Fools: Wise or Otherwise? | Part 1

Would the world consider you wise or otherwise? Listen to Christ, you are going to find a different conclusion.

We don't need to make it compatible with this world. You know, the cross of Jesus Christ is the measurement of a man's foolishness or his wisdom. If you have your Bible turned now to 1 Corinthians Chapter 1, we'll look at verse 18 as Adrian Rogers begins Part 1 of this insightful message, Fools, Wise or Otherwise.

But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise?

Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? 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, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.

But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now when you live for the Lord Jesus Christ, you believe the gospel, you're going to be looked upon as a fool by this world. As a matter of fact, anybody who really believes this Bible, who lets go of the world with both hands and takes hold of Jesus Christ with both hands, is going to be adjudicated a fool by this world. And for that reason, some have tried to tone down the gospel a little bit, because they don't want to seem so foolish, and they've tried to accommodate the gospel to this world.

But dear friend, you can never do it. The gospel is so radically different, it starts at a different source, it follows a different course, it ends at a different conclusion, and so we don't need to make it compatible with this world. Just make up your mind that if you live for the Lord Jesus Christ, you are going to be thought a fool by the people of this world. What God calls wisdom, the world calls foolishness, and what the world calls wisdom, God calls foolishness.

East is east and west is west, and there the twain shall meet. Now, the hallmark, the measuring rod, the standard by which we can see whether a person is a fool, wise or otherwise, is to see what his reaction is to the gospel. Now, which side of the cross you're on? If we believe the cross, accept the cross, embrace the cross, believe the cross, the world's going to call us fools.

We believe that without the cross, they indeed are going to perish in their foolishness. How are we going to know whether a person is a true fool or not? The measure of a fool is the cross. One man said to his wife, I was a fool when I married you.

She said yes, but I didn't notice it then. Now, how are we going to know? How are we going to be able to notice? How are we going to be able to tell who is a fool and who is not a fool? Well, the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the cross, is to them which perish foolishness. Now, the word preaching here, the preaching of the cross, literally means the word of the cross, what the cross says to us. Not what we say about the cross, but what the cross says to us. So I want us to pay attention to what I want to call today the word of the cross and I want you to see three things as we look at our scripture that I read to you today. We're thinking about fools, wise or otherwise. And the first thing I want you to see concerning the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the measurement of a man's foolishness or the measurement of man's wisdom according to how he relates to the cross.

The very first thing is this. I want you to see that God speaks through the cross. God speaks through the cross. Now God has revealed himself and shown himself in many ways, but you will never know the heart and mind of God until you understand the cross. God speaks through the cross.

Now look, if you will, in verse 22. People have always been seeking after God and wanting to know what God was like and who the true Messiah is and all of this. And so verse 22 explains it, for the Jews require sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom.

Now Paul is writing to the people at Corinth and at Corinth there was a great contingent of Jews and Greeks that lived there in Corinth. And the Jews, they had a particular idea of what God ought to be like and how the Messiah ought to reveal himself. And so they sought after a sign.

That is, the word sign means a miracle of great power. They were always asking the Lord Jesus to give them a sign. They were seeking for some great miracle because they had confidence in a Messiah who would come, who would be strong and powerful and political and he would just blow away his enemies and he would set up the kingdom of God upon earth and the Jews would reign supreme and so forth. And so they were waiting for this kind of a Messiah. They did not like the idea of a meek and mild and lowly Messiah like the Lord Jesus Christ was. Now Jesus rebuked them for seeking a sign.

Let me just jot these three scriptures down in your margin by verse 22. John 4 verse 48, then said Jesus unto them, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. Jesus had diagnosed them well. They were a group of people looking for signs and wonders. And then look in Luke 11 and verse 29, And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation, they seek a sign.

And by the way, when you ask God to prove himself to you, when you ask God to perform a miracle that you might understand him, that you might believe in him, you might think that is good, dear friend, but God called it evil. This is an evil generation, ye seek a sign. And then he said, And there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. What was the sign of Jonas? Well, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, even the Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. That is, the sign of Jonah is what? The resurrection. All right, and then again in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 39, And he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, again he says, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. Now, evil people seek after a sign.

And I don't believe that it's probably not anybody in this building who had not at one time or another has asked God to prove himself by doing some miracle. Isn't that right? Oh, God, if you're real, do this. God, if you're real, do that.

Isn't that right? I mean, that's human nature. Don't make me feel all alone, folks. I've done it. I mean, nod your head. My goodness. We've all done that. We've said, now, God, just show yourself to me.

Work a sign. Prove yourself to me. Now, that's what the Jews were. The Jews were looking for a God who would demonstrate himself that way with power. Now, the Greeks were not that way. The Greeks were a little more sophisticated. The Greeks were a little more intellectual. The Greeks sought after wisdom. Now, what the Greeks were looking for was something that they could do intellectual gymnastics with. The Messiah that the Greeks were looking for would be sort of a double Socrates. He would be some grand intellect who would help them to unpick all of the divine mysteries of life.

That's what they were looking for. And so they thought, well, if God speaks, the Jews said, if God speaks, he's going to speak through miracles. And the Greeks said, if God speaks, he's going to speak through intellectualism and philosophy.

They sought after wisdom. But here's what God did. It's almost as though the apostle Paul could read their mind and look, if you will, in verse 23. He says, but, that is in contradiction, in contradistinction to verse 22, but we preach Christ crucified. Not just Christ, but Christ crucified. It would have been one thing if he had preached Christ, but my goodness, to preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. Now, the word stumbling block here means scandal. They were scandalized. Why, you mean we're looking for a mighty, miracle-working, powerful Messiah and you're preaching one who dies upon a cross.

Why, that's scandalous. That's a stumbling block. We can never, ever accept a Messiah like that. What power is there in dying upon a cross?

And the Greeks said, why, not only is it a stumbling block, it's absolutely ludicrous. It's foolish that here's a Messiah. You mean God died upon a cross, a man who is the Son of God dying, writhing upon a cross? Do you mean to tell us that's God's answer to this world? That's the way God speaks to this world?

Absolutely absurdity. That is foolishness, the Greeks said. But now I want you to go on to those who have been saved. Notice what happens in verse 24. But unto them which are called, that is called by God, called out of this world, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now, how is Christ crucified, the power of God and the wisdom of God?

Remember now, the Jews wanted power and the Greeks wanted wisdom. Paul says, okay, you want wisdom, you want power? I'll tell you where power is.

I'll tell you where wisdom is. It is in Christ crucified. Well, how is Christ crucified, the power of God? For, Andy, you know that the greatest demonstration of power is not when God made these worlds and the universes and everything. The greatest demonstration of power, are you listening, is the salvation of a soul?

Now, you may not believe that. You may say, oh, that's preacher talk. I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, the greatest power on earth is the power that can save a soul, a poor lost sinner. That's the reason the apostle Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is what? The power of God unto salvation, the power of God unto salvation. Oh, what mighty working miracle power. When God made these worlds, he made them, he created worlds with a word.

That's all he just spoke. But in order to save a soul, he had to hang his darling son upon a tree, upon a cross. Dear friend, I tell you, there is no greater power than the power that can transform a life. So men were in a barbershop arguing about the miracles of the Bible, and one man said, I don't believe that miracle about the turning of water into wine. Another man said, I have to show you a bigger miracle than that.

You come to my house, I'll show you where he turned whiskey into furniture. Now, what he meant by that is he had been saved, he'd been born again, and God had transformed him. And not only, you see, is the cross the power of God, but the cross is also the wisdom of God. You see, through the cross, you're going to know the heart of God. Through the cross, you're going to know the mind of God. Through the cross, God is revealed. How can we know that he's a God of infinite mercy and a God of grace and a God who cares?

How can we know? Friend, we'll never have to doubt the love of God, the mind of God again when we see the cross. Oh, how God displays his mighty wisdom. And listen, he says, not the wisdom of this world, had the princes of this world known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And the Bible says, God by wisdom sought to it that the world by wisdom knew not God. What does that mean? It means that you guys who are the high intellectual uppity-ups, you intellectual top-waters, you PhDs and the rest of you, you don't have a head start.

You don't have any head start. The world by wisdom knows not God. In the wisdom of God, a little child can know God. Now, that's real wisdom, a wisdom that a child can know, wisdom that anybody can know.

The common person can know it. It is revealed in the cross. And what I'm trying to say to you, listen to me, dear friend, God speaks through the cross. You will never understand the heart, the mind, the life of God, the power of God, or the wisdom of God until you understand the cross. We preach Christ crucified to the Jews, the stumbling block, to the Greeks, foolishness, but to those of us who are saved, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Mighty power in the salvation of a soul. Mighty wisdom is revealed in the cross. Hallelujah for that. But now listen, not only does God speak through the cross, but God also saves through the cross.

Now look again, look again. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18, For the preaching of the cross is to them which perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. To those of us who are saved, God saves through the cross. Now, the world does not like the idea of salvation through the cross. The world doesn't mind organ music. The world doesn't mind stained glass windows. The world doesn't mind good works. The world doesn't mind platitudes and moral living, but the world resents the gospel of a bloody cross.

Did you know that? Did you know that when you preach that the cross is God's way of salvation, that is an offense, that is a scandal to some people? Again, I want to read to you what the Bible says in verse 21, For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness.

It's still the same way today. Friend, I want to tell you something. I've been preaching long enough to know this is not mere rhetoric. The world laughs at the idea of salvation by the blood, and the world is incensed by the idea of the gospel of no other name. They don't like for me to stand in a pulpit and say, You'll come by a bloody cross or you won't come at all. You'll be saved by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus or you will not be saved at all.

The world thinks that I'm un-American if I don't put my arms around everybody's shoulder and say, Your religion is just as good as mine. But, friend, I want to tell you that Jesus Christ crucified is the only way to heaven. And if there's some other way other than Jesus Christ crucified, I wouldn't want to meet God in a dark alley because I wouldn't trust that kind of a God who let His Son die on a cross in agony and blood when there was some other way.

I tell you there is no other way. God is powerless to save apart from the cross. And if you're not saved by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus, you will not be saved. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 22, without shedding of blood is no remission of sin. Now, the liberals, modern, sophisticated preachers today have stopped preaching the blood, many of them. The cross, many of them have.

God pitied them. Billy Graham said that when he was a young man preaching, he preached at a certain resort one time and he preached on the cross. And after he preached, a former professor at Cornell University came up to him and said, Young man, you have a lot of gifts.

You have a lot of ability. You can go places in the religious world, but he said, Young man, I just want to give you some advice. Leave that blood stuff out. Graham said he made up his mind he preached more on the blood of Jesus than ever. Praise God for that. Oh, the devil hates the blood.

The Bible does. You can go to many churches today, and I'm not trying to be chauvinistic about it, but go to many churches across the land and you'll never hear the bloody cross preached that the Lord Jesus Christ gave his blood a ransom for many. But there is power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.

Years ago I read a story, something like this. There was a minister. He was a liberal minister. He was not saved, just as lost as he could be. He'd been educated in one of the liberal theological seminaries.

He did not believe in the book and the blood and the blessed hope, but he was, as men go, a very good and kind and considerate man. He was in his study, and there came a knock on the door. He went to the door, and there was a little girl there dressed in rags. This preacher's ministry was in the inner city, and there was a little girl there dressed in rags, and he said, Little lady, come in.

What can I do for you? And she said to him, Please, sir, would you come and help get Mommy in? He thought her mother was drunk, and he said, Perhaps you need a policeman to get your mother in.

No, she said, I don't need a policeman. Mother sent me to get a preacher. Aren't you a minister? My mother is dying, and she says she doesn't want to go to hell. She wants to go to heaven, and she wanted me to find a preacher to help get her in. So this kind minister, who was unsaved and lost, got his hat and got his coat, and the little girl took him by the hand and led him through the alleyways of that city into a run-down, bedraggled, filthy apartment, and there on a dirty mattress was a woman with her gray hair spread out on the pillow, and her eyes sunk back in her head and a life that had been marked by sin, had marred and debilitated and degraded her body, and she was dying of a vile disease. The preacher looked at her.

His heart of love went out to her, and he was moved with pity as he saw her. She looked at him, and she said, Please, sir, I know that I'm dying, and I need help. I've lived a wicked and a vile life, and if you're a man of God, I need help from God.

Can God do something for me? And this preacher started to try to minister to her, and he talked to her about love, and he talked to her about goodness, and he talked to her about forgiveness, and he talked to her about good deeds and kindness and all of these things, all of the platitudes and all of the high-sounding phrases that he knew, but her countenance never changed. There was no joy, no peace, no release. And he said, Madam, does this mean anything to you? She said, Sir, you don't understand.

All of that may be well and good for people like you, but not for a person like me. Don't you understand? I have not lived that kind of life, and furthermore, I can't live that kind of life, and furthermore, I am dying. And then with a pitiful look on her face, she said, Preacher, don't you have a message for a sinful woman like I am? And he thought. He realized for the first time he did not have a message for a woman like that and remembered the story his mother told him of a Christ who died on the cross and with His shed blood paid for our sins and that by repentance and faith our sins could be forgiven. We could be born again and made over anew through the shed blood and the power of the cross, and though he did not believe the story, he began to tell it to her. Not believing it, but he just told it to her because psychologically he thought it would help her, and so he told her about Christ who died on the cross and how the shed blood of the Lord Jesus atones for sin and though our sin be discarded, it shall be white as snow and through faith in His shed blood, we could be forgiven, saved and redeemed. As he told her that story, the power of God and the Spirit of God took those words from the mouth of an unbelieving preacher and brought them home to her heart, and she heard the message true. Whether he believed it or not, it was still true, and she opened her heart and received Christ as her personal Savior, and her countenance changed, and the Spirit of God came into her heart and bore witness with that poor, pitiful woman that she was a child of God, and with tears of gratitude, she said, Oh, thank you. Thank you for telling me.

Thank you for helping me to get in. The way we know about that story is this, that that same liberal preacher went around telling that story everywhere he went, and when he got to the end, he said, Ladies and gentlemen, not only did that poor woman get in, but that night, this preacher got in also as he saw the power of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ tell me the old, old story of Jesus and his love. Friend, listen, God speaks through the cross. You'll never know the power of God. You'll never know the wisdom of God till you understand the cross. God saves by the cross.

I want to say one last thing. God sanctifies by the cross. Look again, if you will, in verse 18.

Look, it says, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto those of us who are saved, it is the power of God. But unto us which are saved... Now, look at the phrase which are saved. Now, it literally means which are being saved. Which are being saved. Now, friend, I want to tell you something, that not only have you been saved, you are being saved.

I want you to learn something and pay attention. Now, salvation is in three tenses. I have been saved, I am being saved, and I shall be saved. Now, that doesn't mean that I'm not on my way to heaven right now when I tell you I'm being saved.

It doesn't mean that there's any chance that I could ever again be lost. But salvation is in three tenses. I have been saved. I've been saved from the penalty of sin. Hallelujah, I'm not going to hell, amen? But, you know, between some people and hell, the only thing between some of you and hell is a heartbeat.

Did you know that? Between me and hell is a cross, and Jesus is on it. Now, look, I have been saved from the penalty of sin. I am being saved from the power of sin. See, I am now being saved. He saves me daily from the power of sin.

So that's a process that is going on. And I shall be saved from the presence of sin. When the rapture comes, I'll be caught up to meet my Lord in the air.

Never again in, you know, there's no sin going to enter into that place. So salvation is a crisis that is followed by a process. Now, you need to understand that, that I am now being saved right now. And that's what this verse says. You see, look, folks, that's an encouragement to me.

I would really be disappointed if I thought this is all the saved I'm going to be. And coming up tomorrow, we'll hear part two of this important message. Maybe today you have questions about who Jesus is, what he means to you, how to begin a relationship with God through Christ. Go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio.

You'll find resources and materials there that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title, Fools, Wise or Otherwise. You can also go online to order at lwf.org slash radio or write us.

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Go to lwf.org slash radio to do that. And join us tomorrow for part two of Fools, Wise or Otherwise right here on Love Worth Finding. A friend from Ghana, West Africa sent a message recently. It said this, I've been watching and listening to Love Worth Finding for the past two years. Pastor Rogers' words of wisdom inspire, motivate, crumble, humble, and judge the thoughts and attitudes of my heart.

I feel restless whenever I listen, which is a good thing. We are honored to share the profound truth of the gospel around the world through the practical messages of Adrian Rogers, especially at such a time as this. This is why Love Worth Finding is proud to present a new documentary, Nothing But The Truth, in partnership with the film's producers. When you donate to the ministry right now, we want to send you a DVD copy. Pastor Adrian Rogers is prominently featured in the film as a lifelong defender of truth, warning about the continuing erosion of truth in our culture. Request the DVD, Nothing But The Truth, when you call with a gift. Call 1-877-LOVE-GOD, or you can give online at lwf.org slash radio.