1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,440 In man's wisdom, with a transparent heart, he explains to them that in his coming, he 2 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:13,520 came with that as his motive. 3 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:21,040 He did not come that he might impress them with his words or his arguments, but he came 4 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:25,360 that he might declare to them the simple message of Christ crucified. 5 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:31,400 And frankly, he admits that he had many fears and weaknesses in doing that. 6 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:39,680 That encourages me because it helps me to know that my fears and weaknesses are normal. 7 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:44,960 In the power of the Holy Spirit, preach the message that God sent him with. 8 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:49,280 And he says that we speak wisdom, though the world calls it foolishness. 9 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,800 Notice what he says beginning in verse 6. 10 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:58,880 However, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this age, 11 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,440 nor the princes of this age, that come to nothing. 12 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:09,400 For we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even a hidden wisdom, which God ordained before 13 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:15,920 the ages under our glory, which none of the princes of this age knew, for had they known 14 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:19,600 it, they would not have crucified the law of glory. 15 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:25,840 But as it is written, I have not seen nor will heard, neither have entered into the 16 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:31,840 heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 17 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,360 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. 18 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:40,760 For the Spirit searcheth all things, though the deep things of God. 19 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:47,360 For that man knoweth the things of a man, except the spirit of man which is in him. 20 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,760 And so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. 21 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:58,000 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is of God, but we 22 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:03,800 might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 23 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:10,480 Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy 24 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:15,360 Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 25 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:20,640 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for there is foolishness 26 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:21,640 unto him. 27 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:25,520 Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. 28 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:33,560 He that is spiritually judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 29 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:40,200 For he hath known the mind of the Lord, he may instruct him, but we have the mind of 30 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:41,200 Christ. 31 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,200 Let's bow together in prayer. 32 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:50,280 Father, I pray that nothing would detract us this morning from the word of God. 33 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:56,240 Give us the personal, spiritual discipline to be able to listen and receive with our 34 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:58,240 hearts the message you have for us. 35 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,720 Who can outprow this feeble tongue? 36 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:07,960 May that which is said and heard, received and obeyed this morning be pleasing to you. 37 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,880 In Jesus' name, amen. 38 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:19,320 The apostle Paul wanted the faith of the Corinthians to rest not on human wisdom, but on God's 39 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:20,320 wisdom. 40 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:29,040 He wanted their faith to rest not on what man can do, but on what God has already done. 41 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:36,400 God's wisdom is defined for us in chapter one as being Christ Jesus crucified for our 42 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:37,400 sins. 43 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:42,680 Man despises that message because it puts down man. 44 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:47,680 It removes any basis for pride in man. 45 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,760 It makes man helpless before a holy God. 46 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:58,440 It means that man is incapable in himself to earn his way to heaven. 47 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:08,680 God's wisdom, God's message is Christ crucified for our sins as God's only way of salvation. 48 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:13,800 The Corinthians had believed that simple message. 49 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,480 The apostle Paul had done a marvelous work in their midst. 50 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:18,280 He had turned their lives around. 51 00:04:18,280 --> 00:04:21,280 They were moving in a different direction. 52 00:04:21,280 --> 00:04:29,040 Even so, the Corinthians were heavily influenced by the thinking of their day. 53 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:31,040 They were influenced by human wisdom. 54 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:34,040 And we are still today. 55 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:40,080 We live in a world that thinks differently than God thinks. 56 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:47,080 And even though we've trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and loved His word, we too are often 57 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,080 influenced by the thinking of the world around us. 58 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,080 Today we don't call it human wisdom. 59 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,520 We call it humanism. 60 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:57,120 It's basically the same thing. 61 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,120 It is the exaltation of man. 62 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:06,920 It is living with a man-centered philosophy of life. 63 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:07,920 That's humanism. 64 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:19,480 We hear statements today like whatever happens between consenting adults in private is okay. 65 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:20,480 That's human wisdom. 66 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:21,480 It's not God's wisdom. 67 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:30,680 We hear statements like it's okay to be dishonest if that will keep someone from being hurt. 68 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,680 That's human wisdom, not God's wisdom. 69 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:39,800 We also hear that it's a woman's prerogative to abhor simple tissue from her body, even 70 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:44,200 though that tissue may be a fetus in human life. 71 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:46,200 That's human wisdom. 72 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:51,200 It's not God's wisdom. 73 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:57,200 Recently it's been popular to say you can't legislate morals, but that's a lie. 74 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:00,200 That's human wisdom, not God's wisdom. 75 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:04,200 But basically what laws are is the legislation of morality. 76 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,200 If you remove morality from laws, you have few laws. 77 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:16,200 I feel that today there are too many of us that are influenced by human thinking. 78 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:23,200 I find myself doing that occasionally, thinking the way natural people think instead of the 79 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,200 way that God thinks as revealed in his word. 80 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:31,200 According to humanism, man is his own judge of what is right and wrong. 81 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:35,200 It's okay to do things if they make you happy. 82 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,200 But if it feels good, do it. 83 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:41,200 Humanism, not God's wisdom. 84 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:48,200 The chief end of man according to humanism is to glorify man and not God. 85 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:54,200 Thus, we're paralleled with what God says in his word that in a society like ours, we 86 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,200 would worship the creature rather than the creator. 87 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:59,200 That's humanism. 88 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:08,200 Humanism marks the idea of God's morality, God's authority, God's concern for human 89 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,200 affairs, and man's accountability to God. 90 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:19,200 If you write a letter to the editor of one of our newspapers and express those kinds 91 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:25,200 of ideas, that is that there is absolute right and wrong, that God is interested in what's 92 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:29,200 going on and he has a right to say something because he is God. 93 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:30,200 The man is accountable to God. 94 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:35,200 If you do express those, you will be laughed at and mocked by a rash of letters that the 95 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:40,200 father yours in that column. 96 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:45,200 Human thinking controls the society in which we find ourselves today. 97 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:50,200 And what we need to be careful of is that our lives and our faith does not rest upon 98 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:54,200 human thinking but upon what God says in his word. 99 00:07:54,200 --> 00:08:01,200 Paul argues for the wisdom of God in verses 6 through 16, the text that we've read today. 100 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:07,200 He argues that our faith rests upon God's wisdom and not upon man's wisdom. 101 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:12,200 He says that God's wisdom is far above man's wisdom. 102 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:19,200 Follow his train of thought with me as he begins in verse 6 with an explanation of God's 103 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:20,200 wisdom. 104 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:25,200 And by the way, you may want to use the outline there in the back of the service schedule 105 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:27,200 you received coming in this morning. 106 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:31,200 The first thing he does is to explain God's wisdom. 107 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,200 He does this by relating three simple statements about it. 108 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,200 First he says that it is for the perfect. 109 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:39,200 Notice what he says in verse 6. 110 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:43,200 We speak wisdom among them that are perfect. 111 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:45,200 What does he mean? 112 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,200 Does he mean that God's wisdom is only for the sinners? 113 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:50,200 No. 114 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:55,200 The word perfect here means the mature, the fully developed. 115 00:08:55,200 --> 00:09:00,200 In this context, Paul seems to be thinking about Christians, believers. 116 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,200 Here's what he's saying. 117 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:07,200 The wisdom that I am teaching you, he says, is for God's people. 118 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,200 The world does not receive it as we'll see later. 119 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:18,200 He says we speak wisdom and it's recognized as wisdom among God's people, but not among 120 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:19,200 others. 121 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:24,200 The second statement that he makes is that it is a distinctive wisdom. 122 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:31,200 It is not the wisdom of this age, nor the princes of this age that come to nothing. 123 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:36,200 In other words, he says it did not originate with man, this wisdom that I'm declaring 124 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:37,200 to you. 125 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,200 It is not man created. 126 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:45,200 Neither man nor his rulers brought this about. 127 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:49,200 Notice, by the way, what he does say about the rulers. 128 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,200 He says they come to nothing. 129 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:57,200 When we're back in chapter one, Paul said that according to the world, we who believe 130 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:00,200 in Jesus Christ are zeroes. 131 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:05,200 He says God has chosen the nothings of this world to confirm the rise. 132 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:11,200 Paul says actually the ones that are the nothings are the rulers of this age. 133 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:13,200 He says they are coming to nothing. 134 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,200 They're being nullified. 135 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:17,200 They're passing below. 136 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:18,200 But God's wisdom isn't. 137 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:22,200 He says we speak wisdom, the wisdom of God, in a mystery. 138 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:24,200 And that's the third statement. 139 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,200 He says the wisdom of God is a mystery. 140 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:29,200 What does he mean by that? 141 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:34,200 Does he mean that God's wisdom is a second cousin to Agatha Christie's novels? 142 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,200 That kind of a mystery? 143 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:37,200 Of course not. 144 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:43,200 This word wisdom is a particular word that means something that was hidden previously 145 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:45,200 but which is now revealed. 146 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:47,200 That's a mystery. 147 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:54,200 What he is saying is that God's wisdom was hidden, but it has now been brought to light. 148 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:57,200 What is that wisdom? 149 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:03,200 Well, in essence, it is God's method of redemption. 150 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:11,200 In the Old Testament, there were prophecies that pointed to a suffering Messiah. 151 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:20,200 There were types and pictures of one who would come and be the sacrifice for sins for all time. 152 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,200 But all of those were readily available prophecies. 153 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:27,200 The full meaning of them was not known. 154 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:30,200 They were mysterious. 155 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:37,200 Now, on this side of Christ's coming and his death and his resurrection, all of that is clear to us. 156 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:44,200 We can go back to the Old Testament, you and I, and see so much more from the people of ancient Israel. 157 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:45,200 Why? 158 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:49,200 Because now the mystery has been revealed. 159 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:53,200 It was hidden then, for the most part, revealed now. 160 00:11:53,200 --> 00:12:00,200 Maybe like a statue that is going to be dedicated, and before that ceremony, a cloth is draped over it. 161 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:07,200 And you can see the head and the arms and make out the general form of it, but you can't see the specifics. 162 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:15,200 And then the ceremony takes place and the drapery is taken away and the statue is there for all to see. 163 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,200 In the Old Testament, salvation in its outline was seen. 164 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:26,200 But the specifics were not known, though are known now, this side of the cross and the empty tomb. 165 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,200 God has now revealed the mystery of redemption. 166 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:35,200 But I think that we can take this concept a little bit broader and up. 167 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:47,200 I believe in a broader sense, the mystery that Paul refers to here is the whole story of God's love for mankind. 168 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:55,200 It involves how man got here in the first place, and how we got into the mess that we're in now, 169 00:12:55,200 --> 00:13:00,200 and how God has led us from the beginning at a skewed wrap redemption, 170 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:04,200 and how he's accomplished it and wants it to be announced to the world, 171 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:09,200 and what he's planning in terms of glory for his people in the future. 172 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:14,200 You see, God has told us all of that in the Bible. 173 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:18,200 God has revealed these things to us. 174 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:22,200 And that brings us to the second part of Paul's statement here. 175 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:28,200 Verses 9 through 11 deal with the revelation of God's wisdom. 176 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:32,200 He says, and he quotes here from the Old Testament, 177 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:44,200 I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 178 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:47,200 And for all these things, are there the mysteries of heaven to come? 179 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,200 I've heard this at funerals, haven't you? 180 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:54,200 We haven't seen yet, or yours haven't heard, we haven't imagined how beautiful heaven is. 181 00:13:54,200 --> 00:14:00,200 And of course that's true, but that's not the context of this verse. 182 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:08,200 He's talking about the mystery of who God is, and of what God has done, and what God's planning to do in the future. 183 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:12,200 He says, I haven't seen it, or hasn't heard it, it hasn't been thought of by man. 184 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,200 Verse 10, but God has told us. 185 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:20,200 You see, God has revealed these things to us by his Spirit. 186 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:29,200 Here he says, the Spirit searcheth all things, though the deep things of God. 187 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:35,200 You see, mankind has basically two ways of discovering knowledge. 188 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:40,200 There is the empirical method, for one. 189 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:47,200 The empirical method is basically our scientific method, it's observation and experimentation. 190 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,200 Is that a legitimate way of gaining knowledge? 191 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:52,200 Of course it is. 192 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:57,200 We would not have many of the medicines or technological advances that we have today if it weren't 193 00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:59,200 for the empirical method of gaining knowledge. 194 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:06,200 Observing and experimenting, collating the results, and then coming to certain scientific principles 195 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:12,200 on the basis of those experimentations and observations. 196 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:18,200 And then the second method that man has of gaining knowledge is the philosophical method. 197 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:25,200 This involves his ability to use his mind, something a lot of us sometimes fail to do very much. 198 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:33,200 Man has the ability to logically reason to certain conclusions. 199 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:42,200 He can gain new insights to things because of his ability to be logical and to reason things out. 200 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:46,200 When it comes to knowing God, neither of these methods will work. 201 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:50,200 We can't put God in test tube. 202 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:56,200 We can't send a capsule into outer space and have a search for God. 203 00:15:56,200 --> 00:16:05,200 We cannot find God by the empirical method, by observation and experimentation, it doesn't work. 204 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:10,200 We can't discover God by the ability to reason either. 205 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:16,200 A man could sit in a room by himself and reason for the rest of his life and never discover God. 206 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:19,200 It's impossible to discover God by these natural means. 207 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,200 Look what Paul says in verse 9. 208 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:25,200 Now by our or by your, that's the empirical method. 209 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:29,200 Not through the heart or the mind, that's the philosophical method. 210 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:33,200 We don't know spiritual truth by these means. 211 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:39,200 But he says God has taken the initiative and has revealed spiritual truth to us. 212 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:46,200 The only way that we can know God is because God has revealed himself to us in this book. 213 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,200 God has taken the initiative to do what? 214 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:56,200 It's not come about because of our own wisdom, human wisdom. 215 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:03,200 For an unsaved person to try to learn spiritual truth by his own natural abilities 216 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:08,200 is like a blind man who goes to an art gallery. 217 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:13,200 Or a deaf man who goes to a symphonic concert. 218 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:17,200 Or a moron who attends a university. 219 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:25,200 The simple is not the capacity there to grasp spiritual truth in man. 220 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,200 He is spiritually dead. 221 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,200 But there man can't discover God on his own. 222 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:38,200 God has revealed himself to us, he says, by the Holy Spirit. 223 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:40,200 What does that mean? 224 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:46,200 It means that God has revealed what he was like 225 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:53,200 and how he thinks to you and to me through the Holy Spirit. 226 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,200 Notice what he says. 227 00:17:56,200 --> 00:18:04,200 The Spirit searches all things, you the deep things of God. 228 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:12,200 Every spirit knows, because he is God, knows all of the thoughts of God. 229 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:15,200 And he has revealed those things to us. 230 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:21,200 He says in verse 11 that no man knows the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in him. 231 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:25,200 In other words, my spirit knows me and knows what I'm thinking. 232 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:27,200 But you can't know that. 233 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:35,200 And I can relate to you because we are men, we are human beings, we are in the same order of creation. 234 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:39,200 I can understand you to an extent, you can understand me. 235 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,200 But I can't understand animals. 236 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,200 My name isn't Dolittle. 237 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:46,200 I can't understand animals. 238 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,200 I don't understand their experiences. 239 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,200 I can't understand my dog. 240 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,200 We have a poodle, I think she should be called a puddle. 241 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:58,200 They call them poodles. 242 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,200 I don't understand that dog. 243 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:07,200 It beats me why she does some of the things she does, very unreasonable. 244 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,200 She is not logical at all. 245 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:16,200 But you see I can understand her because she is on a different level of creation than I am. 246 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,200 And then I can't understand angels either. 247 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,200 In fact I haven't talked to one recently either, does that matter? 248 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:28,200 I appreciate angels, I believe that God has given angels charge over us as His children. 249 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:35,200 But I can't communicate with them, I can't understand them because they are in a higher order of creation. 250 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:40,200 You see we can only understand what is on the same level as we are. 251 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:44,200 And the man, woman, and woman. 252 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:55,200 Then how foolish it is to think that we on this level can begin to understand God the creator of all by our own powers. 253 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:59,200 How foolish to think that we can reason on the same level that God reasons. 254 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:05,200 Or that we know better than God because you see He is so far above us. 255 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:09,200 But the Holy Spirit does know the mind of God. 256 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:17,200 The Holy Spirit does know the deep things of God and He has brought those things down to you and to me. 257 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:21,200 So that we can begin to understand what God is like. 258 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:25,200 That's the revelation of God's wisdom. 259 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,200 And where is this revelation? 260 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:31,200 Will you hold it in your lap or in your hands this morning? 261 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:33,200 It's this book. 262 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,200 This is the revelation of God. 263 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:42,200 These 66 books that are part of what we call the canon. 264 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:47,200 These books, individual as they are yet comprising one volume. 265 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:52,200 These books reveal to us what God is like and how God thinks. 266 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:57,200 And how we God will, where we are moving toward in our destiny. 267 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:02,200 God's revelation. 268 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:08,200 So move down to verse 12, we come to the illumination of this book. 269 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:12,200 Now we have this revelation but how do we begin to understand it? 270 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:18,200 He says, now we receive not the Spirit of the world but the Spirit who is of God. 271 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:24,200 And that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 272 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:31,200 The Holy Spirit, the moment that we and I trust Jesus Christ, comes to live in us. 273 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:39,200 He does not come to us in some second experience subsequent to our salvation. 274 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:43,200 When we and I place our faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into us. 275 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,200 That's first. He's there never to leave. 276 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,200 He indwells us. 277 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:55,200 And one of His ministries to us is to teach us spiritual truth. 278 00:21:55,200 --> 00:22:04,200 You see, God has given me this book, objective, final, authoritative revelation. 279 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:12,200 And He's also given me the Holy Spirit on the inside so that I will have a resident professor of theology who lives in me. 280 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:16,200 And He is always teaching me the things of God. 281 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,200 That's the work of illumination. 282 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:25,200 Obviously you see the Father giving light to something in that word. 283 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:33,200 The mighty define this word, the work of the Holy Spirit whereby He enlightens the heart and mind of the believer. 284 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,200 So that we can perceive the truth of God. 285 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:42,200 God hasn't handed us the book and said, now just go up and study by yourself. 286 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:49,200 God has given to you and me a precious book here that is His self-disclosure. 287 00:22:49,200 --> 00:23:02,200 And He has given to us the Holy Spirit so that we have not a teacher who is with us all the time to help us to understand this book. 288 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:04,200 Verse 13, Paul continues. 289 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:08,200 He speaks about the instruction of God's wisdom. 290 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:13,200 He says these things that are freely given to us of God, we speak. 291 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:21,200 Not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches. 292 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:28,200 Now what Paul says, he applies directly to himself and to the other writers of scripture. 293 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:32,200 They do not apply primarily to us. 294 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:42,200 Paul is writing this verse as a unique vessel of God because he is one of those men that God used to pin the words of scripture. 295 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:49,200 And what Paul is claiming here is that his words are not his own. 296 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:57,200 But his words are those which the Holy Spirit teaches him. 297 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:04,200 In other words, Paul is claiming here the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for his writing. 298 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:10,200 Now the doctrine of inspiration is a very, very important one. 299 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:16,200 That word is found in our English version in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16. 300 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:19,200 All scripture is what? 301 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:25,200 Given by inspiration and is profitable and so on. 302 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:33,200 That phrase given by inspiration means God breathed. 303 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:39,200 It says there God blew his breath through the writers of scripture. 304 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:41,200 What does it refer to? 305 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:53,200 It means that God superintended, he oversaw Paul and Peter and Jeremiah and Isaiah and Moses and everyone who wrote the scriptures. 306 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:58,200 He superintended them so that they may sit down and write their words. 307 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:03,200 What they wrote were the things he wanted them to write. 308 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:05,200 Those are the very words of God. 309 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,200 Not just in fact but in words as well. 310 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:16,200 We believe in the primary inspiration of scripture, that is the facts of it, in its whole teaching. 311 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,200 And we believe in the verbal inspiration of scripture. 312 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:26,200 That is down to the very words God had a part in selecting those words. 313 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:37,200 It doesn't mean that God overwrote the personality of these men and that he dictated to them as a man to dictate to a secretary. 314 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,200 No. 315 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:45,200 In some mysterious way the Holy Spirit used the personality of each man. 316 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:59,200 And yet when that man sat down to write using his own mind, his own vocabulary, the Holy Spirit oversaw what he wrote so that what was put down was the very words of God. 317 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,200 That's a miracle. 318 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,200 And it's a miracle too that has been preserved for us today. 319 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:10,200 You see what we have here is an authoritative word from God. 320 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:15,200 This is not the opinions of the apostles. 321 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:19,200 This is not a book containing the realms of the prophets. 322 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:24,200 This book contains the very mind, the very heart of God. 323 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:31,200 And what God wants to communicate to you today is found here in this volume. 324 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:38,200 There are those today that are trying to suggest that the Bible is not inherent. 325 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:42,200 But we can't really trust the Bible when it speaks in other areas than theology. 326 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:49,200 I would jump that position totally because it undermines the authority of scripture. 327 00:26:49,200 --> 00:27:01,200 If I can't trust the Bible when it speaks in terms of history, then how do I know I can trust the Bible when it speaks in terms of theology? 328 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:10,200 In ancient Egypt it refers to the whole thing or to none of it, and I'm convinced that because God is an inherent God, 329 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:14,200 that what he has written here is an inherent revelation. 330 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:20,200 Paul says, when I write, when I instruct you, when I teach you, this is the word of God. 331 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:28,200 I'm using words which the Holy Spirit teaches, not which man's wisdom teaches. 332 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:32,200 Today, inspiration is no longer taking place. 333 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:38,200 I would help people to get inspired for a concert, to sing a song or whatever. 334 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,200 That's a different kind of inspiration. 335 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:46,200 This is a special inspiration that has ceased. 336 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:53,200 Occasionally I read in a magazine that a man has received a certain revelation or word from God, 337 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,200 and it's different from the Bible. 338 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,200 So this is God's word today. He gave it to me. 339 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:08,200 And there's where that important theological word comes in that we've shared before, baloney. 340 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:14,200 God is not revealing any more truth to man today. 341 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:19,200 Everything he needs to say to us has already been revealed. 342 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:23,200 What is needed now is for you and me to understand it better. 343 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:30,200 But God is not today inspiring man like he inspired Paul when Paul wrote these words. 344 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:35,200 That work ceased with the apostles and with the writers of Scripture. 345 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:39,200 But there is an application for us here today. 346 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:43,200 We now have the words of Scripture now. They're written down for us. 347 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,200 And our concern needs to be that we teach what the Bible says. 348 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:53,200 I think that's one of the main concerns that we have here in Grace Church. 349 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:57,200 I have a lot of opinions about things. 350 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,200 And they're very important to me. 351 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,200 Just like your opinions are important to you. 352 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:08,200 And when we come together for a time like this, 353 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:17,200 a time that's too precious for it to be used for the sharing of my opinions. 354 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,200 Or yours for that matter. 355 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:24,200 What we want here is a word from God. 356 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:29,200 I know a pastor who got Charles Shultz's Peanuts book to be put up one day 357 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:36,200 and gave his moral for the sermon out of peanuts. 358 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:40,200 That's probably what it was worth too. Peanuts. 359 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:44,200 When we come together as God's people, whether it be in the church body 360 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,200 or whether it be in a Bible study, a prayer meeting, 361 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:52,200 our thinking, our attention needs to be centered upon the Word of God. 362 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:56,200 That's why we're here. 363 00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:00,200 There have been many who have brought blows against the Bible, 364 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:04,200 trying to undermine it, to say that it's irrelevant. 365 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:09,200 It's not for us today. There are mistakes in the Bible. 366 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:13,200 I had a person tell me one time, the Bible is filled with so many inconsistencies. 367 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:16,200 And so I reached across the desk and handed over my Bible and I said, 368 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,200 well, show me one. 369 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:21,200 Well, I'm not sure I can. 370 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,200 But it's filled with them. 371 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:28,200 You see, there are a lot of people who reject God's message 372 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:31,200 because of the matter of the will. 373 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:37,200 It's not a matter of the intellect. They just do not want what God has to say. 374 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:40,200 There's a poem somewhere that's written called The Anvil. 375 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:45,200 It sort of expresses how the Bible has stood the test. 376 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:49,200 Last day I passed beside a blacksmith's door 377 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:53,200 and heard the anvil ring the whisper chime. 378 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:57,200 Then looking in, I saw upon the floor old hammers 379 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,200 worn with beading wheels of time. 380 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,200 How many anvils have you had? said I. 381 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,200 To wear and battle all these hammers so. 382 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,200 Just one, said he. 383 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:16,200 And then with clinking eye, the anvil wears the hammers out, you know. 384 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:20,200 And so thought I the anvil of God's word, 385 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:24,200 for urges skeptic blows have beat upon. 386 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:28,200 Yet though the noise of falling blows was heard, 387 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,200 the anvil was unharmed. 388 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,200 The hammer's gone. 389 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:37,200 And so it is that we may have today a word from God 390 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:39,200 that has stood the test of generations 391 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,200 and that will forever because it is the word of God 392 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,200 that lives and abides forever. 393 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:47,200 It shall not pass away. 394 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:51,200 Now as we come to verse 14 in our text today, 395 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,200 we come to the comprehension of God's wisdom. 396 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:59,200 Paul seems to contrast here two kinds of men. 397 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,200 The natural man, verse 14, 398 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,200 and the spiritual man, verse 15. 399 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:08,200 Who is the natural man? 400 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:13,200 The word natural really means the soulish man. 401 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:18,200 The Bible seems to teach that man is a three-part being. 402 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:23,200 There is the body, the soul, and the spirit. 403 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,200 The body is that visible, physical part of us 404 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,200 that sits there in the pew this morning. 405 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,200 It's tired. 406 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,200 It gets sick. 407 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:37,200 It ultimately dies. 408 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,200 The soul and the spirit are very difficult to separate. 409 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,200 That's the immaterial part of us. 410 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:49,200 That's the part of us that never dies. 411 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,200 But if you were to separate the soul and spirit, 412 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:53,200 it seems that the Bible would do it this way. 413 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:58,200 The soul of man represents his mind, 414 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:03,200 his ability to think, to reason, et cetera. 415 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:09,200 His emotions, he can feel happy, feel sad, 416 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:14,200 feel discouraged, feel encouraged. 417 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:19,200 And his volition, his will. 418 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:24,200 He chooses certain things and rejects other things. 419 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,200 That's the soul. 420 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:30,200 And everybody has a soul. 421 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,200 And then there's the spirit. 422 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,200 The spirit is the inner core of a man, 423 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,200 that part of him that relates to God. 424 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:41,200 It's that part of us that is dead in sins 425 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:45,200 when we're born into the world the first time. 426 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,200 One of the reasons our world is in such a mess today 427 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,200 is because we've got people running out over the place, 428 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:53,200 only two-thirds here. 429 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:55,200 You see they're here physically, they're here in soul, 430 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,200 they have a mind, they have intellect, 431 00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:00,200 they have emotions, they have volition, 432 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:02,200 but they're dead spiritually. 433 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:04,200 When you now trust Jesus Christ, 434 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:09,200 God brings that core of us, that spirit of us to life. 435 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:15,200 That vacuum is full, there's reality there instead of emptiness. 436 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:20,200 The natural man is the man who's only two-thirds complete. 437 00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:26,200 Paul doesn't use a word here that refers to a degraded, low-living person. 438 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:28,200 There's a word for that in the Greek. 439 00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:33,200 The guy that lives like an animal, who's lustful and impure, 440 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:38,200 low-down, mean, sorry, rascal kind of a guy. 441 00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:49,200 Paul uses the word here that refers to the cultured, civilized, educated, moral person 442 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:53,200 who's outstanding in his community. 443 00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,200 That's the guy that Paul has in mind here. 444 00:34:56,200 --> 00:35:00,200 The good guy that has never become a believer, 445 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:04,200 who's still just living in the natural realm. 446 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,200 He says three things about him. 447 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:09,200 Number one, he does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. 448 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:13,200 The word received means he does not welcome them. 449 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:17,200 In other words, he has a prejudiced attitude. 450 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:23,200 He is ballast against spiritual truth by his very nature. 451 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:29,200 Number two, he calls them foolishness. 452 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:31,200 He has pure judgment. 453 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:33,200 When he hears the message of the cross 454 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:37,200 and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, 455 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,200 when he hears that there's absolute right and wrong, 456 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:44,200 when he hears that man is going to stand before God and give account of himself, 457 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:49,200 he says, oh, come on. 458 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:53,200 And you never want to believe things like that. 459 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,200 That's the natural man. 460 00:35:55,200 --> 00:36:01,200 Third thing, neither can he know them. 461 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:03,200 He has a limited ability. 462 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:05,200 He cannot understand spiritual truth. 463 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,200 Why? Because they are spiritually discerned. 464 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:11,200 In other words, they are known only by the Spirit, 465 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:16,200 and the Spirit part of him is dead. 466 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:20,200 He cannot grasp spiritual truth 467 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:25,200 because the Spirit inside of him is incapable of responding to it. 468 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:29,200 He's dead. 469 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,200 But then he says there's also a spiritual man. 470 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:34,200 And who is this man? 471 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:36,200 It's the man who's alive in the Spirit. 472 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:39,200 The same person, the person who has trusted Christ, 473 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:45,200 he says he that is spiritual, who lives in that plane, 474 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:49,200 judges all things, yet he himself is judged with no man. 475 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,200 What is he saying here? 476 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:58,200 He's saying that one who is a believer is able to discern all things. 477 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:04,200 He has a capacity to have insight into issues in this world. 478 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:07,200 Well, that's why it is a person who's a Christian, 479 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:12,200 but who may not even have completed high school, 480 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:17,200 has better insight to life than a guy who might have a PhD. 481 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,200 That's right. 482 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:23,200 Dan Sadler says a PhD simply means phenomenal, Doug. 483 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:30,200 Anyway, I'm not sure I agree with that, but that's his opinion. 484 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:35,200 A believer has more insight into life and its mysteries 485 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:43,200 than any guy in the world who's educated as far as he can be educated. 486 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:45,200 He discerns all things. 487 00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:47,200 And yet it says he is discerned by no man. 488 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:50,200 In other words, an unsealed person looks at a Christian and says, 489 00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:53,200 what was going on in his life? 490 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:56,200 Maybe you've experienced that in some loved one or friend. 491 00:37:56,200 --> 00:38:01,200 They look at you and say, why in the world doesn't he do the things he used to do? 492 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:05,200 Why does he think differently than he used to think? 493 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:08,200 The person who lives in the realm of the spirit 494 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:13,200 can be discerned by no person who's still in the natural realm. 495 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:19,200 The Christian is an enigma to the unsaved man. 496 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:27,200 Hopefully, we're the kind of enigma that entices that unsaved man to our Savior. 497 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:30,200 Which category do you fit in? 498 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:32,200 Are you a natural person still? 499 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,200 Maybe you're fine, moral, religious, and all the rest, 500 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:39,200 but that spiritual part of you has never been brought to life 501 00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:41,200 through faith in Jesus Christ. 502 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:44,200 That's your need today. 503 00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:47,200 That's the reason your life feels so empty on the inside. 504 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:53,200 That's why, though you've attained certain things in life, you still feel frustrated. 505 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:58,200 Your life is in disharmony and falling apart. 506 00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:02,200 A people around you can't see that, but you feel on the inside. 507 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:04,200 It's because you're still in the natural realm. 508 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:08,200 What you need is a supernatural birth. 509 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:12,200 Doesn't mean all your problems are solved overnight, I guarantee you that. 510 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:17,200 It does mean that you'll have more insight to life than you've ever had. 511 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:22,200 It means that you'll be able to go to the Bible and understand what this book is saying. 512 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:27,200 It means that you'll have the assurance of heaven forever. 513 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:30,200 My friend, if you today are just on the natural level, 514 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:34,200 why don't you enjoy life in another dimension that you've never known yet? 515 00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:37,200 By trusting Jesus Christ. 516 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:46,200 Letting him bring that core of you, that spirit part of you into life. 517 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:53,200 To satisfy you and give your life purpose. 518 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,200 Now, if you belong in the spiritual part this morning already, 519 00:39:56,200 --> 00:40:00,200 that is you trusted Christ, you live on that level, 520 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,200 let me ask you something. 521 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:08,200 Did you have to dust your Bible off before coming to church this morning? 522 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,200 How much time are you spending in this book? 523 00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:16,200 God has called you to be his child. 524 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,200 You belong to him, you're in his family. 525 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:20,200 How much do you know about him? 526 00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:23,200 Everything you're ever going to know about God is right here. 527 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:25,200 You're not going to find it anywhere else. 528 00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:27,200 And God has already put the teacher inside of you. 529 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:32,200 Have you been going to class lately? 530 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:36,200 How we need to reverence this book and appreciate it. 531 00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:39,200 There is no other book in the face of the earth like it. 532 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:42,200 It is God's self-disclosure. 533 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:50,200 Delivered to us by a miracle, given to us that we may come to know him. 534 00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:53,200 I hope today that you will determine in your heart 535 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:59,200 that this week you'll spend more time in this book than last week. 536 00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:01,200 Let's pray. 537 00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:07,200 Father, we are able to see the needs in our lives today. 538 00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:11,200 We can hide them from others and sometimes from ourselves. 539 00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:13,200 But I pray that right now you'll open up our hearts 540 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:17,200 so that we can see what our needs really are. 541 00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:22,200 I pray for some friend who has never trusted Jesus today. 542 00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:27,200 In whom there is no spiritual life. 543 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:32,200 I pray that that person will today trust the Lord and be saved. 544 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:34,200 With our heads bowed and our eyes closed, 545 00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:38,200 I wonder if we'd bring this service to its close. 546 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:40,200 Whether or not you're saved. 547 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:43,200 If today you can save beyond the shadow of a doubt, 548 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,200 that you know that you're a Christian, 549 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:48,200 that you're alive spiritually, 550 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:52,200 that you know that your home is in heaven. 551 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:56,200 You have the teacher, the Holy Spirit in you. 552 00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:59,200 If you can say that with some confidence and assurance, 553 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:01,200 as God wants us to, 554 00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:04,200 would you just put your hand up as a testimony of that? 555 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:09,200 You know that you're saved. 556 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:11,200 Well, that's marvelous. 557 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:13,200 I wonder if there'd be someone here, thank you, 558 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:15,200 you may put your hands down now. 559 00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:17,200 I wonder if there's someone here who'd say, 560 00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:22,200 I lifted him, Pastor Carl, I don't know that I'm saved. 561 00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:26,200 I do sense a lack in my life. 562 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:29,200 I do need to trust Jesus Christ as my Savior. 563 00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:30,200 I know that. 564 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,200 I wish you'd pray for me that my need would be met. 565 00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:36,200 Would you lift your hand and put it up? 566 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:37,200 And put it back down? 567 00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:39,200 I'm not going to point you out and embarrass you. 568 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:44,200 But I would like to know specifically for whom I'm praying. 569 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:49,200 Anyone who senses that need today? 570 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:54,200 God, I pray that as we spend time in your Word this next week, 571 00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:58,200 we may learn to love it and love you more. 572 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:01,200 Draw us close to yourself. 573 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:05,200 Show us more of yourself than we've ever known 574 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:11,200 through this marvelous, miraculous, priceless revelation, 575 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:14,200 the Bible. 576 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:20,200 In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. 577 00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:30,200 We're going to close our service by singing together Hymn 119. 578 00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:33,200 This is a hymn that we might well sing before the service, 579 00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:37,200 but we're going to sing it today afterward. 580 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:41,200 It's a prayer that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts. 581 00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:46,200 And as we close with this hymn, I want to remind you that if you have a spiritual need today, 582 00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:52,200 if something's not right in your life, and God is bringing pressure upon you, 583 00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:54,200 we have a prayer room available. 584 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:56,200 We'd love to pray with you and talk with you. 585 00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,200 It's down the hallway to your left as you exit the auditorium. 586 00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:03,200 Someone's there waiting to pray with you right now. 587 00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:06,200 So as we sing, maybe you want to slip out or after we dismiss, 588 00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:10,200 feel free to go to that room and pray. 589 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:37,200 This day and as we sing, open my eyes that I may see.