Quartet-of-Fools

Quartet of Fools

Before you begin your Bible study, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, be sure you

have named your sins privately to God the Father.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse

us from all unrighteousness. (Known, Unknown and Forgotten sins) (1Jn 1:9)

You will then be in fellowship with God, Filled with the Holy Spirit and ready to learn

Truth from the Word of God.

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth,"

(John 4:24)

There is no more beautiful sound in all the world than four people blending their

voices in perfect harmony. Reversed, the most sorrowful utterances emanate from voices

clashing in a discord of sound. Such is a quartet of fools described in the following

paragraphs: three members cannot sing, cannot harmonize, yet the fourth produces the

finest harmony in the world!

The first member of the quartet is the atheistic fool.

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God...” (Psa 14:1)

The ancient Hebrew language makes no distinction between the heart and the head as a

source of thought. Correctly paraphrased this verse should read “The fool has thought in

his mind, there is no God.” What is this “mind” that says there is no God? An

insignificant thing called human intellect; a mind with its finite limitations does not

perceive God and therefore says, “God does not exist.”

There are five methods of perception to acquire human knowledge. The first is known

as occultism — through demon influence by means of the old sin nature. The second is

known as rationalism, the pursuit of knowledge by reason alone. The third, empiricism,

this is the pursuit of knowledge by observation and experimentation. The fourth is human

faith, this is how we learn most things — by what someone tells us, and we believe it.

And fifth Spiritual faith, the “assurance of things hoped for”, the conviction of things not

seen. (Heb 11:1) Though faith is the most commonly used method of perception in the

world of everyday experience, saving Spiritual faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and growth

by faith in His Word is extremely rare. (1Co 2:1-14)

The atheistic fool uses the wrong means to learn of God; he utilizes rationalism

instead of faith. Yet, faith is the only tool with which to dig into the realization of

eternity, the only path leading to Knowledge of God, the only means of eternal Salvation.

The Scripture specifically states.

Believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved... (Acts 16:31)

Inscribed on the front of the mantle of the ancient Hind’s Head Hotel at Bray,

England is the legend: “Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there” It

was written during England’s darkest hour, the battle of Dunkirk, and typifies the

potency of national faith. The power of Spiritual faith directed specifically toward the

uniquely born Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, establishes an eternal relationship with

God. The atheistic fool needs that faith which “comes from hearing, and hearing by the

Word of Christ.” (Rom 10:17) Faith is the key to the fool’s problem.

There is one question that needs to be asked of this fool: What is he going to do with,

(John 3:36)?

"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey (The

Command to believe in) the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

(John 3:36) cf. (1Jn 3:23)

The second member of this quartet is the rich fool.

And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive.

"And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ’What shall I do, since I have no place to

store my crops?’ "Then he said, ’This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and

build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ’And I will say to my

soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat,

drink and be merry."’ "But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your soul is

required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ (Luk 12:16-20)

This man was rich in material goods, but his false sense of values made him a fool.

His deadly philosophy of eat, drink and be merry could not satisfy the immutable

demands of a just and righteous God. Building larger barns to store his earthly wealth

could not solve the problem of his eternal future.

Whether consciously or subconsciously, every man has established in his mind a

scale of values. Have you ever thought to yourself, “Suppose my house was on fire and I

could retrieve only one or two articles from the consuming flames? What are the

possessions that I would bend every effort to rescue?”

This type of thinking indicates the subconscious development of a scale of values.

Every man’s scale of values includes material and philosophical considerations.

However, most people have a false scale of values because they omit Spiritual matters.

Such is the story of the man who owned an automobile and desired to purchase a number

of accessories for his car, although he lacked the necessary money. He sold his car so

that he could buy the accessories. Likewise, people sell their souls in order to have the

accessories of life.

Have you ever seen a baby with a dollar bill in his hand? A dollar has a definite;

monetary value, but to the baby it is just another toy. Where Spiritual things are

concerned, many people are babies with a dollar bill in their hand.

One of the most suggestive paintings by George Frederick Watts is entitles, Sic

Transit. Translated from the Latin, sic transit gloria mundi means, “So the glory of the

world passes away.”

llustration

The passing glory is portrayed in the utmost simplicity. Upon a casket lies a shrouded

figure. All is silent in this chamber of death. The long, horizontal lines of the painting

give the impression of intense stillness; the very heart has ceased beating. Here, life is

over forever. What, then, does life amount to? What does death mean? These are the

questions the still figure impresses upon us. On the ground around we see all that the

world had accredited to him: plumed casque, shield, spear, and gauntlet denote the

warrior. “He has loved,” says the rose; “He has traveled”, says the scallop shell. “He

has been honored,” says the ermine coat that once adorned him. He is not without

culture, for surrounding him lies the musician’s lute and the book of the scholar portray

that he has drunk of the rich wine of life. Now he is dead, and all these things lie around

him unused and useless. Death terminates the accessories of life. Before death’s

clutching hand the material and the superficial things of life disintegrate.

There is one question we would ask this fool who would build greater barns, “For

what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)

The third member of this quartet is the shameless fool.

Fools mock at sin... (Prov 14:9)

This fool feels no guilt of sin. Sin, that infection which has destroyed man since the

beginning of time, is a cancerous plague which infiltrates every portion of our being,

destroying our Spiritual fiber and the eternal life tissues of our souls. Sin brings the

barrage of God’s judgment upon us and no slit trench of human philosophy and reasoning

is a defense against His Divine judgment.

The Scripture presents three important facts concerning sin. First, sin is universal.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23)

Indeed, there is not a righteous man on Earth who continually does good and who

never sins. (Eccles 7:20)

Second, sin is judged by a just and righteous God.

For the wages of sin is death... (Rom 6:23)

Therefore, just as though one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and

so death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Rom 5:12)

Third, sin is remedied by the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross.

But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ

died

(As a substitute) for us. (Rom 5:8)

Hence, we would ask the shameless fool one question: “How can he neglect so great a

Salvation.”

The fourth member of the quartet is the Christian fool.

We are fools for Christ’s sake. (1Co 4:10)

This statement was written by a man named Paul. Who was Paul? He was formerly

Saul of Tarsus, a man who had every advantage in life including, wealth, education,

prominence and ability. But one day, treading in the dust of the Damascus road, Saul met

the Lord Jesus Christ. From that moment he became the Apostle Paul, a man who

devoted the rest of his life to spreading the Gospel of the grace of God which is faith

alone in the Lord Jesus Christ As Paul traveled about the world in the service of the

Lord, he suffered many unbearable hardships—flayed with the biting stings of the

Roman lash, bruised with stones cast from self-righteous Hebrew hands, drifted in the

deep for a day and a night only a ship’s plank from death, robbed, hungry, thirsty, cold,

naked and exhausted. Why was Paul a fool, willing to suffer these things? Because he

realized there was a God; because he recognized the awfulness of sin; because he had

come to the cross of Calvary; because he had found eternal life, and because he realized

the harmony of joy and peace in his life. And so it is with Christians today! To us, the

Lord Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son who died on Calvary’s Cross for our sins,

rose again from the dead, and now sits on God’s right hand interceding on our behalf. To

the Christian,

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love

God. (Rom 8:28)

Every circumstance of life has a pattern and purpose. Life is full of “the peace of

God, which surpasses all comprehension” (Php 4:7)

Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into

barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. (Matt 6:26)

During a shelling from Japanese naval vessels off the coast of Guadalcanal, a member

of the First Marine Division sought shelter in a trench. While running for the trench he

saw a lonely bird sitting on a palm tree log unconcerned with the tremendous chaos

caused by the Japanese bombardment. Huddled in his field fortification, nerves

quivering with the detonation of each shell, the Marine began to consider the fate of the

poor bird exposed to the storm of solid lead. Several hours later when the Japanese had

departed and he came out of his shelter, a tragic scene of devastation met his eyes. Lying

about in the grotesque attitudes of death were many of their former comrades. Where

several trucks has stood before, only a few bent and twisted bits of steel lay smoldering

in the ruins. Homes had been obliterated, trees had been uprooted; the landscape was

literally changed as a result of the Japanese shell fire. In spite of the havoc and

destruction, the same bird was sitting on the same log with not even a feather ruffled. In

like manner the Lord Jesus Christ takes the Christian through the shelling of life

undisturbed.

Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground

apart from your father. But the very hairs of your head are numbered. Therefore do not

fear; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matt 10:29-31)

To the Christian, man’s foundation of wealth, intellect, and power are insecure, but

God’s foundation, Jesus Christ, is abiding, immoveable, ageless. The attacks of

intellectual termites cannot crumble this foundation; hurricanes of mundane anxiety

cannot prevail against it; the acid of ridicule cannot dissolve it.

For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus

Christ. (1Co 3:11)

So, here are four fools for your consideration: the atheistic, the rich, the shameless,

and the Christian. The question for you is, “Where do you fit into this quartet?”

End