All right, let's look at 1 Corinthians
2, talking about last week, our need for God's wisdom. And what
we learn in these verses, as I said last week, is first of
all, the wisdom of God can only be found in Christ. The glorious
person, the finished work of Christ. Paul wrote that in verse
two, for I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the doctrine of who Christ
is. That's what this gospel is all
about. That's what the word of God, that's what the truth is
all about. I was reading an article in the newspaper today where
a fellow was talking about truth. And he went on to show, you know,
how truth varies amongst people and different ideas. He said,
even facts change. Well, let me tell you a truth
that never varies. Let me tell you a fact that never
changes. that's the truth and the fact
and the wisdom of God revealed in Jesus Christ crucified and
risen from the dead as the surety, the substitute, the redeemer
of his people. Paul had made much of that in
1 Corinthians 1. We preach Christ crucified, the
preaching of the cross. He talked about how The Jews
require a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but to us who are
saved, to the children of God who know Christ by the revelation
of God. He is both the power of God,
He's the wisdom of God. He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption. That's the singularity, the simplicity
of the wisdom of God. If you want to know salvation,
if you want to be wise unto salvation, look to Christ in every way that
the Bible describes Him, reveals Him. The Lord our righteousness. I don't have any righteousness
but Christ. If you want to know the wisdom of God and how He
justifies the ungodly, look to Christ. And that's what we see.
In Christ, we see what kind of sinners we are. I use that passage
in John 16, that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin because we
believe not on Him. If you want to measure the sinfulness
of man, then measure it by Christ, because He's the one whom God
has appointed and giving us assurance in Him that it's His righteousness
that we have to measure up to. And nothing we do, nothing we
try to do can measure up to the perfection of righteousness that
can only be found in Christ. That's why my only hope is to
be found in Him. not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ. That's his righteousness imputed to me and received by
God given faith. That's the righteousness of God
that's revealed in the gospel. That's the wisdom of God. In
the Lord have I righteousness and strength. And then secondly,
we saw that the wisdom of God comes to his people by revelation.
Now that's what Paul is talking about here. In verse six, look
at 1 Corinthians 2. How be it we speak wisdom among
them that are perfect. The word perfect there means
complete. And how are we complete? We're
complete in Christ. We're not complete in ourselves.
The perfection, we can talk about perfection, which is sinless
perfection. We don't have that. We're sinners
saved by grace. Now we are sinlessly perfect
as we stand in Christ, washed in his blood and clothed in his
righteousness. But when he talks about those
who are perfect, he's talking about those who are saved by
grace, sinners saved by grace, who are complete in Christ. And
because that's the only kind of people that this is wisdom
to. The natural man won't receive it, it's foolishness to him.
That's what he said back up in verse 18 of chapter one, the
preaching of the cross is to them who are perishing, unbelievers,
foolishness. This is the wisdom of God to
us. It's the power of God unto salvation. You see, part of the
problem with this thing of discernment that we're going to look at is
people by nature don't know the difference between good and evil
as God measures it. Now you understand what I'm saying?
I mean, we know all kinds of people. They know what it is
to break the law of the land and to treat people right and
all of that. But I'm talking about as God
measures goodness in the matter of our standing before him. By
nature, we don't know the difference between good and evil. In fact,
I think it was the prophet Isaiah said that one of the indictments
brought against the natural man is he calls good evil and evil
good. You remember the rich young man
that came to Christ and said, what good thing must I do to
inherit eternal life, to have eternal life? And Christ said
to him, why are you calling me good? There's none good but God.
Your measure of goodness is wrong because the measure of goodness
before God is Christ. That's the wisdom of God. That's
why it says, there's none righteous, there's none that doeth good,
no not one, as God measures it. Now that's why we need to hear
the word of God. That's why we need the judgment
of God. That's why we need the wisdom
of God. And so he says, we speak, verse six, the wisdom of God
among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world.
And he says, nor the princes of this world that come to naught.
A fellow in that article this morning, he mentioned all kinds
of noble people, people that we look up to. He mentioned Einstein,
he mentioned different preachers, all of that. And basically what
this is telling us is that, humanly speaking, they don't have a clue.
Now Einstein, he could talk to you about the theory of relativity.
He could talk about E equals MC squared. But you ask him,
how can God be just and justify the ungodly? He didn't have a
clue. And no preacher does who doesn't
know Christ and doesn't preach Christ. I don't care who they
are. I don't care how big of a following they have. He says
none of the princes of this world said they come to naught, comes
to nothing. Verse seven, look at that. But
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Now you remember what
Christ told the disciples when they asked him about why do you
speak in parables? He says, because it is given
unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Well,
this is it. We speak God's wisdom in a mystery. Now a mystery here, as I've told
you before, and you know this is so, it's not the kind of mystery
that you look for clues and you put the clues together and figure
out. What it is, he's saying it's got to be revealed by God. And that's what I'm saying. The
wisdom of God comes to his people by revelation. Hold your finger
there. Let me read a passage from Matthew chapter 11 to you.
Listen to this. Christ speaking about the preaching
of the gospel as it is rejected by the natural man. Natural meaning
how we're born naturally into this world, fallen in Adam, spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. And he says in verse 25, at that
time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent, and has revealed them unto babes.
Now the wise and the prudent there is talking about human
wisdom and human intellect. Those who are proud of their
knowledge, their natural knowledge, and think like the Greeks and
like the Jews that they can work their way into knowledge of God
by human wisdom and learning, and will not let go of it, And
the babes here refers to those who are totally, totally, totally
dependent upon the Lord. That's what that means. That
doesn't mean that they're babes naturally, like little babies
laying in a crib. It means that they are, that's
the issue of a baby. A baby is totally dependent upon
its parents for its well-being. Well, my friend, we are totally
dependent upon God's grace and power for our eternal wellbeing.
But read on in Matthew 11, verse 26, Christ says, even so father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. Now listen to verse 27.
All things are delivered unto me of my father and no man knoweth
the son, but the father. Remember at his baptism, the
father spoke from heaven and said, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. If you're going to know
the son, it must be as he is revealed by the father. And for
us, this is it. This is where he's revealed in
his word. And then he says this, Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." If
you're going to know God truly as your heavenly Father, that
knowledge must come through Christ. That's the revelation. Go back
to 1 Corinthians 2. Verse seven, we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory. This is no new
wisdom. This is no new message. This
is the word of God, the wisdom of God, the purpose of God before
this world was ever created. Salvation given to us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. And verse eight says, which none
of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Basically,
here's the point. If we already knew God, if we
were already in a state of salvation or a state of righteousness before
God, Christ would not even had to come and been crucified. Paul
wrote it this way in Galatians 2.21. If righteousness come by
the law, by what we do, Christ died in vain. If we could work
righteousness by our efforts, Christ would not have had to
have come into the world and to be crucified. But listen,
verse nine, but 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. The things of salvation,
the things of God's grace, of how God justifies the ungodly,
the sanctification of his people, the preservation of his people.
Those things have never even entered into the mind and the
affections, the will, the understanding of natural man. But how did we
get to know him then? Look at verse 10. But God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit. The wisdom of God comes
to his people by revelation. For the spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. You know what that means? That means only God can know
God. Which means this, if we're gonna
know God, God must reveal himself. Nobody can come to you, no natural
person, I don't care how good they are in our eyes, how smart
they are, how rich they are, they cannot come to you and sit
down and say, now let me give you the knowledge of God. Now,
God's people can through preaching the gospel from the word of God,
but that's God revealing himself. You understand that? In other
words, this is not gonna come from natural science, man, human
religion, philosophy. This knowledge must come from
God because the Holy Spirit is God. God the Son, God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Verse 11, look at, for what man
knoweth the things of man save the spirit of man which is in
him. Only thing man can tell us is what he knows of himself
and he's spiritually dead. The spirit of man in him is spiritual
death. Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the spirit of God. In other words, if any man does
know him, it's been revealed by God. God is our teacher. He uses old weak vessels like
me that have to sit in a chair every now and then to preach.
because you got arthritis or whatever, stumbles around, sniffles
around. We have this treasure in earth
and vessel, but the message. See, it's not the man, is it?
It's the message. This message is something else.
I mean this message is much greater than gold and silver. This is
an eternal message. Think about it. And so he says,
even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
Now look at verse 12. Now this tells us basically the
next issue, that the wisdom of God is received by God-given
faith. How do you receive the wisdom?
By God-given faith. That's what he told the disciples.
Blast are your ears for they hear. Faith comes by hearing. hearing by the word of God. Blessed
are your eyes for they see. You must be born again or you
cannot see the kingdom of God. You see what he's saying there?
It's been revealed to you. It's been given to you. This
is a gift. You don't have anything to be proud of about this. You
didn't by human research and climbing the mountain find this.
This is what God came down to us in our slew of despond, on
our dunghill religion, and revealed it to us. He shined the light. And listen to what he says in
verse 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world,
this didn't come from the world, but the spirit which is of God,
the life of God. How do I know that I've seen
that? How do I know I've received that? Look at the next line.
This is important. Underscore this in your Bibles if you haven't
already. That we might know the things that are freely given
to us of God. Now, freely given. That means unconditionally. That
means without a cause. That puts to death modern religion's
view of how God saves sinners. They'll tell you that God sent
Christ to make salvation possible if you'll do something, whether
it's works or make a decision. That's not what it is. Freely
given. What is freely given to us? You want to hear the wisdom of
God in that issue? What's freely given? Everything
in salvation is freely given. That's right. My justification
before God is based upon the righteousness of Christ, not
my righteousness, freely imputed to me. My sanctification, my
new birth, My faith, my repentance, my perseverance is all freely
given to me of God. I didn't earn it, don't deserve
it. It's all free grace, sovereign grace. Do you know that? Well, now wait a minute, preacher,
we gotta do something for it. That's the spirit of the world. That's evil. That's lack of discernment. That's what the natural man believes.
I know I was there, you were too if you know God. Wait a minute
preacher, I know Christ died for all of us and we have to
seal the deal with our decision. No, no, that's the wisdom of
the world. This is the wisdom of God, it's
freely given. Verse 13, look at, which things
also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, Let me ask you a question. You
ever been to one of these meetings where they have an invitation
system? You ever been to one of those?
Ask you a question. If you've been to one of them,
you know what they're like. I've been to some of them. I was at one
where we were almost up to midnight because the evangelist was bound
and determined to get somebody down that stupid aisle. Let me tell you. Where do you
see that in God's Word? From Genesis to Revelation, do
you see any evangelist, any true preacher of the gospel doing
that in God's Word? Now what does that tell you?
That tells you that that's the words which man's wisdom teaches. But we speak that which the Holy
Ghost teacheth. comparing spiritual things with
spiritual things. That means we speak about spiritual
things. We're not speaking about earthly
things. And so the wisdom of God is received by God-given
faith. Again, faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. That's how it comes. And that's
when, here's the last one, the wisdom of God brings spiritual
discernment. Look at it, verse 14, the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Well, what
are the things of the Spirit of God? The Word of God. That's
what this Bible is. Whatever's in this Bible that
is truth, which it all is, but But whatever this book says about
salvation, how God saves sinners by His grace, through the blood
of Christ alone, through His righteousness imputed alone,
however God brings life to a dead sinner, see those are the things
that the Spirit of God teaches. But the natural man won't receive
them. He won't believe them. Why? He don't want to be converted. Remember Matthew 13, they shut
their eyes and they closed their ears, lest they be converted. Converted to what? Well, you
remember what Paul said in Philippians chapter three. He said, if any man could attain
righteousness by what they do, he said, I am more. If any man
could boast in their lifestyle, and their works in religion.
He said, I could more. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I
was circumcised the eighth day. You remember that? Philippians
three. I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees as he went down. And
the world, the natural world, the spirit of the world looks
at that man and says, oh boy, Paul, that's all good. God's
smiling on you, friend. You're righteous in His sight. You're okay. That's our discernment. See, that's how we judge it.
And then Paul comes down to verse 7 and he says, but God revealed
Himself to me. And when He did, in the light
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead, my judgment,
my value system, my worldview, my discernment changed. I was
converted and that which I thought was good, now I see as evil. Why Paul, why was that evil?
It didn't glorify God, it glorified man. Why was that evil Paul? It didn't exalt Christ, it exalted
the sinner. It was works of unbelief, that's
why it's evil. I was converted. And now my only
hope, my only goodness, my only righteousness is to be found
in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law. The only good thing that I can have to present before
God is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the wisdom of God. And
when the Pharisees heard these things, they did not want to
call their, what they assumed and discerned as their goodness,
to be evil. They didn't want to say, oh no,
Paul, I'm not going to call, I've gone to church all my life.
I was baptized when I was 13. I gave my heart to the Lord. Don't want to call that evil.
A natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
their foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them. because
they're spiritually discerned, spiritually judged. But look
at verse 15. But he that is spiritual, he
discerneth, that's what that word means, judgeth, all things,
yet he himself is judged of no man. Now the all things there
means all things concerning the wisdom of God in salvation. That's
what he's talking about. It's kind of like what John said
in 1 John 2, When he said, talking about those who went out from
us, they weren't of us, but he said, you have an unction from
the Holy One and you know all things. That doesn't mean we
know everything, but it means we know all things pertaining
to how God saves sinners. The gospel, how sinners are justified
before God, we know those. The natural man doesn't. And
we judge all things in light of that. Whatever you say about
your salvation, whatever a person says about eternal life and glory,
we discern it, we judge it as it compares to Jesus Christ and
Him crucified and risen from the dead. Do you understand that?
Let me show you what I mean by that. I've told you this before,
that there are two things that are common to all false religion,
even false Christianity. Number one, they all without
exception, will make salvation conditioned on sinners at some
stage to some degree in some way. In other words, it's not
freely given. Some of it's gotta be conditioned
on you and me. That's false religion. But secondly,
is they all will measure righteousness and holiness on a sliding scale. It's me as I'm compared to you
or you as I'm compared to me. But see, the true gospel, the
true wisdom of God that brings us this discernment shows us
that all of salvation is freely given to us by God. Not conditioned on me. Listen,
my election before the foundation of the world wasn't conditioned
on me. It was conditioned on God's sovereign mercy and goodness. Given to me in Christ. So why
did He choose me? I don't know. Christ said it
there in Matthew 11. He said, For so, Father, it seemed
good in Thy sight. My justification before God is
freely given. It's not based upon what I do
or even what I believe. based upon what Christ did on
that cross, to put away my sins and establish the only righteousness
by which I stand before God accepted. My sanctification, my new birth,
my perseverance, my glorification is all conditioned on Christ.
If he doesn't keep me, I won't be kept. It's all freely given. My reward, not rewards plural,
but my reward It's not conditioned on me. You think I'm gonna get
a greater reward than you because I'm up here preaching and you're
sitting down there listening? No. It's all freely given in
Christ. Free grace based upon the righteousness
of Christ. That's the wisdom of God. That's
wherein we discern things. And then secondly, all righteousness
is to be measured, not on a sliding scale of where I was and where
I am today. All righteousness is to be measured
by Christ. The perfection of the righteousness
of the law can only be found in Christ. Everything else comes
short. What does that tell me? That
tells me, in the wisdom of God, that without Christ, I'm nothing. Without him, I'm nothing. No
matter what you see, no matter what I do without Christ, it's
all in vain. You see that? But he says here in verse 15,
he that is spiritual is judged of no man. You know what that
means? That means that unregenerate, unbelieving people, they have
no right to judge us because they don't know what a Christian
really is. Did you know that? I did a whole
chapter on that in that book I wrote, What is a Christian?
John said it this way in 1 John 3. He said, the world knoweth
us not. Somebody said, well, you ought
to show the world that you're a Christian. Brother Mahan used to say, well,
if they saw that you followed Christ, or if you were like Christ,
you know what they'd do? They'd crucify you, like they
did him. Christ told his disciples in
John 15, he said, marvel not if the world hates you. It hated
me before it hated you. The world, the natural man judges
salvation by what they see men and women do, not by what they
believe. And so in verse 16, now I'm gonna
capitalize on this verse because I told you last week there's
a phrase there that we need to understand. He says, for who
hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? What
he's saying there is simply this. The mind of God is revealed in
his word. It's not revealed from our own
personal ideas, as if I'm teaching God something. I'm not teaching
God anything. He's teaching me everything.
You see, that's just it. God doesn't ask our advice. He
doesn't say, now, Brother Parker, what do you think I should do
here? No. Who's been his counselor? Nobody. We're submitted to the
teachings, the wisdom, the knowledge of God here. And he says, but
we have the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ. Two things
about that, and I'll close, and I'm gonna deal with that more
in detail. How do we have the mind of Christ?
Well, there's several ways, but let me give you the two main
ways right off, and you can be thinking about it. Number one,
we have His word. Right there. You want to know
what Christ thinks? Read his word. Number two, we
have his spirit. We have his spirit. That's what
he says here. We have the mind of Christ. We
have the spirit and the word. And he brings our thinking around
to be in submission to Christ. And I'm going to talk about that
later on, but I don't have time to deal with that today. But
anyway, I hope that that's helpful to you. Let's look in our hymnals
to hymn number 337, teach me thy way.