Spiritually Appraised | 1 Corinthians 2:10-16

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.