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The Foolishness Of Preaching!
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When it comes to carrying out the great commission the instructions of our Lord were very clear and to the point, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We must not change this in the slightest bit, and we must adhere to it! God has called the church to proclaim and to explain (preach & teach) who Jesus Christ is and what he’s done for us at Calvary! So, not only is the art of preaching important but the content of what’s being preached is vital, and that’s what the Apostle Paul was referring to in his 1st letter to the church of Corinth.
Paul addresses how vital the content is of what we preach. There are many who are gifted, and who give great speeches, but God has not anointed speeches, however he’s anointed the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and when truth is preached under the anointing, great things will be accomplished for the kingdom of God. The scripture tells us that man, in his futile attempts, can in no way know who God is, or explain who God is. Far too often the most advanced minds in the world foolishly attempt to comprehend God through mere human wisdom, and God has shown that he has made foolish the wisdom of this world.
The question must be asked, how can man know God, or how can sinful man be taught who God is!? The truth is that God has and is using the foolishness of preaching the Gospel to save the lost. Paul would ask, how can they hear without a preacher, and how can they preach unless they’re sent by God. God uses men (mankind) who are called and anointed to preach this glorious gospel, and again, we speak of what’s being preached. So, in closing, we may be called to preach, but the question is what are we preaching? If it’s not Jesus Christ and what he has done for the world on His cross then it cannot be called the gospel. As Paul would say, we preach Christ Crucified!
I Corinthians 1:21
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God bu the foolishness of preaching to save them who believe.
When we come to Christ as a lost sinner, we admit that we cannot save ourselves and that we are totally dependent upon Christ and what He did for us on Calvary. God evaluates the repentance of the heart, the brokenness of the spirit, the humility of the soul, and He washes us clean. He makes us whole. Today, as a believer, there are still things held within our beings that need to be changed. Some are stubbornly hidden within the deepest confines of our souls. Some bobble up to the surface, easily seen and recognized by others. So acknowledging again the impossibility of “me changing me,” I plunge myself one more time into the cleansing power of the Cross. It is here, where by faith, I experience the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. He gives me grace for the day and removes a small portion of the unchanged side of me, seen or unseen. This stands good until tomorrow, when heavy with need, but strengthened by faith, I return to God’s marvelous redemption plan. This is where my spirit soars free and burdens are removed as I experience the cleansing, healing, empowering, reality of the Cross, one day at a time.
Philippians 1:6 - Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Proverbs 23:19
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way....
Hearing the Lord is equated with Living in Christ, as He has told us that we Live by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4), but the Word of God must believed as the Truth of who Christ is when experienced, then the result will be the fruits of His Righteousness. The only Way of Wisdom is to hear the Lord, as this is the only Way of Wisdom in which the believer can believe with the heart unto Righteousness (Romans 10:10), and be found on the path of Righteousness.
Jesus told the Church in Sardis that they were dead, and commanded them to repent and return to the place of hearing and receiving, which is exclusively faith in the sacrifice of Christ (Revelation 3:1-6). Imagine being told by Christ that we as a Child of God are dead. There is only one reason this could be so, and that is a misplaced faith. They had a name that they were alive, but Jesus told them they were dead. If we will return to the cross of Christ, we can hear and receive from Him again, and will not just be going through the motions. Tired of beating the air? Come back to Christ through faith in His cross and watch what the Lord will do!
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“take heed to yourselves: If your brother trespass against you, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to you, saying, I repent; you shall forgive him (Lk. 17:3-4).
The Lord warns His Disciples here not to think only of the sins of the Pharisees, but also of their own, especially of the sin of an unforgiving spirit. The repentant Brother was to be forgiven seven times “in a day”; and when Peter, on another occasion, asked the Lord (Mat. 18:21) if he were to stop at seven times, Jesus said, “No; not until seventy times seven,” i.e., four hundred ninety times. This is an important number in the history of God’s moral government of sinning Israel. It means endless forgiving.
Only twice prior to Pentecost do we read of the Apostles, as a body, asking the Lord for spiritual energy. Here they ask Him to increase their faith; on another occasion, they begged to be taught how to pray.
The searching doctrine of Verses 1 through 4 made the Apostles conscious that something higher than fallen human nature alone could obey such teaching. The Lord replied (17:6) that Faith was a power so real that its smallest provision could remove the greatest moral obstacles. He used a tree as an example. The removal, in fact, of trees and mountains were proverbial figures of speech among the Jews at that time, expressing the overcoming of great difficulties.
Then in order to forewarn the Apostles about flattering themselves that they would be entitled to admiration if they lived without injuring others, if they practiced perpetual forgiveness, and if they worked wonderful miracles, He now adds that, having fulfilled all these conditions, they would be no better than unprofitable servants (17:7-10), that is, they would, in no way, have benefited their Master. This is a fatal blow to the doctrine of Salvation by works.
From this we learn the following:
The Disciple is to say, “I am an unprofitable servant.” The Master will then say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Mat. 25:21).”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
Everything that the believer receives from God is a benefit or a result of what Jesus did at Calvary. When a person first comes to Christ and expresses his faith in Him as Savior, that individual is saved because of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross. The Cross made an eternal bridge that spans the gap between heaven and man. Everything we receive from God must travel across that bridge before it becomes available to the Christian. Therefore, it is of the most vital significance that we maintain the proper object of faith. Things that we receive as a result of Jesus’ finished work must not become the object of our faith. For instance, the ability to have direct contact with God through prayer is a benefit of the Cross. Freedom from sinful activity is a benefit of the Cross. The ability to understand the scripture and receive enlightenment from the Holy Spirit is a benefit of the Cross. The baptism with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues is a benefit of the Cross. If we fail to maintain the proper object of faith (Christ and Him Crucified) there are serious consequences which will allow sin to dominate in our lives. So look to the Cross and live!
Galatians 6:14 - But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Proverbs 23:20
Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
Many today make every excuse they can to simply stay in their rebellion to God and His Word concerning alcohol and their delight in it. God here says for His children NOT TO BE AROUND winebibbers, which are those who partake of alcohol. The word, “Winebibber” means to be tipsy, or to become drunk. Many say they do not drink to be drunk, but if ten beers would cause a state of drunkenness, then one beer means one is a tenth of the way drunk, and the child of God is to flee even the very appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Again, any excuse given as to why one partakes of alcohol is a denial of Christ and what He could be doing for them.
Neither are the children of God to be among riotous eaters of flesh, which here speaks of gluttonous eaters. Note that in the three verses of scripture before this one, we are told not to envy sinners, but to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long, because the sinner will come to an end, but the child of God is to hear, to be wise, and to guide our hearts in THE WAY, which is through faith in Christ, as He is the Way. Those who actually have their faith in Christ and His work at Calvary, and I didn’t say they go to church, but true biblical faith, will not make excuses for their sin, but will rather repent and follow Christ before all!
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“and as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed (Lk. 17:26, 30).
The Doctrine of 17:23-37 strikes against the expectation of many that the world will grow morally better and ultimately become the Kingdom of God. But here the Lord gives a fearful picture of the state of the world and the professing Church at the time of His Second Coming.
More than once Jesus pointed to Noah and the state of society in his day (Mat. 24:37) as prefiguring the condition of the nations when He shall appear. The Second Coming will contrast with His First. The First Chapter of II Thessalonians describes the Second Coming. It will not be local, obscure, or with great humility, but universal, powerful, and glorious. The glories of that day will have a relation to, and will be the result of, His Atoning Sufferings at Calvary. It will find the world as indifferent and corrupt as in the days of Noah and of Lot (17:26-30). All will perish, who, like Lot’s wife, have their hearts in Sodom, though, like her, they make a profession of having left it, as also will all those who put any interest, even life itself, above the claims of Righteousness. The Second Coming will be, in fact, the most cataclysmic event in the history of mankind.
When the Lord comes the second time, He will not come to be mocked, criticized, jeered, and rejected. He will not come to be beaten and nailed to a Cross. Instead, He will come as “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:16). Every Saint of God who has ever lived, all the way up through the First Resurrection, will accompany Him at that glorious time. Then the very creation will rejoice, because the Saviour of men is at last coming to take control. And take control He shall! (Isa., Chpt. 11).”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
The landscape of Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar's final siege must have mirrored the appearance of a devastated moonscape instead of the fruitful ground that the City of Zion was intended to be. The Jewish people had left the ways of God and despite the cries and warnings of a man like Jeremiah, they had refused to leave their idolatrous ways. As a result, destruction and captivity was the consummation of their rebellion. Looking over the devastation, Jeremiah wept. In our lives, when we fail to follow the Word of God and when we fail to heed the warnings given by true men or women who know the mind of God, our lives can look as ruined to us as Jerusalem must have to Jeremiah. However, the Lord is not without mercy and He is ready and willing to forgive and restore all those who will repent and turn to Him with all of their heart. Despite the damage done, which seems irreparable, God is still able to turn the curse into a blessing. The question that only you can answer is, despite the glaring evidence of your failure, will you dare to believe that God can forgive and restore! I say, He can!
Lamentations 3:21-23 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. (22) It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (23) They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Proverbs 23:21
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Because the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, meaning those whose lives consist of drinking alcohol and stuffing themselves with food, and live for that more than anything, shall come to poverty as drowsiness clothes them with rags. This is the natural and physical event, but now let us look at this in the Spirit.
God’s children who drink of any well for any type of salvation other than Christ and His Way of the cross are drunk with the religions of this world of which there are many. The glutton, which spiritually speaking, is the man who partakes of everything but that in which God has offered to him through His Son Jesus Christ, his eyes becoming spiritually dimmed, and his garments stained (Revelation 3:4). Note that your garment cannot become stained if you have never had a garment to begin with. That was for those who think their garment can never become stained again, and that their names cannot be blotted out once written in the book of Life (Revelation 3:5).
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“and He spoke this Parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the Temple to pray; the one, a Pharisee, and the other a Publican (Lk. 18:9-10).
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, as given by Christ, proclaims, in no uncertain terms, the rudiments of relative righteousness, works righteousness, and imputed Righteousness; only the last one is acceptable to the Lord.
The Pharisee projected, first of all, “relative righteousness.” In other words, he measured his supposed righteousness by comparing himself with others. Those who rely on such always select those who they think are worse than they themselves; somehow, this seems to make them feel better. God, however, can never accept relative righteousness.
The Pharisee also was relying on “work righteousness,” which spoke of his twice-weekly fasts and his paying tithe on all that he possessed (or at least this was his claim). Millions in the world today, like this Pharisee of old, trust in “works righteousness,” which God also will never accept. The two, “works righteousness” and “relative righteousness,” are the two types of supposed righteousness which are claimed by most of the world.
The “Publican, standing afar off,” which meant he was probably in the Court of the Gentiles, began to pray, but would not so much as “lift up his eyes unto Heaven.” He felt his acute unworthiness, and conducted himself accordingly. When the Scripture says, “he smote upon his breast,” it means that he kept doing this over and over. When he said, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” the original Text actually says, “the sinner,” meaning that, in his own eyes, he felt he was the greatest sinner in the world.
Every afternoon at 3 o’clock, the evening lamb was offered up as a propitiation for the sins of that day. The Publican pleaded forgiveness and acceptance because of the merit of that atoning blood. It foreshadowed the atoning death of the Lamb of God, Who was Himself the Propitiation, i.e., the “Mercy Seat.” As a result, the Lord imputed unto him a perfect Righteousness, all made possible by the atoning death of the Lamb of God.
“Imputed Righteousness” is Righteousness that we do not earn, and cannot earn, and neither can we merit such. It is freely given to the believing sinner upon confession of Faith in Christ. It is the only type of Righteousness that God will accept, because it’s based on the perfect Righteousness of Christ. It is obtained by evidencing Faith in Christ and His Perfect Sacrifice of Himself.
The Scripture says that this man “went down to his house justified rather than the other.” In other words, he was declared a righteous man. The Pharisee was not justified at all. There are no degrees in Justification. The Verse does not mean that the Pharisee was partly justified and the Publican fully; it means that the one was wholly justified and the other, not at all.
In reference to all of this, the Lord said, “For every one who exalts himself shall be abased; and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (Lk. 18:14). The Lord evidently repeated this frequently (Mat. 23:12).”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
