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. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And
I hope and pray that the Lord will bless you through the preached
message of the gospel as we look in the scripture. Today, we're
going to look at 1 Corinthians 2, and I've been going through
this passage of 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, leading up to a passage
of scripture in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 14, where it says,
the natural man, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
And I'm going to mainly deal with that text in the next lesson,
but everything is leading up to that. And of course, the natural
man there is all of us by nature, as we're naturally born. But
today I want to talk to you about this subject, salvation, full
and free. And I really want to talk about
this word free, salvation full and free. And the major text
that I'm going to use is verse 12, where in speaking of believers
in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 12, the apostle Paul writes,
now we have received. Now that's talking about believers.
We have received not the spirit of the world, Now the spirit
of the world has to do with the thinking, the ideas, the philosophies,
the religion, the desires of the world, the motives of the
world. That spirit, that knowledge and
that motivation that the world has. The world there referring
to the natural world. The unbelieving world. He says,
we've not received the spirit of the world. We were born with
that spirit. That's what the natural man is, the natural woman,
the natural person. We're born with the spirit of
the world. We think like the world. And
that's why we need salvation. Somebody said, well, I don't
believe that. Well, then you don't need to be saved. You see, salvation
is being brought out of the world, the unbelieving, fallen, sinful
world. That's what the world is. I brought
a message several weeks back on the three R's of salvation. And the first R is ruined by
the fall. Ruined by the fall. Well, how
did that happen? Well, when Adam fell, he fell
as the representative, the old writers used to say the federal
head, But as the representative of the whole human race, the
human family, and the Bible teaches that we all fell in Adam, the
whole world was brought under the curse of sin and death. That's
why we're in the mess that we're in. And that's why we preach
the good news of salvation, fallen free in Christ by God's grace. The second R is redeemed by the
blood. That's how sinners get out of
this mess. Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, redemption means he paid the redemption price. Bought his people off the slave
block of sin, you might say. And what was that price? It was
his blood. His blood is his death. His cross,
back in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18, Paul wrote, for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Now over
in 1 Corinthians 2, 14, he talks about how the natural man doesn't
receive the things of the Spirit of God, they're foolishness to
him. And he's referring to the preaching of the cross. What
is the preaching of the cross? It's the preaching of the redemption
of God's people, Christ's sheep, God's elect, by the blood of
Christ. His blood is the just payment
for all their sins. His blood is righteousness established,
satisfaction to God's justice. And so that's the second R, redeemed
by the blood. And the third R is regenerated
by the Spirit. That's what Christ said to Nicodemus
in John 3. You must be born again. Why? Because the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. He's a worldling. That's
what I was born. I was a worldling. If you're
an unbeliever, you're a worldling. You're tied to this world. You're
under the curse of this world. Spiritually dead. And you must
be born again by the Spirit of God. and that's a work of God. So here he talks about in verse
12, now we have received not the spirit of the world, we who
are saved, we who are brought to faith. But he says in verse
12, but we have received the spirit which is of God, the life
you might say, which is of God. Now what is the evidence that
I'm not tied to the world the life of the world, which is only
physical life and no spiritual life, dead in trespasses and
sins, spiritually dead, what is the evidence that I've received
the spirit, which is of God? Well, look at what he says in
verse 12. That we might know the things that are, now look
at this, freely given to us of God. Now that's what the natural
man will not receive, that's what's foolishness to him. the
things that are freely given. And this word, the things that
are freely given, what things? Full salvation. And how are they
given? They're given freely. Now that
word freely means without a cause. Unconditional. And that's what
salvation is. Now we often hear a lot of people
talk about salvation by grace. but not many people really understand
what grace is all about. And let me put it to you this
way. The spirit of the world, in line with what Paul's talking
about here, is any spirit that motivates you to look for a salvation
that you can earn or deserve. That's salvation by works. It's
like this, salvation conditioned on sinners. And so, that's the
spirit of the world. And it doesn't matter what the
condition is. You know, people today, they have fallen into
the heresy of universal redemption. They say Christ died for everyone
and that he just made salvation a possibility if you will meet
certain conditions, whatever those conditions are. Now, those
conditions will vary with different denominations of false Christianity. Some say, well, you only have
to believe. Well, where does that belief
come from? When the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2.14 now, now
think about this. When the Bible says in 1 Corinthians
2.14 that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned.
What is he talking about? Does that sound like that a man
or a woman who is natural, that is lost, spiritually dead, will
of their own will or their own volition choose God and receive
Him? Well, if you look back in John
chapter one, in John chapter one, It's talking about Christ
here, who is the eternal Word of God, the second person of
the Trinity, the Word which was with God and was God, was in
the beginning. It says down in verse 14, the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, that's Christ, God
the Son. But up in verse 11, this is John
1. Now look at this, it says, he came unto his own and his
own received him not. Now, what is he talking about
there? Well, he's talking about the natural man. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. He came
into his own and his own received him not. But look at verse 12.
He says in John 1, 12, but as many as received him. Now the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Now hold your place there at John 1.12 and look back at 1
Corinthians 2. Read it again. Now look, I know
I'm jumping back and forth here, but you need to understand this.
We're talking about salvation full and free. Salvation full
and free. And look at verse 14 again. It
says, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, Now remember, he says he came into his own and his
own received him not. That's the natural man. That's
any of us in our naturally born state. Spiritually dead. Remember he says we have to be
quick and we have to be born again. But look at verse 50.
But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is
judged of no man. Now again, I'll get to that more
in detail next week. He that is spiritual. But now
look back at John chapter one. In verse 11, he came into his
own, his own received him not. That's the natural man. Verse
12, but as many as received him. Now there's a difference made
here. And what is the difference? There's those who don't receive
him, and there are those who do receive him. Now what makes
the difference? Well, the things of the world,
the spirit of the world would tell you that you make the difference. I make the difference. It's like
I read about a preacher who had given, he'd preached, he actually
preached a false gospel, trying to make people feel sorry for
Jesus. And he gave an invitation at the end of the message, and
nobody walked the aisle. And he was really upset about
that. So he told everyone, he said, tonight you go home and
look in the mirror and say to yourself, I'm looking at the
person who determines my eternal destiny. Now my friend, that
is not biblical. That is not biblical. It's true
we must believe. It's true we must receive him
or else we'll perish. And all who do believe, all who
do receive him shall be saved, are saved. But here's the point. What does the Bible teach us
about this issue of receiving Him and not receiving Him? Well,
it says the natural man won't do it. You, me, if left to ourselves
in our natural state, will not receive Christ. And so he says
in John 1, now look at verse 12. It says, but as many as received
him, to them gave he power. Now the word power there is not
ability. It's the right, the privilege,
to become or to be called the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name. In other words, those who receive
Christ, and that has to be the spiritual person, those whom
God has made alive, he says, to those who seek Christ, they
have the right to say, I'm a son of God, I'm a child of God, because
I believe on his name. And then verse 13, now look at
John 1, 13, which were born not of blood. Now that means they
were not this spiritual life. by which they received Christ
did not come through natural birth. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, nor the will of the flesh."
I believe that's referring to the works of the flesh. Nor the
will of man, that's the man's will. In other words, this spiritual
life does not come to people because they will it so, or they
decide it so, or they accept Christ. He says they were born
of God. you must be born again. Now that's
where spiritual life comes from. Spiritual life in the new birth
is the life of Christ, the resurrection life of Christ that comes to
a person by God the Holy Spirit because Christ has died for their
sins and satisfied justice and made them righteous in God's
sight. And so when we go back up to 1 Corinthians 2 and verse
12 then, put it in its context. Verse 12, now we have received
not the spirit of the world. The spirit of the world says
that salvation's conditioned on you and me, and if we just
meet certain conditions. And as I said, the conditions
vary with the various denominations. Some say, well, you've got to
just believe. Some say you've got to believe and repent. Some
say you got to believe and repent and persevere or else you can
lose it, which is a false gospel. Some say this, that, and the
other, all kinds of conditions, all right? But he says, but we
have received the spirit, which is of God, that we might know
Now, how do we know this? By revelation from God, that
we might know what the natural man doesn't know, what we naturally
don't know. The natural man doesn't know
these things. They're spiritually discerned,
they're spiritually understood, so that we might know the things. What things? The fullness of
salvation. The fullness of salvation. Let
me tell you, there's three things necessary for the salvation of
a sinner. Number one, there's a legal matter. And that means this, that without
Christ, we are under the sentence of justice, which is God's wrath. And that's because of sin. That's
because of our fall in Adam and because of our sins. And that
sin, that penalty of sin, has to be paid for in full. Now who
paid that penalty? Christ paid the penalty for His
people. Who are His people? He said,
all whom the Father gave to me. That's who He's talking about. He called them His sheep. He
paid for it by His obedience unto death to satisfy the justice
of God. For their sins charged accounted
to Him. He's their surety. And He died
to pay that penalty. That's His blood, through faith
in His blood. That's His righteousness to establish
righteousness that enables God to justify them. So there's the
fullness of justification by the blood of Christ. He paid
it in full. He didn't leave anything for
you to pay. If he did, we'd be damned. He didn't leave anything
for me to pay. You see, he didn't pay it and
just make it available, but not sure, and then we seal the deal
with our faith. Somebody said, but you have to
receive the gift. Oh yes, you do. But if he paid the penalty
for you, you will receive it. That's what the scripture teaches.
Christ said that in John chapter 12. He said, if he dies, the
fruit of his death, well, he will draw all unto him, not all
without exception, all who will come to him by faith. He said
all, John 6, 37, all that the father giveth me shall come to
me and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. I've
heard people say, well, if that's true, then it doesn't matter
if I come to him or not. If he didn't die for me, if I
come to him, he won't receive me. My friend, if he didn't die
for you, you will never want to come to him. The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. But if he died
for you, you will in some point come under the preaching of the
gospel and be brought to faith in Christ to receive him and
accept him. That's the spiritual man. Now
we, Paul writes here in verse 12, we've not received the spirit
of the world, that's what we were born with. But we receive
the spirit of God, which is of God that we may know the things. Now what are they? Remember I
said three things have to happen for the complete salvation of
a sinner. That sinner must be legally justified before God
based upon solely, totally what Christ accomplished on the cross. That's called the free gift of
righteousness. Salvation is not by our works. Salvation is not conditioned
on us. Not even our faith. Salvation
was by the work of Christ and conditioned on Him totally. God
in the everlasting covenant of grace placed all conditions on
Christ. And Christ came in time and fulfilled
all those conditions to ensure the salvation of all for whom
he died. That's the fullness of salvation. And it's a free gift. You can't
earn it, you can't deserve it, you can't even appropriate it.
It's all given. Now the second thing that has
to happen to bring a sinner to the fullness of salvation is
a spiritual matter, that sinner has to be born again by the Spirit. And we just read in John 1, 12
and 13 that that new birth is of God. Christ said in John 3,
you must be born again or you can't see the kingdom of God.
Now obviously there, he's not talking about the physical sight.
He's talking about spiritual sight, and that's what he describes
here in 1 Corinthians 2 15. He that is spiritual, born again
by the Spirit, regenerated by the Spirit. Now that regeneration
is a total free gift, a work of God, that comes on the basis
of Christ's righteousness imputed, accounted to us, to his people. If Christ died for you, if you're
justified, if His righteousness is imputed to you, if you're
washed in His blood, you will be born again. And you say, well,
then it doesn't matter what I do. I'll just sit around and wait
to be born again. Oh no, the secret things belong to God.
The revealed things belong to you and me. You seek the Lord. That's what the Bible says. You
seek Him. You get into this book. That's
why I tell people, look to the word of God. But there's the
new birth. And then there's another spiritual
matter that must be taken care of that is totally free, the
gift of God. And that is we must be preserved
unto glory. We have to be justified based
on His righteousness imputed. We have to be born again by the
Spirit of God. And we have to be preserved unto
glory. Because if we're not preserved
by God, we will fall. You see, the Bible teaches us
this, that if salvation could be lost, it would be lost. And
that's what he's talking about. Now that's all free. It's all
unconditional towards us. It's all conditioned on Christ.
It's all by his power and grace. It's freely given to us of God. Now the natural man won't receive
that because it gives him no room to boast. You see, salvation,
full and free. given to us by God will not allow
me to boast in anything I do or try to do or decide to do. I can't even boast in my faith.
Why? Because it's a free gift that
God gave me. I didn't earn it, didn't deserve
it, didn't even decide to get it before he gave it. Ephesians
2.8, for by grace are you saved through faith, by means of faith,
and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. not of works,
lest any man should boast. Over in the book of Romans, chapter
eight, listen to this. He says in verse 31 of Romans
eight, what shall we then say to these things? If God be for
us, who can be against us? Verse 32, he that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, now who are they
all there? It says, how shall he not with
him, with Christ, also freely, unconditionally give us all things? Who's he talking about? Not all
without exception there, because all without exception have not
been given all things freely. He's talking about the blessings
of salvation that's given to all of his people. How do you
know he's talking about that? Well, look at verse 33. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. It's God who declares me not
guilty. It's God who declares me righteous
in Christ. It's God who gives me life. Verse
34, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. You see, If Christ died for
me, I cannot be condemned, and I must be given spiritual life. I'm justified before God. God
will not charge me with sin. He charged it to Christ. God
charges me with righteousness, but no righteousness that I had
anything to do with. It's the righteousness of Christ
imputed. And God gives me life and preserves
me, and Christ is now interceding in heaven for me. I cannot be
lost. And so that's the Spirit of God. We haven't received 1 Corinthians
2.12. We have received not the spirit
of the world, false religion, false refuges, conditional salvation,
work salvation, human righteousness, human merit, human earning power. Salvation by man's efforts and
man's will, that's the spirit of the world. But we receive
the spirit which is of God that we might know, spiritually understand
and receive and value the things that are freely, unconditionally
given to us of God. And what does that mean? That
means that When I see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
I know this. As Paul wrote in Galatians 6.14,
God forbid that I should glory, I should boast, save or accept
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world, the
spirit of the world, is crucified unto me. I look upon it as dead,
even at its best. And I unto the world, the world
looks at me as being foolish and dead. You see, I don't have
anything to brag about. That's why on this program and
in my preaching at our church on Sunday, I spend my time bragging
on Christ. Not bragging on you. I thank
God for all who listen to this program and all who support it.
I thank God for my brethren in Christ. But I don't boast on
them and I don't brag about them. This is not about you, it's not
about me. It's about the glory of God in Christ. And that's
what he means. That's the freeness and the fullness
of salvation. The fullness of it. All salvation
conditioned on Christ and all freely given to His people based
upon the merits, the earning power of Christ. He earned it all. The Bible says
in Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering Christ hath perfected,
completed, finished forever And not just part of the way, we
can't lose it if it's forever. Forever, them that are sanctified. Now, who are those who are sanctified?
They're the people of God that were set apart by God in Christ
before the foundation of the world. They are the people of
God who are set apart by Christ on the cross for whom he died.
They are the people of God who are set apart in the new birth.
when they're born again by the Spirit, evidenced by the fact
that they have received and know the things that are freely given
to them of God. What is freely given? All the
fullness of salvation. Every bit of it. 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 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.