John Martin - Class 3: Exhortation - Spiritual Mindedness

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   Brother John is to exhort us this morning, basically taken from 1 Corinthians chapter 2, on spiritual mindedness. Brother John. My beloved brethren and sisters and our Lord Jesus Christ. We may be continuing our studies, brethren and sisters, this morning, but of course you are all, I suppose, very acutely aware that the character of this meeting is quite different than our normal life.

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   The responsibility, brethren and sisters, for the successful carrying through of this meeting devolves not upon me particularly, but upon all of us together. Because we all have to shortly partake of those emblems and to examine ourselves in the light of the great example of our Lord Jesus Christ. As our brother chairman reminded us, the very theme of this first four chapters of the Corinthians is in verse 10 of chapter 1, where the apostle in the very name of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we've come to remember this morning, beseeches us that we all be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

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   And that exhortation, brethren and sisters, was necessary because they were not joined in the same mind and in the same judgment. And I want to now reiterate a little what we said concerning chapter 1 and to show you the beautiful theme that flows through into chapter 2 and then of course onwards from there.

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   We might pick up the threads of this thinking because there is a consecutive teaching here, brethren and sisters, which if we miss, that we are the poorer for the wonders of which the apostle has to say concerning this matter of spiritual mindedness. As we saw, this first problem which he deals with in the epistle of the Corinthians arose because of the party factions that had developed as the ecclesia lined up behind the various leaders of that ecclesia.

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   And that happened, brethren and sisters, because the character of the Corinthians, as we said, was that not many mighty or many noble had been called to the truth. In the mind, these people had been called to the truth. And because they were so unaccustomed to that, and because they felt themselves so inexperienced and weak and despised of this world, they began to admire wisdom for its own sake.

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   And that is a tragic mistake. They began to admire teachers for their sheer ability. And they saw in those teachers all that they themselves felt they could never be. And in their admiration for men's ability, in their worship of intellect for its own sake, it was inevitable that they would line up behind those particular teachers whom they admired above all else.

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   And so the Corinthian ecclesia came divided. Not because of the teachers, Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or of Christ. None of those men were responsible for that division. The responsibility, brethren and sisters, for that division rested squarely upon the shoulders of the foolish audience. Because of the way in which they had come to worship intellect for its own sake.

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   And had not seen the great necessity for the work of God to be something very personal and individual for them. Never mind about their party. And so there was their problem. And so briefly running through chapter 1, Paul points out first of all in those first 10 verses, as he repeats the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that their, brethren and sisters, was the greatest of all names.

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   And that was the one to which they all had to become identified. And even the Christ party was wrong, as we pointed out. Because their attitude was that because they followed Christ and not other men, they implied that nobody else followed Christ. And in the very thought that was in their head, where they thought that they were right above all others, they had made a division in their thinking.

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    Because we are of Christ and you're not. And they immediately divided themselves from others. So even the Christ party was wrong in that matter. Paul goes on to tell them that they worshipped intellect for its own sake. But the intellect of this world counted the gospel message which was preached to them foolishness.

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    For who could ever believe in the Greek philosophies and the story hero worship which they had of all their Greek poets, philosophers and heroes. Who could ever believe in this world that a man who would uphold the dignity of man, as Greek philosophy always did, could ever believe that the greatest of all men would voluntarily submit to a criminal's death, that he might depict to all humanity that there is no such thing as the dignity of man.

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    And Paul says it's only those people who perish, who see in that cross foolishness. And as far as the Jew was concerned, who of course was ever looking for an exhibition of God's power, he saw nothing powerful in a man submitting to death. Rather he saw in that capitulation and weakness. And so the intellect which they worshipped, the personalities in and out of the truth, which they saw as being the sparkling thing in life, that sort of intellect, brethren and sisters, didn't see the truth of the gospel at all.

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    And he pointed out it was only those who were saved, who saw in the atonement, God's supreme wisdom, a marvellous wisdom, and who saw in the crucifixion of flesh, a power above flesh, a power enabling that man to overcome all the temptations of his body, a power, brethren and sisters, incomprehensible to the Jew.

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    And Paul went on to tell them that they were thinking in opposition to God. As whilst they admired intellect for its own sake and followed personalities, God's attitude was quite different. And the proof of that was themselves. They were the living proof of it. Paul says, Paul, look around your meeting. Did God choose the intelligentsia of this world because he felt that's what he needed?

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    Did God choose the noble, the highborn, people with status because that would elevate him? Oh no. Look at yourselves. God hath chosen. Three times he said it. God hath chosen. God hath chosen. God hath chosen you. And you're not many might, or you're not many noble, but God hath chosen the weak and the base things of the world, says the apostle.

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    What for? To further his purpose that men and women might come to believe and in believing might exhibit to others that no flesh would glory in his presence. and he went on in a grand sweep, brethren and sisters, to point out that God was the founder of all wisdom and power. But that wisdom and power became manifested in Jesus Christ and it belonged to all those Corinthians who were in Christ.

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    And the wisdom and power only belonged to them as long as they lost their own personal status and their identity and merged into him who of God was made those four things which are beyond the power of humankind to achieve. For if Jesus Christ was wise, God made him so. If he was righteous and he was, then it was God's righteousness.

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    And if the man's life was sanctified and holy and above others, it was because of the influence of God that created that in him. And if they couldn't believe that Jesus Christ was of God wisdom, righteous and sanctification, well they had to believe that Jesus Christ was of God redemption because he was dead when God raised him out of that tomb.

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    And so there were the things that were accomplished in our Lord Jesus Christ. Clearly a work of God and had nothing whatever to do with his human intellect or his ability.

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    That's Paul's point. Now brethren and sisters, that begs a question. And it must be perhaps in a lot of people's minds already. And if we went on explaining these matters to you, it wouldn't be long, I don't doubt, for every brother and sister in this meeting would think the same question. It's a question which always comes up.

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    And the things we've got to say this morning in the first Corinthians 2, you're not going to believe immediately. Because they're hard to be understood, not so much in the details of it, but to grasp the significance of it. Because it is against all human reason. And the question that you want me to answer, that I want Paul to answer is this.

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    Well if what you're saying is true, how come that I, we, who have no ability, who haven't got the ability to grasp the truth, if we can't follow others, if we can't listen to leaders, if we can't form an opinion on that basis, where does that leave us? Well my beloved brethren and sisters, the answer of the apostle Paul is this, that there is no man or woman in Christ who hasn't got the ability to understand that Bible.

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    Because you see, it's got nothing whatever to do with your ability or your intellect. That's got nothing whatever to do with it. And Paul's now going to explain to them, it's not a question of what I can find out. it's a question of what God will reveal to me. And that will depend brethren and sisters very largely, entirely, upon my attitude to that word and to God.

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    I'll repeat that because that's the absolute essence of this chapter. it is not a question as to how brilliant we are as to what we can get out of that Bible. It's a question as to how much God is prepared to reveal to us. And that will very largely depend upon our attitude to that book and to God.

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    And that's against all human reason. it's against all human logic. But it's absolutely true. And the proof of it is this chapter. And this is how Paul puts it before them. Did they think he had wisdom? Would the Corinthians look at the apostle and say, yes, he's got wisdom? Did they think that he could set forth the truth powerfully, which he could?

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    The answer to those questions was yes. Well, says Paul, have a look at me. What have I done according to my ability? For when I came to you, I didn't come with the excellency of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. I didn't do it. I didn't come with flowery rhetoric. So it wasn't my ability to speak.

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    They said his speech was contemptible. He wasn't a good speaker at all. God. And he certainly didn't come with a wisdom that was wrapped around and around and around with philosophy. He didn't. So the fact of the matter was, of course, that Paul was none of those things which they admired, and yet they knew he was an apostle of God.

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    When he came, he says, everything that I said was underscored with the belief that Jesus Christ was a crucified man. I determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. So that whenever Paul put forth the truth, brethren and sisters, he was always very careful not to project himself into the audience.

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    He kept himself under control, and everything that he said was tempered by the belief that Jesus Christ crucified the flesh. If Paul should fall into the trap of projecting himself into the audience and elevating himself before them, then he was flying in the face of the doctrine of the cross. cross, and the very way of putting over the truth, as well as it might have been done, was a very denial of the spirit of it.

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    So Paul says, I never ever displayed my personal characteristics and abilities to you. I crucified them. And was he confident, as they loved confidence?

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    Was he one of those men, brethren and sisters, whose wisdom was so sure that he spoke with such eloquence and determination and certainty that they saw in him one who was so well educated, that they being so poverty stricken in knowledge, he was able to talk down to everybody?

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    He says, I came to you in weakness. I was frightened, and I was trembling. That's Paul talking to them. I came in weakness, he said. I was scared. And I was shaking all over. That's how he turned up in the ecclesia. That's not what they admired, brethren and sisters, and there would have been those among them who hated him for saying it.

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    But they would have seen in that, that Paul was degrading himself unnecessarily. That it wasn't right for such a great man as he to speak like that because he gave others a false impression. That he should be very careful what he said. Because carrying on like that, he could rob people of the confidence they had in him.

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    Well, he couldn't care less what confidence they had in him. He told them very frankly and very openly about himself. Because he was trying to illustrate the doctrine that he was teaching. That it's got nothing whatever to do with human intellect or ability. And he went on to say that my speech and my preaching was not in the enticing words of wisdom.

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    Leave out the word man's because it's not in the original. Not in the enticing words of wisdom. But in the demonstration of the spirit and of power. power. So he didn't wrap his doctrine up in flowery language. He spoke the word of God and he displayed that brethren and sisters for what it was.

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    Simple but profound and tremendously powerful to change the lives of men and women. And so the apostle was able to put before them therefore those matters. The very proof of his doctrine was the way in which he came to them. And if they worshipped intellect for intellect's sake then he was a failure.

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    If they worshipped the strength of personality and personal ability then he was a disappointment. Because none of those things was displayed in his life. And so he didn't come in the words of wisdom. That is the wisdom that they wanted. But now brethren and sisters from verses 6 to 10 he's going to tell them that there is a brand of wisdom which he did come with.

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    Because you see the gospel has its own brand of wisdom. There's a peculiar brand of wisdom about the gospel that only you and I understand. And the world out there they can't even understand it. The professors are all over the city. All the teachers of science brethren and sisters. All the intelligentsia of Melbourne.

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    The commercial centre of Australia. Can't understand what you understand. They haven't got a clue about it. And if you hadn't told them it would be over their head. Because it's a brand of wisdom that has the brand about it of its peculiarity that they don't know anything about. Because it's not something that a man finds out.

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    It's something that God reveals. And therein lies the secret of it. God. So taking up verse 4 again and reading through to verse 5. You'll see the play on words here that the apostle is using. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of wisdom. But in the demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

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    How be it we do speak wisdom. wisdom. This is a different wisdom though. So he didn't come in the flowery words of wisdom so called. But he said I want you to understand this that there is a wisdom that we do speak. But it's the brand of wisdom which is absolutely opposed to that one.

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    And it's a wisdom he goes on to say brethren and sisters in verse 6 he said that we can only speak among them that are perfect. No good talking this sort of wisdom to any other class of people than the mature. Because they'll just look at you with open mouth as if you're a lunatic.

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    They won't understand what you're talking about. The word perfect of course teleos means mature people who are able to grasp the things of God. And he said I can only speak this wisdom to that class of people. But what about the intelligentsia of the world? Oh useless. He says which none of the princes of this world knew.

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    In verse 6 he says yet the wisdom of this world which nor the princes of this world which come to naught. So that those who constituted the wisdom of this world that is the Greek philosopher and the princes of this world the Jewish leaders because that is a title you know which belongs to them.

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    In the 14th chapter of John Jesus said the prince of this world cometh. and he was referring to those Jewish leaders who came to take him. And so the Jewish intelligentsia the Gentile Greek intelligentsia none of them understood it says the apostle. It was way over their head. And he went on to say in verse 7 but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.

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    You know brethren and sisters when he said that of course that would tickle the Corinthian ear. They love mysteries. This is what they were all hankering after. They would love it if a brother got up there and he spoke in a philosophical way and wrapped up the principles of the truth in ever so much difficult language weaving his ways through the labyrinth of human intellect and they would be struggling to follow him and wouldn't probably understand an eighth of what he said but they'd turn to each other and say that was brilliant.

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    that says the apostle I'm going to tell you another mystery but it wasn't a mystery brethren and sisters which was wrapped in those sort of philosophies. It was a very simple mystery the answer to which was not the concentration of the human mind upon the difficulties of eloquent speech. It was just simply the of cocking the ear to the voice of God and he would whisper the answer straight into your ear.

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    Nothing very difficult about that. All it took was a childlike simplicity, a childlike simplicity, a deep love of God and a burning desire to know what he said. and when the ear was cocked in that attitude God said straight into the ear exactly what he meant and it didn't take any Einstein to understand it.

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    And that's Paul's doctrine. It was that which was revealed. I thank thee father said the Lord Jesus Christ that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babies.

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    And Paul went on to talk about this wisdom. It was a hidden wisdom because it was hidden from the wise and prudent. And now he's going to say three things about that wisdom brethren and sisters. what about that wisdom that God had hidden but now was revealed to them if they wanted it to be revealed to them.

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    There were three things that he wanted to say about it. And that is this. One. It didn't originate from any philosophy of man. That's in verse 7. Two in verse 8. The Jewish rulers whom they admired didn't understand it. And three from verses 9 to 14 it can only be understood by a certain class of people.

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    Now take the first point. The hidden wisdom of God which had been revealed through the gospel didn't originate with man's philosophy. Verse 7. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the age unto our glory. Now the reason he said that was because in Greek philosophy brethren and sisters they always went back and traced the history of that philosophy to one of the founding fathers who would come up with some astounding observation.

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    and in the words of rhetoric would put that in a phraseology which would to them would capture the whole spirit of that truth so called. And then from the foundation statement of their Plato's Hippocrates Socrates and all those wonderful philosophers who became the father of those thoughts. So their students would weave and spin their theories stretching out that statement in all the wonder of human intellect.

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    Well said the apostle. This wisdom that I'm talking about to you is traceable to none of those fathers. It goes back before the age. It goes back to God. The origin of this wisdom brethren and sisters was before man himself. Beyond man. Before man. He knew nothing about it. It was all invested in God.

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    So it didn't originate with those philosophers. And as for the Jewish rulers in verse 8 which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it they would have not have crucified the Lord of glory. How logical is that? You know you want wisdom. He said you want wisdom. Listen to the logic of this.

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    He said it's a wisdom which the Jewish rulers didn't know. Proof. You want proof of it. Never mind about philosophy. Take the practical application of life. You know brethren and sisters the greatest exhibition of truth is in practicalities. And Paul told them in the earlier words of his in Acts chapter 13. He says and the Jewish rulers because they knew him not nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day.

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    They have fulfilled them by condemning him. And he's painting the picture of the Jewish scribe and I've seen them brethren and sisters even today they're there with their glasses on the edge of their nose pouring over the jots and tittles of that law dissecting the Hebrew consonants and the points making certain it's in the right place interpreting it exactly checking it with another rabbi and another rabbi over here until a group of them check it all out numerically valuing the words and they're doing that every Sabbath day and the brilliant rabbi rising from the great haze of his theory stood up in the fullness of his glory and crucified the very one that he was reading about that's where his wisdom got him crucified the embodiment of the book never mind about philosophy says the apostle look at practicalities for the rulers because they knew him not nor yet the voices of the prophets read every Sabbath day fulfilled them in crucifying the Lord that's the wisdom he said which you admire incredible brethren and sisters but what about themselves where does that leave them they still feel helpless and hopeless because they can't understand the Bible I can't understand the Bible but as it is written in verse 9 says the apostle eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him a quotation from the 64th chapter of Isaiah brethren and sisters which on the surface would seem to mean that eye hath not seen ear hath not heard the heart of man hasn't conceived the things which

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    God has prepared it would seem to mean that when the kingdom comes it will be on their comprehension it's beyond their comprehension of the wonders of the kingdom yes I suppose that's what it does mean but that's not what Paul's quoting it for that's not his point at all he has his own use of that verse and the key word is the one that I will emphasize and he says as it is written I hath not seen nor ear heard neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love him so we may have a piercing eye a brother has come into the truth and he's come from one of the professions perhaps he's a professional man he has a lifelong background of university education he's a erudite individual whose shelves of his library are now filled with the works of the truth he speaks eloquently and uses big words and all the brethren stand back and they say this brother's going to be a marvel he's going to turn the world upside down with his background well he may have the most brilliant eye in the world but he'll see nothing if he doesn't love God he may have an ear brethren and sisters tuned to all the diversities of men's words of all the discernment of detail he may be able to hear things that you and I can never hear but he'll never ever hear God's voice if he doesn't love him and the wisdom of God won't enter into the heart of anyone whose heart is dominated by man have you ever heard people

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    talk about Paul you go to your lessons on the apostle Paul and inevitably the teacher will teach our young that it was Paul's background that prepared him for the great work that he had in Christ brought over the feet of Gamaliel educated amongst the great rabbis above many of his equals top of the class and his Roman background his knowledge of Greek and all the ways in which he picked up things which swirled around about him fitted him with a great work of preaching do you know what Paul said about that he classified all of that under one category dung dung is how he classified a lot of it and he went around the world teaching everybody that his so called brilliance was nothing more to him than a hindrance and that all he ever learnt subsequent to his baptism was because of the grace of God which revealed to him that which he was absolutely ignorant of show me a passage contrary to that it didn't do him any good brethren and sisters it blinded him and if those were the things that were necessary to teach Paul the truth then the light out of heaven that shone on the ground and shone around him on the way to Damascus was superfluous but what that light did from heaven was to blind him and to illustrate to him just how blind that he really was and as I said he put all those things under one category dung you know we want to read our Bibles carefully the apostle is wonderful as he sets forth this doctrine he points this out brethren and sisters as he

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    sweeps on in his doctrine here in verse 10 but God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit see it isn't a question of human intellect it's a question of God's revelation you know a lot of people don't comprehend this in Isaiah's gospel when Isaiah pointed out that he would send upon them the deep sleep and close their eyes and in Isaiah 6 when he told them that they wouldn't understand the truth Isaiah is not saying brethren and sisters he's not saying in those passages that the Jew would reach a point where he couldn't understand the word of God he's telling them that they would reach a point of history when they wouldn't be allowed to understand the word of God said Jesus lest they be healed lest they be converted and I heal them lest they be and he deliberately spoke in parables knowing full well they wouldn't comprehend it because the prophecy of Isaiah had reached that point of their history when because of their attitude towards God was such that he refused to reveal it to them and it wasn't because of their own lack of understanding or their acquisition of their own intellect that went one way or the other was because God chose not to tell them and these things which we know brethren and sisters have been revealed unto us and people say well how has God revealed these things unto us they say well I don't understand the truth I can't do these things I can't pick up the Bible and read it like other brethren pick up the Bible I try and I can't why you know

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    brethren and sisters it's all a question of attitude if what I'm saying is true and I don't think anyone can go and say it if the revelation comes from God you tell me what difficulty there is I know this is difficult to accept your human experience is all against it your logic is against it your own life seems to be a denial of it but they're the facts of scripture what difficulty it is to God to reveal his truth to any of us the difficulty is our attitude you take for example he says here for them that love him you stand in a group of brethren and sisters you talk about the Bible and the brother sets forth and he says oh I don't know where do you get all these things from he says you know when you open the Bible and you talk about I don't see those things in it at all he said I must be dense I don't know I could never understand those things I could never see that I would never mind for that sort of detail and the conversation ebbs and flows and eventually it gets her off the Bible and it gets on to other subjects motorcars and all of a sudden that non compassionate individual becomes a walking encyclopedia on motorcars and I'm out of my depth in no time and he talks technicalities that are double dutch to me I wouldn't have a clue what he's talking about and he's brilliant you listen to him change the conversation to whatever takes their fancy wherever a man's heart is and he'll understand it brethren and

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    sisters this despite any disability because he loves her and that's an absolute truth of a practical experience in I think everyone's life we're experts in that which we love and that's very very true of the bible does this add a difference that if we love the things of this world and the wisdom of this world we have to acquire it by our ability but if we love the things of god brethren and sisters it is given by revelation of god's word look what he says in verse 11 for what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him even so the things of god knoweth no man but the spirit of god now we have received not the spirit of this world but the spirit which is of god that we might know the things that are freely given us of god now what he's saying is this who can ever know the things of a man save the spirit of a man that's in him in other words i can understand perfectly anything that is instinctive to my nature to know if my body craves something if my ego craves something i know exactly what it is because it's in me it's native to me i relate to it so easily and so well well the spirit which is of god is god god is spirit brethren and sisters and we can only know the things of god when we relate to god and that is not native so whereas one spirit of understanding is native within us the other has to be received of he who is

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    freely giving it and i don't relate naturally to the things of god i've got to wait till it's given does that mean therefore that god will reveal something to us apart from the bible he will not brethren and sisters there's no such thing as a spirit from god extraneous to that book coming in our ear and saying the bible means that it's not that's what paul's not talking about but you give your you do this you make a practical example in your own life of this and see whether this is not true what happens when we come to our desk to study the bible we haven't got any ability brethren and sisters i had absolutely no education in this world couldn't care less about that but i love that book but i know this when i come home from work and i find my way to my desk and i sit down to that bible i expect in the first hour of my study to get absolutely nothing out of that book experience has taught me long ago never to be impatient about that because i understand why because my mind has been taken up all day with the mundane things of life business of course at work family worries and so on may occupy your mind somewhat whatever it might be it's not the things of god and your mind of course is in a natural world and you relate ever so easily to that because that's part of you really we all understand that when we come home that's our frame of mind so we go and sit at the desk and we open

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    the bible we fix our eyes upon that bible they may be intelligent eyes we may have intelligent ears but that bible brethren and sisters will be a foreign language to us for a considerable time in that desk and so we work away around that bible we do what we call mechanical work we look up greek and hebrew words we check this or we check that which anybody can do and what we are doing is biding our time and thinking about that bible until gradually my thoughts are not your thoughts says god but gradually our thoughts fade away into insignificance and pale into nothingness and gradually the ideas of god come into that vacuum and at last we can see what that bible is saying because we have orientated to god away from ourselves and brethren and sisters that happens with such repetition that it's so impressive to me that at the end of that evening after having spent several hours of that bible the last hour is absolutely supreme because in the last hour the productivity of our mind in that book is enormous because we've attached that mind to that thinking we go to bed we get up next day we go to work the phone rings business is on again the mundane things swirl around us we go home have a cup of coffee we go into the den we sit down and it's a foreign language we've got to sit there and work away at that quietly not impatiently waiting and waiting checking out things gradually sifting this out and that out until we find that our mind is latching on to

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    thoughts which are not natural to us and away we go again back we come the next night it's a foreign language and that's brethren sisters the rule of life and we're learning what Paul is telling us who knows the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him he relates to it ever so quickly well there's nobody ever going to understand God's words who will not give the time for God to relate to them and any brother or sister whose desire is to love God and to know him through his word will give that time and concentrate that attention that finally that book will speak to them you know it's a wonderful thing brethren and sisters if we only comprehended that now says the apostle in verse 13 concerning this wisdom which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the holy spirit teacher comparing spiritual things with spiritual now there's a key phrase you know we quote that verse and we say oh that you know we study the Bible we compare that verse with this verse comparing spiritual things with spiritual that's not what he's saying at all it's a good practice but it's not really what Paul's saying what he's saying is this which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the holy spirit teacheth teaching spiritual things to spiritual people you can only teach spiritual things to spiritual people for he says the natural man receiveth not the things of God now you take a witness brethren and sisters Jesus comes in conflict with the

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    brilliant intelligentsia of the Jewish world and they parade up to him we be Abraham's children if you were Abraham's children you do the works of Abraham we be not born of fornication we're Abraham's sons if you were Abraham's sons you'd believe me and so the conversation went backwards and forwards and they were on two different wavelengths poles apart they didn't know what he was talking about and he said to them why do you not understand my speech and he went on to tell them because you can't it is impossible yet they were brilliant men he says ye are of your father the diabolos and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning he abode not in the truth because there was no truth in him see the explanation brethren and sisters he abode not in the truth the reason there was never any truth to abide in and he was talking about a snake and that was the father of those men and that snake at ground level was reasoning according to his animal intellect God said if they touched that tree they would sin against God he didn't know anything about sin and all he could see was that if they did that and then they did that it would cancel out that so what God said really didn't work out according to his logic but sin and morality it was way over his head and he is the Lord Jesus Christ talking to a bunch of animals and he says I know why you can't understand me because I'm speaking as a man who understands God

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    and you're at the level of a snake and there's no way that they could understand him they couldn't abide in the truth because they never ever knew it and so the apostle says I can only speak spiritual things to spiritual people and they are not the intelligentsia of this world the natural thing man he says in verse 14 receives not the things of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual discerns all things yet he himself is discerned of no man isn't that true brethren and sisters we who are spiritual and we claim to be spiritual do we not we're here this morning to partake of the emblems if we're not spiritual what's the good of doing that and if we claim to be spiritual we know this that we discern the things of God but the people out the world don't understand us and we talk the truth to a person at work they reckon you're mad we know the reason why the world's in the mess it is in we understand what's in man we understand our workmates but they don't understand us we look at them and we can understand perfectly why they act like they do we make a study and we say yes you're acting characteristically God has told us what you're like and you do exactly what God says but they haven't got a clue as to what you do they can't understand in you in any way shape or form they look upon you and they say that chap's an enigma I can't understand his

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    way of life yet we look back at them we say we know exactly what you're doing why do we know that because God's told us about that man he's told us about ourselves he's whispered in our ear that it's not in man that walketh to direct his steps we've understood that we didn't have to be Einsteins to know that God told us for who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him but we have the mind of Christ you know brethren and sisters that's a wonderful finale to that chapter because he quotes Isaiah 40 we won't turn this up but I'll illustrate it to you Isaiah 40 says who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counsellor that's the quotation that Paul brings forward well who has known the mind of the Lord not natural man he's completely missed it with all his university education it's only a hindrance to him who has known the mind of the Lord well Paul says we have the mind of Christ there's who knew the mind of the Lord the apostle did because Christ did and if we've got Christ's mind we've got God's mind that's what he's saying but the wonder of his quotation brothers and sisters is this that if in your leisure you look at Isaiah 40 you will see that it's dealing with a balance the chapter sweeps on to talk about God who has made the heights of the mountains comparable to the depths of the ocean so there's a balance so that the basins of the ocean contain that water sufficiently to leave the

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    dry land there and it's a wonderful balance so that land and sea together combining together man can live on the land and the oceans can wash the land as the sun picks up the water pumps it back through the earth in the form of rain runs down the rivers picking up all the pollutions onto the beaches in comes the tides picks up the pollution takes it out of the sea the sun causes the gulf streams which intertwine one with the other as water slides off of hot water and turns it all up and cleans it picks the water up again with the sun pumps it back through the earth and down it runs to the sea again so the heights of the mountains and the depths of the sea are comparable a wonderful balance that man might live upon the earth he talks about the density of the atmosphere the certain gaseous elements in the atmosphere so wonderfully combined that we can breathe them and live if there was an imbalance in those things we would perish immediately so the world has got a marvellous balance in it and the mind of God is balanced brothers and sisters putting one thing against another that we understand therefore all the wonders of God's ways and only simple people can see that Solomon was a scientist and he saw that all the rivers run into the sea and the sea is not full and he got absolutely frustrated because he couldn't understand why who has known the mind of the Lord it's a simple man that accepts the simple facts of nature science delves into it and

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    this evil pursuit God has given to the hearts of the sons of men to frustrate them but the simple accepted and you know Paul quotes that chapter in Romans 11 the Jew was up here with the privileges of God and the Gentile groveled down here into the boistery of mankind and there was an imbalance between the two and they never could come together until God plunged the Jew into the abyss of misery and sent him into captivity preached the gospel to the Gentiles and elevated him up here into spiritual places in Christ Jesus until the Lord Jesus Christ comes back again and redeems Jacob from all his sins and the two come together both have experienced the depths of despair both having gone through the experience of elevation at the expense of each other and they are both brought together to the same point of elevation Isaiah 40 who has known the mind of the Lord because there's a balance in the world and we will know brethren and sisters that when the Lord Jesus Christ comes what brother or sister sitting out there doesn't know this simple truth that when Christ comes and elevates the Jewish people that we will rejoice with them as spiritual Israel both rejoicing together in the great hope which we share now as never before and both filled with the grace of God in our lives that we Gentiles who are nothing are now something and the Jews who are something who became nothing are now something again and together brethren and sisters we will rejoice and praise our God every one of you understand that yet you tell

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    me you can't understand the Bible and that's one of the wonders of God's work Isaiah 40 the world is built on that principle and you understand it you understand why this world is built how it's built and for the purpose that's built and out there the scientists dissect this world and live in mysteries and we understand these things brothers and sisters why not because we followed their course of education but we learnt to love God and in all our simplicity and all our lack of human intellect it pleased God because of our burning desire to know him to open our ear and tell us exactly what he meant you know brethren and sisters it's a marvellous heritage that we have and as we therefore participate this morning in the bread and the wine of our Lord's sacrifice never let us forget this there on the table is the son of God and yet those very emblems speak of a carpenter in a despised district of Nazareth born in a manger who never had the worldly education he had none of the credentials which this world prays and he brethren and sisters because he loved his God and morning by morning wakened his ear that he might hear the tongue of alerted he was ultimately turned into the word made flesh and was a living manifestation of the highest form of wisdom known in the universe and he never ever had the education that the Corinthians aspired to or admired there brethren and sisters is the preeminent example of all that we've been saying it is not a question of human intellect or of ability it is a

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    question as to whether God in his good pleasure according to our attitude towards him reveals those things to us which make us the brethren of Christ who is the who is the one who