[b]The Wisdom of God and the Power of God[i]by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
"The fact is that the world attaches great significance to mind, and to intellect, and to learning and to understanding. And not only that, but to moral effort and moral striving too. It glories in these things. But the gospel does not. That does not mean that the gospel tells you to commit intellectual suicide, or that an able man cannot be a Christian. But it does mean that the gospel tells all men at the very beginning that it does not matter how able a man may be, that alone will never make him a Christian. It puts the able man on exactly the same level as those who are most lacking in intellect. It reduces all, as we have already seen, to a common level. It deliberately says that intellectual pride is probably the last citadel to give way when the Holy Spirit is dealing with a man's soul. The gospel does not glory in intellect. It does not glory in moral effort and striving. It tells you at the very beginning that you can do all you like and it will avail you nothing; that all your righteousnesses will be as 'filthy rags,' that all your wonderful works will be 'dung' and 'refuse'--of no use at all to you! Now the world hates that...."
"...the gospel of Jesus Christ reverses the world's ideas in all respects and always, without exception. It is not in line with any other teaching. It is not in line with any other philosophy. It is absolutely on its own, and it is entirely different. The world is not intrigued and interested; it delights in great intellectual exercise. And here we stand and say that the most untutored, the most illiterate person in the world tonight, can listen to the same gospel as the greatest philosopher, and by grace receive salvation. The world sits back and roars with laughter. Ah yes! but because a man is not yet perfect he does not like being laughed at, especially when he can talk philosophy to the man who is laughing at him. He knows that he could meet him on his own ground if he wanted to, but he knows he must not do so, for thereby he would be denying his own gospel. He has to keep all that back and indeed to leave it out. He has to be a fool for Christ's sake."
"The gospel of Jesus Christ is not popular with the natural man. He is against it....Now we have all seen that there are many ways in which the gospel is presented which are not offensive. Have we not read or heard sermons from those who depict Christ as a great hero and example? Nobody has ever been offended by that; in fact the world likes it, and for this reason. You present Christ as a great exemplar, a great hero, and people will say, 'That is fine, that is marvellous.' What they are really saying is this: 'Now I am going to follow Him; I am going to be like that. I can of course! I have simply got to make the effort, I can do it.' So they like it, they take it for a compliment. There He is, rise up and go after Him. And the people are ready to do it because they think they are capable of doing it. When you tell them that He is One whom they cannot imitate, that He condemns all, then they will begin to show their teeth and hate you for it; but present Him as a hero, as an example, it will not annoy them."
"Or again, take Christ's teaching. The teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ is presented by some people as the most beautiful teaching in the world. The Sermon on the Mount, they say, is marvellous; it is beautiful and exalted. That is how they present it. The world likes it again for the same reason; it believes that it can take it up and put it into practice. But when the Sermon on the Mount is truly preached, when a man begins to know what it is to be 'poor in spirit' and to 'mourn,' and to have a 'hunger and thirst after righteousness,' when he faces the real spiritual exposition of the law, he hates it because it condemns him; he does not want to feel 'poor in spirit.'"
"The offence of the cross is this--that I am so condemned and so lost and so hopeless that if He, Jesus Christ, had not died for me, I would never know God, and I could never be forgiven. And that hurts; that annoys; that tells me I am hopeless, that I am vile, that I am useless; and as a natural man I do not like it. So you see the importance of all this. The gospel itself is something that produces the reaction of offence in people. They hate it. They ridicule it. They pour their sarcasm and scorn upon it. And the Apostle knew that. He had known what is was to be ridiculed in various places. 'What will this babbler say? Who is this fellow?'....He knew that the true gospel produces this ridicule and opposition. And yet, you notice, he tells them that in spite of all these difficulties, he is ready to preach it."