Living Hope Fellowship Church...Sermons From the Pastor
FOOL
by Pastor Kevin Badgley
Have you ever been played for a fool? Have you ever played a fool? Read this scripture in 1 Samuel 26:21. ". . . behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly." Saul was saying, I have made a great mistake, continuously. A fool is someone who has heard the truth, yet continues in lies, continues in sin, who continues in doing that which is against the Word of God. Would you like to know what a fool is in the eyes of God?
No one likes to be called a fool. It really stirs up anger and raises hackles on people's back when someone calls them a fool. You can call a man a lot of things, but calling him a fool really "gets his goat." You might be surprised what God calls a fool. Proverbs 14:9 says, "Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour."
Fools mock at sin! That means any individual whether you are a preacher, a lay person, or a sinner. In other words, you are a fool if you mock or make fun with those who are sinning, or laugh at their wickedness. This includes a dirty joke, a lewd gesture or comment, or a funny story that is bound in wickedness, or if you scoff at the preaching of the cross or a holiness walk before the Lord.
The Bible says in I Corinthians 1:18, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."
Proverbs 14:9 says that fools mock at sin. They don't think that it is sin. No sin can enter into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ made the way that we might enter into heaven without sin.
Psalm 14:1 says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. . . ." That means the atheists, the agnostics, those who have backed away from the truth and are now lukewarm. God calls you a fool. God says those who try to work with evolution, and all the other things of that type are fools. They are not "educated" people; they are fools.
Ecclesiastes 5:4 says, ". . . for he hath no pleasure in fools. . . ." God doesn't get any joy out of a fool. If you act like a fool, God gets no pleasure out of you. In Ecclesiastes 7:9 it says, "Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools." God calls someone who is quick tempered or easily offended, a fool. He says that anger rests there all the time. If just anything will make you "fly off the handle," then you are a fool according to God's Word.
Psalms 107:17 says, "Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted." Many church people today are afflicted because they have become fools, and have erred exceedingly. They have sin in their lives. They have not listened to the truth. They have not obeyed God's Word. They have listened to a lying preacher, or they have taken what a preacher has said out of context for their own purpose. God says they are fools in His sight, and they are afflicted.
Ecclesiastes 5:3 says, ". . . a fool's voice is known by multitude of words." Have you ever run into somebody that talks all the time and says nothing? I know several preachers and many people who are this way. They are easily known, and God calls them fools.
Proverbs 13:19 says, ". . . it is abomination to fools to depart from evil." In other words they say, I don't care if it is sin, I'm not giving up my T.V., and I'm not giving up my gambling;, I'm not giving up all the other things I like to do. If you don't give up that which is sin, and you think that it is ridiculous, not necessary, or even foolish to care, God says that you are a fool.
Do you know that if you even hang around fools you are going to be destroyed with them? Proverbs 13:20 says, "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." The Bible says in Matthew 15:14, ". . . And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." They will both go to hell. If you hang around somebody who talks like a fool (one according to God's definition), you will go to hell. God's holy Word is the final authority, whether you accept it or not. On judgement day you will have to deal with what God's Word has said, and how you came up to it or failed it. If you are a companion of a fool, you will be destroyed right along with them, because you will have become like them.
Jesus spoke to the disciples on many occasions. You might say in your heart, Oh, God's not talking to Christians when he talked to those people. However, He speaks to us also. In Luke 24:25 Jesus said to the disciples, ". . . O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:" Were they saved? Yes, they were saved; they were his followers, but He called them fools because they were lacking in faith and didn't follow him according to what He said. God, have mercy on us.
In another passage of scripture, Matthew 23:17-19, Jesus called the Pharisees and Sadducees fools and blind." He was talking to the current church world leaders. They were not following him, but rather they were fighting against the truth.
This parable that Jesus told still applies to every day life. In fact, that is why he told it. Luke 12:16-20 says, "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?"
Who will get the goods? Will the bratty kids get them? The greedy family members? The State, perhaps? They will get their part. Jesus said that this man had plenty in goods, and continued well with it. His whole life was in his business, in his work, in his goods, and in things that did not profit his soul. God called him a fool, and told him that night his soul would be required of him. We shall all be judged according to our works.
Verse 21 says, "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." You must be rich toward God by fasting and praying, and by reading God's Word, and obeying it. Jesus also said in Verse 31, "But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you." God knows that you have need of different things in the natural, but don't make them your whole life, or else you will be a fool. If you're not seeking the things of God, but are rather searching for things in the world, you are a fool in the eyes of God. I couldn't care less if the world or the church thinks I am a fool, but if God Almighty thinks I'm a fool, where is my hope? Where is my life?
There are other areas in which you can be a fool. Fighting against the things of God makes you a fool. Husband, or wife, if you are fighting that spouse who is trying to serve God, you had better back off. God says that you are a fool. The Bible says in I Chronicles 16:22, ". . . Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." Don't mess with God's children; it's an abomination in his sight.
God wants every soul delivered. You don't have to stay a fool. Saul said he had played the fool, and had erred exceedingly. This man confessed it, but never repented. You may know that you are wrong, and you may know that you are a fool. You may know that you are a sinner or backslider, and you can confess it, but if you don't ask God to change you so you can go on in Jesus, it does you no good. You must repent and believe the gospel. Jesus said that if you love him, obey his commandments. Don't be a fool any more. Pray with me this prayer right now, and ask God to set you free, if you've been a fool.
Father, I ask you to touch every soul right now that would classify as a fool. God, we have all been fools at one time or another. The Bible says that all have sinned. Lord, we know also that the blood of Jesus sets us free. God, I ask you to set free every soul that hears this message by any means and time. Set them free from the bondage of the foolishness of this world and sin. Satan, loose them in Jesus' name. Thank you Jesus. Amen.
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