WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.339 Well, over the past 2 ,000 years, the truth about 00:00:03.339 --> 00:00:06.660 the Christian faith has been repeatedly challenged 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:10.800 by atheists and agnostics, so much so that as 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:14.099 we sit here today, there are really no new objections 00:00:14.099 --> 00:00:17.660 out there, nothing that hasn't been asked and 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:20.260 answered by a wide variety of apologists and 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:23.579 scholars over the centuries. But one of the most 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:26.800 often cited objections is actually very relevant 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:29.079 to the text of Scripture that we're going to 00:00:29.079 --> 00:00:31.199 look at this morning. So I'm going to bring it 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:33.979 to the surface so that we can discuss it. And 00:00:33.979 --> 00:00:38.140 it's the issue of what we call divine hiddenness. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:42.960 The problem of divine hiddenness. And the objection 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:45.780 generally goes like this. If God is all -powerful, 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:50.229 and if He's the very definition of love, And 00:00:50.229 --> 00:00:52.329 if he desires that every person on the face of 00:00:52.329 --> 00:00:55.850 the earth be saved, then why does he hide himself 00:00:55.850 --> 00:01:00.729 from us? That's the objection. In other words, 00:01:00.810 --> 00:01:04.370 why not make himself more plainly observable? 00:01:05.709 --> 00:01:08.790 Why not make himself more obvious to every single 00:01:08.790 --> 00:01:11.930 person on the earth? And you think about all 00:01:11.930 --> 00:01:14.489 the ways that God could do that. He could literally 00:01:14.489 --> 00:01:18.000 write the name Jesus in the sky. that everybody 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.019 could see. He could literally speak with a voice 00:01:21.019 --> 00:01:24.200 that shakes the planet, that every single person 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:28.879 could hear that says, I, Yahweh, exist. He could 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:30.959 do that. He could do many different ways, right? 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:34.379 More thoughtfully, why doesn't Jesus appear to 00:01:34.379 --> 00:01:38.719 each person individually, show them that he's 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:42.560 real, and beckon them to personally trust in 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:47.000 him? Why not? Further, the objection goes, Why 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.319 at various times in human history has God made 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:52.319 himself more known to some people and not to 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:55.799 other people? To some, he's appeared in visions 00:01:55.799 --> 00:01:59.019 and dreams. Moses got a burning bush, didn't 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:02.500 he? That's pretty obvious. To others, he's actually 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:05.400 come in physical form, in the form of the angel 00:02:05.400 --> 00:02:09.199 of the Lord. He has sent angels to certain individuals 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:12.139 to speak to them, to announce things to them, 00:02:12.180 --> 00:02:14.780 to promise things to them. to talk about his 00:02:14.780 --> 00:02:16.860 intentions. But for the most part, if you look 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:20.479 across human history, most of us don't get that 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:22.759 type of obvious revelation. And the question 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:25.740 again is, why not, if God wants everyone to be 00:02:25.740 --> 00:02:30.400 saved, why not? Why has he not done this? And 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:32.039 this is a very difficult objection for those 00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:34.919 in the evangelical world who want to hold to 00:02:34.919 --> 00:02:38.039 a man -centered free will position on the issue 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:41.020 of salvation. The folks out there that want so 00:02:41.020 --> 00:02:43.560 badly to say, yes, God desires that everyone 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:47.699 be saved, but he can't do anything about it because 00:02:47.699 --> 00:02:51.719 he's waiting on their free will response to accept 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:56.319 him. If that were true, if that's what was actually 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:59.099 shown in scripture, then I would object along 00:02:59.099 --> 00:03:02.180 with the agnostic that God should do more to 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:05.819 make himself known. But that's not what Scripture 00:03:05.819 --> 00:03:08.240 actually teaches. What the Bible actually teaches 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:10.560 us is, and I'll give you four brief points on 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:12.939 this. Number one, that God is not obligated to 00:03:12.939 --> 00:03:16.580 make himself known to anyone. He's God and we're 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:19.919 not. He has no obligation to us. Number two, 00:03:19.979 --> 00:03:23.120 God has sufficiently shown his presence to mankind. 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:26.680 And he's done that in a number of ways. In creation, 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:29.599 it's all around us every day. In the human conscience, 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:33.419 in his written word that we all have in our homes. 00:03:34.090 --> 00:03:36.770 And most importantly, he's done it through the 00:03:36.770 --> 00:03:40.189 person of Jesus Christ, incarnate God, who walked 00:03:40.189 --> 00:03:43.310 the earth and spoke to us and is revealed now 00:03:43.310 --> 00:03:46.349 in the scriptures. So he has done that. Number 00:03:46.349 --> 00:03:48.909 three, that fallen human beings in their natural 00:03:48.909 --> 00:03:51.930 state have all the evidence they need to know 00:03:51.930 --> 00:03:54.750 that God exists, but what do they do? They suppress 00:03:54.750 --> 00:03:58.830 it, they twist it, they distort it, and they 00:03:58.830 --> 00:04:01.150 reject the revelation which God has given to 00:04:01.150 --> 00:04:04.490 them. And number four, God's so -called hiddenness 00:04:04.490 --> 00:04:07.569 actually serves his sovereign purpose in leaving 00:04:07.569 --> 00:04:11.430 people accountable for their choice to disbelieve. 00:04:12.729 --> 00:04:14.810 Those are important things. Now, here's the thing 00:04:14.810 --> 00:04:17.170 we have to keep in mind as we consider the hiddenness 00:04:17.170 --> 00:04:19.990 of God. You and I, men and women, are not born 00:04:19.990 --> 00:04:23.649 into this world morally neutral. That's an important 00:04:23.649 --> 00:04:26.029 foundational principle. We are not blank slates 00:04:26.029 --> 00:04:29.089 because we're all born in our ancestor Adam. 00:04:29.660 --> 00:04:32.620 And because of that, we have a corrupted nature. 00:04:33.579 --> 00:04:38.300 Our nature is turned inward upon ourselves, meaning 00:04:38.300 --> 00:04:41.879 we will always seek after the good of me and 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:47.540 not turn to God. That's who we are in our fundamental 00:04:47.540 --> 00:04:51.019 nature. And so in that condition, the Bible tells 00:04:51.019 --> 00:04:54.899 us that we are dead in our sins and trespasses, 00:04:55.060 --> 00:04:58.540 that we naturally love darkness rather than light. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:02.180 that we're spiritually blind and we're children 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:05.120 of wrath. And none of that is due to the hiddenness 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:08.459 of God. The problem is us, isn't it? The problem 00:05:08.459 --> 00:05:11.480 is within us. It's our natural born state. It's 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:15.819 our intrinsic nature in the flesh. So the answer 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:17.579 to the problem of hiddenness is not that God 00:05:17.579 --> 00:05:19.920 owes us more evidence, that he should show us 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:24.079 more things. It's that sinners like us need an 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:28.000 internal work of the Holy Spirit. If any of us 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.819 is gonna understand the things of God, turn to 00:05:30.819 --> 00:05:32.959 him and be saved. We need an internal work of 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:35.339 the Holy Spirit, not more external evidence. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:38.500 And that brings us to the sovereignty of God, 00:05:38.579 --> 00:05:40.279 something we love to talk about here at Oak Hill. 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:43.600 God does as he pleases, right? That's what sovereignty 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:46.740 is. That includes his choice of whom he will 00:05:46.740 --> 00:05:49.759 draw to himself for the purpose of doing that 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:53.199 internal work in their hearts. He will save whom 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:57.069 he will save, scripture tells us. We have to 00:05:57.069 --> 00:06:00.250 remember that mercy is his to distribute as he 00:06:00.250 --> 00:06:03.930 chooses, that he reveals himself to those whom 00:06:03.930 --> 00:06:06.730 he wills to reveal himself. And that includes 00:06:06.730 --> 00:06:09.269 the manner that he reveals himself. It includes 00:06:09.269 --> 00:06:12.850 the timing in which he reveals himself. We just 00:06:12.850 --> 00:06:15.250 can't avoid the hard teachings that we see all 00:06:15.250 --> 00:06:17.870 over the scriptures that talk about this difficult 00:06:17.870 --> 00:06:21.350 concept of predestination. All the discussion 00:06:21.350 --> 00:06:23.370 of God's elect, we can't ignore those things. 00:06:23.490 --> 00:06:27.490 We can't ignore that Jesus himself told his disciples 00:06:27.490 --> 00:06:32.350 that at times he spoke in parables. Why? So that 00:06:32.350 --> 00:06:34.790 those with hardened hearts would not understand. 00:06:37.129 --> 00:06:39.810 That those in the crowds in his day would never 00:06:39.810 --> 00:06:42.329 believe because they weren't part of his flock. 00:06:42.410 --> 00:06:47.170 They could not hear his voice. Those are hard 00:06:47.170 --> 00:06:49.810 truths. We can't ignore that the New Testament 00:06:49.810 --> 00:06:52.250 teaches that some people are given over to their 00:06:52.250 --> 00:06:55.750 sins by God. They're given over, blinding them 00:06:55.750 --> 00:06:58.850 to the truth. And then to some, those who are 00:06:58.850 --> 00:07:01.370 perishing, the gospel, we're told, is veiled 00:07:01.370 --> 00:07:04.709 from their sight. And that at times, it's actually, 00:07:04.829 --> 00:07:07.970 in Proverbs, the glory of God to conceal a matter 00:07:07.970 --> 00:07:12.050 from mankind. And we can't forget that maybe 00:07:12.050 --> 00:07:13.970 the hardest truth of all, that some of humanity, 00:07:14.189 --> 00:07:17.110 according to Paul in Romans 9, were marked out 00:07:17.110 --> 00:07:20.649 by the Creator as vessels of wrath prepared for 00:07:20.649 --> 00:07:23.829 destruction. I could go on and on. citing passages 00:07:23.829 --> 00:07:26.189 like this that speak about this difficult truth. 00:07:26.649 --> 00:07:28.670 But it's important that we acknowledge those 00:07:28.670 --> 00:07:31.050 passages and what they actually tell us, that 00:07:31.050 --> 00:07:33.649 we have to strive. We have to strive to understand 00:07:33.649 --> 00:07:37.649 how anyone ever is saved. And that's important 00:07:37.649 --> 00:07:40.449 for us in our edification, for our worship, but 00:07:40.449 --> 00:07:43.790 also in our approach to evangelism as we go out 00:07:43.790 --> 00:07:46.129 and share our faith. We should know the answer 00:07:46.129 --> 00:07:49.170 to this fundamental question, how does a sinner 00:07:49.170 --> 00:07:51.709 take hold of the wisdom of God and be saved? 00:07:53.060 --> 00:07:55.339 That is a fundamental question. How does a sinner 00:07:55.339 --> 00:07:58.620 take hold of the wisdom of God and be saved? 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:01.920 Grab your Bibles. We're going to 1 Corinthians 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:07.240 2. We're going to look at the last seven verses 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:10.540 of this chapter, verses 10 to 16. Guys, we're 00:08:10.540 --> 00:08:15.079 through two chapters. For all you making fun 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:16.600 of me that we're going to be here for six years. 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:20.339 We're through two chapters. Come on now. Seven 00:08:20.339 --> 00:08:25.250 verses. Wow. Like I said, a full meal. All right, 00:08:25.269 --> 00:08:27.069 last Sunday we studied verses five through nine. 00:08:27.230 --> 00:08:29.550 And the big idea of last Sunday was this contrast 00:08:29.550 --> 00:08:32.509 between human wisdom and God's wisdom. We'll 00:08:32.509 --> 00:08:35.129 hear more about that in this passage today as 00:08:35.129 --> 00:08:37.730 well. But along the way, we're gonna dive deeper 00:08:37.730 --> 00:08:41.250 into an understanding of the Holy Spirit, the 00:08:41.250 --> 00:08:43.649 most mysterious of the three persons of the Trinity. 00:08:44.490 --> 00:08:46.690 Back in the day when I was teaching over at Masters, 00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:49.149 teaching systematic theology, I loved teaching 00:08:49.149 --> 00:08:51.610 about the doctrine of God, the doctrine of Christ, 00:08:51.789 --> 00:08:53.669 the doctrine of salvation. When it came to the 00:08:53.669 --> 00:08:55.809 doctrine of the Holy Spirit, it got much harder 00:08:55.809 --> 00:08:58.490 because we don't have a lot of data to work from, 00:08:58.509 --> 00:09:00.210 not nearly as much as we have about the Father 00:09:00.210 --> 00:09:02.750 and the Son. So the Holy Spirit, although he 00:09:02.750 --> 00:09:05.389 is the one closest to us in dwelling believers, 00:09:05.809 --> 00:09:08.230 he's also the most mysterious of the three. So 00:09:08.230 --> 00:09:10.490 we tend to write him off, which we ought not 00:09:10.490 --> 00:09:13.690 do. Last week, we came away with this very important 00:09:13.690 --> 00:09:17.250 truth that the wisdom that comes from God, you 00:09:17.250 --> 00:09:21.840 ready? cannot be discovered by man. Cannot be 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:24.259 discovered through human wisdom. Doesn't matter 00:09:24.259 --> 00:09:26.980 how intelligent we are, how educated we are, 00:09:27.100 --> 00:09:29.940 it cannot be discovered. The wisdom that comes 00:09:29.940 --> 00:09:33.299 from God can only be revealed to us. And that's 00:09:33.299 --> 00:09:35.240 a huge difference, discovering it versus it being 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:37.419 revealed. Today we're gonna find out how it's 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:39.500 revealed. So let's actually back up to verse 00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:42.279 seven. We'll read from there. Here's what God's 00:09:42.279 --> 00:09:45.720 word says. Verse seven, we speak God's wisdom 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:50.639 in a mystery. The hidden wisdom which God predestined 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:54.720 before the ages to our glory. The wisdom which 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:57.259 none of the rulers of this age has understood, 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:00.799 for if they had understood it, they would not 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:04.799 have crucified the Lord of glory. But just as 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:06.659 it is written, and this comes from the book of 00:10:06.659 --> 00:10:10.799 Isaiah, things which eye has not seen and ear 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:13.159 has not heard and which have not entered the 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:16.320 heart of man, all that God has prepared for those. 00:10:17.019 --> 00:10:18.700 who love him now let's look at today's verses 00:10:18.700 --> 00:10:22.679 today's passage verse verse 10. for to us god 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:26.860 revealed them through the spirit for the spirit 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:30.299 searches all things even the depths of god for 00:10:30.299 --> 00:10:32.299 who among men knows the thoughts of a man except 00:10:32.299 --> 00:10:35.460 the spirit of the man which is in him even so 00:10:35.460 --> 00:10:37.919 the thoughts of god no one knows except the spirit 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:40.950 of god Now we have received not the spirit of 00:10:40.950 --> 00:10:43.669 the world, but the spirit who is from God, so 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:46.509 that we may know the things freely given to us 00:10:46.509 --> 00:10:50.509 by God, which things we also speak, not in words 00:10:50.509 --> 00:10:53.049 taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by 00:10:53.049 --> 00:10:55.850 the spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with 00:10:55.850 --> 00:10:59.470 spiritual words. I know that's not easy to understand. 00:10:59.590 --> 00:11:09.200 We're going to break this down. Verse 14. cannot 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:12.799 understand them because they're spiritually appraised. 00:11:13.139 --> 00:11:15.919 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, 00:11:16.059 --> 00:11:19.659 yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who 00:11:19.659 --> 00:11:21.820 has known the mind of the Lord that he will instruct 00:11:21.820 --> 00:11:27.980 him? But we have the mind of Christ. Okay. So 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:30.240 let's start where we often start with some important 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:32.919 definitions. You may have noticed this already, 00:11:33.100 --> 00:11:35.100 but several times in this letter, Paul is going 00:11:35.100 --> 00:11:38.320 to divide the human race into certain categories 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:41.299 for the sake of clarification. And when he does 00:11:41.299 --> 00:11:43.559 that, by the way, he's not denying that every 00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:45.480 human being is made in the image of God. He's 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:47.879 not denying that every human being has inherent 00:11:47.879 --> 00:11:51.259 value and worth. When he divides the people into 00:11:51.259 --> 00:11:54.179 categories, he's simply trying to help us understand. 00:11:54.730 --> 00:11:56.990 certain spiritual truths and certain realities 00:11:56.990 --> 00:11:59.450 about the people that we interact with each and 00:11:59.450 --> 00:12:02.190 every day. Back in chapter one, just as an example, 00:12:02.330 --> 00:12:04.389 he talked about two groups of people, those who 00:12:04.389 --> 00:12:06.649 were perishing and those who were being saved. 00:12:06.750 --> 00:12:10.029 Do you remember? Two categories of people. Then 00:12:10.029 --> 00:12:13.330 he talked about Jews and Gentiles, right? Dividing 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:15.690 humanity up into two categories. And he said 00:12:15.690 --> 00:12:18.230 that the word of the cross is a stumbling block 00:12:18.230 --> 00:12:20.850 to that first group and it's foolishness to the 00:12:20.850 --> 00:12:24.620 second. So he's dividing humanity up. Here in 00:12:24.620 --> 00:12:27.779 chapter two, he makes another distinction between 00:12:27.779 --> 00:12:30.379 two categories of people. Look at the beginning 00:12:30.379 --> 00:12:35.700 of verse 14. He uses the term natural man. By 00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:38.259 the way, that's a term that I use too often, 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:40.340 probably in my sermons. And when I came to this 00:12:40.340 --> 00:12:41.899 passage, it dawned on me, I've probably never 00:12:41.899 --> 00:12:44.500 taken the time to really stop and explain what 00:12:44.500 --> 00:12:47.679 that means. But I sort of use that term because 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:49.820 it's important in terms of theological understanding. 00:12:50.179 --> 00:12:52.539 But today we get to explain it more. In the original 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:58.000 Greek, The term is sukikos, sukikos. And that's 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:00.940 a word that is related to the breath that is 00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:04.480 in man. It's a word that reflects the animating 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:07.960 principle of a creature. It's a term that's used 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:10.460 in several other key places in the New Testament. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:13.220 In 1 Corinthians 15, we're told that we have 00:13:13.220 --> 00:13:16.419 natural bodies in the flesh, earthly bodies, 00:13:16.580 --> 00:13:19.200 as opposed to the body we will have, which is 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:23.019 glorified. Okay, earthly bodies. It's used in 00:13:23.019 --> 00:13:25.899 James 3 to describe the type of wisdom that is 00:13:25.899 --> 00:13:28.879 not from God. It's the type of wisdom that is 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:33.100 earthly. It is natural, even demonic, James says. 00:13:33.580 --> 00:13:36.460 Most importantly, sukkikos is used in Jude 9 00:13:36.460 --> 00:13:40.259 to describe people, ready, who are devoid of 00:13:40.259 --> 00:13:44.120 the Spirit. devoid of the Spirit. And that's 00:13:44.120 --> 00:13:46.580 what I mean when I describe a natural man or 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:49.879 woman, someone who does not have the Spirit of 00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:52.659 God within them. So it's somebody who's not yet 00:13:52.659 --> 00:13:55.500 trusted in Christ, is not redeemed, does not 00:13:55.500 --> 00:13:58.679 know God, does not seek after God, and is currently 00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:02.039 living according to their fallen nature, right? 00:14:02.139 --> 00:14:04.080 The one that they were born into. They are slaves 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:07.820 to sin. Natural men and women are just ordinary 00:14:07.820 --> 00:14:10.779 people living around us every day. whose hearts 00:14:10.779 --> 00:14:13.720 and minds have not yet been transformed by the 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:16.279 Spirit of God. Make sense? That's what a natural 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:19.279 man is. Now, the opposite category that we see 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:22.059 here is the spiritual man. You see that phrase 00:14:22.059 --> 00:14:25.220 used at the beginning of verse 15, he who is 00:14:25.220 --> 00:14:28.340 spiritual. Pneumatikos is the way you pronounce 00:14:28.340 --> 00:14:30.899 this in the Greek, pneumatikos. And what Paul 00:14:30.899 --> 00:14:34.039 means by this term is simply this. It's a believer. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:37.779 It's a Christ follower. The spiritual man is 00:14:37.779 --> 00:14:40.100 redeemed by the blood of Christ, justified in 00:14:40.100 --> 00:14:43.279 the sight of God, but most specifically, he's 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:45.139 talking about a person who's been brought to 00:14:45.139 --> 00:14:48.480 life by the Spirit, right? Who's been born again 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:51.320 by the Spirit and who is now indwelled by the 00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:56.059 Spirit. And therefore, he has a new nature. He 00:14:56.059 --> 00:14:58.200 has a new nature. He's now a slave to righteousness, 00:14:58.299 --> 00:15:01.440 not sin, and he is progressively growing into 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:05.090 the likeness of a Savior. So very simply, we 00:15:05.090 --> 00:15:06.970 have two categories of people here. We have the 00:15:06.970 --> 00:15:10.409 haves and the have -nots. The spiritual man has 00:15:10.409 --> 00:15:12.990 the spirit. The natural man does not. Does that 00:15:12.990 --> 00:15:16.250 make sense? Okay, good. So we define those things 00:15:16.250 --> 00:15:18.309 carefully. Now, let's ask the question, what 00:15:18.309 --> 00:15:21.029 does life look like for the people in those two 00:15:21.029 --> 00:15:23.230 different categories? And let's start with the 00:15:23.230 --> 00:15:27.309 natural man. Look at verse 14 again. Here Paul 00:15:27.309 --> 00:15:29.590 repeats what he said multiple times already in 00:15:29.590 --> 00:15:34.120 this letter. He says, does not accept the things 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:38.039 of the Spirit of God. Does not accept them. Why? 00:15:38.820 --> 00:15:42.100 They're foolishness to him. They're foolishness. 00:15:42.580 --> 00:15:45.059 Then he goes on to say in the same verse, he 00:15:45.059 --> 00:15:49.299 cannot understand the things of the Spirit. Cannot. 00:15:50.059 --> 00:15:52.700 And for this reason, because they are spiritually 00:15:52.700 --> 00:15:56.259 appraised. They're spiritually evaluated. They're 00:15:56.259 --> 00:15:59.179 spiritually discerned. So he can't understand 00:15:59.179 --> 00:16:01.240 them because he doesn't have the spirit and they're 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:05.139 spiritually appraised. Make sense? And this is 00:16:05.139 --> 00:16:07.059 the Bible's consistent argument for something 00:16:07.059 --> 00:16:10.919 we call moral inability. And that's a phrase 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:14.259 you should understand. It's a hard doctrine for 00:16:14.259 --> 00:16:16.259 us to accept. And again, many in the evangelical 00:16:16.259 --> 00:16:19.580 world refuse to accept it because our pride as 00:16:19.580 --> 00:16:23.240 human beings hates, we hate the idea that there 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:26.690 is something as significant as salvation. Where 00:16:26.690 --> 00:16:29.830 we as natural men and women are unable to understand 00:16:29.830 --> 00:16:32.169 the things of God and respond to it. Because 00:16:32.169 --> 00:16:36.169 of our pride, we hate that idea. We'd much prefer 00:16:36.169 --> 00:16:38.169 to hear that even in our corrupted condition, 00:16:38.470 --> 00:16:41.610 we're still able to understand spiritual things. 00:16:41.710 --> 00:16:43.990 We're still able to turn to God. We're still 00:16:43.990 --> 00:16:48.129 able to participate in saving ourselves. That's 00:16:48.129 --> 00:16:50.429 what we want in our flesh, but that's not what 00:16:50.429 --> 00:16:54.809 the Bible teaches us. The natural man hears about 00:16:54.809 --> 00:16:58.580 God. Hears about Jesus. He mentally takes in 00:16:58.580 --> 00:17:03.019 some measure of facts about Christianity. But 00:17:03.019 --> 00:17:06.279 because of his sinful mind, he evaluates it as 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:10.380 what? That's foolishness. It's foolishness. So 00:17:10.380 --> 00:17:12.440 the problem isn't a lack of intelligence or education 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:16.420 or any faculty of the mind. The problem is his 00:17:16.420 --> 00:17:20.019 nature is corrupted. It's a difficult truth, 00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:23.410 isn't it? But listen, this is something. This 00:17:23.410 --> 00:17:26.390 is something, is a truism that you should understand 00:17:26.390 --> 00:17:28.769 because it's going to help you in all the theology 00:17:28.769 --> 00:17:31.049 you do in your life. You ready? Here's the truism. 00:17:31.150 --> 00:17:34.609 Every creature on earth acts according to its 00:17:34.609 --> 00:17:37.690 nature. The creature can't do anything else. 00:17:38.769 --> 00:17:41.789 We act according to our nature. The lion acts 00:17:41.789 --> 00:17:45.470 according to his lion nature. Right? He doesn't 00:17:45.470 --> 00:17:48.109 act according to the monkey nature. The lion 00:17:48.109 --> 00:17:51.089 nature. The fish acts according to its fish nature. 00:17:51.849 --> 00:17:55.190 It can't do otherwise. And an unbelieving man, 00:17:55.349 --> 00:17:59.490 a natural man who has turned inward and who is 00:17:59.490 --> 00:18:02.109 spiritually dead in his sin will act according 00:18:02.109 --> 00:18:06.390 to that nature. He can't do otherwise. Meaning 00:18:06.390 --> 00:18:09.529 he's not going to seek after God because it's 00:18:09.529 --> 00:18:12.309 not remotely possible that it's on his radar. 00:18:13.349 --> 00:18:15.670 He's only concerned about the things of the world. 00:18:15.730 --> 00:18:17.289 He's only concerned about things that benefit 00:18:17.289 --> 00:18:20.269 him. He wants his needs, his wants, his desires 00:18:20.269 --> 00:18:23.109 met. All of his values are physical and material. 00:18:23.289 --> 00:18:27.730 He sees no reason whatsoever to even investigate 00:18:27.730 --> 00:18:31.230 spiritual realities. And here's the dilemma. 00:18:31.349 --> 00:18:34.750 That same natural man might even own a Bible. 00:18:36.170 --> 00:18:40.089 He might have Christian friends or family. He 00:18:40.089 --> 00:18:43.009 may sit through church services somewhere. But 00:18:43.009 --> 00:18:45.869 still, he will never grasp the things of God's 00:18:45.869 --> 00:18:48.829 Spirit unless there's a change to his nature. 00:18:49.679 --> 00:18:53.839 He moves from natural to spiritual. As I quoted 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:55.799 Dr. MacArthur last Sunday, he's like a blind 00:18:55.799 --> 00:19:00.259 man in an art gallery or a deaf man at a concert. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:05.819 He's there, but he can't take it in. Now, don't 00:19:05.819 --> 00:19:07.940 get me wrong. That man can open the Bible. He 00:19:07.940 --> 00:19:10.420 can see the words on the page. He can read it 00:19:10.420 --> 00:19:12.680 with his eyes. He can go to church. He can hear 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:15.039 the gospel preached, right? His ears are working. 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:18.700 And it's not that it's gibberish to him. It's 00:19:18.700 --> 00:19:21.480 just foolishness to him. And there's a big difference 00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:24.000 with that. Gibberish is a collection of sounds 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.920 that are meaningless. But foolishness is where 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:29.799 a man actually assesses what he's hearing, something 00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:32.359 with actual meaning, but then just says, that's 00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:36.759 ridiculous. I don't need it. It's foolish. The 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:38.799 natural man looks at the Bible, he hears it preached, 00:19:38.940 --> 00:19:41.940 and he pushes it away because he will not accept 00:19:41.940 --> 00:19:44.759 that he is a sinner that stands under the wrath 00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:48.529 of God. He will not accept the fact that he cannot 00:19:48.529 --> 00:19:51.690 earn his way to heaven. He will not accept the 00:19:51.690 --> 00:19:55.190 fact that he needs an atoning sacrifice to pay 00:19:55.190 --> 00:19:58.769 the debts for his sin. And because he doesn't 00:19:58.769 --> 00:20:01.009 see that need, why would he ever die to himself 00:20:01.009 --> 00:20:03.269 and follow after Christ? That would be foolish. 00:20:03.349 --> 00:20:05.529 Would we not agree to that? If you don't see 00:20:05.529 --> 00:20:08.410 the need to have your debt paid for, why would 00:20:08.410 --> 00:20:11.490 you die to yourself and follow after Christ? 00:20:11.549 --> 00:20:13.930 That would be the height of foolishness. That's 00:20:13.930 --> 00:20:17.539 his nature. Because of his fallen nature, the 00:20:17.539 --> 00:20:21.240 natural man does not have the moral ability to 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:24.500 discern the things of the Spirit as eternally 00:20:24.500 --> 00:20:29.299 valuable. He doesn't see them as worthy of his 00:20:29.299 --> 00:20:33.660 devotion. I like the way John Piper talks about 00:20:33.660 --> 00:20:37.099 this. He focuses on the issue of the value of 00:20:37.099 --> 00:20:43.140 the gospel. Look at this quote. He says, When 00:20:43.140 --> 00:20:46.539 it asks us to give up a higher value for a lower 00:20:46.539 --> 00:20:50.460 one. If you advise me to jump off a bridge, I'll 00:20:50.460 --> 00:20:53.359 say that's foolish because I highly value my 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:56.480 life and I won't give it up. If you advise me 00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:59.359 not to spank my sons when they disobey, I say 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:01.900 that's foolish because I highly value the wisdom 00:21:01.900 --> 00:21:05.240 of scripture. And if you advise a natural man 00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:09.420 to follow Christ crucified, he will say that's 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:13.710 foolish because he highly values the self -reliance 00:21:13.710 --> 00:21:16.869 and self -exaltation that he would have to give 00:21:16.869 --> 00:21:21.029 up to accept it. In our natural condition, we 00:21:21.029 --> 00:21:28.589 cannot prefer Christ over self. By the way, this 00:21:28.589 --> 00:21:30.410 is not a sermon you often hear in churches today, 00:21:30.509 --> 00:21:33.630 is it? Right? Because this doesn't feel great. 00:21:34.710 --> 00:21:38.049 But it's right there in the pages of Scripture. 00:21:38.250 --> 00:21:42.680 We've got to preach hard truths. So the natural 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:44.559 man can't accept the things of God for what they 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:46.779 truly are. And what are they? What are the things 00:21:46.779 --> 00:21:48.779 of God? The most precious things imaginable. 00:21:49.700 --> 00:21:52.599 The most praiseworthy, valuable things that you 00:21:52.599 --> 00:21:56.279 and I can even fathom. The natural man can't 00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:59.180 see it that way. Only the Holy Spirit working 00:21:59.180 --> 00:22:03.319 in him can cause him to see it that way. And 00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:05.039 listen, if anybody could appreciate this truth, 00:22:05.160 --> 00:22:07.759 it's Paul. Think about Paul's life. Do you remember 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:10.759 when he was Saul and he was persecuting the church? 00:22:11.470 --> 00:22:14.849 right? He's a fanatically zealous Jew, right? 00:22:14.970 --> 00:22:17.349 He is fanatical about his religion, but his thinking 00:22:17.349 --> 00:22:20.289 is completely wrong. He doesn't understand the 00:22:20.289 --> 00:22:23.509 things of God or the Spirit of God, right? And 00:22:23.509 --> 00:22:25.809 then Christ reveals himself to Paul on the Damascus 00:22:25.809 --> 00:22:29.269 Road, and everything changes. His whole thinking 00:22:29.269 --> 00:22:31.990 is reversed. All the things that Paul once valued 00:22:31.990 --> 00:22:35.029 so much, right? All the things that he thought 00:22:35.029 --> 00:22:37.890 gave him favor before God, later on, what does 00:22:37.890 --> 00:22:39.930 he say after meeting Christ? I count them all 00:22:39.930 --> 00:22:43.619 as loss. How do you explain that? How do you 00:22:43.619 --> 00:22:46.079 explain that radical change? It's a change in 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:51.200 his nature. He went from natural to spiritual. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:53.539 And now he has a new ability to understand and 00:22:53.539 --> 00:22:55.460 embrace the things of God. Does that make sense? 00:22:55.980 --> 00:22:58.200 He's a great example of this very principle. 00:22:59.299 --> 00:23:01.380 So let's look at the life then of a spiritual 00:23:01.380 --> 00:23:04.640 man or woman. Someone who has the Holy Spirit 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:08.779 within. Hopefully everybody in this room. This 00:23:08.779 --> 00:23:12.019 is somebody who acknowledges his sin. Right? 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:15.460 Someone who loves God, loves his word, worships 00:23:15.460 --> 00:23:19.599 Jesus, values the gospel above all else and is 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:22.559 growing in sanctification. A spiritual man or 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:24.740 woman. And once again, this comes back to the 00:23:24.740 --> 00:23:27.200 nature, right? The spiritual man is a new creation 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:30.539 who has a new nature. So he acts according to 00:23:30.539 --> 00:23:35.680 his new nature. Correct? Love for God now naturally 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:39.400 flows out of him. He not only understands the 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:43.180 things of the Spirit, he pursues them. He seeks 00:23:43.180 --> 00:23:45.220 to do the works of God. He seeks to love and 00:23:45.220 --> 00:23:47.539 serve others because that's a part of who he 00:23:47.539 --> 00:23:50.400 is now. That's his identity in Christ. These 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:52.480 things become natural because that's his new 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:57.660 nature. Look at verse 10 again. Paul writes, 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:00.960 to us, and we saw this last week when Paul talks 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:02.920 about we and us in this passage, he's talking 00:24:02.920 --> 00:24:06.589 about himself and his fellow apostles. To us, 00:24:06.650 --> 00:24:10.490 God revealed the formerly hidden wisdom of God 00:24:10.490 --> 00:24:13.349 found in the gospel. How? Through the Spirit, 00:24:13.609 --> 00:24:16.730 he writes. These things revealed to the apostles 00:24:16.730 --> 00:24:19.130 through the Spirit. So get this, even to the 00:24:19.130 --> 00:24:21.710 apostles, these are men we highly value. We tend 00:24:21.710 --> 00:24:25.690 to think of them as extremely godly people. But 00:24:25.690 --> 00:24:27.269 they couldn't figure these things out on their 00:24:27.269 --> 00:24:29.789 own, just like us, right? They needed these things 00:24:29.789 --> 00:24:32.890 revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. So this 00:24:32.890 --> 00:24:36.119 is a gift. from God to us. It was a gift to the 00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:39.099 apostles. It's a gift to us. The infusing of 00:24:39.099 --> 00:24:42.259 the gospel into our souls that causes us to say, 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:45.079 yes, this is the highest value possible. This 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:47.680 is the most important thing in our lifetimes, 00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:51.599 to know God and to be saved. It's worthy of our 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:54.500 complete devotion, but that's a work of the Spirit 00:24:54.500 --> 00:24:57.400 revealing these things to us. And of course, 00:24:57.400 --> 00:24:59.799 the Spirit is perfectly equipped to do this because 00:24:59.799 --> 00:25:02.750 if you look at verse 11, Paul says that he knows 00:25:02.750 --> 00:25:05.710 the depths of the wisdom of God. He knows the 00:25:05.710 --> 00:25:09.190 very thoughts of God. And in fact, there's nothing 00:25:09.190 --> 00:25:12.769 in God that is unknown to the Holy Spirit. You 00:25:12.769 --> 00:25:16.750 see the analogy in verse 11? Comparison between 00:25:16.750 --> 00:25:19.549 man and God. Just as you and I know our own thoughts 00:25:19.549 --> 00:25:23.349 and concerns, and if we choose to, we can reveal 00:25:23.349 --> 00:25:25.750 them to other people, but we know our own thoughts. 00:25:26.029 --> 00:25:30.069 So it is with God. No one knows the depths of 00:25:30.069 --> 00:25:31.930 God except the three persons of the Trinity. 00:25:32.269 --> 00:25:35.250 And if God wants to reveal himself to us, he 00:25:35.250 --> 00:25:37.609 can. But until then, we can't know his thoughts. 00:25:39.130 --> 00:25:41.269 He's chosen to impart his wisdom through the 00:25:41.269 --> 00:25:43.450 Spirit. And these are things that human beings 00:25:43.450 --> 00:25:47.289 could never know because we're not God. We can't 00:25:47.289 --> 00:25:49.250 know the things of God because we're not God. 00:25:49.390 --> 00:25:53.789 They have to be revealed by one who is God. And 00:25:53.789 --> 00:25:55.829 this is why we read from the Belgic Confession 00:25:55.829 --> 00:25:58.759 earlier in the service. to understand what the 00:25:58.759 --> 00:26:00.900 church has always believed about the Holy Spirit. 00:26:01.019 --> 00:26:02.960 Let me share a few of those details with you 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:05.839 again. This is important. He is the third person 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:10.519 of the Trinity. He is not a force, an impersonal 00:26:10.519 --> 00:26:14.940 force like Star Wars. He is a person. He has 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:18.099 personhood. We refer to him with pronouns. Scripture 00:26:18.099 --> 00:26:21.079 refers to him with pronouns. He is a person. 00:26:21.259 --> 00:26:24.059 He is the third person of the Trinity. He's not 00:26:24.059 --> 00:26:27.680 made. He's not created. He's not begotten. He 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:32.039 proceeds eternally and necessarily from the Father 00:26:32.039 --> 00:26:34.799 and the Son. Find me after the service and I'll 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:36.960 explain that some more. There's a very technical 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:39.619 language that goes with that. But there's never 00:26:39.619 --> 00:26:42.160 been a time when the Spirit wasn't. He's eternally. 00:26:43.339 --> 00:26:45.740 proceeding from the Father and the Son. And necessarily, 00:26:45.859 --> 00:26:51.200 God has always been three persons in one. Going 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:54.000 on. He's of one and the same essence, majesty, 00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:56.920 and glory with the Father and the Son being true 00:26:56.920 --> 00:27:01.720 God himself. Now, the church spent hundreds of 00:27:01.720 --> 00:27:04.279 years figuring all that out, right? And you can 00:27:04.279 --> 00:27:07.059 go back to the councils and look at the language, 00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:09.880 but that's not even the most amazing thing to 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:12.160 me about the Holy Spirit. You know what it is? 00:27:12.670 --> 00:27:16.869 It's how he's been given to us. Not just to be 00:27:16.869 --> 00:27:20.670 with us, not just to be among us, but to be what? 00:27:21.329 --> 00:27:25.430 Within us. Have you ever thought about that? 00:27:26.349 --> 00:27:28.970 Like, what is entailed in that theologically 00:27:28.970 --> 00:27:32.069 and metaphysically? That the Spirit of God is 00:27:32.069 --> 00:27:37.170 within us. Well, consider this. The divine third 00:27:37.170 --> 00:27:40.589 person of the Trinity takes up actual personal 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:44.339 in your inner being. Now we use the term heart, 00:27:44.440 --> 00:27:47.240 but that's just our inner being, right? Our soul, 00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:51.380 okay? He takes residence up in our inner being 00:27:51.380 --> 00:27:54.579 and he transforms us from a state of spiritual 00:27:54.579 --> 00:28:00.099 death into a living temple of God. Oh, that's 00:28:00.099 --> 00:28:06.440 easy. But we should think of it this way. We 00:28:06.440 --> 00:28:09.680 were of the flesh, right? Dead in our sins and 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:12.920 trespasses. decaying, falling apart, and he's 00:28:12.920 --> 00:28:17.079 now made us the temple of God. It's a union between 00:28:17.079 --> 00:28:21.099 the uncreated divine essence and your created 00:28:21.099 --> 00:28:24.440 soul without merging those two things into one 00:28:24.440 --> 00:28:30.640 or somehow deifying your human nature. It's a 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:34.460 metaphysical miracle what's going on within us. 00:28:34.500 --> 00:28:36.660 And because he dwells within us, it means he 00:28:36.660 --> 00:28:41.869 can work directly upon your faculties. Your thinking, 00:28:41.990 --> 00:28:44.630 your reasoning, your choices, your decision -making, 00:28:44.829 --> 00:28:48.650 your affections, your feelings, all of it. He 00:28:48.650 --> 00:28:50.970 can work directly upon you. And as we yield, 00:28:51.089 --> 00:28:54.750 and that's a key word, we cooperate with the 00:28:54.750 --> 00:28:56.930 Spirit in our sanctification. As we yield to 00:28:56.930 --> 00:29:00.230 His work in us, we are able by our new nature 00:29:00.230 --> 00:29:03.809 to cooperate with Him in the process of sanctification. 00:29:04.549 --> 00:29:08.109 We are able because He's indwelled us to actually 00:29:08.109 --> 00:29:13.690 have communion with God Almighty because of the 00:29:13.690 --> 00:29:16.529 Spirit. We're able to truly love God, to love 00:29:16.529 --> 00:29:18.410 our neighbor, to love our fellow church members 00:29:18.410 --> 00:29:22.069 because of the Spirit within us. We're able to 00:29:22.069 --> 00:29:25.930 wage war against the sin that entangles us, growing 00:29:25.930 --> 00:29:28.069 and maturing over time into the image of our 00:29:28.069 --> 00:29:31.509 Savior. This is all because God sent His Spirit 00:29:31.509 --> 00:29:34.049 to dwell within us. That's a big deal, isn't 00:29:34.049 --> 00:29:37.089 it? And yet we don't often study this because 00:29:37.089 --> 00:29:40.650 it's hard, because it's mysterious. Now in verse 00:29:40.650 --> 00:29:43.930 12, Paul expounds on the why this has happened. 00:29:43.970 --> 00:29:45.890 Why has God given us the Spirit in this way? 00:29:46.430 --> 00:29:50.250 He writes, Now we have received, not the Spirit 00:29:50.250 --> 00:29:52.029 of the world, but the Spirit who is from God. 00:29:52.130 --> 00:29:54.930 Now this is important. Notice men like Paul as 00:29:54.930 --> 00:29:59.190 created beings are passive inheritors of the 00:29:59.190 --> 00:30:03.170 things of God. We receive the Holy Spirit. We 00:30:03.170 --> 00:30:05.150 don't go out and take hold of it. We receive 00:30:05.150 --> 00:30:08.049 it. And then the wisdom of God is revealed to 00:30:08.049 --> 00:30:10.589 us. We don't discover it on our own. So get that 00:30:10.589 --> 00:30:13.089 now. We receive and it's revealed. We are the 00:30:13.089 --> 00:30:16.910 passive inheritors of the things of the Spirit 00:30:16.910 --> 00:30:19.950 of God. And then we're told why they're revealed. 00:30:19.990 --> 00:30:22.589 Look at the next phrase in verse 12. When you 00:30:22.589 --> 00:30:26.309 see the phrase so that in Scripture, that is 00:30:26.309 --> 00:30:28.990 a purpose clause. What you're about to hear is 00:30:28.990 --> 00:30:32.890 the purpose of something being done. So that. 00:30:34.200 --> 00:30:36.640 We've received the Spirit of God. The things 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:39.240 of the Spirit have been revealed to us so that 00:30:39.240 --> 00:30:43.500 we may know or understand the things freely given 00:30:43.500 --> 00:30:47.839 to us by God. This is great news. God wants his 00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:50.400 sons and daughters to understand all the things 00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:53.460 that he's granted to us by his sovereign grace 00:30:53.460 --> 00:30:56.759 and divine will. Remember, Jesus actually promised 00:30:56.759 --> 00:30:59.400 this in the Gospels. Remember, he promised to 00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:02.700 send the Spirit to do exactly this? Listen to 00:31:02.700 --> 00:31:06.559 John 14. You guys should know there's two key 00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:09.700 passages in the Gospel of John about Jesus' promise 00:31:09.700 --> 00:31:13.640 to send the Spirit. John 14, John 16. John 14, 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:16.400 it says, I will ask the Father, and he will give 00:31:16.400 --> 00:31:21.519 you another helper. Okay? Like Jesus, another 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:26.319 helper, that he may be with you forever. So that's 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:28.180 not going to be a human being, is it? Forever. 00:31:29.099 --> 00:31:32.279 That is the Spirit of truth, listen now, whom 00:31:32.279 --> 00:31:37.809 the world... cannot receive, cannot, unable to. 00:31:38.210 --> 00:31:41.509 The world cannot receive because it, the world, 00:31:41.529 --> 00:31:44.890 does not see him or know him. So there's the 00:31:44.890 --> 00:31:47.430 confirmation from Jesus of what Paul says here 00:31:47.430 --> 00:31:50.230 in 1 Corinthians 2. The natural man of this world 00:31:50.230 --> 00:31:53.509 cannot receive the Spirit, cannot see him, cannot 00:31:53.509 --> 00:31:56.809 know him. Now here comes the contrast. He says, 00:31:56.869 --> 00:32:00.230 but you, the follower of Christ, you know him. 00:32:01.690 --> 00:32:06.559 You know him. Because he abides with you, and 00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:10.559 get this now, will be in you. So in this moment, 00:32:10.680 --> 00:32:12.940 right, this is Jesus still on the earth. He hasn't 00:32:12.940 --> 00:32:15.940 ascended yet. But once he ascends, he promises 00:32:15.940 --> 00:32:19.740 in Acts 2, we see this, that the Spirit is going 00:32:19.740 --> 00:32:23.480 to come upon the disciples and fill them. He'll 00:32:23.480 --> 00:32:26.660 be in you. And then the verse finishes with this. 00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:28.920 The helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father 00:32:28.920 --> 00:32:31.700 will send in my name, he will teach you all things. 00:32:32.380 --> 00:32:34.460 And bring to your remembrance all that I said 00:32:34.460 --> 00:32:37.220 to you. And then from John 16, we had our call 00:32:37.220 --> 00:32:40.500 to worship earlier today. Jesus promises, I will 00:32:40.500 --> 00:32:43.619 send the Spirit to you. When he comes, he will 00:32:43.619 --> 00:32:46.579 convict the world concerning sin and righteousness 00:32:46.579 --> 00:32:50.240 and judgment. That's the work he does in people 00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:52.680 that he's drawing to himself. He convicts them 00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:56.269 of sin and righteousness and judgment. And Jesus 00:32:56.269 --> 00:32:58.289 says, when the spirit of truth comes, he will 00:32:58.289 --> 00:33:01.190 guide you believers into all truth. He will glorify 00:33:01.190 --> 00:33:03.569 me for he will take what is mine and declare 00:33:03.569 --> 00:33:07.710 it to you. So Jesus promised this. And now here 00:33:07.710 --> 00:33:10.250 in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul lays out the fulfillment 00:33:10.250 --> 00:33:13.950 of it. We've received the Holy Spirit, he says, 00:33:13.970 --> 00:33:16.990 just as Jesus promised. He's revealed to us the 00:33:16.990 --> 00:33:19.829 wisdom of God in the gospel. He's enabled us 00:33:19.829 --> 00:33:22.029 to understand all the things that have been freely 00:33:22.029 --> 00:33:24.990 given to us. All the blessings that we have. 00:33:25.549 --> 00:33:27.529 We could have never got these things on our own. 00:33:27.569 --> 00:33:29.690 We could not have grasped them on our own. But 00:33:29.690 --> 00:33:32.430 in God's goodness and grace, he's chosen to make 00:33:32.430 --> 00:33:35.849 them known to us, his apostles. And now that 00:33:35.849 --> 00:33:38.549 we have it, his apostles, it is our privilege 00:33:38.549 --> 00:33:41.470 to impart all of these things to you Corinthians 00:33:41.470 --> 00:33:49.549 and by extension to all you Okies in 2026. That's 00:33:49.549 --> 00:33:51.309 what Paul's saying. We've received these things 00:33:51.309 --> 00:33:54.130 and now we get to impart these things to you. 00:33:55.690 --> 00:33:58.349 And that's the focus of verse 13. Look at it. 00:33:58.549 --> 00:34:00.670 This is a bit confusing. Let me try to explain 00:34:00.670 --> 00:34:03.190 this. Paul refers to the Spirit, enabling the 00:34:03.190 --> 00:34:06.869 apostles to know these things, verse 13, which 00:34:06.869 --> 00:34:12.150 things we also speak or impart to others. And 00:34:12.150 --> 00:34:14.130 what are they speaking of? Paul goes on. Not 00:34:14.130 --> 00:34:17.170 words taught to us by human wisdom, but words 00:34:17.170 --> 00:34:20.329 taught to us by the Spirit. And how are they 00:34:20.329 --> 00:34:23.360 imparting these words? He continues. by combining 00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:26.519 spiritual thoughts or spiritual truths with spiritual 00:34:26.519 --> 00:34:30.619 words. Now, let me try to paraphrase that because 00:34:30.619 --> 00:34:33.500 it's kind of hard for us to understand. Okay, 00:34:33.579 --> 00:34:37.139 so this is my paraphrase of this more difficult 00:34:37.139 --> 00:34:41.059 section. Paul says, we, the apostles, have received 00:34:41.059 --> 00:34:43.219 these divine truths directly from the Spirit 00:34:43.219 --> 00:34:46.420 of God, and now we're imparting them to you in 00:34:46.420 --> 00:34:49.519 the church. These are truths that are unknowable 00:34:49.519 --> 00:34:52.039 in human terms. They come from God's wisdom. 00:34:52.570 --> 00:34:55.289 taught to us by God himself. Here's the key. 00:34:55.510 --> 00:34:58.550 They are spirit -infused thoughts communicated 00:34:58.550 --> 00:35:02.190 to you in words that only a spirit -led man or 00:35:02.190 --> 00:35:08.010 woman can understand. Make sense? All this is 00:35:08.010 --> 00:35:09.889 is a reference to the writings in the New Testament. 00:35:10.969 --> 00:35:14.469 That's what's being discussed here, okay? The 00:35:14.469 --> 00:35:16.630 writings of the New Testament. Spiritual words, 00:35:16.750 --> 00:35:20.179 right, which are God -breathed. According to 00:35:20.179 --> 00:35:24.000 2 Timothy 3 .16, God breathed through these men, 00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:27.320 these writers of Scripture, as God moved in their 00:35:27.320 --> 00:35:29.800 hearts and carried them along by the Holy Spirit 00:35:29.800 --> 00:35:33.099 to write down His words, these spiritual words. 00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:36.519 And that's why every word of God is pure and 00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:39.219 infallible and inerrant in its original form. 00:35:39.380 --> 00:35:42.579 They are spiritual truths set forth in Spirit 00:35:42.579 --> 00:35:48.519 -given words. Spiritual truths set forth. in 00:35:48.519 --> 00:35:52.579 spirit given words and so we have a contrast 00:35:52.579 --> 00:35:55.260 here right the spirit of the world did you know 00:35:55.260 --> 00:35:57.400 this the spirit of the world teaches lost people 00:35:57.400 --> 00:36:01.559 the language of the world and the vast majority 00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:04.440 of people live by that language the spirit of 00:36:04.440 --> 00:36:07.639 god teaches us a whole different language words 00:36:07.639 --> 00:36:11.179 that convey the treasure and value of god's forgiveness 00:36:11.179 --> 00:36:14.619 and grace and salvation that's what we have in 00:36:14.619 --> 00:36:17.829 the scriptures So the Spirit instructs us with 00:36:17.829 --> 00:36:19.909 spiritual words, which we've recorded, which 00:36:19.909 --> 00:36:22.170 are recorded in the Scriptures, and it's by the 00:36:22.170 --> 00:36:24.849 illuminating guidance of that very same Spirit 00:36:24.849 --> 00:36:29.289 that lives in us that causes us to see that these 00:36:29.289 --> 00:36:32.829 words on the page are not just words. They're 00:36:32.829 --> 00:36:36.309 not just flat words on a page, are they? They're 00:36:36.309 --> 00:36:39.150 Spirit -infused words. They're divine truth. 00:36:39.309 --> 00:36:42.809 They are the highest value possible. Why do we 00:36:42.809 --> 00:36:44.869 sit here week after week and look at the words 00:36:44.869 --> 00:36:48.110 on this page? and understand what we're looking 00:36:48.110 --> 00:36:51.809 at. That it's more than just what you're going 00:36:51.809 --> 00:36:53.929 to be taught in class next week in your textbook. 00:36:55.050 --> 00:36:58.349 Right? It's of the highest value. The Spirit 00:36:58.349 --> 00:37:01.429 has taught us that. And that's what Paul's getting 00:37:01.429 --> 00:37:07.929 at here. Now, verses 15 and 16, this is the crescendo 00:37:07.929 --> 00:37:11.570 of his argument. This is the crescendo of this 00:37:11.570 --> 00:37:14.809 entire section here. Look at the privileges we 00:37:14.809 --> 00:37:18.510 have as spiritual men and women who belong to 00:37:18.510 --> 00:37:21.869 God. Verse 15, but he who is spiritual appraises 00:37:21.869 --> 00:37:25.969 or evaluates all things, yet he himself is evaluated 00:37:25.969 --> 00:37:30.369 by no one. What does Paul mean here? Simply this, 00:37:30.469 --> 00:37:32.989 that because the spiritual person, the believer 00:37:32.989 --> 00:37:36.570 is indwelled and guided by the Holy Spirit, he 00:37:36.570 --> 00:37:40.449 or she has insights that the natural man or woman 00:37:40.449 --> 00:37:44.920 does not have access to. We know the truths about 00:37:44.920 --> 00:37:48.139 this world that the natural man doesn't know, 00:37:48.219 --> 00:37:53.159 can't know. With the Spirit renewing and illuminating 00:37:53.159 --> 00:37:56.179 our minds, we can make judgments that are true 00:37:56.179 --> 00:37:59.239 about all kinds of things. And if we're obediently 00:37:59.239 --> 00:38:01.519 walking in the Spirit, guess what? We're going 00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:04.380 to evaluate things in the same way that God evaluates 00:38:04.380 --> 00:38:07.639 them. Correct? If we're walking in the Spirit 00:38:07.639 --> 00:38:11.039 and He's guiding us, the way God sees that, that's 00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:14.139 the way I see it. This is the beauty of having 00:38:14.139 --> 00:38:16.099 the Spirit within. In contrast, the unbeliever 00:38:16.099 --> 00:38:19.059 doesn't see things the way God does because they 00:38:19.059 --> 00:38:21.480 don't have the ability to do so. And so guess 00:38:21.480 --> 00:38:23.860 what? Unbelievers end up with wrong conclusions 00:38:23.860 --> 00:38:26.519 about life and death and eternity and all those 00:38:26.519 --> 00:38:28.159 things, right? Because they don't have the Spirit. 00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:32.860 They can neither understand us. Did you know 00:38:32.860 --> 00:38:36.539 that? They really can't understand you. They 00:38:36.539 --> 00:38:38.619 really can't evaluate us without the Spirit. 00:38:39.690 --> 00:38:42.210 Because we really do live in two completely different 00:38:42.210 --> 00:38:45.849 worlds. Right? We have two completely different 00:38:45.849 --> 00:38:49.750 worldviews, believer and unbeliever. In an ultimate 00:38:49.750 --> 00:38:51.349 sense, we belong to two completely different 00:38:51.349 --> 00:38:55.110 kingdoms. We should acknowledge that truth. But 00:38:55.110 --> 00:38:57.610 here's the thing. While the unbeliever can't 00:38:57.610 --> 00:39:00.710 judge us because he can't understand us, guess 00:39:00.710 --> 00:39:03.469 what? We can understand and judge the nonbeliever. 00:39:03.550 --> 00:39:06.309 You know why? Because we've all been there. Because 00:39:06.309 --> 00:39:08.699 we were born into that. Because we understand 00:39:08.699 --> 00:39:10.559 the way the world thinks. We were once there. 00:39:10.760 --> 00:39:13.059 They can't understand us, but we can understand 00:39:13.059 --> 00:39:16.980 them. And by the way, that's a huge bonus for 00:39:16.980 --> 00:39:19.260 us when we take the gospel and go outside these 00:39:19.260 --> 00:39:22.360 walls and share with unbelievers. We can understand 00:39:22.360 --> 00:39:24.679 where they're coming from. We understand the 00:39:24.679 --> 00:39:27.219 way, why they do what they do, the way that they 00:39:27.219 --> 00:39:29.559 act in this world, because we were once there 00:39:29.559 --> 00:39:36.139 before our nature was changed by God. So I mentioned 00:39:36.139 --> 00:39:39.730 this last week. When we bump our heads into the 00:39:39.730 --> 00:39:42.829 wall and people just reject us or mock us or 00:39:42.829 --> 00:39:44.849 say that what you're telling me is foolishness, 00:39:44.949 --> 00:39:48.269 our response isn't to be frustration or anger. 00:39:48.329 --> 00:39:50.869 It's to be compassion. We understand why they 00:39:50.869 --> 00:39:53.909 feel that way. The Bible's told us why they feel 00:39:53.909 --> 00:39:57.570 that way, and we once felt that way. So we can 00:39:57.570 --> 00:40:02.489 be compassionate. We can be compassionate. Finally, 00:40:02.510 --> 00:40:04.809 we come to verse 16. Paul seals his argument. 00:40:05.400 --> 00:40:07.179 with a question that comes to us from Isaiah 00:40:07.179 --> 00:40:09.980 40, who is known or who has understood the mind 00:40:09.980 --> 00:40:15.159 of the Lord? Who can instruct him? And then he 00:40:15.159 --> 00:40:17.099 says this amazing thing, but we have the mind 00:40:17.099 --> 00:40:19.940 of Christ. So in answer to the question, who 00:40:19.940 --> 00:40:21.780 can understand the mind of God? Obviously, none 00:40:21.780 --> 00:40:24.940 of us completely, right? No one in human history 00:40:24.940 --> 00:40:27.019 has ever been able to probe the depths of God's 00:40:27.019 --> 00:40:29.699 thoughts and ways or match wits with him, and 00:40:29.699 --> 00:40:34.139 yet Paul says, be amazed at this. that we as 00:40:34.139 --> 00:40:36.320 believers have right now the mind of Christ. 00:40:38.500 --> 00:40:41.900 By means of the written word and the indwelling 00:40:41.900 --> 00:40:45.800 spirit, we have access to the mind and the worldview 00:40:45.800 --> 00:40:48.340 of Jesus. His perspective is now ours, right? 00:40:48.579 --> 00:40:52.420 His worldview is ours. And slowly but surely, 00:40:52.500 --> 00:40:55.739 we are beginning to evaluate things in the same 00:40:55.739 --> 00:40:59.059 way that he evaluates things. And we begin to 00:40:59.059 --> 00:41:02.880 see where this plan and purpose of God is heading. 00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:05.500 We understand the way he's operating in the world. 00:41:05.619 --> 00:41:08.219 We come to realize what the most important things 00:41:08.219 --> 00:41:11.639 in this life really are. Most of all, we see 00:41:11.639 --> 00:41:14.139 God for who he is. We understand what he's done 00:41:14.139 --> 00:41:18.380 for us in Christ. We have all those things because 00:41:18.380 --> 00:41:20.219 we have the mind of Christ. Now, this doesn't 00:41:20.219 --> 00:41:23.679 mean that we no longer need to grow. He says, 00:41:23.739 --> 00:41:25.219 oh, Jeff, I don't need to come to church anymore. 00:41:25.340 --> 00:41:28.309 I already have the mind of Christ. No, we still 00:41:28.309 --> 00:41:30.150 need to grow. We still need to mature in our 00:41:30.150 --> 00:41:32.929 understanding of things. That is a lifelong process. 00:41:33.050 --> 00:41:35.690 But the good news is, no matter where you are 00:41:35.690 --> 00:41:38.510 on your spiritual journey towards maturity, you 00:41:38.510 --> 00:41:41.690 now have the ability, because of your new nature, 00:41:41.849 --> 00:41:45.190 to access the mind of Christ in the written word 00:41:45.190 --> 00:41:49.989 and by the indwelling spirit. The only question 00:41:49.989 --> 00:41:53.190 is, are you exercising it? Right? We should be 00:41:53.190 --> 00:41:56.590 exercising the mind of Christ by studying God's 00:41:56.590 --> 00:42:02.929 word. By prayer, by the Spirit. So, we wrap up 00:42:02.929 --> 00:42:06.449 with a few important observations. If you're 00:42:06.449 --> 00:42:08.989 here this morning and you haven't yet bowed your 00:42:08.989 --> 00:42:13.429 knee to Christ, you haven't given your life over 00:42:13.429 --> 00:42:16.530 to Him, you haven't embraced the gospel as not 00:42:16.530 --> 00:42:18.650 just the wisdom of God, but the highest wisdom 00:42:18.650 --> 00:42:22.590 possible in this life, then the point of this 00:42:22.590 --> 00:42:26.500 text today is twofold. The point for you is one, 00:42:26.559 --> 00:42:29.599 an urgent warning, and number two, a sincere 00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:34.260 invitation. An urgent warning and a sincere invitation. 00:42:34.599 --> 00:42:40.679 God has not hidden himself from you. You have 00:42:40.679 --> 00:42:44.340 the evidence you need to know that he exists. 00:42:44.599 --> 00:42:47.980 And in fact, he has sovereignly spoken to you 00:42:47.980 --> 00:42:53.900 today in his word. Cannot blame the hiddenness 00:42:53.900 --> 00:42:59.460 of God. I pray that you have eyes to see the 00:42:59.460 --> 00:43:02.440 depths of this word and ears to hear the richness 00:43:02.440 --> 00:43:06.300 of the message of the gospel. But as you think 00:43:06.300 --> 00:43:09.400 about that, consider the hopeless condition you 00:43:09.400 --> 00:43:16.500 are in apart from Christ. You owe a debt to the 00:43:16.500 --> 00:43:20.880 creator for your sin. It's a massive debt. It's 00:43:20.880 --> 00:43:24.380 as big as my debt. Don't get me wrong. We all 00:43:24.380 --> 00:43:27.820 owe this debt. But you have no currency to pay 00:43:27.820 --> 00:43:32.539 that debt apart from Christ. Consider that condition 00:43:32.539 --> 00:43:34.800 that you're in. Consider the sacrificial love 00:43:34.800 --> 00:43:39.000 that the Lord of glory showed you when he took 00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:43.579 your place on the cross. Consider the risk you're 00:43:43.579 --> 00:43:46.440 taking right now, today, not knowing when you're 00:43:46.440 --> 00:43:49.139 going to pass from this life, the risk you are 00:43:49.139 --> 00:43:53.599 taking in trusting in yourself and your own goodness. 00:43:55.050 --> 00:43:59.530 Knowing that someday you will face Christ himself 00:43:59.530 --> 00:44:04.190 and answer for your life. What a risk you're 00:44:04.190 --> 00:44:07.510 taking. Consider the glorious future that God 00:44:07.510 --> 00:44:10.949 promises you if you will bow your knee to Christ 00:44:10.949 --> 00:44:13.670 and respond to the Spirit's work in your heart. 00:44:13.909 --> 00:44:16.909 The glorious future, the great inheritance of 00:44:16.909 --> 00:44:20.650 eternal life. Consider that. My advice to you 00:44:20.650 --> 00:44:24.559 is turn your eyes to Christ. repent of your sin, 00:44:24.659 --> 00:44:27.599 trust in him alone, receive that Holy Spirit 00:44:27.599 --> 00:44:31.880 who will give you the wisdom of God, change your 00:44:31.880 --> 00:44:34.639 nature, show you all these amazing things, the 00:44:34.639 --> 00:44:37.900 greatest of all worth, the greatest of all value, 00:44:38.059 --> 00:44:43.380 and the promise of eternal life. For the Christians 00:44:43.380 --> 00:44:45.219 in the room this morning, let me say it again, 00:44:45.340 --> 00:44:47.219 you have the mind of Christ. That is a stunning 00:44:47.219 --> 00:44:50.559 truth. Now, there are limits to that, right? 00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:53.519 We know that, we know that, Even though we have 00:44:53.519 --> 00:44:55.360 the mind of Christ, we can't plumb all the depths 00:44:55.360 --> 00:44:57.360 of God. There are still certain secret things 00:44:57.360 --> 00:45:01.019 that belong to him alone. We know it doesn't 00:45:01.019 --> 00:45:03.300 mean that Bible study is no longer challenging 00:45:03.300 --> 00:45:06.019 or hard work. It is, right? Wouldn't that be 00:45:06.019 --> 00:45:08.320 nice? I have the mind of Christ. I can study 00:45:08.320 --> 00:45:11.059 the Bible. It's really easy now. Every passage 00:45:11.059 --> 00:45:14.619 is so simple. It's not the case. We are called 00:45:14.619 --> 00:45:17.679 to be diligent in studying the word, trusting 00:45:17.679 --> 00:45:19.780 that as we dive into it, the spirit is right 00:45:19.780 --> 00:45:23.900 there with us. illuminating the meaning. But 00:45:23.900 --> 00:45:26.820 as we pray for the Spirit's help, we're not asking 00:45:26.820 --> 00:45:29.139 Him to spare us from the hard work that's required 00:45:29.139 --> 00:45:33.420 of students of the Word. It doesn't mean that 00:45:33.420 --> 00:45:35.420 we have no need for human teachers either, right? 00:45:35.679 --> 00:45:37.760 We're told in Scripture that God has given gifts 00:45:37.760 --> 00:45:40.139 to the church and elders and pastor teachers, 00:45:40.500 --> 00:45:42.739 men who through diligent work themselves are 00:45:42.739 --> 00:45:45.000 studying so that they can teach in order that 00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:48.380 the congregation can more fully understand the 00:45:48.380 --> 00:45:52.869 richness of the gospel. But in all this, we have 00:45:52.869 --> 00:45:55.170 to trust in this promise. You have the mind of 00:45:55.170 --> 00:45:57.670 Christ. Again, the question is, are you exercising 00:45:57.670 --> 00:46:01.929 that? Are you leaning into that each and every 00:46:01.929 --> 00:46:06.030 day? The mind of Christ. If you've submitted 00:46:06.030 --> 00:46:08.389 your life to Christ, you're among those who see 00:46:08.389 --> 00:46:10.510 and hear the truth of God's word by his spirit, 00:46:10.670 --> 00:46:12.809 then let me tell you what the point of this text 00:46:12.809 --> 00:46:16.159 is for you today. It's so that you can answer 00:46:16.159 --> 00:46:18.099 the question that I posed at the very beginning. 00:46:18.300 --> 00:46:21.639 How have you, a sinner, taken hold of the wisdom 00:46:21.639 --> 00:46:24.820 of God? How have you been saved? Do you know? 00:46:28.159 --> 00:46:30.280 Do you just feel it or do you know it from Scripture? 00:46:31.500 --> 00:46:33.679 You should know it from Scripture. This text 00:46:33.679 --> 00:46:36.219 is a reminder that you and I that are receiving 00:46:36.219 --> 00:46:40.469 of the wisdom of God is a gift. From his sovereign 00:46:40.469 --> 00:46:43.190 hand. That he has graciously brought you to life. 00:46:43.329 --> 00:46:45.849 He has moved you from darkness to light. He has 00:46:45.849 --> 00:46:49.989 transformed your nature from natural to spiritual. 00:46:51.010 --> 00:46:53.130 And this is not of you. It's not of your good 00:46:53.130 --> 00:46:56.030 works. It's by his grace alone. We didn't deserve 00:46:56.030 --> 00:46:59.210 it. We didn't earn it, right? It's a gift. And 00:46:59.210 --> 00:47:01.170 this is the basis for our worship. Why do you 00:47:01.170 --> 00:47:03.449 come here on Sundays and sing praises to God? 00:47:04.309 --> 00:47:08.030 Because of all that he's done for you. Understand 00:47:08.030 --> 00:47:09.849 this last thing before we close and pray together. 00:47:09.949 --> 00:47:11.809 When you're sharing your faith out there in the 00:47:11.809 --> 00:47:15.650 world, remember that we cannot make someone understand 00:47:15.650 --> 00:47:18.849 the gospel. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. 00:47:19.570 --> 00:47:21.929 Only the Spirit can remove the deep opposition 00:47:21.929 --> 00:47:25.550 that the natural man has to the message. Only 00:47:25.550 --> 00:47:28.210 the Spirit can move that same message. One day 00:47:28.210 --> 00:47:31.010 it's foolishness. The next day it's God's wisdom. 00:47:31.690 --> 00:47:35.239 We can't do that. Only the Spirit can. And yet 00:47:35.239 --> 00:47:38.119 we are still called to make every effort to present 00:47:38.119 --> 00:47:42.079 the gospel with zeal in a way that is clear and 00:47:42.079 --> 00:47:45.139 factual. That's our calling, the Great Commission, 00:47:45.340 --> 00:47:48.639 right? Not to hold back the bad news of sin in 00:47:48.639 --> 00:47:51.320 order to make people happy, but to reveal the 00:47:51.320 --> 00:47:53.840 bad news, which leads to the good news, which 00:47:53.840 --> 00:47:57.340 is the remedy for all that in Christ. Amen? So 00:47:57.340 --> 00:48:02.380 we pray. Oh, don't forget that. When we go to 00:48:02.380 --> 00:48:05.340 share a faith, we pray that the Spirit would 00:48:05.340 --> 00:48:09.300 move, and then we speak boldly, and we trust 00:48:09.300 --> 00:48:11.960 that if God is willing, that the Spirit is going 00:48:11.960 --> 00:48:14.980 to take our evangelistic work and then bring 00:48:14.980 --> 00:48:17.860 in His convicting work to draw that person to 00:48:17.860 --> 00:48:19.619 salvation. If you want to picture it this way, 00:48:19.760 --> 00:48:23.780 we are the Holy Spirit's outside agent in this 00:48:23.780 --> 00:48:27.199 process, and He is the internal agent that's 00:48:27.199 --> 00:48:30.019 actually doing the work. But what a joy and what 00:48:30.019 --> 00:48:31.719 a privilege that we get to participate in that, 00:48:31.780 --> 00:48:34.219 cooperate with the Spirit in doing that work. 00:48:34.320 --> 00:48:36.320 But it is imperative that we know from Scripture 00:48:36.320 --> 00:48:40.320 how all this works together. And now you've heard 00:48:40.320 --> 00:48:44.559 it from God Himself through Paul. Pray, share, 00:48:44.860 --> 00:48:48.460 be patient, and let the Spirit do His work. Amen? 00:48:49.760 --> 00:48:58.909 Bow your heads, would you? Heavenly Father, thank 00:48:58.909 --> 00:49:03.989 you for explaining this to us. Thank you that 00:49:03.989 --> 00:49:06.070 you have given us your wisdom from the Spirit 00:49:06.070 --> 00:49:08.929 so that we don't have to gather here together 00:49:08.929 --> 00:49:12.550 and just guess about what you're doing and how 00:49:12.550 --> 00:49:17.489 you do it. But in this mysterious, beautiful, 00:49:17.730 --> 00:49:20.730 precious, divine word that we have in our laps 00:49:20.730 --> 00:49:26.369 today, you have told us what is required. And 00:49:26.369 --> 00:49:30.110 you have told us how you work. And so I pray 00:49:30.110 --> 00:49:31.929 that you would build up, my brothers and sisters, 00:49:32.170 --> 00:49:35.610 in our trust in you because of this and that 00:49:35.610 --> 00:49:38.030 you would give us a greater passion and zeal 00:49:38.030 --> 00:49:41.650 to take this message outside these walls and 00:49:41.650 --> 00:49:45.949 to share with anybody and everyone and then get 00:49:45.949 --> 00:49:47.829 out of the way as you save whom you will save. 00:49:48.489 --> 00:49:50.250 Thank you for our time of the word this morning, 00:49:50.329 --> 00:49:53.789 Lord. May we praise you now. From our lips and 00:49:53.789 --> 00:49:56.269 our hearts, we praise you well because of the 00:49:56.269 --> 00:49:59.130 work you've done for us. In Christ's name, amen.