WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.000 If you have your Bibles turned to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, we're going to be looking at six verses, the last six verses, verses 10 through 16 this morning. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:32.000 When we ask God to speak to us, and we all want to hear the voice of God, and we're looking for God to lead us and guide us and direct us in our lives, and we sing, speak, O Lord. We come to church, Lord willing, we come to church. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:38.000 We are here to hear God, to listen to God. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:42.000 We want to know that we've heard God. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:49.000 It's vital that we live on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:57.000 You cannot live the Christian life without a constant inflow of God's voice. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:04.000 If you're a sheep of God, you know the voice of God, you've heard His voice, and you have to live off that. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:09.000 How would you like to be married to your spouse but never hear your spouse speak? 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:14.000 Never listen to her, never, she never speaks or he never communicates. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:19.000 How would you like to have a relationship with God and he just never speaks to you? 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:22.000 He's deaf, I mean you're deaf and you can't hear. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.000 He's mute, he doesn't communicate. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:31.000 Sometimes as you ask, Lord, speak to me, I need to hear from you, and it's desperate. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:43.000 You need to hear from the Lord, and maybe it's a decision that you're making, and you need direction, and you open up the Bible, and you read and read, and nothing. 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:48.000 It seems like the Bible's dead to you. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:58.000 Sometimes you come to church, you want to hear from the Lord, and you don't get much from the sermon. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:02.000 Lord, I need to hear from you. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:08.000 So we ask God to speak to us, what are we meaning by that? 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:17.000 Are we meaning that we need to hear additional revelation or new revelation or extra-biblical revelation? 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.000 Is that what we mean? 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:41.000 There's those who are looking for God to speak to them, and they're looking for audible voices, and they need direction not by looking into scriptures, but by hoping that God would give them fresh, new, extra-biblical revelation. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:54.000 I want to suggest to you that's very dangerous, and we don't need, you and I don't need new revelation. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:01.000 The Bible's sufficient, but we do need God to speak to us from His word. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:05.000 We need that word to come alive to us. 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:15.000 You know the difference, if you've lived the Christian life at all for any measure of time, you know the difference between reading the Bible and checking it off. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:30.000 I did my Bible reading for the day, and when God uses that word and speaks in it, by it, and through it, and it's fresh, it's real, it's meaningful, it's impactful. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:42.000 You see, for God to speak to you, for God to reveal Himself to you, He doesn't just have to be the author of scriptures. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:48.000 The Bible doesn't just need to be the inspired, living Word of God. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.000 For God to speak to you, He has to give you ears to hear. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.000 See, there's two sides to communication. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:01.000 You have the transmitter, and then you have a receiver. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:08.000 We all pretty much understand that He has to be the transmitter. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:10.000 Revelation has to come from God. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:15.000 It has to come not from ourselves or from the wisdom of this world or from men. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.000 It has to come directly from the mouth of God. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:22.000 He's the transmitter of Revelation. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:29.000 We understand that, but we'll see in this text, He also has to be the receiver. 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.000 He has to give you ears to hear. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:37.000 He has to open up your heart to see. 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:40.000 He has to give you illumination. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:47.000 So we don't just need spiritual inspiration of God's words, the Bible. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:52.000 We also need spiritual illumination of God's word. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.000 That's the subjective side of hearing from God. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:00.000 The objective side is the Word of God. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.000 You have to have that. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.000 It's sufficient for everything that you're going through. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:12.000 We must treasure it, read it, study it, listen to it, know it. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:19.000 But we need that word to come alive to us. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:24.000 It is sufficient in its content. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.000 We need nothing more than what is written. 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:38.000 But we need not just the Spirit of God to work 2,000 years ago when He inspired the original authors. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:42.000 We need the Holy Spirit to be active in our lives today. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:51.000 Us, cessationists, which I'm a cessationist, I don't believe in the ongoing, miraculous, spiritual gifts. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:54.000 I think the office of the Apostolic Ministry has gone. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:56.000 I think the canon is closed. 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:59.000 I believe in the sufficiency of Scriptures. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:04.000 But us cessationists like to talk about what the Spirit doesn't do. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:10.000 Sometimes through the neglect to focus on what the Spirit must continue to do. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:16.000 We still believe in the Holy Spirit, and we still need the Holy Spirit in our lives. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:20.000 We still need the Holy Spirit in our services. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:27.000 This whole meeting today is useless without the Spirit. 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:43.000 Those who worship God must worship Him not just in truth, which we must worship in truth, but also with not little s Spirit, not us being emotional. 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:48.000 We need the capital S Spirit. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:54.000 We must worship God in spirit and in truth. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:07:00.000 We must have the Holy Spirit in our lives to be able to understand the Word of God. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:22.000 If this sermon is going to mean anything to you this morning, it'll be only because the Holy Spirit Himself, the third person of the Trinity, God Himself opening up the written word to your hearts so that you can see and comprehend and understand what God has said. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:30.000 For it to be real knowledge, for you to have knowledge that produces faith and understanding. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:37.000 And like we talked about last week, wisdom, you need the work of the Holy Spirit in your lives. 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:42.000 So we cannot hear God without the Spirit. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.000 Let's read our text starting in verse 10. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:48.000 These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:52.000 By the way, that is the thesis of the rest of the six verses. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:08:02.000 These things, the things that God has freely chosen to reveal to us, these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:12.000 For the Holy Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God, for who knows a person's thoughts except the Spirit of that person who is in Him. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:17.000 So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:24.000 Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:29.000 This is why. That we might understand the things freely given to us by God. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:41.000 And we impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:56.000 The natural person, that is the person that doesn't have the Holy Spirit, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to Him, and He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:16.000 The spiritual person, that is the one who has the Holy Spirit, judges all things but is himself to be judged by no one, for who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him, but we have the mind of Christ. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:37.000 There in verse 10 at the beginning, we see the kind of the main thesis of this paragraph, this unit of thought, is these things, these things that we learned about last week, that I has not seen the things that God was going to reveal to us who love Him. 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:44.000 These things He has revealed to us, not through philosophy and through the wisdom of this age. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:49.000 He's revealed to these things to us by His Spirit. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:53.000 We must have the Holy Spirit to know God. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:55.000 And that's my thesis. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.000 Without the Holy Spirit, you do not know God. You need God to know God. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:09.000 This idea that conversion is just talking people into it is a myth. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:16.000 You understand that it's a supernatural act of God. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:20.000 It's a miracle for you to comprehend the Word of God. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:23.000 It's a miracle for you to have faith. 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:28.000 It's a miracle for you to be able to understand what God says. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.000 What I'm talking about understanding, I'm not talking about mentally conceiving what God says. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:37.000 Natural men can be theologians. We talked about that last week. 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:53.000 But I'm talking about appreciating and understanding the true value of these words, to understand the value of Christ in order that you can willfully sell all that you have, that you might buy that precious treasure in the field. 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:59.000 For you to understand the glory of God and see that glory in your heart. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:04.000 That takes spiritual illumination. That takes divine grace. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:16.000 You're not smart enough. You're not capable enough to open up the Scriptures and understand them in a way to give you faith to change your life. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:30.000 There's a supernatural divine act, and that's the giving of the Holy Spirit, the illuminating act of the Spirit. The Spirit is an active agent that he must work in our day. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:41.000 When we pray for revival, we're praying for the Spirit to illuminate the Scriptures, to speak to us, to change us, to transform us. 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:47.000 And we see this in our text. It takes the Spirit to know God. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:57.000 First of all, this is true because the first point that Paul makes is only the Spirit knows God. 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:02.000 We see in verse 10 that the Holy Spirit knows all things perfectly. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:06.000 That is, the Holy Spirit is omniscient. He's all-knowing. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:13.000 Look at it says in verse 10, for the Spirit searches everything. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:20.000 This word searches as not to be understood as he doesn't know when he's searching things out so he can learn. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:26.000 The word searches here means that he's evaluating all things. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:37.000 Everything there is to know about all things, the Holy Spirit is evaluating and looking into and understands from all angles, from all perspectives. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:40.000 You know, our knowledge is so finite and limited. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.000 We see all things from a particular perspective, a particular angle. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:53.000 And sometimes that angle has a little bit of truth, but we don't understand everything related to it because we don't see it from other people's perspectives or from that perspective. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:57.000 But the Holy Spirit knows everything exhaustively. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:07.000 You can take anything that you want to know about and the Holy Spirit knows it from every possible angle to understand that particular thing. 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:16.000 He searches, he knows, he examines, he looks, he understands all things. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:23.000 But not only does he understand all things that there is to be known in the universe, he knows the galaxies and he knows the hairs on your head. 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:34.000 He knows that every concept of every aspect of all of science and all of learning, the Holy Spirit knows. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:42.000 He searches all things, but not only does he search all things, it says even he searches the depths of God. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.000 That's unfathomable. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:49.000 We're not just talking about a surface knowledge of deity. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:57.000 There's cracks and crevices into God's infinite being that we have no knowledge of. 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:02.000 But the Holy Spirit is looking and examining into the very crevices of God. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:13.000 He's there. He's omnipresent and he knows all aspects of every angle of the infinite eternal being. 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:18.000 This is the Holy Spirit. He knows all things. He knows the depths of God. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:23.000 And who of us can understand God? 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:26.000 Can we comprehend the incomprehensible? 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:28.000 No, we can't. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:34.000 How can we know God? We can't even know ourselves. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:37.000 We can't know God. That's the point. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:42.000 If we're going to know God, we need to know someone who does know God. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:46.000 And if we're going to know God, we need one who knows God to reveal God to us. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.000 And that's the Holy Spirit. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.000 He knows God perfectly. 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:56.000 So if we're going to know God, we need the one who knows God to reveal God to us. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:59.000 And Paul gives us a human illustration to make this point. 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:01.000 And we see this in verse 11. 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:06.000 For who knows a person's thought except the spirit of that person, which is in him. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:11.000 I think I know my wife, Lethe, better than I know anyone else in this world. 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:14.000 I've spent 20 wonderful years with her. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:19.000 And the Bible tells me to live with my wife in an understanding manner, to know my wife. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:23.000 And over the years, I feel like I'm just now getting to know her. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:27.000 I'm beginning to understand her. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:34.000 But you know, even though I feel like I know my wife, I don't know her the way she knows herself. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.000 How can I? 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.000 There's things about my wife. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:47.000 There's no way for me to be able to comprehend and understand, you know, no one knows you except your conscience. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:50.000 The spirit within you. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:58.000 It's amazing self-awareness and that conscience of I am a living being who has a personal identity. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:02.000 You know what I'm talking about is hard to explain it, but there's something in use as I am. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:09.000 I am me. I am self-aware and that whatever that is in you, your conscience has been with you from the day one. 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:14.000 It's been with you since the earliest memories you have. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:18.000 How do you communicate that to someone else? 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:24.000 You'd have to take that spirit, that conscience, and take it out of you and instill it in someone else. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:30.000 Now, if you could give me your conscience, now I can know you like you know yourself. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:35.000 But you can't give me your conscience. 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.000 In some ways, you remain a mystery to me. 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:42.000 Know you superficially. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:43.000 How are we going to know God? 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:46.000 And I'm talking about knowing Him in a very intimate way. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:50.000 Not know of Him, but to truly know Him. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:17:02.000 You see, we see at the end of verse 11, So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:06.000 I mean, you ever wonder why God does what He does? 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:12.000 Why does He allow what you would consider to be disappointments to happen in your life? 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:17.000 And to be truthful, you think you know, I know this is truth be. 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:21.000 We think we know better than God at times because we wouldn't have done it this way. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:23.000 We would have done it another way. 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:35.000 And when it doesn't happen the way we thought it should happen, and even when God doesn't answer our prayers according to how we've asked them to be answered, we go, why? 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:38.000 Well, how do we know the mind of God? 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.000 How can we understand His thoughts? 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:44.000 The Bible says we don't know the thoughts of God. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:49.000 It says that His ways are higher than our ways. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.000 His thoughts are transcendent. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:58.000 They're higher than our thoughts. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:08.000 But we're only going to know the mind of God and understand God and what He does and why He does what He does. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:15.000 If the Holy Spirit, which is the very Spirit of God who lives in God, reveals God to us. 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:17.000 We see that's the point of this passage. 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:20.000 These things God has revealed us through the Spirit. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:27.000 Jesus says, the helper will come, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send to you in my name. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:29.000 He will teach you all things. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:37.000 John 1526, but when the helper comes, I will send you, send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:41.000 He will bear witness about me. 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:44.000 You see, God has revealed Himself. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:52.000 The Father has revealed Himself to us by the Son, and the Son reveals Himself to us by the Spirit. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:55.000 Without the Spirit, we cannot know Christ. 00:18:55.000 --> 00:19:00.000 Without Christ, we cannot know God. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:16.000 We must never minimize the active, ongoing importance of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:19.000 That's my point, number one. 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:23.000 Without the Spirit, we cannot know God. 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:31.000 Excuse me. 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:34.000 Point number two. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:42.000 If only by the Spirit we can know God, that it bears the reason, only those who have the Spirit know God. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:45.000 We see this in verses 12 through 13. 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:46.000 Look at verse 12. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:50.000 Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.000 It's not the Spirit of this age. It's not the Spirit of pagan philosophers. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.000 It's not the Spirit of the Enlightenment. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:59.000 It's not the Spirit of the wisdom of men. 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:01.000 It's not the wisdom from below. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:03.000 This is not what we need to know God. 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:08.000 Remember that Corinthians had a false understanding of wisdom, and where wisdom came from. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.000 Paul's correcting their thinking. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:19.000 He said, you're impressed with this set of preachers, and their emphasis on this type of wisdom. 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:27.000 And you think my preaching is subpar because of my delivery style, and also that my content seems pretty basic. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:38.000 You must realize that what I communicate to you, in the words that I used to, is the wisdom from the Lord, wisdom from above. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:44.000 And it's not from the Spirit of this world. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:51.000 He told us earlier for the wisdom of this world, that man does not know God. 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:59.000 No one has come to understand the depths of God through the wisdom of this age. 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:15.000 Philosophy, and even science, and all forms of human learning, may have a place and a role to play in various aspects of life, but none of it can bring us to knowledge of God. 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:23.000 But rather we've been given the very Spirit that lives in God. 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:29.000 I mean, if I could give you my conscience, you can understand my inner thoughts. 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:33.000 And when I talk to you, you'd be going, I know what you're saying. 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:36.000 That makes sense. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:41.000 I know how you think. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:47.000 How are we going to understand the mind of Christ, the mind of God? 00:21:47.000 --> 00:22:00.000 What if He took His Spirit that lives in Him, that searches the depths of His understanding, and He gave us His Spirit and installed His Spirit into our hearts? 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.000 That's why He gives us the Spirit. 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:13.000 It says in verse 12, why did we receive the Spirit from God, that we might understand the things freely given to us by God? 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:20.000 In other words, everything we understand, I mean, truly understand from our hearts. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:27.000 We understand only by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:32.000 Now, how does the Spirit reveal God to us? 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:36.000 He does it in two ways. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:45.000 There's two important things that must take place for you to know God, for the Spirit to reveal truth to you. 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:50.000 One, we need a divine transmitter. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.000 And two, we need a divine receiver. 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:59.000 Now, do you know in this room there's a lot of communication going on? 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:07.000 But thankfully, you're discerned or you're an app to receive most of the communication in this room. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:35.000 But if you took your iPhones out and had your phone say, play this radio station, or if you just had a radio and pulled it out, turned it on, and you can turn the dial, you'd realize that there were things that are being transmitted, radio waves that has filled this room up. 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.000 But we're not picking it up. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:47.000 So you have to have a transmitter, a big tower transmitting radio waves. 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:50.000 And that's what we have with the Word of God. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:24:05.000 It's the divine, inspired, living Word of God that communicates, that transmits the mind of God, the words of God, the heart of God, truth, wisdom to us. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:13.000 So we all know that we need the Word of God, the objective, written Word of God, the Bible. 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:15.000 You've got to have the Bible. 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:20.000 But more than that, you also have to have a receiver. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:21.000 You need a transmitter. 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:22.000 You need a receiver. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:27.000 You need what we call illumination. 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:33.000 You need inspiration of the written Word of God, and you need illumination. 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:37.000 Ears to hear of that written Word. 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:43.000 We see in verse 13 that Paul is speaking of both sides. 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:46.000 The transmission of the Word of God is in verse 13. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:53.000 And we import, this is Paul speaking, and we import these, this, and words. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:56.000 Now, see the instrumentality. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:02.000 He said the Spirit has to reveal, I am a part of that process. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:07.000 I, the Apostle Paul, I think he's speaking as an apostle. 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:13.000 An apostle is one who sits on behalf of Christ to give divine communication. 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:21.000 All that the apostles learned from home, Christ Jesus, the Spirit was going to bring it back into remembrance to them. 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:27.000 And through the Holy Spirit, they were going to impart to us in words. 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:34.000 We impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:42.000 You see, Paul is speaking about the words that the Spirit has taught him. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:46.000 You see, the Apostle Paul was inspired. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:49.000 He was an inspired author. 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:59.000 He didn't receive his words from the teaching of men, but he received these words directly from the inspiration of the Spirit. 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:07.000 And I like how he brings out that it comes in words, down to the details, not just concepts. 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:15.000 I learned these broad, overarching concepts, and I get to choose my own words, how I want to formulate those concepts. 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:18.000 God gave me the words to speak. 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:27.000 God inspired the very words that I impart this knowledge or wisdom or revelation to you. 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:37.000 Peter put it this way in 2 Peter 1, 20, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:46.000 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:52.000 You see, those words that we have in Scriptures are not the words of men. 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:59.000 The very words that were born are carried along by the Holy Spirit. 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:06.000 This phrase, to be carried along, could be translated to be moved, moved by. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:15.000 It is a present passive-parcifical, which means to be born along or to be carried along like you would carry a baby. 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:21.000 They were not merely guided by the Holy Spirit, but they were carried by the Holy Spirit. 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:29.000 B.B. Warfield says, to be born is not the same thing as to be led, much less to be guided or directed. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:36.000 He that is born contributes nothing to the movement induced, but is the object to be moved. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:44.000 So these authors, the Apostle Paul and Peter and others, they were picked up and carried. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:28:04.000 Robert Raymond in his systematic theology says, just as the ship knowing no will of its own was driven along by the will of the wind, so also the prophets knowing no will of their own in any ultimate sense in the production of the prophetic scriptures were driven along by the will of the Holy Spirit. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:13.000 And this is why Paul says in 2 Timothy 3.16, all scriptures is breathed out by God. 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:29.000 It was not the production of the breath of the author or the intermediate author, the piment of scriptures, Paul or Peter, but rather they were breathed out by the very breath of the Holy Spirit. 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:37.000 Now this is we have to realize because many of us when we have a dilemma, we would love to hear God speak audibly to us. 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:53.000 We would love for God to go, Jeff, choose door B, take this job, do this, and we look for God to give us a direct word to help us in our decision making. 00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:55.000 But I love what John Owen says. 00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:09.000 He says the written word of God is just as much authoritative and the word of God as his verbal word. 00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:13.000 We need to believe that. 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:19.000 In fact, Peter says we have a more sure word. 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:24.000 They get to see the glory of Jesus being transformed among them. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:28.000 They got to eyewitness something with their own eyes. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:35.000 And you would think that would be the most confident word is to see something visibly. 00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.000 Peter said, no, we have a more sure word. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:46.000 We have something more concrete than empirical evidence can lead us. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:53.000 We have the written word and what makes the written word so vital for our lives. 00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:56.000 It's not subjective. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:01.000 It's not tossed to and fro by your feelings and your emotions. 00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:03.000 And I hope this is true. 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:04.000 Or did God really say that? 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:06.000 Was that in my imagination? 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:10.000 Did my eyes really see that or did I daydream this? 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:21.000 No, we have the objective standard that stands outside of our affections, outside of our conceptions, outside of our subjective reception of it. 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:24.000 It is true and it needs to be outside of us. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:25.000 It needs to be written. 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:34.000 It needs to be objective so we can stand on it and know that we have indeed the revelation of God. 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:39.000 Don't underestimate and devalue the written word of God. 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:50.000 Yes, we need the ongoing active work of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is not acting independent or outside of that which he has already spoken. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:52.000 It is a sufficient word for you and I. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:31:00.000 And all you need to make all of your decisions is found in the word of God. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:02.000 Oh, how we should study it and know it. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:16.000 Apply it, memorize it, give ourselves to understand every word that has proceeded out of the mouth of God. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:33.000 However, we also need that written word to be illuminated to us. 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:41.000 Now, we don't need a new word given to us. 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:47.000 We just need the words already given to us to be eliminated. 00:31:47.000 --> 00:32:03.000 Illumination, this is my own definition, is the effectual power of the Holy Spirit working by in and through the Scriptures to give light and spiritual understanding to our minds and hearts, which enables us to willingly believe, embrace and obey the truth of God's word. 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:06.000 You see, it's not the spirit whispering in your ears. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:09.000 Believe the Bible. 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:14.000 It's the Bible being opened up and as you read it, you hear the very voice of God. 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:20.000 The spirit is working in those very words to speak to your hearts. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:28.000 And you know what it's like when you open up the Bible and you see precious things, things that open up to your heart, things that change your life. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:39.000 That is the spirit working in it, working through it and by it. 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:45.000 Now, I will make this caveat and hear me closely because you can very easily misunderstand me. 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:53.000 I don't believe we need a new revelation and I don't believe many of these people who says God said this to me and God spoke this to me. 00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:59.000 I think we have very leery of such verbiage. 00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:22.000 But I think we also need to be careful that we have this mindset that God only speaks to us in the very wording of Scriptures. 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:38.000 For instance, when you hear a sermon and the sermon is a proper exegesis of the text and it takes the real if this is true, then it brings application to your heart based upon that truth. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:44.000 And then when you hear that application of that word, you go, man, I'm feel convicted. 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:46.000 I feel encouraged. 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:52.000 I feel like I have more faith. 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:56.000 Whatever transformation it takes place is through the application of that word. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:59.000 That's the Holy Spirit working. 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:12.000 So in the same way that God speaks to you through the application of the word and sermons, he speaks to you through the your own application of his word in your heart. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:18.000 Let me give you this illustration example. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:23.000 You see someone who needs a financial help. 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:29.000 Maybe you can see they need a jacket or they need shoes or they need something and you see it. 00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:31.000 And all of a sudden, your conscience convicts you. 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:33.000 I need to help them out. 00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:34.000 I should give them. 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:39.000 And for some reason, you go, I should give them two hundred dollars. 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:45.000 And then you begin to think, is that the word of the Bible or is that, you know, is that the Holy Spirit or is that my conscience? 00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:48.000 You begin to wonder how what is this? 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:51.000 And some of the times you'll take that that conviction. 00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:58.000 I need to give two hundred dollars to this particular person because I know they need a need and I have I have the money to do it. 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:01.000 And you're going, what is that? 00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:08.000 I don't doubt it's the Holy Spirit. 00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:12.000 Now, is he giving you new revelation? No, he's not giving you new revelation. 00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:16.000 You're not getting a new inspired word to you. 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:20.000 He's taking the word of God and applying it to your heart. 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:28.000 And you can test the spirits by testing it with the objective written word of God, because one does the Bible say. 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:36.000 If you know your Bible, you know, it says if you see a need and you don't have compassion in your heart, something's wrong with your heart. 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:43.000 And it also says if you have the ability to help the person with the need and you don't help them, something's wrong. 00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:48.000 So how do you not take the Bible and properly apply it to go? 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:57.000 I need to give to this particular cause because the Bible actually tells me to. 00:35:57.000 --> 00:36:13.000 So that's the spirit using the word working in the word through the word by the word to apply it to your your situation today, leading you and guiding you, directing you, shaping you. 00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:25.000 I suppose we need the Holy Spirit to be we need to be sensitive to the spirit and test that spirit by the objective word of God and be led by the spirit. 00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:27.000 Now we got to be careful. 00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:34.000 I can't then take my conviction and go, you have to give two hundred dollars. 00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:36.000 The spirit spoke that to me. 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:37.000 The word of God spoke that to me. 00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:38.000 I've heard God. 00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:42.000 That's what I know I need to do. 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:49.000 So be careful when you have a biblical reason to do something and you know, it's right to go. 00:36:49.000 --> 00:36:54.000 Well, I didn't see that written out in any verse or text, so I'm not going to do it. 00:36:54.000 --> 00:37:00.000 Listen to what the Bible says for you to do in your life. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.000 It directs you, it guides you, it helps you make all your decisions. 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:07.000 It's sufficient. 00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:10.000 Now, you see, there's two aspects of understanding the word of God. 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.000 There is our understanding the mind of God and knowing God. 00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:24.000 You have to have the written word of God and then you have to have the spirit given as understanding to that word of God. 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:29.000 And we see that these two concepts are combined at the end of verse 13. 00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:34.000 It says interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:39.000 And granted, this is a difficult phrase to understand in English. 00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:43.000 One version says explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:46.000 The King James version says comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:51.000 The NASB says combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:57.000 It's a hard phrase to put into English because it's actually in the original just three words. 00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:01.000 It's the word spiritual used twice, spiritual, spiritual. 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:07.000 Then the word combining or joining. 00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:14.000 The most direct translation would be joining spiritual with spiritual. 00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:34.000 And what makes this phrase joining spiritual with spiritual understandable is the fact that God actually inspires words, not just concepts, but inspiration goes down to the very words that he has chosen to use. 00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:54.000 Remember how Jesus says not one jot or tittle of all the Old Testament prophecies would go unfulfilled down to the punctuation marks or just a little the smallest markings of the Hebrew alphabet. 00:38:54.000 --> 00:39:01.000 Remember when Peter Paul says it did not say seeds in the plural, but seeds in the singular. 00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:05.000 I mean, that's precise inspiration. 00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:19.000 Well, we see that in our very text because in our very text you have the word spiritual used twice, but one is in the date of the other was in the accusative. 00:39:19.000 --> 00:39:27.000 And it's these case endings that makes the translation possible, the understanding possible. 00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:39.000 A date of case is to be an instrumental or indirect receiver of you're not the direct object or reception, you're indirect. 00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:44.000 And of course, the accusative is the direct receiver of an action. 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:50.000 And so we have this idea of spiritual. 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:52.000 One of them is a passageway. 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:55.000 The other one is the end. 00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.000 That's why the translators have tried to put in extra words. 00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:04.000 Spiritual words are spiritual troops are spiritual. 00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:08.000 They're adding something to make the translation make sense. 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:19.000 But I think the context makes it very clear that he's talking about the words that are inspired given to the Apostle Paul is the date of case. 00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:24.000 It's through inspiration of words. 00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:28.000 That those who are spiritual who have spiritual ears to hear. 00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:35.000 It's only when you combine or join together inspiration with illumination. 00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:37.000 Do you know God? 00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:39.000 That's what it's saying. 00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:45.000 You need inspiration of the written text and you need illumination of your heart. 00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:50.000 By the Holy Spirit, the Spirit has to be the giver and the receiver. 00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:55.000 And you know, it would be wonderful to be the Apostle Paul and have spiritual illumination. 00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:05.000 But how wonderful is it to be the receiver of spiritual revelation to have the spirit work in your heart so that you may understand the word of God. 00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:13.000 It is just as much of a miracle for you to understand the Bible as it was for Paul to give you the Bible. 00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:16.000 The spirit is not done working. 00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:17.000 He must work in your life. 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:23.000 He must open up the word of God to your hearts. 00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:31.000 You say, well, Jeff, why do you go into the original language and parse these things out is because God uses words. 00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:35.000 So this is not us being Quakers and Shakers and enthusiasts. 00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:38.000 We just get the spirit and we don't need the word. 00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:39.000 No. 00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:44.000 Do proper exegesis study the word to go word for word Bible studies. 00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:47.000 Understand the Bible. 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:52.000 That's the way God has chosen to communicate to us. 00:41:52.000 --> 00:42:00.000 But ask for the spirit to give you a heart to see. 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:09.000 It's only when the spirit illuminates the very words that he inspired does it become real to your life. 00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:11.000 Paul put it this way. 00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:13.000 First Thessalonians. 00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:20.000 We also think God constantly for this that when you receive the word of God, which you've heard from us, you accepted it. 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:25.000 You know, that was the objective what Paul preached. 00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:26.000 You accepted it. 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:34.000 This is the subjective side of it, not as the word of men, but as it really is the word of God. 00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:36.000 What makes you a believer and other people not a believer? 00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:41.000 What makes you understand the Bible when other people don't understand it? 00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:43.000 It's the Holy Spirit in your life. 00:42:43.000 --> 00:42:45.000 That's the point. 00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.000 Only the spirit knows God and only spirit can reveal God. 00:42:49.000 --> 00:42:51.000 That leads me to my third point. 00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:54.000 Those who don't have the spirit cannot know God. 00:42:54.000 --> 00:42:56.000 Three of our fourteen. 00:42:56.000 --> 00:43:07.000 The natural man or the natural person, the one who's devoid of the Holy Spirit does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are falling to him and he's not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:11.000 Now is not the Bible just so much the Bible to them as it is to us? 00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:18.000 Is it just so much authoritative and inspired to all people who read it as it is to us who believe it? 00:43:18.000 --> 00:43:20.000 Absolutely. 00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:22.000 But there's a problem. 00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:24.000 The problem is not in the text. 00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:26.000 The problem is not in the Bible. 00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:28.000 The problem is not with inspiration. 00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:30.000 The problem with is with our ears. 00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:31.000 Without receipt. 00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:33.000 We can't receive it. 00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:38.000 And the reason we can't receive it if we don't believe if you hear your losses like what will hide? 00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:39.000 Why do I not? 00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:44.000 It's because you don't have the Holy Spirit. 00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:50.000 It says the non-spiritual person, the one who's without the Holy Spirit cannot do three things. 00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:52.000 He cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God. 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:57.000 It says the natural person does not accept that the things of the Spirit of God. 00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:01.000 You know, over and over the fair she says these things are hard to believe. 00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:02.000 These things are hard to accept. 00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:08.000 These things are they're offended. 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:13.000 The rich young ruler was offended by the words of the gospel. 00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:20.000 They said all that you have sell to the poor. 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:21.000 I know what you're saying. 00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:23.000 I can understand clearly what you're saying. 00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:28.000 It's not that I need you to resplain yourself, Jesus. 00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:31.000 So the natural man, it's not a natural inability to understand. 00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:35.000 It's not like the Bible's confusing or gibberish. 00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:37.000 The Bible's clear. 00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:38.000 It's clear to believers. 00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:40.000 It's clear to unbelievers. 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:43.000 At least the important stuff's clear. 00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:46.000 The main things are clear. 00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:49.000 So it's not a lack of clarity. 00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:53.000 It's just a lack of acceptance. 00:44:53.000 --> 00:44:56.000 And the one without the Spirit can't accept it. 00:44:56.000 --> 00:44:59.000 I don't like what you're saying. 00:44:59.000 --> 00:45:03.000 The reason why is secondly is because they are folly to Him. 00:45:03.000 --> 00:45:17.000 The problem with the unspiritual person is the things of God are folly. 00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:20.000 Again, this is not a lack of mental capacity. 00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:22.000 This is lack of moral capacity. 00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:26.000 It's a problem of not valuating things properly. 00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:35.000 I mean, you could go to a two-year-old and put a candy bar or Michael Jordan's rookie card in front of him. 00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.000 What is the two-year-old going to take? 00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:42.000 Don't be a fool, little two-year-old. 00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:43.000 Don't take the candy bar. 00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:44.000 Don't you understand? 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:47.000 That's not worth much. 00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:55.000 And the kids like, I don't want a cardboard picture. 00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:58.000 I don't see the value in that. 00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:03.000 And you preach to unbelievers and you go, here's Jesus Christ. 00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:04.000 He's eternal life. 00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:07.000 Here's things precious beyond measure. 00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:08.000 This is the depths of God. 00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:10.000 These are things that will change your life. 00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:12.000 These are things that are precious reality. 00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:16.000 And then here you are, you're going, I want my candy bar. 00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:19.000 I can't wait to go to lunch after the service. 00:46:19.000 --> 00:46:24.000 I can't wait to see who's playing on television, what sports teams are playing. 00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:27.000 That's what my heart's on. 00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:31.000 It's like it's folly because you can't see the value. 00:46:31.000 --> 00:46:34.000 Well, how are we going to see the value of God? 00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:40.000 Only the one who knows God can show us that value. 00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.000 We see, thirdly, the natural man can't understand them. 00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:57.000 He's not able to truly, I mean, you can intellectually repeat what you're saying and intellectually hum to some conclusion that he's an orthodox Christian. 00:46:57.000 --> 00:47:02.000 But in the truest sense, it's not true understanding. 00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:06.000 It's not real to him. 00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:09.000 And here's the reason. 00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:11.000 This is because they are spiritually discerned. 00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:14.000 That word means literally it's just like you're devoid of something. 00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:29.000 The reason you don't understand, the reason you think the words of God are folly, the reason you're not seeing the value of the word of God, and you're not living off the word of God, the reason that you don't study the Bible, the reason it's not precious in your heart, is there's a deficiency in you. 00:47:29.000 --> 00:47:34.000 And the deficiency is a spiritual deficiency. 00:47:34.000 --> 00:47:41.000 Paul says, I would love to speak to you in higher things, but you're not spiritually capable. 00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:45.000 You're carnal. You're still yet weak. 00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.000 And I think that's true of us. 00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:53.000 If you're unconverted, you have no spirit at all. 00:47:53.000 --> 00:48:08.000 But I think we can make an application that, hey, if we're going to grow in spiritual wisdom and knowledge and understanding, if we're going to grow in the Lord, we have to grow spiritually. 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:13.000 We need more spiritual elimination. 00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:16.000 God didn't, conversion give us all things. 00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:19.000 He didn't open up our mind to all things at one time. 00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:24.000 It's a gradual, the spirit takes the word here and opens up the next day. 00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:31.000 That word allows us to understand a little bit more, and what we learned the last few days gives us more for the days to come. 00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:35.000 And we grow and become online, upon line. 00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:43.000 The spirit keeps continuously illuminates, and we need the spirit to continuously speak to our hearts. 00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:57.000 The natural man may be able to mentally comprehend the words of scriptures, but he cannot grasp the glory and the beauty of scripture within his heart without the spirit. 00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:04.000 Now we need nothing less than solid exegesis, nothing less. 00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:19.000 Study the word line by line, view the context, do the hard work of studying the word. 00:49:19.000 --> 00:49:23.000 You need nothing less than that, but you need a little bit more. 00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:31.000 You need the work of God, the Holy Spirit, to show it to you. 00:49:31.000 --> 00:49:37.000 Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot receive the words of the spirit. 00:49:37.000 --> 00:49:51.000 Now, let's look in the last two verses, was just his keys, I think this is his conclusion, he's wrapping everything back up, and he gives us three blessings to the spiritual man, three benefits for those who have the Holy Spirit. 00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:56.000 Starting in verse 15, those who have the spirit have discernment. 00:49:56.000 --> 00:50:01.000 The spiritual person judges or discerns or evaluates or understands all things. 00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:04.000 Remember, it began by saying the spirit searches all things. 00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:12.000 Now it says those who have the spirit can search all things or discern all things or evaluate all things. 00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:19.000 It's amazing once you understand God and understand the word of God, and gives you insights into all other knowledge. 00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:24.000 It allows you to understand things more properly. 00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:29.000 And without the knowledge of God, you don't understand the value of everything else. 00:50:29.000 --> 00:50:38.000 It's amazing once you see the glory of God, you can actually appropriately evaluate the glory of a car or the glory of food. 00:50:38.000 --> 00:50:45.000 Everything else has its proper place, and you understand its role in the light of the knowledge of God. 00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.000 So this is one of the benefits. 00:50:49.000 --> 00:50:57.000 The spiritual person is able to evaluate, discern all things. 00:50:57.000 --> 00:51:05.000 But we see it comes with the idea that also, but he himself to be judged by no one. 00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:16.000 I think what that means is saying that we can evaluate and discern all things, but the unbeliever doesn't really evaluate us, just as they don't appreciate the word of God. 00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:20.000 They have really no appreciation for those who are spiritual. 00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:26.000 They have no really evaluation of the one who has the spirit of God living within them. 00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:33.000 Thirdly, those who have the spirit, and this is so beautiful, have the mind of Christ. 00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:39.000 It takes us back when we began by saying, for who has understood the mind of the Lord? 00:51:39.000 --> 00:51:41.000 Who has understood the depths of God? 00:51:41.000 --> 00:51:44.000 Who of us has been able to instruct Him? 00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:45.000 And he's quoting Isaiah. 00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:57.000 This is a common phrase that Paul, he said at least twice, he says it in Romans, who has understood the mind of God, who has been His counselor, who has instructed Him. 00:51:57.000 --> 00:52:00.000 The point is no one knows God. 00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:06.000 No one can be able to have some knowledge that God doesn't know and be His instructor. 00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:10.000 No one knows God, but God knows Himself. 00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:16.000 But it ends by saying that we have the mind of Christ. 00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:21.000 Who has known the mind of Christ or known the mind of the Lord, speaking of Jesus Christ? 00:52:21.000 --> 00:52:23.000 No one. 00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:29.000 But we, through the Holy Spirit, we have the mind of Christ. 00:52:29.000 --> 00:52:37.000 Back to my conscience, if I could give you my conscience, which I'm glad I can't because I don't want you to know everything I think about. 00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:45.000 But if you had my conscience, you would know me as I know myself. 00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:50.000 Now, that would be the most intimate knowledge of knowing me. 00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:53.000 Now, we may not know all there is to know about God. 00:52:53.000 --> 00:52:55.000 Absolutely not. 00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:57.000 He's infinite. 00:52:57.000 --> 00:53:06.000 But we can truly, no one ever let anyone tell you otherwise, you can truly, experientially know Christ. 00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:09.000 You can know God in your hearts. 00:53:09.000 --> 00:53:10.000 How? 00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:16.000 Because you've been given to the Holy Spirit the very conscience or the very mind of Christ. 00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:17.000 How do we know God? 00:53:17.000 --> 00:53:28.000 The Spirit of God must first communicate God to us and then the Spirit of God must give us eyes and hearts to see what He has communicated to us in His word. Amen.