Well, over the past 2 ,000 years, the truth about
the Christian faith has been repeatedly challenged
by atheists and agnostics, so much so that as
we sit here today, there are really no new objections
out there, nothing that hasn't been asked and
answered by a wide variety of apologists and
scholars over the centuries. But one of the most
often cited objections is actually very relevant
to the text of Scripture that we're going to
look at this morning. So I'm going to bring it
to the surface so that we can discuss it. And
it's the issue of what we call divine hiddenness.
The problem of divine hiddenness. And the objection
generally goes like this. If God is all -powerful,
and if He's the very definition of love, And
if he desires that every person on the face of
the earth be saved, then why does he hide himself
from us? That's the objection. In other words,
why not make himself more plainly observable?
Why not make himself more obvious to every single
person on the earth? And you think about all
the ways that God could do that. He could literally
write the name Jesus in the sky. that everybody
could see. He could literally speak with a voice
that shakes the planet, that every single person
could hear that says, I, Yahweh, exist. He could
do that. He could do many different ways, right?
More thoughtfully, why doesn't Jesus appear to
each person individually, show them that he's
real, and beckon them to personally trust in
him? Why not? Further, the objection goes, Why
at various times in human history has God made
himself more known to some people and not to
other people? To some, he's appeared in visions
and dreams. Moses got a burning bush, didn't
he? That's pretty obvious. To others, he's actually
come in physical form, in the form of the angel
of the Lord. He has sent angels to certain individuals
to speak to them, to announce things to them,
to promise things to them. to talk about his
intentions. But for the most part, if you look
across human history, most of us don't get that
type of obvious revelation. And the question
again is, why not, if God wants everyone to be
saved, why not? Why has he not done this? And
this is a very difficult objection for those
in the evangelical world who want to hold to
a man -centered free will position on the issue
of salvation. The folks out there that want so
badly to say, yes, God desires that everyone
be saved, but he can't do anything about it because
he's waiting on their free will response to accept
him. If that were true, if that's what was actually
shown in scripture, then I would object along
with the agnostic that God should do more to
make himself known. But that's not what Scripture
actually teaches. What the Bible actually teaches
us is, and I'll give you four brief points on
this. Number one, that God is not obligated to
make himself known to anyone. He's God and we're
not. He has no obligation to us. Number two,
God has sufficiently shown his presence to mankind.
And he's done that in a number of ways. In creation,
it's all around us every day. In the human conscience,
in his written word that we all have in our homes.
And most importantly, he's done it through the
person of Jesus Christ, incarnate God, who walked
the earth and spoke to us and is revealed now
in the scriptures. So he has done that. Number
three, that fallen human beings in their natural
state have all the evidence they need to know
that God exists, but what do they do? They suppress
it, they twist it, they distort it, and they
reject the revelation which God has given to
them. And number four, God's so -called hiddenness
actually serves his sovereign purpose in leaving
people accountable for their choice to disbelieve.
Those are important things. Now, here's the thing
we have to keep in mind as we consider the hiddenness
of God. You and I, men and women, are not born
into this world morally neutral. That's an important
foundational principle. We are not blank slates
because we're all born in our ancestor Adam.
And because of that, we have a corrupted nature.
Our nature is turned inward upon ourselves, meaning
we will always seek after the good of me and
not turn to God. That's who we are in our fundamental
nature. And so in that condition, the Bible tells
us that we are dead in our sins and trespasses,
that we naturally love darkness rather than light.
that we're spiritually blind and we're children
of wrath. And none of that is due to the hiddenness
of God. The problem is us, isn't it? The problem
is within us. It's our natural born state. It's
our intrinsic nature in the flesh. So the answer
to the problem of hiddenness is not that God
owes us more evidence, that he should show us
more things. It's that sinners like us need an
internal work of the Holy Spirit. If any of us
is gonna understand the things of God, turn to
him and be saved. We need an internal work of
the Holy Spirit, not more external evidence.
And that brings us to the sovereignty of God,
something we love to talk about here at Oak Hill.
God does as he pleases, right? That's what sovereignty
is. That includes his choice of whom he will
draw to himself for the purpose of doing that
internal work in their hearts. He will save whom
he will save, scripture tells us. We have to
remember that mercy is his to distribute as he
chooses, that he reveals himself to those whom
he wills to reveal himself. And that includes
the manner that he reveals himself. It includes
the timing in which he reveals himself. We just
can't avoid the hard teachings that we see all
over the scriptures that talk about this difficult
concept of predestination. All the discussion
of God's elect, we can't ignore those things.
We can't ignore that Jesus himself told his disciples
that at times he spoke in parables. Why? So that
those with hardened hearts would not understand.
That those in the crowds in his day would never
believe because they weren't part of his flock.
They could not hear his voice. Those are hard
truths. We can't ignore that the New Testament
teaches that some people are given over to their
sins by God. They're given over, blinding them
to the truth. And then to some, those who are
perishing, the gospel, we're told, is veiled
from their sight. And that at times, it's actually,
in Proverbs, the glory of God to conceal a matter
from mankind. And we can't forget that maybe
the hardest truth of all, that some of humanity,
according to Paul in Romans 9, were marked out
by the Creator as vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction. I could go on and on. citing passages
like this that speak about this difficult truth.
But it's important that we acknowledge those
passages and what they actually tell us, that
we have to strive. We have to strive to understand
how anyone ever is saved. And that's important
for us in our edification, for our worship, but
also in our approach to evangelism as we go out
and share our faith. We should know the answer
to this fundamental question, how does a sinner
take hold of the wisdom of God and be saved?
That is a fundamental question. How does a sinner
take hold of the wisdom of God and be saved?
Grab your Bibles. We're going to 1 Corinthians
2. We're going to look at the last seven verses
of this chapter, verses 10 to 16. Guys, we're
through two chapters. For all you making fun
of me that we're going to be here for six years.
We're through two chapters. Come on now. Seven
verses. Wow. Like I said, a full meal. All right,
last Sunday we studied verses five through nine.
And the big idea of last Sunday was this contrast
between human wisdom and God's wisdom. We'll
hear more about that in this passage today as
well. But along the way, we're gonna dive deeper
into an understanding of the Holy Spirit, the
most mysterious of the three persons of the Trinity.
Back in the day when I was teaching over at Masters,
teaching systematic theology, I loved teaching
about the doctrine of God, the doctrine of Christ,
the doctrine of salvation. When it came to the
doctrine of the Holy Spirit, it got much harder
because we don't have a lot of data to work from,
not nearly as much as we have about the Father
and the Son. So the Holy Spirit, although he
is the one closest to us in dwelling believers,
he's also the most mysterious of the three. So
we tend to write him off, which we ought not
do. Last week, we came away with this very important
truth that the wisdom that comes from God, you
ready? cannot be discovered by man. Cannot be
discovered through human wisdom. Doesn't matter
how intelligent we are, how educated we are,
it cannot be discovered. The wisdom that comes
from God can only be revealed to us. And that's
a huge difference, discovering it versus it being
revealed. Today we're gonna find out how it's
revealed. So let's actually back up to verse
seven. We'll read from there. Here's what God's
word says. Verse seven, we speak God's wisdom
in a mystery. The hidden wisdom which God predestined
before the ages to our glory. The wisdom which
none of the rulers of this age has understood,
for if they had understood it, they would not
have crucified the Lord of glory. But just as
it is written, and this comes from the book of
Isaiah, things which eye has not seen and ear
has not heard and which have not entered the
heart of man, all that God has prepared for those.
who love him now let's look at today's verses
today's passage verse verse 10. for to us god
revealed them through the spirit for the spirit
searches all things even the depths of god for
who among men knows the thoughts of a man except
the spirit of the man which is in him even so
the thoughts of god no one knows except the spirit
of god Now we have received not the spirit of
the world, but the spirit who is from God, so
that we may know the things freely given to us
by God, which things we also speak, not in words
taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by
the spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with
spiritual words. I know that's not easy to understand.
We're going to break this down. Verse 14. cannot
understand them because they're spiritually appraised.
But he who is spiritual appraises all things,
yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who
has known the mind of the Lord that he will instruct
him? But we have the mind of Christ. Okay. So
let's start where we often start with some important
definitions. You may have noticed this already,
but several times in this letter, Paul is going
to divide the human race into certain categories
for the sake of clarification. And when he does
that, by the way, he's not denying that every
human being is made in the image of God. He's
not denying that every human being has inherent
value and worth. When he divides the people into
categories, he's simply trying to help us understand.
certain spiritual truths and certain realities
about the people that we interact with each and
every day. Back in chapter one, just as an example,
he talked about two groups of people, those who
were perishing and those who were being saved.
Do you remember? Two categories of people. Then
he talked about Jews and Gentiles, right? Dividing
humanity up into two categories. And he said
that the word of the cross is a stumbling block
to that first group and it's foolishness to the
second. So he's dividing humanity up. Here in
chapter two, he makes another distinction between
two categories of people. Look at the beginning
of verse 14. He uses the term natural man. By
the way, that's a term that I use too often,
probably in my sermons. And when I came to this
passage, it dawned on me, I've probably never
taken the time to really stop and explain what
that means. But I sort of use that term because
it's important in terms of theological understanding.
But today we get to explain it more. In the original
Greek, The term is sukikos, sukikos. And that's
a word that is related to the breath that is
in man. It's a word that reflects the animating
principle of a creature. It's a term that's used
in several other key places in the New Testament.
In 1 Corinthians 15, we're told that we have
natural bodies in the flesh, earthly bodies,
as opposed to the body we will have, which is
glorified. Okay, earthly bodies. It's used in
James 3 to describe the type of wisdom that is
not from God. It's the type of wisdom that is
earthly. It is natural, even demonic, James says.
Most importantly, sukkikos is used in Jude 9
to describe people, ready, who are devoid of
the Spirit. devoid of the Spirit. And that's
what I mean when I describe a natural man or
woman, someone who does not have the Spirit of
God within them. So it's somebody who's not yet
trusted in Christ, is not redeemed, does not
know God, does not seek after God, and is currently
living according to their fallen nature, right?
The one that they were born into. They are slaves
to sin. Natural men and women are just ordinary
people living around us every day. whose hearts
and minds have not yet been transformed by the
Spirit of God. Make sense? That's what a natural
man is. Now, the opposite category that we see
here is the spiritual man. You see that phrase
used at the beginning of verse 15, he who is
spiritual. Pneumatikos is the way you pronounce
this in the Greek, pneumatikos. And what Paul
means by this term is simply this. It's a believer.
It's a Christ follower. The spiritual man is
redeemed by the blood of Christ, justified in
the sight of God, but most specifically, he's
talking about a person who's been brought to
life by the Spirit, right? Who's been born again
by the Spirit and who is now indwelled by the
Spirit. And therefore, he has a new nature. He
has a new nature. He's now a slave to righteousness,
not sin, and he is progressively growing into
the likeness of a Savior. So very simply, we
have two categories of people here. We have the
haves and the have -nots. The spiritual man has
the spirit. The natural man does not. Does that
make sense? Okay, good. So we define those things
carefully. Now, let's ask the question, what
does life look like for the people in those two
different categories? And let's start with the
natural man. Look at verse 14 again. Here Paul
repeats what he said multiple times already in
this letter. He says, does not accept the things
of the Spirit of God. Does not accept them. Why?
They're foolishness to him. They're foolishness.
Then he goes on to say in the same verse, he
cannot understand the things of the Spirit. Cannot.
And for this reason, because they are spiritually
appraised. They're spiritually evaluated. They're
spiritually discerned. So he can't understand
them because he doesn't have the spirit and they're
spiritually appraised. Make sense? And this is
the Bible's consistent argument for something
we call moral inability. And that's a phrase
you should understand. It's a hard doctrine for
us to accept. And again, many in the evangelical
world refuse to accept it because our pride as
human beings hates, we hate the idea that there
is something as significant as salvation. Where
we as natural men and women are unable to understand
the things of God and respond to it. Because
of our pride, we hate that idea. We'd much prefer
to hear that even in our corrupted condition,
we're still able to understand spiritual things.
We're still able to turn to God. We're still
able to participate in saving ourselves. That's
what we want in our flesh, but that's not what
the Bible teaches us. The natural man hears about
God. Hears about Jesus. He mentally takes in
some measure of facts about Christianity. But
because of his sinful mind, he evaluates it as
what? That's foolishness. It's foolishness. So
the problem isn't a lack of intelligence or education
or any faculty of the mind. The problem is his
nature is corrupted. It's a difficult truth,
isn't it? But listen, this is something. This
is something, is a truism that you should understand
because it's going to help you in all the theology
you do in your life. You ready? Here's the truism.
Every creature on earth acts according to its
nature. The creature can't do anything else.
We act according to our nature. The lion acts
according to his lion nature. Right? He doesn't
act according to the monkey nature. The lion
nature. The fish acts according to its fish nature.
It can't do otherwise. And an unbelieving man,
a natural man who has turned inward and who is
spiritually dead in his sin will act according
to that nature. He can't do otherwise. Meaning
he's not going to seek after God because it's
not remotely possible that it's on his radar.
He's only concerned about the things of the world.
He's only concerned about things that benefit
him. He wants his needs, his wants, his desires
met. All of his values are physical and material.
He sees no reason whatsoever to even investigate
spiritual realities. And here's the dilemma.
That same natural man might even own a Bible.
He might have Christian friends or family. He
may sit through church services somewhere. But
still, he will never grasp the things of God's
Spirit unless there's a change to his nature.
He moves from natural to spiritual. As I quoted
Dr. MacArthur last Sunday, he's like a blind
man in an art gallery or a deaf man at a concert.
He's there, but he can't take it in. Now, don't
get me wrong. That man can open the Bible. He
can see the words on the page. He can read it
with his eyes. He can go to church. He can hear
the gospel preached, right? His ears are working.
And it's not that it's gibberish to him. It's
just foolishness to him. And there's a big difference
with that. Gibberish is a collection of sounds
that are meaningless. But foolishness is where
a man actually assesses what he's hearing, something
with actual meaning, but then just says, that's
ridiculous. I don't need it. It's foolish. The
natural man looks at the Bible, he hears it preached,
and he pushes it away because he will not accept
that he is a sinner that stands under the wrath
of God. He will not accept the fact that he cannot
earn his way to heaven. He will not accept the
fact that he needs an atoning sacrifice to pay
the debts for his sin. And because he doesn't
see that need, why would he ever die to himself
and follow after Christ? That would be foolish.
Would we not agree to that? If you don't see
the need to have your debt paid for, why would
you die to yourself and follow after Christ?
That would be the height of foolishness. That's
his nature. Because of his fallen nature, the
natural man does not have the moral ability to
discern the things of the Spirit as eternally
valuable. He doesn't see them as worthy of his
devotion. I like the way John Piper talks about
this. He focuses on the issue of the value of
the gospel. Look at this quote. He says, When
it asks us to give up a higher value for a lower
one. If you advise me to jump off a bridge, I'll
say that's foolish because I highly value my
life and I won't give it up. If you advise me
not to spank my sons when they disobey, I say
that's foolish because I highly value the wisdom
of scripture. And if you advise a natural man
to follow Christ crucified, he will say that's
foolish because he highly values the self -reliance
and self -exaltation that he would have to give
up to accept it. In our natural condition, we
cannot prefer Christ over self. By the way, this
is not a sermon you often hear in churches today,
is it? Right? Because this doesn't feel great.
But it's right there in the pages of Scripture.
We've got to preach hard truths. So the natural
man can't accept the things of God for what they
truly are. And what are they? What are the things
of God? The most precious things imaginable.
The most praiseworthy, valuable things that you
and I can even fathom. The natural man can't
see it that way. Only the Holy Spirit working
in him can cause him to see it that way. And
listen, if anybody could appreciate this truth,
it's Paul. Think about Paul's life. Do you remember
when he was Saul and he was persecuting the church?
right? He's a fanatically zealous Jew, right?
He is fanatical about his religion, but his thinking
is completely wrong. He doesn't understand the
things of God or the Spirit of God, right? And
then Christ reveals himself to Paul on the Damascus
Road, and everything changes. His whole thinking
is reversed. All the things that Paul once valued
so much, right? All the things that he thought
gave him favor before God, later on, what does
he say after meeting Christ? I count them all
as loss. How do you explain that? How do you
explain that radical change? It's a change in
his nature. He went from natural to spiritual.
And now he has a new ability to understand and
embrace the things of God. Does that make sense?
He's a great example of this very principle.
So let's look at the life then of a spiritual
man or woman. Someone who has the Holy Spirit
within. Hopefully everybody in this room. This
is somebody who acknowledges his sin. Right?
Someone who loves God, loves his word, worships
Jesus, values the gospel above all else and is
growing in sanctification. A spiritual man or
woman. And once again, this comes back to the
nature, right? The spiritual man is a new creation
who has a new nature. So he acts according to
his new nature. Correct? Love for God now naturally
flows out of him. He not only understands the
things of the Spirit, he pursues them. He seeks
to do the works of God. He seeks to love and
serve others because that's a part of who he
is now. That's his identity in Christ. These
things become natural because that's his new
nature. Look at verse 10 again. Paul writes,
to us, and we saw this last week when Paul talks
about we and us in this passage, he's talking
about himself and his fellow apostles. To us,
God revealed the formerly hidden wisdom of God
found in the gospel. How? Through the Spirit,
he writes. These things revealed to the apostles
through the Spirit. So get this, even to the
apostles, these are men we highly value. We tend
to think of them as extremely godly people. But
they couldn't figure these things out on their
own, just like us, right? They needed these things
revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. So this
is a gift. from God to us. It was a gift to the
apostles. It's a gift to us. The infusing of
the gospel into our souls that causes us to say,
yes, this is the highest value possible. This
is the most important thing in our lifetimes,
to know God and to be saved. It's worthy of our
complete devotion, but that's a work of the Spirit
revealing these things to us. And of course,
the Spirit is perfectly equipped to do this because
if you look at verse 11, Paul says that he knows
the depths of the wisdom of God. He knows the
very thoughts of God. And in fact, there's nothing
in God that is unknown to the Holy Spirit. You
see the analogy in verse 11? Comparison between
man and God. Just as you and I know our own thoughts
and concerns, and if we choose to, we can reveal
them to other people, but we know our own thoughts.
So it is with God. No one knows the depths of
God except the three persons of the Trinity.
And if God wants to reveal himself to us, he
can. But until then, we can't know his thoughts.
He's chosen to impart his wisdom through the
Spirit. And these are things that human beings
could never know because we're not God. We can't
know the things of God because we're not God.
They have to be revealed by one who is God. And
this is why we read from the Belgic Confession
earlier in the service. to understand what the
church has always believed about the Holy Spirit.
Let me share a few of those details with you
again. This is important. He is the third person
of the Trinity. He is not a force, an impersonal
force like Star Wars. He is a person. He has
personhood. We refer to him with pronouns. Scripture
refers to him with pronouns. He is a person.
He is the third person of the Trinity. He's not
made. He's not created. He's not begotten. He
proceeds eternally and necessarily from the Father
and the Son. Find me after the service and I'll
explain that some more. There's a very technical
language that goes with that. But there's never
been a time when the Spirit wasn't. He's eternally.
proceeding from the Father and the Son. And necessarily,
God has always been three persons in one. Going
on. He's of one and the same essence, majesty,
and glory with the Father and the Son being true
God himself. Now, the church spent hundreds of
years figuring all that out, right? And you can
go back to the councils and look at the language,
but that's not even the most amazing thing to
me about the Holy Spirit. You know what it is?
It's how he's been given to us. Not just to be
with us, not just to be among us, but to be what?
Within us. Have you ever thought about that?
Like, what is entailed in that theologically
and metaphysically? That the Spirit of God is
within us. Well, consider this. The divine third
person of the Trinity takes up actual personal
in your inner being. Now we use the term heart,
but that's just our inner being, right? Our soul,
okay? He takes residence up in our inner being
and he transforms us from a state of spiritual
death into a living temple of God. Oh, that's
easy. But we should think of it this way. We
were of the flesh, right? Dead in our sins and
trespasses. decaying, falling apart, and he's
now made us the temple of God. It's a union between
the uncreated divine essence and your created
soul without merging those two things into one
or somehow deifying your human nature. It's a
metaphysical miracle what's going on within us.
And because he dwells within us, it means he
can work directly upon your faculties. Your thinking,
your reasoning, your choices, your decision -making,
your affections, your feelings, all of it. He
can work directly upon you. And as we yield,
and that's a key word, we cooperate with the
Spirit in our sanctification. As we yield to
His work in us, we are able by our new nature
to cooperate with Him in the process of sanctification.
We are able because He's indwelled us to actually
have communion with God Almighty because of the
Spirit. We're able to truly love God, to love
our neighbor, to love our fellow church members
because of the Spirit within us. We're able to
wage war against the sin that entangles us, growing
and maturing over time into the image of our
Savior. This is all because God sent His Spirit
to dwell within us. That's a big deal, isn't
it? And yet we don't often study this because
it's hard, because it's mysterious. Now in verse
12, Paul expounds on the why this has happened.
Why has God given us the Spirit in this way?
He writes, Now we have received, not the Spirit
of the world, but the Spirit who is from God.
Now this is important. Notice men like Paul as
created beings are passive inheritors of the
things of God. We receive the Holy Spirit. We
don't go out and take hold of it. We receive
it. And then the wisdom of God is revealed to
us. We don't discover it on our own. So get that
now. We receive and it's revealed. We are the
passive inheritors of the things of the Spirit
of God. And then we're told why they're revealed.
Look at the next phrase in verse 12. When you
see the phrase so that in Scripture, that is
a purpose clause. What you're about to hear is
the purpose of something being done. So that.
We've received the Spirit of God. The things
of the Spirit have been revealed to us so that
we may know or understand the things freely given
to us by God. This is great news. God wants his
sons and daughters to understand all the things
that he's granted to us by his sovereign grace
and divine will. Remember, Jesus actually promised
this in the Gospels. Remember, he promised to
send the Spirit to do exactly this? Listen to
John 14. You guys should know there's two key
passages in the Gospel of John about Jesus' promise
to send the Spirit. John 14, John 16. John 14,
it says, I will ask the Father, and he will give
you another helper. Okay? Like Jesus, another
helper, that he may be with you forever. So that's
not going to be a human being, is it? Forever.
That is the Spirit of truth, listen now, whom
the world... cannot receive, cannot, unable to.
The world cannot receive because it, the world,
does not see him or know him. So there's the
confirmation from Jesus of what Paul says here
in 1 Corinthians 2. The natural man of this world
cannot receive the Spirit, cannot see him, cannot
know him. Now here comes the contrast. He says,
but you, the follower of Christ, you know him.
You know him. Because he abides with you, and
get this now, will be in you. So in this moment,
right, this is Jesus still on the earth. He hasn't
ascended yet. But once he ascends, he promises
in Acts 2, we see this, that the Spirit is going
to come upon the disciples and fill them. He'll
be in you. And then the verse finishes with this.
The helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, he will teach you all things.
And bring to your remembrance all that I said
to you. And then from John 16, we had our call
to worship earlier today. Jesus promises, I will
send the Spirit to you. When he comes, he will
convict the world concerning sin and righteousness
and judgment. That's the work he does in people
that he's drawing to himself. He convicts them
of sin and righteousness and judgment. And Jesus
says, when the spirit of truth comes, he will
guide you believers into all truth. He will glorify
me for he will take what is mine and declare
it to you. So Jesus promised this. And now here
in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul lays out the fulfillment
of it. We've received the Holy Spirit, he says,
just as Jesus promised. He's revealed to us the
wisdom of God in the gospel. He's enabled us
to understand all the things that have been freely
given to us. All the blessings that we have.
We could have never got these things on our own.
We could not have grasped them on our own. But
in God's goodness and grace, he's chosen to make
them known to us, his apostles. And now that
we have it, his apostles, it is our privilege
to impart all of these things to you Corinthians
and by extension to all you Okies in 2026. That's
what Paul's saying. We've received these things
and now we get to impart these things to you.
And that's the focus of verse 13. Look at it.
This is a bit confusing. Let me try to explain
this. Paul refers to the Spirit, enabling the
apostles to know these things, verse 13, which
things we also speak or impart to others. And
what are they speaking of? Paul goes on. Not
words taught to us by human wisdom, but words
taught to us by the Spirit. And how are they
imparting these words? He continues. by combining
spiritual thoughts or spiritual truths with spiritual
words. Now, let me try to paraphrase that because
it's kind of hard for us to understand. Okay,
so this is my paraphrase of this more difficult
section. Paul says, we, the apostles, have received
these divine truths directly from the Spirit
of God, and now we're imparting them to you in
the church. These are truths that are unknowable
in human terms. They come from God's wisdom.
taught to us by God himself. Here's the key.
They are spirit -infused thoughts communicated
to you in words that only a spirit -led man or
woman can understand. Make sense? All this is
is a reference to the writings in the New Testament.
That's what's being discussed here, okay? The
writings of the New Testament. Spiritual words,
right, which are God -breathed. According to
2 Timothy 3 .16, God breathed through these men,
these writers of Scripture, as God moved in their
hearts and carried them along by the Holy Spirit
to write down His words, these spiritual words.
And that's why every word of God is pure and
infallible and inerrant in its original form.
They are spiritual truths set forth in Spirit
-given words. Spiritual truths set forth. in
spirit given words and so we have a contrast
here right the spirit of the world did you know
this the spirit of the world teaches lost people
the language of the world and the vast majority
of people live by that language the spirit of
god teaches us a whole different language words
that convey the treasure and value of god's forgiveness
and grace and salvation that's what we have in
the scriptures So the Spirit instructs us with
spiritual words, which we've recorded, which
are recorded in the Scriptures, and it's by the
illuminating guidance of that very same Spirit
that lives in us that causes us to see that these
words on the page are not just words. They're
not just flat words on a page, are they? They're
Spirit -infused words. They're divine truth.
They are the highest value possible. Why do we
sit here week after week and look at the words
on this page? and understand what we're looking
at. That it's more than just what you're going
to be taught in class next week in your textbook.
Right? It's of the highest value. The Spirit
has taught us that. And that's what Paul's getting
at here. Now, verses 15 and 16, this is the crescendo
of his argument. This is the crescendo of this
entire section here. Look at the privileges we
have as spiritual men and women who belong to
God. Verse 15, but he who is spiritual appraises
or evaluates all things, yet he himself is evaluated
by no one. What does Paul mean here? Simply this,
that because the spiritual person, the believer
is indwelled and guided by the Holy Spirit, he
or she has insights that the natural man or woman
does not have access to. We know the truths about
this world that the natural man doesn't know,
can't know. With the Spirit renewing and illuminating
our minds, we can make judgments that are true
about all kinds of things. And if we're obediently
walking in the Spirit, guess what? We're going
to evaluate things in the same way that God evaluates
them. Correct? If we're walking in the Spirit
and He's guiding us, the way God sees that, that's
the way I see it. This is the beauty of having
the Spirit within. In contrast, the unbeliever
doesn't see things the way God does because they
don't have the ability to do so. And so guess
what? Unbelievers end up with wrong conclusions
about life and death and eternity and all those
things, right? Because they don't have the Spirit.
They can neither understand us. Did you know
that? They really can't understand you. They
really can't evaluate us without the Spirit.
Because we really do live in two completely different
worlds. Right? We have two completely different
worldviews, believer and unbeliever. In an ultimate
sense, we belong to two completely different
kingdoms. We should acknowledge that truth. But
here's the thing. While the unbeliever can't
judge us because he can't understand us, guess
what? We can understand and judge the nonbeliever.
You know why? Because we've all been there. Because
we were born into that. Because we understand
the way the world thinks. We were once there.
They can't understand us, but we can understand
them. And by the way, that's a huge bonus for
us when we take the gospel and go outside these
walls and share with unbelievers. We can understand
where they're coming from. We understand the
way, why they do what they do, the way that they
act in this world, because we were once there
before our nature was changed by God. So I mentioned
this last week. When we bump our heads into the
wall and people just reject us or mock us or
say that what you're telling me is foolishness,
our response isn't to be frustration or anger.
It's to be compassion. We understand why they
feel that way. The Bible's told us why they feel
that way, and we once felt that way. So we can
be compassionate. We can be compassionate. Finally,
we come to verse 16. Paul seals his argument.
with a question that comes to us from Isaiah
40, who is known or who has understood the mind
of the Lord? Who can instruct him? And then he
says this amazing thing, but we have the mind
of Christ. So in answer to the question, who
can understand the mind of God? Obviously, none
of us completely, right? No one in human history
has ever been able to probe the depths of God's
thoughts and ways or match wits with him, and
yet Paul says, be amazed at this. that we as
believers have right now the mind of Christ.
By means of the written word and the indwelling
spirit, we have access to the mind and the worldview
of Jesus. His perspective is now ours, right?
His worldview is ours. And slowly but surely,
we are beginning to evaluate things in the same
way that he evaluates things. And we begin to
see where this plan and purpose of God is heading.
We understand the way he's operating in the world.
We come to realize what the most important things
in this life really are. Most of all, we see
God for who he is. We understand what he's done
for us in Christ. We have all those things because
we have the mind of Christ. Now, this doesn't
mean that we no longer need to grow. He says,
oh, Jeff, I don't need to come to church anymore.
I already have the mind of Christ. No, we still
need to grow. We still need to mature in our
understanding of things. That is a lifelong process.
But the good news is, no matter where you are
on your spiritual journey towards maturity, you
now have the ability, because of your new nature,
to access the mind of Christ in the written word
and by the indwelling spirit. The only question
is, are you exercising it? Right? We should be
exercising the mind of Christ by studying God's
word. By prayer, by the Spirit. So, we wrap up
with a few important observations. If you're
here this morning and you haven't yet bowed your
knee to Christ, you haven't given your life over
to Him, you haven't embraced the gospel as not
just the wisdom of God, but the highest wisdom
possible in this life, then the point of this
text today is twofold. The point for you is one,
an urgent warning, and number two, a sincere
invitation. An urgent warning and a sincere invitation.
God has not hidden himself from you. You have
the evidence you need to know that he exists.
And in fact, he has sovereignly spoken to you
today in his word. Cannot blame the hiddenness
of God. I pray that you have eyes to see the
depths of this word and ears to hear the richness
of the message of the gospel. But as you think
about that, consider the hopeless condition you
are in apart from Christ. You owe a debt to the
creator for your sin. It's a massive debt. It's
as big as my debt. Don't get me wrong. We all
owe this debt. But you have no currency to pay
that debt apart from Christ. Consider that condition
that you're in. Consider the sacrificial love
that the Lord of glory showed you when he took
your place on the cross. Consider the risk you're
taking right now, today, not knowing when you're
going to pass from this life, the risk you are
taking in trusting in yourself and your own goodness.
Knowing that someday you will face Christ himself
and answer for your life. What a risk you're
taking. Consider the glorious future that God
promises you if you will bow your knee to Christ
and respond to the Spirit's work in your heart.
The glorious future, the great inheritance of
eternal life. Consider that. My advice to you
is turn your eyes to Christ. repent of your sin,
trust in him alone, receive that Holy Spirit
who will give you the wisdom of God, change your
nature, show you all these amazing things, the
greatest of all worth, the greatest of all value,
and the promise of eternal life. For the Christians
in the room this morning, let me say it again,
you have the mind of Christ. That is a stunning
truth. Now, there are limits to that, right?
We know that, we know that, Even though we have
the mind of Christ, we can't plumb all the depths
of God. There are still certain secret things
that belong to him alone. We know it doesn't
mean that Bible study is no longer challenging
or hard work. It is, right? Wouldn't that be
nice? I have the mind of Christ. I can study
the Bible. It's really easy now. Every passage
is so simple. It's not the case. We are called
to be diligent in studying the word, trusting
that as we dive into it, the spirit is right
there with us. illuminating the meaning. But
as we pray for the Spirit's help, we're not asking
Him to spare us from the hard work that's required
of students of the Word. It doesn't mean that
we have no need for human teachers either, right?
We're told in Scripture that God has given gifts
to the church and elders and pastor teachers,
men who through diligent work themselves are
studying so that they can teach in order that
the congregation can more fully understand the
richness of the gospel. But in all this, we have
to trust in this promise. You have the mind of
Christ. Again, the question is, are you exercising
that? Are you leaning into that each and every
day? The mind of Christ. If you've submitted
your life to Christ, you're among those who see
and hear the truth of God's word by his spirit,
then let me tell you what the point of this text
is for you today. It's so that you can answer
the question that I posed at the very beginning.
How have you, a sinner, taken hold of the wisdom
of God? How have you been saved? Do you know?
Do you just feel it or do you know it from Scripture?
You should know it from Scripture. This text
is a reminder that you and I that are receiving
of the wisdom of God is a gift. From his sovereign
hand. That he has graciously brought you to life.
He has moved you from darkness to light. He has
transformed your nature from natural to spiritual.
And this is not of you. It's not of your good
works. It's by his grace alone. We didn't deserve
it. We didn't earn it, right? It's a gift. And
this is the basis for our worship. Why do you
come here on Sundays and sing praises to God?
Because of all that he's done for you. Understand
this last thing before we close and pray together.
When you're sharing your faith out there in the
world, remember that we cannot make someone understand
the gospel. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.
Only the Spirit can remove the deep opposition
that the natural man has to the message. Only
the Spirit can move that same message. One day
it's foolishness. The next day it's God's wisdom.
We can't do that. Only the Spirit can. And yet
we are still called to make every effort to present
the gospel with zeal in a way that is clear and
factual. That's our calling, the Great Commission,
right? Not to hold back the bad news of sin in
order to make people happy, but to reveal the
bad news, which leads to the good news, which
is the remedy for all that in Christ. Amen? So
we pray. Oh, don't forget that. When we go to
share a faith, we pray that the Spirit would
move, and then we speak boldly, and we trust
that if God is willing, that the Spirit is going
to take our evangelistic work and then bring
in His convicting work to draw that person to
salvation. If you want to picture it this way,
we are the Holy Spirit's outside agent in this
process, and He is the internal agent that's
actually doing the work. But what a joy and what
a privilege that we get to participate in that,
cooperate with the Spirit in doing that work.
But it is imperative that we know from Scripture
how all this works together. And now you've heard
it from God Himself through Paul. Pray, share,
be patient, and let the Spirit do His work. Amen?
Bow your heads, would you? Heavenly Father, thank
you for explaining this to us. Thank you that
you have given us your wisdom from the Spirit
so that we don't have to gather here together
and just guess about what you're doing and how
you do it. But in this mysterious, beautiful,
precious, divine word that we have in our laps
today, you have told us what is required. And
you have told us how you work. And so I pray
that you would build up, my brothers and sisters,
in our trust in you because of this and that
you would give us a greater passion and zeal
to take this message outside these walls and
to share with anybody and everyone and then get
out of the way as you save whom you will save.
Thank you for our time of the word this morning,
Lord. May we praise you now. From our lips and
our hearts, we praise you well because of the
work you've done for us. In Christ's name, amen.