The reception of the truth which is also by the Spirit of God

We've been working our way through 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And so far, we've studied that the wisdom of God is known by revelation only. The wisdom of God is only made known by Him revealing to man His wisdom. And it's communicated to others by inspiration. And the Holy Spirit does all of those things.

We learned that last couple of times. So now today we're going to take a look at the other side of the spectrum, which at the reception of the truth, which is also taught by the Holy Spirit. But now the emphasis switches to the receiver, which is you and I, believers and non-believers.

We're going to cover 1 Corinthians 2.14-16. I'm going to read it.

But the natural man does not accept or receive the things of the Spirit of God. For their foolishness unto him he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised or discerned. 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 may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."

So, first verse, verse 14, talk about the natural man. What is the natural man? A couple of things can identify him. He's a natural, he comes from the natural world system only. Every human being that's born on this planet is born a natural man. He's born into this environment. He's going to stay in this environment for his whole life until he comes and meets the Lord Jesus Christ.

In James 3.15, James says, Man's wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but man's wisdom is earthly, It's natural and it's demonic. So it refers to anything that's at home with Satan or his world system. I hope you realize that this environment that we live in is the world system is controlled.

He's the prince of the power of the air and he controls it. It also refers to one who lives solely on a material plane. Solely on a material plane. The natural man, there are factors about how he functions and how he operates. And he's natural due to several factors. One is his heredity.

You can't be born physically, spiritually. You come from a natural stock. And so your heredity makes a difference into whether you're spiritual or natural. Also contributing to this is your social environment that you're raised in and the religious training that you had. Some of us grew up in a religious environment, maybe spiritual, maybe not, but it has an influence in the way we see things and the way we receive information. And probably the bottom line is the environment that you live in. You live in the world system at first, and everything the world system puts on you is natural.

It's not spiritual. They may put the label spiritual on it, but it isn't spiritual. So the conscience of an unbeliever has an erratic range. It goes all the way from being good, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden, to really, really bad or evil. The problem with it is that it is totally centered in the self-life. Totally.

2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 in the Amplified says, when they measure themselves, this shows you the genius of the natural man, when they measure themselves with themselves, because that's what they do, and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and they behave unwisely. No matter how wise you think you may be, if you're a natural man, you don't have a choice. You can't behave any other way.

So the word natural refers to one who is untouched by the Spirit of God. Jude 19 says that they are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. The absence of the Holy Spirit is the first sign evidence that the natural man is an unbeliever. Why? How do you know that?

Romans 8, 9 says, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn't belong to Him. That's a pretty simple statement. If you don't have the Spirit of Christ, you don't belong to Him. I don't care what denomination, what religious affiliation, or how spiritual you think you may be.

The natural man, we could say, is any person who does not possess the Holy Spirit. And under that category is every single unbeliever. Every human being, as I said, is born a natural man, and until he or she trusts Christ as Savior and receives the Spirit, he's natural.

Paul called this person natural or a psychos man because he or she is only natural. That's all they can be. He has no supernatural He has no supernatural person indwelling in Him, the Holy Spirit. And His viewpoints, His ideas, are only what is natural. So that's the natural man. Now, there are certain deficiencies that this man has.

Our verse tells us that he does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. He doesn't accept them. You may listen to him, But they're not welcome to him and he doesn't appreciate what is said. I think everybody in this room who's ever had a conversation with a nonbeliever and you gave them the gospel and they rejected it. They did not appreciate what you had to say. They did not appreciate what the word of God had to say.

Guess what? It's natural for them to do that because they don't understand. He may understand what it said. I remember when I was being talked to by these men, I understood the concept. I understood what they were trying to say to me, but I didn't appreciate what they were saying. I didn't understand the value of it. My condition or their condition is really more serious when you think about it.

I don't welcome spiritual things, they don't welcome spiritual things, and he can't welcome spiritual things on his own. That's what this verse tells us. He does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. Why? He has an inability. He has absence of the Holy Spirit.

You may want, I wanted salvation really bad, and I kind of understood what they were saying, but it got to the point where I had to sell out. I had to depend on somebody else to save me and that was really tough because I was a natural man and I got this. I got this. I've been taught all my life that my salvation was my responsibility and even though I wasn't doing a very good job at it, I still had it.

It shows you the lack of wisdom in a natural man. A natural man cannot accept all that God has revealed and has in store for those who love him because he does not possess the indwelling spirit. That's the one criteria that every spiritual man has to have. At best, what happens?

In Romans, we find out that we end up under legal bondage, not because it's imposed on us, but we become a law unto ourself. We make up our own rules as a natural man. And we show that the essential requirements of God's law, even though we don't know the law, are written somehow within us and in our hearts and are operating there. And so our conscience, which really is the controlling factor, a sense of right and wrong or good and evil, bears witness to us about my behavior as either good or bad or somewhere in the middle.

Romans 2.14 and 15 says, for when the Gentiles who do not have the law, do instinctively the things of the law, these not having the law are a law unto themselves. Verse 15 says, in that they show the works of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them. So the conscience becomes the citadel of of your behavior, whether it's good or bad. I'll read it again quickly in a living translation. Even Gentiles who do not have God's written law show that they know His law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God's law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them that they're doing all right.

So even when the unbeliever's conscience is clear, this condition often is accomplished by a combination of rationalizing things and doing a lot of good works. And what does it result in? Self-righteousness. Look how I'm doing. God has got to acknowledge me because I'm doing so many good things based on whose criteria.

The good conscience, the very element, tends to keep us from seeing the need of God's righteousness in our life. If we're so busy as non-believers doing good stuff, we don't need a Savior. We don't need anybody to come and save us. We're well on our way. We think, doing it myself, doing it myself. On the other hand, if my conscience is really bad, and I'm a really evil person, at least from my own perspective, I run away from God.

Because I think, oh my goodness, this is really a desperate situation. My personal unworthiness is so bad that God would never accept me. I worked in a mission when I was first a Christian, and I'd stand out in front, it was down on 17th and Larimer, and people would walk by and some would come in. A guy came by one day, He said, I'd come in there, but I'm just too much of a sinner. And I'm a brand new Christian, I don't know how to respond to that. And my buddy who's standing next to me says, you're too prideful to come in. And so we talked to this guy for about ten minutes, and then he walked away. Because he really thought he was too bad to be saved. He was convinced of that.

It is only the Holy Spirit who can convict the man in his mind and his heart and his conscience concerning sin, whether of self-righteousness or of worthiness, that the sinner can see his need for turning to Christ. That's the key, a need to turn to Christ. So the word foolishness in these verses has to do with silliness or absurdity.

1 Corinthians 1.18 says, for the word of the cross, and we studied this a month ago, is foolishness to those who are perishing, but also, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. The cross of Christ is foolish. The word translated in this verse, appraised, has to do with properly scrutinize. It has to do, it's a word used of investigating evidence. in a judicial proceeding and arriving at a conclusion.

Spiritual evidence can only be appraised by a spiritual person. With the Holy Spirit being absent, one does not have the ability to investigate and conclude correctly in the spiritual realm of things. That's a really tough one, I think, because we've all talk to non-believers with an effort to try to lead them to Christ, and we get way, way, way away from the basic salvation message. And we're given testimonies and stories and reasons, but there isn't any spiritual logic.

It's interesting that the gospel message is very clear and very short. And you know, and the Word of God is powerful, it alone, the words are powerful. My ability to persuade you about the Word of God is minimal compared to what the Holy Spirit does just with those words. So the natural person can, of course, understand the gospel, get the concept of it, and he can experience salvation, but only because the Holy Spirit illuminates his or her understanding. Paul didn't mean that unbelievers are incapable of understanding Scripture. They can read it. However, an unbeliever rejects and does not accept all that God wants for him or her to have. Verse 9.

One of these things is eternal life through faith in His Son. It seems at first, if you're called to Christ as an adult, it just seems moronic that by simple faith, in the person and work of Christ, that God will save me for all eternity. I remember saying to these guys that were trying to lead me to Christ, you mean to tell me that if I believe what you're telling me, that I don't have to ever do anything else? And they said, yeah, that's right.

I said, that makes no sense. No sense to who? The natural mind. I couldn't understand what grace was all about. I thought I've got to do something. And they said, no, all you have to do is believe the gospel and believe Christ and God will save you for all eternity. Well, that took me a while to digest that one because I thought, you just don't become a Christian and not do anything. They said, we didn't say that. You'll do plenty. Your life will be very exciting, but you don't have to do anything to secure your salvation. It's all done for you.

It'll help us to think clearly about this issue if we recognize in 1 Corinthians 2 what we're talking about is not concerned with the mechanics of how people understand Bibles generally or the quality of a particular scholar's exegesis. Exegesis means an explanation or a critical interpretation of the text for some specific Greek or Hebrew text.

His focus is on the fundamental message of a crucified Messiah, a crucified Christ. And this, he insists, is fundamentally incomprehensible to the mind without the Spirit of God. 2.15 and 16 now says, Yet he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised of no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he would instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."

So the question is, who is spiritual? Who are the spiritual men? We might say that the spiritual is not simply that he has the spirit that discerns all things. A man must have the spirit to be spiritual, but being spiritual implies a condition in which a man is under the control of the Holy Spirit. He is a man or a woman who is indwelt and controlled by the Holy Spirit. And dwelling alone does not make a person spiritual in the use of the word spiritual here.

1 Corinthians 3.16, which we'll get to in a couple of weeks, Paul says, Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God indwells you. The indwelling of the Spirit of God makes you a spiritual man. It does not make you spiritual.

Because next week, 1 Corinthians 3.1, Paul says, And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men. Why? But as men of the flesh, as infants in Christ. So there's a difference between having the Spirit indwelling you and having the Spirit controlling you.

And that's what this issue is here in these verses Paul is talking about. And we're going to go through by the time the end of next week, we'll have talked about three kinds of men. One is a natural man, which we talked about already. Now we're going to talk about the spiritual man, but next week we'll talk about the carnal man, which I'm sure if you're like me, you really can identify with this guy.

The characteristics of a spiritual man, a believer who rests in his position rather than his condition. I think everybody here knows what the difference between a position and condition or your standing before God and your state. Your position is that you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ in the heavenlies. We're in Christ. We're seen by the Father as being in Christ. We're perfect.

That's my position. However, my condition is how I live my life here, and it may line up with my position once in a while, and it may not line up with my position once in a while. A spiritual man is one who rests in his position rather than his condition, and he abides in his risen Lord in the presence of the Father, and that person is growing spiritually.

He's fully assured of 1 Peter 3.18. For Christ also died for the sins once and for all, the just for the undressed, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit. He knows he's alive. He knows his position. By simple faith in the facts, he acknowledges his place in Christ, who is his life. The one who, in Hebrews 1-3, when he had by himself, the Lord Jesus, purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

We don't think that sit down is a big deal. You only sit down when the job is over. You don't sit down in the middle of it. The Lord Jesus sat down because the sin issue was eternally Resolved that minute he sat down and a spiritual man understands that Knowing his sins to be purged once and for all his conscience is thereby clear and Hebrew sense of Hebrews 10 to The worshiper once purged conscience purged You have no more conscience of sins. You say well, wait a minute. I Have sins all the time and I think about them.

I Well, the spiritually minded believer is really conscious of sin in him, but he's fully assured that there is no sin on him. Do you see what that difference is? All his sin has been laid upon Christ. I may have active sinfulness in my sin nature, which I've been separated from, But there's no sin attached to me anymore.

God does not look at me as a sinner. I mean, I drive by that place out in Aurora where you go to Costco, that great big church out there, and it says, sinners welcome here. I can't go in there. Because from my position, I'm not a sinner anymore. I'm positioned in Christ. I don't have any sin on me. I have sin in me. Big difference.

A spiritual man understands that principle, and he knows and lives by that principle. When a growing believer sins, his conscience and communion with the Father being disturbed, he freely confesses his sins. In Hebrews 4.16, he can come boldly to the throne of grace in order that he may obtain mercy and find grace in the time of need. He knows His resources. He knows who He is, where He is, and what He has in Christ.

His condition and all of our conditions may be needy, but we are all indwelt by the principle of sin. No question about that. But I live and you live by your position in Christ Jesus. He knows that the Lord Jesus Christ is faithful and just to forgive him his sins and to cleanse him from all unrighteousness. All he has to do is confess. He also has recourse to the truth when he does sin. He has, 1 John 2, 1, he has an advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous.

Your sins are between the Father and you because Christ stands in front of them. And there isn't any sin that you've ever committed or will commit that hasn't been taken care of on the cross. You know, the old saying that everybody in this room's sins were future when Christ died, right? None of you were around at the time of the cross, but he got all of yours and he got all of mine.

Spiritual man knows that. He confesses freely because he wants the fellowship. Consequently, a pure conscience and a communion are restored and maintained and he's free to continue his fellowship with the Father and the Son. So John tells us in 1 John, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

It is neither the possession of the Spirit nor the actual spiritual taste that makes us spiritual. It's the work and control of the Holy Spirit in us. Now, the mark of a spiritual man is that he can judge all things according to God and not according to man. Boy, that's a really cool ability to have. A believer might appear from his love of the truth or his ability to impart knowledge of Scripture to be very spiritual.

Yet, when he acts or gives counsel about an action, or a course of action, it would be seen from which side did he come from? Did he come at it from God's side or did he come at it from man's side? Where was his opinion formed in solving a problem? Did it come from God's side or did it come from man's side? What's interesting is that the action or the counsel will indicate whatever act it is, it will show which side controls us. Is our solution natural or is it spiritual?

The act necessarily tells us the nature of who controls us. A man is not controlled by the Spirit if he acts in nature all the time. It is an act, therefore, that indicates what's within. We were talking this morning in Romans class, we were in chapter 13, and we were talking about policing authorities and governments.

Well, you know how we are about that. Especially in this age of the coronavirus and all this stuff that's going on, demonstrations. Are we under the control of the Spirit of God? Did God put them in place? Yeah, He did. So the debate continues probably for the next three or four Sundays. It's going to be interesting to see where people fall.

A spiritual man, there must be a power someplace for him to act spiritually. We can have the desire to be right or spiritual, but faith is only shown by works. In other words, you don't know if I have faith or not unless you see me operating. Because I can tell you I have faith, and you can say, that's nice. Where is it? I don't see it. James says, you know them by their works, what your faith is.

So what controls us as a spiritual person? It orders my course of my action. The Spirit should always be the dominant factor and the greater power. Therefore, it is pointless to say that one is taken unawares to excuse one's bad conduct. If you have the sin nature in you, the sin nature is at home in you. The Spirit of God isn't. This new life you have operates in an environment it's not used to. Your sinful body with a sin nature. So what controls me orders my course of action. The conduct is evidence of the power which is paramount. So you can't fake it. You know, who is it, the guy said, fake it until you make it. Can't do that. You can always tell.

Consequently, though there are spiritual growth in the soul, yet if the flesh is not held in a place of death, by the constant working of the cross applied by the Holy Spirit, there will be an acting in the flesh. The flesh is uppermost. It is ever ready, if not mortified, to express itself and dominate.

We must ever remember that the natural man and the natural mind of the flesh is as it were at home in us. The spiritual mind is the stranger and quite beyond the natural, all its desires and thoughts. Therefore, the easy and ready thing for man is to look at the things according to nature and not according to God. So, in order to judge of the things according to God, You have to set aside suggestions of nature and inquire how the Word of God would lead. And this is faith and not sight and feeling. I remember what a great lesson Hal Malloy used to say. You could go to him with a problem or with a question. His answer was always the same.

Well, let's go in the Word and see what the Word has to say about that. That's a really important point. Everything we do and think and want to be involved in, we should check it out with the Word of God to see if that's what God's mind is about it. And the Spirit will lead you to the right place. Faith looks to God, sees His mind, and accepts it.

Not only as the best, but quite possibly the only solution to a situation I'm in, even though it may be improbable to nature. So the Greek word for spiritual, numiktakos, ends in the suffix i-k-o-s, which refers to the character of something. So the spiritual man, this term in Greek refers to the character of the man. The Holy Spirit characterizes the spiritual believer. You can tell. In contrast to the unbeliever, he is able to come to correct conclusions in the spiritual realm. Verse 16, For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Now, we have here what is known as a syllogism. And any of you who have ever studied logic or philosophy, a syllogism is a really interesting creation. It comes with a strong premise, or a major premise, a minor premise, and it concludes. I'll give you an example.

First premise, all men are human. True? Minor premise, all humans are mortal. True. Therefore, all men are mortal. That's a syllogism. Strong premise. Minor premise. Conclusion. Major premise. No one can instruct God. Minor premise. We have God's mind. Conclusion. No one can instruct us. What do you think? No one can instruct us about spiritual things.

It is only by God's grace that we possess His Word. True wisdom is God's wisdom. So to have this thing called a syllogism right in the middle here is a really interesting thing for us as a believer. It isn't arrogant to have really sound spiritual logic. It's by God's grace that we have it. It's by His grace that we possess His Word. True wisdom and God's wisdom is revealed in the Word of God.

And how can those who reject that Word instruct those who possess it? They can't do it. It's impossible. Verse 14, the apostle speaks of the natural man. But people who aren't spiritual cannot receive the truths of the Spirit of God. It all sounds foolishness to them. They can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand it. Then in verse 15, those who are spiritual can evaluate things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated of others.

For who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach Him? But we understand these things because we have the mind of Christ. In verse 15, the apostle tells us the spiritual discerns all things. It is not actually that anyone naturally knows the mind of the Lord or can instruct him. Can't do it. But the Lord has given to believers his spirit and instructs them.

And so such of us can say we have the mind of Christ. If the first chapter in 1 Corinthians shuts out the flesh and its pride of birth and power and positions so that he will let him who glories glory in the Lord only, then this second chapter shuts out the mind of man and says, so that believers may be let into the privilege of having the mind of Christ. So, in closing, the Spirit is the great theme of chapter two.

If Paul brings the testimony of God to sinners, It is in the demonstration of the Spirit and power, in verse 4. If God has prepared great blessings for those who love Him, they are revealed to the Apostle by the Spirit, verse 10. The things that are revealed by the Spirit are fully known to the Spirit, verses 10 and 11. The things revealed and known to the Apostles are, through them, communicated to others by the Spirit, verse 13. The things communicated by the apostles are received by the Spirit, verse 14. The result being that the believers are, through the Spirit, instructed in the mind of Christ.

Let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you. Boy, the blessings that you have in store for those who love you are just magnificent. the fact that we can know Your mind, we can abide with You. I think how wonderful it will be when we're face to face with You, sharing Your mind and knowing everything about You. It's just going to be a magnificent, magnificent time. We thank You, Father, for the grace that we live under. We pray in Your Son's precious name. Amen.