The Guide to Glory

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:03.560 Lord, there are many things that are overwhelming to us, many things that 2 00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:09.109 are constantly changing and weigh us and trouble us, and so we asked that 3 00:00:09.189 --> 00:00:14.070 you would speak to us clearly, that you would help us to know the 4 00:00:14.230 --> 00:00:19.910 Gospel and have confidence in it. We asked that your spirit, when speak, 5 00:00:20.550 --> 00:00:24.539 would speak to us this morning the very words of Christ, that we 6 00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:29.339 might know him and love him and find our salvation in him. We pray 7 00:00:29.420 --> 00:00:35.340 this in Jesus name. Amen, please remain standing for the reading of God's 8 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:48.289 Word From First Corinthians, First Corinthians chapter two. I'm going to be preaching 9 00:00:48.329 --> 00:00:51.799 on verses nine through sixteen, but I'd like to begin reading it verse one 10 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:56.880 of Chapter Two. First Corinthians two, verse one, as we're all start. 11 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:04.269 This is the word of God. Let's give our attention to it. 12 00:01:08.030 --> 00:01:11.790 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming 13 00:01:11.909 --> 00:01:15.870 to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided 14 00:01:15.989 --> 00:01:22.180 to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified, and I was 15 00:01:22.299 --> 00:01:26.019 with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. and My speech, 16 00:01:26.099 --> 00:01:32.620 to my message were not implausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit 17 00:01:32.739 --> 00:01:37.890 and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of 18 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:42.769 men, but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do 19 00:01:42.010 --> 00:01:47.049 impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the 20 00:01:47.090 --> 00:01:52.000 rulers of this aged who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a 21 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:56.640 secret and hidden wisdom of God which God decreed before the age is for our 22 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:00.319 glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they 23 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:05.390 had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But, as 24 00:02:05.590 --> 00:02:08.949 it is written, what no I has seen, nor ear heard, nor 25 00:02:09.069 --> 00:02:14.949 the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. 26 00:02:15.259 --> 00:02:22.099 These things God has revealed to us through the spirit. The spirit searches 27 00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:27.419 everything, even the depths of God, for who knows a person's thoughts except 28 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:31.050 the spirit of that person which is in him? So also no one comprehends 29 00:02:31.129 --> 00:02:36.689 the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now we have received not 30 00:02:36.889 --> 00:02:40.370 the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that 31 00:02:40.490 --> 00:02:46.680 we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this 32 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:53.759 in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit, interpreting 33 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:59.469 spiritual truth to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the 34 00:02:59.590 --> 00:03:01.710 things of the spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he 35 00:03:01.830 --> 00:03:07.830 is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual 36 00:03:07.870 --> 00:03:10.990 person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one, 37 00:03:12.750 --> 00:03:15.819 for who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? 38 00:03:15.539 --> 00:03:39.530 But we have the mind of Christ men. Maybe seated after the sermon, 39 00:03:39.610 --> 00:03:44.319 we're going to sing him four hundred and thirty one, and I want to 40 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:50.120 read to you aligne from that hymn. And this is a favorite hymn of 41 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:53.520 ours here and of many people. And can it be that I should gain? 42 00:03:55.030 --> 00:04:01.150 In verse four, we read Long. My imprisoned spirit lay fast, 43 00:04:01.430 --> 00:04:09.590 bound in sin, and nature's night, thine eye diffused a quickening. where 44 00:04:09.949 --> 00:04:14.979 I woke, the dungeon flamed with light, my chains fell off, my 45 00:04:15.099 --> 00:04:18.980 heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed the so you hear 46 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:26.850 the progression right, it begins with being imprisoned, being chained up, and 47 00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:30.569 then something happens that leads to freedom, and the way it's expressed here is 48 00:04:30.930 --> 00:04:36.689 thine. I diffused a quickening ray. It is as though God looks upon 49 00:04:36.810 --> 00:04:44.279 us and like a ray coming from the sun, that ray changes us in 50 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:48.879 a way. It awakes us. The dungeon that we are imprisoned in flames 51 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:54.829 with light, the chains fell off and fall off and we find ourselves free. 52 00:04:56.350 --> 00:05:01.709 That Ray of light, we might say, is the Holy Spirit, 53 00:05:02.910 --> 00:05:11.459 the power of God that goes forth to bring about our salvation. And it 54 00:05:11.540 --> 00:05:16.300 is the Holy Spirit that I want us to focus on this morning because in 55 00:05:16.459 --> 00:05:23.970 our passage first Corinthians two, nine through sixteen, Paul explains to us how 56 00:05:24.129 --> 00:05:28.689 it is we know the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know it through the 57 00:05:28.850 --> 00:05:34.529 preaching and the special revelation of the Holy Spirit. Now Peter says something similar 58 00:05:34.569 --> 00:05:38.279 in First Peter One hundred and twelve and first Peter one hundred and Twelve, 59 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:44.480 the Apostle Peter tells us that those who preached the Good News, the Paul's, 60 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:49.350 the peters, the Stevens, the Timothy's and ministers today, those who 61 00:05:49.389 --> 00:05:56.509 preach the news, did so by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It's 62 00:05:56.550 --> 00:06:00.230 remarkable, isn't it, that he says that they did it they by the 63 00:06:00.310 --> 00:06:03.500 Holy Spirit sent from heaven, and this is a very important truth, one 64 00:06:03.579 --> 00:06:08.459 that Paul is spending a whole set of verses here on in this letter. 65 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:15.180 He wants to make it crystal clear to the Corinthians and to you, to 66 00:06:15.300 --> 00:06:21.009 me as well, that is by the Holy Spirit that we have the gospel 67 00:06:21.009 --> 00:06:26.569 of Jesus Christ. We could put it this way. The fact that they 68 00:06:26.689 --> 00:06:30.610 preached the good news by the Holy Spirit is as significant as the sun that 69 00:06:30.769 --> 00:06:35.759 they preached. Or, to put it another way, the whole Holy Spirit 70 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:44.800 empowered preaching is just as important as Christ centered preaching. Now this is not 71 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:50.589 because Christ is insufficient in some way, but because his ministry is inseparable from 72 00:06:50.629 --> 00:06:56.829 the spirits ministry. You cannot have one without the other, and that's not 73 00:06:56.990 --> 00:07:02.100 because of a weakness in Christ, but that's because God is Triune, because 74 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:06.899 there never is the father without the son and the spirit. There never is 75 00:07:08.060 --> 00:07:11.379 the son without the father in the spirit. There never is a spirit without 76 00:07:11.459 --> 00:07:16.050 the son and the father. These three are one. God and the Holy 77 00:07:16.089 --> 00:07:19.569 Spirit are it. It is important for us to remember his role in that, 78 00:07:20.689 --> 00:07:27.769 and so holy spirit empowered preaching is just as important as Christ centered preaching. 79 00:07:29.490 --> 00:07:33.199 The good news about Christ was preached by the Holy Spirit, says Peter, 80 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:40.240 by the Holy Spirit, says Paul, and the Holy Spirit comes to 81 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:44.040 us from the Sun, who sent him, and the father is well, 82 00:07:44.629 --> 00:07:49.149 who has given all things to the sun. So, with that said, 83 00:07:49.189 --> 00:07:56.470 let's think about why this matters. Might say, okay, I got that, 84 00:07:56.750 --> 00:08:00.579 it's in the scriptures, but why is that an important thing? Why 85 00:08:00.579 --> 00:08:03.220 should that be something that's on my mind? Why is Paul spending all this 86 00:08:03.379 --> 00:08:07.860 time to impress upon us that the good news of the Gospel comes, of 87 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:15.129 Christ, comes to us through the preaching empowered by the Holy Spirit? Why 88 00:08:15.209 --> 00:08:18.290 does God want you to know that are that this word of salvation comes to 89 00:08:18.329 --> 00:08:22.930 us in this way? Well, the first reason is that there are things 90 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:31.199 that you simply cannot know simple just in natural revelation. There's things that you 91 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:37.240 cannot know just by looking at the world. Now, the Scripture says there 92 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:41.070 is a lot that natural revelation reveals. There's a lot that creation reveals. 93 00:08:41.669 --> 00:08:48.110 The Sky Proclaims God's Handy Work, the stars speak and knowledge is revealed, 94 00:08:48.269 --> 00:08:52.870 says Psalm nineteen in Romans one. Paul, who of course is writing this 95 00:08:52.950 --> 00:08:58.220 letter as well. He tells us that we know things about God in the 96 00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:03.259 things that God has made. You can go and look at the stars and 97 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:07.940 the mountains, go on a hike on a Sunday afternoon and come to understand 98 00:09:07.419 --> 00:09:15.649 something about God, his infinite power. Your smallness in the world, but 99 00:09:15.809 --> 00:09:20.049 also your glory in the world, is part of creation itself. You can 100 00:09:20.169 --> 00:09:26.639 see God's righteousness in these things. You can sense his moral law, to 101 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:33.399 know the difference between right and wrong. These things are revealed in this world. 102 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:39.110 The rulers of this age that Paul mentioned earlier, they don't understand nothing. 103 00:09:41.110 --> 00:09:46.629 They understand some things. They have real wisdom, they just don't have 104 00:09:46.909 --> 00:09:50.789 this wisdom. You see what Paul saying in this passage? He's making a 105 00:09:50.909 --> 00:09:56.659 distinction between one kind of wisdom and another kind of wisdom. One kind of 106 00:09:56.779 --> 00:10:03.500 wisdom is penultimate, it's underneath the ultimate things. The other kind of wisdom 107 00:10:03.539 --> 00:10:05.980 is ultimate, and he also says some other things about it will get which 108 00:10:07.019 --> 00:10:13.250 we'll get to in a moment. He says the ruler of this age, 109 00:10:13.049 --> 00:10:18.529 they they rule and they have wisdom, but it doesn't bring about satisfaction in 110 00:10:18.730 --> 00:10:22.559 all things. It doesn't bring about the knowledge of the salvation that we need. 111 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.759 And so this is one reason why we need the spirit of God, 112 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:33.360 he says it's because you can't get at anywhere else. You can't find the 113 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:37.350 good news of the Gospel by just going on a hike. You're not going 114 00:10:37.429 --> 00:10:41.470 to know about the incarnation of the son of God by looking at the mountains. 115 00:10:43.230 --> 00:10:46.149 You're not going to know about how Jesus came into the world and died 116 00:10:46.350 --> 00:10:52.620 for our sins by looking at the stars. You're not going to know about 117 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:56.419 how, if we put our faith in him, that God saves us from 118 00:10:56.419 --> 00:11:01.179 all of our sins by fishing in a river. Those are good things and 119 00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:07.370 they tell us good things, but they don't save us. They're not sufficient 120 00:11:07.769 --> 00:11:15.570 for that. A second reason we need the spirit of God to reveal these 121 00:11:15.610 --> 00:11:20.600 things. Not only does natural revelation not reveal that, but we might say 122 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:24.039 it in a positive way, as Paul says it here, and that's that 123 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:33.710 the Gospel was hidden. God specifically hid these truths. Notice what Paul says 124 00:11:33.789 --> 00:11:41.590 in verse nine. What know I has seen, what no ear has heard, 125 00:11:41.470 --> 00:11:46.179 nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who 126 00:11:46.259 --> 00:11:54.139 love him. So it's not just an incapability of natural revelation of creation, 127 00:11:54.179 --> 00:11:58.980 but there's also this positive hiding of God, positive in the sense that this 128 00:12:00.179 --> 00:12:05.090 is something God is doing. He's active in this. As it said in 129 00:12:05.330 --> 00:12:11.009 verse seven, we impart Paul speaking about him and other ministers. They're preaching, 130 00:12:11.090 --> 00:12:16.399 he says, we impart what a secret and hidden wisdom of God. 131 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:24.679 There I happen to have a preview of tonight's sermon. So Christian will speak 132 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:28.320 more on this from one of the parables of Jesus, so you'll have another 133 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:33.110 opportunity to think more about this. But notice what what Paul saying? Knows 134 00:12:33.190 --> 00:12:39.750 what the Holy Spirit is saying, that God chose to hide these things, 135 00:12:39.789 --> 00:12:45.820 to keep them secret, but now they are being revealed, now we are 136 00:12:45.940 --> 00:12:48.539 finding them out. To Go back and think about Peter in that passage I 137 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:54.740 quoted earlier, he tells us that prophets searched and inquired diligently about the things 138 00:12:54.820 --> 00:13:01.490 that we now know. Angels, he says, long to look into these 139 00:13:01.570 --> 00:13:05.610 things that all of us here in this room now know and have heard. 140 00:13:07.169 --> 00:13:09.450 And they didn't know it, they didn't hear it, they didn't see it. 141 00:13:09.690 --> 00:13:16.399 Why? Because God hid it, God kept it secret. Paul tells 142 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:20.559 us the Gospel was hidden. It has not been revealed. Peter says these 143 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:24.120 things about prophets and angels. Let me ask it this, let me ask 144 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:28.950 you a question in this way. If the truths about Christ can't be figured 145 00:13:28.990 --> 00:13:33.429 out by angels and Prophets, there's certainly no way I'm going to figure it 146 00:13:33.470 --> 00:13:41.309 out by going on a hike. Right. Paula says, you're quoting the 147 00:13:41.350 --> 00:13:46.820 scriptures, that these things can't even be imagined. Right, it's you can't 148 00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:50.940 even figure that about by just sort of sitting around and say, I wonder 149 00:13:50.980 --> 00:13:54.980 if maybe this might be true about the good news that's coming to us. 150 00:13:54.620 --> 00:14:00.129 I wonder if they can't even be imagined. Paul says, you can't sit 151 00:14:00.169 --> 00:14:03.690 in a room and turn off the light and sort of close your mind off 152 00:14:03.769 --> 00:14:07.649 to all your presuppositions and just use reason and then find yourself at the Gospel. 153 00:14:09.490 --> 00:14:13.159 Why? Because God hit it from you. If God hide something from 154 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:18.240 or from the world, if God hide something from the world, you're not 155 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:26.110 going to find it. Reason isn't that powerful to overwhelm God. Imagination isn't 156 00:14:26.149 --> 00:14:33.830 that powerful to pry open his secrets. Deuteronomy two twenty nine says that the 157 00:14:33.950 --> 00:14:37.470 revealed things belong to us and the hidden things belong to God, and that's 158 00:14:37.509 --> 00:14:41.259 just the way it is. One of the ways Paul gets at that here 159 00:14:41.340 --> 00:14:48.059 in this passages he says, think about your own souls. People don't know 160 00:14:48.700 --> 00:14:52.970 about your interior world, your values, your thoughts, your wishes, your 161 00:14:54.090 --> 00:14:58.649 hopes, your dreams, unless you reveal it, unless you tell them. 162 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:01.730 That could be through body language or, but usually most often, our words 163 00:15:03.009 --> 00:15:09.679 in a similar way. Unless the spirit of God reveals the things of God, 164 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:13.039 you're just not going to find it out. Why would we think that 165 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:20.240 we can keep things secret but God can't? Why would we think that there 166 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:24.029 are things that we know that nobody else can know? But if we just 167 00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:30.870 apply ourselves or really open up our minds or impress ourselves into this things of 168 00:15:30.950 --> 00:15:35.860 the world, we can crack open God's secrets? That's a pretty presumptuous thing, 169 00:15:35.860 --> 00:15:41.299 and that's another thing that Paul is doing here in this passage. Not 170 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:46.379 only is he telling us about telling us the limits of natural revelation and God's 171 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:50.809 action and previous history of hiding and keeping secret these things, but he's also 172 00:15:50.809 --> 00:15:56.610 humbling us, isn't he? Too many people think that they can find the 173 00:15:56.809 --> 00:16:04.000 blessedness of the divine, apart from the divine self revelation. If I go 174 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:11.759 into the desert and spend several days quietly and alone, the world and God 175 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:17.799 and the divine will just open up its secrets to me, won't? You 176 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:21.429 will still have yourself and your messes in the world. Maybe you'll get clarity 177 00:16:21.470 --> 00:16:23.149 on a few things, on this or that, maybe you'll be able to 178 00:16:23.230 --> 00:16:27.110 clear some clutter out of your mind and get focused on your priorities. There 179 00:16:27.110 --> 00:16:30.070 could be some benefit of that, but you're not going to find out the 180 00:16:30.230 --> 00:16:34.700 Gospel. You're not going to find out the very thing that you need for 181 00:16:34.820 --> 00:16:41.100 your salvation. Other people think that if they just apply themselves to the wisdom 182 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:45.700 of this world, finding out how the whether it's how markets work or how 183 00:16:45.860 --> 00:16:51.090 people work or how a nature works or whatever it is, if they apply 184 00:16:51.330 --> 00:16:57.049 themselves to their work, they can find out God. But they can't remember 185 00:16:57.090 --> 00:17:03.320 that because of our sin are the work itself that we do is cursed because 186 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:06.440 of sin that came into the world. We can't just not only can we 187 00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:11.519 not produce the results of our work that we desire to produce fully and easily 188 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:15.710 as we like, but that's certainly not a path to to getting things out 189 00:17:15.710 --> 00:17:21.670 of God that he's not ready to reveal. People want to look deep into 190 00:17:21.670 --> 00:17:26.109 themselves, but there's a whole mess of sin in there. People want to 191 00:17:26.190 --> 00:17:30.819 look at human love in general, or dark sayings and mystery, or some 192 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:41.900 people look at just change or whatever, various things in this world. But, 193 00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:48.809 beloved, remember that God is awesome in his power, awesome in his 194 00:17:48.970 --> 00:17:56.009 wisdom. His thoughts are not our thoughts. We have no access to them 195 00:17:56.089 --> 00:18:00.119 unless he reveals them to us. And that, as I said, ought 196 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:06.039 to humble us. It ought to put us in our place and go I 197 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:11.119 guess I'm not God. I guess I need him to give me himself in 198 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:14.670 order for me to know him, in order for me to love him. 199 00:18:14.869 --> 00:18:19.309 It makes us dependent on him and not Lord's over him. That's part of 200 00:18:19.470 --> 00:18:25.950 why God does this, is he humbles us. We come to God on 201 00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:33.980 his terms because he's God and we are not. But these truths about the 202 00:18:33.099 --> 00:18:41.529 revelation of God coming to us only from God himself and specifically from the spirit. 203 00:18:41.569 --> 00:18:48.970 It's also encourages us, I think, and that's what Paul says in 204 00:18:48.049 --> 00:18:52.650 Verse Five. He says, I want you to remember that my speech didn't 205 00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:56.319 come to you in plausible words of wisdom, but a demonstration of the spear 206 00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:03.160 it and of power. Why? Verse Five? So that your faith might 207 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:08.160 not rest in the mid wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 208 00:19:11.109 --> 00:19:15.309 How many times have you know? My family is preparing for family camp 209 00:19:15.390 --> 00:19:18.710 and we put our our packing list together, but we're wondering in the back 210 00:19:18.710 --> 00:19:22.869 of our minds did we get it all? Did we bring the right things? 211 00:19:22.910 --> 00:19:26.940 Are we bringing too much? And if we struggle to put together a 212 00:19:27.500 --> 00:19:33.859 packing list for a trip and Assembol all of our things, what makes us 213 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:38.210 think that we can just dig into ourselves and discover the divine? Then we 214 00:19:38.289 --> 00:19:44.250 can dig into ourselves and fit together all the pieces of reality and the heavenly 215 00:19:44.450 --> 00:19:48.529 things and God's plan for the universe, and if we can just settle into 216 00:19:48.569 --> 00:19:52.039 that and live out our lives in this truth that we have selfdiscovered, don't 217 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:59.400 be ridiculous. We're creatures, we struggle with limitations and, on top of 218 00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:03.920 that, sin. It's not just that we are a limited and we are 219 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:08.109 in these things, but we also have sin in us that's constantly counteracting truth, 220 00:20:08.670 --> 00:20:15.950 fighting against truth, hiding truth, deceiving. We deceive ourselves. But 221 00:20:17.109 --> 00:20:21.269 remember, I'm trying to encourage you here, here we are being given the 222 00:20:21.619 --> 00:20:26.900 spirit of God, so that you can rest and know that God himself has 223 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:33.779 revealed this thing to you. You don't need to doubt it like you doubt 224 00:20:33.819 --> 00:20:37.329 yourself, like I doubt myself. You don't need to wonder, did I 225 00:20:37.369 --> 00:20:40.130 get this right? Do I have enough? Is it all been revealed? 226 00:20:40.369 --> 00:20:44.690 Is there's some peace missing? That's all. There everything that you need, 227 00:20:45.130 --> 00:20:51.200 every single thing that you need. John tells us that there were so many 228 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:56.000 miracles and things and signs Jesus did that you can't even write them all down, 229 00:20:56.519 --> 00:21:00.799 but these ones I give to you so that you would know that Jesus 230 00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:03.829 is the Christ, is the son of God, and so that, believing 231 00:21:03.869 --> 00:21:10.029 in him, you would have life in his name. Occasionally Paul will reference 232 00:21:10.069 --> 00:21:14.910 a letter to the Laodiceans or something like that. You'll read in the in 233 00:21:15.029 --> 00:21:18.980 the scriptures, other letters and things that were written. You don't need to 234 00:21:18.019 --> 00:21:23.140 worry about missing them, because God has given you everything that you need. 235 00:21:26.380 --> 00:21:29.579 This springs a lot of confidence for the one who's trusting in the Lord and 236 00:21:29.740 --> 00:21:37.970 not in themselves. We have confidence when we remember the source of the revelation. 237 00:21:38.930 --> 00:21:44.329 It also reminds us that there is true power in these things, because 238 00:21:44.329 --> 00:21:48.200 they're not simply self derived or come out from some other person. We know 239 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:55.000 that God himself is at work. As Paul says, this is a demonstration 240 00:21:55.119 --> 00:22:02.470 of the spirit and of power God is at work when he reveals these things. 241 00:22:03.230 --> 00:22:07.950 The Holy Spirit, we confess, is the Lord and Giver of Life. 242 00:22:08.029 --> 00:22:11.950 These are the truth that we find in his word, in the Gospel. 243 00:22:12.230 --> 00:22:18.339 In this spirit empowered, Spirit revealed Gospel, we also find the love 244 00:22:18.380 --> 00:22:23.619 of God poured out for us. Notice in verse twelve that says we have 245 00:22:23.740 --> 00:22:27.579 respieved not the spirit of the world or world, but the spirit who is 246 00:22:27.700 --> 00:22:33.769 from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 247 00:22:33.809 --> 00:22:40.210 I think that word freely reminds us that these things are of grace. These 248 00:22:40.329 --> 00:22:45.519 things come to us because he loved us, as he says in verse nine, 249 00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:51.799 what God has prepared for those who love him. He changes our hearts 250 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:53.839 so that we can rest in him, so that we can abide in his 251 00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:59.710 love, love him and and as he loves us. There's this relationship that 252 00:22:59.910 --> 00:23:03.670 is formed. We're no longer afloat in the world wondering where we fit in 253 00:23:03.910 --> 00:23:08.269 and what family we belong to, what people we belong to, and all 254 00:23:08.349 --> 00:23:11.859 these things. God comes to us and says, you belong to me. 255 00:23:14.539 --> 00:23:18.539 My banner over you is love. I am your husband and you are mine. 256 00:23:19.700 --> 00:23:23.500 We're together now. I make this covenant by the blood of my own 257 00:23:23.660 --> 00:23:30.329 son. You're safe, you're protected. These are the things that the spirit 258 00:23:30.130 --> 00:23:37.490 of Christ, the spirit of love, reveals to us. It is good 259 00:23:37.690 --> 00:23:45.359 to know that these things are not determined by us, but revealed to us 260 00:23:45.400 --> 00:23:52.519 by the Holy Spirit. Well, close by reminding you that, as God 261 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:57.990 reveals these things to us by the spirit, the scripture also testifies to us. 262 00:23:59.069 --> 00:24:03.309 The spirit testifies to us that he, the Holy Spirit of God, 263 00:24:03.589 --> 00:24:07.470 also dwells in our hearts, testifying to us that these things are true. 264 00:24:08.750 --> 00:24:12.259 He says in verse thirteen. We impart these in words, not taught by 265 00:24:12.299 --> 00:24:18.579 human wisdom, but by taught by the spirit, interpreting spiritual truth to those 266 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:22.019 who are spiritual. You see what he's saying. He says you are able 267 00:24:22.140 --> 00:24:29.210 to receive these because I, the Holy Spirit, has have I've changed your 268 00:24:29.369 --> 00:24:36.009 hearts, I've made you into a person who is now marked by me, 269 00:24:36.289 --> 00:24:41.480 who has been changed by me. So that you are able to now interpret 270 00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:47.359 these truths and understand them and apply them and grow in them. The true 271 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:52.589 is that I reveal every aspect of you. Your heart, your mind, 272 00:24:52.869 --> 00:24:59.750 the activities of your soul, these are all being changed by the very spirit 273 00:24:59.829 --> 00:25:03.990 of God, and what a wonderful truth that is. In other words, 274 00:25:03.150 --> 00:25:08.059 we don't just sort of get this holy spirit information which then we process in 275 00:25:08.180 --> 00:25:14.460 this very man centered way. We get the revelation of God, which we 276 00:25:14.619 --> 00:25:18.579 then process in a divine way, because the Holy Spirit himself is at work 277 00:25:18.619 --> 00:25:23.210 within us. And so, as we are humbled in these things, this 278 00:25:23.450 --> 00:25:27.930 we are reminded to get off our high horses and stop having so much pride 279 00:25:27.930 --> 00:25:33.529 in our abilities. We are also encouraged, beloved, we are encouraged to 280 00:25:33.730 --> 00:25:42.440 look to God, who has now revealed these things. Paul wants our faith 281 00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:45.920 to be strong, to be at rest, not in the wisdom of men, 282 00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:52.509 but in the power of God. So, instead of blaspheming the Holy 283 00:25:52.589 --> 00:25:56.150 Spirit, instead of refusing the Holy Spirit, instead of not listening to the 284 00:25:56.230 --> 00:26:00.990 Holy Spirit when we hear the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, let us 285 00:26:02.029 --> 00:26:07.980 listen to the spirit of God and be thankful for him. At work in 286 00:26:07.099 --> 00:26:11.740 our hearts and in our minds and as he does that work in us, 287 00:26:12.380 --> 00:26:17.779 may bog may God be Glorid, to produce the fruit of the spirit in 288 00:26:17.900 --> 00:26:25.569 us to his glory. I'm in. Let's pray together. Our heavenly father, 289 00:26:25.730 --> 00:26:27.849 we ask that you would indeed bless us and you would do so by 290 00:26:27.930 --> 00:26:33.960 the power, by the power of your spirit, through the word of Christ. 291 00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:37.119 We thank you that the spirit has been given to us by our Lord 292 00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:42.400 and who does not speak anything other than what that which he has heard. 293 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:49.230 Thank you, Oh Holy Spirit, that you search even the depths of God, 294 00:26:51.029 --> 00:26:55.069 knowing everything that is said by the father to the son, everything that 295 00:26:55.150 --> 00:26:59.509 is said from the son to the father in the reve and then revealing these 296 00:26:59.630 --> 00:27:03.539 things to us that we might hear, that we might know, that we 297 00:27:03.700 --> 00:27:12.660 might speak divine things, things of God. We thank you, oh Lord, 298 00:27:12.779 --> 00:27:15.809 fisdom that you have revealed in this world. We thank you for the 299 00:27:15.890 --> 00:27:22.769 laws and the principles and all that we might study, but we do not 300 00:27:22.970 --> 00:27:27.250 look to it for our salvation. Instead, we look to the hidden secrets 301 00:27:27.289 --> 00:27:33.480 that have now been revealed in the cross of Jesus. Christ, Lord, 302 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:41.160 help us to see your will and your word in him. May Your spirit 303 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:48.269 be active even among us today, in also in those who do not yet 304 00:27:48.390 --> 00:27:53.230 know you. We pray for our family members, we pray for our friends 305 00:27:53.670 --> 00:27:59.380 who are still hard of hearing, whose hearts are still hard and seeking after 306 00:27:59.420 --> 00:28:04.140 a heavenly things here on earth. Lord, we ask that you would send 307 00:28:04.180 --> 00:28:07.900 your spirit to them, that they might that their eyes might be open, 308 00:28:08.099 --> 00:28:12.650 that their ears might be open, that might no longer call the Cross of 309 00:28:12.730 --> 00:28:19.529 Christ folly and stumble over it, but instead stand on it and rest in 310 00:28:19.609 --> 00:28:26.730 him and his perfect sacrifice for sins. Lord, you have told us in 311 00:28:26.809 --> 00:28:32.359 your word that we have the very mind of Christ. Let us rejoice in 312 00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:42.349 this, for this is something that is beyond beyond any human knowing, but 313 00:28:42.549 --> 00:28:47.950 only comes to us through your revelation. We also ask that, as this 314 00:28:48.150 --> 00:28:51.910 ought to humble us, that you would indeed humble us the you would encourage 315 00:28:51.910 --> 00:28:56.059 us, emboldened US and help us to trust in the power of the Gospel, 316 00:28:57.180 --> 00:29:02.900 in the love of the Gospel and in Christ himself, who has been 317 00:29:02.940 --> 00:29:07.940 freely offered to us. I pray these things in Jesus name. AM