This morning, we
are going to answer a question that has perplexed modern day philosophers:
Why people, who forget to turn off their headlights, always remember
to lock their doors? The answer is that we are not really as smart as
we think we are. Have you ever thought about all the dumb things that
the creatures, who are supposed to be the smartest of all God's creatures,
do?
Paul wrestled with this same question. Yet his question centered around
more theological issues. Like how an intelligent person can walk outside,
look at nature in all its beauty, and walk away saying that it was created
by a big bang, billions & billions of years ago. Let tell you a joke
that Nate sent me. God is sitting in heaven when a scientist says to
him, "God, we don't need you anymore. Science has finally figured out
a way to create life out of nothing." "Oh, is that so? Tell me about
it." replied God. "Well," said the scientist, "we take plain dirt and
form it into the likeness of you, and breath life into it, thus creating
man." "That's very interesting, please show me how you do this." said
God. So the scientist bent down and started to mold the soil into the
shape of a man. "No, no, no," interrupts God, "You have to get your
own dirt."
As
dumb as it is to believe in anything apart from the Creation story in
Genesis, Paul says that's not the dumbest conclusion man has come to.
Man's stupidest conclusion is to reject the cross by saying that it
was foolish to think that God, who is spirit, could become a man, and
then die on a cross as the lowest of criminals to provide an atonement
for all of mankind's sin-v. 18.
I
like the fact that Paul says that people who reject the cross do so
because they think it was foolish. For it is a play on the word that
God uses when he talks about people who think this way. Did you know
we have a holiday for people who don't believe in God? We celebrate
it every April 1st. We call it "April's Fool Day." God tells us that
only "A fool says in his heart that there is no God." Psalm
14:1
The
past 2 weeks we have been looking at Paul's rebuke for the divisions
that were occurring because of quarreling, cliques, and pride. We learned
last week that the only thing that ought to divide us is if someone
starts to say that there is another way to get saved apart from trusting
in Jesus' work on the cross. This week, Paul explains why this is true.
Paul knows that the foot of the cross is the only place where all humans
are equal. For when God looks at us standing at the foot of the cross,
he doesn't see us as smart, good looking, athletic, or rich. He sees
us all as sinners. But what changes how God sees us is how we respond
to what Jesus did on the cross. If you reject that Jesus' death paid
for your sins, then you fall into a class of people who Paul says are
perishing. But if you receive by faith that Jesus' death paid for your
sins, then you fall into a class of people Paul says are being saved.
To
be saved doesn't just mean that you believe there is a God. Salvation
is not even based on if someone believes that Jesus was the Son of God?
Satan and his demons know this. The only belief that will save someone
is if they accept Jesus dying on the cross as their sin bearer, going
to hell in their place, and being raised 3 days later. Those are the
3 components that make up the message of the cross.
In
a psychology course I took in college, the professor started a debate
about the existence of God. It was a very lively discussion. But when
he said he didn't see anything wrong with praying to rocks & trees,
I had to speak my mind. I asked him if a rock or a tree could save us,
then why did Jesus Christ have to die on the cross. He got all angry
and stopped the discussion. The reason he got so angry is despite all
his years of schooling, his worldly wisdom caused him to view Jesus'
death on the cross as absolute foolishness.
But
Jesus' death is not foolish to those who are being saved! Jesus' death
is only foolish to those who are perishing. Can you believe that Paul
has the nerve to say that people who reject Jesus will actually perish?
Paul wouldn't cut it as a preacher in most of today's churches, where.
because the subject of hell is viewed as an unpopular topic to preach
about, it is never mentioned. And if Paul were to work in a secular
job, he would have to get some kind of sensitivity training so he wouldn't
keep offending his co-workers with such inflammatory language.
Let
me explain what it means to be perishing, because Paul was not using
the word as some kind of metaphor. He was using the word as a way of
literally describing what will happen to those who continue to reject
Jesus Christ. To be perishing means that you are only living for the
now, with no thought about the consequences of your actions.
Most
people don't think they will ever have to answer for what they do. They
never think they're going to get caught driving while they're drunk.
They never think they're going to get caught committing some crime.
They never think they're going to get pregnant, or get some STD if they
have premarital/extra-marital sex. Most people never think that one
day they're going to die and have to answer for the way they lived.
But
the truth of the matter is that one day there is going to be a payday
for the way we lived our lives. If you never change your mind about
the death of Jesus, if while you are alive you never receive the forgiveness
of your sins that Jesus bought for you on the cross, after you die you
will spend the rest of eternity in hell. And as unfair as that may sound,
it really is the fitting reward for the way you lived. Because after
all, it was your choice to reject Jesus.
If
you don't want to hear anymore about Jesus, I've got good news for you.
You won't have to in hell. If you don't want to have anything to do
with God, then I've got some great news for you. You will never have
to worry about God messing with you anymore when you're in hell. For
the Bible tells us that hell is the place where those, who don't want
anything to do with God, are going after they die. The good news about
hell is that you will finally be separated from God for all eternity.
Now if these are you're thoughts, I also got some bad news for you.
I want to warn you that hell is not going to be all that you think it
is. It is not going to be a place to party with all your friends. In
fact, hell ain't going to be any fun at all. First of all it is going
to be so dark, that you'll live in constant fear of what you can't see.
Secondly, it's going to be so noisy with people screaming to get out,
that you'll never be able to get any sleep. And finally, it is going
to be extremely painful, because it has flames that burn but never destroy.
And those are only the descriptions that God has revealed to us about
hell. I hate to see what hell is like if there is more that he didn't
tell us about.
Now
I wish there was no hell. I wish everybody could go to heaven, and so
does God. For he doesn't want "Anyone to perish, but for all to come
to repentance." 2
Peter 3:9 "God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge
of the truth: That there is one mediator between God and men: Jesus
Christ." 1
Tim. 2:3-5 But unfortunately, those who keep rejecting the gift
of salvation that Jesus purchased by dying on the cross are going to
wind up in hell. The point that Paul is making is that even though people
think it is foolish to believe that only Jesus' death on the cross can
save their souls from the pit of hell, it really is the only way to
be saved! To support that claim he quotes a passage from the book of
Isaiah in v. 19.
This
quote is from the time the Lord rebuked the Israelites for pretending
they were seeking after God, when they really were doing what they thought
was best for them. They figured they knew more than God did when it
came to running every aspect of their lives. Even when it came to their
own spiritual lives.
In
other words, they were relying on their own intellect rather than trusting
in the One who knows everything, sees everything, and can do everything.
This shows us the folly of worldly wisdom. Man has always thought that
if he could get a little more education, then he could find the cure
for all the problems of the world, including the effects of sin. Yet
all you have to do is look at what is going on in America today to prove
that education doesn't improve morality one iota. Have you noticed that
our kids are not acting any better, despite the fact they are getting
more education then any generation of kids in the history of America?
We are probably the most educated people in all the world, yet we have
the one of the highest crime rates in all of the world as well. As smart
as we have become we still haven't found the cure for the number 1
cause of death: Sin!
Solomon
makes an astonishing claim when he said "The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom." Prov.
9:10 The word that is translated beginning comes from a Hebrew word
that means the most important. So what Solomon is really saying is that
if you have a relationship with God, based upon putting your trust in
Jesus' substitutionary death on the cross, then you are one of the smartest
persons in the world. This is completely opposite of what the world
thinks. The world thinks that if we can gain enough knowledge we can
discover another way into heaven. Paul disproves this theory by asking
4 rhetorical questions, to show how God uses the message of the cross
to destroy the world's wisdom-v. 20. Notice that Paul uses the word
"not" in his last question. In the Greek when a negative is used to
introduce a question, it is to get a positive response from the reader.
Our response to Paul's questions is, "Of course God's wisdom, as displayed
through the cross, has completely destroyed the wisdom of those we once
thought were so wise!"
As
smart as the Egyptians were, they came to the idiotic conclusion that
salvation was found in trying to keep all their millions of gods happy.
As smart as the Babylonians were, they came up with the dumb idea that
salvation was found in having a strong king. As smart as the Jewish
scribes were, who scrutinized every copy of the Old Testament to make
sure every jot & tittle was correct, they were to ignorant to see that
Jesus was the promised Messiah the Old Testament prophets foretold of.
And
even the world's greatest thinkers, the philosophers, were so stupid
that they couldn't see that the way they were looking to find God is
only through Jesus Christ! They must have been the original Forest Gump's.
I wonder if, as they were growing up, their mommas said to them, "Stupid
is as stupid does."
This
is wonderful news because so many times we are mocked by the scholars
of this world for believing in Jesus Christ. During one of D.L. Moody's
crusades, he received a note that only had one word written on it, "fool."
Moody knew that whoever wrote the note was talking about him. He started
off that evening's message by reading the note to the crowd. He said,
"Now folks this is the most unusual thing. I have from time to time
received letters where people forgot to sign their name. This is the
first time someone signed their name and forgot to write the letter."
While many people considered Moody to be a fool, God used him to win
thousands of people to faith in the Lord Jesus.
Look
next at v. 21.
Paul
is still mocking the philosophers of his day, who loved for people to
come and listen to them philosophizing among themselves about how to
find God. Paul is saying to those who had the most brilliant minds,
"Hey if y'all want to know how to find God, just look to the cross!"
God, who can't be discovered by the most brilliant mind, can be discovered
by simply believing in the message of the cross.
In
the OT we see an example of how something that seems to be so ridiculous
can save people. We see an event that Jesus said was a foretelling of
his death on the cross. It is the time when God sent a bunch of snakes
to bite the Israelites for their grumbling. And he instructed Moses
to make a pole with a bronze snake on top of it. Then he told Moses
to tell the people that had been bitten, that if they wanted to be cured,
then all they had to do was to look at the snake on the pole.
The
intellectuals would say: "I refuse to look for even an idiot knows that
it is just plain dumb to believe that by merely looking at a bronze
snake you can be cured from a snake bite." Yet those who looked at the
bronze snake were instantly healed. If you were one of those who had
been bitten, and were dying, yet you saw your friends look at the snake
on top of the pole, and be healed, what would you do? Man, I'd look
at that snake!
This
is not rocket science, y'all. It is simply trusting in something that
works. Jesus said, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,
so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him
may have eternal life." John
3:14-15
I
know that it doesn't make any sense for God to choose to save people
by letting his son die on a cross. I personally think it would make
more sense for God to sell us salvation. After all, Jesus did say, "What
would a man exchange for his soul?" Mark
8:37 I believe the answer is everything. You & I would sell everything
we had, we would go up to our ears in debt, just to escape hell and
gain heaven. But since God knew we could never come up with enough money
to buy our way into heaven, he willingly let Jesus go to the cross to
pay for our sins. And as much as it pleased Jesus to cry out, right
before he died, "It is finished," John
19:30 it pleases God for us to be able to declare that the work
of salvation is finished. God loves for us to tell that the price for
our redemption as been paid in full.
Look
next at vv. 22-23.
When
the Lord Jesus was on the earth the Jews were always asking him for
a sign. This was the "prove it to me crowd." But the most miraculous
proof that Jesus was the Messiah, that of being crucified, was a stumblingblock
to them. And the wisdom the Greeks sought after caused them to think
that it was absolute idiocy for any god to die! Thus they too rejected
the message of Jesus, God incarnate, dying on the cross.
Paul's
message was scandalous to the Jewish people. That's literally what the
Greek word for stumblingblock means. Most of us don't realize that the
message of salvation through Jesus Christ is scandalous to the Jewish
people. Suppose you were telling a group of Jews the message of salvation.
They would have no problem accepting that Jesus was the Messiah based
upon the fact that he was born in Bethlehem, and his roots were of the
tribe of Judah. For these are 2 prophecies that the Messiah would have
to fulfill. And as they heard about all the wonderful miracles Jesus
performed, like healing the deaf & giving sight to the blind, they would
still be willing to accept the claim that Jesus was the Messiah. For
the prophet Isaiah said the Messiah would do things like these.
But
the question on every Jew's mind was did Jesus overthrow the world's
government and set up his kingdom on earth? That is why John the Baptist,
when he was in prison, sent his disciples to ask Jesus the question:
"Are You the One who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"
Matt.
11:2
The
reason John wanted to know that was because so far Jesus hadn't done
anything to rid Israel of the Roman government. He hadn't called down
legions of angels to stomp the Romans into the dirt. He hadn't set himself
up as Lord over all the earth. The reason the Jews believed the Messiah
would do this is based upon the prophecy in the Book of Daniel which
states that a stone, not cut by human hands, will come and crush the
world's powers that were represented as a statue in Nebuchadnezzar's
dream.
But
that's not what Jesus did. Instead, Jesus let Pontius Pilate, who was
appointed by Rome to govern the nation of Israel, sentence him to die
on a cross. And as soon as the Jews heard that, they would say you were
blaspheming God for saying that Jesus was the Messiah.
It
was scandalous for the Jewish people to think that their Messiah could
be nailed to a cross, because God told them "Cursed is anyone that hangs
upon a tree." Deuteronomy
21:23 Anyone who was crucified was considered to be nothing but
a criminal. And there was no way their Messiah could not die like a
common criminal! To the Jews, Messiah equals power, triumph, and setting
up his kingdom on the earth. Therefore, it was scandalous for Paul to
proclaim to the Jews that their Messiah died on a Roman cross.
To
the Greeks it was moronic for Paul to go around saying that this Jew
from Nazareth, who died on a Roman cross, was the King of the universe.
The Greek word used for foolishness is moronic. As far as the Greeks
were concerned, the way Jesus died proved he couldn't be the King of
kings & Lord of lords.
What
Paul was saying about Jesus made about as much sense as fried ice. You
can't fry ice, so neither can you have the world's greatest leader dying
by the hands of his enemies. To the Greeks Paul had to be a moron to
go around proclaiming that Jesus was the true ruler of the world when
He couldn't even save his own neck. The Greeks believed that Paul had
to have lost his mind to believe in a ruler who couldn't conqueror all
of his enemies.
Despite
how ridiculous it seemed for Paul to preach the message that Jesus is
not only the Jew's Messiah, but that Jesus is also the ruler over all
the world, he never wavered from his message of Jesus being crucified
for the sins of the world.
Look
again at the first part of v. 23.
He
didn't care if people thought he was a fool for believing what he did
about Jesus. That's because Paul's eyes had been opened by the Holy
Spirit so he could see that the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ
was the most powerful display of God's might-v. 24-25.
Jesus'
death & resurrection overthrew sin's rule in our lives. It rendered
powerless our old sinful nature of the flesh which causes us to sin.
It completely destroyed Satan's power. And it took away the keys of
death & hell from Satan's hand. A nuclear scientist will tell you that
nuclear energy is the most powerful force in the world. Yet despite
all the power that is found in something so small as an atom, it is
not powerful enough to destroy our deeply ingrained desire to rebel
against God. Even though the scientists at Proctor & Gamble have come
up with new & improved laundry detergents that can get rid of all kinds
of stains from our clothes, they haven't discovered any soap that can
completely remove the stain of sin from the fabric of our lives. Yet
God has in the blood of Jesus.
And,
Jesus' death & resurrection was the wisest choice God could make, for
how else could God provide a way to save every person that wasn't based
on some kind of merit system? Only Jesus' death & resurrection makes
salvation available to everyone, whether they are rich/poor, smart/dumb,
pretty/ugly, young/old, or whether the color of their skin is red, yellow,
black or white. Do you realize that we have kids in this fellowship,
who will probably never earn a PhD, but they are smarter than the smartest
person in the world. That's because they believe that Jesus loves them,
this they know, for the Bible tells them so.
I
am so thankful that salvation has nothing to do with our intelligence.
For if it did then not many of us would ever get saved. But that doesn't
mean that we have to kiss our brains goodbye to become saved either.
God wants us to intelligently seek after him. That is why he tells us
to "Come now, let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be
like wool." Isaiah
1:18
Some
of the greatest defenders of the faith, like Josh McDowell, got saved
trying to disprove the Bible's claim about Jesus Christ. So don't back
away from talking about Jesus Christ to those who are smart.
Instead,
encourage them to look into the Bible with an open mind to see if what
you are saying is true. For God made the promise that "You will seek
Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jer.
29:13 We don't ever have to be afraid/ashamed to say that we believe
that Jesus is Lord, because the cross is the only logical way of providing
salvation to all of mankind.
For
we will never be smart enough to find another way to be saved. We will
never be powerful enough to force God to save us. But because God loves
us so much, he allowed Jesus to willingly leave his home in heaven,
so he could come to earth for the sole purpose of allowing men to nail
his hands & feet to an old rugged cross, so he could forgive each person
in the world who asked for his forgiveness.
I
want to tell you another story about D.L. Moody that illustrates what
Paul is saying in these verses. As I have told you before, Moody butchered
the English language. But God used him in such a powerful way that he
was invited to speak at Oxford University, where the English language
really means something. Before he began preaching a sermon based on
John
3:16, he said "Don't you believe that God don't love you, because
he do." He repeated this phrase throughout his sermon.
The
audience was stunned! But not because he used the wrong verb tense.
They were stunned as the Holy Spirit took that simple message that God
do love you, and broke their heart. Not only did a revival sweep through
the university, but a spiritual awakening occurred throughout England
as people were telling their family, their friends, their neighbors,
and their co-workers, "Don't you believe that God don't love you because
he do." If God could use the bad grammar of Moody to spark a spiritual
awakening in England, just think what he can do with you if you will
stick to the pure and simple message of the cross!
I
started off by stating that there are only 2 groups of people in the
world: those who are dying in their sins, and those who are living in
Jesus. And I want to close by asking which group you are in? If you
are in the 1st group, and you want to become part of the 2nd group,
all you simply have to do is first of all, tell God you're a sinner
like everyone else is. Second, tell God that you believe that Jesus
died so he could pay the price to rescue you from your sins. Third,
tell God you believe that he raised Jesus from the dead 3 days later,
to prove that he accepted Jesus dying in your place. And finally, invite
Jesus to come into your life to be your Lord. Like I said, salvation
is not rocket science. It is so simple that even the most the most uneducated
person in the world can grasp its truth!
Let's pray!!
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