God's individual will - from where comes wisdom I

God's wisdom, which comes directly from the Scriptures, and then we'll also... I'm sorry, we'll notice the distinction between God's wisdom and the wisdom of the world, which comes from itself. Of course, God's wisdom would have as its aim the glorification of God Himself, whereas the world's wisdom is going to just try to glorify the individual. Since we're studying the passage in Corinthians, I wanted to... I wanted to read you a little background information on Corinthians before we start. This is background information out of Nelson's Study Bible.

He says Corinth was ancient Greece's most important trade city. Ideally situated on the Isthmus of Corinth between the Ionian Sea and the Aegean Sea. I don't have a map with me. The body of land that Corinth was on was basically an island connected by an isthmus to the main land, Greece. And Corinth sat by the isthmus, that channel, land channel between Polypenesis and Greece.

And Corinth By the time Paul got there, Corinth was a city of about half a million people, so it was very large. Corinth had a lot of worldly wisdom in the city and among its people. Around 950 BC, so about a thousand years before Paul got there, Homer, the Greek writer, referred to Corinth as wealthy Corinth. I'm sorry, 850 BC. So, almost a thousand years before Paul got there Corinth was a growing city. The city soon became a melting pot for the approximately 500,000 people who lived there at the time of Paul's arrival.

Merchants and sailors, anxious to work the docks, migrated to Corinth. Professional gamblers and athletes, betting on the Isthmian games, took up residence. Slaves, sometimes freed, but with no place to go, roamed the streets day and night, and prostitutes, both male and female, were abundant. People from Rome, the rest of Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, all of the Mediterranean world relished the lack of standards and freedom of thought that prevailed in the city."

And of course Paul went there, shared the gospel with these heathens, and many of them became Christians, and that then of course is the church that Paul wrote this letter to that we're going to study this morning. So, the world around the Corinthians was full of wisdom and truth that was really perverted and did not have God's glory as its object. I thought what we'd do is go through and sort of exegete the passage And then on their last page we have key points, and we'll spend a little bit more time summarizing the interpretation and application from these verses. Paul writes and says, I'll just read the whole passage, "...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 with 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." The first phrase there, in verse 10, "...for to us God revealed them through the Spirit." "...them", is not in the original Greek text, but it's put there by the English translators, and refers to God's wisdom and God's truth, which Paul has been talking about in the preceding verses. We don't have enough time to study 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2, and not even all of chapter 2, so we're just going to look at a few verses here. But what God has revealed is His truth and His wisdom. And that's what our translators are referring to when they say, God revealed them. For to us, God revealed them, His truth and His wisdom, through the Spirit. And the Spirit is the Spirit of God. The member of the Trinity that has revealed God's truth to His apostles and prophets.

And we'll talk a little more about this later, but this could be referring to the inspiration of the New Testament Scriptures. And then Paul says, for the Spirit searches all things. And searches, you see there, footnote C, searches is the Greek word, eranao, And present tense, so right now the Spirit is searching all things. And that word search means to search or examine into. The Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. The depths of God are the deep things of God, things hidden and above man's scrutiny, especially the divine counsels.

The Corinthians had a lot of wisdom. Homer, 950 years before the first century, Homer referred to Corinth as the wealthy city, and for years after that, Corinth had its philosophers, and the people in Corinth would study Greek philosophy, and they were wise, according to human standards. But they didn't know the depths of God. Nobody in Corinth, until Paul got there, understood what the depths of God were, what the truths of God were. If there were Old Testament saints living in Corinth throughout those years, then they would understand, certainly, some truth from the Old Testament Scriptures.

But it wasn't until the Apostle Paul brought the Gospel and started sharing with those that had believed the gospel, the saints, their position in Christ, the identification truths, the future, what would happen when Christ would return. Those truths that Paul would share with the Corinthians are part of the depths of God, the deep things of God. And it's the Spirit that searches all of those depths of God, all the truths of God. And Vincent makes the note in your footnote C. Here, when this word is used of the Spirit, it's not searching in order to discover, but of the ever-active, accurate, careful sounding of the depths of God by the Spirit. And then Paul says, In other words, and we'll see this as we go here in the next two verses, but in other words, what Paul's saying is that the Spirit of God knows the truths of God. That's basically what Paul's saying. And then he gives an example in verse 11.

So in other words, I don't know what Bob's thinking, and nobody in this room, who among men, who among us, knows what, say, Bob is thinking. We don't. We don't know what's going on inside. Only Bob knows, and God, what he's thinking. And then that's why, at the end of verse 11, Paul says, "...even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God." So, the Corinthians, in 1st century AD, and you and I today, in 2004, will not are not able to understand what the thoughts of God are unless they're revealed to us, or illuminated to us by the Holy Spirit. And, of course, now we have the Word of God, you know, the New Testament and Old Testament canon, and the Corinthians didn't have the New Testament Scriptures written as we do today, you know. But... Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

And verse 12, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God. The spirit of the world, if you can look there at footnote H, pneuma is the word for spirit. In this instance, the word means the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of anyone, the efficient source of any power, affection, or emotion, or desire." So the spirit of the world is not referring to an actual spirit like Satan, but rather it's the influence of the world. And in the context of 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, the influence of the world is its wisdom, which is opposed to God's truth and God's wisdom. And Paul says, we have received not the spirit of the world, world as cosmos, which Verne had talked about, I think, last Sunday, when Satan is called the prince of the power of the air. Verne talked about the culture of the world, the rut, the rut of the world, the world's way of life. We have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God. And we'll talk more about that at the end here. So that we may know the things freely given to us by God.

So when a person believes the Gospel, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell them. They're sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit never leaves the believer, but is always in him. A little later we'll look at John 14 and 16, where the Holy Spirit is the one that is teaching the believer and illuminating the truths of the Word to us.

We have received the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. And Paul, in most of his epistles, and the other New Testament authors, they delineate the things that are freely given to us by God. And this would include our position in Christ, the fact that we are identified with Christ and His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. Our citizenship is in heaven. The Holy Spirit is our seal, our guarantee. What are some other things that God has freely given to us? I didn't even mention forgiveness of sins. You saved us.

And also, because of our identification with Christ, the sin nature has no right to control us anymore. By faith we reckon ourselves dead in the sin, alive in the God. And we live in contradistinction to the way that the world is living. We're surrounded by the world, we're in the world, and they're living according to their sin nature. and they're glorifying themselves, but we're among them, depending upon the Lord, and the life of Christ is being lived through us. So, these are some of the truths that... things that are freely given to us by God.

Do you have some more, Richard? You can say, on the vein of forgiveness of sins is past, present, and future. It's not just the ones that you had in the past, so to speak. Right at the present time, anybody could be sinning, and that would be forgiven too. And then the ones that you sinned against in the future, tomorrow or next week or next month, or whenever. So, I mean, it's not just one segment of it, it's past, present, and future. That's right. That's awesome. That is cool.

And remember, the world's wisdom, specifically this is written to the city of Corinth, the Christians living in Corinth. Do you think that the Corinthians' wisdom would have shared this with people? Or the philosophers that lived in Corinth, could they have concocted this, or could they have taught these things? Of course not. But these truths that God taught through Paul to the Corinthian believers, and now to us, because it's part of the Word of God, and we're certainly believers, these things are very different from the teaching of the world. The world doesn't teach anything like this. Nothing. You'll never get this by going to the secular universities, or unfortunately a lot of the Christian universities around.

But it's in God's Word. and because the Spirit indwells us, we are able to understand the things that are freely given to us by God. Then in verse 13, Paul says, which things we also speak, these things given to us by God, God's wisdom, His truth, which things we also speak, and speak is laleo, present, active, indicative, right now, continuing, We are speaking these things.

Not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those words taught by the Spirit. So, you and I, believers today, I don't believe it really matters what our function is in the local body, but we all are teaching, in some degree, maybe to our family, those that shepherding our children, our spouse, our neighbors, people at work, or even people in the local church. We're teaching people, or I'm sorry, we're speaking the words taught by the Spirit. We're sharing with each other, and with unbelievers, God's truth. We're not teaching other people human wisdom.

We don't care, really. what the unbelievers were teaching in the first century AD. I mean, we will study the Greek philosophy because it gives us some insights about the culture around the Bible times, and it helps to understand what the Corinthian believers were thinking, what mindset they were coming from, when Paul wrote them, it helps us to understand their culture and their mindset. But we don't study Greek philosophy to get wisdom. And we certainly don't share Greek philosophy or 21st century secular wisdom with each other for your benefit.

We don't have a class where we... a self-help class or a class today in the church where we're sharing the worldly wisdom with each other. That's not the content of our teaching. what we are teaching is God's Word, God's wisdom. And Paul makes the point to say that here. We are speaking about the things freely given to us by God, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit.

And it's interesting that, it's sad too, some of the first century Christians and second century Christians Primarily the ones that lived in Alexandria, Egypt. Clement of Alexandria was one. They believed that, through Greek philosophy, you could come to a relationship with God. They looked at scripture, Old Testament scripture, and believed that, yeah, an individual can study the Hebrew scriptures and come to God, but also they believed that through the Greek philosophy, a person could study that and end up at a relationship with God as well.

Paul is certainly not teaching that. Then the last phrase in verse 13 says, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. And from the study I did, this is actually a fairly difficult phrase to translate in the Greek. The best The best one seems to be Communicating Spiritual Things by Spiritual Words. That seems to fit the context the best, in my opinion. I only studied this for a week, so there could be a better one. I'm not trying to be post-modern. I only studied this for a limited time here. But Communicating Spiritual Things by Spiritual Words seems to best fit the context here. Then 14.

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." Natural man is... let's see... footnote R... Sūkikās, Sūkikās, Anthropos, natural man, and it's referring to the unbeliever.

The unbeliever, of course, who does not have the Spirit of God, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. And our Greek word there for accept is footnote S, which is dekomai, which means to readily receive information and to regard it as true. So the unbeliever cannot accept God's wisdom or God's truth. He can't take in God's truth and agree that it's true, because he doesn't have the Spirit. is foolishness to him, which we'll see here in a minute.

The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him. Okay? Moria is the Greek word. Foolishness, nonsense, what is thought to be foolish. And this word Paul uses five times in Corinthians, and it's the only place where that word occurs in the New Testament. Does somebody have a Bible and can we look up these real quick? The other verses where Maria, or foolishness, occurs.

How about 1 Corinthians 1.18 and 21 and 23? Does someone mind reading that? of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. What was the other one? Right there, verse 21 and then verse 23. For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to them that believe. Chapter 1 was 319? Verse 23 right there, yeah. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block unto the Gentiles foolishness.

Thanks. And, wow, does somebody want to read chapter 2 verse 14? And then someone else could get 319? 2.14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Thanks. And I just realized that's our verse that we're studying right now. Sorry. And what was the next one? Chapter 3, verse 19. 3.19, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written, He catches the wise in their craftiness. Thanks.

So those are the other five places in the New Testament. I'm sorry, these are the only five places in the New Testament where moria, or foolishness, is used. And chapter 123, it told us that the message of the Gospel, Christ crucified, and that would certainly include the truth for the believer, that the believer was identified with Christ and His death, that teaching is foolishness to the world.

They look at that and they say it's just stupid. I mean, that has no significance, it's offensive to them, you know. It's offensive to many unbelievers that someone would have to die for them. especially God. That offends them. They're not that bad. And then to teach that the way to glorify God would be by resting in the truth of our identification with Him is also just meaningless and foolishness to them, to the unbeliever.

He cannot understand them because they are spiritually understood. at the end of verse 14 there. The unbeliever cannot understand God's truth. Understand is the Greek word ginosko, because they are spiritually appraised. Appraised is anakrino, which means to try to learn the nature or truth of something by the process of careful study, evaluation, and judgment. So, the unbeliever, apart from the Holy Spirit's work of illuminating truth to them, is unable to understand God's Word. And it appears as foolishness to him. He rejects it. Because, end of verse 14, God's truth is spiritually understood, or examined. And I just read the definition of Anacreno. God's truth is only understood by the Spirit. And then verse 15.

But he who is spiritual appraises all things. And spiritual, he who is spiritual is the believer who is depending upon the Holy Spirit, not his sin nature. He who is spiritual appraises, let's see, that's our same word, anacreno. He who is spiritual appraises, understands, carefully studies God's truth. Yet he himself is appraised by no one." Same word there, up for appraised, Anacrina.

And then verse 16, "...for who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." Now, Paul uses this verse, which is out of Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 13, and it seems to be the reason Paul includes this verse here, It emphasizes that who in the world, by their wisdom, or who in the world is able to understand the mind of the Lord? Who's able to instruct the Lord?

And the answer is obviously no one. No one in the world is able to know God's truth because of what we've been studying this morning. We know that it's because they don't have the Spirit. And of course, if they don't know the mind's the Lord's mind they're unable to instruct in.

A couple of the words here, for who has known, that is Gnosko again, who has known the mind of the Lord, mind is nous, and I noted that both mind and Lord, and then mind and Christ, Both of those nouns are inarthorous, which means they don't have the definite article. And when a word does not have the definite article, the character of the word is being emphasized.

So, who has known the character of the Lord's mind, is kind of what Paul is saying. Who has known the character of the Lord's mind? And at the end of that verse he says, but we have the mind of Christ. But we have mind of Christ. We have the character of the Lord's mind.

And that's true because of a couple things. One, because we have the Holy Spirit in us, who's revealing to us, or sorry, illuminating to us the truth of God's Word, so that we can know what God's mind is like, what His truth is, what His wisdom is. But also, because of our union with Christ, the believer, you and I are made one with Christ.

Ephesians 5.30 says that we are bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh. We're joined to Christ. And therefore, positionally, we share His mind. But His mind is revealed to us in the Word by the Spirit.

Alright. That's all I had sort of on just going through the verses, recognizing some of the Greek words, interpreting it a little bit. But then I thought we'd go to this last page and go over the key points of the passage that we just looked at. Do you guys, before we do that, do you guys have anything you wanted to add? You're putting out Y to do, it doesn't have the, is it an extra text?

Okay. I was wondering if that was present active or in passing like the... Let me check for you. I'm assuming it's present passive. I'm just curious. I was hoping it was appraised. Yeah. Present passive, but let me check. Present passive indicative, yeah.

And most people think the way that that's saying is that the unbeliever is unable to judge the believer. Because it's for different creatures, you know? Belong to different citizenships. That's probably the way to look at that verse. Okay. The first main point I make here is that God's wisdom has been revealed through the Spirit. Verse 10, only the Spirit of God knows the deep things of God and is therefore qualified and capable of revealing those truths. And my next point deals with inspiration there. God has revealed His truth through the Spirit to the New Testament authors. And the Holy Spirit was the one, the member of the Godhead that moved the authors of the New Testament to write their scripture.

Let's look at a couple of those verses in 2 Timothy 3, 14-17. Somebody want to read that? It's 2 Timothy 3.14? 3.17, yeah.

If the King is thou in the things which thou hast learned, and has been assured of knowing whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ, all Scripture is given Thanks. So, all scripture has been given through inspiration of God. And that's similar to what we read in verse 10. For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

And the other verse that would be appropriate here is, maybe we'll skip Jude 3 because of time, but can somebody read 2 Peter 1, verses 20-21. Hey Richard, Richard, excuse me Richard. Pardon? That's not the verse I was going for there. Is that second Peter? Yes. 120? That one's a little different. Okay, second Peter. I'm sorry, what did I say guys? 120. 120, that's the one it should be, yeah.

Okay, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of private interpretation. For the prophecy came not at any time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Thanks. So, obviously the Holy Spirit is God, and He knows, therefore, what is God's truth, and He revealed to the New Testament authors that truth for us, and we have that truth today in our Bible, in our Bibles. Point three, believers have received the Spirit of God, not the Spirit of the world, so that they may know God's truth.

And I said we look at John 14, 26, And we'll also read John 16, 13-15. Can somebody volunteer John 14, 26 to read that? Thanks. And then chapter 16, verses 13-15. John 16, 13-15, nevertheless when he, when he the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak for himself, but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come.

He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. In 16, okay. A little while and you shall not see me, and again a little while you shall see me, because I go to the Father. Thanks.

So, we are believers and we have the Holy Spirit, and therefore we're able to understand His truth, God's truth. And again, you don't need the Spirit of God to understand the world's wisdom. Number four, the believer, in conjunction with the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, carefully studies and examines God's Word, so that he may understand God's wisdom.

And I put there, carefully studies and examines God's Word. Because that was the definition of Anacrino, wasn't it? Anacrino, footnote V's in Victor. To try to learn the nature or truth of something by the process of careful study, evaluation and judgment.

Without the work of the Holy Spirit in us, even though we could study all day long the Bible and not be able to understand its truth. But at the same time, the believer needs to Independence upon the Holy Spirit. Carefully study God's Word. Apart from God's Word, the Holy Spirit isn't going to teach us. But it's through the Word of God that the Holy Spirit teaches us today.

Okay. And then the next bullet says, God's wisdom is the content of the believer's teaching. We talked about that a little bit in verse 13. Which things we also speak? Not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit. For sake of time, let's only look at one verse here, and that would be, how about Acts 6,4? and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word?

Okay, so this is... they just decided on... the church chose deacons to take care of the physical needs of the body, and they're making the point that the elders are going to look after the spiritual needs of the body, and specifically, they're going to be teaching the Word. That's just one example that shows the The content of the believer's message is the Word of God. And if you have time later, you can look up those other verses.

The next bullet says, God's wisdom and the unbeliever. The unbeliever, or the natural man, does not have the ability to accept God's wisdom. So, it's foreign to him, he doesn't care, he thinks it's foolishness, and he'll, depending on the circumstances, he'll kill you for it. He doesn't want anything to do with it. it's offensive to them. And believers, of course, have been martyred for their faith, and they still are being martyred today for their faith, for the truth that we teach.

God's wisdom appears as foolishness to the unbeliever, and we looked at those verses a little earlier. The unbeliever cannot understand God's wisdom because he lacks the indwelling Holy Spirit. In Romans 8-9, We can look at that one. Who would like to read that one?

Romans 8 and 9, you, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, that the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Okay, so if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

Lastly, the mind of Christ, which Paul talks about in verse 16. Remember he quotes from Isaiah chapter 40 verse 13, And by the way, that same Old Testament verse is used in Romans chapter 11, verse 33. It's in verses 33 to 36 there. Paul again refers to that verse in Isaiah.

And it emphasizes that the natural man does not have the ability to accept or understand God's mind. Who has known the mind of the Lord that He will instruct him? God alone possesses truth And unless you have a relationship with the Lord, specifically if the Holy Spirit doesn't live in you, then you don't know what God's about. You don't know what His truth is. You do not know God's wisdom.

Then, as we mentioned earlier, the believer positionally has the mind of Christ. But we have, have is echo, present, active, indicative. Right now we are having the mind of Christ. And I say here, because we are in Him now, at the Father's right hand, and because He is our life.

And let's take a look at Colossians 3, verses 1 to 3, and then in a moment, verse 4. And of course there are many verses in the New Testament, both in Paul's epistles and some of the other authors that teach us positional truth. Can somebody read verses 1 to 3 for us?

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3, 1-4. So, verse 1, if you have, since you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

So, we have been raised up, we died with Christ, we're buried with Him, this verse doesn't emphasize those points, but we've also been raised up, resurrected with Christ, then raised up with Christ and seated with Him at the Father's right hand. That's where God the Father sees us right now. He accepts us because He sees us in Christ And Paul here is admonishing us to rest there, abide there, seek the things that are above, where you are in Christ. But it's Christ who we're occupied with, because He's the one who's seated at the right hand of the Father. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. We have His mind positionally.

And then experientially as we grow, His mind certainly is exhibited in you and I, as we walk in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, as Christ's life is being lived through us. And also as we study God's Word then, we come to know what that wisdom is. We come to know what His mind is. And then verse 4, it says, When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Christ is our life. Again, He lives in us. And of course, His mind is exhibited in us here. Last point, number three. The believer has the ability, because of the indwelling Holy Spirit and His illuminating to accept and understand the mind of Christ as revealed in His Word. The unbeliever certainly can't understand God's truth, but we can.

What do you guys have to add to that? And how does this relate to your The study you guys have been going through on the will of God, also. The world and its wisdom isn't going to help us out any, is it? As we seek to understand what decisions to make. We want to make wise decisions based upon God's truth, the wisdom and truth in the Word of God. We shouldn't be looking to the world. They're not going to help us out. Anything they're going to tell us, that's foolishness, that's bobbycock, stay away from it. They're going to have their own ideas about what to do, or what not to do.

I was talking with a fella, an unbeliever, a couple weeks ago, and he was, like me, he was married at 21. He was 21 years old, he got married, and that's how old I was when Amory and I were married. And he was divorced after five years of marriage, this fella. And he made the comment, yeah, you know, a guy when he's 20 grows and changes so much that, you know, marriage is just hopeless, you know, for the 20-year-old, you know. And that was really his assessment of marriage for the 20-year-old, you know. Of course, by God's grace, Anne Marie and I haven't got divorced, you know. And he knew that too, so I'm not sure what his point was.

But the world will tell us all kinds of goofy things about marriage, about life, practical things which we need to make decisions about every day. You know, how to raise our kids, for example, is another one. The world is going to give us all kinds of goofy ideas about that, or how to relate to our kids now that they're grown, and things related to the work world, business world. The world certainly has its ideas on how to conduct business, But God's Word has truth that, although it doesn't address everything in our life specifically, it certainly gives us the principles to live by. Of course, independence upon the Holy Spirit, and now that we understand we have our position in Christ and we're new creation Christians, that certainly affects our perspective as we live here.

But next week, from what I understand, you're going to talk again about God's wisdom. So, I'm sure you'll look at some additional passages that will be helpful there. Let's pray. Lord, thank You for saving us. Thank You for Your Word. And Your Spirit that lives in us, who illumines Your Word and teaches it to us. And we just pray that by Your grace that we would glorify You this week and today. In Jesus' name, Amen.