Whose Fool Are You? | Billy Graham Classic Sermon
“What the world calls foolish, I’m resting my salvation on—the cross of Christ. No matter what the world may think of Him or of me.” In this 1982 sermon from Boise, Idaho, Billy Graham expresses his unwavering dedication to Christ, regardless of the world’s perception. Are you willing to be considered a fool for Christ’s sake? Watch more #MondayNightClassics every Monday at 8 p.m. ET. CONNECT with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association: on Facebook: 
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from our archives the Billy Graham
classics tonight I want to talk on
fools and I want you to turn with me to
the third chapter of 1 Corinthians
beginning with the 18th verse let no man
deceive himself if any man among you
seeth to be wise in this world let him
become a fool that he may be wise for
the wisdom of this world is foolish
nness with God for it is written he
taketh the wise in their own
craftiness and again the Lord knoweth
the thoughts of the wise that they
vain a couple years ago Anthony newly
sang what kind of a fool am I to the top
of the
charts and uh I looked up in the
dictionary to see what a fool is or one
of my associates did for me and the the
Bible has a lot to say about fools and
what a fool is Proverbs 10:21 it says
fools die for the want of wisdom
Proverbs 1:7 says fools despise
wisdom uh when PT Barnum came to this
country many years ago he said the
American people want to be fooled and
I’m here to fool them he said a fool is
born every
minute and uh now synonyms that you can
find for the word fool is stupid person
bonee head Blockhead simpleton chump
nitwit Goose sap numb skull ignoramus
Beetle head whatever you
want a one who has been imposed on by
others a stouge a gullible or a
dupe now in the Bible it may mean all of
this but it also has a moral meaning in
the Bible and is a very important word
in the Bible and the verses seem almost
paradoxical 1 Corinthians 3:18 says let
him become a fool and proverb 1:7 says
fools despise wisdom and God is speaking
from the Divine standpoint in one
passage the fool is an unthinking
thoughtless careless person without true
understanding in the other passage the
word fool is used from the standpoint of
people who have received Christ because
the world laughs at them and says
they’re foolish and ridiculous they’re
fools so they’re unwise fools and
they’re wise fools now Jesus said
whoever calls his brother a fool is in
danger of
Hellfire you be very careful how you
call another person a fool I wouldn’t
dare use that name for you or for
anybody else never use the word fool in
Anger the Bible says but I’m telling you
what God says about it in certain
instances first there’s the atheistic
fool it’s repeated twice in Psalm 531
and Psalm 14:1 the fool had said in his
heart
there is no God but in Hebrew it
actually means there is no God for me in
other words the this fool deliberately
says there is no God for me he’s not
saying there’s no God he’s saying
there’s no God for
me then there’s the Practical
atheist you see there are many people
that are really not atheist but they are
practical atheist in the sense that they
live like an atheist you profess to
believe in God but you don’t live like
you believe in God you live as though
there is no God you too in a sense are
an atheist and there are hundreds here
tonight like that you believe in god
with your mind you may go to church but
you live as though God does not exist as
far as you are
concerned and so you are an atheist in a
sense and then secondly the Bible talks
about the mocking fool the mocking fool
fools make a mock of sin verbs
149 here is God and all of his
Holiness and the Bible tells us that
we’ve sinned against him we’ve broken
his laws and we’re under the sentence of
death we’re under the sentence of death
I saw a film tonight on television on
one of the news programs telling how
many men and women are on death row in
the United States right now under the
sentence of death all of us here tonight
are under the sentence of death the
wages of sin is death and we have all
sinned and broken the laws of God and so
we’re all senten to die we are to die
physically the graveyards are Phill of
full of people that are there because
sin caused
death and then sin also causes spiritual
death your soul is dead your spirit is
dead physically you’re alive but your
soul that lives inside your body is dead
toward God so you’re a walking dead
person under the sentence of death and
the only way that you can have that
sentence lifted is to come to Christ by
repentance of sin and faith in him as
your lord and your savior if you would
like that sentence lifted if you would
like your sins wiped out as though they
had never existed if you would like to
be justified in the sight of God pick up
that telephone right now you that are
watching by television pick it up and
call the number that you see on your
screen and a counselor will answer and
the counselor will talk to you about how
you can come to know Christ as many
people here tonight I hope and believe
and pray will find Christ as their lord
and savior but there are many people
that make a mockery of sins they mock
God’s standards God’s standards of sex
God’s standards of marriage God’s
standards concerning divorce and ethics
and morality and social justice we make
a mockery of it we laugh at
it the Bible says be sure your sins will
find you out
don’t ever doubt it your sin your sin
will find you out though no one on earth
may discover it you may never be
caught you may never have to pay for it
here as far as you can tell but your sin
will someday be found out no one ever
commits one sin that isn’t found out
everything that you did in the
darkness every evil thought that you
ever had is going to be found out
because of will all be recorded it’s
being recorded awaiting the Judgment
Day it’s being recorded on tape machines
far more sophisticated than anything we
have it’s being
recorded even your thoughts and your
sins will find you out and it’ll be
exposed to the whole
universe will find you out will it’s
only a question of time the word will is
def it will find you out find perhaps
you’ve deceived everyone else your wife
your family your church your friends but
the Bible says your sin will definitely
find you out a detective at last after
running away so long and hiding so long
God’s hand will come on your shoulder
and say I have found you you’ve been
found out we now
know and then thirdly there’s the
slandering fool the slandering fool he
that hideth hatred with lying lips and
he that utth a slander is a fool passing
along an evil story about others
maligning other people’s character
wrecking their reputations by evil
gossip gossiping is listed in the Bible
as one of the worst of all sins and yet
how frequent that’s done even in circles
that call themselves Christians
it’s a terrible sin in the sight of God
and God says that person is a fool you
wouldn’t think of killing a person with
a gun or a knife but then many times we
assassinate a character or try to pull
someone down or to get even or because
of jealousy by Whispering
innuendos someone told me or he did thus
and so we commit murder By character
assassination worse than killing a man
with a pistol a knife or a club
he that utth a slander the scripture
says is a
fool and then fourthly there’s the
Christian fool the Christian fool
remember the road to Emmas after Jesus
Christ had died on the cross for our
sins and he’d been raised again and
remember he was appearing to the
disciples in fact 11 different
appearances after his resurrection and
this is one of them and these two
disciples were on the way to EMAs
outside of Jerusalem they were sad they
were disappointed they were
disillusioned and they were mumbling and
groaning among themselves and another
man joined
them and they didn’t recognize who he
was and he talked to them said why are
you so
downcast they said
oh we thought he was to be the Messiah
haven’t you heard all the happenings in
Jerusalem during the past week about
this Jes Jesus who did wonderful things
we thought he was the Messiah we thought
he’d come to save the world but he
didn’t he disappointed us they killed
him on a cross and now the third day is
passed and we heard rumors that he might
be raised from the dead but we don’t
accept
that and then Jesus said oh
fools you’re
fools then he started expounding to them
the scriptures from Moses through the
prophets as to who he really was and
then went to spend the evening with them
and he was sitting at the meal in their
home in
Emmas and all of a sudden their eyes
were open and they saw it was
Jesus in other
words the Christian fool who has the
word of God in his hand who reads its
testimony and yet doubts the promises of
God Jesus said oh you fools for not
believing the scriptures that he was
going to rise from the dead and someday
he’s coming
back and then fifthly there’s the
Covetous
fool and the story is told in Luke the
12th chapter Jesus told the story about
a rich man in his barns you remember he
built his Barns and he said he was going
to retire because he’d made enough money
now probably going to go to Southern
California Florida come here to idah H
to this beautiful place and
retire he’d made enough
money and he said Soul take thine ease
drink and be
merry and that night he had a heart
attack and when he was dying there was a
voice heard from Heaven that said thou
fool this night thy soul is required of
thee and the scripture says Jesus said
so is he that layeth up treasure for
himself and is not rich toward God you
see he tried to find happiness in the
wrong place
money he ignored the power of influence
in that no man liveth unto himself he
must have had a family he disregarded
death he had made no provision for
eternity he had provision for his
retirement how many men and women I know
who have planned for
retirement planned everything but they
haven’t prepared to die and they die
shortly after they retire it’s amazing
I’ve thought about that some people
announce their retirement you read two
or three weeks later that they dropped
dead of a heart
attack they thought they were going to
have five or 10 or 15 or 20 years that
they could just take it easy and enjoy
life but it doesn’t always work out that
way you better be sure that you have
prepared to meet
God every person who is more concerned
about getting some of this world’s
goods and leaving out the preparation
for eternity is of fool
or the person who spends their time in
social climbing or having pleasure more
than Eternal things is a fool in the
sight of God if you’re not concerned
about your home in heaven you’re not
concerned about the riches that will
never fail not concerned about laying up
treasure where moth and rust does not
corrupt and where thieves do not break
through and steal then you’re a
fool if you’d asked this man what is
your
name well he’d say my name is the rich
man or I’m the prosperous man that you
read about or I’m an eminent man or I’m
a great man in the neighborhood or I’m a
famous man my name is in the paper all
the time then ask God lord what is this
man’s name and the answer comes back
fool he’s a fool that’s his
name the rich man knew every name but
the right one
he had been called by his family name
his given name his ranks his titles his
wealth the flatteries of men but in the
sight of God his name was th fool that’s
all we know about him that he was just a
rich
fool that laid up Treasures on Earth but
laid up nothing for heaven and how many
of us are in the same category you may
not be rich in the sense that this man
was rich but everybody in America is
Rich compared to Bangladesh and people
that I’ve where we’ve been in many
places of the world like in Africa
or as Victor was talking about in in
Vietnam where he was a missionary for
some
years very few of you would stir if I
would look out on this audience and say
fool come here I’d like to see you how
many of you’d get up and
come very few maybe
nobody but the Bible says how are they
brought into desolation as in a
moment
quickly it can all
end your dream house comes tumbling
down Trouble In The
Family the wealth is
gone here was a man a multi-millionaire
perhaps but standing a hand breath away
from his own
grave counting on everything in this
life the happiness the joy that this
life life could give him and he’s called
in the Bible by Jesus a
fool and then
seventhly there’s another kind of a fool
of 6le the preaching of the Cross is
foolishness to them that perish 1
Corinthians 1:18 but unto us which were
saved it is the power of God what the
world counts foolish we have rested our
Eternal salvation
on and when you accept Jesus Christ as
your lord and savior turn your back on
the pleasures and the sensual lust and
things of this world people think you’re
a
fool the world that does not know Christ
looks foolish to me why can’t they see
why can’t they understand I want to grab
everybody I see on the street and
everybody we pass everybody in the hotel
I want to grab them and say look here
Christ could change your life I see
their empty faces and I I see the h I
hear the hollow
laughter and I see them drinking trying
to drink their themselves into some
happiness or taking the drugs in that
hollay that they have and I say oh if I
could only just shake them loose but you
see only the Holy Spirit can do that I
cannot do the work of the holy spirit
for him the Holy Spirit must convict
them of sin he must also lift this Veil
that’s over their
minds and so salvation is of the Lord
the Bible says
says if anyone desires wisdom let him
take his place in identification with
Jesus Christ what the world calls
foolish I’m resting my salvation on the
cross of Christ no matter what the world
may think of him or of me we’re fools
for Christ’s sake willing for the world
to look at us as out of our minds
willing to be accounted as the very offs
scoring of the Earth because we’ve
turned to Christ
are you one of the devil’s
fools or are you willing to be a fool
for Christ’s sake the Bible says in
Proverbs 12 the way of a fool is right
in his own eye there is a way that seeth
right unto man but the end thereof are
the ways of
death which road are you on the narrow
road that leads to eternal life or the
broad road that leads to destruction you
have to make a choice the scripture says
choose you this day whom you will serve
are you going to continue to be a
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fool in the sight of God are you going
to become another kind of
fool the Christ fool that the world will
call a fool and call foolishness because
you see when you come to Christ there’s
a price to pay and one of the prices you
pay is being misunderstood by some
members of your family some people in
the community some people where you work
or where you go to school and that’s
what Jesus meant when he said come and
take up the cross and follow me you see
the cross that you bear the cross that
you
bear is identification with Christ it’s
not some special sickness that you get
or some trouble you get it’s identifying
with Christ and letting people laugh at
you and being willing for them to make
sport of you if necessary for following
Christ that’s your cross and if you’re
not willing to take that cross you
cannot be his follower he
said are you willing to take that cross
are you willing to turn your life
totally over to Christ some of us have
got one foot in
heaven and one foot in hell as it were
one foot in the world one foot in the
kingdom of God and we’re straddling the
fence God does not allow fence
straddlers you cannot be a mugwamp
that’s what a mugwamp is a fence
straddler God Christ does not allow that
he allows no neutrality you can’t not be
both you must come all out for him and
you’ll find that all the way through the
Bible you’ll find it all the way through
the teachings of Jesus a great crowd was
following Jesus one day and he turned
and talked to them about the fact that
he was going to die on the cross and it
said many followed him no
more why because they couldn’t take this
talk of the cross
do you want Christ in your heart pick up
that telephone right now if you’re
watching by
television talk to that counselor make
that call and if you if it’s a busy
signal call again they’ll be there all
evening all over the
country and you can talk to somebody and
receive Christ into your heart tonight
because you see when Christ died on the
cross it says that the crowd down below
the mob below killed and
laughed and they said what a
fool you saved others but you cannot
save
yourself and Jesus was hanging there and
in heaven 72,000 Angels 10 Legions Drew
their swords ready to come and rescue
him but he said no I love
them and when he died on the cross he
took your sins every sin that you’ve
ever committed he took on that cross he
took took your death penalty for you and
because he was the son of God and
because he was sinless he could bear
your sins and God has accepted his death
as a sin offering for our
sins so that when God looks at me now he
doesn’t see Billy Graham The
Sinner I am a
sinner I have sinned but I’ve placed my
sins under the blood blood of Christ and
the blood that was shed on the
cross washes my sins away
symbolically in the sight of
God so that when God looks at me he
cannot see my
sins and God has a unique ability that
you don’t
have God can forget and it says that he
forgets your sins in other words the
tapes are
erased from the time you were born till
the time you die because if one sin ever
remained on those tapes you’d never make
it to Heaven God is righteous and
holy and before you can get into heaven
you must be righteous too and the only
way you can get any righteousness is to
be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus
Christ and he offers you that righteous
clothing Tonight free you don’t have to
pay for it but you have to do three
things you must repent of your sins
that means you’re willing to change your
way of life you’re willing to change
completely and put Christ first in your
life from this moment on you may be a
member of the church you may be a
Catholic a Mormon Jewish Protestant
whatever you are you need Christ and you
want to make that commitment I’m not
asking you to join a church tonight a
specific church I’m asking you to make
sure that your sins are forgiven and
that you’re ready for
heaven first repent second receive him
by faith into your heart faith means
trust total commitment it means that he
becomes the pilot of your plane or he
becomes the driver of your car of your
life you turn all the decision making
over to him and that’s a wonderful thing
you trust him for your salvation and
then the third thing you’re willing to
obey him study the scriptures and pray
and Obey him and do what he says and be
his follower no matter what the cost
I’m going to ask you to make that
commitment tonight I’m going to ask you
to do what we’ve seen hundreds of people
at each service do so far I’m going to
ask you to get up out of your seat and
come and stand in front of the platform
and say by coming I want to make that
commitment I want to know my sins are
forgiven I want to know the sentence of
death has been lifted I want to know I’m
going to
heaven why do I ask you to come forward
publicly because Jesus said if you’re
not willing to acknowledge me before men
I’ll not ackn you before my Father which
is in heaven Jesus said now is the the
scripture says now is the accepted time
today is the day of salvation nowhere in
the Bible does it promise that there’ll
ever be a tomorrow for
you it’s tonight I believe there are
hundreds of people here tonight that may
never have this moment again in your
whole life in which you’re so close to
the kingdom of God just get up and come
fathers mothers young people hundreds of
you you want Christ in your heart
tonight you want to make that commitment
you get up and come
quickly as people are coming forward
here at the Coliseum you make that
telephone call right now the number is
on your screen and counselors are
standing by ready to help you
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as hundreds are responding to Mr
Graham’s invitation to make a public
commitment to Jesus Christ you can make
that same commitment right where you are
just pick up the phone and call the
number you see on your screen special
friends are waiting to talk with you and
pray with you about this most important
decision you that are watching by
television can see that here in boisey
Idaho many people are coming to make
this commitment to Christ tonight you
can make that commitment right now where
you are you may be in a bar room you may
be in a nightclub you may be in a hotel
room you may be in your living room or
in your bedroom just say yes to Christ
and let him come into your
heart as you can see men and women and
boys and girls from all over the
Coliseum have come forward tonight to
commit their heart and Life to Jesus
Christ
Christ this is also a time of decision
for many of you until then this is Cliff
Barrow speaking for Billy Graham and
every member of the team saying goodbye
and may God richly bless
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you if you just prayed that prayer with
my father or if you have any questions
about a relationship with Jesus Christ I
would just call that number that is on
the screen there’ll be someone there to
talk with you pray with you and answer
those questions and
remember God loves
you if you would like to commit your
life to Jesus Christ please call us
right now toll-free at
877772
4559 that’s
877772
4559 or you can write to us at Billy
Graham 1 Billy Graham Parkway Department
C Charlotte North Carolina 282 20 1 or
you can contact us on the web 24/7 at
peacei god.tv we’ll get the same helps
to you that we give to everyone who
responds at the invitation on behalf of
Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association thank you for
watching and thank you for your
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prayers there’s only one way only one
hope
the sound of a new
day and give your life to Christ and see
what
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happen come with me to the Billy Library
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