Why The Bible Makes Sense

0:03Well, I've been wearing a Whoop band for about 3 and a half months. My wife got it for me for my birthday. I wanted to go away from kind of the screen, screen on all the time and get one of those screenless fitness trackers. And it's fascinating. It tells me way more information about myself than I want to know.

0:17And it probably gives me more anxiety about how I'm doing in my health than I would otherwise even know about. It tells me what my recovery score is. I still don't really understand what that is other than when it's green, it's good. When it's red, it's not good. Um, you can congratulate me.

0:32I, I, I reached 50 green recoveries recently. So whatever that's good for, I, I did that. It told me I did that. Uh, but one of the other things it does is it gives you your Whoop health age, your Whoop age, you know? So that's fun too.

0:46Um, I'm 42 and, uh, almost 42 and a half for those keeping track. And my Whoop though tells me that I'm 40.3. So I don't wanna brag or anything. But I'm 1.9 years younger according to Whoop than I actually am in real life. So I guess that, that's a good thing.

1:05I'd rather be 1.9 years younger, I guess, than 1.9 years older. But it's a funny thing because at the end of the day, you know, no matter what Whoop tells me, even if it told me I'm 10 years younger than I am, we can't stop aging. You can't. You can't. Reverse the aging process.

1:23People are trying actively to, to live as long as they possibly can, and maybe they'll live longer, but the way that our bodies are designed, and because of the fall back in the garden, you can't stop the process of getting older. And with age comes the breaking down of our bodies. And so from the time that you're young, you look forward to getting older. You want to get older. You want to get taller.

1:48You want to get bigger. You want to achieve things that are in the future as far as years in front of you. And then somewhere in your 30s, you start going, okay, I'm done. We can slow down a little bit. And you start noticing the gray hairs and you're like, well, how do I stop that from happening?

2:06Don't plant a church. That's one way to stop that from happening. But you start noticing those things and before long you just realize, man, I don't have to try. To physically mature. I don't have to work at it.

2:19It's just going to happen. The same cannot be said of spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity doesn't just happen. I wish it did. I wish it did, but it doesn't.

2:34If you want to mature in Christ, if you want to grow in your walk with Christ, and I trust that if you're here this morning as a Christian, you would say, yeah, I I want to grow in my walk with Christ. I want to mature in my faith. If that's true of you this morning, then it's going to take some intentional and concentrated effort on your part. I'm not talking about salvation. Salvation is a free gift of God, lest any man should boast, right?

3:00But to then grow in Christ, it requires us utilizing the resources that God has given us in order that we can mature in Christ. And that's the good news for you this morning. If you're here this morning, you're saying, I would love to grow in my faith and grow in my walk and be more spiritually mature. The good news is, is that God has given you everything that you need this morning to be able to do that, primarily in 2 sources. The first is this book right here, the word of God.

3:29He's given the word of God to you so that you might grow in your knowledge and understanding of it. And second, he's given you the Spirit of God to dwell within you in order that you can understand the word of God and And then begin to apply it to your life, which is what leads to that spiritual transformation, which is what produces that spiritual maturity and causes us to grow in our walk with Christ. And so the good news this morning is you're not lacking anything if you're in Christ. If you want to grow in your faith, if you want to mature as a follower of Jesus, you've got everything that you need because God's given you his Spirit and His word. Our text is going to show us this morning, dealing with those 2 concepts, the Spirit and the word, that this: God's Spirit applies God's word in the lives of God's people for God's glory.

4:19That's what I want us to see in 1 Corinthians 2:6-13 this morning, is that God's Spirit applies God's word in the lives of God's people for God's glory.

4:30And so if we want to grow in our walk, if we want to mature in our walk, again, God has given us everything necessary for that process, and he's done that through the Spirit and through the word. Open your Bibles, if you will, to 1 Corinthians 2:6-13.

4:441 Corinthians 2:6, let's begin there. He says this, yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it's not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. We've talked a lot about wisdom so far in 1 Corinthians. And there's been the 2 categories of wisdom. There's been the wisdom of the world, which Paul has been shunning and saying this is not what produces wisdom of God.

5:06The wisdom of the world doesn't have access to the knowledge of God. The wisdom of the world is celebrated by men, but it's really futile as far as knowing him and maturing in your walk with Christ. But then on the flip side, there's been the wisdom of God that Paul's been unpacking— Christ crucified. And even as we saw last week, the message that saves and the message that we should be going out with as those that are sharing the gospel with people, trusting in God's power to take the wisdom of God and apply it to the lives of those that we come into contact with. So there's been the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God, but we might be tempted at this point in time in 1 Corinthians to think about the wisdom of God as the gospel and that's it.

5:46And it is the gospel, but the wisdom of God is not just about getting you saved and then, hey, you're good to go, just sit tight until Jesus comes back. Rather, the wisdom of God begins with the gospel and then goes to work in your life to make you more and more like Jesus throughout the whole thing. Remember, Jesus has become to us righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He's the total package. And so God's wisdom, as he's given it to us, is not just to get us in the door, but it's to get us all the way to the finish line.

6:21Again, I pray and I trust that everybody in this room this morning, if you're a follower of Christ, would say, I want to grow in my faith. That you've got a holy discontent with where you're at spiritually right now. Not that you despise the things that God has already done in your life, but you're just saying, God, let's go more. Let's do more. Let's get rid of more sin.

6:41Let's love people more. Let's see more fruit of the Spirit show up in my life. I want to grow in my walk with Christ. I trust that's true of you this morning. It's true of me this morning as I stand up here and preach.

6:51And I pray all of us not just want to grow in the maturity, but Realize that that is potential, that possibility is here through the word of God and through the Spirit of God if we will set ourselves to pursue it. Point number 1 this morning is this: pursue God's wisdom to grow in maturity. Pursue God's wisdom to grow in maturity.

7:161 Corinthians 2:6, yet among the mature, We do impart wisdom. Impart, we give, we convey, we teach, we reveal. Although it's not a wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away. So he's still creating the difference there, the distinction. He's saying the wisdom that we have for you, the wisdom that you should desire in growing in Christlikeness, it's not the wisdom of this age, it's still not the wisdom of the sage or the philosopher or anybody else, it's still a wisdom that comes from God and he's saying, Paul is, that we have this wisdom to impart to the mature.

7:49Now those are the 2 words words that should jump out to us here in verse 6: wisdom and mature. Wisdom, again, contextually here, he's been dealing with this back in chapter 1, verses 21 through 24. He says, since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

8:24And so again, to this point in 1 Corinthians, we've been dealing with the, the wisdom associated with Christ, associated with the gospel, associated with that entry point into salvation. But now Paul introduces a new concept that this wisdom is not just for those people to get saved, but now it's also a wisdom that we impart to the mature, to the mature. The mature. It's a word in the original that actually can suggest completion, fullness, perfection even. Now Paul's not talking about perfection because none of us in this room would claim to be perfect or complete or finished products in Christ.

9:00But there is a process of us becoming more and more complete in our walk with Christ that will ultimately be fully realized when we leave this earth and go and are in the presence of our Lord and Savior. And that's the process we often call sanctification, the progress that we make in becoming more like Christ while we're here. And so Paul's saying there's a wisdom for that. There's a wisdom for people who are maturing in their faith. And I just want you to see though here that that would tell us that maturity is an expectation that God has for the believer.

9:31If there is a wisdom that Paul has to impart to the mature, then the expectation and the understanding is that People should be growing in their faith. Look down at chapter 3, verse 1. Paul says, but I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Even now you are not ready, for you're still of the flesh.

9:55But Paul's implication is here, hey, let's grow up into the faith. Let's grow up into the wisdom of God. Let's not stay here. The writer of Hebrews is going to put it this way. He says, for by now you ought to be teachers, but I have need to go back and give you milk, again.

10:09He says, let's leave the elementary doctrines and press on in the faith, press on in growing in maturity. And so this is one of the reasons why this point is what it is, that we need to pursue God's wisdom to grow in maturity, because God does expect us to grow in maturity. And so he's given us the word and he's given us the Spirit in order that that might be the case. In fact, look at this in 1 Corinthians 14:20. We'll get here eventually, but Paul says this, brothers, do not be children in your thinking.

10:38Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. And so again, this is an expectation that as we grow as believers, as we age physically, we would also grow spiritually, that we would progress in spiritual maturity. Paul says this in Colossians 1:28. This is kind of a summation of his ministry here. He says, him we proclaim, that is Jesus, Warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom in order that we might present everyone mature in Christ.

11:10And so Paul's saying as, as an apostle, that part of his goal in ministry was to take those under his care and to see to it that they would grow in their faith, that they would mature in their walk with Christ. And I can tell you, that's the desire of your pastors here as well, that we would be a church where people are growing, where people are maturing in their walk with Christ. Christ. We're never going to be perfect. We're never going to be complete.

11:34We're never going to be finished works this side of eternity, but we should see that progress. We should see that growth. And so here in 2:6, when Paul says there's a wisdom that we impart to the mature, it's not just about salvation. It is that, but now it's about how salvation then transforms our lives and we continue to grow in wisdom. We continue to grow in Christlikeness.

11:53We continue to mature spiritually from that point forward. And that's why Paul says that this is not a wisdom of the age or the rulers of the age. He's wanting to make sure that when he says mature here, in other words, he's not creating a class of uber Christian. And I want to make sure that that's not your thought either. That this isn't like, oh, well, this is for the Christians that have been Christians for a long time.

12:17Or this is for a group of believers that are really more serious about things than I am. It's not that. We're all swimming in the same lake, some are just in deeper waters than others. And the call is, you're in the lake, now you know how to swim, and so let's go deeper. Let's go deeper together.

12:37That's the maturing, that's the growing. Think of TSA, because everybody likes to think about TSA, don't you? And not PreCheck, right? There's no PreCheck when it comes to sanctification. You gotta wait.

12:49But I want you to think about TSA this way, in, in, in your walk with Christ. When you go to the airport, you're not at your destination yet, are you? No. Nobody wants to go to the airport. Even that movie, The Terminal, the guy wanted to get outta the airport.

13:01He lived in the airport for a long time, but not on purpose, right? He wanted to leave the airport. Nobody wants to stay at the airport. So you get to the airport and yet you're not at your destination. What do you have to do first?

13:10Well, you have to go through security. You have to get through the checkpoint. You have to be shown to be worthy or qualified, acceptable, to be able to pass through, to be able to get to your destination. Okay? This is a horrible analogy.

13:23Think of that kind of as salvation, right? Jesus is not a TSA agent. I don't want you going there, okay? But that entry point, okay, you're through security, you have been accepted by God, you are, okay, destination secured now, but you're still not at your destination. Nobody gets through TSA and texts their loved ones and says, I made it.

13:44I'm safe. I'm at— this is great. You'll never believe the airport. Guess what? I found some really bad books outside of the newsstand and some overpriced candy.

13:54This is the best place I've ever been. Can't wait to see you. No, you're not there. So what do you do? You go from security to where?

14:01To your gate. Well, even when you get to your gate, you're still not at your destination, are you? You're at your gate and you got to wait for the plane to show up, and then you got to get on the plane, and then you got to get from the plane to your destination, hopefully safely, and then you land, and then you get off the plane, and then you're there, right?

14:20Sometimes if we're not growing as Christians, it's like we get through TSA, we get through security, and we're like, I'm here, I'm here. Or we think to ourselves, you know what, let me get to my gate and let me just sit down and just wait for for the pilot to come get me and put me on the plane and take me to where I need to go. And what I want us to understand here is that God wants us to grow in our walk with Christ. God wants us to mature spiritually so much so that he has given us the word of God and the Spirit of God to ensure that that happens in our lives. Because God's Spirit applies God's word in the lives of God's people for God's glory.

14:56That's what he's about. That's what he's doing. So Christian, this morning, wherever you are, don't be content where you're at. Don't settle for where you are right now in your walk with Christ. Have a hunger, have a, again, a holy discontent, a right discontent to say, I want more.

15:13I think we see this in the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3, verse 12. He says, not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on. Notice the language here. I keep going. I press on to make it my own.

15:25He's talking about being with Jesus. Because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And then notice what Paul says here: let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that to you. So here you have Paul, right?

15:58Who is literally planting churches and writing the Bible. And he's like, I'm not satisfied. I want more. He's saying, forgetting what lies behind. Now he's not just talking about the negatives.

16:11He's also talking about the positives there. Because earlier in Philippians chapter 3, he listed all of the things that he could have boasted about. And then he says, this is all loss. This is rubbish. So when Paul says forgetting what lies behind, he's not thinking about his sin.

16:25He's thinking about anything that he might be able to boast in to say, look at how spiritual I am. Look at how godly I am. He's saying, I'm not going to get hung up back there and rest on my laurels, but forgetting what lies behind, I'm going to press on. And so that's our first point this morning. We need to think about that in our own lives.

16:44What does that look like for you? What does that look like for me? To say, I want to press on in that. I want to pursue God's wisdom to grow in maturity.

16:56But how?

16:58And this is where we get into the spirit side of things, right? Because the wisdom of God is not the wisdom of the world. In other words, human effort is not enough to grow in spiritual maturity. And so for me to stand up here today and to preach to you, hey, pursue spiritual maturity. See you next week would be clerical malpractice because what you might walk out in is this feeling that, well, I've got to just pull myself up by my bootstraps and work harder and just be better and just, just want more Jesus in my life.

17:33But your human wisdom is going to fall short every single time in seeing you grow in your Christlikeness, which is why you need something more. And that's what God's provided. Look at verses 7 and following here in our text. Verses 7 through 11, Paul writes this. He says, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

17:57None of the rulers of the age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For no one— for who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him?

18:25So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Okay, this is the largest section of our passage this week, but it helps us understand more about the nature of the wisdom that we want to grow in and how we can grow in it. And it has to do, again, with the Word of God and the Spirit of God. In verse 7, notice he says, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God. Now, that again might cause us to say, okay, so is this like members-only kind of wisdom?

18:57Like, is there, uh, do I have to reach a certain level and then I get access to this wisdom? And that was some of the heresies that were beginning to creep into some other churches there. In fact, in Colossae, that's one of the reasons why Paul wrote the letter to the Colossian church there to say, hey, Those people that are insisting on visions and mystical experiences and saying that they're better Christians because they've got access to these things, he says, that's nonsense. Jesus is sufficient. That's what you need.

19:22And so when he says we have a secret and hidden wisdom, it's not that it's inaccessible to you if you're a brand new believer. It's not that it's inaccessible to you if you don't have formal theological training. That's not what he means by hidden and secret. What he means by hidden and secret is, this is not the wisdom of the world. This is a wisdom that's inaccessible if we're going to try to apply human wisdom to ascertain it and understand it and grow in it.

19:45And so instead, we need the Lord to be able to provide it for us. And that's exactly what he's done. We impart, that's what Paul is saying here. We, the apostles, that's who he's talking about by we, we are giving you, Corinthians, a wisdom that has been secret and hidden, but it's a wisdom that God has declared before the ages even, for our glory. And here's why Paul says that.

20:09At this time, something that was novel was looked at side-eyed, right? Something that was brand new. Somebody coming along the lines of, like, I've got brand new wisdom for you. I've got brand new teaching for you. Instead, what gave a teaching its clout was to be able to trace it back as far as you could.

20:26To be able to say, well, my position goes back to this philosopher and this one and this one and this one. It goes way back here. So Paul is one-upping all of that by saying, hey, we've got a wisdom for you and you know where it's got its origins? It's got its origins in the God of the universe who declared it from before the ages for our glory.

20:48The rulers of this age couldn't understand this and we know that because of verse 8. Paul says they demonstrated that they didn't understand this wisdom, that they didn't know the secret hidden wisdom and he says that they didn't know it because if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And so Paul is saying, there's ways to tell if somebody doesn't understand, if somebody doesn't have access to the secret and hidden wisdom of God. And he points to the actions of those that crucified Christ. He says they demonstrated it with their lives that they didn't know.

21:27And so the question this morning was, well, then how are we any different?

21:32How can, can we know that we've come to know and understand? Well, we come to know, and we come to know that we, we do know, and we do understand when we see the evidence of the Spirit's work in our lives. Because again, God has not just given us our earthly minds to try to read and understand this word. He's given us his Spirit to be able to help us understand his wisdom. I hope we're thankful for that.

21:57In fact, that's my second point this morning. It's this: give thanks for the Spirit who revealed God's wisdom. Give thanks for the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, who revealed God's wisdom. See, that secret and hidden wisdom— God wasn't waiting for us to say the right thing or pray the right thing or live the right way before he granted us access, or be around the church long enough before we got it. Instead, as soon as you come to faith in Christ, God gives you the Spirit to dwell within you, to cause you to come to understand and to know that wisdom that was secret and hidden.

22:33That wisdom that Paul reaches back to Isaiah 64, it seems here in chapter 2, verse 9, with this quotation, he says, as it's written, again, Isaiah 64:4, you can write that down in your notes if you want to go back and look at that later. It says, as it's written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined. In other words, what no human being has ever come to understand or ever come to see or ever heard before, This is a radically different message than any other message the world has ever produced.

23:05These things God has prepared for those who love him, for those who love him, and he's prepared them by giving us his Spirit that we might understand them. Verse 10, these things God has revealed to us, notice the language here, through the Spirit, through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him? So also, no one, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. So he says, God has revealed them to us.

23:38Okay, who is the us here? Again, the us is the apostles. That's who Paul has in mind as he's writing to them. God has revealed these things to us and now we are conveying them to you. This is what's known as the doctrine of revelation.

23:52Of revelation. So God is revealing these truths to the apostles who are then putting pen to paper and writing 1 and 2 Corinthians and Colossians and Ephesians and Philippians and James and Peter and 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Revelation, Titus, all of these books. God is revealing his wisdom to these apostles and then the apostles are then writing it down for us. And it's coming to the apostles and then eventually to us by the same agent and that is The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. And so the Spirit of God who searches everything, even the depths of God— searches is not the idea of I'm looking for something I don't know where it is here.

24:33Rather, it's penetrating completely. There's nothing that escapes its gaze. There's nothing that escapes its purview. And so what Paul is saying is the Holy Spirit who's revealing these things to us, the apostles, and now we're conveying them to you. There's nothing hidden from the Spirit that is part of the mind of God.

24:54And the Spirit is now taking those things and revealing them, the depths of God that is, to the apostles.

25:03In ancient Greek philosophy, there was a statement that was often thrown out that said, like is known by like. Like is known by like, meaning that which is of the same nature is able to reveal that which is of the same type. And so Paul is even engaging here with some of the Greek philosophical thought by saying, hey, the Spirit of God is able to know the thoughts of God, the depths of God, because like is known by like. And what has the Spirit of God done? Well, he has taken those thoughts and revealed them to the apostles who has then— who have then revealed them to us.

25:43All of this is leading to Paul's point here. If you go back to verse 8, the difference between those who crucify the Lord of glory and those who have come to know the secret and hidden wisdom of God boils down to the presence or the absence of the Holy Spirit. That's the difference. Today, the difference between an unbeliever with the word of God in their hands and a Christian with the word of God in their hands is the presence or absence of the Holy Spirit. It's not in us.

26:16It's not that we might boast. And so Paul is continuing. He's been talking a lot about that concept. The wisdom of God is meant to humble us. We don't earn our way there.

26:25We don't smarts our way there. We don't study our way there. He reveals his wisdom to us. And then even as we grow in maturity, the point that this is making here is that we grow in maturity As the word of God is applied to our hearts through the Spirit of God. This is why the first point, to pursue God's wisdom, to grow in maturity, is not just about you working harder, but it's about the Spirit of God within you using the word of God to begin to transform your life more and more, to make you look more and more like Jesus.

27:03Do you ever stop and give thanks for the clarity of the Bible? That you can read the word of God and maybe not all of it. None of us could, could claim to fully understand all of it, right? I mean, Peter even said that there were some difficult things that Paul wrote. And so there's, there's hard sections of the Bible that you read and you go, okay, like Ezekiel and his vision of the glory of God.

27:28You read that and you're going, Yep. Okay. But there's so much in the Bible that as a Christian, I'm sure you do read and you track with and you go, okay, yeah, that makes sense.

27:40That's the Spirit in you, right? Or maybe let me put it a different way. Maybe have you ever looked at an unbeliever who you've laid it out for them? Here it is, this is the gospel, this is what God's word says. And to you, it's just as clear as it possibly could be.

27:57But as you're sharing the gospel with them, or you're pointing to the word of God with them, It's just the blank stare and you think to yourself, what, what don't you, what don't you understand?

28:09The difference is not anything to do with whether or not you're smarter or more insightful. It's everything to do with whether or not the Holy Spirit's there. J.C. Ryle wrote this of the unbeliever. He said this, they refuse to accept anything they cannot understand or that seems above their reason. Inspiration, miracles, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atonement, the Holy Spirit, the resurrection, the future state.

28:35All these mighty verities, these truths, are viewed with cold indifference as disputable points, if not absolutely rejected. Can we entirely explain them? Can we satisfy their reasoning faculties concerning them? If not, they must be excused if they stand in doubt. What they cannot fully understand, they tell us, they cannot fully believe.

28:59And that's fair, honestly, y'all. If someone were to come to me and say, hey, guess what? Human race got a software update last night and you can fly now.

29:11Nope. Even if they went up to the top of the building and jumped off the building and flew somehow, I would say, what kind of trick is this? There's no way that's possible and I'm not doing it.

29:26Sometimes when we sit down with an unbeliever, as Christians, we need to understand and be sympathetic to the fact that that's how they're understanding the presentation of the gospel.

29:36And the difference is not, again, a matter of intelligence or insight.

29:44It's simply a matter of whether or not the Holy Spirit is there.

29:48For you to understand your need for a Savior, that begins with the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

29:57And then the Holy Spirit just continues to work on your life from that time forward.

30:02And so if you're sharing the gospel with someone, you need to be praying beforehand, praying during, praying through, praying after that God use your spirit to cause them to open their eyes to understand this. It's not about you being more persuasive. It's not about them having more information. So often it boils down to their will to surrender and believe what they're being presented with. And the reality is until the Spirit of God does that work in their lives, they won't.

30:34To come back to you though, as a Christian, I mean, your growth in Christlikeness, it's because of what this point has been talking about. It's because God, through the apostles, revealed his wisdom that they then in turn put down as the word of God that we have before us. And now we as Christians get to read it.

30:53It and understand it. So we talked about the doctrine of revelation earlier. This is what's known as the doctrine of illumination, the doctrine of illumination. So you and I, God is not revealing new truths to us. Rather, he is illuminating the truths that he has already revealed to us as we read and as we study and as we apply it.

31:15And the one that's doing the illumination, the one that's helping us to understand is the Spirit of God within us.

31:22And we need the Spirit to do that because why? Because we are finite creatures and God is infinite. And for us to even be able to understand a sliver of his infinite grandeur, we have to have the Holy Spirit to help us understand that. And so the Holy Spirit, as we read the word of God, illumines our hearts and our minds to understand it, which then causes us to desire and yearn to put it into practice, to apply it. And that's why it's pursuing the wisdom and giving thanks for the Spirit.

31:54But, but it doesn't stop with just the concept of illumination being an understanding. For illumination to truly show up and take root in a person's life and heart, it's going to move from the understanding to the application. That's the full work of the Spirit's work in your life. It's not just to help you understand the word of God better. Or to, to, to understand the character of God more, to understand your sin and see your sin.

32:20It's to get from there to then the application of it. Look at verses 12 and 13, our final verses in this morning's passage. It says this: Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, our memory verse this month, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths To those who are spiritual. Do you remember your kindergarten teacher?

32:52My kindergarten teacher was Miss Braun. But really the teacher that I first have the most memories of was my first grade teacher, Mrs. Elliott, or Miss Elliott. Miss Elliott was my first grade teacher and she was super sweet. She was the kindest teacher. I remember I did not want to go to first grade.

33:09I was terrified. I was the kid that was holding on to my mom and I did not want to let go and I was in tears. And, uh, and this one teacher, Miss Hicks, who didn't end up being my first grade teacher, she came and she sat me down on her lap and very calmly, you know, soothed my tears and everything else. And she said, you know, which classroom would you like to be in, mine or Miss Elliott's? And I said, Miss Elliott's.

33:29It was a good choice. Miss Hicks was the strict teacher. But I remember Miss Elliott. She taught me how to read. She taught me the basics.

33:37But here's the thing, when I left first grade, Miss Elliott didn't come with me to the next grade. In 2nd grade, I had Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones taught me different things. And then after her, I went on to 3rd grade and 4th grade and so forth and so on. And so when we go through school, we have teachers that can be impactful, but they don't keep coming with us along the way.

33:59And so we kind of leave them behind and keep going. Not so with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's job is not just to get you into Christ. But to get you into Christ and then to see that you continue to grow in Christ. And one of the ways he does that is not only by helping us to understand God's wisdom through illuminating us to be able to understand it, but third and finally this morning, that we should expect the Spirit to, with that wisdom, do the work of God with the Word of God in your life.

34:30Expect that. Expect that the Spirit of God is going to do the work of God with the Word of God in your life.

34:42You remember the Old Testament story of Joash? Joash was generally a good king, although he didn't finish all that well. But Joash was the one who was— he was spared because Athaliah, the queen mother, tried to take out all of the descendants after his dad died, and Joash was hidden away. Well, at 7 years old, Joash— Jehoiada, the priest, decides it's time for Joash to reign. And so Joash is anointed under Jehoiada's direction and Athaliah is deposed and all of these things happen there.

35:14But then Joash continues on for 40 years as a king. And for many of those years, his reign was under the category of being good. And you know what the scripture says here? It actually says in 2 Kings 12:2, Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days. Because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

35:38And so Joash had Jehoiada. And as long as Jehoiada was there helping Joash to know how to wisely rule God's people, Joash ruled God's people well. But then once Jehoiada left, Joash didn't have as strong of a finish as he could have.

35:56The Spirit of God is a far greater asset to the Christian than Jehoiada was to Joash. But it's a similar idea there. That as we walk this life, we have the Spirit of God as our companion, as the parakaleo, the one that comes alongside us in our faith to help us grow as we understand, as he illumines the scriptures and then begins to impart these things so that we would apply them to our lives. Look again at verse 12. We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

36:30And again, This is primarily the apostles. We have received the Spirit of God that we, the apostles, might understand the things freely given us by God. But then we sitting here this morning now, you and I, we are now the beneficiaries of that because of what I was talking about, this concept of the doctrine of revelation and illumination. God revealed these things freely given to the apostles. The apostles then wrote them down, and now we having the same Spirit of God, we are able to understand them.

36:58And here's the thing. We're never going to exhaust the word of God. We're never going to get to the place to be like, okay, God, I've understood everything that you've given me so far. What's next? Bible 2.0.

37:10That's not going to come ever. And the Bible even tells us as much, I believe, in Hebrews chapter 4. The word of God is what? The word of God is just a book and it's stagnant and it never— it always— it's 2,000 years old. How dare you ever follow the word of God?

37:26No, what does it say? Hebrews 4. The word of God is living and active. It's dynamic. Now, the contents never change, but the Spirit of God who dwells within you can take the same contents that you've read over and over and over and over again.

37:42And now all of a sudden you're walking through a totally different time in your life. And that same truth that you've read so many times before, the Spirit of God within you is going to take that and cause you to understand it in a brand new way and apply it to your life to make you more like Jesus.

37:56See, that's, that's the beauty of this whole process. You should expect that, to expect the surgeon of God, who is the Spirit of God, to take the scalpel of God, which is the word of God, and to do the work of God in your life. We should expect that.

38:14Verse 13, we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to to those who are spiritual. This is Paul telling the church that this is the very essence of his ministry, that his ministry hinges not on his wisdom, but on the Spirit of God enabling him to impart spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. Those who are spiritual are the believer, the Christian, those who have the Spirit of God. So Paul's saying we're imparting this secret and hidden wisdom. We're imparting these spiritual truths to those who have the Spirit of God.

38:57Spiritual people.

39:00Again, I want us to think about how do we know that we're that and not the people like back in verse 8? Because remember, again, in verse 8, he said this: None of the rulers of this age understood this wisdom, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. In other words, they were not spiritual people, and so they could not have the spiritual truths imparted to them. I want us to see that Paul pointed to the actions of the rulers, to the evidence in their lives, as evidence for their ignorance to this wisdom.

39:35Or to put it another way, the evidence of the fact that they did not themselves possess the Spirit of illumination.

39:42I think Paul's argument here can be broken down like this for us. The wisdom of God is not the same as the wisdom of the world. And that's by his design so that he gets all the glory, right? We've seen that truth in 1 Corinthians so far. The wisdom of God is not the wisdom of the world.

39:53And that's by design so that he gets all the glory. Second, his argument progresses and says that, well, the world rejects the wisdom of God as foolishness. And the ultimate evidence of that rejection was the crucifixion of Christ. That's the ultimate evidence of the rejection. Today, I think we see the same spirit of rejection manifested in the lives of worldly people who, through false gods, but also through just immorality and idolatry, reject God's law today.

40:23It shows up that they are not those that are qualified as those that possess the Spirit of God through how they respond to the word of God. Finally then, in his argument, then it progresses. It follows then that those who have come to know the wisdom of God by the Spirit, should, it follows, I think, demonstrate that with their lives, that they've come to know it, understand it, and are living in it. In other words, it should show up. We should expect the Spirit of God to apply the Word of God in our lives.

40:55This is not just seen here. This, I believe, is really seen later on in Paul's letter to the Galatian church. Galatians chapter 5, if you want to flip over there to the right a few books, you can. Galatians 5:16.

41:13Galatians 5:16, Paul says this, but I say, walk by the— what? Walk by the Spirit. Walk, right? Evidence something, show something. Walk, live, conduct your life by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

41:30For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, notice again, led by, this is an active element here. If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalry, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

42:01Notice that Paul says, for the people that are of the flesh and not of the Spirit, how do you tell? It shows up. It shows up. But then he continues and he says these. He says, I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

42:19But the fruit of the Spirit— notice again, the fruit of the Spirit— is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Again, what do we know about those that have the Spirit? It what? It shows up. It shows up.

42:36And against those things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us also walk by the Spirit. Again, that active pursuit of the Spirit.

42:54Christlikeness. Expect the Spirit to do the work of God with the word of God, in other words, in your life. Because that's the power here. That's how you pursue the fruit of the Spirit. It's not just, I just need to be more self-controlled, be more self-controlled.

43:10No, it's as you give yourself over to the word of God and the Spirit of God does the work of God in your life that you will find more of the fruit of the Spirit present in your life.

43:19God wants to see you grow in your faith, to progress in your walk with him. We've talked about that already this morning a few times. And he's given you his wisdom and his Spirit to be able to do just that. To see victory over sin, to see a greater desire and hunger for godliness in your life, a passion to reach the lost with the good news, a greater hunger for the word of God, a readiness and inclination to serve, to fellowship with other Christians, and to Have an eternal mindset. And these are all markers of spiritual maturity, and these are all evidences of God's word doing God's work in your life through the Spirit of God.

43:56God's Spirit applies God's word in the lives of God's people for God's glory. That's great news. That is a gift of God. That's such a gift of God. It's not, hey, you've got to work harder.

44:08Like my Whoop band's like, you want to lower your age? You need to sleep better. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. It's not going to help me sleep better.

44:17It's just going to tell me I need to.

44:20God didn't just show up and say, hey, if you want to grow in Christ-likeness, you need to have all of these things present in your life. Good luck.

44:31He showed up and he said, yeah, this is what Christ-likeness looks like. Oh, and to help you along the way, I'm going to give you my Spirit and I'm going to give you my word, and those 2 things are going to be what you need to see yourself progress in spiritual maturity, to grow in Christlikeness. It's a gift of God. It's a gift of God.

44:50So is what we're about to turn now to and remember together. It's Communion Sunday, and so we're going to take communion together here.

44:59This is reminding us of the saving wisdom of God. This is reminding us together, as we're going to observe these elements in just a moment, of The wisdom of God that is the beginning of this path, this life that we now live as followers of Christ and long to grow in Christlikeness. It all began with what we're about to remember, because the thing that all of us needed is we needed to be forgiven of our sins.

45:25We'd rebelled against a holy God and an infinite chasm now was created between us and him. And again, as Paul's already laid out in 1 Corinthians, if you've been with us, no amount of human wisdom could build a bridge that's big enough or strong enough to span that chasm.

45:39Not the bridge of good works, not the bridge of intellect, not the bridge of drugs and alcohol, not the bridge of any other god or goddess that exists in the world. None of it can happen. We needed God to bridge that gap. And the way that he did that was by sending Jesus to die on the cross for those sins that you and I have committed, past, present, and future. In dying on the cross for our sins, he satisfied all of God's wrath against us, his just anger against us for our sins that we had sinned against him.

46:09His wrath was satisfied. And for those that have put their trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, not only was his wrath satisfied, but Jesus has given you now his righteousness so that you can be acceptable to God forever.

46:24Forever. Because of the righteousness that Christ gave you. And then after 3 days in the grave, he rose again to walk out, never to enter again, so that you and I can have hope that we too will have eternal life. Those are the components of the gospel right there: your sins forgiven by the death of Christ, your acceptability before God taken care of through the righteousness that Jesus gives you, and your security of eternal life secured by the fact that Jesus himself rose from the dead never to die again. What we observe and remember right now is the first part of that component and that is the death of Christ for our sins.

46:58So the music's going to play, the elements are going to be passed, and after everybody has them, I'll come back up and we'll take them together. Let's pray.

47:07Lord, we are so thankful this morning as we sit here recipients of the Word of God in its completed form, as we sit here with the Bibles on our phones, on our laps, wherever they may be, in app form. It's amazing that we have your full wisdom that you've at least allowed us to understand at this point revealed to us in a form that we can carry with us and we can read it. And we thank you that if we're in Christ, we understand it, Lord, not because of being smarter or better or anything else, but simply because you've given us your Spirit to do just that, to illuminate the word so that we can understand it and not just understand it, Lord, but live it out. And so I pray, God, that you would help us as followers of Christ to grow in our walk with you this week, that we wouldn't be satisfied no matter where we are, that we wouldn't be satisfied, but to say and to pray and to plead with you, Lord, cause me to grow in my understanding of you, cause me to grow in Christlikeness. Take your word and apply it to my life for your glory.

47:59We thank you that you've given us your Spirit for that very purpose, and we give you thanks for all this in Jesus' name. Amen.