Does The Gospel Sound Foolish To You?
My friends and I come out here on Friday nights and share the Gospel. We typically point out that all of us have sinned against God, that we’ve all rebelled against God and there’s nothing that we can do to save ourselves. Does the Gospel sound foolish to you?
We also point people to Jesus Christ our Lord because He is the only Savior. Jesus suffered, bled and died on the cruel cross in place of guilty sinners. God offers eternal life to everyone who repents from their sins and surrenders their life to Jesus. We share this message week after week. But I ask you tonight, does the Gospel sound foolish to you?
Oh, I repeat, does the Gospel sound foolish to you? If so, you shouldn’t feel bad. The Bible even declares this truth to us. The Gospel sounds foolish to those who are perishing, to those who have not repented and believed the Gospel. First of all, you have to hear God’s truth before you can believe it. But you can’t understand the Bible unless God reveals it to you. The Gospel is spiritually discerned, not naturally discerned.
Not With Lofty Speech
And I, when I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
Spiritual Truths
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2).
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. When we talk about sin, righteousness and judgment to come, it sounds like foolishness to those who are lost. If you are an unbeliever tonight, you can’t understand the glorious Gospel on your own. What we are saying tonight sounds like utter foolishness to you.
God In His Great Mercy
Oh, but when God in His great mercy, really shows your unrighteousness to you and reveals His Holiness to you, that’s when you cry out, “God, have mercy upon a sinner like me.” Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God convicts people that they are sinners, that they have lied, stolen, lusted, coveted, disobeyed their parents and blasphemed God’s Holy name. When God convicts you over your sins, that’s when you cry out to God for mercy.
For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death (2 Corinthians 7:10). If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, then all you are working for is death. Physical death in this life and the second death, which is eternal suffering the next life. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sins, it shall die. You will die one day; do not die in your sins. Do not die in your rebellion against God.
Repent and put your faith in Jesus. He is the only Savior of mankind. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). Trust in the risen Lord. You and I cannot save ourselves. We do not have the power to wipe out a single little white lie, let alone all of our sins.
God Demonstrated His Love Toward Us
But God. But God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). None of us have lived sinless lives, but Jesus did. Jesus left Heaven, came to this earth, born of the virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit and did what we could not do. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. He met God’s perfect standard of righteousness. Jesus never lied, stole anything, lusted or coveted. He always did the will of God the Father.
Still, He willingly suffered at the hands of wicked men. He was beaten beyond recognition. Then the Lord was nailed to the cruel cross. While hanging there, He not only suffered unimaginable physical pain, but He also endured God’s righteous wrath over sinful men and women. Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose victoriously from the grave three days later.
God offers eternal life to each and every person who repents from their sins and surrenders their life to Jesus. Oh, do this tonight. Recognize that you are a sinner. That you are a wretched sinner and that God is Holy, righteous and just. Cry out for God to have mercy upon you. Repent from your sins and trust in the Lord Jesus with all your heart. Do this tonight and be saved.
Calling People To Repent And Put Their Faith In Jesus
We are calling people to repent and put their faith in Jesus. Our Lord said that He came not for the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. We are sharing the Gospel and pleading with people to surrender their lives to Jesus.
But if God is not convicting you over your sins and revealing His righteousness to you, then this sounds like foolishness to you. It may even sound like the adults in the old Charlie Brown T.V. specials: mwa-mwa-mwa-mwa-mwa. That’s right, it sounds foolish or like nonsense. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
If this describes you tonight, I implore you, cry out to God, humbly, ask God to reveal Himself to you. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. I would read the Bible and keep reading the Bible and crying out for God to reveal the truth to me. I’d keep doing that until God saved me or I died, whichever came first.
The Word Of The Cross Is Folly To Those Who Are Perishing
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).
We Preach Jesus Christ Crucified
We preach Jesus Christ crucified. Is this a stumbling block to you? Does the Gospel sound foolish to you or do you hear the Savior calling you to repent and trust Him? Oh, if God is convicting you over your sins, do not reject such a great salvation. Do not harden your heart tonight. Repent and believe the Gospel. This message isn’t for everyone. If this still sounds foolish to you, then I can’t help you.
But if God is convicting you over your sins and you are seeing His Holiness, then please, repent and put your faith in Jesus. Acts 20:21 says that we are to have repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Jesus. Trust in His finished work on the cross. Surrender your life fully and completely to Jesus, the only way of salvation. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. Come to Jesus today. Repent and believe the Gospel.
(This message was proclaimed in downtown Springfield, MO on June 21, 2019)