1st Corinthians 2 14, but the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God For
they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because
They are spiritually discerned now. This is a scripture. We've
quoted a lot over the years Because it explains a lot It's very important
to understand this verse with regard to how God saves sinners. It's interesting that the previous
two verses will sort of ease us into this very clearly, I think. Think about
this. Paul's been saying in this whole
chapter that we God's people know the things of God. We know
God, and we know the things of God because he has revealed them
to us by his spirit, and that's verse 12. Look at chapter two,
verse 12. 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. And that goes back to verse nine,
as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared
for them that love them, but God has revealed them unto us
by his spirit, the gospel. The things that God has done
for his people is what's revealed in the gospel. for the spirit
searcheth all things, ye of the deep things of God. So verse
12 there, we've received that spirit that we might know those
things, that we might know what God has done for us and given
us in Christ. And that's not a casual observation.
Now, that's how God saves sinners. But we're able to tell that,
and that's also how God saves sinners, by the preaching. How
can I know what I'm reading except some man should guide me, the
Ethiopian eunuch said. And that's how God teaches the
gospel, reveals his son in the preaching of the gospel. You
see the continuation of that thought in our text. God's revealed
it to us, we're able to speak on it, which things also we speak,
not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, But which the
Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual,
or discerning spiritual things with spiritual understanding.
But the natural man, you see the natural progression of thought
here. The natural man, he's given us a knowledge of himself, ourselves,
Christ, and how sinners are saved by Christ, He's given us the
ability to speak it, which again, that's not just a, you know, a nice thing that we
can do. That's how he saves, that's how other sinners know.
That's how the Spirit of God comes and reveals God and his
Son in the sinner, by the preaching. They pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And so we understand
We speak, but when we do speak, the natural man's not gonna get
it. The natural man. And that's why we use this term
often in preaching, we say by nature. We speak about us by
nature. And we use this term here, the
natural man, because that is our condition as we are born
into this world, the natural man. The natural generation of
the human person is by being born into this world, and our
condition as we're born into this world is what we are by
nature. And this is mankind without grace, without the grace of God. Of course, there's the grace
of life, there's the, God gives us lots of things in the natural
birth, but not spiritual, not spiritual understanding, not
spiritual benefits, not spiritual truth, not spiritual blessings. Only that which is ours by nature. This is us with the depraved
mind and heart that we're born with. If God does not birth us
again by the Spirit of God, we will never know anything about
God or the things of God. That's why Paul says here, you
can know it, you can tell it, and that's how God has ordained
that we, that others know it, but you're not gonna know it
unless you're born of the Spirit. The natural man can't know it.
And notice the context, look with me to John chapter three.
And let's notice the context here of the Lord Jesus saying
to Nicodemus, you must be born again. What is the context in
which he says that? It's important. John chapter
three, verse one, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.
a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, teacher, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God." Now notice what he says he knows. He doesn't say, we know you're
the son of God. Others said that. Truly this
man was the son of God, but not Nicodemus. I know you're a teacher
come from God. For no man can do these miracles
that thou doest. He saw the miracles and said,
God's with you, except God be with him. No man could do those
things except God be with him. He's sitting there talking to
God and saying these things. And so you see the Lord's response.
Instead of saying, well, that's good. I'm glad that you know
that. What the Lord said, in effect,
is you're blind as a bat. And you need to understand why.
The stuff you know, you don't know anything yet. You see that there in his answer?
Jesus answered and said to him, verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a man be born again, he can't see the kingdom of God.
You've got no idea what you're talking about. And Nicodemus saith unto him,
how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. There's the
spirit, we're talking about that in our text. Spiritual, the natural
man, And you know in the context of this, the natural is set in
opposition to the spiritual in our text. You've got to be born
of the spirit. There's controversy over what
he meant by being born of water there. He's clearly saying you've
got to not only be born naturally, you've got to be born spiritually. That which is born of the flesh.
You see, he's saying the same thing. He's elaborating on it.
Every word he says elaborates on this truth. To teach Nicodemus
his true condition before God and how God saves people like
that. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. I don't know exactly what that
means, born of water, maybe because a baby is encased in what we
call water when they're born. I don't know, but I know this.
He's talking about the natural birth and the spiritual birth.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Boy, that's obvious. No, it's
not. Very few people understand that. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. He's distinguishing between the
two because like in our text, we need to understand the natural
man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God. He can't
enter the kingdom of God. He can't even see the kingdom
of God. What Nicodemus thought he knew
was ignorance. There he is a Pharisee, a leader
of the Jews in religion. And he doesn't understand the
basic truth of the gospel. And the Lord's shown him that. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. And then he's gonna talk about
that birth, how that happens. The wind blows where it listeth
or where it pleases, where it wants to. And thou hearest the
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither
it goeth. You feel a breeze on your face. You don't know where
that came from. That might've gone across the sands of a beach
somewhere before it reached you. It might've gone through the
trees of a forest somewhere across the globe before it came to where
you are. And you can't tell where it's gonna go next. That's how
it is when sinners are born of the Spirit. The spirit of God
comes where he wants to. He goes where he wants to. Wherever
he goes, there's life. There's a birth, there's a new
birth, a new man born. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, how can these things be? How in the world can I have studied
religion and studied the Bible and know everything I know and
not know anything? How in the world is that possible? Jesus answered and said unto
him, art thou a master of Israel? And knowest not these things.
The Lord's not rubbing it in on him. We just have to be convinced. It's impossible to root out our
pride and our self-righteousness and what we know by nature. We think we know everything by
nature. We know nothing by nature. We
don't know anything unless God reveals it to us, unless he births
us again, unless he gives us the mind of Christ so that we
can even understand what he's talking about. You see why Nicodemus
said, how in the world can that be? If that's true, that changes
everything. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. That means it's not up to you,
it's up to God. That means if you're gonna know
anything spiritual, it's not gonna be because you're smart
or because you studied real hard, it's gonna be because God showed
it to you. He said, verily, verily, to Nicodemus
I say unto you, we speak that we do know. Is that not our text?
Which things we speak. We know the things that can't
be known. It's never entered into the heart
of man. It's never entered into the, man's never been able to
see it or hear it or understand it with his heart, but God's
revealed it to us. And which things we speak. We
speak that we do know and testify what we've seen with the eye
of faith. And you don't like it. You receive
not our witness. If I have told you earthly things.
He's illustrating this beautiful truth in a beautiful way, by
the way. Birth, to be born again. What part did you have in being
born the first time? Not much. Nothing, it happened to you.
That's how it is when you're born in the spirit. It happens
to you. He goes where he wants to. And you don't believe, you can't
grasp it, even though it's simple. It's plain as a nose on your
face. You understand it up here. That's what Paul said to King
Agrippa. I know you know what I'm talking
about. This thing wasn't done in a corner. But how can you believe, how
shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man
hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. All that this world's religion
ever got out of that passage we just read was a new religious
catchphrase. Born again Christian. That's
all they've ever gotten out of that. And they've completely
ignored the 14, all of the verses before and after that that reveal
Nicodemus' and our absolute ignorance of our natural condition and
how God saves a sinner. And the millions, the millions
who think being born again involves you making some kind of a decision
for Jesus, they're in exactly the same boat Nicodemus was.
You're blind as a bat. You can't see and you're not
gonna enter the kingdom of heaven unless God comes down and makes
a new you. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Everybody wants to quote John
3.16 and say that that means God loves everybody and everybody
has a chance to be saved. but they ignore the 15 verses
before that tell plainly that God must birth you from above
or you're never gonna have any idea whatsoever who God is or
who Christ is or what he accomplished on Calvary. This is what our
text is dealing with, the natural and the spiritual, the flesh
and the spirit. Just as the Lord told Nicodemus,
that which is born of the flesh is flesh and cannot ever see
or enter God's kingdom. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit and sees and knows and enters the kingdom of God
by believing on Christ. That's what the last part of
that we said. He's lifted up like that serpent in the wilderness,
made in the likeness of sinful flesh. For sin, he condemns sin
in the flesh. And being lifted up, he draws
all of his people to him and forgives their sins by that precious
blood. Now we're given two reasons in
our first verse there in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 15. or 14, we're given two reasons
why the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God.
First of all, their foolishness to it. You can't believe something
even in natural things if it's nonsense to you. If I told you
a spaceship landed in my backyard last night and took me and Clarkie
up for a ride and then set us back down, you can't believe
that. It's not, you can't even, if you try, you can't believe
that. Because you know it's ridiculous. Me and Clarkie would never get
on a spaceship in a million years. You're saying a believer has
two natures? That's nonsense. That's foolishness. You're saying a believer You have to be born again? And
when he says that, you can just hear Nicodemus. Here he is, this
Pharisee. The Lord hadn't knocked all the
stuffing out of him yet. Has he knocked it all out of
us yet? I think I still got a little bit left. He says, can a man enter into
his mother's womb a second time and be born? He's saying that
mockingly, of course. That's ridiculous. That's foolishness.
That's what our text says. It's foolishness to you. You're
not buying it. Your king, your sovereign is
a disgraced, beaten, tortured, dead Jew. That's ridiculous. That's foolishness. I've had
people ridicule the gospel to that exact level before. And notice the last part of verse
15. yet he himself is judged of no
man. The believer, they don't know what we're talking about.
They don't understand how we can believe. They don't understand
what we believe, how we can believe it, or why we ever would. The second reason that a natural
man can't receive, he can't understand, The things of the kingdom of
God is he doesn't have the ability to, neither can he know them. Why not? He's smarter than me
because they're spiritually understood. And that which is born of the
flesh is flesh. It takes the mind of Christ to
know Christ. That's the illustration Paul
gave. Who knows the heart of a man except the man himself? And our Lord said, you can't
know my father. I'm the only one that knows him.
And if I reveal him to you, you'll know him. So let me ask you a question
from the scriptures tonight. You'll know where I'm getting
this question from. And see, hopefully we'll see how this
applies to our tags. Can these bones live? You remember
that question? Can these bones live? You remember Ezekiel's answer
to that question? We're going to turn over there
in a minute, Ezekiel 37, if you want to get started getting over
there. Ezekiel's answer is this Oh Lord
God Thou knowest If anybody knows whether dead exceeding dry bones
can ever live It's Oh Lord God Lord God, it's the one that's
able to give them life and Two things are absolutely certain
in that scenario where the Lord took Ezekiel out on this old
battlefield where there had been a great fight a great battle
fought and there were Skeletons everywhere just laying where
they fell And he asked him that question
can these bones live and Two things are certain, it's gonna
take a miracle if they're gonna live. They're not just gonna
jump up. It's gonna take a miracle of
God. And the second thing is only God can do that. It's gonna
take a miracle and only God can do that. Those two things are
what our text is teaching. For you to know the things of
God, to understand the gospel and believe on Christ, it's gonna
take a miracle. And only God can do that. God included Ezekiel in that
miracle, though. This is important for us to understand,
too. God included Ezekiel. He didn't completely exclude
him. I'm gonna start turning over
to chapter 37. But think about this. He didn't
tell Ezekiel, you just hide and watch, and we'll see whether
they can live or not. No, what did God tell Ezekiel
to do? Do you remember? It's chapter
37, verse three. And he said unto me, son of man,
can these bones live? And I answered, oh Lord God,
thou knowest. Again, he said unto me this,
preach. That's how we're gonna find out
whether you are alive or dead. Tonight we're gonna preach Christ Prophesy upon these bones and
saying to them. Oh you dry bones hear the word
of the Lord That's how sinners are saved now My nature And notice he didn't
he didn't say tell those bones now if they'll take the first
step I That's what false preachers are telling dead sinners. Dead
in trespasses and sin. If you'll just take the first
step. That's contrary to the whole word of God. How are dead dry bones gonna
hear and understand? That's our text. They can't.
They won't unless God gives them spiritual life. A spiritual mind. births them from above. Their
natural birth has resulted in what Ezekiel saw. They were born
by nature and look at them now. Their natural birth resulted
in death. But there is a birth unto life
eternal. And it happens the same way that
it did in Ezekiel chapter 37, by preaching the word of the
Lord. Hear O dry bone, the word of
the Lord. See to it that your children
and those that you love hear the word of the Lord. They've got to hear it with these
ears if they're gonna hear it with a heart of faith. Preach unto them and say this,
I, If you will, everything preachers say, false
preachers, appeals to the will of man. They name their churches
after the will of man. What an abomination. But what
a monument to the dead ignorance of the natural man. That's the gospel. I will cause
breath to enter into you and you shall live. The gospel is
God telling sinners how he saves sinners. And by that gospel,
he saves them. By faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
because you see that breath. That life is Christ. Verse 15 says that he that is
spiritual judges all things. That word is discern. He discerns
all things. You know, a vital part of discerning
things properly is not just that you know what was said, but that
you understand, that you take it with a heart of understanding. Let me try to explain what I
mean by that. You may understand the words
of exactly what God is saying when he declares throughout the
scriptures that he's sovereign, that he determines all things.
You understand that. God rules everything. He causes
everything. Nothing surprises him. Everything
that happens, happens because of God. But if you take that
and say, I'm not gonna do anything because God's running everything
anyway. You didn't get it. You know what it says, but you
didn't get it. Paul said, the people of God
don't reckon that way. We reckon things this way, that
if God did everything necessary to save us and give us life,
then we ought not to live for ourselves. We ought to live for
him. It's a little different than
just, I'm not gonna do it. What's the point? I had a guy tell me
one time, I'm not gonna pray anymore. And I said, really,
how come? He said, well, the scripture
says the Lord already knows what you're gonna pray before you
pray. I've told you this before. I said, well, what about pray
without ceasing? Did you ever run across that part? I really
said that that time. Usually when I tell a story like
that, it's what I wish I would have said. I said, it says pray
without, what are you trying to change
God's mind? Is that what you're trying to do? Even though he's
omniscient and he's good and you're not? Anyway, that's another. God's sovereignty. Does our text
mean that we know everything? Well, it's tempting to say, no,
it doesn't mean that. But we know everything that matters.
We know everything worth knowing by the grace of God. You think
about that. If somebody comes up with something
new that we don't know, I've never heard of that before. Even
if they say they got it from the Bible, I reject it. I can tell you right now before
you ever say it, I reject it. Is it gonna add to Christ? Is
it gonna, you know? Well, that's pretty arrogant,
Chris. I want to know him better, but
I don't want anything new. I don't want to know anything
new. I already know it's nonsense, because this book concerns his
son. And we have the mind of Christ,
not interested in anything new, anything else. Don't even want
to hear it. I reject it before I even hear
it. Knowing Christ, I have the answer to all of the supposedly
deep philosophical questions that man has asked since the
beginning of time. What's the origin of man? That's
an easy one. Without Christ was not anything
made that was method. What's the purpose of man? Of
him and to him and through him are all things. You're made for
his pleasure. What's the end of man? All shall
stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to
the glory of God the Father. Knowing Christ, I know who God
is. You see what he's saying? Tell me something I don't know,
honestly. You say, well, Chris, you don't
know how to get to the moon. I don't need to know that. Are
you going to the moon anytime soon? I wouldn't go if they let
me go for free. I like it down here. You see
what I'm saying? We know everything worth knowing.
Christ is all on the moon, I know that. I don't wanna know, and this
is not arrogance, this is worship. To know him is to know all there
is. There is nothing else. All else is vanity and vexation
of spirit. Verse 16, for who hath known
the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have
the mind of Christ. Now think about this verse. The
first part of this verse is a qualification of the last part. It's like me
saying, now nobody knows everything, but we know everything we need
to know. Now I'm qualifying what I'm saying
before I even say it. That's what Paul is doing here.
We're not equals to Christ in knowledge. We're not equals to
him. In case somebody might get that
idea from him saying we have the mind of Christ, he's dismissing
that up front before he even says we have the mind of Christ.
In case your reaction to that is, well, we know everything
there is to know then we're omniscient. No, that's not what we're saying.
He says that before he even makes the statement. equals might be
able to instruct one another. Iron sharpeneth iron, you know.
That's not us and God. We do not instruct Christ, he
instructs us. And this is important. What our
Lord says in Isaiah 118, come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. What about, Lord, your sins?
Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Though
they be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. That's what
the Lord talks to us about, isn't it? How our sins can be washed
away in the blood of Christ. But us reasoning together is
not God saying, well, I've got some thoughts on this and I wanna
hear your thoughts on this. That's you and I reasoning together.
When we're talking about God reasoning with us, it's God teaching
us. He teaches, he condescends to
teach us. And he tells us of earthly things
like he did Nicodemus to illustrate, to teach truths that we can't
grasp any other way being creatures of the earth. God does teach
us spiritual things and we understand them. because he has given us
the mind of his son. He hath given us an understanding
that we may know him that is true. The mind of Christ. Think about that when you're
going to bed tonight. Luke 10, 22, all things are delivered
to me of my father and no man knoweth who the son is. Natural
man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. No man
knows who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is
but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal. We have the
mind of Christ. I know who God is. You see why he says we discern
all things. The natural man does not understand
us or what we say. Can you imagine trying to go
out to the graveyard and finding? Probably wouldn't be that hard
to find him. That old madman of Gadara. He was crying out. He wouldn't
be hard to find. He's growling at you and gnashing
his teeth. trying to break his chains, it
says, and breaking them. They couldn't restrain him. And
cutting himself and crying out while you're trying to tell him
the gospel. Can you think of anything any more futile than
that? Have you ever tried to talk with someone about the gospel
and just found out right then and there that they're not in
their right mind? You're saying it as plain as
you can and you're showing them. That's what it's, look, this
is what it says. Well, I just think you're out of your mind. You
can't see. You can't receive it. But we need to understand this,
that we can never despair of any sinner As long as the Lord
Jesus Christ still has the power to make a maniac sit down and
be clothed and in his right mind, we can never despair. No human
condition can cause us to give up on anybody as long as the
Son of God is on the throne because What he said there in John chapter
17, you've given me power over all flesh. He's on the throne.
To what end? That I might give eternal life
to as many as you give me. As many as thou hast given me.
He hath power on this earth to forgive sins. We can never despair
of anyone. Having the mind of Christ never
made anybody arrogant. If this passage of scripture
puffs you up, then you missed it. If it causes you, though,
to fall down before God and say, Lord, have mercy on the dead,
dry bones that are the ones that I love. There's no way they're
ever gonna get it. There's no way they're ever gonna
move. There's no way they'll ever breathe again. They're gone,
they're gone. But Lord, you know if they can
live because you are able to give them life. And when we look at dead bone
sinners, don't get discouraged by their utter inability because
our hope for them is not their ability anyway. God make us thankful for such
a salvation. Look what God did for me. I was dead in trespasses and
sins, and God quickened me together with Christ. David said this, Lord, restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation. I think we need a little of that.
Restore unto me the joy of you saving me.