom, so-called
wisdom, pseudo-wisdom, false wisdom, the world by wisdom Knew
not God. It pleased God. Now notice that's
strong language, isn't it? It pleased God. This is what
pleases God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. That's what's going on right
now. The method is preaching. The
message is preached. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. This is God's way. Somebody
says we need to find out a different way to be more appealing to people. No, we don't. Not in any way. We preach the gospel believing
the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Don't need anything
else. Turn back a few pages to Romans
chapter 10. Verse 13, for whosoever, I love
that word. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? That's God's Word. It pleased
God. This is God's pleasure. It pleased
God by what The world would call foolishness, you mean to tell
me that God uses what you're doing, that's how he makes himself
known? Yes, that's foolishness. I knew you'd say that. But it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Back to our text in verse 22.
Four, there's no salvation apart from
believing. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Fourth, we preach Christ, no,
verse 22, for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after
wisdom. The Jews, the religious people,
They require a sign. Give me something I can see.
Do you remember when the devil was tempting Christ? He said,
if you're the Son of God, give us a visible sign that we can
see to prove it. If you're the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread. I'll believe then. God spoke
from heaven and said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well
pleased. The devil says, prove it. Prove
it. If you're the son of God, cast
yourself down from the temple because the scripture says, the
devil used the scripture. The scripture says he shall give
his angels charge over thee lest at any time I dash thy foot against
a stone. Prove it. And the Lord said,
it's written. He replied each time with an,
it's written. I love that. If I would have had the Lord's
power at that time, I would have just tormented the devil or tortured
him or destroyed him. But all the Lord did was give
us what we need to know. It is written. Thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy God. If God said something and you
say, prove it, you're tempting God. The Jews require a sign. I need something I can see. I
need some, I need something I can see. I need some evidence. You
say you're telling the truth. Give me some evidence. Let me
see how it's being used. Let me see how it's being responded
to. And we have this in ourselves. I need a sign to prove to myself
that I'm saved. I need to see some kind of victory
in my life. And I need to see more of the
fruit of the spirit. I need to see more good works.
I need to see more courage and more zeal and more boldness.
I need to see more in myself to give me assurance that God
has done something for me. That's called looking to yourself
instead of Christ. That is all that's called. The
Jews, the religious fellows, they require a sign, something
we can see. Looking for a sign to prove to
myself that I'm saved. The Greeks want wisdom. Now by
wisdom, I'm not talking about the wisdom of the gospel. I'm
talking about the wisdom to make this world a better place. I
want improved education. I want an improved economy. I want an improved healthcare
system. I want us to affect government
and the culture. I want wisdom to make this world
a better place. Isn't that what Cain did when
he went out from the presence of the Lord? He went out and
built him a city to make this world a better place. I want
wisdom. Paul says in verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified. That is a summary of all of our
preaching. And that covers everything. The preaching of Christ crucified
covers everything that we need to know. We preach Christ, God's
prophet, God's priest, God's king. We preach God's prophet
nailed to a cross. We preach God's priest nailed
to a cross. We preach God's King nailed to
a cross. What's that all about? For he hath made him to be sin. Just let that sink in. Don't look at it as a verse you've
already memorized. Look at this as a verse you've
never heard before in all your life. For he, God the Father,
hath made him, the Lord Jesus Christ, sin. The King James puts to be sin
in italics. I think we'd be far better off
to just leave that out. For he hath made him sin. Now you can take that. We're amazed. How come? that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That is the preaching of Christ
crucified. Just as truly as he was made
sin, what all that means, I can't explain. But just as truly as
he was made sin, I'm made the righteousness of God. That's every believer, the very
righteousness of God in him. We preach Christ crucified into
the Jews. This is a stumbling block. This
is something I stumble over. You mean to tell me that I'm
saved simply because Christ died for me and my works have nothing
to do with it. That'll lead to sin. That's all
it can do. You're giving people a blank
check to sin all you want. Your life doesn't make any difference. That's the way the unbeliever
hears this. They don't really hear the message. That's all
they can hear because they have no understanding of grace. You're
a stumbling block to me. This is scandalous. To the Greeks? Well, how's this
gonna help my life? How's this going to make education
better? How's this gonna make healthcare
better? How's this going to improve the economy? I don't see any
wisdom in this. Just preaching a crucified savior?
I don't get it. This is foolishness. Verse 24, but unto them which
are called. And not everybody's called. Whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. Who's called? Them that he did predestinate.
Every one of them are called. And here is what someone who
God has called believes. To them which are called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of
God. Now here's what somebody who's
called by God believes. Jesus Christ. is the very wisdom
of God in him making a way to be just and justify somebody
like me. What wisdom. And Christ is the
power of God to execute it. I couldn't execute anything like
this. I could do it, but God can. God can actually pull my
sin off me and give it to his son to where it becomes his.
And he can take the very righteousness of his son and make it to where
it really is mine. The wisdom. power of God, because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Men call this foolishness. Well, it's wiser than anything
man can come up with. You say, what's the weakness of God? He's
all-powerful. The Scripture says He was crucified through weakness,
doesn't it? Oh, how weak he became on the
cross when he was made sin and put away sin. But that's stronger
than anything men can come up with. Verse 26, for you see your
calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, I don't see any philosophers
here, do you? Not many mighty, the rich, the
influential. Not many noble, high-born, are
called. Now, there was a lady in the
18th century that funded much of George Whitefield's preaching.
Her name was Lady Huntington. Maybe you've run across her.
She was very wealthy. And she said, I'm so thankful
for the word M. Because it doesn't say, not any,
but not many. And she funded much of the preaching
that went on in that day, this dear woman, like these women
who ministered to the Lord of their substance. But there are
not many mighty, not many influential, not many movie stars here, not
many star athletes here, things like that. They're fine. I'm OK. You're OK. But God hath
chosen, and I'm gonna spend more time on this passage of scripture
next week, beginning in verse 26. But I just wanna read these
a few comments. But God hath chosen, never forget,
God chooses. God hath elected is the word.
God hath chosen, this is God's choice. It wouldn't be my choice,
wouldn't be man's choice, but it's God's choice. God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world. to confound the wise. I love
that passage of scripture where the Lord says, that which is
highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of
God. God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, lowborn, and things which are
despised, look down upon, have God chosen, yea, and things which
are nothing. Nothing. To bring to nothing things that
are that no flesh should glory in his presence. Now you think
of the Lord. and you think of some flesh,
I love the flesh, glorying in his presence, the Lord's not
gonna have it. But of him are you in Christ Jesus. And this is true of every believer,
of him are you in Christ, Jesus. What's it mean to be in Christ?
Well, it means you've always been in Him. Both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for the which cause
he's not ashamed to call them brethren. You've always been
in Him, and you're so united to Him that when He kept the
law, you kept the law. That's how close this union is. You're so united to him that
when he died, you died. You're so united to him that
when he was raised from the dead, you were raised from the dead.
You're so united to him, being in him, that as he is in heaven
right now, you are there. How'd he get in Christ? Of him. He's got to put you there. Of
Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Look at the strength of that
language. God has made Jesus Christ this unto us. Wisdom. God can have fellowship with
me. as a wise man. Because Christ
is my wisdom. He's made unto me righteousness.
God can embrace me as righteous because that's what I am. This
is not pretend. I am the very righteousness of
God. God's made him unto me sanctification
or holiness. holiness. A holiness that's equal
to God because Jesus Christ has made Him to be holiness to me. He's made Him to be redemption,
full sin payment, full deliverance. He's made all these things to
me. Verse 31, that according as it's
written, He the glorious. You're in glory
in something. He the glorious, let him glory
in the Lord. And I brethren, when I came to
you. Now he's talking about when he
first came to Corinth. He came by himself. Remember
he left Athens? And he came to Corinth all by
himself. And he found a couple that were
tent makers. And he joined up with them and
started making tents with them. And he would go into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day to preach. And he's talking about when he
came to Corinth. And that was a large city, 600,000 people,
which was a huge city at that time. It was a very famous city. Probably other than Athens, it
was the most famous city in that region. And he said, when I came
to you, when I came into Athens, I mean Corinth, I came not with
excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony
of God. I didn't come with dazzling oratory
or moving rhetoric. I didn't come with the excellency
of wisdom and philosophy to impress you. I came as a witness. That's it. I came as a witness. Not trying to talk you into anything.
I came as a witness, declaring unto you, making known to you
the testimony of God. And we're given a summary of
that testimony. I'm not gonna take the time to read it, but
I would challenge you to read it in 2 Timothy 1, beginning in
verse 8, where Paul said, be not thou therefore ashamed of
the testimony of our Lord, nor me his prisoner, but be thou
a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. On down to verse 13. I came simply declaring the testimony
of God. Verse two, four, I determined not to know anything among you. I don't know, I don't care what
your stance is on anything political, anything with regard to society,
what's right, what's wrong. I determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Now, do you
see such glory in this message yourself that you see that there's
not anything else worth preaching? Paul did, didn't he? I determined
not to know anything among you. The greatest term for immorality
about something is Corinthianizing something. That's how immoral
that place was. And Paul didn't come trying to
straighten up the morals of Corinth. He said, I came to preach Jesus
Christ, and I know nothing else. You know, the preaching of Christ
takes care of everything. Can you believe that? If I preach
Christ, that takes care of everything. And if I try to preach anything
else, all I'm going to do is make a mess of everything. I
determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. And look at this attitude. He
says in verse three, I was with you in weakness. I think of Paul
coming into Corinth and I'm pretty sure he was very well aware of
his own weakness. And I came with weakness. and
fear, and much trembling. I am, right now, when I preach,
while I'm preaching right now, I fear misrepresenting the Lord.
I don't wanna have some kind of cocksure, cocky, arrogant
attitude. I wanna come in weakness, and
in fear, fear of myself, fear of misrepresenting the Lord,
and trembling. That's how Paul came. with weakness
and fear and much trembling. Verse four, in my speech, in
my preaching, was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, plausible
arguments, seeking to, it's what he called wisdom of words in
verse 17, preaching the gospel with wisdom of words. I didn't
come My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. What's
that mean? I preach the gospel and leave
you alone. And trust the Holy Spirit to
take care of the results. His power. You know, I believe
so much that what I'm preaching is true. I am willing to preach
it and leave you alone. God's the teacher. That, and here's why I did this
in verse five, that your faith should not stand, should not
be buttressed, should not find as its ground the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God. Now the natural man hears our
gospel and he says, foolishness. Look in chapter two, verse 14,
but the natural man, that's what you and I are by nature. That's
the way you were born into this world. That's your thinking. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them because
they're spiritually discerned. I have to be born of the spirit
to be able to understand the gospel. It's not something a
natural man can receive. Now, why, in closing, why does
the natural man find our gospel foolishness? Why is this his
response? I've got four statements. First,
he thinks the need to be saved in the first place is foolishness. I've got a lot of needs. I need
more money. I need a better job. I need better education. I need
a better set of friends. I need a better circumstance.
I need a better environment. I've got a lot of needs, but
what do you mean I need to be saved? Well, because of God's
character and our character. God's good and I'm bad. God's good and I am bad. I'm sinful and he is righteous.
How can a righteous God accept an evil man? Wow. Your concept of God is foolishness.
God loves me. I mean, I'm his creature. You
think God's against me? Why would God have a problem
with me in the first place? I know I make mistakes. I know
I'm wrong, but your concept of God, that's foolishness. You
tell me that God is so holy that he cannot accept me unless I'm
perfectly holy. You tell me that a perfect God
demands absolute perfection. Men think of that God as a monster. an ogre, someone just overly
demanding. That's not my concept of God. That's foolishness. That's not
the way God is. Why do men count the gospel foolishness? Because there's only one source
of information. This book. That's it. There's only one source
of inspiration. Now, in everything else, there's
progress in knowledge. You know, if I have to go to
the doctor and I'm going to have to be operated on and I found
out his degree was something he received from 17th century
France for his medical, I don't think I want you touching
me. You know, there's progress in everything. But in the Bible,
it's just as it is. No amendments, no changes to
the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, there is no light in them. We only have one source
of information, the Bible. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Thirdly, and men say, that's
foolishness. You think I'm supposed to believe
a book thousands of years old and count on that as my only
source of information? Yes, yes. Thirdly, here's what
men count foolishness. There's nothing I can do to save
myself. Find out the Bible is not a self-help
book. There's absolutely nothing that I can do to save myself. There's no help in me. If God
doesn't give me what the old time writers called it, I heard
Angus Wednesday night use this word. It's what the Puritans
always use. They talked about an alien righteousness. Now, when I think of an alien,
I think of E.T. or someone in a flying saucer or something,
you know, extraterrestrial, not from here. Well, alien doesn't
mean not from here. It's not a righteousness you
had any hand in producing. It is an alien righteousness. So I like that word. It has absolutely
nothing to do with anything you have ever done. There wasn't
anything you did to get it. God gave it to you. The righteousness of God. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. The only way I can have this
righteousness is if God gives it to me. And I tell you what,
that's going to set me to do it. Lord, give it to me. Give
it to me. Men think that's foolishness.
What about our works? What about the things we do?
That's foolishness. I don't believe that. And last, here's where the rubber
really hits the road. All other ways are completely
excluded. The Lord put it this way. I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Any other way than this way,
God rejects. It's altogether excluded. Why, that's foolishness. You
say that. But it's so. And this is why
I was left thinking with this sermon. It ain't gonna happen
because I'm never gonna preach a message as I ought to. It's
just not gonna happen. I'll feel frustrated with every
message I preach. Feel like there's so much I didn't
say, so much I should have said. But just one time, I would like
to preach the gospel as free as it really is. I've never done it. I'll always
put something of me that kind of putting somebody under it.
But one time I'd like to preach the gospel as free as it really
is. And I would like to preach the
gospel as narrow as it really is. If you bring anything other than
Christ, you're out. That's how narrow this is. If
you have anything, if you have any of your own works, or your
experience, or your doings, or your prayers, or your growth,
if you bring anything other than Jesus Christ, you can't get through.
The gate's too narrow for you. All you can have is Christ. And I would like to preach the
gospel as inclusive as I should. Make it wide open for anyone
who comes and don't put any conditions on it at all. Him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. Wisdom. All you have is Christ. Foolishness. you have something
else. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name that we might be
wise because you've made your son unto us, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And as we observe thy table,
enable us to do this Realizing that because of his broken body
and the shedding of his blood, he has made into us wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Pass out the
red wine now, please.