back to index2015-05-28 Study of 1 Corinthians Week 6
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Wisdom, however, not of this age nor the rulers of this age who are passing away. 00:00:10.440 |
But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before 00:00:17.760 |
The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood, for if they had understood 00:00:22.200 |
it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 00:00:25.140 |
But just as it is written, things which eye has not seen or ear has not heard and which 00:00:30.940 |
have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him. 00:00:41.140 |
We pray Lord, God that every time we open it up, that first of all our hearts will be 00:00:47.420 |
prepared and that Lord we would cause our, we would determine in our hearts to really 00:00:53.100 |
receive your truth, but also God through your spirit help us to understand. 00:00:58.340 |
God through your spirit help us to have conviction. 00:01:01.380 |
Help us to have lasting memory of the things that you teach us Lord through your word. 00:01:06.100 |
Father we thank you for your truth and we pray that we would gain much fruit from it 00:01:16.380 |
So as we look at this passage, what I did was I did not like an extensive diagram, but 00:01:23.900 |
I did a essentially a kind of a pseudo outline for us when I looked at verse six through 00:01:29.100 |
nine and in our warmup I asked you guys to do the same thing, which is try in your simplest 00:01:33.780 |
form to do an outline because it helps you understand the passage a lot. 00:01:38.620 |
If you want to get real technical, you could actually start diagramming each verse in ways 00:01:44.140 |
when which you show each phrase has a connection to another, right? 00:01:49.020 |
So you show the syntax basically between each word. 00:01:51.860 |
Here what I did was I was getting kind of a little bit confused by all the repetitive 00:01:59.700 |
And so what I did was I said, okay, verse six he's talking about, we're speaking about 00:02:02.740 |
wisdom and wisdom happens to be the main thing. 00:02:08.020 |
From that he describes what wisdom is and then he repeats himself in verse seven saying, 00:02:13.060 |
we speak this wisdom and he describes it again. 00:02:16.600 |
And then pertaining to this wisdom, he describes how, again, whether people understand it and 00:02:23.300 |
So I want to begin by asking you as, as I tried to outline here that the wisdom is what 00:02:29.900 |
Again, he's trying to describe this wisdom that he's now speaking of. 00:02:35.080 |
Question to you at first for a first point is what descriptions have you found from this, 00:02:42.660 |
And that was the homework from the last week. 00:02:46.780 |
What are the descriptions that you see of the wisdom that Paul speaks of in verse six 00:02:53.300 |
And if you haven't done it, take a moment to just start underlining real quick or maybe 00:02:59.660 |
What are the descriptions of wisdom from these four verses? 00:03:18.380 |
It's not of this age nor the rulers of this age. 00:03:24.260 |
So jot these down if you want to, or again, underline and number. 00:03:33.420 |
The ESV, I believe it says secret and the NASB it says it's a mystery. 00:03:41.860 |
I'm glad you didn't just, you know, these are these little phrases. 00:03:50.200 |
It's both mystery and it's hidden, but then it was also predestined before the ages. 00:04:10.780 |
So the wisdom is spoken to those who are mature. 00:04:27.980 |
So you guys can kind of see as we're doing this again, the main focal point, he's talking 00:04:33.380 |
about this wisdom again, which essentially we've been talking about for the last several 00:04:39.260 |
But as you think about this wisdom, or as you think about how he's describing it, if 00:04:45.260 |
you were to try to highlight certain major thoughts from that, like what are we supposed 00:04:56.060 |
What's the general feel you guys is describing this? 00:05:16.980 |
I would actually just kind of highlight that first part of what Alex said. 00:05:22.500 |
Alex said, this wisdom is not attainable without the spirit. 00:05:25.780 |
And that's exactly what Apostle Paul is trying to describe. 00:05:29.500 |
And that's something that we need to take a moment to think about and meditate on. 00:05:33.860 |
So one of the things that we should gather from this description of wisdom is it's not 00:05:41.620 |
And if you think about this for a moment, we're reminded that natural man, I guess, 00:05:53.920 |
And not only has it been incompetent for a long time, but broadly speaking, all of mankind 00:06:02.060 |
And so if you look at that verse, looking at your Bibles, you know how one of the first 00:06:08.460 |
descriptions that somebody mentioned was, it's not of this age or the rulers of this 00:06:15.080 |
If you think about this, he's talking about timeline in terms of this age or this generation. 00:06:20.500 |
But not only that, he says basically that it's all passing away. 00:06:29.120 |
Wisdom is not attainable and it never has been because man's wisdom in total has been 00:06:39.460 |
And there's a sense in which from the previous passages that we've studied in this book, 00:06:44.120 |
it was taught to us that whether we're trying to figure things out internally, whether we're 00:06:48.780 |
trying to figure things out rationally, whether we're trying to figure things out experientially 00:06:53.500 |
and empirically, we are not going to obtain to God. 00:06:58.100 |
And we're not only going to obtain to God, but we're not going to obtain to the things 00:07:07.700 |
But as you think about that, I want to highlight something that's something that we've probably 00:07:13.860 |
all known, but it is a little bit like shocking. 00:07:17.140 |
It is a little bit like not just in our common thought. 00:07:23.580 |
Has God intentionally hidden his truth from people? 00:07:36.900 |
He calls this wisdom a mystery, which essentially the reason why there's this different translation 00:07:42.620 |
of mystery or secret is because oftentimes it's translated mystery, but in its full sense 00:07:49.180 |
It's something that's not like, "Oh, it's mysterious. 00:07:54.940 |
When they say mystery, it's more like it was hidden and it's to be revealed. 00:08:02.460 |
So he describes it in two terms, that it's a secret and it's hidden. 00:08:06.660 |
So in answering the question, has God ever withheld his truth, his wisdom from mankind? 00:08:20.300 |
Do you know of any other times when God has done this? 00:08:26.420 |
So if you remember, when Jesus was on earth, Jesus started speaking in parables at a certain 00:08:44.540 |
You know, I think it's actually good for us to go to that passage for a little bit in 00:09:04.300 |
In Matthew 13, starting from verse 10, he says, "And the disciples came and said to 00:09:15.180 |
him," so we're at Matthew 13, verse 10, "Why do you speak to them in parables? 00:09:19.700 |
And Jesus answered them, 'To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom 00:09:24.480 |
of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 00:09:29.620 |
For whoever has to him, more shall be given and he will have an abundance, but whoever 00:09:34.580 |
does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 00:09:38.740 |
Therefore I speak to them in parables because while seeing, they do not see, and while hearing, 00:09:48.700 |
So he actually almost uses the same verbiage as we see here, or Apostle Paul uses the same 00:09:57.380 |
Because they were actually quoting a passage in Isaiah. 00:10:02.340 |
If you guys remember, Isaiah was a prophet, a prophet of the Lord. 00:10:06.260 |
And Isaiah experienced an incredible scene with God on the throne. 00:10:10.000 |
But when Isaiah told God, "Here I am, send me," Isaiah said, "You're going to go, but 00:10:18.380 |
So what's really interesting about this passage is, as we look to this idea of men and their 00:10:25.060 |
wisdom were incompetent, but God also intentionally withheld his wisdom. 00:10:30.800 |
And so what we learn from that is this idea that unless God grants, it's literally impossible. 00:10:41.460 |
Men will not reason, men will not have in their ingenuity, in their, you know, like 00:10:46.700 |
investigation, they will never discover the truth of God. 00:10:53.060 |
And if you think about that, really it's just this idea like, how can a lesser creature 00:11:10.380 |
How will a human person understand a divine being? 00:11:13.380 |
You know, right now I'm living with Bia's parents and they have this dog that's cute 00:11:17.460 |
because he's a small little white dog, but he's like insane. 00:11:23.380 |
So if the garage door opens, just goes, you know, darting off, barking like crazy, he 00:11:28.060 |
won't stop until you go over and you like grab him. 00:11:31.060 |
The gardeners come, the kids come out, everything. 00:11:34.980 |
And I'm always thinking, why in the world do people have dogs? 00:11:38.580 |
Like this is, this is insane to me, you know? 00:11:41.820 |
And, but one of the things that happens obviously is when you try to vacuum, it's like a whole 00:11:48.780 |
Like, it's worse than all the other stuff that's going on. 00:11:51.300 |
You start vacuuming and the dog just goes wild. 00:11:54.900 |
He starts jumping on your leg and you're like, what are you doing? 00:11:57.420 |
And then, you know, you try to hold him and you put him in his little like little room 00:12:05.940 |
And I'm sitting there like, what are you doing? 00:12:07.740 |
Like my, my phrase, my favorite phrase at the house right now is like, what are you 00:12:17.780 |
And Bia, he's, she's on the side just laughing cause I'm going like getting all frustrated. 00:12:29.660 |
How does a creature understand what the human is doing when he's trying to clean the house? 00:12:34.180 |
You know, small creature is not going to understand something more advanced. 00:12:37.940 |
There's a sense in which no creature is going to reason to above his stature and then also 00:12:47.740 |
The thing about it is again, this whole passage we're talking about still connected to the 00:12:54.100 |
idea of division and the division because of pride. 00:12:59.100 |
Remember that people are divided because of their arrogance and they need to be reminded 00:13:06.180 |
you're not where you are because you discovered it. 00:13:10.300 |
You're not where you are because you figured it out. 00:13:14.840 |
You will not have any of this unless what the Lord grants it. 00:13:21.380 |
And so we take those first couple of verses and I want to ask you, how would you summarize 00:13:27.180 |
that first section from verse six through nine? 00:13:31.580 |
Because for me that's part one of the outline and it's simplest form part one is what we 00:13:56.220 |
Something like a short phrase or one sentence. 00:14:39.180 |
Any other way of summarizing that first section of verse six through nine? 00:15:30.580 |
So I want us to think about that a little bit more. 00:15:38.380 |
I've had you guys kind of read some of this section. 00:15:40.980 |
You know, this first several chapters, the first three chapters of first Corinthians, 00:15:47.780 |
You know, there's like multiple points he's making. 00:15:50.780 |
And then the reason why I started drawing all these lines is because I couldn't figure 00:15:55.460 |
out where his trail of thought went, you know, but the main point is really clear. 00:16:01.860 |
I said God's wisdom is not discoverable by man. 00:16:08.740 |
And you can describe the wisdom of God in all these ways. 00:16:12.540 |
Now I want you to go back to verse 13, or sorry, chapter 13 of Matthew. 00:16:18.260 |
So if you're still there, cool, but go back to chapter 13 of Matthew and I'm going to 00:16:23.460 |
read the whole little section that Jesus says. 00:16:26.820 |
So you know, he says, again, in verse 11 to you, it has been granted to know the mysteries 00:16:32.900 |
of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it was not granted for whoever has to him, more 00:16:38.340 |
shall be given and he who will have an abundance, but whoever does not have even what he has 00:16:45.060 |
Therefore, I speak to them in parables because while seeing, they do not see and while hearing, 00:16:52.740 |
In their case, the prophet says it is fulfilled, which says, you will keep on hearing, but 00:16:59.940 |
You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive. 00:17:02.980 |
For the heart of his people has been dull with their ears. 00:17:06.580 |
They are, they scarcely hear and they have closed their eyes. 00:17:09.700 |
Otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their 00:17:18.540 |
But blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. 00:17:23.220 |
For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desire to see what you see 00:17:28.180 |
and did not see it to hear what you hear and dear and did not hear it. 00:17:34.900 |
I hope we can take a moment to meditate about that a little bit because we're looking at 00:17:39.580 |
a truth where people are being arrogant and they're being rebuked by saying, God has granted 00:17:55.260 |
How does Jesus talk to the people about this? 00:18:08.700 |
As opposed to feeling arrogant and self-confident and doing one of these, I understand. 00:18:17.300 |
Because many men before you wanted to hear this, many men before you wanted to see this 00:18:21.180 |
and Jesus himself says, but to you it has been granted. 00:18:34.980 |
In application this is one of those things where we need to have appreciation where for 00:18:39.420 |
those of us who are here looking at the scriptures, you know, having been granted to understand 00:18:50.420 |
God has in many times through history allowed people to remain in their ignorance. 00:18:55.980 |
God has actually hardened the hearts of men and God has made their heart dull. 00:19:08.480 |
And so that's how we're to respond to that section. 00:19:11.740 |
So as we think about this, going back to our first Corinthians passage, as we think about 00:19:17.100 |
it, because men cannot obtain to the knowledge of truth on their own, because men cannot 00:19:25.620 |
attain to the knowledge of God on their own, what does God have to do? 00:19:29.860 |
Let's get the next section, verse 10 through 13. 00:19:33.820 |
It says, "For to us, God revealed them through the knowledge of truth." 00:19:42.700 |
"For the spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." 00:19:49.380 |
"For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is 00:19:55.060 |
Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the spirit of God." 00:20:02.500 |
"Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, so 00:20:06.940 |
that they may know the things freely given to us by God. 00:20:10.500 |
These things are the things we speak of, which things we also speak, not in words taught 00:20:14.980 |
by human wisdom, but in those taught by the spirit, combining spiritual thought with spiritual 00:20:23.540 |
I don't know, does my line thing help you, or does that just confuse you more? 00:20:30.940 |
And if you guys have ever tried to do lines on Microsoft Word, nightmare. 00:20:36.100 |
So appreciate these lines, you're blessed, okay? 00:20:42.500 |
So in thinking through this entire section, you have three concepts that are most repeated 00:20:50.160 |
The first obviously is wisdom, but then the second is, especially in verse 10 through 00:21:00.900 |
It's talking mainly about the role of the spirit. 00:21:03.960 |
It's talking about what the spirit does, okay? 00:21:08.060 |
But then also, another concept that we have to understand, hint hint, is it's repeated 00:21:20.020 |
So the concept is repeated in synonymous words. 00:21:44.980 |
He says, so search, he extrapolates that and says, "For who among men," what? 00:21:56.740 |
So in this whole paragraph, the concept, again, so it's not the exact word that's repeated 00:22:02.260 |
a bunch, but the concept that's repeated a lot within this entire paragraph, and especially 00:22:07.740 |
here too, is the concept of understanding, okay? 00:22:14.140 |
So if you look, like for example, so in verse 10, he talks about how the spirit searches, 00:22:22.020 |
but then as he extrapolates that out, he says in verse 11, "For who among men knows the 00:22:26.540 |
thoughts of man, the spirit of which," and then he says, "Even so the thoughts of God 00:22:30.260 |
no one knows," and in verse 12, he says, "So you receive this spirit," not the world, but 00:22:35.620 |
you receive the spirit of God, and he says, "So that we may," what? 00:22:41.820 |
So actually, he's repeated that concept of know about three to four times already. 00:22:46.900 |
And so what you're finding is this, is he's saying, "There's no way you can know," right? 00:22:59.140 |
And then he says, "So that you know, what had to happen was God had to reveal. 00:23:11.460 |
But number two, it says, "First thing we learn about the wisdom of God from the second half 00:23:14.940 |
of the paragraph, natural man cannot discover, so it must be revealed by God through the 00:23:26.020 |
So in my little diagram of my line, so essentially, what I could've done is just draw a straight 00:23:32.860 |
He's talking about the spirit, but there is a side note, right? 00:23:36.300 |
It says, "God revealed him through the spirit, for the spirit," and then he says, "You receive 00:23:39.940 |
the spirit," and so he's essentially talking about the spirit, but then there's a side 00:23:43.260 |
note, verse 11, "For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the 00:23:49.660 |
Even so the thoughts of God, no one knows except the spirit of God." 00:23:54.060 |
My question to you is, how does verse 11 fit into this discussion of wisdom or even the 00:24:00.620 |
It's like a side note that's just in there, and when I started it, it just confused me 00:24:15.380 |
>> Kind of the idea that no one can know what's really going on in us more than us, so we 00:24:30.180 |
would be the best people to reveal what's going on in our minds and hearts, things like 00:24:38.180 |
So, likewise, the spirit of God knows the thoughts of God, therefore the spirit would 00:24:51.180 |
So if you didn't hear him, basically he's saying, God revealed, right, the truth to 00:25:00.100 |
But what I want you to understand is, God, God's thoughts, the way God works, the truth 00:25:07.260 |
that God wants to reveal, the best qualified person is who? 00:25:15.660 |
And so that's what Mitch said, that is basically the best person qualified to speak anything 00:25:25.260 |
You know, roommates, they know each other quite well, they know how dirty they are, 00:25:30.820 |
If you get married, then you know the other person real well, but guess what? 00:25:33.780 |
There's still hidden things in the heart you don't know. 00:25:36.380 |
But the thought of the man, the spirit of the man knows all the depths of the man. 00:25:41.100 |
And so this passage is saying the spirit is most qualified to reveal this to you. 00:25:48.180 |
But in order to make this, I guess, as profound as Apostle Paul thinks of it, because the 00:25:53.500 |
way he like reveals this, he's almost giving you an argumentation. 00:25:57.340 |
He gives an analogy of the man and the spirit. 00:25:59.700 |
And so he's making kind of an emphatic point. 00:26:02.780 |
Think about this, and this is the, again, just the amazing thing about God. 00:26:09.900 |
For us in the New Testament, we should feel absolutely blessed. 00:26:19.060 |
But not only that, in ages past, God spoke through different medium. 00:26:25.500 |
God spoke through angels, God spoke through dreams, God spoke through miraculous signs 00:26:35.880 |
How much would he have to care where he does not send an angel with this message, where 00:26:44.140 |
he does not send just a nebulous sign with this message, but he is making sure it goes 00:26:51.500 |
the way exactly how he desires it by sending his spirit. 00:26:57.100 |
There's a degree of carefulness, there's a degree of attention, there's a degree of, 00:27:02.880 |
I've got so much invested in this, I'm not gonna make an angel go deliver this message. 00:27:08.800 |
He's gonna send his spirit, the most qualified person, to reveal his truth. 00:27:16.260 |
And I think that's the way Apostle Paul is saying, God is designed to reveal, and he 00:27:21.180 |
revealed it through his spirit, and his spirit is the most qualified, okay? 00:27:26.680 |
Now in thinking about this, we gotta realize that the spirit then reveals in, I guess you 00:27:37.500 |
In the next verses of chapter two, let's take a look at the next part here in verse 13. 00:27:45.020 |
In verse 13 he says, "So you've not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit who 00:27:53.140 |
is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God." 00:27:57.580 |
Verse 13, "Which things we also speak, not in the words taught by human wisdom, but in 00:28:02.500 |
those taught by the spirit, combining spiritual thought with spiritual words." 00:28:07.380 |
Okay, so, for those of you guys who are members, you guys better get this answered quickly, 00:28:13.460 |
What is the biblical doctrine that teaches that the Bible has its source in God? 00:28:24.220 |
Inspiration, okay, inspiration is the blank there. 00:28:30.180 |
This is to say, this is another passage that teaches us that the Bible has its source in 00:28:38.260 |
Because it says, "These are words not taught by human wisdom." 00:28:39.980 |
This isn't like, you know, words of wise men and sages, experienced pastors just giving 00:28:51.620 |
And so, something I want to let you guys kind of, again, review with you is, there is in 00:28:57.940 |
the theological world what's called plenary verbal inspiration. 00:29:03.380 |
I personally think they can just do away with that, you know, like high-wording plenary 00:29:08.860 |
But what that really just means is, the idea is that the verbal aspect of it is simply 00:29:16.860 |
I believe that in the original manuscript, every single word that's in there is inspired. 00:29:24.660 |
That's why we study stuff like, you know, doing the prospects of Jesus. 00:29:29.140 |
And we're able to deduce, "Hey, because this word is in the present ongoing way, that's 00:29:37.180 |
If I didn't believe that every word was inspired by God, guess what? 00:29:40.580 |
All I'm really doing is reading way too in the lines. 00:29:45.300 |
Because the biblical doctrine is that every word has its place, because it's from the 00:29:53.140 |
What's more, the plenary sense is essentially saying all of the Bible. 00:29:59.700 |
When you say somebody has the plenary authority, that means all authority, unlimited authority. 00:30:06.340 |
Basically in every aspect of the Bible, whether geography, whether genealogy, whether historicity, 00:30:12.300 |
whether scientific, some of the stuff that a lot of the liberal people in our day and 00:30:16.180 |
age have said, "Dude, the Bible is an ancient text. 00:30:19.860 |
And they've completely denied its authenticity or even accuracy. 00:30:25.700 |
We believe that every aspect of the Bible in every single page is the inspired Word 00:30:38.420 |
And I just put a bunch of blanks there because it would have been lame to have a blank, for 00:30:42.100 |
inspiration and then to have the answer there. 00:30:45.820 |
So anyway, so the whole idea is plenary verbal inspiration is saying every word, every page, 00:31:00.740 |
There's a passage that is really good for you to know. 00:31:04.460 |
If somebody asks you, "Why do you put so much? 00:31:11.380 |
Why do you put so much importance and why do you give so much authority to the Bible?" 00:31:15.460 |
It's because the Scripture says very clearly that these are the words of God. 00:31:21.300 |
First Peter chapter one, verse 19 through 21, it says here, "So we have the prophetic 00:31:26.740 |
word made more sure to which you do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in a dark 00:31:31.660 |
place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 00:31:36.380 |
But know this first of all," okay, know this as like something super crucial, "that no 00:31:42.420 |
prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. 00:31:46.460 |
For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit 00:31:55.980 |
So this passage in 1 Corinthians that we're studying, this is a passage that proves to 00:32:01.020 |
us, a lot of people ask, "You know, Apostle Paul, I don't think he understood that he 00:32:06.100 |
No, I think he clearly understood he was giving the word of God. 00:32:11.140 |
Because he says very clearly, "We speak these things that the Spirit has given to us." 00:32:19.540 |
So this passage really goes to prove and show us that the inspiration of Scripture is true. 00:32:29.420 |
All right, then in the next section, he goes on to give us a contrast between a natural 00:32:40.380 |
And in so doing, he shows us another way in which the Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom 00:32:47.820 |
Verse 14, "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they 00:32:53.020 |
are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised." 00:32:59.380 |
"But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 00:33:05.820 |
For who has known the mind of the Lord that he will instruct him? 00:33:14.060 |
So if you look on your packet, what I've done is, because in the passage, he sets up a contrast. 00:33:22.340 |
He says, "But the natural man," and then in verse 14, "But he who is spiritual." 00:33:28.300 |
And if you guys look at how I kind of put those in the column, you guys can see the 00:33:32.860 |
He says, "The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness 00:33:39.980 |
On the flip side, he who is a spiritual man appraises all things," and then at the very 00:33:48.740 |
One cannot understand, the other has been granted the mind of Christ. 00:33:57.180 |
Although we believe that the Bible is powerful, why is it that many people can read the Bible, 00:34:16.380 |
There's sometimes, you know, people who are against Christianity, or people who've been 00:34:21.940 |
jaded by Christianity, will sometimes ask questions similar to this. 00:34:27.100 |
Why is it that you got a Bible, but like the vast majority of your entire faith is disagreeing 00:34:33.260 |
Like, you know, why is it that you've had this Bible for so long, but you guys are still 00:34:46.220 |
You guys have never received those questions? 00:34:51.740 |
You know, you've got all this Bible professors, and you've got all this stuff, but there's 00:34:57.660 |
How about you guys try to answer that question? 00:35:01.260 |
Give me, you know, whatever thoughts you guys have. 00:35:59.400 |
again, I know some of it, some of it you guys 00:36:01.340 |
can just answer from other things you've read. 00:36:11.540 |
What's an answer you can give to somebody who says, 00:36:13.540 |
you know, we've had the Bible literally for like 2,000 years. 00:36:30.960 |
- So, maybe just work at it from the hypothetical scenario 00:36:37.020 |
that one of your non-believing friends asks you. 00:36:39.940 |
Here's the Bible, you've had it for a whole long, 00:37:01.540 |
you have to have belief to know what it's saying. 00:37:24.140 |
I can potentially see the guy coming back at you 00:37:33.060 |
But anyway, but, from what we're reading right now, 00:38:00.940 |
as a Christian, how come the Spirit reveals all the time? 00:38:16.840 |
just because the Sister of Peter is saying that. 00:38:42.020 |
that's the one question I just want to ask you. 00:38:55.620 |
We read the Bible, and then we have to read the passes 00:39:05.600 |
And there's multiple ways to think about that a little bit. 00:39:09.300 |
And the reason why I'm asking this question is 'cause, 00:39:16.300 |
there is a fear of telling people straight up, 00:39:24.520 |
because your spiritual intellect is dead, right? 00:39:28.520 |
Like, that's a spiritual reality we have to teach people. 00:39:38.840 |
there is confusion between the Spirit's role of revelation, 00:39:54.060 |
obviously, the Spirit has to do his regenerative 00:40:17.300 |
too wide-stroke to be like, because the Spirit reveals, 00:40:29.380 |
I actually believe he's not saying every single Christian, 00:40:32.360 |
we all speak and we all have been revealed to. 00:40:35.580 |
I think he's actually specifically speaking to the fact 00:40:38.040 |
that yes, God has moved in them to pen the scriptures, right? 00:40:54.100 |
He calls us to look deeply and to dig his word, 00:40:57.800 |
and he calls us to keep looking, you know what I'm saying? 00:41:00.880 |
God has never removed us from the process of knowing him 00:41:05.220 |
So, those are some things to keep in mind about. 00:41:21.900 |
you've wondered, like, God, it'd be really, really nice 00:41:25.160 |
if you would just reveal to me exactly what I should do. 00:41:32.160 |
of that experience of knowing and determining 00:42:10.700 |
think about the people who have gone before us, 00:42:12.880 |
who are saints before us, who have devoted their lives 00:42:15.580 |
to say, for me to understand the wisdom of God 00:42:31.700 |
typically speaking, that ends up bearing a lot of fruit, 00:42:36.460 |
because that's how the Spirit works, through his word. 00:42:48.660 |
If you look at the traditions of the Pharisees, 00:42:54.320 |
By a certain age, they were already memorizing 00:42:58.200 |
They're called scribes and Pharisees for a reason. 00:43:06.600 |
They were impressive in their habitual discipline, you know? 00:43:18.540 |
And in this passage that we're studying, it says, 00:43:22.260 |
otherwise they would not have crucified, right? 00:43:25.040 |
They would not have crucified the Lord Jesus. 00:43:29.280 |
They missed the right picture of the Messiah. 00:43:34.460 |
And what's really interesting is, in verse 15, 00:43:42.360 |
But he who is spiritual appraises all things, 00:43:47.100 |
You, as a Christian, as a spiritual individual, 00:43:52.760 |
spiritual judgment and discernment of the world, 00:44:08.060 |
That's kind of like what we expect as Christians. 00:44:10.800 |
But my whole point in all this is the whole idea of, 00:44:17.620 |
without the Holy Spirit in us, moving through us, 00:44:22.440 |
and the Holy Spirit combining his work to us, 00:44:29.280 |
And so we have the biblical doctrine that teaches us 00:45:08.520 |
And I wanna kind of end the point by saying this. 00:45:14.880 |
To me, a humble man is a man who has a good grasp on reality. 00:45:41.000 |
Well, if you look at verse 16, there's a rhetorical question. 00:45:44.560 |
It says, "For who has known the mind of the Lord 00:46:23.100 |
will realize he actually understands very little. 00:46:27.160 |
As a matter of fact, when it comes to discovering things, 00:46:30.040 |
as a matter of fact, when it comes to figuring things out 00:46:41.880 |
I can only understand what you give to me freely 00:46:54.320 |
and he dare not in his arrogance try to instruct God. 00:47:02.640 |
Who knows the mind of the Lord that he will instruct him? 00:47:06.280 |
But arrogant people, they always know what's best. 00:47:21.440 |
I think this is probably one of these heavy-hitting notes 00:47:35.920 |
What you have is only given by the grace of God. 00:47:40.560 |
and your attitude should be that of thank you. 00:48:38.000 |
All right, good question is how do you respond 00:48:41.600 |
How does this affect your evangelism and stuff like that? 00:48:47.640 |
about apologetics and stuff like that, that's roll, 00:48:55.480 |
Believe me, I actually taught a class on evangelism, 00:49:01.840 |
So there is a place for reasoning with people, 00:49:09.560 |
the kind of like winsome and also winning of the argument, 00:49:31.200 |
somebody says like, okay, so I'm kind of a newbie 00:49:35.960 |
at evangelism, I've got some verses memorized, 00:49:38.520 |
I've got my Bible, I'm gonna go share with people. 00:49:42.960 |
wah-bam, you know, shuts the door on their face, 00:50:02.120 |
You just can't conclude now we need a new method. 00:50:06.200 |
Second application is, what really is required is 00:50:12.240 |
We have to literally rely on the Lord and say, 00:50:29.200 |
certain people get saved when they see a little piece 00:50:35.840 |
So there's a balance in assessing what's working, 00:50:40.840 |
what's effective, just based on what you experienced. 00:50:46.080 |
We have to realize this passage is telling us 00:50:48.560 |
that God is, again, opening the hearts of men, 00:50:54.400 |
and he illuminates the word to the people to understand. 00:50:58.580 |
So for me, I actually believe in casting the net 00:51:01.920 |
wide and far, so I tried different types of methodologies. 00:51:12.240 |
and you're like, what do you hope for your kids? 00:51:14.560 |
And then you start jumping in there and saying, 00:51:16.160 |
don't you wish that your kids were spiritually well too? 00:51:20.640 |
I actually am a fan of the open air preaching. 00:51:40.840 |
For me, that's the kind of application I have 00:51:43.620 |
I'm not sure if I'm really answering your question. 00:52:30.780 |
I don't want to just spend a couple of minutes, 00:52:56.360 |
if there is reasonable evidence that it's reliable, 00:53:05.700 |
and there's so much evidence we can just spend 00:53:08.160 |
probably like a 10-week series apologetically 00:53:15.180 |
the Bible is authoritative and demands your faith, right? 00:53:18.940 |
That's kind of like that subjective experience 00:53:29.040 |
there's manuscripts, there's early documentation. 00:53:34.040 |
this is probably the most well-documented thing 00:53:39.440 |
They have libraries where they have ancient manuscripts. 00:53:42.320 |
The earliest manuscripts are not 400 or 500 years out. 00:53:45.160 |
Some of them are early as only less than 100 years out, 00:53:47.920 |
you know, which is better than any other documents 00:53:55.080 |
but then the fact of the matter is you gotta just say, 00:54:03.000 |
Do you understand what that's saying, you know? 00:54:06.920 |
So I'm not gonna spend all my time trying to prove to him, 00:54:10.280 |
see, the Bible's reliable, you dummy, you know? 00:54:15.040 |
I need to get to the point of there's a moral decision 00:54:48.080 |
we're supposed to all agree and have no division. 00:54:53.560 |
we both say we have illumination by the Holy Spirit. 00:54:56.800 |
Why is it that strong Christian men like you, 00:55:08.400 |
and because of that, we can't be at the same church, 00:55:13.960 |
or other stuff like covenant-verse dispensation, 00:55:30.840 |
This is what we believe, this is what we know. 00:55:39.560 |
that there are different illuminations, you know. 00:55:52.960 |
as opposed to God has exhaustively revealed something. 00:56:21.200 |
on the social, economic, religious atmosphere of the world. 00:56:29.800 |
We're trying to, to the greatest degree we can, 00:56:34.080 |
So in that room, there is room for disagreement. 00:56:38.760 |
and be like, and so because I disagree with you, 00:56:43.320 |
or the fact that we have two different faiths, 00:56:51.080 |
we all agree on the same core essential doctrines 00:57:18.200 |
you know, accusation, so to speak, on us and whatnot. 00:57:25.080 |
'cause to me, the Mormon mind is a pagan mind. 00:57:46.400 |
He has no right to accuse us of being stupid, 00:57:50.540 |
He's, they're looking at this, you know what I'm saying? 00:57:56.800 |
because they're just looking at one source and saying, 00:58:01.680 |
like intellectual or even moral grounds to say, 00:58:18.280 |
obviously God reveals something in the parts that he's not, 00:58:21.680 |
but sometimes the scripture, like, I wonder, like, why, 00:58:49.720 |
- 'Cause it kind of, I mean, I understand, like, 00:58:55.240 |
and I don't think you can see it as a shared. 00:59:13.520 |
ah, that causes me to cast a shadow of doubt, 00:59:18.720 |
hey, that tells me that it actually happened, 00:59:22.920 |
because it's personal testimonies from two individuals 00:59:31.800 |
and Lee Strobel did this with his whole case for thing, 00:59:37.440 |
if you were to take the witnesses of scripture 00:59:41.960 |
and to a lawyer, experienced courtroom lawyer, 00:59:45.840 |
'cause that's what it is, when you see stories, okay? 00:59:54.160 |
A huge chunk of it is personal testimony witness stuff, 01:00:01.440 |
do these things, would it hold up in the court of law 01:00:04.280 |
as valid testimonies, and they said, absolutely, right? 01:00:12.800 |
I think also, for me, it just makes sense too. 01:00:17.320 |
is the whole Jesus, you know, is resurrection thing. 01:00:21.320 |
So they make this case like, in the Gospel of John, 01:00:27.440 |
One says one angel, and the other says two angels, right? 01:00:47.640 |
and nowadays, all these guys have long hair sometimes, 01:00:50.880 |
but then they're like, wait a minute, that's a girl, right? 01:00:58.440 |
and the guy next to him is like, oh my God, you're right. 01:01:09.920 |
hey, that's a girl, there's a girl on the court. 01:01:14.680 |
he wasn't just as precise as we would like him to be. 01:01:17.880 |
And sometimes, people approach the Bible like that 01:01:21.720 |
It's like, okay, you weren't very accurate in there, 01:01:26.200 |
No, that's a way of speaking in various contexts of life. 01:01:47.240 |
For the cases of the Old Testament and numbers, 01:01:59.220 |
on any passage that people say there's a discrepancy, 01:02:12.240 |
personal testimony of what really happened, okay? 01:02:46.040 |
again, we are allowed to receive the Word of God 01:02:51.880 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your grace. 01:03:07.160 |
the light of your truth, the light of your Son. 01:03:09.840 |
And I pray, Father Lord, that we would be humble people 01:03:13.920 |
that doesn't think that we need just some of it 01:03:21.880 |
are dependent on the Spirit, even to understand. 01:03:24.380 |
Some of us, we have a hard time just disciplining ourselves 01:03:28.520 |
But then not only do we need to get past that foundation, 01:03:35.320 |
I pray, Father God, that our hearts would be submitted. 01:03:37.960 |
I pray, Lord, that our hearts would be truly devoted