Are You A Fool?

 The Fool

"The [spiritually ignorant] fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed repulsive and unspeakable deeds; There is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the children of men To see if there are any who understand (act wisely), Who [truly] seek after God, [longing for His wisdom and guidance]. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one." (Psalms 14:1-3)

The Oxford dictionary defines the fool as 'a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person.' . The atheist in spite of academic qualifications, managerial positions, wealth acquisitions, political connections, etc. is unwise and imprudent because he says there is no God. In spite of the worldly success of atheists, they are fools in the eyes of God. If God calls someone a fool, then the person is a fool indeed. 

On the other hand, the wise person may not necessarily be an academic, a business tycoon, an engineer or a medical doctor. A poor individual in a remote village or a young person still in secondary school can be wiser than a university professor. The Bible says, "The [reverent] fear of the Lord is the beginning (the prerequisite, the absolute essential, the alphabet) of wisdom; A good understanding and a teachable heart are possessed by all those who do the will of the Lord ; His praise endures forever." (Psalms 111:10). 

The fear of the Lord is the prerequisite for wisdom and  "Blessed [with spiritual security] is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord . For he will be [nourished] like a tree planted by the waters, That spreads out its roots by the river; and will not fear the heat when it comes; but its leaves will be green and moist. And it will not be anxious and concerned in a year of drought Nor stop bearing fruit." (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

What this means is that the wise man fears the Lord, believes and trusts in the Lord, relies on the Lord, acknowledges that the Lord is a strong Tower to which the righteous gravitate (Proverbs 18:10). The foolish man disbelieves God, denies His existence, is deceived by Satan. Isn't it interesting that Satan and his demons tempt people to deny the existence of God yet they believe that God exists (James 2:19)?

Are you a fool or are you wise? Don't follow the bandwagon of the foolish. Open your heart to Jesus who died for you on the cross of Calvary. Acknowledge your sins and receive Him as your Lord and Saviour today while you are alive. No one knows tomorrow. Then the wisdom of God will be your portion in the Name of Jesus. God wants you to walk in wisdom not foolishness. He loves you so much that He sent Jesus to die for you. Repent of your sins and turn away from unrighteousness. The Bible says, "For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23, NKJV)

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) 

God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). That is why it is wise to pay attention to what He says. Disbelieving the Word of God will not change Him or His Word but disbelieving the Word of God has unfavourable consequences. The individual who resists God is a fool and proud. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Anyone who is resisted by God cannot win against Him and is on the losing side, making his or her stubbornness futile. 

Let go and let God. Surrender your life to Him through Jesus (by confessing your sins, repenting of them and asking for His forgiveness). Not believing in God is really foolish. However believing God is wise. The ball is in your court and the choice is yours. Choose wisely.

The First Good Friday

 The First Good Friday

As I write this article, Good Friday, 29th March 2024 is rapidly coming to an end. On Good Friday, we remember the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. That was the day that Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, was tortured, humiliated, and flogged till his back was lacerated. On the cross of Calvary, He hung for six hours in pain and during that time a thief on the cross asked for forgiveness and Jesus told him that he would be with Him in paradise that same day. The thief had spent his life committing crimes and was crucified because of those crimes but Jesus was innocent. That day this man who had lived a reckless life, an immoral life, a criminal life found forgiveness. It is really amazing when you think about - really amazing. The Bible says in Matthew 27: 35, “Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”

That is in Psalm 22:18.  You see the crucifixion of Jesus was a fulfillment of prophecy.  In Isaiah 53:1-5 we read, “Who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no ]beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

Doesn’t that gladden your hearts? Doesn’t that make you grateful to God for thinking about you? Is there any way we could have saved ourselves? No, there is no way we could not have saved ourselves. Jesus’ sacrifice paved the way for our deliverance from sin and the devil. I want to go back to the cross when Jesus was hanging. This is what the Bible records in Luke chapter 23:39-43  from the ESV. “Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Wow. How that man must have felt!  At the last moment,  he was redeemed; he was forgiven. Today he is with Jesus in heaven. The Bible makes us understand that soon after that Jesus cried out, ‘It is finished’ and finally, ‘Father,  into your hands, I commit my spirit.’. You see, ‘it is finished’ was a statement of accomplishment,  a statement of finality, a statement of authority, a statement that cannot be disproved because Jesus accomplished to the fullest what He came to Earth for. The devil thought that he had defeated Jesus;  the devil thought that he had won the battle but he missed it completely. Apostle Paul, in writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2: 7-8, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, stated “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”  My brothers and my sisters, I want you to spend a few moments thinking about this. You see,  the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross of Calvary was the culmination and fulfillment of the plan that God had initiated in the garden of Eden. It’s amazing that in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned against God, disobeyed his commandments and as a result brought sin to the world that God was working. My brothers and sisters, God is always working; He never stops working. In Genesis 3:15, God said “l will put enmity between you and the woman (that is speaking to the serpent who had deceived Eve) and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.” . As we celebrate Good Friday my question to you is simply this: Would you acknowledge what Jesus did for you or would you ignore it? Of course the choice is yours. You can decide to accept and acknowledge the fact that Jesus died for you on the cross of Calvary because of your sins and receive him as your personal Lord and Saviour. The Bible says in John 1:12. that for as many as received Him to them He gave power to become the sons of God. When  you receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour.  The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new. You may say you won't or don’t believe and that is your prerogative but your unbelief does not change the absolute truth. One’s unbelief does not undo what Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary. History records that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and that He died in Jerusalem on the cross of Calvary.  Secular history records show that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and lived on this earth in Israel, so disbelieving the word of God, to be honest with you, is a futile exercise because it does not negate the accomplishment of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. It does not in any way obliterate the fact that Jesus is the Way, and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). It does not in any way change the fact that God loves you unconditionally; it does not in any way change what is going to happen in the future when we die. We will either go to hell or go to heaven. The Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die and thereafter the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). A statement of unbelief will not change that. Nothing can change the infallible Word of God. Incidentally, everyone has free will. And God is not going to force anybody to receive Jesus but let me say that if you decide to live your life without Jesus, then your wish will be given or will be granted to you at the end of your life on earth. You thereafter, spend eternity without Jesus and that is not because God does not love you but it will be because God respects your wishes. Anyone who rejects Jesus on earth deserves to spend eternity with the devil in hell. I would like you to think about a situation in which you spend eternity in the presence of the devil and his demons. That will not be good but it does not have to be that way. Jesus paid the price for your deliverance from the devil and your salvation. As we think about Good Friday and the days ahead coming up to Sunday which is Easter Sunday (the day Jesus rose from the dead),  I would like you to think about your life. The Bible says in John 3:16 that  God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So as you ponder over this short message I would appeal to you to surrender your life to Jesus so that you might be redeemed from the bondage of sin and the bondage of the devil. In Jesus you will know the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit today and the days ahead. May God bless you; May His face shine upon you; May He guide you as you obey His words. God bless you.