If you would, turn in your Bibles
to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Something I hope is a very familiar
passage of scripture. It is to me. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and I
want to just read four verses beginning in verse 9. But, as it is written, I hath
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 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. I'm going to stop right there. I've entitled this the deep things
of God I Know it's very ambitious But believers are are to know
some things Paul states it here That there are things that are
freely given to us by God to know Now, I don't know all of your
backgrounds, but there was always a background among the Armenians
where I spent a year or two, to my shame, for my edification. There were always some Armenians
who would argue with you just simply on the fact, Walter, you
remember, whether you could know you were safe. And they basically stated, you
can't know anything. That's not what this book says.
It's not even close to what this book says. And if you want to
vex somebody like that, just turn to any page you want to
in 1 John. And you will find somewhere in
there where John's telling you something you're supposed to
know. I wrote to you because you do know. But that was the
background. Paul states it. There are things
freely given to us by God to know. Now the New Testament is
filled with statements about not being ignorant. I would not have you ignorant.
I would not, brethren, that ye be ignorant of this mystery.
I would not that ye should be ignorant. I would not have you
ignorant. There's one, we are not ignorant
of his devices, speaking of Satan. But, beloved, be not ignorant. That's a command. Be not ignorant. Now, as we have stated here,
ignorance can be educated. You can't help stupid, but ignorance
can be educated. The scriptural word, more scriptural
word, I like better, is ignorance can be enlightened. He enlightens
the eyes. The Spirit of God does. Enlightened. Ignorance can be enlightened.
This whole Bible is written so that we who love Him may know
Him and the Father who sent Him. Now here in 1 Corinthians 2, we have how we know. Walter's been reading in Romans
7. In Romans 7, it teaches you what it means to have two natures.
But he doesn't really go into, in Romans 7, about how you get
two natures. He does here in 1 Corinthians
2. He's telling us how. It's shown in 7 with the flesh
and the spirit, the law and the spirit. But here, Paul is dealing
with what we are to know and how we come to know it. I can tell you this, with man,
it is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Even enlightening of our ignorance. That was one of my descriptions
of myself when I met Walter. I was pretty ignorant of almost
everything having to do with Christ and God. I was mostly
ignorant of the Catholic Church and that's where I was born and
raised. But I didn't know any of this stuff. Never heard any
of this stuff. And if they did say something
about it, I wasn't listening anyway. But God did not leave
me in my ignorance. He sent me to a place where I
learned. He taught me from his word. He
taught me through his gospel. He would not have you to be ignorant.
That's why we have this book, to know him. But Paul starts here in verse
nine, where I'm starting anyway. But as it is written, I hath
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Now there are those who will
quote this verse partially in order to try and prove their
point where you can't know anything. See, I hath not seen, heareth
not heard, neither it's entered into the heart of man, the things
which God has prepared for them. And they stop right there. Well,
Paul doesn't stop right there. But I want to look at this a
little more carefully because this is actually a reference
by Paul from Isaiah 64 and verse 4. You
don't have to turn there. I've got it written down. Isaiah
64 and verse 4 says it this way. For since the beginning of the
world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for
him that waited for him. That's where Paul got this from. The Proverbs are very clear. Only God gives eyes that see,
ears that hear, and a heart that understands. They're clear. If you've got a problem with
that, you've got a problem with everything. If you got a problem with that,
you got a problem with everything. Only God gives eyes that see,
ears that hear, and a heart that understands. Now what does that
mean? Well, what that means is that
what Paul wrote here is true. Eyes have not seen, ears have
not heard, and it has never, never entered the heart of man. This is clearly true, seriously
true, and also gloriously true. What God has done, is doing,
and shall do for those that love him has never entered into the
heart of man. Never. Never. None of the princes
of the world knew this. It says it right before this.
None of the princes of the world knew this. None of the men of
the world knew this. None of them knew the wisdom
of God. Why? It never entered their heart. Paul told us. Never. This is not a speculation on
Paul's part. This is not a supposition, a
deduction, or an observation. This is a boldly stated fact
written by a man inspired by the word of God to write it down
for us. And I'm putting this statement
right here, right up there with the proclamation of Stephen before
he was stoned. When he said, ye stiff neck and
uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist. always resist the Holy Ghost
as your fathers did, so do you, so do ye. The truth of God as
it is in the face of Jesus Christ has never entered an uncircumcised
heart. It's never entered the heart
of man, never, never. The gospel of Christ, I'm gonna
say this, has never entered an uncircumcised heart. The wisdom of God has never entered
an uncircumcised heart. Man's heart, as described in
the scriptures, is described as a heart of stone. Desperately wicked, deceitful
above all things, but I like that heart of stone thing. Because
what is a stone? The stone is inorganic. What does that mean? That means
it's dead. It's a rock. Man's heart is described
as a rock. Now how much truth does a rock
absorb? How much of anything does a rock
absorb? It ain't a sponge, it's a rock.
It's not alive. And here's the point, being an
inorganic thing, it never has been alive. It's dead. There's no life in the heart
of man. None. And it has never entered
the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those
that love him. You say that's harsh. Well, yeah. I guess it is. But the truth
is harsh. And the truth is uncompromising. But above all, the truth is the
truth and not a lie. Paul wrote it. Inspired of God. Quoting Isaiah, who was inspired
of God. So we've got it twice by men
of God. that it has never entered the
heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those that
love him. But it does say God has prepared.
It does say that God has prepared. Even though eyes haven't seen
it, ears haven't heard it, and the heart hasn't understood,
it's never entered. But God's still prepared. This
is not anything new. As I said, Paul was quoting Isaiah
in the Old Testament. But God has prepared. There is, you know, I'm sure
I know theories and people who preach and people who listen
to stories about how God is kind of working things out as he goes
along. It ain't so. It's not so. It's not at all. God has prepared. There have
been preparations made for those that love him. He's making no adjustments. Walter,
there's no tweaking. I like that word. Well, we just
got a tweak for the program and it'll work. Usually that means
I have to go around things in order to get something done.
That's not what God has done. It's not what God is doing. He
is not tweaking the salvation. It's His salvation. It's perfect. Everything in this world that
is happening and everything in this world that is going to happen. Especially to them that love
Him. Especially that them love Him.
has been prepared by God. You ask when, you ask why, you
ask how. Well, Isaiah also said that God
declared the end from the beginning. From the beginning, God declared
the end. Everything is going exactly the
way God declared it. You understand? It's not even
the fact that... He says it. That makes it so. His voice goes out. My word goes
out. And it never ever returns to
Him void. It accomplishes exactly what
He has set out for it to do. God has prepared things. for
them that love him. And if you want to know a little
bit of when, you look back where Paul was quoting Isaiah. Isaiah
starts that quote off, since the beginning of the world. Now
Paul doesn't definitively declare that here, but that's the way
Isaiah says it. It's from the beginning. Known
unto God are what? all his works from the beginning. That's foreknowledge, if you
really want to know. That's foreknowledge. Known unto
God are all his works since the beginning of the world.
I have not seen, ear have not heard, neither has it entered
into the heart of man what God has prepared for them that love
him." This is not new. None of this is new. None of
this is new. God prepared since before the
foundation of the world. And it does say specifically
particularly For them that love him There are things in the future When Isaiah wrote when Paul wrote
and as we read it here There are things in the future that
have been prepared for those that love him Particular promises
It's just as true now as it was in Paul's day. It's just as true
now as it was in Isaiah's time. This world does not know Christ. Period. You can just leave it
right there. This world does not know God. Period. Father, Son, or Spirit. None
of the above. None of the above. And this world has no idea what
God has prepared for those that do know him, that do love him. It has never, ever entered their
heart, their consciousness, their mind, their thoughts. And I want to particularly point
out the way they wrote this. Isaiah put them that waiteth
for him. Paul wrote for them that love him. That's the only. It's not a qualification. That's a description. Okay? You don't have to love him before
he'll do anything for you. That's not the way it works.
That's the way it's preached in a lot of places, but I refuse
to preach it that way here. It's a description. It's a description. This is for those that love Him.
But you understand, it doesn't say anything else. That's all
it says. Them that love Him. You understand, this is not a
great faith and a little faith thing. It's got nothing to do
with it. Do you love Christ? Do you love
Him? Are you looking for His coming?
Do you want to see Him? This is the only thing that Paul
gives as a description here. Every believer fits in that.
Everyone whom God has converted fits in there. Great faith, little
faith, doesn't matter. Strong faith, weak faith. People
use these descriptions all the time. It's the faith of God's
elect. And if you have the faith of
God's elect, you believe Him and you love Him. And He has
things prepared for you. That's the only description given
here. Them that love him. It doesn't say that we believe
with all our heart, mind, soul, or strength, Walter. Because
we don't. But we love him. That's the only thing. I think
that's marvelous. But there are some things that
he has promised. Some things that he has prepared. And I can't
leave this verse without bringing this up. Oh, we love him because he first
loved us. I know y'all know that, but I
can't go without saying it. But what he has prepared for
them that love him. Jesus Christ himself promised
he would raise up those that come to him at the last day. That hasn't happened yet. He
had promised that he would raise up every single one that would
come to him at the last day, on the last day. Peter writes
to those brethren there, and he says that we who are kept
by the power of God through faith, and it does say unto salvation. ready to be revealed in the last
time. There is a sense, a true sense,
in which our salvation is complete now. There is nothing to be added
to salvation to be saved. But there is yet a completion
of this salvation yet to come. And God's already prepared it.
Who? For those that love Him. That's what Peter's writing here.
Unto salvation, what's it say? Ready to be revealed. It's already
ready. Why? Because it's already prepared.
God has prepared it for them that love Him. The completion
of His salvation that we have been given. It is a perfect salvation
and it's going to be perfectly completed. What? In the last time. But it's ready. It's ready. Paul will continue
on in this letter to tell of things that God has prepared
for us. In 1 Corinthians, it says the
last enemy to be destroyed is death. Guess what? God's already prepared for that.
The dead are sown in corruption of the flesh. It is raised in
incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is
raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is
raised in power. Guess what? All that is prepared
for them that love him. It is sown a natural body. It
is raised a spiritual body. This corruptible, I love this,
must put on incorruption. And this mortal shall put on
immortality. God has prepared that for those
that love him. How is this all possible? Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet
shall sound and the dead shall be raised. incorruptible and
we shall be changed. God has prepared this already.
God has prepared this for them that love him. And this right
here has never entered the heart of man. They have prophecy conferences
all over this nation. Come and see the future. Well, I'm gonna tell you something,
the future for the world is not really something I want to see.
Now this, what God has prepared for those that love him, that
I want to see. That I want to be. But they will spend hours and
thousands of dollars and try to raise thousands of dollars
speaking about nonsense. And they don't know and they
don't care and they can't have a conference on what God has
prepared for them to love Him. Verse 10, but God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit For the spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither has it ever entered the heart of man what God has
prepared for those that love him, but God. Those two great
words, but God. Guess what? You're going to see
something a little different in this verse. But God. Because we're going
from the heart of man to somewhere else. That's the separation here. The heart of man and the spirit
of God. And how do we go from one to
the other? But God. That's the only way. That's the
only way. But God hath revealed them unto
us. And that is that word, apocalupso.
God has uncovered them to us. God has unveiled them to us. God has raised the curtain on
them, right? They're aforeprepared from the
beginning. They're already there. We didn't
know it. The heart of man never knows
it right. But God has raised the veil to
us. It is given unto us to know these
things. What's freely given. He's uncovered them for those that love Him. It's still particular. He starts off this chapter the
first words brethren and I brethren Paul an apostle Under the church
of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus called to be saints With all that in every place call
upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Or come and call upon
the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours That's
who this is written to, that's who this us is, and Paul is including
himself in that group. This is to whom God has lifted
the veil. Those whom he has called, regenerated,
and converted. Those who know him, those who
love him. This is the us. And Paul has just illustrated
the difference between us and the heart of man. The heart of man has not been
revealed. It's been revealed to us. I did it a few weeks ago. If
our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are blind, whom the
God of this world has blinded, obscured. There's nothing wrong
with the scriptures. There's nothing wrong with the
gospel. The problem is, and always has
been, with us. With man. There's nothing wrong
with the truth. Everything's been prepared afore. But it can't enter that hard
stone. It can't enter the heart of man. The Spirit, and for clarification's
part, His Spirit. That's what it says. His spirit,
the spirit, searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. I thought about this because
you know, Walter, Mason, people like deep things. They like to
think, you know, that they know something other people don't.
That's what they want. That's what them prophecy conferences
are all about. That's the flesh. That's exactly
what it is. That's not what Paul's writing
here at all. But I can tell you this. People
don't believe the deep things if you tell them. Because it's never entered the
heart of man. This states two things very quickly
on the surface. A. There's nothing hidden to
the spirit. He's God. It's His Spirit. And He is God. No thing is hidden from God.
And the second thing is God has depths. That's what this word
means. It's not deep things. It's talking
about the depths of God. The deepness of God. There is a deepness to God that
has never Entered the heart of man And I don't mean anything
by this as far as oh my goodness You're gonna have to study hard
buckle down to get this understand. There's a depth to God that we
will never understand But what we do have is here in this border
given to us But God does have deep things There is a depth See, there are
people, the heart of man hasn't even scratched the surface. But
there's a depth to God that has not entered the heart of man,
but the Spirit knows. But we are told here that the
depths of God are seen where everything of God is seen, and
that is in His Son. all of the depths of Christ that
we will ever know, we will know in Christ and we will know through
Christ. Paul stated it at the beginning
of this chapter. Verse two, he says, for I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So if Paul's talking about the
deep things of God, He's talking about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's where all the depths of
God is. And I'm going to tell you something, that's a depth,
true depth, that this world has never seen. It has never really
entered their heart. I determined to know nothing
among you. And then he says what? We speak
wisdom. The wisdom of God in a mystery, hidden. If our gospel
be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. Which God ordained
before the world unto our glory. Our glory. I didn't think I was
supposed to have any, Walter. No, you got some, he gives you
some. That's the only way you will ever have some. is if he
gives it to you. And the gospel of Jesus Christ
and him crucified is glorious and is a glory unto us to know. If the princes of the world had
known the depths, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory.
And the reason they didn't know is it never entered their hearts
what God has prepared. Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. God prepared. God prepared it
all. God prepared the deep things. What does Jesus Christ and Him
crucified mean? It means that He is a just God
and a Savior. It means that He provided the
redemption that we needed to become those that love him. It means he was raised for our
justification. It means that we are justified
by his blood. We are redeemed through him.
We are accepted in the beloved. There is nothing, there is no
deep thing outside of Christ. Ever. This is the thing, see, people
read this verse and they want to go willy nilly. They want
to know the secret gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no secret gospel. It's
not that kind of mystery. Okay, it's not a whodunit. He
tells you whodunit. He done it. It's not a mystery
in that manner, a puzzle to be solved. No, it's a mystery which
was never before revealed plainly that God has his people. God
even has his church, but it's all through the work of Jesus
Christ. It's all through his death, his
burial, his resurrection, his life. And it was all prepared from
before the foundation of the world for those that love him. The deep things of God, the depths
of God are revealed to them that love him in his son, in Jesus
Christ. Do you know him? Do you love
him? That's the only qualifier, that
you love him. It doesn't say you love him strongly. It certainly
doesn't say you love him perfectly. But if you do love him, rejoice
and realize it's because he first loved us. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. But most of all, thankful
for your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did come, who did
live, who was slain, crucified, made sin for us, who knew no
sin, and took away all our sins. Thank you. for the redemption
in your son and our life, which is in his life.