When Claire was reading that
passage from Exodus chapter 3, verse 4 says, and when the Lord
saw that he turned aside to see. Evidently, the Lord was waiting
to see if he would turn aside to see. Now, I know the Lord
already knew he would, he ordained he would, I realize that, but
I love the way the language speaks. He wanted to see Moses' interest
in seeing this great sight. I want to be like Moses. I want
to have an interest to hear what God actually says. Something
happened to me this week that very rarely happens. I was talking
to a man who said, I'm agnostic. I don't believe anything. Give
it to me. I'm an open book. Let me hear
what you have to say. When's the last time that happened
to you? Very rarely. And I was quite excited to have
that opportunity. And he listened. What he thought
after I said, I don't know. But I pray that you and I will
have that attitude towards the word of God. Give me what it
says. I've entitled this message natural
or spiritual, natural or spiritual. If you'll turn back to first
Corinthians chapter two, natural or spiritual. God does not recognize the fleshly
distinctions that we recognize. He doesn't recognize black or
white or rich or poor or any of the distinctions we make,
male or female. God does not recognize those
distinctions. He recognizes natural or spiritual. Natural or spiritual. We read in verse 14 of the natural
man and we read in verse 15 of he that is spiritual. Now what is meant by natural?
What is meant by spiritual? What does God mean when he uses
those terms? God wrote this book. What do
these terms mean? Natural. What is meant by natural?
Well, we read these words in Jude 19. These be they that separate
themselves. Sensual. That is the same word. Having not the spirit. Now, the definition of the Pharisee
is a separated one. These be they that separate themselves. Like the Pharisee in the temple,
I thank you that I'm not as other men are. I am different. I separate myself. Something
I've done has made me different from other people. These be they
that separate themselves, sensual, fleshly, carnal. Having not the Spirit. The natural man is the man who
has never been born again. He's never been birthed by the
Spirit of God. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. The natural man has never been
born again. He's the way he was when he was
born into this world. Carnal. David said, in sin did
my mother conceive me. The natural man is described
in Romans 8, 7 like this, the carnal mind, the fleshly mind,
the mind you and I were born into this world with. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. is the natural man. So then they
that are in the flesh cannot please God. Only one who is born
of the Spirit is a spiritual man. He that is spiritual judges all
things." Now I've heard unbelievers call themselves spiritual. You
ever heard that? I'm a spiritual person. I'm not
materialistic. I'm in touch with my emotions. I'm in touch with
the feelings of others. And I, I'm a spiritual person. I'm not just about materialism
and money and, uh, position and wealth and influence. I'm a spiritual
person. No, you're not. It doesn't have
anything to do with being spiritual. A spiritual person is someone
who is born of the Spirit of God. He is a spiritual man. He that is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. Now, when Adam ate the fruit that he was forbidden
to eat of, do you remember how God said, in the day you eat
thereof, that very day, you shall surely die. Now he didn't die
physically. I heard somebody recently preaching
on that passage of scripture and they said God is showing
his mercy. He suspended his sentence and didn't kill him that very
day. Well yeah he did. He didn't die physically. His
soul didn't die. But his spirit died. Spiritually dead. A natural man does not have a
spiritual nature. He knows Nothing of being a new
creature. That's what a spiritual man is.
He's been born of the spirit. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit, the new man. The new heart that God said,
I'll give to you. A heart that wasn't there before.
The hidden man of the heart. I love that term. The hidden
man of the heart. You know, I have a man living
in my heart that I can't even see, but I know he's there. I'm
aware of him. I can't see him. I can't delineate
and say, well, this is the new man acting and this is the old
man acting. It's all coming through one consciousness. And so I can't,
like hot water and cold water come through the same faucet.
It comes through one consciousness. But as far as, he's hidden. I know he's there, but I can't
see him. Peter calls him the hidden man of the heart, the
new creature, the new creation, that which is not corruptible.
These are scriptural phrases. Listen to this. He that's born
of God doth not commit sin. Now, do you hear that? He that's
born of God, birth of God, the new man, doth not commit sin. Somebody says that means he doesn't
practice sin. Well, that's not what it says.
It says he doesn't commit it. And as far as that goes, are
you somebody that doesn't practice sin? Well, if you think you are,
you're deceived. Let me just assure you of that.
That's not the case. He that's born of God doth not
commit sin. Listen to the rest of the scripture,
1 John 3, 9, for he cannot sin. He lacks the ability to sin. God lacks the ability to sin,
doesn't he? He can't lie. That which is born
of God lacks the ability to sin, the spiritual man. Now he still has the natural
man, the flesh, but he now has something the natural man does
not have, the spiritual man. Now what this is speaking of
is the two natures, the natural and the spiritual. And what is
so important about this? It's obvious the scripture teaches
it, from Romans 7, from 1 Corinthians chapter 2, but here's what's
important about this. This is why this is so important. If
I deny two natures, I'm actually denying total depravity. I'm saying that the grace works
with the flesh. No it doesn't. Bury the dead
out of my sight. And in denying two natures, I'm
actually denying the nature of regeneration in the first place,
the new birth. That's how important this is.
And that's what he's dealing with when he's talking about
the natural and the spiritual. Look in verse 14. But the natural man, the way
I was born into this world, the natural man, the sensual
man, the fleshly man, the carnal man, The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. Why? For they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them. He lacks the ability to know
them. They are out of his reach because
they are spiritually discerned. The only one who can discern
the things of the Spirit of God is someone who's born of the
Spirit and has a spiritual nature, the spiritual man. The natural
man can't understand the things of the Spirit of God. He might be able to quote some terms,
but there's no real true understanding. And here's the difference. He
may even say he believes in the doctrine of total depravity,
but he doesn't believe he's totally depraved. That's the difference. The natural man receives not
things of the Spirit of God. They're spiritually discerned,
but, verse 15, but he that is spiritual, he discerns all things. He knows the gospel. He understands
the gospel. And here's why he knows God.
When he's hearing, he knows that something is contrary to the
attributes of God and the nature of God. He knows because he knows
God. He's a spiritual man. Only a spiritual man can have
communion with God. Only a spiritual man can pray.
Only a spiritual man can love God. Only a spiritual man can
discern what he's hearing. He knows God. And if he hears
something that's contrary to the God he knows, he knows it
because he knows God. He that's spiritual, given the
Holy Spirit, this new nature, He discerns all things, yet he
himself is discerned of no man. The natural man can't understand
him. They say, well, you're crazy.
Oh, you think you have two natures? So which one's working? Do you have an angel on the right
shoulder and a devil on the left shoulder? And which one are you
going to listen to? Which one are you going to feed? Uh, are you going to
feed the new nature? Are you going to feed the old
nature? And even those objections, that's introducing a third party
that does the feeding. Well, I'm going to feed this.
I'm going to decide to feed this or I'm going to decide to feed
that. That's not what it is. It's two natures, natural and
spiritual. Look how far Paul takes this
in verse 16. He says for who has known the
mind of the Lord that he may instruct him. Who's known the mind of the Lord
that he may advise him, instruct him, tell him anything. But we
have every spiritual man, every one of God's elect, man, woman,
boy, girl. I don't care if it's a six year
old that believes the gospel. We have the mind of Christ. Not just that we think like him.
or have the same views of him or the same philosophy of him,
we have his mind. Peter called it partakers of
the divine nature. We have his mind. Now that's a, we wouldn't believe
that unless the word of God said it, would we? But that's what
the word of God tells us. We have the mind of Christ. Now, back up to verse six of
this chapter. Paul says, he'd been talking
about man's wisdom. And he said in verse five, that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. You know how much use man's wisdom
is? Zero. Zero. No contribution at all. Man's wisdom is worthless. How be it? Verse six, we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect. Now here when he uses the word
perfect, this is describing every believer as perfect in Christ
Jesus. Every believer. Listen to me,
you are perfect in Christ Jesus. You lack nothing. Paul said we're gonna present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. This is not just talking about
you who are more mature. This is talking about every single
believer. Every single believer is perfect. How be it we speak wisdom? What
the world calls foolishness, those that are perfect see it
as wisdom. Yet not the wisdom of this world,
nor of the princes of this world that come to naught, that come
to nothing, You know, we really do see the vanity of human wisdom
and it's not even needed or desired in this thing of preaching the
gospel. I love what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1 17. He said,
he said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel,
not with wisdom of words, not trying to make the gospel
understandable. That's not what I'm trying to
do. I'm trying to preach the gospel, give the actual content
of the gospel from the Word of God, and trust God the Holy Spirit
to be the teacher. We don't use wisdom of words.
We don't try to package and market the gospel to make it more appealing
and less offensive. We hate the wisdom of words.
You know, there's nothing, I don't think, that irritates me more.
When I hear a man preaching, and I can tell he has some understanding
or belief of grace, but he tries to hide it, so as not to offend
anybody, and he says things. Here's my perfect example. I've
used this before. Christ died for those who will
believe. Yeah. Anybody be happy with that. Somebody
who believes in universal redemption would agree with that. Christ
died for the elect. Christ died for his sheep. Be
clear about it. Don't use wisdom of words trying
to make the gospel less offensive. He says in verse seven, we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world was. I love this thought of mystery. The gospel is mystery. It's something
we would have never known had not God made it known. It's so
mysterious in that sense. It's not talking about mystery
to me. I don't mean that at all. I know God is one God in three
persons. That's a great mystery. It's because God has made it
known. I didn't figure it out. I didn't think, well, I'm going
to try to figure out what God's like. Well, here it is. He must
be one God in three persons. Nobody ever did anything like that.
But we hear the mystery. And we believe it. It's not so
much we even understand it, but believe it. We don't try to explain
it. We proclaim it and trust God
the Holy Spirit to make it known. I am so persuaded that what I'm
preaching is the gospel. I'm persuaded that I can preach
it and just leave you alone. God will teach you. I can't teach
anybody. God can though. And that's what
Paul is saying. We speak the wisdom of God in
the mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before
the world and to our glory. You see, his wisdom is eternal. It's always been. There's nothing
new. This is eternal. Everything concerning
God is eternal. I love what the wise man said
when he said, there's nothing new under the sun. There's not.
This wisdom is the eternal wisdom of God. It never had a beginning.
It'll never have an end. which none, verse eight, which
none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. You see, they
would have known who he is. Wisdom is knowing who he is. The thief on the cross had wisdom.
He knew who the Lord was. God gave him that wisdom, but
he knew who he was. That's why he said, remember
me when you come back in your kingdom. He knew he wouldn't
stay dead because he's the God man. He knew he would return
as a mighty reigning king because he knew who he was. None of the princes of this world
do. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory, but as it's written, verse nine, how many times do
we read that phrase in the New Testament? I don't know, I need
to look it up one of these days, but it's a lot, isn't it? As
it is written. Now, the full canon of scripture
had not been written. He was talking about the Old
Testament scripture. See, the gospel in the Old Testament's
the same as the gospel in the New Testament. When we're talking
about spiritual men and carnal men, what God said, a new heart
will I give you. That's Old Testament. A new spirit
will I put within you. This is what the scriptures have
always taught. As it's written, and listen,
look at this statement. I hath not seen nor ear heard,
neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him. Now usually when people
look at that verse of scripture and say, we don't know what heaven's
gonna be like. And we don't. I know it's a holy place. I know
there's no sin there. But can I describe what heaven's
like? Well, we can read scriptures, but we don't have a clue of how
glorious it's going to be. But that's not what he's talking
about. He's not talking about how we don't know what heaven's
going to be like. What's he saying? But as it's
written, I have not seen nor heard, neither has entered 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. This is talking about the things
God has prepared for every believer. He said, I go to the cross and
prepare a place for you. Now, because he prepared the
place for me, there's a seat reserved for me. He prepared
it. I go and prepare a place for
you. He went to the cross to prepare all the things of salvation. He prepared for me. But God has revealed them unto
us by his spirit justification. sanctification, glorification,
being foreknown, being called, being born again. Every doctrine
of the scripture concerning the salvation of God, he's revealed
them unto us. If you know, it's because he
has revealed it. What an amazing thing that the
God of glory would reveal Himself to me. He's revealed them. Revelation, He's revealed them
unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth, verse
10, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God. God being one God in three persons
is deep, isn't it? A sinner being justified before
God and sinless is deep, isn't it? Being eternally united to
Christ, so there's never been a time when I was not united
to him. However old God is, that's how long I've been united to
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's deep, isn't it? That's
transcendent. That's glorious. Like David said, such knowledge
is too wonderful for me. It's high. I can't attain into
it. But I believe it. I believe it. He's revealed it.
He's revealed the deep things of God by a spirit. For what
man knoweth that, verse 11, for what man knoweth the things of
a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Do you know what's going on in
my mind? Lynn would say she does. But
a lot of times she does, I'll give her that. But you don't
know what's going on in my mind. You can't see the deep things
that are in my mind. You know the only one who knows
what's going on in my mind? Me. I know. And the only way
you'll know what's going on in my mind is if I tell you. And
the only way you'll know what's going on in God's mind is if
he tells you by his spirit. For what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so,
the things of God knows no man, but the spirit of God. He knows,
he is God. Verse 12, now we have received
not the spirit of the world, but that spirit which is of God,
that we might know the things that are freely given to us. of God. Most preaching presents God offering
things. I'm offering you forgiveness
of sins. I'm offering you salvation. It's up to you. I'm offering
it. This is the free offer of the
gospel. I'm offering everybody salvation. You just got to take
it. It's up to you as to whether
or not you'll accept it or reject it. God doesn't offer anything. He gives. He freely gives. Romans 8, 32. Oh, don't you love
that scripture? How can I forget that? Turn with me there. Getting old. Romans 8, 32. He that spared not his own son.
I know it now. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not freely give
us all things. That's what we're
taught. We're taught that He freely gives
us, not offers, not makes available. He freely gives us all things,
all the things of salvation. He freely gives, not offers,
but gives. That includes every aspect of
salvation. Now let's read verses 12 and
13 together. Now we've received not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit of God, that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of God, which things also
we speak. This is the content of our preaching. We speak these things. We don't
try to couch them with the wisdom of words so nobody will be offended
or it'll be easier to see. We speak these things that are
freely given to us of God. Once again, preach it. I love what, preach the word.
Does the word declare that God elected a people? Preach it.
Don't apologize for it, don't try to soften it. That's true
with regard to everything God says. Which things we speak. David said, I believed therefore
have I spoken. That's the spirit of faith. Which things we speak, speaking
the words of God. Which things we speak, not in
the words which man's wisdom teaches, but what the Holy Ghost
teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now, let's go back to this concept
of mystery. It's not explained, it's proclaimed. It's not so much understood as
believed. And we use these spiritual words
The words of Christ, the words that I speak unto you, they're
spirit and they are life. We use these spiritual words
and the spiritual person understands. He believes. He receives, he
rejoices in what he's hearing. He's been given ears to hear
and he hears the message. The Lord said, the word that
I speak unto you, the words that I speak unto you are words of
spirit and life. And it's only the spiritual man
that can receive these words. But verse 14, but the natural
man, somebody that has never been born again, Somebody who
only has one nature, the nature he was born with. The way you
and I were born into this world, dead in trespasses and sins,
the natural man. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him. He hears this and he says, that's
foolishness. You expect me to believe that?
It's foolishness to him. And he says this even stronger,
for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them. He lacks the ability to know
them, to embrace them, to receive them. He lacks the ability. He
can't know them. You know, the Lord said in John
chapter 8, why can't you understand my speech? Because you can't
hear my word. You cannot hear my word. You
lack the ability to hear my word. And so, you know, in this thing
of preaching, this is so comforting to me in trying to preach. I
preach the word and if God the Holy Spirit makes it effectual
to you, you'll hear, you'll believe, you'll rejoice, you'll receive
the words of God. The natural man receives not
the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him,
neither indeed can he know them because they're spiritually discerned.
You have to have a spiritual nature to receive and to rejoice
in and to love spiritual words. Finding the words of Christ,
words of spirit and words of truth and oh, it's life. Thou hast the words of eternal
life, Peter said. These words that these people
have found harsh sayings, we find them to be words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the
son of the living God. Spiritually discerned. But unlike
the natural man, he that is spiritual discerneth, has ears to hear
all things. Let me show you a verse of scripture
in 1 John chapter 2. Hold your finger there in 1 Corinthians. But you have an unction, verse
20, but you have an unction, an anointing is the word, an
anointing from the Holy One and you know all things. Does that mean we're omniscient?
Of course not. Does it mean we have the perfect
human brain of the Lord Jesus Christ? Of course not. What does
it mean? We know all things. If you know
Christ is all, guess what? You know all things. He's taught
you. Look in verse 27. Same chapter. But the anointing which you have
received of him abideth in you. And you need not that any man
teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you
shall abide in him. Now, when God has taught you,
you know what you're going to do? You're going to abide in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You won't want to be seen anywhere else. the anointing of God the Holy
Spirit. Now turn back to 1 Corinthians
2. He that is spiritual discerneth all things as much as anything
else because you know God, you know His character. Every believer,
like for instance, you can't love God and not love His sovereignty.
You can't love God and not love His justice. You can't love God
and not love His holiness. You can't love God and not love
His immutability. Any attribute of God, because
you know Him, you hear. And you hear when something is
contrary to one of His glorious attributes, because you know
Him. He that is spiritual judges all
things, discerns all things, yet He Himself is discerned of
no man. Now, a natural man, if you're
talking to a natural man like this, he's going to say, you're
crazy. You're crazy. That doesn't even make sense.
That's foolishness. I don't understand this. That's
his response. He's judged or discerned of no
man. Why is it a believer understands
the natural man? Not only do I have a new nature,
I still have my old nature and I understand him. He can't understand
me though, because I've got a nature he doesn't have. And if you only
have one nature, you can't possibly understand two natures. It just
doesn't make sense to you. But if you have the Lord, you
know. Verse 16, four. Who hath known the mind of the
Lord that he may instruct him. Nobody. Nobody. I love when he said to
Job, where were you when I created the universe? Where were you when I stretched
out the heavens? Who has known the mind of the
Lord? Me and you haven't. But we have the mind of Christ. Not we think like he does. Does Christ know his father is
altogether glorious? We do too. Does Christ love every one of
his father's attributes? We do too. Does Christ possess
all of his father's attributes? Does he know that? Does he know
he's equal with the father? We do too. We have the mind of
Christ. Does Christ love his father's
glory? We do too. Does Christ know he's
everything in salvation? You know, he said, I'm the way,
the truth, the life. No man comes to the father, but
by me. He knows that. We know it too. Does Christ love
his father's will, not my will, but thine be done? Well, we're
taught to pray, our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. And we want our will
crossed if it's contrary to his will, don't we? I mean, thy will
be done. Does Christ love to save sinners?
Yeah. We live in safe centers too, don't we? We have the mind
of Christ. No natural man does. Every spiritual
man does. And this is what God recognizes.
Not all of our fleshly distinctions, which are stupid anyway. Natural or spiritual. May God make every one of us
spiritual men and women, hearing his word, discerning his word,
and believing his gospel. Let's pray. Lord, we're so thankful that
you've been pleased to give us this book in which
you tell us who you are, who we are, and how you save sinners
by your son. And Lord, we can read the book
and not understand any of it unless you're pleased by your
spirit to make us spiritual men who receive these spiritual words. Lord, if there's anybody in this
room who has never believed, never been born of the Spirit,
we ask in Christ's name that you would birth them and give
them the grace to trust your son fully and to see his beauty
and his glory. How thankful we are for the revelation
of him. Bless this word for his sake
and in his name, in his name we pray, amen.