1 Corinthians 2, let's read this
whole chapter. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified, When
I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, my speech and my preaching was
not with enticing or persuasible words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit
we speak wisdom among them that are perfect or mature. Yet not
the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes or leaders of
this world, have come to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before
the world unto our glory, which none of the princes or leaders
of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory, as it is written. I have 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,
the Holy Spirit, searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God. What man knoweth the things of
a man? say 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, which things also we speak, not in the words
which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teach
it, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. But he who is spiritual judgeth
or discerneth all things. Yet he himself is judged or discerned
of no man. Who hath known the mind of the
Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. So Paul talks about wisdom here,
and he says we speak wisdom among them that are mature. And verse
15 again, he says he is spiritual judges or understands or discerns
all things. Now, do you need wisdom? I looked up in the very word
in Webster's dictionary, and listen carefully, wisdom is this. Wisdom is the ability to judge
soundly, sound judgment. Wisdom is to be sensible in conduct
in life, or have good sense. Wisdom is the capacity to use
what you know. Use knowledge. The old saying
is, knowledge is the horse. Wisdom is the rider. You can
have a good horse, but if you don't know how to ride, he's
useless. So knowledge without wisdom is
puff of dust. Wisdom is to make the best use
of knowledge. Wisdom is sound judgment, it's
discernment, it's discretion. Do you need wisdom? Now we need to be, the scriptures
talk about being wise unto salvation. Wisdom, that, oh my, eternal
life. We need to know Him who is life
eternal. We need to be wise or need to
know Him who is wisdom. Wise unto salvation, oh how we
need that. That's the one thing needful
in it. We need to be wise unto salvation. We need wisdom to
live by. Right? We need wisdom to live
by. We've got, most of us have, if
the Lord doesn't come back soon, we have several years to live
here. And we need wisdom. Now, I'm
sure that everybody in here, if I asked you, what is wisdom? Most everybody in here would
say, well, what would you say? If I said, what is wisdom, what
would you say? What did you say? That's right. Y'all better say
that. You could look at every portion
of Scripture that uses the word wisdom and replace it with Christ's
name and it holds true. He is wisdom. He said, I am the
truth. Truth. Wisdom. Know the truth
and it will set you free. It all is the words interchangeable,
wisdom and Christ. And look at chapter 1, verse
24. It says, "...unto them which
are called, Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and
the wisdom of God." Christ is the wisdom of God.
Verse 30 is one of my favorite verses in all the Bible. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. He's made unto us wisdom, all
right? You said Christ is wisdom. What does that mean? Everybody in here would readily
say, What is wisdom? Christ. What does that mean?
What does it mean when it says Christ is made unto us wisdom? What does that mean? How is he
wisdom? How is Christ wisdom? How is
he made unto us wisdom? All right, let's look here at
chapter 2 again. Let's go through these verses and answer some
questions. Now, Paul says in verses 1 and
2, he said, I didn't come with excellence of speech or wisdom.
Or that he is with high-sounding intellectual speech. You see,
back in verse 1, verse 17, look at that. He said, Wisdom of words
make the cross of Christ of no effect. A man who is trying to hide something
will catch it in clever terms and language, right? A man who
is trying to hide something. A man who is ashamed of the gospel
will speak in such an intellectual way that you don't know if he
said election or not. You don't know what he said.
And he can salve his conscience by saying, well, I said it. They
just didn't understand it. But Paul said we have one hope,
so he used great plainness of speech. Right? And we're not sent to try to
impress people. with our intellect or our vocabulary. The Lord of Glory, God who made
the tongue, who knows every language. He wrote the languages. He created
the language. He spoke, rarely spoke, in anything
above a one or two syllable word. And don't these preachers know
anything? He's the master preacher, isn't he? He's the master preacher. So Paul says, I didn't come with
excellence of speech or wisdom, and I don't believe any of his
preachers do. They want to be understood, not
admired. Verse 2, he said, I determined
not to know or not to be caught up with, not to be taken up with,
not to be sidetracked by. not to delve into, not to give
all my time of study to anything, but this one thing, this one
thing needful, this one thing that God demands we do preach,
this one thing that sinners must hear preached, this one thing
that woe is pronounced unto you if you do not preach Jesus Christ
and him who People need to hear Christ pray. They need to know Him who is
life eternal. So Paul said, I'm determined
to preach Christ's crucifixion. And I'm going to dwell on that
here in a moment. All right? Let's read on. Verses
3 and 4. Now he said, I was with you in weakness and fear and
much trembling. A man who thinks he can say something stands up with great pride and
arrogance, and he's not weak or trembling. Right? Weakness and fear and
much trembling. Verse 4, my speech, he says it
again, my speech and preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom or persuasive words or means. In another place he
said he didn't use gimmicks or tricks, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and the power. And what's a demonstration of
the Spirit and power? It's the gospel. This is what
the Holy Spirit uses. This is a demonstration of the
Spirit. He demonstrates himself through the preaching of the
gospel. It's the power of God, the gospel. Read on. He says
in verse 6, we do speak wisdom among them that are truly wise. Verse 5, I left that out, didn't
I? He said, I don't want your faith
to stand in the wisdom of men. I don't want you to be impressed
with me. He said that in the power of
God, verse 6, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect or
mature. We have wisdom, but it's foolishness
to the world. It's base to the world. It's just foolishness to the
world. And to go on to bigger and better things than that old-fashioned
religion. Well, among them that are mature
in the faith, sound in the faith, we speak wisdom, and it is the
wisdom of God. Read on. Verse 6. It's not the
wisdom of this world. It's not the wisdom of this world
and its leaders. Who are the princes of this world?
Who are the princes and leaders of our generation? It's the scientists,
it's the politicians, it's the people in art and music and education. Those are the leaders, those
are the principal princes, the principal ones. And if they don't
understand it, then they're not interested. He says, none of the princes
of this world knew. Had they known, they wouldn't
have crucified the Lord of Glory. In our generation, if they really
knew wisdom, they would quit consulting anything and everyone
but God's Word. If men really were wise, they'd
see that all wisdom, all purported wisdom, or anything that has
any validity to it at all, Anything that has any wisdom to it at
all, anything, anywhere that has been uttered from any man's
mouth that has any validity to it, it all came from this book.
You know it? It all came from this book. Paraphrased maybe, but it all
came from my book. He's wisdom. Anybody who has
any, he's got it from him. Well, so if men were truly wise,
they'd quit consulting and throw away everything they did. Right? We'd need a science book, we'd
need a textbook for our children to study. It'd be a good one,
wouldn't it? And on and on. Well, verse 9
says, "...the eye hath not seen, the ear hath not heard." And
he's talking about the natural man here. He just doesn't see,
he just doesn't hear the things that God has prepared for them
that love him. But verse 10, we have. Our eyes have seen some thing
we see in part, we know in part. We have heard some glorious things,
haven't we? God hath revealed these things
unto us by his Spirit. It's a revelation. Verses 11
and following through 13. What man knows of the things
of a man, he's just saying here, and we won't read this again,
he's saying here, you don't know what I'm thinking unless I tell
you. And so, neither does any man
or woman know the things of God except God tell it. So what he's saying is, this
knowledge cometh from above. It's wisdom coming from spiritual
wisdom. It's a gift. It's a revelation. It's not acquired learning. That's
what he's saying. Verse 14, the natural man doesn't
receive the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness unto
him. He can't know them. They're spiritually discerning,
and that by God's Spirit. But verse 15, he that is spiritual
discerneth all things. He understands all things. He has a certain, that's a big
verse in this thing. He that is spiritual discerneth
most of all things. Has a working, a pretty good
working knowledge of all things. That's some verse in it when
you think about it. We have the mind of Christ, he said. The next verse in chapter 3 begins
with a what? And. Please don't stop with chapter
2. And, he said, and, you need to
know this. Brethren, I couldn't speak unto
you of spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babe. Verse 3,
he says, Are you not yet carnal, as among you in being strife,
and so forth. Obviously there are some people
who have spiritual discernment and judgment. They're brothers,
they're believers. Christ is made unto them wisdom,
but they still have a great need for wisdom. They still at times
act carnally. Is that what you conclude from
that? That there are believers, there
are brothers, there are sisters? He says, I couldn't speak unto
you as unto spiritual, but of carnal. And he says, this is
proof of it, because this is happening and that is happening.
All right. Do you need wisdom? Let me ask you again. Do you need wisdom? All right. Now, two types of
wisdom that he's talking about here. There's the wisdom of the
world. And then there's true wisdom,
the wisdom of God in Christ, true wisdom. All right? Now listen,
I don't want to lose you, because this is a very, very, very profitable
message. It's very needful. I need it. I've already tried it on, and
I hope the Lord will impress this on my heart. and you. I wish everybody in our assembly
were here tonight to hear this, but they're not. But you are. All right? Providentially, God
has brought you here to hear this, and I want you to hear
it. All right, it's wisdom. Wisdom
Our wisdom is your thoughts and your ways. It's your thoughts,
it's what you think, it's what you do. It's either the wisdom
of the world or the wisdom of God. One or the other controls
us. We think and we act according
to one or the other. Right? Okay, worldly wisdom,
listen to this. I went over this message so many
times and tore up many pages of notes
and rewrote them, all right, so that I could carefully word
this. Worldly wisdom is acquired. You acquire this
worldly wisdom by living in the world, by reading what the world
is saying, by listening to what the world is saying. your own
carnal, your own natural thought processes, your own carnal reasoning
or natural reasoning and logic, OK? That's the world, that's
how you acquire worldly wisdom, right? Are you following me? I'm going to make it plain. All
right, spiritual wisdom is the gift of God. God gives
it. It's a revelation. The increase or growth in this
wisdom is acquired in much the same way, by reading what God
says, by listening to what God says, by listening to what those
who follow God are saying. Are you with me? in wisdom. The increase of wisdom
is the same thing. It's the same way. It's by listening
to what God is saying, by reading and studying what God has written,
by listening and following those who follow and listen to what
God is saying, by rubbing shoulders with them. Our hearts and minds and
spirits can be nurtured and educated to grow. How? How do we grow? I just said it. But what does the Scripture say?
How we grow. What does the Scripture say?
What did Peter say? That you might grow thereby. What did
he say? Somebody quote that verse of Scripture. Somebody, anybody. That you may grow thereby. Do
something that you may grow thereby. Come on. Desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. What does growth come? How does
growth come? The word. How does faith come? In hearing by what? The word. How does grace come? The word,
knowledge, wisdom. How does wisdom come? It's the
Word. It's the Word. All right, I'm
going to ask you two questions that will sum up this whole message,
all right? Two questions. How is Christ made wisdom unto
us? And how do we make Christ our
wisdom? All right, how is Christ made
wisdom unto us, and How do we make Christ our wisdom? I want you to hear this, all
right? These two things are inseparable,
like faith and works. Faith and works, two sides of
one poem. Faith and works. Hearing and
what? Go ahead, sir, you said it. Faith, work, hearing, doing. How Christ has made wisdom under
us, how we make Christ our wisdom. Listen to this verse of Scripture.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and a good understanding
hath all they that do his commandments. Salvation is believing and hearing
Christ, trusting Christ, and the evidence of that salvation
is doing what he says. They are inseparable. Not justification
and what? Sanctification. Inseparable. Can't have one without the other.
How is Christ made wisdom under us? This is good. A thousand messages would not
exhaust this subject. How Christ has made the wisdom
of Christ? A thousand messages. I thought,
maybe I'll make two, three-part messages. No, it's going to be
one. It's going to be one. Christ, he said in chapter 1,
verse 24, is the wisdom of God, the power of God and the wisdom
of God. We want to dwell on the wisdom
of God here. God's wisdom. How has Christ made wisdom to
us? You see, God's wisdom is displayed in Christ. How? How? We see how God can be holy, how God can be holy yet dwell
someday with those who are sinners. How God can be holy and hate
sin yet love us." That's a head-scratching mystery to average man, but where
does the answer come from? In Christ. We see that, don't
we? We see how God can be just and
will by no means clear the guilty. By no means. He won't let one
sin go unpaid for, and the soul that sins must surely die. You
have sinned, Jeanette Berry. You've got to die. God's got
to kill you. He will kill you. Yeah, he has
killed you. How? You're living. There's only one answer. Isn't
that wisdom? We see how God can kill us, yet
make us alive eternally. We see those two words, substitution
and satisfaction, that make up the whole gospel. Substitution. He was made sin for us. He was made all the sins of all
of God's people from eternity past to eternity to the last
sinner on this earth. He was made all their sins, all
our iniquity on him was lifted. That's the reason God's people
whom Christ died for have to go free. That's not just a mere
point of doctrine to argue, it's a necessity. Justice demands
it. Do you see the wisdom in that?
Do you see the glory in that? I love the justice of God. And
it's such a wise—who'd have thought it? Who'd have thought it? Man would have tried to come
up with—well, men have devised all sorts of inventions. And God came up with one way.
It's the only way. Don't you see the wisdom? It's
the only way it could have been. How Christ has made sin for us,
who knew no sin, and imputed his righteousness to us, and
therefore we're righteous. God actually removed all of our
sin and actually made it, actually, not theoretically, not theoretically,
but actually. Yes, actually. This is not some,
what's the word I'm looking for? theory or philosophical thing
or theological, mere theological doctrine. This actually happened. I was made righteous by Christ. God looks at me and he doesn't
see a sinner. That's amazing, isn't it? And he looked at Christ and he
saw me. saw every sin. Who would have thought it? Only
God. God said, My thoughts are not your thoughts. As high as,
this is higher than the heavens above the earth, isn't it? His
ways. And this is not the way of man.
Who would have killed their own lovely only child for worthless,
no good? Such is the love of God. Such
is the wisdom of God. He's made on the He's made flesh,
he's made sin, we're made righteous, he's made wisdom. Don't you see how all of God's
wise decrees concerning Israel and the Gentiles and this and
that and the other are coming being fulfilled, how he's gathering.
Isn't that what Ephesians 1 says, how he's made unknown unto us
the mystery of his will? How he's going to gather all
things together in one. Jew and Gentile, there's no difference,
male and female, no advantage. Don't you see how God's gathering
all things in one, even in Christ? Isn't that wisdom? Or else just
a Jew would have it. Or else you'd have to go over
to the Holy Land. Don't have to go to the Holy Land. He makes this little
place Holy Land. This is the Holy Land tonight.
Isn't it? This is the inner sanctuary tonight.
This is the Holy of Holies tonight. This is where the blood is being
offered up tonight. Don't you see the wisdom of God in that?
He's made under us. How else is he made under us?
He's the source of all our wisdom. You see, he came down from heaven
to reveal the Father. Nobody would have known God if
Christ hadn't come down to make him known. No man knoweth the
Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
If you have any revelation or any knowledge of God, Christ
gave it to you. Christ is the one. No man knows God except through
the knowledge of Christ. Right? I don't care what Billy
Graham said, there's no other way to know the true and living
God except to know God's Christ. You call him Christ the liar
if you say otherwise, but you can know God apart from Christ. You can't do it, because God's
spirit and we're flesh, and that which is flesh is flesh. And
God is spirit, and he's spiritual, and we just read that. He said
he had to make known himself to us. How does he make us known?
Well, he speaks. Well, how does he speak? In these
last days, he spoke on us by song. He came down and said, I'm God. You see, listen, the Word is
Christ's Word. Christ is the Word. God is spirit. No hands, but Christ's hands. We can use that saying that way,
can't we, Henry? God's Spirit. He has no hands,
but they're mine. They're Christ's hands. See,
by him were all things, and without him was not anything made which
was made. Well, it is written. How? With the finger of God.
What's the finger of God? Christ wrote it. And he came down and said, now
if you had my commandments, your commandments, yeah, I wrote it.
It's my book. It's the word. I'm the word.
You ever think about that, Barbara? Finger of God is crying. And
lastly on this point, how is he made unto us wisdom? Well,
Christ is the one we always appeal to, pray to, come to. He's our head, he's our counselor,
he's our pastor, he's our teacher. We go to him. He's the source
of our wisdom. He's the one we go to. He has
made unto us wisdom. You like wisdom? Well, go to
him who has it. You need wisdom? Ask him. All right? Now, I want you to
look at, I've only been about twenty minutes. All right, would you look at
several scriptures with me? I'm not going to wear you out, but
it's just needful. Everything I've said are what
he says. All right, John chapter 2. Turn
over here. John chapter 2. You were wondering
if I was going to preach from John 2 tonight? Yes, right now. One verse. How do we make Christ
our wisdom? I just told you how he is made
unto us, of God. Are you in Christ who is made
unto us? God did all this for us. Now, how do we make Christ
our wisdom? Understand now, this is for believers,
this is for those who know Christ. who are alive unto God, responsible. How do we make Christ our wisdom?
John chapter 2, look at verse 5. You remember this? His mother
said unto his servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. How do you make Christ your
wisdom? Whatever he says, best be doing
it. What's that saying to her? Our
Christ is made unto us saving wisdom, all right? Vicki, how
do we make Christ our wisdom? Whatever he says. Do it. Does
that make sense? All right, let's look at John
8. We'll just stay there and then jump over to the book of
James, and that's it. Not hard. John, James. James
and John. Look at verse 30 through 32. John 8, verse 30, look at this.
He spoke these words, and many believed on him. So then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, Now if you continue in my word, then
you're my disciples indeed. Didn't he? And you'll know the
truth, and the truth will make you great. If you continue in
my word, then you're my disciples. Oh, I believe, I believe. If you continue my word, then
you're my disciple in death. Oh, Christ is made unto me wisdom.
Oh, is he now? If you continue, if you do what
he says, then he's made unto you wisdom. Does that make sense,
Bible brother? Read on. John 13, look at verse
17. John 13, 17. John 13, verse 17.
Look at this. Our Lord says this many times. John 13, 17 says, if you know
these things, oh, he said so much there, didn't he? He says, and if you know these
things, happy or blessed, same word, are you yet what? You do. So the opposite of that would be
what? Unhappy and not receiving a blessing. Look at John 15, verse 3. John
15, verse 3. Now, he said, now you've got
it. John 15, verse 3. He said, now
you're clean through the word I have spoken unto you. That reminded me of Psalm 19.
Let me just read this to you. You don't have to turn over there.
He says the fear of the Lord is clean. The Lord is perfect. The testimony of the Lord is
sure makes it wise and simple. He saves the simple, John. Remember
that verse? He's saving the simple. I love
that, don't you? He makes wise the simple. I need
wisdom. Look at John 14. Look at verse 21. He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth
me shall be loved to my Father, and I, loving him, will manifest
myself to him," reveal myself to him in a special way. And
Judas said, How, Lord, how are you going to reveal yourself
to him? Verse 23, he said, A man loveth me, he will keep my words,
and will come in, and will just live with him. Now, is that blessing or is that
blessing? Well, is that man happy? Is that
woman happy? Paul's sitting in jail and has
nothing. But he's got God's Word, and he's whistling a happy tune.
And the jailers out there, he's got everything, big home, and
he's miserable. He's down on the world, you know,
and he hears this fellow singing in there. What's he singing about?
I'm going to shut him up. And he went in to see about it.
Oh, God showed him, didn't he, where happiness and blessings
are. All right, let's close with the book of James then. The book
of James, let's turn over there. The book of James. Now, listen
to me, all right? Listen to me. I'm going to wind this up. There is a scriptural principle and precedent or example for
everything that you're going to go through. There's a scriptural principle
or teaching or truth to be learned, to be applied. and an example
of somebody that went through everything
you are going through, or have gone, or will go through. There's
no temptation, the Scripture says, that hath taken you but
such as is common to man. But God made the way to escape. There's nothing you're going
through right now that somebody else hasn't gone through, and
there's nothing you won't go through if there's not a scriptural
principle to tell you how to go through it. Everything you encounter, every
decision to be made, every circumstance you face, every situation you
deal with is brought with it in the scripture. And you want
to be wise? Do I want to be wise? Do I want
to know what to do? Where are we going to find out? I've just told you. This is how
you make Christ your wisdom. God's Word tells us plainly,
and he said that in 1 Peter 1, he said, He hath given unto us
all things necessary for life and governing, and given us exceeding
precious promises that by them we might escape the corruption
that is in the world through life. Escape promises, principles,
wisdom that comes from above. Lord, I don't know what to do.
Well, I wrote it down. Look it up. is with them, tell us how to
think, how to walk, how to talk, how to act, where to go, who
to go with, what to do when we get there, where to work, where
to live, who to marry, who to date. It's a scriptural principle. Do you believe that? This is
the most terrible thing. He's given us all things that
are necessary for life in God's name. Is that right? He's given
us all things necessary for life in God's name, thereby these
promises. Well, what's the problem then? I need answers. What's the problem? Look at James 1, verse 5. If any of you lack wisdom, that's
what I've been asking you, do you need wisdom? Then what do
I do? What does it say here? If you lack wisdom, what? What's the answer? Do what?
Ask. The Lord shall make. He giveth liberally. Sure, I'll show you. Do you like
keeping your children in the dark? You want them to know and
understand, don't you? You want them to take the right
path, don't you? Huh? The older they get, Terry, the
more responsible they become, right? If they were wise, they'd
ask Dad who's been through it, wouldn't they, Terry? If we were
wise, Terry, what would we do? We'd ask Christ who's been through
it. And he says we, and here's the
problem, we don't ask. He says you have not because
of what? Do you need wisdom? Well you
have not because of what? Ask not. Here's another problem,
we don't ask Look at verse 6 and 7, he says, Let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering, he that wavereth, like a wave of a seed driven
with a wind, and talk, let not that man think that he shall
receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways. What does that mean? It means,
do you really want an answer? That's what that means. Do you
really want the answer? Here's another problem. We have
not because we ask not. Secondly, we don't ask sincerely.
We're afraid of what we might hear. And then when we get the answer,
our flesh just doesn't want to do what he tells us to do. Is that the problem? I know it is with me. I guess
I'm different than everybody else. Is that the problem? I
know, it's plain. It's all plain. He says there's nothing forward.
Proverbs 8 says, all the words in my mouth are righteousness.
He says there's nothing forward or perverse in them. They're
all plain. They didn't find understanding. Let me say that, Deborah. So
the problem is, I don't ask. I don't ask sincerely. And then
when I do find out, I don't want to do what he said. Is that right? Well, here's words to the wise,
words from the wise, to the wise. A wise man, a woman, will take
knowledge, will receive instruction. But a fool, a fool, a scorner,
now, I hate you. Listen to these verses I just
picked from the Proverbs and I'll let you go. If it's not based on what God
has said, it's wrong. Right? It's the opposite. You're
going in the wrong direction. I don't know how many times I
thought I was a good judge of direction, you know. We'd go
on a trip or something. I know, you know where you're
going. Too proud to admit, you know. Men don't look at maps.
Who do they hand me? Real men don't look at maps.
Look here, honey. I can believe that. Are you lost? Yes. I was wrong. Be not wise in thine
own conceits. There's another. The way of the
fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth to counsel
is wise. In a multitude of counselors
there's safety. You get one friend, it's not enough. And a multitude
of counselors are safe there. You better be sure who you're
getting your feedback from is not just like you. Iron sharpeneth iron, so doth
a man his friend by sharpness of his friend. You know, there's some men and
there's some women whom God has greatly blessed with this spiritual
discernment that he talked about in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 15.
There are some, I know some. I consult them constantly. If
there's something that I just can't, I need help. I need some wisdom, I can't seem
to find. I consult. I call my pastor. And I didn't say that for you
to... I have mixed emotions about this thing. I want you, and as
tired... As tired as I see people do and
go through things, I think, I wish, I wish, I wish, listen, I wish,
I wish I could say something, but I'm afraid of offending them.
I have mixed emotions. I feel like the time I wish they'd
ask me and then I'd think, well, I hope they don't ask me. Does
that make sense to you? It does to me. But there are
some men, there's some women, there's some Manola's wives out
there that are worth listening to. If we weren't so wise in
our own conceits, we'd consult them. We need to ask a lot of
questions. We need to hearken unto sound
wisdom. walk with them and talk with them who've walked where
we've walked and experienced what we... We need to walk and
talk with them and listen to those who have been walking this
spiritual walk a little longer than we have. I don't care if
they're younger than we are. There's natural age and then
there's spiritual age. Right? Some people are one year
old spiritually. They might be sixty years old
naturally. Does that make sense? If someone
were thirty-five years old, naturally they might be twenty-five years
old, or twenty years old anyway. No, that's a little too young.
Eight things. It's spiritual. And, you know, there's a, and I'll
put this in the bulletin next week, very quickly. I'll put
this in the bulletin this Sunday so you can have it to go by.
There's a three-fold, every decision you're going to make, go through,
there's a three-fold criteria that you need to consider. It'll
give you your answer every time. Three-fold. Whatever you do. Three-fold. Number one, how is
God's glory best served? The glory of God. Take that into
consideration third, you'll get your answer. If that doesn't
give it to you, number two, Will, God, the good and edification
of the church, of the body, not me, the church, the body. How's what I'm doing, what I'm
going to do, what I'm thinking about doing going to affect the
body? Because we're many members of
one body. We're not, no man's an island,
especially a member of the church. He's a member of many people,
and he affect everything we do and say affects everybody else.
That'll give you your answer. Number one doesn't, number two
will. If that doesn't do it, number three will. What's absolutely
the spiritual best, spiritual best, the spiritual good for my family? I have a wife that's affected
by everything I do, everywhere I go, everything I say. Right? I have a husband. I have a son. And everything
I do, everywhere I go, everything I say is affected by that. It's
going to be influenced by every thought. I need to consider it
in that light. So the spiritual good of my family,
my husband, my wife, my children, self is absolutely last on that
list. I didn't say anything about our
temporal good or pleasure. That threefold criteria will
give you your answer for everything we do. Think about it. Go and learn what that means.
All right, let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, how we thank
you for doing to Christ for us what you did to him. How we thank
you for making him a propitiation, a bloody sacrifice to cover our
rotten selves. How we thank you for imputing
his righteousness to our account that he might dwell with us someday. Lord, we thank you. More than
doctrine, this is just cause for glory. This is glory. You've
revealed your glory in us. And dear Lord, how we thank you
for writing down, giving us a copy of the mind and will of our Creator. We may know the will of God.
We may know your mind. If any man, you said, if any
man will do his will, he'll know the truth. So Lord, make us willing
and obedient that we may eat the good of the land, the good
that this land has to offer. Abundant life, life more abundant,
we pray. Oh Lord, apply these words to
the lives and hearts of everyone that heard them, myself included,
especially me. Give me wisdom that I might be
able to lead these people. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you. We're going to go ahead and get
started. We're going to go ahead and get started. Thank you very much. you Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.