Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles today, I'm going to be preaching from 1 Corinthians
chapter two. I'm actually gonna be preaching
on the last part of that chapter, mainly in verses 14 and 15 and
16, the last verses. And the title of the message
today is The Natural and the Spiritual Man. The Natural and
the Spiritual Man. Now I've been going through this
passage in the last few weeks, mainly leading up to verses 14
and 15, which speaks of the distinction between unbelievers, who he calls
the natural man, and believers, who he calls the spiritual, he
that is spiritual. And we were talking about last
week about the fullness and the freeness of salvation in verse
12. Let's go back to verse 12 and
listen to this. 1 Corinthians 2, 12. He says,
now we have received not the spirit of the world. Now I urge
you to go, if you haven't heard that message last week, to order
that. And I went into detail on that. The spirit of the world
is the spirit of false religion. It's the spirit of works religion.
man trying to work his way into God's favor, work his way into
righteousness. It's a way of salvation that
is conditioned on the sinner. That's the spirit of the world. And it rejects Christ and salvation
totally conditioned on him, Christ who fulfilled all those conditions
and secured the salvation of his people. And so now we have
received not the spirit of the world, he says, but the Spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely,
full and free salvation, unconditionally, without a cause given to us of
God. All of salvation is a free gift.
None of it is earned by me. None of it is deserved by me. It's all a free gift based upon
the blood of Christ, the glorious person and finished work of Christ.
And he says in verse 13, which things also we speak not in the
words which man's wisdom teaches. In other words, this fullness
and freeness of salvation, the spirit which is of God, the things
freely given of God, that didn't come through any wisdom of man. In fact, back in verse nine,
he said, 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. In other words, the things of
the gospel of God's grace have never even entered into the brains,
into the hearts of man. In other words, Paul called it
in Romans 1, 1, the gospel of God. This is a message from heaven. It wasn't concocted by the philosophers
and the religionists of human nature. That's the spirit of
the world. But this is the gospel wherein
the righteousness of God is revealed. Man has never thought about that.
And what's sad is man won't receive it apart from the spirit of God.
That's what we're gonna talk about. Go back to 1 Corinthians
2.13, which things also we speak not in the words which man's
wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches. This is a
spiritual revelation from heaven. And it compares spiritual things
with spiritual. In other words, it doesn't reason
from the ground up. Most religion today, the vast majority, even that
which comes in the name of Christianity but denies the truth, which is
false Christianity, is nothing more than humanism. And what
does humanism teach? It teaches that man is the center
of the universe, everything is about man, everything starts
and centers around man. It also teaches that in men there's
a spark of goodness And all we as preachers have to do is try
to fan the flame of that little spark, you know, and get people
to decide for Jesus. That's humanism. What does the
Bible say? Well, he says in verse 14, here's
what he says about man by nature. He speaks of, but the natural
man, that's all of us as we are naturally born, receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, If left to ourselves, to our
own wills, we will not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
listen to me as he is identified and distinguished in this book. Now man will receive a false
Christ. Man will receive a Christ who
is crouched over the banister of heaven just pleading with
you if you would accept him and do your part. Man will receive
a Christ whose blood was shed for everybody without exception,
but really saves nobody unless you seal the deal with your decision. But that's a false Christ. That's
a Christ that appeals to human nature because by nature we think
we're worth something. We think that we deserve something.
You see, if I preach to you that you make the difference between
heaven and hell because you rose above the crowd and made your
decision for Christ, whereas the others were more stubborn,
well, that's appealing to people. You say, well, it's not appealing
to everybody because everybody don't want to live a Christian
life. Well, that's true. But my friend, when you see the
Christ of the Bible, who is God in human flesh without sin, and
whose righteousness brought about by his obedience unto death is
the security, the guarantee of the salvation of all for whom
he died, he will lose nothing. He will bring, and I quote this
all the time, John 6, 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And he says, this is the will
of him that sent me that of all which he hath given me I lose
nothing but raise it up again at the last day. He said in John
10, he died for the sheep, he knows his sheep, his sheep know
him, the sheep hear his voice and they won't follow another.
And they'll never be lost, no man can pluck them out of his
father's hand, he and his father are one. But he says in verse
14, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. Now what things will he not receive? The things that
are freely given to us of God, verse 12. Man by nature has to
have some part in his salvation upon which he can boast of having
some part of attaining it or maintaining it. Now man has a
part in salvation. Christ is the Savior. We're the
sinners whom he saves. That's our part. One old preacher
said, God did all the saving, I did all the sinning. And we
do cooperate with the Lord in our salvation, but it's by His
power, His grace, and His will that He brings us to cooperate. The Bible says that His people
will be made willing in the day of His power. Somebody asked
me one time, are you saying that God brings us to Christ against
our wills? Well, it's against the natural
will, because the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God. But what does God do in the new
birth? He changes our wills through
the new birth, through giving us spiritual life. You can see
that's verse 15, look at it. But he that is spiritual, born
again by the Spirit, made alive, quickened, judges all things,
he discerns all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
Now hold on to that thought. Go back to the natural man in
verse 14. But the natural man, here's the
natural, he receives not the things of the Spirit of God.
Over in 1 Corinthians 1.18, he's talking about the cross, the
preaching of the cross. It's to them that are perishing
foolishness. That's the natural man. How do
you respond to the preaching of the gospel of this book? I'm
not talking about the popular false gospels that go out through
the world today that talks about how God loves everybody and Christ
died for everybody, now you make the decision, you make the difference. That's easy to say, that's appealing
to man. But the preaching of the cross,
the propitiation, the Bible calls it. Righteousness established
that demands the salvation of everyone for whom Christ died.
Everyone for whom he was buried and arose again the third day.
That his resurrection proves the establishment of a righteousness
which God has imputed to his people and whereby they will
be brought to faith in Christ by the power of God. They'll
receive him. And he says, unto us which are
saved, or being saved, it's the power of God. So he says, the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them. Now he can
hear with the physical ear, and he can know what's being said,
but the knowing here means an intimate love relationship. He knows them, he understands
them savingly. And he loves that truth. He sees
that's the truth and he believes it. And the reason he won't know,
he cannot know them that way is because they are spiritually
discerned. He doesn't have a spiritual mind
to understand the glory of this message. He doesn't have spiritual
eyes to see, spiritual ears to hear. Remember Christ told the
disciples in Matthew 13, blessed are your eyes for they see. Blessed
are your ears for they hear. They don't have a heart for this.
Now there's several passages of scripture where we can go
to get a brief description of the natural man. One of them
is in Romans chapter three, verse 10 and following. Look at Romans
chapter three and verse 10. Paul's talking here about all
Jews and all Gentiles by nature the natural man, whether you're
Jew or Gentile. You might be a religious Jew.
You might be a religious Gentile. You might be an immoral Jew or
an immoral Gentile, but he says in verse nine, they're all under
sin. Look at verse 10 of Romans three. As it is written, there
is none righteous, no not one. Now what does that mean? That means there's none of us
who by nature have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
justice and makes us right with God. We don't have it. We're not born with it. Later
on he says we can't work it. He says in verse 20, by deeds
of law shall no flesh be justified, made righteous in God's sight.
But look up at verse 11. Now listen to this. Now remember
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
He says in verse 11, there is none that understandeth. There
is none that seeketh after God. By nature, if left to ourselves,
we won't understand these things, the things that are freely given,
who God is in His holiness, even in His mercy and grace and love,
who we are as totally depraved, ruined sinners, ruined by the
fall. Our only route is to be redeemed
by the blood and regenerated by the Spirit. We understand
a lot of things in the world, But we don't understand the things
of the Spirit of God. He says, there's none that seeketh
after God. As long as we don't understand the things of God
and salvation and how God saves sinners, how God justifies the
ungodly, we won't seek the true and living God. And I want you
to notice here now, this is not saying there are none moral in
the eyes of men. It's not saying there are none
who do not appear, none who appear righteous unto men. It doesn't
say there's none religious. It says there's none righteous.
It says there's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after
God. Verse 12 of Romans 3. They are all gone out of the
way. What way? The way of God's glory
and grace in Christ. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. There's only one way to God.
I know people today, what they're saying, that there's many ways
to God. There's the Christian way, the Jewish way, the Muslim
way, the Hindu way. No, there's only one way. And
it's Christ and his blood and righteousness alone. And every
other way is a way of death. There is a way that seems right
to a man, but it's the way that ends in death. And he says, they
are together become unprofitable. In everything they do, religiously
or whatever, they will not profit in eternal life. And so he says,
there's none that doeth good, no not one. Now understand he's
talking about doing good as God measures goodness. Not as man
measures goodness. If you just do nothing but compare
yourself or other people to each other, you can say, well, there's
a lot of good people. He's just a good man, a good
woman. But when you compare it to Christ,
how do we stack up? The Bible says that Christ is
the standard of judgment, Acts 17 31. God has appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. You
see, the standard of righteousness is a man whom God ordained. And
who is that man? That man whom he hath ordained
in that he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath
raised him from the dead. How good must I be? I must be
as good as Christ. You say, well, I just love everybody.
Well, you don't. But if you could say you love
it, do you say you love everybody as Christ loved his people? And the answer is no. You say,
well, that's impossible. Exactly. Salvation by your works,
salvation by your own goodness is impossible. That's why salvation
is by grace freely given to God's people in Christ. The only way
that I can measure up to Christ in His goodness and righteousness
is to have His goodness, His righteousness, imputed, charged,
accounted to me, laid to my charge. As my sins were imputed, counted,
charged to Him, and He died and paid the penalty, His righteousness
is imputed to me. Now that's stated in 2 Corinthians
chapter five and verse 21. when it says, for He, that is
God the Father, hath made Him, God the Son incarnate, to be
sin for us, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made or
become the righteousness of God in Him. That's the whole point. Abraham, Romans chapter four,
David, David said in Romans chapter four verse six, blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. That's our only hope. Well, back
in First Corinthians two, look at verse 15. Now here's the spiritual
man. But he that is spiritual, now
what is it to be spiritual? First of all, it's to be justified
in the sight of God. It's to be declared legally by
God, not guilty, legally righteous in God's sight, based on Christ's
righteousness imputed. And then secondly, it's to be
born again by the Spirit. Be given spiritual life. Now
over in Ephesians, look at Ephesians chapter two. It says here, in
verse one, and you hath he quickened. To be quickened is to be given
life. who were dead in trespasses and sins. The natural man is
dead in trespasses and sins, and his only hope is to be quickened,
born again by the Spirit, by the Spirit of God. And we read
last week in John chapter one, verses 11 through 13, that that
quickening, that being born again, given spiritual life, is not
the product or the result of man accepting Jesus or making
a decision for Jesus. You see, accepting Christ, making
a decision for Christ, believing in Christ, is the product of
being born again. You see, people have this thing
mixed up. And the reason they have it mixed
up is because the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God. You see, as long as I can say
that my being born again is the product of my decision or my
will, then I can give myself some room to boast. I made the
difference. But God won't have it that way.
This thing is not about your glory, it's about his glory.
So when he goes back in verse 12, verse 15, of chapter two,
first Corinthians two, that he that is spiritual. Now it says
he judgeth, that word is discerned. Remember it says back in verse
14, the natural man receives not the things of the spirit
of God, he can't know them, they're spiritually discerned. That means
they're spiritually judged or understood. When you hear the
preaching of the cross, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed,
what is your judgment? Do you value it? Do you see the
infinite worth of that? That that's your only hope of
salvation. You understand that? That's what
he's saying. The spiritual man, he judges
all things. What things? All things that
are freely given to us of God. My friend, my whole salvation,
all the benefits of it, all the blessings of it, are wrapped
up, not in me and what I did for God or what I decided for
God. It's wrapped up in the glorious
person and the finished work of Christ. First Peter two, under
you therefore which believe, he, Christ, is precious. Listen, all the things that God
freely gives to his people in salvation, are all because of
Christ. We read that last week in Romans
chapter eight. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely
give us all things? That's not talking about all
without exception. That's talking about all to whom
God freely gives all things. And who are they? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies.
Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died. That's
who he's talking about. You see the freeness and the fullness
of salvation. The spiritual man, the one who
is born of God, remember, ruined by the fall, redeemed by the
blood, regenerated by the Spirit. Those who've been regenerated
by the Spirit, they see the value of Christ crucified and risen. They see that it's not just some
kind of a blanket pardon of which if men don't receive it, they'll
end up in hell. No, that devalues it. The blood
of Christ is the salvation of his people. And if you believe
that his blood covers those who end up perishing, you devalue
it. But the spiritual man, he judges
all things. And it says in verse 15, yet
he himself is judged of no man. What does that mean? That means
that the world will not look upon true believers as being
true Christians or true, truly spiritual people. You know, John
said this in 1 John chapter three, he said, the world, he said,
beloved, behold, what manner of love that we should be called
the sons of God. But he says, the world won't
know us. You see, the world, they don't have the discern,
here's the thing about it. The world, they don't know what
a Christian is. You know, I've heard people say,
well, people won't listen. If you want people to know you're
a Christian, then let them see you pray in a restaurant before
a meal or let them see your moral life and all. My friend, the
world doesn't know what a Christian is. And Christianity is not judged
by praying in a restaurant or by living a moral life. Now,
should we thank God for our food? Yes, even though we shouldn't
make a public display of prayer, because prayer is a private thing,
and I'm not gonna go into all that today. But should we live
moral lives? Yes, but that's not, listen,
that's not the discernment, the understanding, the witness of
Christianity. The discernment, understanding,
and witness of Christianity is the gospel that we believe. We
preach the gospel. The Bible says in Matthew 5,
16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. The light
there is not our good works. The light there is the gospel
of Christ who is the light. And they shine on our works so
that men won't look at us and honor and glorify and boast in
us, but we preach the gospel that shows them that God alone
is to be glorified. Don't give me the key to the
city. I don't deserve it. God alone is to be glorified. It's the glory of God. And that's
what he's saying. The spiritual man judges all
things, but he himself, yet he himself is judged of no man.
Look at verse 16. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of
Christ. The mind of the Lord. The mind
of Christ. What is that? You want to climb
into the mind of God? Read this book. This is the mind
of God revealed right here from Genesis to Revelation. It's in
the gospel. God shows plainly how he saves
sinners. Back over in Genesis, and let
me say this, that doesn't mean that God has revealed everything
in his infinite mind, but he's revealed the things that we need
to know. The secret things belong to God. The revealed things belong
to us. So if you wanna know what God
has revealed from his mind, right here in this book, and it's the
mind of Christ, everything that God thinks towards his people,
in his grace and mercy and love is in Christ. And when he brings
a sinner to salvation by his grace, when that sinner is born
again and brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works, he's given the mind of Christ. And doesn't mean he's
perfect in everything that he thinks, says and does, he's not.
But he knows the gospel. He knows the way God saves sinners.
Back in Genesis chapter three, God revealed his mind to Adam
and Eve. You know the story, Adam fell.
He took sides with his wife and with the devil against God and
the whole human family fell on Adam. And you remember that Adam
and Eve, they realized their nakedness and they were ashamed.
Well, what did God do? They made fig leaf aprons, that's
the works of man. God took those fig leaf aprons
off and slew an animal, I believe it was a lamb, showing that the
soul that sinneth must die, the death. The blood must be shed
and made them coats of skin, a picture of the righteousness
of Christ imputed to his people. That's what we need. That's the
mind of God. That's how God saves sinners. That's how God is just
to justify the ungodly. And that's what the spiritual
man knows, but the natural man doesn't. I hope you'll join us
next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-3. Thank you again for listening
today, and may the Lord be with you.