by Harry A. Ironside
I am going to ask your attention to two
passages of Scripture, as I begin this message. We may turn to a number more as
we go along. In the book of Proverbs, chapter ten, the last part of verse
twenty-one, we read: "Fools die for want of wisdom."
And then in First Corinthians, chapter
3, verse 18: "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him
become a fool, that he may be wise."
These verses may seem almost
paradoxical, but in the one instance God is speaking from the divine standpoint
when He uses the word fools. "Fools die for the want of wisdom." A fool is an unthinking, a thoughtless, a
careless person, a person without true understanding in plain English, a
"simpleton." And God says
these fools die, die in their sins, die under the divine judgment for want of
wisdom.
In the other passage the word fools is
used from the standpoint of ungodly men who look upon those who have been
awakened by the Spirit of the Lord and who have turned to God in repentance and
have put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, as though they were the
fools. We know that is a very common
thing in this world. We have seen people living in all kinds of sin, ruining
their own lives and wrecking the happiness of others. Then when they came to
Christ and everything was changed and they lived new lives to the glory of God,
unthinking, godless worldlings dubbed them fools. And God says, as it were, "If you are looking at it from
this standpoint, if any among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him
become a fool, that he may be wise."
So there are unwise fools, and there are wise fools! There are fools for the devil, and there are
fools for Christ's sake.
I was on a ferryboat going from Oakland
to San Francisco with a group of Christians.
Among us was a dear friend of mine who played an English concertina. Our
little group sat together in one corner and he played and we joined in singing.
I even joined in myself, which is a very rare thing! But we were all enjoying the singing, till a man came up in a
perfect rage, and said: "What do you mean, you fools, singing religious
hymns here on the ship?" My
friend was an Irishman and he jumped right up and said: "We are fools
for Christ's sake; whose fool are you?" The man looked at us
and ran. He wasn't waiting to hear any more.
That is the question I would like to
ask you. A lot of us through infinite grace are fools for Christ's sake. We are content to be counted fools by the
world who rejected our Saviour. But those whom the world counts fools, God
counts wise. Whose fool are you? Are
you a fool for the devil, or are you a fool for God? It is very interesting to run through the Word and trace out many
different kinds of fools for the devil of which we read in the Bible. In fact,
there are so many of them I wouldn't dare take time tonight to refer to them
all. But there are seven that came
especially before me as I was threading my way through the Book.
There is the atheistic fool of
whom we read in the fourteenth Psalm and the first verse: The fool hath said in
his heart, There is no God."
There are a great many people who take that position, and they imagine
they are very wise because they come to the conclusion that there is no
God. But the Bible does not mince
matters concerning these people. God
says that people who say there is no God are fools. Just imagine anyone with common sense going out at night and
looking up into the starry heavens, or in the daytime gazing upon the sun and
the marvels of this world, and then saying there is no God! How did it all come into existence then? Can
you conceive of a universe without a mind, an intelligent mind, behind that
universe? He that formed the ear,
shall he not hear; and he that formed the eye, shall he not see?" Surely.
The wise in heart know there is a God, and He has spoken to them not
only in creation but in His holy Word.
If you deny the existence of God, don't pride yourself on your culture. Don't pride yourself on your intelligence. Don't pride yourself on your
understanding. God calls you a fool. The fool hath said in his heart, There
is no God.
Then in the first chapter of the book
of Proverbs and the seventh verse we read of another kind of a fool, though he
is very closely allied to this one. The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and
instruction. That is the ignorant
fool. God has spoken in His
Word. He has given instruction here in
His blessed Book. He has shown us the
path of life, He warns of judgment to come, He tells us plainly the way of
salvation, and men turn away with a sneer and they say," I don't believe
that book. I don't understand it
anyway." And they are only telling
us what they are. God calls them fools! "Fools despise wisdom and
instruction." If you have
never given heed to the wisdom and instruction God has given in His Word, then
this is His name for you tonight, a fool.
I have no right to call you that.
The Lord Jesus has told us that we are not to call one another
fools. He said, "Whosoever
calleth his brother a fool is in danger of hell fire." So I wouldn't dare use that name for you,
but I am telling you what God says about you.
He Himself who reads the hearts of men says, if people despise His Word,
if they despise wisdom and instruction, they are simply fools.
Closely linked with this, we have the opinionated
fool, the fool who will not learn anything because he is not
teachable. Proverbs 12:15 says: The
way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is
wise. He is not ready to listen,
he is not willing to learn. He
understands, he has investigated, and he has come to a conclusion, and he is
absolutely certain that his way is right and yet he is living in disobedience
to the Word of God! This opinionated fool is shutting his eyes to the great
realities of eternity as set forth in the Holy Scriptures. He is a bigot and a
fool. God says so.
Then we have, in the fourteenth chapter
of the book of Proverbs and the ninth verse, the mocking fool. Fools make a mock at sin. Did you ever see a fool like that? When the man of God dwells upon the
exceeding sinfulness of sin, when the one whose eyes have been opened by the
Spirit recognizes the awfulness of sin against a Holy God, fools mock and
jeer. They revel in iniquity as if
sin were sin no longer and life were no more vanity. One shudders today when he hears young
people, young men and young women, some scarcely out of their teens, some, in
fact, still in their teens, mocking and sneering in regard to things that a
generation ago people thought of most seriously. Nothing is sacred any more, and these poor young fools, as God's
Word designates them, mock at everything pure and everything holy. They ridicule the boy or girl or man or
woman who seeks to stand against the abounding temptations of the day. They scoff and sneer if you point out that
this or that course of conduct is sinful and wicked in the sight of God. They
imagine they are showing their brilliance, their smartness, when thus they mock
at sin. God says, Oh, no, they are just telling out what is in their hearts. It
is fools that make a mock at sin, not wise men.
There is a fool of whom we read in the
tenth chapter of the book of Proverbs that comes home rather close, I am
afraid, to some folks. The eighteenth verse of the tenth chapter of Proverbs: He
that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool. I wonder if any of us are fools like
that! "He that uttereth a
slander is a fool." We know it
is not very nice to repeat evil tales about people, but I wonder if we ever
faced what God says about this thing of uttering slander. He that uttereth a slander, is a fool. They that pass along an evil story about
others, malign their character, seek to wreck their reputation, may think
themselves abounding in smartness, but God says they are fools. The word of God is quick, and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.
It finds us out just where we are, and it doesn't mince matters. It calls us by our names and enables us to
realize what God thinks of us.
In the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke's
Gospel there is a sixth character. In this instance our blessed Lord was
actually speaking to believers. Sometimes real believers can do and say very
foolish things. He says in the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke and the
twenty-fifth verse: O fools, and
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. This is the unbelieving fool, the
fool who has the Word of God in his hand, who reads its testimony and yet who
refuses to believe it. The blessed Lord
designates such a one as a fool, or, simpleton.
There is just one other of these
characters that I will take time to notice, and that is the covetous fool
of whom we read in the twelfth chapter of Luke's Gospel.
In verse 16 we are told that the Lord
spake a parable unto them saying:
The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
And now listen So is he that
layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God (vs.
121). So our Lord tells us that every
man and every woman who is more concerned about getting some of this world's
goods, about getting along in life, about making money, about having a nice
home, about enjoying the abundance of good things that money will provide, than
he is about eternal things, is a fool.
He who is not concerned about the home in heaven, who is not concerned
about riches that never fail, who is not concerned about laying up treasure
where moth and rust doth not corrupt and where thieves do not break through and
steal, is a fool.
I have often told the story, and you
have often heard it, of the king's fool.
In the olden days a king had in his court a jester. And this court jester was such an amusing
comedian that on one occasion the king handed him a rod and said: Look, I
want you to take that. It is my scepter.
I am giving it to you because you are the biggest fool I have ever seen
in all my life. I want you to take that
and if you ever find a bigger fool than yourself, give it to him." You remember the story, how years went by, and
one day a messenger came to the poor fool to say to him, The king is dying,
and he would like to see you before he dies. And the poor fool got the rod and went to see his master. The master said; Fool, I am going on a
long journey, a journey from which I shall never return. I have called you here
to say farewell to you." And
the fool looked at him and said, You are going on a long journey; I suppose
then you have made inquiry about the place to which you are going and about the
conditions that prevail there and that you have made proper preparation for it. No," said the king, I have
been so busy I haven't had any opportunity or inclination to pay any attention
to the life beyond the grave or to prepare for it. I am going on this long
journey, but I don't know
where I am going." The fool looked at him for a moment and then handed him
the rod and said, Take it. Take it.
You gave this to me long ago because you said I was the biggest fool you
had ever known, and you told me to keep it until I found a bigger fool than
myself. A man who is going on a journey
from which he will never return and doesn't even take the trouble to find out
anything about the place where he is going, who is indifferent to his future
and the condition of his soul, is a bigger fool than I am, for I have given
attention to these things. Take the rod!
Who can be a greater fool than the man
who thinks only of feathering his nest for time, of getting along in this poor
world, and forgets the eternity that is yet to come?
One day a young woman in a pensive
state of mind was walking through a conservatory looking at the beautiful
flowers, and she took a card out of her purse and wrote a few lines on it.
To think of summers
yet to be
That I am not to
see.
To think a weed is
yet to bloom
From dust that I
shall be!
She laid
it down by one of the plants and went on.
A little later somebody else picked it up and wrote a few lines on the
other side. The lines he wrote were
these:
To think
when Heaven and earth have fled,
And time and
seasons o'er,
When all
that can die shall be dead
Then I shall
die no more!
Oh, what
will then my portion be?
Where shall
I spend eternity?
Oh, the folly of the man and the woman
who are indifferent to the consideration of their eternal destiny! Dear unsaved one, if tonight the same voice
that spoke to the covetous fool of old were to say to you in silence and the
darkness: Thou fool, this night thy
soul shall be required of thee," what would you have to say for
yourself? You know better. You know
that Christ has died. You know there is
a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. You know that God has provided salvation
for you, and you have neglected it. God
calls the man or woman who does that a fool.
But now we have the other side. We are told that the preaching of the
cross, which is God's only remedy for sin, "is to them that perish
foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. And the Apostle Paul says that which the
world counts folly we have rested our souls upon, and if any man desires
wisdom, let him take his place in identification with the Lord Jesus Christ, no
matter what the world thinks of Him, and he will be assured of that wisdom
which cometh down from above and which guarantees an eternity of bliss. So he says, We are fools for Christ's
sake. We are willing for the world
to look upon us as out of our minds, we are willing that we be accounted as the
very offscouring of the earth because we have turned to Christ, whose precious
blood alone can save.
I remember years ago when I was a young
Salvation Army officer, we were conducting an open-air meeting, and a man
stepped out and told how he had been a drunkard, how he had been down in the
depths of sin, and how God in grace had spoken to his soul in the Salvation
Army hall, and he, penitent and broken trusted Christ as His Saviour. He told
how Jesus had given him a new life and a new nature, and now everything was
different. As that dear man was giving his testimony, urging others to come to
Christ, a very well-dressed man in the audience who looked as if he ought to
have known better, stepped forward and cried, Wake up, old man, you are
asleep, you are dreaming! There is
nothing in it! Wake up! A little
girl ran through the crowd and caught the man by his coat and said: Please, sir, don't wake him up! Sir,
don't wake him up! The man looked
at her and said, What do you mean?
Don't wake him up. That is
my daddy, and before he went to sleep like this, he was such a bad daddy. He was drunk nearly all the time and he beat
Mama and beat me and we never had enough to eat. But since he began to dream
like this everything is different. Now he is so kind, so good, and we have
all that we need at home. Please don't wake him up!
In the eyes of the
worldling that man was a fool. But he
was a fool for Christ's sake, and he had the wisdom that cometh down from
above. Friend, face it honestly for
yourself. Are you one of the devil's
fools? Or are you willing to be a fool for Christ's sake? Are you going on denying God and rejecting
His testimony and priding yourself that you don't need to be instructed by the
Word of God, living in self-righteousness and in covetousness and in unbelief?
Or do you know Christ as your own personal Saviour? Oh, if you have never known Him before, you can know Him now. I
would like to introduce you to Him. I
would like to take you by the hand and bring you face to face with our blessed
Saviour. I would like to hear you say
to Him: "Lord Jesus, I am coming to Thee as a poor sinner, and if Thou
canst do for me what Thou hast done for thousands and millions of others, I am
ready to trust Thee tonight."
He will take you up in grace and make you a new creature and deliver you
from your sins and your folly, and He will give you the true wisdom that comes
from above. The world will dub you a
fool. The world will think perhaps that
you are out of your mind, but you will know that you have the wisdom that is
given by God Himself. g
Taken from Harry A. Ironsides book Divine Priorities and Other Messages, (New York, Fleming H. Revell Company, New York), p. 22-32.
When Jim Elliot was a
college student in 1949 he wrote these words: He is no fool who gives what
he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
Shadow of the Almighty, by Elisabeth Elliot, pg. 15.