The Foolishness of God, Part 2 B

The call of salvation effectually came to some Jews and some Gentiles, and they believed, and immediately Christ became to them, not a stumbling block, but the power of God.

Not foolishness, but the wisdom of God. In an effort to get more people into the church, many pastors have stopped preaching hard truths like sin and repentance. One prominent pastor has even said that attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition is, he says, an un-Christian strategy.

Now, what do you think? Is the trend towards de-emphasizing sin a wise strategy for today's evangelical church? More important, is it a biblical strategy? Hear what John MacArthur has to say about human wisdom on this edition of Grace to You as he continues his current series, The Foolishness of God. And with a lesson now, here's John. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, clear through the end of chapter 3, deals with this particular subject of contrasting the foolishness of God with the so-called wisdom of the world. This passage compares the wisdom of God with the wisdom of men, and it gives us five reasons why God's wisdom is superior to man's wisdom. Five reasons why God's wisdom is superior to man's wisdom.

Number one, we're reviewing its permanence. Notice verse 19, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. You see, he says human wisdom, when all is said and done, will be destroyed.

It will be brought to nothing. God's wisdom is permanent. Second thing, God's wisdom is superior to man's wisdom because not only of its permanence, but its power. Verse 21, since in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save. You see, God's wisdom is powerful. He reiterates the same thought in the verses that follow, verses 22 to 25.

He's still talking about power. Look at verse 22. Since the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and the Gentiles foolishness.

And notice this. Here you have the supernaturalist and the rationalist, right? The Jews were the supernaturalists and they had pushed that way beyond its norm.

And at the same time, the Greeks were the rationalists and they had pushed that way beyond its norm. So he says, here we have these two kinds of people. And we come in verse 23, we preach Christ crucified. We preach the fact that the Messiah died on a cross and by the shedding of his blood paid the penalty for sin. The purpose for which man was made is restored as he's ushered into the presence of God. His sin is forgiven.

He can dwell with God forever. We say that to the Jews and they go, don't believe it. And they turn over to the Greeks, they don't believe it either.

Why? Verse 23 says, because unto the Jews it is a stumbling block. Oh, you say, Israel have an announcement to make. You see that person hanging on that cross bleeding? That's your Messiah.

Are you kidding? That's our Messiah? It was about that time they bailed out and by the time Friday came, they were screaming for his blood. This couldn't be their Messiah. Where are the wonders?

Where are the signs? On the other hand, how did the Gentiles react? To the Gentiles, the whole idea was foolishness. Well, it was foolish.

Why? Well, for several reasons. Do you know the one basic tenet of philosophy, Greek philosophy, was the fact that God was defined by the term apatheia, from which we get the word apathetic. To the Greeks, God was totally indifferent to men.

He was unconcerned about people. He was incapable of feeling because they said God has to be so far beyond men that he could never be touched with anything human. Very opposite of Christ who can be touched. But they said God could not be touched with any human feeling. So the idea that God became incarnate in human flesh bore the sins of men.

The pain and the anguish died on the cross was absolutely ridiculous to them. God is remote. God is detached. God is indifferent. Celsus, who made a life career out of attacking Christianity with zeal long, long ago, said this, said this, God is good and beautiful and happy and is in that which is most beautiful and best.

If then he descends to man, it involves change for him and a change from good to bad, from beautiful to ugly, from happiness to unhappiness, from what is best to what is worst, and God would never accept such a change, end quote. You see, the Greeks could not allow for a God to become man. They thought it was incredible that one would come to earth and love human kind and sorrow and weep and die on a cross. And another thing about Greek philosophy was everything had to be complex. If you could figure it out, it probably wasn't true. I mean, it was just, if the average guy could figure it out, it wasn't any good.

I mean, it had to be something only, you know, the real highbrow intelligentsia could handle. And here come these Christian preachers who were, you know, pretty seedy characters. I mean, they weren't really educated in philosophy. They were just coming out of the woods, kind of, and they were preaching this blunt message, I am determined to know nothing except Christ. And that was so simple rather than complex and it was so uncluttered and it was so uncultured and it was so crude that they laughed at it. Nothing was more absurd to rationalists than that the blood of a crucified God could remove sins, secure salvation, promote holiness, and give eternal life.

They laughed. You say, well, that kind of fouls up God's plan, doesn't it? I mean, if He preaches to the Jews and it's a stumbling block and He preaches to the Greeks and it's foolishness, then where does He go? That covers it. I mean, the Jews and the Gentiles, they got it. Did that foul Him up?

Nope. No, you see, it says in verse 24 of this, but I'm glad that's there, aren't you? Both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. In spite of the fact that the most rejected, the call of salvation effectually came to some Jews and some Gentiles and they believed and immediately Christ became to them, not a stumbling block, but the power of God. Not foolishness, but the wisdom of God.

You see how He contrasts those two things with the two reactions? The Jew says, this can't be our Messiah. Look at Him, meek and lowly and dead. That isn't the powerful Messiah, but for the ones who did believe, Christ became to them the power of God. And isn't that right? Paul said to the Colossians in 129, I think it is, he said, I just want to tell you that I labor, but it isn't me, it's Christ working in me mightily.

See? And to the Gentiles, they said, have foolishness, but to the Gentiles who believed, it became what? Wisdom. Christian, do you realize something? Do you realize that we sit around a lot and we listen to the great men of our world and there are a lot of great people from a human viewpoint, much more intelligent than we are? I mean, I couldn't even get through some of the educational processes that they've been through, and I've read some books that I give up on on page 20 because I don't even understand what they're talking about. I mean, you know, there are levels, obviously, of intelligence, and there are some people who just are super, super intelligent, and we're just not in that same world with them. But when they sum up all of their wisdom through all the ages and put it all together, you know what? Just us, plain old, humble Christians, are wiser than they are, that's right. You say, John, that's bragging.

No, no, no, you don't understand that. I'm not talking about my own wisdom. I'm talking about the fact that I know the wisdom of God.

You say, how'd you get to know that? It's in the Bible, and I understand the Bible. You say, well, why don't those guys read the Bible?

They can. You know what? They won't understand it.

You know why? Because they don't have the resident interpreter who is the Holy Spirit. Second chapter of 1 Corinthians, verse 7, says, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. It is hidden wisdom.

You see that? It is hidden wisdom, and it is only revealed to those who know Christ, verse 8, which none of the princes of this age knew. The best of men, the classiest of people, the classiest of people, they didn't know this.

Why not? Because it wasn't open to them to find it. Verse 9, I hasn't seen it, nor ear heard it.

What does that mean? That means it cannot be known empirically. It cannot be known externally. It cannot be known by experience. Secondly, neither has it entered into the heart. That is, it can't be known rationally.

It can't be known internally. You can't know the truth of God by observation. You can't know the truth of God by rationalization. But verse 10 says, God has to what?

Reveal it by His Spirit who comes to live in you when you receive Christ. Now I'm not saying I'm smarter than the rest of the people in the world from an IQ standpoint. That just isn't true. I took an IQ test one time and I'm not.

I know that. There are an awful lot of people in this world far more intelligent than I. But I know what they with all of their intelligence will never know, the wisdom of God.

And they're struggling with all their economics and all their social sciences and all of the disciplines that they're struggling with to try to figure out what's going on in the world. And I can tell them. But they never give me a chance. People say to me, why aren't you on such and such a talk program? Who would want me?

I got all the answers. That would end the discussion. Then what would they do?

They'd have to play music. You see, that's essentially what Scripture says. And in regard to power, it says this, with all that men have devised, they don't have the power to change their character. They don't have the power to transform their lives.

But Christ does. And so the wisdom of God is so much superior to the wisdom of men because it has the power to save, the power to regenerate new life, and grants divine wisdom. So unto them that are called, those that elect, God has chosen.

Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. We have so much power, it's unlimited. We're able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think. Aren't we according to the power that works in us?

Exciting. Well, he closes this little section with verse 25, which is a principle that sums up everything he said. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Let me ask you a question. Is God foolish? Is God weak? Both of those are words that are used for the sake of irony.

They are words looked at from a man's viewpoint. When a man thinks God is foolish, when a man thinks God is weak, at that very point he is infinitely wiser than that man and infinitely mightier. You see? Listen, to put it this way. There are a lot of things that God knows that we don't know, right?

I mean, listen. You read the Bible and you get all done and you study year after year and you know what you really realize? You hardly know anything. That's what education does for you. Teaches you what you don't know. And the more educated you are, the more you know you don't know. And I learned the Bible more and more. And you know what happens pretty soon?

I got all the verses down and then I'm living in the cracks. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, it says this and says this, but what about this? And you begin to see that God is far beyond what you can even imagine. There are complexities of the mind of God that are absolutely beyond humankind to even comprehend. And so there are things that, I mean, if you wanted to compare the smartest of men with the absolute supreme exhibit of the wisdom of God, the difference would be infinity. Because the difference between the total wisdom of men and the simplest truth of God is infinity. You see, he's saying the simplest thing I've ever done, the cross, the weakest exhibition of my power ever is infinitely beyond the greatest of your wisdom and power.

Now that gets you in the perspective, doesn't it? That's the principle. God's simplicity and God's smallest representation of power is able to do what man's wisdom and power could never even begin to think of doing.

There's the principle. The doctrine of the cross may be foolishness, but it has power. Power to save lives, power to grant wisdom.

A third point and we'll quit here. He shows that God's wisdom is superior to men's by not only its permanence and power, but this is great, its paradox. You know, the world loves wisdom. Oh, the world just really glories in that. And you know that a psychological test showed that the desire to know is equal to the sex drive. People really want to know. And there's a lot of self-glory and vanity in knowledge, isn't there? The Bible says, knowledge puffs up. Boy, you know this and you flash that knowledge and you flash, you're sitting in a group and somebody says, well, you know what?

Oh, I know that. Well, I've, see, this is, you know, knowledge does that. There are benefits in ignorance.

Humility, you know. Is it nice not to have the answer so you could just sit there and learn? Some people don't have the answer, but they give one anyway, you know. But you see, the world loves everything to be complex and to figure it out with their own wisdom. We, you know, that's why, that's why it appeals to be a psychologist, because you can sit over somebody and analyze them. See, you can tell them why they do what they do and, oh, and here this is this and thus and so, and you know, that just gives you a sort of a God complex. And the world loves that.

They love to have all the answers. But you know something? God didn't appeal to that because that's vanity. You know, God could have made a gospel that was so complex that only really smart people could have been saved.

Who could figure it out? I mean, it could have been a real screwy philosophy and you would have had to be really at the top level of your class, you know, Phi Beta Kappa and all that, to be saved. But you see, that would have destroyed the purpose that God had in mind, because most people aren't at that level. Jesus said, I thank you, Father, that you hid this from the wise and prudent, Matthew 11 25, and revealed it unto babes. Because, you know, when he did that, he showed the world how much he needed their wisdom.

He didn't need it at all. You want to hear something? You think of the greatest professor you know, secular world, or the greatest mind you know in the world, the most brilliant mind in the world. Something like Einstein or something.

Brilliant mind. Now, you think of the really, the dumbest guy you know, who's a Christian. Just a klutzy guy. Just a nice guy. You love him.

The Lord loves him. Just, you know, not that smart. That's the way the Lord made him.

Don't knock it, you know, a lot of us around there. But that's, that's just the way the Lord made him. You want to know something? That guy is infinitely wiser than Einstein ever thought of me.

Infinite. And that little humble guy's life, watch this, stands as a living rebuke to the wisdom of the world. Now, you see, God had a purpose in this. For the most part, isn't it true, the church is composed of simple, humble people.

It's just us. Oh, we say this, wouldn't it be great if so-and-so became a Christian? Don't we say that a lot? Wouldn't it be great if so-and-so became a Christian?

Oh, if only, you know, became a... And that would be great. But one reason that the Lord chose the church from the humble people was as a living testimony to the world that he doesn't need its rank, and its influence, and its wisdom. Do you see? Not many. Now, there are some mighty, and there are some wise, and there are some who are noble. There was Dionysius. There was Sergius Paulus. There was the noble ladies at Thessalonica and Berea. There was the chamberlain by the name of Erastus, who was the treasurer. There have been some noble, and mighty, and wise.

Not many. Back to our friend Celsus. In 178 AD, he wrote a letter attacking Christianity.

This is what he said. Here is a description of Christians. Let no cultured person draw near, none wise and none sensible.

For all that kind of thing we count evil. But if any man is ignorant, if any man is wanting in sense and culture, if anybody's a fool, let him come boldly. Of the Christians, he further wrote this.

We see them in their own houses, wool dressers, cobblers, the worst, the vulgarest, the most uneducated persons. Then he really got warmed up. He said they are like a swarm of bats, or ants creeping out of their nests, or frogs holding a symposium around a swamp, or worms convening in mud. That's what he said about Christians. Nice guy, Celsus. Well, you know, he looked around and that's what he saw.

Can you imagine how that... Here are all these simple frogs and they knew what he didn't know. Do you see how that the simplicity of the church stands as a rebuke against the complexity of the world's wisdom? We don't need the world's wisdom.

We don't need it. The paradox proves it. We who are the simplest, the most foolish, are the wisest. And the Roman Empire was 60 million slaves. Can you imagine what an impact this made on them? Because most of the church is made up of slaves. And the slaves had all the answers.

Oh, that's bad news. And so Christians stand for all time as a living rebuke against the so-called wise. And don't you remember in Colossians that the Bible says Christ is going to put the church on display before the principalities and powers to show the wisdom of God? It doesn't need the wisdom of men. Look around you, he says. Not many wise. That means the wisdom of human nature, high class intelligence. Not many mighty. That's not many mighty. That means great or influential, powerful people.

Not many, look at this one, noble. That means well born or from high ranking families. And folks, if you wanted a simple threefold definition of what the world thinks is a great man, number one, if he's very intelligent. Number two, if he has tremendous influence through money or power, whether it's political or in the sports field or in the education field or whatever it is.

Thirdly, if he's got high rank. He's general so and so. He's senator so and so. He's president so and so. He's vice president so and so. He's the head of this.

He's the head of... You see the world bases its greatness on knowledge or education, on influence or power or money and on rank. Would you like to know the greatest man that ever lived according to God? Would you like to meet him?

Interesting fellow. His name is John the Baptist. Do you know he had no education? He didn't have any education at all, formally. Did you know that he had no particular power? You know that he was a strange character.

He wore kind of a modified Tarzan suit made out of camels here and he ate locusts and wild honey and he lived out in the boondocks. Well, you say maybe he was well born. Maybe he came from a high ranking family.

Are you kidding? Elizabeth and Zacharias, they were nobodies. You say, well, Zacharias was a priest. Sure, he was a priest, but there were thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of those priests and they had no rank.

No, you see, Jesus said, among them that are born of women, Matthew 11 and 11, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist. The greatest man who ever lived and he didn't fit any of the world standards, but he fit God's standard because he was a wise man. He knew God.

What a paradox. Look at verse 27. God has chosen not the wise, but the what? The foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen not the mighty, but the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty and the base things.

Literally the word base means low born. He has chosen the unranked, the low born things of the world, the things that are despised hath God chosen, things that aren't even considered. They are things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are.

You see the contrast there? In verses 27 and 28, he contrasts what God has chosen as he mentioned what he hasn't chosen. In other words, he says God has not chosen educated but foolish, has not chosen powerful but weak, not high born but low born. He's chosen things that in the eyes of the world are nothing things to bring to nothing the things that think they're something things. Well, you see how the Word of God shows. You see, human philosophy doesn't mean anything. Paul says, people, get that stuff out of your ranks, will you?

You don't need it. Can't you see that the permanence of God's wisdom, the power of God's wisdom, and the paradox of God's wisdom in choosing the church shows that God doesn't need human wisdom? Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for giving us your truth, your wisdom. Help us to lean on it not unto our own understanding but to know that in Christ we have power of God and the wisdom of God. If there's some leaning on human wisdom, we pray that you would move in their lives, call them to yourself, and that they might exercise faith and believe in the work of Christ, that simple, humble, very crude, as the world would judge it, act is really pinnacle of all of history and the redeeming act of God for men. Father, may they come to Christ today. Help us, Lord, who are Christians, not to mingle in the wisdom of the world but to become students of the wisdom of God, which is ours in Christ. We pray in his blessed name. Amen. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. John's current study, The Foolishness of God, is a look at the inability of human wisdom to change lives and the perfect ability of God's Word to transform them. John, let me bring up a question that may be lingering from our conversation yesterday. You said that it's impossible for men to believe the gospel on his own because regeneration, that is, the giving of new life to a heart, is something only God can do. And so now I imagine there are people wondering, well, if salvation is a work of God, what can I do to be saved? What is my responsibility in the process of salvation?

How do you answer that? Well, the Bible would answer that by saying, you believe. There is no salvation without faith. There's no salvation without believing. Jesus said, and let's look at it from a negative standpoint. Jesus said, you will die in your sins because you believe not on me.

And then he said, why will you die? And how many times does the New Testament say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved? Or so-and-so believed and they were saved. So yes, the sinner's responsibility is to believe. God's responsibility is to awaken the sinner from his deadness, regenerating his heart, and then giving him the capacity to believe in which the sinner immediately responds in faith. So it's nonetheless a divine miracle, but it never happens apart from the faith of the sinner in the person and work in the person and work of Christ. I understand that there are issues with the divine election that are hard to understand, and that's okay because we're not God and our minds are very finite.

I know there are lots of questions about this subject, and Phil Johnson and I got together and hopefully answered some of those questions in a discussion we had on answering key questions about the doctrine of election. That is available in its entirety on the Grace To You website. And there are lots of free sermons you can download. Some of the titles on our website are chosen for eternity or the doctrines of grace series. We have a host of blog articles on this wonderful truth of divine election. And also you'll perhaps want to dig into this doctrine as you pick up a copy of Hard to Believe. You can do that today.

That's right, friend. God's sovereignty and salvation is truly one of the most encouraging doctrines. We want you to understand exactly what Scripture says about sovereign election. So take advantage of audio messages and articles about election on our website and pick up John's book titled Hard to Believe when you contact us today.

Call our toll-free number 800-55-GRACE or go to our website gty.org. The book Hard to Believe is a thorough and clear and biblical explanation of why the gospel can save the greatest of sinners. It's a timeless book that will encourage you to keep sharing the good news with loved ones, even if you haven't seen any fruit.

To purchase your copy of Hard to Believe, call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. And let me give you some more details about the interview John mentioned called Answering the Key Questions About the Doctrine of Election. It addresses questions about God's sovereignty and salvation that you might have wrestled with, like how should the doctrine of election change the way you tell others about Christ?

And should you even teach this doctrine to new Christians? Again, the interview to look for, Answering the Key Questions About the Doctrine of Election. You can download it now at gty.org. That's our website gty.org. Now for John McArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for tuning in today and be here tomorrow for another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace To You.