And I would invite you to do that by taking your Bibles and turning to First Corinthians, chapter two. If you've not been with us, it is our conviction to go consecutively, successively, I should say, and hopefully successfully, through each verse of whatever epistle we are studying, whatever book of the Bible. And we now come to First Corinthians, chapter two, and we will be looking at verses six through 16. And I entitled my discourse to you "The Marvels of God's Wisdom." And I must say from the outset that I am especially passionate about the first two chapters of Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians, because it is here that he underscores the absolute priority of preaching the gospel with utmost clarity and precision.

Today, the gospel has been so dumbed down, it has been so distorted, it has been so ignored and redefined that frankly, it bears little resemblance to the true gospel that God has revealed in his word. As a result, the purpose of the atonement is no longer God's wondrous act of loving mercy to deliver men from the guilt and the condemnation of sin, but rather it means a whole host of other things, like a model of self-sacrificing love that can bring positive moral change to humanity. The social justice gospel, where Christ was willing to suffer alongside the sinner, rather than suffering in the sinner’s stead.

I saw this in a very glaring example, maybe you saw it as well in the recent royal wedding. Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry had a royal wedding sermon entitled "The Power of Love."  Let me give you a little excerpt from it, and you will see the subtle distortion of the gospel that emerges from what he said. Quote, "Jesus didn't die for anything he could get out of it. Jesus did not get an honorary doctorate for dying. He gave up his life. He sacrificed his life for the good of others, for the good of the other, for the well-being of the world, for us, that's what love is. Love is not selfish and self-centered. Love can be sacrificial, and in so doing, becomes redemptive. And that way of unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive, love changes lives, and it can change this world." He went on to say, "Dr King was right. We must discover love, the redemptive power of love, and when we do that, we will make of this old world a new world." End quote.

Well, beloved Christ did get something out of his death. He actually purchased the redemption of all whom the Father had given him through the ransom price of his own blood. And as we look at Scripture, we're not commanded to discover the redemptive power of love. We're commanded to repent and believe in the Redeemer, and there's a huge difference. We're not called to make a new world. God is going to do that one day when he returns. Instead, we are called to make disciples. And Christ did not die to bring about social justice. He died to satisfy the justice of a righteous God who has been offended in ways that we cannot imagine. What we need to discover is not the redemptive power of love. Instead, we need to discover the redemptive power of Christ, who bore the just wrath of God for sinners in his body; he is the one and the only one that can save us.

Well, you get the idea. And folks, I have to tell you, without fail, out of the 1000s of hours of counseling over the last three decades of my life, virtually every problem is rooted in an aberrant or apathetic view of the true gospel. John MacArthur gives a personal testimony to this very thing. I read this in a letter that he wrote recently, quote, "I expected that my ministry as a pastor would involve defending the gospel from attacks. What I didn't expect was that attacks from within the professing church would be so relentless, the assaults from within have taken many forms, the charismatic movement, the self-esteem movement, the seeker movement, the emergent movement, virtually every doctrinal aberration and dangerous trend I've addressed from the pulpit over the years has been, at root, a challenge to the true gospel; a perversion of what it means to embrace Christ as Lord." He went on to say, "To see the result of those relentless attacks look no further than the church's changing views on homosexuality and marriage. While the shift toward affirming homosexuality seemed to happen rapidly, it was actually the fruit of decades of shallow preaching, cultural accommodation and theological cowardice. Bit by bit, people's confidence has been undermined to the point that they've become unable or unwilling to identify sin as sin. The purity and testimony of God's people has been compromised, and one major cause is a fundamental lack of confidence in and commitment to scripture's gospel truth." End Quote.

Well, because of this, dear friends, we must place a high premium on the clear and precise doctrinal proclamation of Scripture, especially through expository preaching and teaching and application of what Paul calls "the wisdom of God" that he has revealed to us in his word. And it's for this reason that the Apostle Paul says this, now you can look at your text beginning in verse six. First, Corinthians, two, verse six.

"Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;

but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

but just as it is written,

'THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.'

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,

which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts and spiritual words.

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised.

But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM?But we have the mind of Christ. "

I wish to examine this passage of Scripture under three very simple headings that I hope will prove helpful to you. We're going to look at the mystery of God's wisdom, the revelation of God's wisdom and the illumination of God's wisdom.

Now keep in mind the context Paul is still dealing with preacher worship in this early church, which caused strife that was associated with disunity in the church. And all of this is rooted in a distorted understanding, a distorted perspective and application of the cross. And folks, please understand whenever a church is off on what God has revealed pertaining to the purpose and nature of the atoning work of Christ, oneness will be destroyed, and divisions will eventually rip that church apart.

So after Paul exposes the problem in chapter one, verses 10 through 17, you will recall that he then extols the primacy of the cross and the first five verses of chapter two and now in verses six through 16, he underscores the true wisdom of God and how it is revealed to us - the gospel of Christ.

Remember now, according to chapter one and verse 21 this is the only message that will save sinners, the only one. And in verse 24 of chapter one, "it's the power and the wisdom of God." Verse 30. It's the wisdom pertaining to "righteousness, sanctification and redemption." But there's more, and that's what we look at now.

First of all, let's think about what he's saying with respect to the mystery of God's wisdom. Now, contrary to man's wisdom that they were accustomed to and enamored with, Paul says this in verse six, "Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature..." wisdom referring to the whole of Christian doctrine, and we speak this among those who are mature. "Teleios" in the original language. It's an interesting term. It can be translated "perfect." It can be translated "complete." I believe it's a reference to those who are complete in Christ at salvation, the redeemed, the saved; as the term is used, for example, in Hebrews, chapter six, verse one, chapter 10, verse 14. Now others would argue that the term mature here is referring to spiritual adults, the spiritually mature, as opposed to, for example, the babes in Christ in chapter three, and at the beginning there the ones that could not handle the solid food of deeper doctrines; and while that position has some merit, I lean towards the former that he's speaking here to the save, the redeemed, the called; this is not some secret or special wisdom known only to a superior class of Christians. He's not saying that he only speaks God's wisdom to a spiritually mature audience, but rather to the called, to the truly saved. Only those who are complete and perfected in Christ will perceive the proclamation of the gospel as being the wisdom of God. That's the point. Remember, it's going to be a stumbling block to the Jews. It's going to be foolishness to the Gentiles. But according to one and verse 24 but "to those who are the called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."

And he goes on to say that this is a wisdom, however, "not of this age." The term age is referring to a historic period or era of history, one that includes all of the philosophies that are in opposition to the wisdom of God, he says, "nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away." And of course, here in this context, that would speak of the scribes and the Pharisees, the Sadducees, all those who are part of the Sanhedrin, it would include the Roman authorities as well. And by extension, it would include all of the rulers of our age that are constantly trying to impose their wisdom and their will upon the masses, and notice they are those who are "passing away." In other words, these people are transient. They're mortal. They're here today. They're gone tomorrow, like the wisdom of our politicians and our educators and our college professors.

Notice also in verse eight, he says, "the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory." And certainly the Jewish leaders did not understand it. The Romans didn't understand it, so they crucified Christ. And what's really fascinating is, remember that Paul was once a part of that group of people. In fact, he said, In First Timothy 1:13, "I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor, yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief." So then he understands wisdom, and according to verse 15 and following, he says, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ, might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life." Wow, what a powerful testimony of the saving power of the gospel. And folks think about this, where would any of us be were it not for God's mercy and his grace and his word that he has given us, that the Spirit has used to help us understand who he is and help us to understand the gospel?

Back to verse seven, Paul says, "but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory." Now the term "mystery" here is very important - "mystērion" in the original language, and it's not referring to some enigmatic, mystifying, inexplicable philosophy that no one can fully understand or explain. That's not what he's referring to here, but rather it speaks here and in other passages of that which has been kept secret in the past and cannot be known until God finally reveals it. And of course, he's specifically speaking about the gospel, the wisdom of God's plan of redemption through Jesus Christ and him crucified, as Paul says.

Notice also, it's called the "hidden wisdom." In other words, this is, this is a secret wisdom which God intentionally conceals from the natural man, the unregenerate man, as he will go on to say in verse 14. And the reason for this is because the natural man, he's spiritually dead, he's blind. He has no capacity to grasp these things savingly, and therefore he will not yield his life to the truth. And there's a fascinating parallel here, because the pagan mystery religions that the Greeks were familiar with were revealed only to a select class of initiates, kind of the superior people. They were superior to the hoi polloi, that is, the common people, the rank and file, the lower order of people. But what we see here is that the gospel mysteries were made known to all who will humble themselves in repentant faith to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice also this hidden wisdom is that which God predestined before the ages to our glory.  Folks, this is utterly astounding to think that God decreed to redeem sinners through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, before the creation of time and space. That's what we see here and in many other passages. And for this reason, it's described as the eternal wisdom, the eternal Gospel, and this has been perfectly described in the Westminster Confession of Faith. There we read quote, "God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass." My what a humbling statement. In Ephesians 3:11 Paul states that God's plan of redemption was accomplished, quote, "in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ, Jesus our Lord." And in Ephesians, one four and Second Timothy one nine, he also explicitly teaches that God chose to save his elect quote, "before the foundation of the world," which we translated before time began. And for this reason, Jesus can say that the Kingdom has been prepared for the elect quote, "from the foundation of the world." Matthew 25 verse 34.

Now, folks, I want you to think about this for a moment. Think of the implications of this. Who or what existed in eternity past? No one, nothing except God. God alone. Therefore, because the eternal self-existent, triune God was the only entity present in eternity past, it is utterly absurd to say that anything apart from God or external to him in any way influenced his decrees, because there was nothing external to him. This alone destroys the spacious argument that God elected people on the basis of foreseen faith. You're probably familiar with that. That God looked down the corridor of time and he could see who would and who wouldn't believe in him, and he then simply ratified their choice. This is classic Arminianism, by the way, a view that undermines the sovereignty of God who "works all things according to the counsel of His own will." Ephesians 1:11. You see, folks, it's God, not man that is the ultimate cause of salvation. And God never looks into the future and then discovers that which he has not decreed andthen makes decisions based upon what he learns is going to happen. That is that is never found in Scripture. That is foreign to Scripture.

You know, it's interesting, as human beings, typically, when we don't understand something, we can't explain something, we kind of make up things that kind of fit into our category. And this is one of those situations. I was reading, this is kind of a funny example, but it's interesting how that evolutionists cannot understand the DNA evolution of the octopus, because the octopus has nine brains. He has one central brain, and then he's got one brain for each of his tentacles that goes out. And not only that, he's got three hearts and he's got blue blood, all right? Now, what are you going to do with this in terms of evolution? Well, obviously it doesn't fit, and so what they're saying now is that it is probably an alien life form.

Well, sometimes we do that with Bible doctrines, we don't really know what category to put it in, because it doesn't fit into our perceived wisdom, and we're certainly not going to take God at his word, so we come up with something different. But folks, if we take God at his Word, what we see here in verse seven is that the revelation of the wisdom of God and his plan of redemption occurred solely because God decreed it through his uninfluenced will. You see, he never leaves his purposes to chance and nor is his will ever subject to the will of man. All of God's decisions were made according to his good pleasure. Nothing was contingent on the choices or the actions of men. In fact, in Daniel four and verse 35 we read, "all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and He does according to His will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth." You might say that that God's knowledge is "a priori."

In other words, it precedes, or it predates all things outside of himself. God's knowledge is never derived from any reality apart from himself. You see the implications of this for we, as believers, it's both humbling and staggering. In fact, we read in Romans chapter eight and verse 29, "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren." And some will say, "Well, there it says that those 'whom He foreknew.'" Unfortunately, they don't understand the term in the original language, "proginōskō." That term speaks of something far more than simple foreknowledge, as we might think of it, but rather knowledge that characterizes an intimate personal relationship, the idea of those whom he foreloved, He also predestined and so forth.

Now to be sure, God's wisdom revealed in Scripture has been a "mystery," as Paul says, "the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages." In other words, it is a wisdom man could have never known or discovered on his own, which he is going to go on to explain. The wisdom of God, revealed in his Gospel is also the predetermined and the final revelation of God to man that unlocks the ultimate meaning of all previous revelation. It causes all of Scripture to come together in a cohesive whole that makes sense of God's character and of his purposes in redemption. So now we have a complete picture, if you will. The revelation of the gospel is the key to the whole of Scripture. In fact, Paul says this in Romans chapter 16, beginning in verse 25,

"Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past,

but now is manifested and by the Scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith."

And folks think of this, this hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages, he says, was also "to our glory." That's an amazing phrase. In the original language, it could be translated with, "the view to our glory." It's amazing, isn't it, to think that God decreed his plan of redemption for his own glory, but yet he also decreed, and therefore desires that his redeemed will also share in that glory. That's absolutely astounding. You want self-esteem, you need to believe in the gospel. That's where you will find your esteem. Your esteem is in Christ, not in yourself, but in what Christ has done for you. First Corinthians 15, Paul will go on to say in verse 42 that our body, "is sown a perishable body, but it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, t is raised in power." And in Philippians three and verse 21 we read that Christ will, “transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself."

So here, Paul not only reminds us of the mystery of God's wisdom, but secondly, the revelation of God's wisdom. Notice what he says in verse nine,

"But just as it is written,

'THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEART, AND which  HAVE NOT ENTERED HE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.'

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God."

Now typically verse nine, which is actually a free quotation from Isaiah, 64 verse four and 65 verse 17, typically, verse nine is quoted out of context, and it is misapplied to be a reference to heaven, "Things which eye is not seen and ears not heard, which is not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him," as if that's speaking of heaven. But that is not the case. If you follow Paul's argument here, you see very clearly that what he's speaking about is the wisdom of God revealed through the Spirit, first to reveal to the inspired apostles and all of the other writers of Scripture.

So Paul is saying that God has revealed wisdom that the natural man could have never known, could have never discovered, either internally or externally. When he says, "things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard," that's a reference to the futility of empiricism. Empiricism is the theory that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience, through observation, through empirical research, through experimentation.

And then when he says, "and which have not entered the heart of man," that refers to the futility of rationalism. Rationalism is that theory that says reason is the chief source and test of knowledge. The criterion of the truth is not sensory - that which we can touch and see and feel and smell and so forth and observe - but rather it's intellectual. It's deductive. But what God is saying here, if you look at this, is simply neither empiricism nor rationalism is able to cause man to know or discover my wisdom.

So on his own, he's saying that man is utterly incapable of knowing the unknowable truths of divine wisdom. They have to be revealed by the Spirit through the miracle, first of all, of inspiration that he will go on to talk about in verses 12 through 13.

Now I might also add that there is such a thing as general, as well as, special revelation. General revelation is available to all persons at all times, particularly through the observation of the physical universe, where God clearly discloses to everyone his existence and his glory. But then secondly, there is also special revelation, where God manifests himself, involves himself, in in particular times and through particular events, like he did, for example, in the Exodus or in Isaiah six, the vision that he gave Isaiah, and many other passages, and especially the special revelation that we see in Scripture, and that's what Paul is addressing here. In other words, he's saying that because humans are limited to time and space, and you might even add that we are an inferior order of being from our Creator; that it should be no surprise to us that we cannot know the character and purposes and will of God, apart from his supernatural disclosure. Isaiah, 40 verse 28 "His understanding is unsearchable." Psalm 145, verse three, "His greatness is unsearchable." Psalm 139, verse six says that God's knowledge "is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it." Psalm 147, verse five declares that God's understanding is "beyond measure." Isaiah 55 and verse nine, we read how God contrasts the superiority of his thoughts with the inferiority of man's thoughts. And he says, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."

As I was meditating upon this passage, even this last week, I came to a few times where my brain started to explode. You know that feeling where you just come to the edge and it's like you don't know where to go from there? I mean, God is just so glorious and transcendent, and so no earthly analogy can accurately describe the chasm that exists between man and God, and for some dumb reason, and I think part of it because I had about three of them on my leg, a chigger came to mind. You know what chiggers are, terrible little creatures that bite you and make you itch here in Tennessee. Imagine a chigger trying to understand the pilot of an F35 lightning stealth fighter jet. He's just not going to get it right? Or perhaps an earthworm comprehending the actions of a neurosurgeon performing brain surgery. Can you imagine the earthworms, they come up, hey, slimy, what that guy up to? Well, slimy doesn't have a clue. In fact, little skinny that came up to slimy doesn't even know what question to ask. I mean, folks go beyond that, and that's where we are with God and his wisdom.

Folks, not only are we unable to know God because we are but worms, but also because we are in Adam, and therefore we are corrupted by indwelling sin. Scripture is very clear that man is in rebellion toward God, and therefore, according to Ephesians 4:17, "he is darkened in his understanding." And if that isn't bad enough, add Satan to the mix. We read in Second Corinthians four and verse four, that Satan has “...blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they so that they might not see the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." So there's a double blinding that's going on there, a blinding because of our own depraved nature and a blinding because of Satan. So Paul was simply saying that the wisdom of the world cannot be discovered by man.

And so for this reason, I'm not interested in Deepak Chopra's New York Times best-sellingbook entitled "God a Story of Revelation." By the way, I had to look it up. Here's what it said in Amazon, "In this beautiful and thought-provoking teaching novel, a story of Revelation, one of the Western world's acknowledged master teachers of Eastern philosophy and preeminent influencers in the realm of spirituality and religion reveals," now catch this, "evolving nature of God." You know, the one that is the same, you know, today, yesterday and forever. And he goes on to say, "Here is truth and enlightenment for the next generation of spiritual seekers."

Now, folks, what Paul is saying here, is that trying to grasp the nature and purposes of God on our own is both futile as well as foolish. It's impossible. God is infinitely beyond our ability to discover or to reason. First Timothy six, verse 16, we read that God "dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen or can see." Well, it pretty well leaves us out, doesn't it? Just that text. And the depths of his person and the glory of his plan are known only by God. So therefore, Paul is saying, "things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man," but I love this next phrase, notice what he says, "all that God has prepared for those who," What? "who love Him." What an amazing statement to think that our eternal and holy God, who transcends time and space, who is infinitely omniscient, who is morally pure beyond our imagination, to think that he has revealed the unfathomable truths of who he is, what he is doing, and how we are to respond to him, and he has revealed that to a specific group of people, those who love him. And according to First John, four and 19, we love him. Why? "Because He first loved us."

Verse 10 is fascinating, especially in the original language and even in English. It says, "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit." The word order in the Greek is very important. The "for to us" is at the very beginning, emphasizing just the marvel of what God has done for those who love him, but it is to "us” he’s saying that God has revealed these deep secrets. He has revealed them through the Spirit, "...for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." A concept referring to the very heart of God - his plan, his purposes, his character - which he is going to go on to describe as being, quote, "the mind of Christ" that he gives believers in verse 16.

So folks, this includes all of the truths pertaining to his divine nature, his attributes, his eternal counsels and decrees. We have to say with the psalmist in Psalm 92, verse five, "How great are your works, O Lord, Your thoughts are very deep."

Now I must add, it's important for you to keep this in mind that God has not revealed all that he is and all that he knows. There's a whole lot that he hasn't revealed to us. I was thinking of my grandsons recently. We were out shooting, and they shot exceptionally well, and I said I taught them all they know, but I didn't teach them all I know. Now forgive the pathetic and very arrogant analogy, but I think you get the point. Deuteronomy 29 verse, 29 reads, "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law."

So we see that the true gospel and the truth of that gospel, which is centered in the reality of Jesus Christ and him crucified, that which the world considers foolishness, we see that the truth of the gospel is indeed a supernatural gift of wisdom imparted by the Holy Spirit’s wisdom that can only be discerned by those who love him, and we love him because he first loved us.

And then he goes on to explain just how supernatural this wisdom is. Notice in verse 11, "For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?" In other words, no one can know your innermost thoughts or my innermost thoughts. We alone, individual, as an individual, can know those things. He says, "Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God." And it is God's own spirit that was not only sent to reveal the deep things and thoughts of God to the inspired apostles and other writers of Scripture, which is the doctrine of inspiration, but also through the scriptures to all who love him, to all believers, which is the doctrine of illumination.

Let me clarify this, inspiration refers to the method of God's revelation, how he transmits truth. We see this in verse 12. Paul says, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world..." in other words, referring to human wisdom, which is ignorant and dark and it's pervasive in error; it's alienated from God, wisdom that God's going to destroy, chapter one, verse 19. "We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God..." the Holy Spirit, "...so that we may know the things freely given to us by God." In other words, through the miracle of inspiration, which, by the way, applies only to the written word of God. Through that miracle, the Holy Spirit protects God's revelation from error by superintending the very words of God, his written revelation to mankind. It's for this reason that Paul said to Timothy in Second Timothy three and verse 16, "All Scripture is inspired by God." "Inspired by God," that little phrase is one word in the original language, "theopneustos," and it literally means "God breathed." Scripture is God-breathed. All of it is God-breathed. In other words, God is the divine author of Scripture who superintended and the accurate recording of his divinely breathed truth that he gave to certain, specially, chosen men.

Now I want you to be very careful here, because there are some that get this confused. It is scripture that is inspired by God, not the men he chose to record it. When they spoke or wrote on things apart from God's written revelation, they were as ignorant and fallible as we are. Moreover, God didn't merely give them spiritual thoughts that they somehow interpreted the best way they could, and then then wrote it down to communicate their best understanding of what they thought God was telling them. That's not at all what we see in Scripture. But rather, God's truth recorded in scripture is literally his word in his own words. That's what they wrote down, without any equivocation Peter declared in Second Peter one verse 20, "But know this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation." In other words, nothing in Scripture is something that came out of our own opinions or our own ideas or personal interpretations of events that that we saw or messages that we've penned. No, no, no, he says, "For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." Moved can be translated, "carried along." It's the same term that is used in Acts 27 to describe a ship being moved along by the wind. A mystery here we can't fully understand in the miracle of inspiration, just an astounding miracle of divine superintendence.

Verse 13, "which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." So Paul gives us the mystery and the revelation of God's wisdom.

And finally, we'll close with the illumination of God's wisdom. Notice in verse 14, "But a natural man," referring to the unsaved man, the unregenerate man, "...does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot,” Not he will not, but, "he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."  Appraised, "anakrínetai" in the original language. It means to judge. In other words, they can only be appraised or discerned through the Spirit which they do not have, and their rejection of these things is proof that they do not possess illuminating grace. You can present the facts to them. They can understand it intellectually, but not savingly. They can understand the basic propositions of the gospel, and frankly, all of Scripture. In fact, I know, and I went to school with some brilliant Bible scholars, men who were unfortunately, however, as lost as a blind goose in a snowstorm when it comes to the true gospel. Intellectually, they know scripture, you can go to the bookstore, and you can pick up some of their books; they are exceptional exegetes, but they cannot humble themselves and wholeheartedly embrace the truth so as to be saved.

Verse 15, But he who is spiritual," in other words, the man who possesses the indwelling Spirit. Remember Romans eight, nine, that if you're truly born again, you're going to have that indwelling Spirit. "But he who is spiritual appraises all things." Folks, here is the doctrine of illumination. It is that supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that works within us to give us understanding of Scripture when it is read, when it is heard. In other words, it not only makes sense to us intellectually, but it also animates our hearts to worship. It is humbling. It is motivating.

I might also add that this still requires hard work, alright?  Second Timothy 2:15, "Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God as a workman that does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth." We still have to roll up our sleeves and study and learn. It also requires the aid of a pastor/teacher that God gives to the church, according to Ephesians four, verse 11 through 16.

It also requires prayer. Remember, Paul prayed for the Ephesians. In Ephesians 1:17 that, "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom, and of revelation in the knowledge of Him having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know." In fact, on nine occasions, just in Psalm 119, the psalmist urgently asks, "teach me Your statutes." Psalm 119 verse 18, that we read earlier, "Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." So indeed, we need to study. We need to have pastor/ teachers, we need to pray and so forth.

But ultimately, it is the indwelling Spirit of God that opens the eyes of our understanding so that we can truly know, we can comprehend, we can rightly interpret, and we can apply, and frankly live out the truth of the gospel. Verse 15, "But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one." It's interesting, isn't it? The world tries to discern believers. They look at us and they try to understand why we think what we think, why we do what we do. They don't understand our faith, our hope, our love, our our belief in the gospel. They look at us and they see us as aliens. We are the "octopodes" of the world, "octopodes" being the plural of octopus, alright? We are like the octopus. Don't know where to put these guys. They must be aliens. Be glad to get rid of them, you know. But we know that the world is going to hate us because they hated Christ.

And verse 16, he closes this section. He says, "'FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSRUCT HIM?’ obviously a rhetorical question. No one does. "But..." I love that word, "But..." there's hope here, "we have the mind..." the "nous" in Greek; "...we have the mind of Christ." Literally, the mindset. It could be translated the "understanding." In fact, that's how it is translated in chapter 14, verse 14, verse 15 and 19. You see folks through the Spirit of God, he directs our thoughts and conforms our thinking so that we think his thoughts; we begin to evaluate life the way he would evaluate life; we begin to love what he loves and hate what he hates.

And in closing, I just want to challenge you, dear friends, don't tinker with the truth that God has revealed to us. And this happens all the time. I noticed this very dangerous trend, especially in Christian academia and among many preachers to make sure that you say nothing outside of the preconceived ideas of what people already believe to be true. In other words, stay within the confines of human wisdom if you want to be accepted. Make sure that you never teach any Bible doctrine that will make people feel uncomfortable or offended, anything that would cause them to ridicule or reject the gospel, things like a six-day creation. In other words, make God's wisdom fit into the preconceived categories of man's wisdom. Folks, that is so dangerous, and the way this happens is multifaceted, primarily through compromise, adding and subtracting or distorting the word of God.

But I would also add, especially through obfuscation. Politicians are notorious for this, aren't they? I mean, they can talk for 15 minutes, and you have no idea what they just said, but it sounded good, so I guess I'll vote for him. You know, that's kind of the attitude. And I've seen this with preachers, you know, take Bible doctrine or take some position or some prohibition in Scripture that the world finds offensive, and then make it as unclear and confusing as you possibly can. Use ambiguity to conceal the truth or to avoid committing yourself to it. Use flowery rhetoric and enigmatic concepts to obscure or muddy up the waters of what God has clearly stated in his word; minimize every possible offense of the cross; do everything you can to avoid potential ridicule. And so what happens is, rather than contending earnestly for the faith, you see people obfuscating earnestly for the faith. But folks, the problem is, the wisdom of God is totally outside the comfort zone of man's wisdom, all of his preconceived categories of wisdom. I mean, what we've just studied tells us that God's wisdom is utterly incomprehensible to sinful man. In fact, what we see, it is deliberately counter intuitive. The one, or, I should say one preacher, put it this way, "God's wisdom is designed to blow our minds," right? So, God intends for it to offend our depraved nature that is hopelessly biased in our own favor and our own understanding.

But folks, once again, it is the only truth that saves, so don't be ashamed of it. Don't compromise it. Don't obfuscate it. Use biblical terminology, biblical language. Say it clearly with conviction and watch what God would do. Guard yourself against that temptation. Yes, most people will scoff; 99.9% of all the people will scoff at you, but there will be that small percentage that will hear the truth and be radically saved as a result of it; and most of us are testimonies to that very thing. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for the mystery, the revelation and the illumination of your wisdom, we thank you for its saving power, and I pray that by the power of your Spirit, that you would animate within each of our hearts a longing to not only know it, but to proclaim it with clarity and with conviction, so that many might hear and be saved, so that you might receive the glory, Lord, if there be one here today that does not know you as Savior, Lord, whatever it takes, I pray that you will make them miserable until they bow their knee before the cross and cry out for that undeserved mercy that you so freely give to all who repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.