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

1. Foolishness to the World

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.

—1 Corinthians 2:14

You would think that hearing so great a message as this, people would flock to Christ in repentance and faith in Him. To hear such a message that all that is required for salvation, for eternity in heaven, eternal bliss, has been accomplished by God Himself—we would expect that sin would be readily surrendered and abhorred, and the Cross tightly grasped while all men everywhere cries out to God, “have mercy upon me a sinner!”

Sadly it’s just not the case. 2,000 years of Gospel preaching, Christ is still despised and rejected by men. 2,000 years of Gospel preaching, still, this Gospel is foolishness to the world. In the world’s eyes, it is irrational, illogical, and incomprehensible.

Why is it? It’s because in our minds as fleshly, carnal people, we do not need the Gospel, we do not need a Savior. In our heart of hearts we supposedly are good people. In our perspective we are safe.

Picture this in your mind, one day you were taking a stroll on the beach. While you were walking alongside the shoreline you suddenly see a man drowning in the water 50 or so meters from you. You start to scream and call out to him. You run towards the man. You dive in to save him. Prior to grabbing this drowning person the man passionately declares that he does not need your help.

In shock, you discovered that your help is not wanted. Why? Because the man does not believe that he is drowning. From your eyes it would seem like he is drowning and dying, but from his eyes he’s perfectly fine. And so it happens that your helping the man has become an offense even, it was foolishness to him.

Every man born in this earth thinks he has done well for himself. Except for special instances, every man in their right mind convinced themselves that they have planned well for their souls. When their time comes to die they think that God will ultimately welcome them into glory.

They do not see nor feel that they are unsafe. They do not see the pit of hell gaping below their feet. They do not know and realize that in each passing moment that they live in their lives,

“because of [their] hard and impenitent heart [they] are storing up wrath for [themselves] on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Romans 2:5)

Human beings reject the Gospel and reject Christ because they do not know the state they are in. They do not know what sin is and the magnitude of their offense against God. Unless they see sin in all its horrible colors, and the damnation that they deserve in violating the character and law of a holy God, they will never seek a Savior.

By the Holy Spirit, we must first understand who God is and who we are. Only after seeing God as He truly is, as revealed by Scripture, as perfectly holy, perfectly just and righteous, and seeing ourselves, as revealed by Scripture, as radically sinful, morally corrupt, abominable, drenched in iniquities—only after having a genuine apprehension and realization of these things will we ever truly seek a Savior.

Until that time comes the Gospel will ever more be a message of foolishness for the lost man, a message of least importance. Uninteresting, unneeded.

2. The Preciousness of Sin and the World

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

—Luke 18:18-23

The Sinner will always prefer the things of this world instead of Christ. If offered life eternal on one hand and the freedom of unmitigated sin on the other hand, the Sinner will invariably choose the later.

The rich young ruler asked the most important and most valuable question any man could ever ask in their lifetime. We would expect that he would do anything and everything if eternal life is what it is to be gained. For what comparison can anything in this life bring when brought side to side with the transcendent glories of eternity in reconciliation with God?

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”, the young ruler asked. With much anticipation he inquired of the requirements of the greatest thing any person would ever desire, such a thing where everything else in life pales in comparison.

Yet, when confronted by the Lord, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have…and come follow me”, he shrunk back and went home very sad.

But it’s not as if the ruler esteemed his riches more than eternal life. The primary issue was not the ruler’s choosing his wealth over the prospect of heaven. The sin in this act was that he chose the fleeting pleasures of sin over the Lord Jesus Himself.

In the eyes of the sinner, sin is far too precious to be given up. In the eyes of the lost man, the comforts of life is too valuable to trade for a life of self-denial and submission to Christ’s Lordship.

Man would rather go to Hell than to bow his knee to Jesus.

Man doesn’t mind going to Hell, as long as he’s in charge.

—Bob Jennings

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

—Hebrews 11:24-25

The Difficulties of Evangelism

I. Gospel too Foolish, Sin too Precious

II. The Demands of the Gospel