I'd like you to turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 again and let me go ahead and read verse 11
and verse 12. Ah, we better read verse 10. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, But the Spirit, which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." Again, I want to continue on
speaking, hopefully, to the deep things of God, is what I've entitled
it. And I said it last week, that
word Deep things is one word, and it means deepness or depths,
the depths of God. And there are no depths of God
outside of Jesus Christ that we will ever know. That's where
we have knowledge. That's where we are given knowledge.
Our knowledge of the Father comes from knowing the Son. And that
knowledge is given to us by his spirit. We don't make it up on
our own. We don't dig it up on our own.
It is what freely given to us. Walter said something while we
were out after service last week that I'm going to share with
you because it is very good. And Walter, I think I sort of
said this last week, but the way he put it, is very pertinent,
very to the point. Just because we're talking about
the depths of God, the spirit searches all the deep things
of God, doesn't mean that there are shallows of God. That's exactly
right. That's exactly right. The problem,
anywhere around there, is with us. We may not perceive the depths,
but that doesn't mean the depths aren't there. and the spirit
searches it all, there are no shallows. No matter
what others say, we continue on, we were talking about, and
I had forgotten almost about that, Walter. There are people that we know, some of whom we
are related to, or were related to, who have this idea that salvation's
easy. Salvation's easy. Now what do
you do afterwards? That's what I want to hear. All
you've got to do to be saved is just believe. That's easy. No,
it's not. It takes the power of God. It's
not your believing, it's His faith. His faith leads to your
believing. It's not the other way around.
And it's almost like, it reminds me of that rich young ruler when
Christ spoke to him and he said, well, the rich young ruler says,
what do I do to be saved? Christ looked at him and says,
keep the law. And the rich young ruler replied
to him, well, I've done that. And I remember Henry Mahan saying,
give me something hard to do. I've done all that since my youth.
No, you haven't. And these people think there's
an easy believism that you come forward to an altar and make
a profession and you say those words and everything's OK. Now what do I do? Well, no. There's
depths to salvation that they haven't even scratched. There are no shallows. There
is only the depths of God. But it's like Paul here. There are people who believe,
particularly, supposed to be, young in the faith believers,
who only see the surface things. There is a surface. It's not
that they're shallows, but it's all that we don't always see
the depths that are there. But those depths are there. The
gospel of Christ, Jesus, and him crucified is at the same
time simple and profound. There's more to it than the world
will ever know. But on the surface it is simple.
He came, he died, he lived perfectly, he shed his blood, he offered
it to God and God has accepted him and God raised him from the
dead. It's easy when you state it like that, but when you start
going into details as to what that actually entails, and that
he'd been prophesied for thousands of years before he ever got here,
and he perfectly fulfilled everything that was prophesied about him,
and the depths that go in to where you can say that God, who
is too holy to look upon sin, can look upon you now, and me
now, and say, I love you. You're holy in my sight. In His
Son, we are. The gospel of Christ has never
changed. The truth of Christ has never
changed. Our perception, our comprehension,
our understanding changes. Hopefully, it gets better. Not
worse. But the gospel never changes.
I see now more than I ever have in the scriptures, Mason, in
my life. In the gospel and in Christ. Paul explains this difference
at the beginning of the next chapter when he says to these
Corinthian believers, the one he's talking to right here, And
he says, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you
with milk and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able
to bear it. And neither yet now are ye able,
for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you
endings and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as
men? There is a difference between
the milk and the meat. There's a difference. It's not
that it's shallow. It's just that it's the surface.
And some people can only handle so much. The problems with us. Always
has been with us The spirit knows all the depths
of God and Christ But Paul told him at that time they couldn't
handle it But yet he continues on in verse 11 for what man knoweth
the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him
Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God
Who knows the things of a man? The spirit of man. How do we know? Well, in bad
English, we are us. That's who we are. Man knows
the things of man. Man knows his emotions, his thoughts,
his feelings. Man knows his lusts, or he should,
even when he denies them. Man knows his stubbornness even
when he pretends his compliance. They call it passive aggressive
nowadays. You can not budge while appearing
to be compliant. The spirit of man is corrupt.
It is cursed and the spirit of man is our very own. It's us. The spirit of man does not know the things of the
spirit of God. This is just a plain statement.
The spirit of a man can only know the things of the spirit
of man. excuse me but the Spirit of God the Spirit of God knows the things
of God and the Spirit of God alone knows the things of God
the Spirit of man can't it's impossible it is impossible He
goes on to say that later on in the chapter. What does this
mean, that the Spirit of God alone knows the things of God?
It means that the things of God have never entered the heart
of man. That's verse nine. See, here is the difference between
knowing and not knowing the things of God. The Spirit of God knows. We, naturally, do not. But God, but God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. The difference here is being
shown in here. is between the heart of man and
the Spirit of God. Not the heart of man, the natural
man, and the heart of a saved man. It's the heart of man and
the Spirit of God. Unless you have been given the
Spirit of God, you will never know anything about the things
of God. That's where the difference lies.
Now you are given a new heart. You are given a new nature. But
how does that nature come? It comes by the Spirit of God
giving life. It comes when you believe you
being sealed by the Spirit. And the Spirit who has been with
you is now dwelling in you. but you still don't get no credit
for that. You never get any credit for that, because it's not you.
It's the Spirit of God in you. This is what I meant when you
see that two natures in Romans 7, and Paul talks about it, and
Paul talks about how I am carnal, sold under sin, and the law is
spiritual. Here's how the difference is.
It's not you, it's the Spirit of God in you. Christ is in you,
the hope of glory. This is where the difference
is. Verse 12 says, Now we have received. Right now we have received. Not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. Now we have received. It's not speaking of the future,
although the future is not going to change. If you have the Spirit
of God now, you're going to have the Spirit of God forever. We
are kept by the power of God through faith. We don't keep ourselves. Right now, in this world, walking
around, we have Receive his spirit What a glory that is what a wonderful
wonderful glorious thing that is And guess what this is one of
those things that was prepared before the foundation of the
world That the world knows nothing about It was revealed, it was
unveiled to us by the Holy Spirit. It was given to us by the Holy
Spirit. Because right now we are receiving
some of the things God has prepared for us before the foundation
of the world. This is about believers, make
no mistake about it, and no one else. This is not an election thing.
a reprobate thing. This is a thing of who has the
Spirit of God now. Now. Who believes God now? Now we have received the Spirit
which is of God. Not the Spirit of the world.
He says that plainly. Let's be clear, it's not that
we don't have the spirit of the world or the spirit of man. Or that we don't know the spirit
of the world. We do. But we didn't receive it from
God. That was all our own. There was a time when the only
thing we knew was the spirit of the world. But believers,
the regenerate, have received a new thing, a new person. And with it comes a new perception,
a new comprehension, and a new understanding. It is the Spirit which is of
God. We believers, those that love
Christ, have received the Spirit of God now. In this time, we
have received Him. Like I said, the contrast is
laid out clearly. It's not laid out as the difference
between the heart of a man and the heart of a saved man, or
even between the old nature and the new nature. Here it is shown
between the heart of man and the Spirit of God. The fountain,
the source, is the Spirit of God. The receptacle, the container
of the truth, is not you. It's also the Spirit of God. Paul is stating plainly that
believers have received His Spirit. And we don't have the Spirit
because we know the truth. We know the truth. We know the
things of God because we have been given His Spirit. You can't
put the cart before the horse. You don't come and pray, Walter,
at that hump in the floor to get the Spirit. Hopefully, the
Spirit causes you to cry out unto God. That's the proper order. You don't know who you're praying
to if you don't have the Spirit. You don't know what you're praying
if you don't have the Spirit. Because the natural man, he goes
on to say, cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. And we have received the Spirit
which is of God. For what purpose? That we might
know. That, our express purpose here,
our receiving of His Spirit, our being given His Spirit, is
for an express purpose, Paul relating here. God has things
prepared for those that love Him. We have received for the
express purpose the Spirit of God for the purpose of knowing
Him. Knowing Christ and thereby in
Christ knowing the Father and the Spirit His Spirit Now I do
realize it says that we might know But that's the old English
might it's not we might we might not If you want to you can use
it the same way as you say that we shall know You're gonna know Christ if you've
received the Spirit of God. There's no doubt about it. If
you have received His Spirit, you shall know. Saints know. Believers know. Them that love God know. Them
that love Christ know. And this word here, know, means
to perceive by seeing and all other senses. Not just seeing,
but perceiving, understanding. And we understand who we are
seeing and hearing of. You understand, I've said it
before, I'll say it again. In this world, believers are
the only ones who can see the things of the Spirit of Man and
the things of the Spirit of God. If there hasn't been a change
in you, in your perceptions, in your seeing, in your hearing,
to where you hear things you didn't used to hear. You start
to understand things you never did understand before and you
see Christ where you never saw Christ before. You need to make
your calling and election sure. Because if there has not been
a change in you to where you can see the things of man and
the things of God, that's what we've been given,
to know him. We already knew us. Matter of
fact, when he starts to work in you, you start to know more
about yourself than you ever want to know. You start to know
things about yourself that you've been denying for a long time
but they were there anyway. But He doesn't leave you in that.
He brings you to know Him. That we might know we have received
the Spirit which is of God. That we might know we see the
world around us and we perceive and understand the works of the
Spirit of God. Because we get to see both. We
already had the one spirit, and now we have received the spirit
which is of God. And we are the ones with the
war in our members, flesh and spirit. Contrary to each other,
we have both. And because the spirit which
is of God, we know. You start with the milk, but
God willing and spirit teaching, you start to see the depths and
you get the meat. But what do we know? The things
that are freely given to us of God. All the truth that we know
is the gift of God given to us. It is really that simple. You
have nothing which you have not received as far as the things
of God are concerned. We don't get anything. or obtain anything, we are given
everything concerning the things of God. Now because of that, God will work in you both to
will and to do of His good pleasure. There are things to do. There
are things you want to do. There are things you're pleased
to do. There's things I wish I could do, but I can't. But, anything we have, anything
we do, is because it has been freely given to us by God. By His Spirit, which He has given
to be in you all. All believers. If you know Christ, it's because
you've been given to know Christ. And that goes for the milk and
the meat. That goes for the surface and the depths. The spirit knows
them all. What was it? Let me see, John 14, talking
about the comforter. Verse 16, he says, and I will
pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that
He may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth
Him. But ye know Him, for He dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you. We have been given the Spirit,
His Spirit, the Spirit of God. I will not leave you comfortless,
I will come to you. Then over in verse 26, same chapter,
14, John 14, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name, he what shall teach you all things. Bring all things your remembrance
whatsoever. I have said unto you John chapter 16 and verse 13
How be it? I'll be it When he the spirit
of truth has come He will guide you into all truth He shall not
speak of himself There's a lot of Pentecostals need to learn
that The Holy Spirit doesn't speak of himself That's what
Christ said it's plain but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak
and He will show you things to come in verse 14 he, the Holy
Spirit, shall glorify me, Jesus Christ. For he shall receive
of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father
hath are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you, the Spirit gives the
knowledge of Christ to the believer. He glorifies Christ. The father said, he's my beloved son, but my well
beloved son, hear him. We know the things that are freely given
to us by God, by His Spirit. It's never entered the heart
of man, and it never will enter the heart of man, but it has
entered man when the Spirit enters man. We know because the Holy Spirit
knows. He searches out all the things
of God. And then He takes the things
of Christ and He shows them to us. Romans 8 and 9 says that, But
ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now. Right now. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his." That's how serious this is. There
is no other way. There is no other way. Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And that life is
given to us by His Spirit, which He sent to us to give us life. And the Spirit teaches us the
things of Christ. We do study. We do study to show
ourselves approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
But we only see, hear, learn, and comprehend or understand
because it is His Spirit knows the depths of God. His Spirit
takes the things of Christ and shows them to you. He reveals
them to us. It has to be freely given. Why? A, we don't deserve it. B, we don't want it. And naturally, we won't have
it. I mean, I know exactly what in
that parable when he's talking and he says, Those people cried
out, we will not have this man to reign over us. Because that's
what it means to know Christ. You will have this man to reign
over you. You will be, if you want to put
it that way, you will be run by the Spirit of God. And you
will be happy to have it so. There's a change. There's a change. It's not always wonderful. It's
not always great as far as my circumstance or my feelings.
But oh, what a wonderful change it is. What a great change it
is. To where I know Him. I know Christ. My circumstances
are my circumstances and I deal with them as best I can. But
my circumstances don't really get in the way of my joy in Christ. He's the joy of my life. By the Spirit of God. Before I started, I didn't even
know enough about the things of God to realize any of this
existed. We can't earn it, and naturally,
like I said, we don't want it. It has to be freely given to
us. That's the only way we could
get it. It has to be unearned, unmerited, favor, work of God. Because the only thing that is
complete about the natural man is that we're completely dead
spiritually toward God in trespasses and in sins. And thereby, actually,
if you want to know the truth, the other thing that's complete
is our ignorance of the things of God. Even with our education
and possibly even with great intellects, we do not naturally
realize the existence of the true things of God. All we have
is wonderful thoughts. are not so wonderful thoughts. But Paul, all those things, those
thoughts I had was altogether vanity. That's all I ever had
before was vanity. The imaginings of my own mind.
But God, but God has revealed them. It has freely given to
us to know to know the things that are given to us by God. This is how we know the flesh
and the spirit. Today, not just in our past,
this is how we know the law is spiritual and I am carnal. We are freely given to know him
by his spirit, and by his spirit we are given to know the Son,
and through the Son we know the Father, And through the Son, through
the Father, we know this has all been given to us by His Spirit.
By His Holy Spirit. It's a gift. The life of God
given to man is a gift from beginning to end. It has been freely given. Freely to us. It cost Christ
a great deal. There was a debt to be paid.
But since that debt was completely and totally paid by Jesus Christ,
we can be and are freely given all things. We are given all spiritual blessings
in Christ. He paid the debt. He paid everything
that was owed. Thereby, because of that, we
can be freely given all things. We are freely given to know.
We are freely given to live. We are freely given life. It
is His gift which He has prepared for us even before the foundation
of the world. Even the depths of God. And right
now it's still not up to us. I said it. We are kept by the
power of God. Through faith unto salvation. Ready. Before prepared. Ready to be revealed at the last
time. By his spirit. we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for everything you have done for us by your spirit. All that you
have taught us of your son, you've given to us to know. that
you have revealed to us to see, to hear, and to understand. Thank you, Lord. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen.