Take your Bibles and open them up to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We've been talking about wisdom. That's why I thought of that song, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise. When you think about the wisdom of God, Christ has become to us the wisdom of God, the power of God. Our faith does not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God, the Word of the Cross. Who is it that has planted the church? Well, some men sow the seed, some men water that seed, but God is the one who causes the growth, and God is the one who gets the credit for all the things that happen as far as regeneration, salvation, faith, sanctification, Justification redemption these are all the work of God they happen only by the power of God that Work and word of Jesus Christ is not revealed in our hearts by human means by fleshly means but the father who is in heaven reveals these things in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that he gives That's why in chapter 1 verse 4, Paul was able to sincerely give the thanks to God for this church in Corinth. Because God is the one who planted the church. God is the one who caused them to respond to the Word. It wasn't Paul's hard work that caused the church to be planted here, although Paul did work hard. It wasn't Paul's intelligence and preaching that caused the church to grow and be planted in Corinth, but it was the fact that God said, I have many people in this city. Paul did the same work in other cities that he did in Corinth, and he did not have the fruit that he had in Corinth. But a large number of people were saved in Corinth, a great church was established there, but it was a church that was not without problems. And one of the problems that the church in Corinth had, and the first one that Paul wanted to deal with, as he wrote this letter of 1 Corinthians to them, one of his longest letters, and one that has most direct practical teaching as it confronts the problems that are in the church. You know, you look at the book of Romans, in the book of Romans there's 12 chapters, of doctrinal teaching unfolding the gospel of Jesus Christ and then a few chapters that build off of that with the practical ramifications. Look at the book of Ephesians and you've got about half of that book doing the teaching on what the church is and then the second half of that book explaining what our response is supposed to be to what God has done in building the church. Well, you don't have any long doctrinal section to start off this book of Corinthians, but after the thanksgiving for God redeeming them and choosing them and calling them to salvation and giving them so many spiritual blessings of the spiritual gifts that they were so rich in, Paul jumps right into exhortation. In chapter 1 verse 10, Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and there be no divisions among you. but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment." And that beginning part of chapter 1 that we looked at together was all about the unity that God is calling us together as His people, as His church. Not only united with the local congregation, but united with all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in every place. And that is a theme that Paul has been developing at the very beginning of this letter. And the source of their division is then dealt with at the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2, was that they were learning to lean on worldly wisdom for carrying out the ministry, instead of leaning on the wisdom of God. And when the church gets divided, it's because they stop listening to the word of God, And they've started to come up with other plans and other ideas. They've started to follow leadership that is not speaking the mind of Christ, the simple word of Christ and the cross of Christ in the gospel, but they've gotten other ideas. And they're drawing away the disciples from following the leadership of Jesus Christ. And this was happening in this church In unique, interesting ways, you look in chapter 1 verse 12, you see some were saying, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Kephas, and I am of Christ. They were dividing up around some of the leaders that God had used in establishing their church. And the main division was between those who were followers of Paul and those who were followers of Apollos. They're the first two that are mentioned. And then these two are also mentioned in chapter 3, once again, as the ones that seem to be the largest groups dividing around this. Because Paul... He was the planter of the church, and then Apollos was the pastor who came in after Paul had left and spent a year and a half there in Corinth, and then moved on to other churches to plant. And Apollos came over and then was teaching the Word of God powerfully. And Apollos, he taught the same gospel. He was following the same Lord. They were doing the same work together. They were united together. But then, people started to divide around what they perceived as the own personal strengths and weaknesses of these two men. And it became a following of a personality, rather than a following of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And those that enjoyed this pursuit of Greek wisdom, and Greek eloquence, and Greek oratory, they were very attracted to the ministry of Apollos, because Apollos was a man who was not only mighty in the Scriptures, but the Scriptures described him as an eloquent man. Now, I believe the book of Hebrews was written by Apollos, just my own personal view. And the book of Hebrews is the best Greek in the New Testament. And it's got an oratorical Greek introduction. It seems very much like something that a man like Apollos, who was from Alexandria and was well-educated and was a Greek Jew, that he would write that type of introduction and that type of book. And so those who were interested in eloquence and philosophy, they started to say, well, he's better than the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul, he's kind of a simple man, he's kind of contemptible in his public appearance and in his public speaking. We just kind of got the basics with him, but now we're moving on to greater wisdom. And not only were they focusing on this eloquence, but they were also mixing in all aspects of man's wisdom together with their faith in Jesus Christ. And by doing that, they were nullifying the power of the cross. Look at chapter 1, verse 17. Christ sent Paul, not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. The preaching of the Gospel was the essence of Paul's ministry and message. And that this preaching of the Gospel, it's a proclamation, it's an announcement, it's serving as a herald. It's not necessarily the preaching that we normally think of, of what I'm doing right now, but it's how you get news out into a community. This is what our televisions do for us today. This is what our newspapers do for us today. The Omaha World Herald is, it's preaching, it's announcing important events that are going on. News that people need to know. And the Gospel is news. It is good news. as opposed to most of what is on television and in the newspapers. This is good news. It is THE good news. Now, you might have other types of somewhat good news, but nothing compares to the message of the cross of Jesus Christ. And that gospel that is being announced and proclaimed through this public proclamation is not to be done, in verse 17, in cleverness of speech. Because when you do it in cleverness of speech, in the word of wisdom, literally, When you do it in the Word of Wisdom, then the Word of the Cross is made void. Why is it that the Word of Wisdom would nullify the Word of the Cross? Come back with me to the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 2. We took a break from Isaiah, but it's fun to see how all the different parts of Scripture say the same thing. We can move from Isaiah all the way to 1 Corinthians 800 years later in the plan of God. And find that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Word of God does not change. Now, there were certain mysteries that God had not revealed in the Old Testament that He has revealed to us now. We'll be talking some about mystery today in Lord Willing. But the truth of God, the character of God, the nature of God and His work in the world, it hasn't changed. The same lessons that He was trying to teach Israel, that they were so slow to learn, the same lessons He's trying to teach the church, that we also are so slow to learn. The Corinthians have to be taught this over and over again. The Gospel is all about human inability and God's ability. We, in our flesh, are all about self-sufficiency. And this is what the scripture describes as pride. We rely upon ourselves, we look to ourselves, we solve our problems ourselves, we think we have our own resources and our own wisdom and our own power. This is what the scriptures refers to as pride. And this is what God has always been against, from the very beginning, in Genesis, when Adam and Eve bought into the lie that they could be like God. They could rise up like Satan thought he could rise up above God and be like God. This pride from the very beginning that seeks to unseat God from the throne, that seeks to become self-sufficient and self-reliant. self-determined that makes the center of the universe myself and humanity rather than the creator God. This is something that God has been working against from the very beginning and the gospel is designed to defeat and to destroy human pride and human self-sufficiency. Isaiah chapter 2 verses 11 and 12. The proud look of man will be abased, and the loftiness of man will be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day." The new world that God is creating, it's a world that is built on the ruin and the destruction of human pride and exaltation. And God brings in the glory of the kingdom by destroying the glory of man. the loftiness of man, the proud look of man. Look at verse 12. The Lord of hosts will have a day. And my translation adds an explanatory phrase, a day of reckoning. The Lord of hosts will have a day against everyone who is proud and lofty and against everyone who is lifted up that he may be abased. And just go look at some of the practical examples that he lists then in verses 13 and following. against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan, against all the lofty mountains, against all the hills that are lifted up, against every high tower and against every fortified wall, against all the ships of Tarshish, against all the beautiful craft. And the pride of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men will be abased, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. Most of what he's listed in here is military might. The cedars of Lebanon were the tallest trees. They're the ones that were best for construction of palaces, of fortresses. When they built the palace, when they built the temple, they got the cedars from Lebanon. This was where you got the best wood for construction of this Ultimate human self-sufficiency and protection. How are we going to defend ourselves? How are we going to establish ourselves? We're going to do it through fortresses. We're going to do it through palaces. This is the foundation of human might. And they built these things on mountains. The mountains were the best place of defense. The enemy has to scale up. If you've got the high ground, it's easily defensible. So they built their fortresses on the mountains. And then he talks about every high tower. So you've got a mountain, and then you put a tower on the mountain, and you've got an even stronger defense. And you say, well, nobody's going to be able to attack me. No one's going to be able to destroy me. I'm going to be able to be safe and secure. This self-sufficiency that we have in our military. Sounds contemporary as well. We think we can solve our own problems, we think we have our own wisdom, and yet look at the world that we live in. We elect those who are wise, they have councils full of PhDs, they all get together, the smartest people in America, and can they solve our problems? No. Our problems seem to get worse year by year, election by election, because the wisdom of man cannot accomplish the righteousness of God. And the righteousness of God is designed to destroy the wisdom of man, to humble the pride of man, and to exalt the Lord alone. And therefore, to take human wisdom and human pride, and to try to bring it together with the message of the Gospel, is to nullify the Gospel. Because they have completely different ends. They have completely different goals. They are opposite. They cannot be mixed. And the preaching of the Gospel nullifies the wisdom of the world. Look at chapter 3 in Isaiah, verse 16. Moreover, the Lord said, Because the daughters of Zion are proud, and walk with heads held high, and seductive eyes, and go along with mincing steps, and tinkle the bangles on their feet." The accusation that God has against the women of Zion is their pride of their beauty. The men have the pride of their strength, the pride of their fortresses, the pride of their power. God's going to humble that. He's going to destroy it. He's going to abase it. The pride of woman, her beauty, her charm. God says, I'm going to destroy that as well. All of the pride and self-sufficiency, self-reliance of mankind, it's an enemy of the righteousness of God. You come over to chapter 4, verses 2 and 3. In that day, that glorious day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious. Who is the one who deserves the beauty? Who is the one who deserves the glory? It's not the sinful men of this world, it's not the sinful women of this world, but the branch of the Lord, the humble servant of the Lord, the one who is filled with the Spirit of the Lord, who gave himself in the love of God to redeem sinners, his enemies. That is the one who is beautiful. That is the one who is glorious, and that is what we are looking forward to. Also, look at chapter 5 and verse 21. Still in Isaiah. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. If you think you are wise in this world, Paul says you have to become a fool. And that's what has always been the message. If we are wise in the eyes of men, we are actually fools in the eyes of God. And if we seek to be respected as wise in the world, well then we will, by necessity, have to reject the wisdom of God. Because the world does not accept the wisdom of God, it does not respect the wisdom of God, and if I'm going to be respected as a wise man, then I cannot preach the cross. I will be thought of as a fool. They are mutually exclusive. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, clever in their own sight. God's design and goal is to humble man's wisdom, and He will do it. Come over to chapter 11, verse 2. Who has wisdom? God only wise. Chapter 11 verse 2 talks about this branch, this stem from the Jesse that we just read about in chapter 5. The spirit of the Lord will rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding. The spirit of counsel and strength. The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And it's all found in the Spirit of God. He is wisdom. He understands the universe. He created the universe. He sustains the universe. He controls every atom and molecule in the universe. He understands the big scale. He understands the small scale. He understands humanity. He understands angels. He understands himself fully. He is wisdom. He knows how things work. He knows how things get done. Man, in his wisdom, leaves out, always, God Almighty and God Only Wise. He suppresses the knowledge of the truth, professing to be wise. He becomes a fool. Man's wisdom is folly in the eyes of God, just as God's wisdom is folly in the eyes of man. This incompatibility is the big idea in 1 Corinthians 2. Now before you come back to 1 Corinthians, stop over in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 9. This is a verse that Paul quotes. not only in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, but he quotes it again in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, because the Corinthians are so slow to learn this lesson. It's so hard for us to accept this truth that our wisdom is useless to God. That we have to throw it all out and start over from the fear of the Lord and the ABCs of the cross of Christ. And only build our wisdom based upon the Word of God. That's so hard for us to learn that lesson and we're still trying as churches to take what's best of the world's wisdom and contribute it to God in the church. And God says, no, I don't want the world's wisdom. Look at Jeremiah chapter 9, verses 23 and 24. Thus says the Lord, Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. For I delight in these things, declares the Lord. There's people in the world who are wise. We don't call them wise men anymore. We call them doctors. We call them presidents, congressmen, lawyers, whatever. The well-educated, the intelligent, those who know how the world works, so to speak, and how to get things done. Those wise men, God says, you can't boast in that wisdom. There are those in this world who are rich. They've got the businesses, they've got the power, they've got politicians counseling with them and seeking their advice. They are rich and powerful. And God says, you don't have anything to boast in either. You don't have anything that I can use. There are those in this world who are mighty, who are heads of nations, who are kings, who are presidents, who are premiers. These men and all of their power, God says, I'm bringing it all to naught, and it's meaningless. But there's one thing that is meaningful. There is one thing that you can boast in, and that is if you know the Lord. If you don't know the Lord, you don't know anything. He is. Meaning, He is the source of existence, He is the source of knowledge, He is the source of wisdom. Not knowing the Lord is being cut off from wisdom, being cut off from knowledge, being cut off from power, being cut off from riches. And any wisdom and power and riches and might that you might have apart from the Lord, it is a temporary, it is a fading, it is a dying power, riches and glory. I always like to use the example of the branch because God likes to use the example of the branch. You go out to one of these trees out here, maybe one of the fruit trees outside of your home. Cut off one of the branches. Still looks the same. Still seems to be functioning. The fruit on it still seems to be good. Come back and look at that branch a year from now. What's it going to look like? Dead. No life. That's what people in the world are like. They've been cut off from the source of life. They might look like they have power, they might look like they have riches, they might look like they have wisdom, but come back and look at them a hundred years from now and what will you see? Dead. You have to get your riches, your wisdom, your power from the Lord, through the Lord, through the Word of the Gospel, the Cross of Christ, or it is meaningless. It is empty. It is dying. It is temporary. What we receive is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord, and eternal wisdom that is so different from the changing wisdom of the world. Alright, 1 Corinthians. Let's pick up where we left off last time. We'll start in verse 6. What is God's wisdom? Well, one of the first things we need to look at in order to understand what God's wisdom is, is to understand what God's wisdom is not. And so let's go ahead and read verses 6 through 16. Some of these verses will tell us what God's wisdom is. Some of these verses will tell us what God's wisdom is not. And we'll take a look at what it's not, and then we'll take a look at what it is. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. But we speak God's wisdom, in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory, the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood. For if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But just as it is written, Things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him. For to us God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the Spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might 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 a 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 man, for who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. So what is God's wisdom not? First of all, it's not carnal. It's not fleshly. And we're talking about what's carnal and what's fleshly. We're talking about what belongs to our nature apart from God. The fleshly man, the carnal man, this is the man who lives his life not being plugged into the life of God. He has a life that is completely centered in this world. He has a life that is completely focused on this world. The scripture describes him as an earth dweller in the book of Revelation. He's an earth dweller. This is his home. This is his hope. This is where all of his thoughts and dreams reside. He's an earth dweller. This is a fleshly man, a man who does not worship the God who created the universe, but who worships a God of his own creation. Whether he worships a God of power, whether he worships a God of riches, whether he worships a God of fame, whether he worships his career, whether he worships his reputation, whether he worships his family, whatever it is that he worships and lives his life for, he's not worshiping the God who created him. He's a fleshly man. He has no access to the Spirit of God. He has no access to eternal life. He's a mere human being cut off from God. And the wisdom of God is not fleshly. It's not carnal. It's not worldly. You see in verse 12, There's the spirit of the world and there's the spirit that's from God. The spirit of the world is a phrase that just describes the atmosphere of the world, the thinking of the world, the rationale, the philosophy, the approach to life, the way that the world just is. And there's a spirit of the world. That spirit is universal. It's not a personal spirit. It's not talking about Satan here who's the ruler of this world. But this is just talking about the impersonal general held beliefs and thinking and pattern of life of everyone who is apart from God. And that is completely opposite of the Spirit of God. And Paul wants to remind the Corinthians of the incompatibility and the mutual exclusiveness of those spirits. The Spirit of the world and the Spirit of God. That God's wisdom is not worldly. And so whatever wisdom man has in the world, it's in a totally different category than the wisdom that comes from the Spirit of God. Also, God's wisdom is not temporary. Just like God's life is not temporary, we have eternal life, we also have a wisdom that never changes. Man's theories, man's philosophies, man's knowledge, man's science, they change from age to age, from generation to generation, disproving what's come before, coming up with new theories that are continually changed. Political systems and governments, always changing, one overthrowing another. This age has been passing away, it is passing away, and it will pass away. It's temporary in so many different respects. You can look at it from all those different angles. God's wisdom is not that way. It never changes. It never gets updated. It never comes out with 3.0. It's the same. You can't improve upon perfection. Look at chapter 3 verses 1-3 in 1 Corinthians. I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. Since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and are you not walking like mere men? See, the flesh dwells in this area of sin, not in righteousness. And therefore, jealousy, strife, self-seeking, self-aggrandizement, these are all the motivations and the foundations of a worldly wisdom of how do I promote myself and get myself ahead in this world and attain my idols in this world. You have to completely unlearn all of that. You can't redeem any of that type of wisdom, any of that selfishness, any of that self-seeking, all the wisdom that's built on top of sin. It can't be redeemed. But you have to start over. You have to go back to the ABCs and learn the basic principles of God's wisdom. You see, he addresses them as spiritual babes in Christ. And that's the picture of being born again. When you're born again, you start off as a baby. And Peter described it this way, as newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word. And babies, they start off, they learn the most simple principles, the basic principles. Now, somebody's a PhD, And they get saved and they say, well, I've got all this expertise, I've got all this training, I've got all this respect in the world. Now I'm a Christian. I'll just take all of this and use it for the cause of Christ. And you say, no, you can't do that. All of that is incompatible with Christ. You have to completely start over. Everything you thought you knew was wrong. had the wrong foundation, had the wrong goal, had the wrong principles, had the wrong terminology, had the wrong categories, you gotta start over. You're new. You're like a baby. And all that old stuff, it's passed away. And once you learn the foundational principles of the fear of the Lord, then you can start to go on and learn wisdom. Because there is wisdom, right? There is tremendous wisdom to be found in Christ. As He says in verse 6, we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, but it's not a wisdom of this age. Look at chapter 3, verses 18 through 20. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish, that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless. All that stuff, useless. The Apostle Paul did this in his own life. Remember what he wrote in Philippians chapter 3? I was a Hebrew of the Hebrew, a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He said, well I've come to Christ, now I can use all that to serve Christ. He said, no. I count that all rubbish. And I've started over with a whole new life. I'm a new creation in Jesus Christ. Whatever things were before, I count them as loss. And now I have Christ as my gain. So this is the approach that we need to encourage those who are wise in this world to take. Throw out that wisdom of the world and start over as a spiritual baby in Jesus Christ in order that you may really become wise. Let's look at what God's wisdom is in the minutes that we have left. Look at verse 7. God's wisdom is spoken in a mystery. It's described as a hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory. It's secret, it's hidden, it's predestined. It's one that none of the rulers of this age have understood. And we already quoted last week, Matthew 11, verse 25, but I'll remind you of what Jesus said again. I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. It's a secret wisdom. It's a hidden wisdom. God has kept it secret from the world. He's kept it hidden from the world. And it's a wisdom that wasn't fully revealed until the coming of Jesus Christ and the preaching of the Gospel. This idea of a mystery, it's not something that is really hard to figure out, but you can figure out. It's something that is impossible to figure out, that nobody could know. by investigation, by science, by rational thinking or philosophical inquiry. Nobody could have discovered the Gospel of Jesus Christ prior to God revealing it and declaring it and proclaiming it by the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and then through His Apostles and Prophets. This is what it means that it's a mystery. God revealed a lot of things in the Old Testament. But He didn't reveal everything. This is what's called progression of revelation. God started with certain basic principles in the Old Testament, and building on those principles, He reveals more and more. And in the fullness of times, Jesus Christ came and said, I don't call you servants anymore, but I call you friends. Because everything that the Father has told me, I've revealed to you. And the Holy Spirit opens up the whole mind of Christ, the whole counsel of God. Every spiritual treasure in the heavenly places, He is pouring out richly upon the church. All of the power of God, all the wisdom of God, this mystery that was hidden in times past, is now revealed in Christ Jesus, in the body of Christ Jesus, the church. This word mystery is a huge word in Ephesians. As I studied mystery in preparing this message, you find it five times in Ephesians. I also want to remind you what Romans 16.25 says. Listen to this. Now, to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, the gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery. See, God has revealed this mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past. but now has been revealed. That's what Paul describes his gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ in Romans 16.25 as this mystery. So God's wisdom is the gospel. It's the cross of Christ. It's this mystery that He didn't make known in former times, but now He is revealed through Jesus Christ, through the apostles and prophets, through the body of Christ and the church. It's not something that comes from the world. It is not borrowed from the world. The world doesn't have anything to contribute to it. It's a new creation. It's a new order. It's the beginning of the new heavens and the new earth, the new world. Christ in you, the hope of glory. And this is revealed by the Spirit. So it's secret and it's hidden and it's predestined. And it's the Spirit of God that reveals it. If you want to understand God's wisdom, what real wisdom is, you have to understand it's spiritual. And by spiritual we mean that it only comes from the Spirit of God. Those who do not have the Spirit of God have no access to this wisdom. It only comes from the Spirit of God. He's God only wise. That's what he says in verse 10. To us, God revealed them through the Spirit. And the Spirit of God, I just love that phrase at the end of the verse, He searches all things, even the depths of God. The Spirit of God, He searches even the depths of God. And what are the depths of God? It's deeper than deep. It's deeper than I can think or you can think. It's deeper than the oceans and the heavens and all the universe and the Spirit of God that you've received, that I've received, who is our teacher, who is our guide, who is our instructor, who is our friend, who is our counselor, who is our helper, who is with us every day of every hour. He knows all things. He searches all things. And He searches even the depths of God. And you want to go to the world that rejects God, that hates God, that tramples the blood of Jesus Christ and say, what can we learn from them? Well, what does that say about your respect for your teacher? Respect your teacher. Appreciate what you have. Throw out that old stuff and appreciate the depths of God, the Spirit of God is revealing to us through the Word of the Cross. secret to the world, hidden for ages, but now is given to us for our glory. You have a wisdom, you have a glory, you have a power, you have a resource and a strength that no one else has access to. The world will not accept our wisdom, so why should we go and accept theirs? They see the incompatibility, and yet we sometimes don't see the incompatibility. How foolish. That's why this letter is so important for the Church at Corinth. It's so important for the Church in America. It's so easy for us to lean on an arm of flesh when we have so much worldly wisdom and power and riches to lean on. So guard our hearts, yours and mine. I like what Proverbs 20.27 says, The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts of his being. I think Paul was thinking about that verse when he was writing this section. The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord searching all the innermost parts of his being. So our spirit is what goes down deep into all of us. And the Lord is not dark to Him. He sees it all. It's a lamp. It's what lights us up and allows us to be completely laid open and bare to Him. He sees all of us lit up by our spirit. So Paul is thinking in these terms. He's thinking of the Spirit of God. And he's thinking the Spirit of God also searches the depths of God. Paul reminded the Galatians that he did not receive his gospel from man, nor was he taught it, but he received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Where is wisdom found? In revelation. Not in rationalism, not in empiricism. Revelation is where we get wisdom, where we get our knowledge. John 14, 26, The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things. and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." Don't lose the significance of that short phrase, all things. He will teach you all things. What a teacher. You can't say, well, you know, I learned some things at church that relate to this area of my life, but I don't learn all things at church. Some people will give an example and say, well, you know, I learned mathematics at school. I didn't go to church to learn mathematics. Well, sure. Yeah, that's fine. But understand, we're talking about all things. We're talking about all the things that really matter, that are really important. All things for life and godliness. All things that pertain to you being an overcomer, to you serving and worshipping God, for you having eternal life. If you don't know what the square root of 128 is, or how to do it on a piece of paper, that's not going to ultimately affect you. And you might not get the same job if you don't know mathematics, but God has a plan for your life, right? So, we're talking about all things, we're talking about all things that pertain to life and godliness. This Word of the Cross is not just to get you to heaven, but it's to give you the power to live life now, an overcoming life. not a life of fear, not a life of slavery, not a life of subjection, not a life of depression, not a life of anxiety, but a life of joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. You say, I'm addicted, I can't have self-control, I gotta go to the world's wisdom. All things taught by the Spirit of God. Self-control comes from the Spirit of God. Who's your teacher? Finally, I want to look at verse 13. You see, the Spirit of God reveals all this to us, which things we also speak. You love wisdom? You want to hear people talk wisely? Well, the church is the place to do it. You can't find wisdom in the philosophy department at the University of Nebraska. I've looked. Which things we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual with spiritual. The thoughts and words there are added on, because the original just says, combining spiritual things with spiritual things. And we're not really sure what things he's talking about. But the idea here is that you're building. You're connecting. You're combining. And this is how we learn. This is how we understand. This is how we grow. The baby has to learn the basics before he moves on to the complexities. You've got to learn your addition before you learn your multiplication. That's just how it works. You're not going to get through calculus if you haven't taken geometry. You've got to build. You've got to combine. You've got to put those spiritual things together. But you see, the world, it uses different terms. It uses different categories. The words that are taught by human wisdom are not the words that we use. They're going to use different terminology to talk about life and godliness. They don't even talk about godliness. They're going to use different terminology. They've got different goals, different focuses, different methodologies, different foundations. Their whole way of thinking is completely opposite of God's way of thinking. And so, we need to develop God's way of thinking. We need to listen to those who are spiritual, those who have received the wisdom from the Holy Spirit, combining spiritual with spiritual, moving from immaturity and fleshliness to maturity and godliness, where we can speak the true wisdom of God among the household of God, the eternal wisdom, the hidden wisdom, the predestined wisdom that is for our glory. Well, we'll stop there. Just be encouraged. The last sentence, we have the mind of Christ. That statement right there is great food for meditation, and I ask you to take it with you this morning, think about it, be thankful to the Lord, and say, God, help me to appreciate more what it means that you've given me the mind of Christ. It's a mind-blowing and staggering statement.