Complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help. This evening, I wish to direct
your very prayerful attention to the first epistle of Paul
to the Corinthians in chapter 2, by way of text, verses 14,
15 and 16. The final verses of this second
chapter of Paul to the church at Corinth 14, 15 and 16 that
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 but he that is spiritual
judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man for who hath
known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him but we have
the mind of Christ 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 but
he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is
judged of no man for who hath known the mind of the Lord that
he may instruct him but we have the mind of Christ several weeks ago I had need
to visit the university library to return some books and to see
one or two people and upon leaving There was a man outside, a street
preacher, carrying a sandwich board. And this was happening
just as I was leaving. He was there preaching away.
He was in possession of a microphone. And he was asking this, what
was really a rhetorical question. Who did Christ die for? So friends, as he was in front
of me, took the opportunity to answer him and I said well the
Bible says that Christ died for his elect at which point he became
very angry and he said to me do you believe that the Lord Jesus
died for you because you Calvinists you've got no assurance so I
said I would believe that he had died for me and he gave me
his Bible and he said you find me one text that says he died
for you so I opened up at this text and I quoted him this text
the natural man receiveth not the things that the spiritual
and so on and I quoted him of course these last words which
said but we have the mind of Christ Here there is a distinction. He said to me that Christ died
for the whole world. All men indiscriminately. And
as many of the students were going past, he was telling them
that Christ loved them and he died for them. And he asked me
if I told them the same and I told him I couldn't say that. Because
I had no warrant to say such a thing. It's as simple as that, friends.
And many of them mocked Him for saying such things. I said, you
know, the God I believe in is not sat on His knees begging
men to listen to Him. No, no, no. We cannot rob God of His glory. Our God is holy. Our God is righteous. Our God is the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. He's not begging men to listen
to Him. No. No. Now this man became further irate,
especially when I said the thing is this, the thing is this, the
atonement that we believe in is one that is absolute. It is
absolute. There's no death in vain. in respect of the atonement.
I said, the Christ that you believe in is one of whom the devil could
say, here is one you have died to save. And he is in hell. That is not the Christ of the
Bible. And I had to make this plain. And he couldn't accept it. He
couldn't accept it. In fact, he was enraged by it. It was offensive to him. He was
a man from Scotland. He was very well acquainted with
the Free Presbyterian Church, of which he likened me to. And
I said, the truth is, friends, that we do not choose Christ.
Christ chooses His people. That's how it is. That's how
it is. Now, the truth offends, doesn't it?
The truth separates. and it's always been that way
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God
the natural man what is it to be a natural man? well each of us here this evening
have had a natural birth every one of us by necessity to be
here but you see with God's people
there is a spiritual birth there is a second birth but the natural
man is simply the man who acts according to his nature by way
of context here this epistle was written about AD 55-56 And Paul was writing to this
church at Corinth, which was mainly made up, we understand,
of Greek converts. There was much confusion. It
appeared to rain everywhere. And he was writing to make these
things plain, to settle some of the doubts and some of the
questions and some of the ill practices that were going on
at Corinth. And he spoke to them of doctrinal
truths, of practical truths and of experiential truths. When he was making it clear to
them that he came, although a very educated man, he sat at the feet
of Gamaliel, he came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. He wasn't desirous to flaunt
his learning. in any way, but to preach plainly. And this is what he did, when
he said, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. You can't find a plainer statement
than that. Now the word natural is synonymous
with that word innate, that which is inborn, that which comes to
us naturally. And what is it that comes to
us naturally in sin? Because we're all sinners in
Adam. We sin. Our best is stained and
died with sin. Natural men. Now I know very
little about children but I do know this much you don't need
to teach a child to do wrong it does it naturally it comes
to it naturally you might have to teach it to do right or to
undertake certain practices that are polite and correct and so
on but you don't need to teach anybody no matter what age actually
to do wrong It's natural to do wrong. You
and I were surrounded by natural men at work, at college, at university,
at school and so on. We're surrounded by them. They're
people that simply act according to their nature. Because we are
born in sin. What I'm preaching is the doctrinal
truth. of the total depravity of man.
We read in the Psalms and we read in Romans that there is
none that doeth good, no, not one. None. None. None. We're not spiritual people naturally. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God here. We have a difference, don't
we? For they are foolishness unto
Him. When that man was outside the
university library telling men Christ had died for them it meant
nothing to them. Nothing! And that is why we can't go out
into Shearer Road proclaiming that Christ died for all men
because we don't know that to be the case and to do so is to
undermine the Lord's glory what we can say is this that man is
a sinner he is so sunk in sin he is so
deep in sin that he can't do anything for himself spiritually
he can't, he can't do anything for himself spiritually. And
they are foolishness unto him. And they can't know him, know
them. Because the Lord's people are spiritual. They are spiritual. And how are
they spiritual? Because they are given unto the
Lord Jesus in the elect covenant. in an eternity past and through
the providence of time. The Lord is bringing in, He's
gathering in, He's gathering in, and He's gathering in His
elect. And after their natural birth,
He brings them to a spiritual birth, to an awareness of this
sin, an awareness of this sin. and by the power of the Spirit,
we'll hear of that in a moment Jesus Christ is revealed unto
the soul and he brings about the new birth and this is a spiritual
awareness the natural man can't know these
things because they're spiritually discerned to have a unity a spiritual
unity is a unity that transcends all sorts of social and national
barriers is to have a unity in the one thing needful to have
a unity in the Lord Jesus himself spiritually discerned occasionally
you can meet somebody and you feel at one with them
immediately you think this person believes in the same Christ as
me it's a unity and then there's others and they
might be able to talk religion they might know some of the doctrines but there's no spiritual unity
and you'll find this is an experimental truth I remember in my teens
I wanted answers to questions and I heard some of the so-called
great evangelical names and I was told it was my responsibility
to repent and believe that faith, saving faith was
a duty that sanctification was a progressive work and you know,
I couldn't hold with these things, why? why? because I didn't see
them in the scripture and they didn't do me any good
because I thought, well I don't feel myself to be getting any
better I get worse I don't feel myself to be I can't repent nor
did I have any desire to and that's how we are you see we
need to be brought to the end of ourselves but then you see
you feel a spiritual union you find one sometimes in the preaching
I remember in the reading I mention this to the friends at Hedgend
this morning. I heard of a man called James
Wells, pastor of the Surrey Tabernacle. He was pastor of the largest
strict Baptist congregation in Britain in the 19th century. He carried about a wheelbarrow.
He was uneducated in today's a sphere of things. But the Lord
had put grace in his heart. And he'd heard many of the things
I was told. And I remember reading, he'd
heard of a Wesleyan who told him that Christ could be his
if he but believed. And he said, I could not believe. And I could not receive what
he was saying either. And he came home from work exhausted
one day. absolutely at the end of himself.
He opened up at Isaiah 54 and verse 8. In a little wrath I
hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. He said
I could rejoice that I was one of the elect of God and that
my name was written in heaven. And nobody preached a higher
Calvinism than James Wells. He didn't believe in the free
offer. He didn't believe in duty-faith. But he had assurance. He had
assurance. And he believed in an atonement
that was absolute. I believe. Do you believe in
an atonement that is absolute? That Christ does all for His
people? That He brings them into spiritual union with Him? And
then He gives us spiritual discernment spiritual discernment and this
again is separating this is separating one from another so when you
hear men and we occasionally do if we go here and there preach
moderate Calvinism friends moderate Calvinism is a moderate gospel
we can't hear it we can't hear it we can't hear the free offer
we can't hear duty faith, we can't hear progressive sanctification
we can't hear them because we can't see them in the word of
God and the Lord teaches his people experimentally what? by what? his spirit but he that
is spiritual judgeth all things judgeth all things He that is
spiritual judgeth all things. Now, I have had relatives, perhaps
you have them, in fact one or two of you mentioned it to me,
and they think that we are brainwashed in some
way. They think that we're very strange
indeed. And they pass judgment Why is
it you spend all the Lord's day at chapel? Why is it you won't
go to the bookies? Why is it you don't do this,
that? They see things simply in externals, don't they? That's
how the natural man thinks. But friends, they can think those
things, and let them think those things. Because it's either spiritual
that judges all things, if we're taught by the Spirit of God and we're taught with the mind
of Christ we are taught in this book and this book holds the
answer to all things upon this earth to all things this is His
revealed Word that the Lord would make Himself known even unto
us and He does so by His Word you see that spiritual judgeth
all things it's for the Lord's people that this world continues
the Lord Jesus said I endure all things for mine elect's sake
don't pay attention to those people who tell you that the
devil is in charge and the devil rules until the millennium and
I've met such people No doubt you have as well. And they speak
and they talk as though the devil rules the world. Satan is not
allowed to move other than by God's allowance and by God's
decree. The Lord's people reign with
Christ today. What does Revelation 20 say?
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.
That's the new birth. of such the second death hath
no power. But they shall be priests of
God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years." The
Lord's people reign with Christ today. All things fall out to
the furtherance of the Gospel for God's people today. Today. The Gentile Church is no parenthesis,
friends. God's elect is God's elect. There
is but one covenant. And all the elect are brought
into this one covenant. And the only hope for the Jew
is the only hope for the Gentile, which is the free, distinguishing
and discriminating grace of God. To be spiritual. To be spiritual. that judgeth all things. Yet
He Himself is judged of no man. The world thinks upon us as strange,
don't they? They think upon us as those that they can't work
out. And we understand why they can't
work us out, we were there once, we were natural men once but
here there is a difference put to be spiritual and it's all
by the Lord's Spirit the Father elects, the Son redeems and the
Spirit regenerates that's why very deliberately I read with
you John's Gospel and chapter 14 and here in verse 17 of that
chapter we have almost a proof text for our text tonight even the spirit of truth whom
the world cannot receive cannot receive because it seeth him
not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with
you and shall be in you here is the doctrine friends of the
indwelling spirit upon regeneration the Lord puts his spirit into
the believer. Now in the Old Testament we must
be clear here. In the Old Testament the Lord
visited his people by the prophets. There were occasional outpourings
of his Spirit. Here in the New Testament Church
we have the indwelling Spirit. Now we must be clear we cannot
go along with those who say there is no such thing as the Old Testament
Church that's taught in dispensational circles and it's erroneous but what we do read is these
occasional outpourings of the Spirit in the Old Testament prophets
and by the prophets, they were occasional. Our proof text for
that is in Hebrews 1 in that God in sundry times and in divers
manners visited his people by the prophets but now in the latter
day speaks unto us by his Son. And it's the ministry of the
Holy Spirit to reveal the Son. as our pastor said here a number
of weeks ago it's a very self-effacing ministry the ministry of the
Spirit and he reveals his son and here
we have this doctrine of the indwelling Spirit the Holy Spirit the Comforter
but the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will
send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all
things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you he teaches
his people by his Spirit it's a manifestation of the outpouring,
a great outpouring of the Spirit that we're in need of today I do feel, friends and monsters,
that there is a withholding of the Spirit. Surely we have grieved the Lord. As a nation, surely
we have grieved Him. And we have to pray that the
Lord would give us continual repentance and pray that there
would be a further outpouring of the Lord's Spirit in our day. But the Doctrine of the Indwelling
Spirit, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. By its sway,
it's a very grievous thing for the Lord's people to sin. Now
that text of scripture about our bodies being the temple of
the Holy Ghost is another text that is badly abused and misused. It is not, friends, a sin to
drink a pint of beer or to eat some high-calorie food. That
is not what is meant by such a thing. And we hear these all
the time, and I mean it, friends, we do, more seriously. What did
the Lord Jesus say to the Pharisees? when they accused the disciples
of eating with unwashed hands. He said it's not what a man eats
and drinks and takes into his body that's sinful. It's what's
in here. It's what's in here. Lyings,
murders, adulteries, blasphemies. These things proceed from the
heart of man. The heart of man. The heart of
man. that's deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. The Spirit of the Lord, we can
grieve the Holy Spirit. We can grieve the Holy Spirit.
And He can withdraw His face. He can remove our assurance. He can bring us low. And the purpose is to bring us
to repentance and to bring us to faith. and enliven our faith
in the Lord Jesus himself. The ministry of the Holy Ghost. It's something that's been with
me a lot recently. He that is spiritual judgeth
all things. And this is not a pious thing.
You know, not to go about as those who are holier than thou
stand not it's too close to me spiritual people don't need to
behave like that don't need to behave like that
if somebody is spiritual if we meet a spiritual person how do
we know? how do we know? well their conversation
will provoke us to thought their conversation will edify us their
conversation at times it might challenge us
but there will also be that unity there will be that unity here
this spiritual discernment that is felt for who hath known the
mind of the Lord that he may instruct him this is the truth
isn't it? if we know the Lord then he teaches us by his spirit
and he teaches us the things that are found within his word that is why we have every reason
to be suspicious when people tell us of dreams and visions
and strange manifestations because the Lord has a way in which he
teaches his people he teaches his people by this book this
book reveals the Lord Jesus this is the one message of Holy Scripture
this is the one message of Holy Scripture it's the Lord Jesus
himself it's the Lord Jesus himself for who hath known the mind of
the Lord that he may instruct him? You know there are many false
teachers and we have to pray that we'll be delivered and that
we are delivered from false teachers who carry us about in every wind
of doctrine here and there You know what we preach here and
what has been preached here at Salem Strict Baptist Chapel for
the last 200 years is the same doctrine that the
Apostle Paul preached and that's the mark of a true church. You see, truth doesn't change.
It doesn't change. You know that's why I'm always
suspicious about people that want change. We meet them all
the time. They don't like the signboard.
They don't like the version of the Bible. They don't like the
head covering. They always want change. But we need to go back. We need to go back. Go back to
the early church. Go back to the practices of the
apostles who wrote this epistle. it's the same doctrines we preach
today that the Apostle Paul preached you can trace these things, you
can see these things that is why some of you are lovers of
old sermons you can pick a sermon off the shelf whether it be the
Puritan era or the Reformers And we identify with the same
truth. We identify with the Christ that
they speak of. We may not be agreeable on every
single point with every individual. But we will discern the difference. There is a discernment. You see
we can't sit under lies. we can't sit under free will
we can't sit under duty faith and works religion we can't sit
under it we can't because there's this separation there's this
discernment of the truth and when it's preached faithfully some receive it, some receive
it gladly some love these truths some love these truths and others reject them they hear them and they reject
them and you know it's always been that way but we have the
mind of Christ here is the separation so when men tell us that there's
no scripture that says that Christ has died for his elect friends
it's on every page of the Bible it's a saver of life unto life
and a saver of death unto death it's always been that way Romans 9 we read it Esau and
Jacob all these things that come to pass through the providence
of time We have the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ. And there,
if you notice, there's a marginal reference to John 15 and verse
15. Henceforth I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called
you friends. For all things that I have heard
of my Father, I have made known unto you. He's made known His
truth. He's made known His truth in
His Word. And He applies His truth by the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. To be led of the Spirit. To know
these things. To know the second birth. to
possess that discernment, and to see His hand go before
us and lead us into all truth. For 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. But he that is spiritual judge
of all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who
hath known the mind of the Lord, then he may instruct him. But
we have the mind of Christ. Amen.