The Wisdom of God - Part 2

THE WISDOM GOD – Pt 2      
1 Corinthians 2:6-16                
August 16, 2020

Review –

v18-25; that God operates in a way the world’s wisdom considers weak & powerless, yet it works.
v26-31; he addresses the church – God does it this way because this way assures He gets all the glory.

Now in the beginning of Chapter 2 Paul is reminding us that to walk in God’s footsteps we have to resist temptations to alter the gospel message. Be very careful not to negate the power of God and always keep this book first – so when a time comes that God asks us to do something His way instead – we are prepared to pivot and do it His way. Paul drove hard God’s wisdom opposed to man’s.  Strong statements made about the wisdom of the world.

Outline points –

1. Paul makes it clear he does speak wisdom – he’s in favor of it – just a different kind than the world’s.
2. The Holy Spirit is the secret to having this Godly wisdom.
3. The End of chapter the reason the natural unsaved man cannot grasp this wisdom is because he doesn’t have an open and free relationship with the Spirit of God.
   

I.  Wisdom and the Crucifixion

v6-8; We do speak wisdom – not in favor of arbitrariness – we aren’t for confusion.

1 Cor 14:33; for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Our system as Believers is different – it’s calculated, reasoned – just different than the world’s.

v7; The wisdom of God is not of this age.  God ordained before the ages…He set it up this way.

God’s wisdom spoken to those who are born again in Christ. 

• Don’t we have control over becoming more mature?
• Who’s responsibility is your growth in Christ?

Different wisdom systems – how different are they?

• Paul says not even the rulers understood.
• Paul says the most learned and powerful non-believers didn’t understand and still don’t today.

Otherwise without a divine plan, they would not have crucified Him.

• If they truly understood who He was and what He represented and the wisdom He spoke they would not have crucified Him?
• But of course God had other plans.

Acts 3:17; “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.

• Points v6-8; we have wisdom in this unsaved world that unbelievers, including leaders, simply can’t comprehend. They think we are out of our mind. We aren’t are we? 
  • Just operating in a different system – one they do not understand.
  • This is most evident is the fact that Jesus was crucified without them really knowing who He was.

A.  The Holy Spirit translates

Remember becoming a Christian and telling others –

• Their response was predictable as unbelievers wasn’t it?

It made so much sense to me to trust God – to step out by faith – but not to others.

Proverbs 3:5-6; Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

Psalm 37:3-5; Trust in the Lord and do good;  Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

Why didn’t they grasp it? – because they were of the world – my early learning was in God’s sandbox –

• World doesn’t appreciate it and I’ve grown to accept that I can’t expect nonbelievers to respond otherwise.

Paul says we are just operating on a different system, we are called not to be foolish or reckless… Why doesn’t the world get it?  Why did the Jews totally miss it?  Why only believers can get it and appreciate it? God tells us through Paul that having the Holy Spirit is key to having God’s wisdom.

Psalm 19:1; The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Every time we look at the sky, grass, mountains – spiritual wisdom is all around but not seen by all because the human eye cannot see divine truth….

• For those who know and love Him we get to see it! Amen!!

Note v9 is not a “see it only in heaven” verse…

• We as believers given a tremendous privilege communicated to us right now in our lifetime.

B.  The Doctrine of Illumination

This is commonly called the Doctrine of Illumination

• In other words – Turning on the Light
• The spirit of God ministers to the life of a believer and illumines him, shines on him, enables him to grasp what God is communicating to him in His Word about the things around him.

Psalm 119:130; The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.

New Christians often say I received Christ and all of the sudden – I am beginning to understand what I’m reading –

Why? – people read and don’t get it – something is missing – God is not illuminating their mind…

A new Christian listens to Christian music and for the first time the words make sense…

II.  The Holy Spirit’s Voice

Paul goes on to tell us why only the Spirit of God is our voice of understanding.

v10; the spirit searches all things…

“depths” Greek = “to fathom, grasp, comprehend, to really understand!

Spirit of God is qualified to communicate His truth.  All that God knows the Spirit of God knows.  If we want it, we must have the Spirit of God in us.

Illustration – Marriage

Paul puts it all together to remind us in v12;  we have received the spirit from God…living in our lives.  When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Spirit of God moves in…for good.

John 14:17; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

Colossians 1:17; He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

1 Corinthians 6:19; Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

That’s why Paul says you have received the Spirit of God into your life and that’s why you have access to God’s very thought life living right in you.  So that we might know the things freely given to us….so we could grasp spiritual truth.

A.  Spiritual thoughts understood

He revealed it and gave us the ability to understand it.  Without illumination we would be just as unresponsive as unbelievers… The Rulers of this world didn’t even recognize Jesus Christ. Think of all those you wish understood or you just can’t understand why they don’t .

Look at our leaders today who do not know Jesus?  That explains a lot of things doesn’t it! 

B.  The disciples example for us

Take a poll of average group of believers –

John 16:5-7; “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

Jesus talking to his disciples – those who talked with Him, walked with Him, ate with Him – He’s telling them He’s going away – He’s leaving but it is to your advantage that I go away – the helper will come – after I depart…

It’s one thing to reveal spiritual truth to men – walking around doing so –

• Another thing to understand it by the Spirit.
• Disciples heard Him, saw Him but it didn’t sink in until the Holy Spirit came into them.
• They became giants of the faith.

v14-16; Believers have the ability to discern what Christ says.    Natural man who doesn’t know Christ – he doesn’t and can’t understand.

Paul is telling us – Natural man – spiritual truth all around him/her but he doesn’t have the ability to get it.

• But we as believers pick it up everywhere we go – not because we are smart – because God gave us the same gift as the disciples.
• Natural man can be hit right in the face with it and not know it is there – never see it.

v16; But as believers, we have the mind of Christ.

Summary.

1. Spiritual truth is all around us – just different than the world’s system – only believers can appreciate it and its power.
2. Reason is because the Holy Spirit living in us gives us the power to do so. We are enabled.
3. Reason Unbelievers can’t see God in creation, not because they made up their minds to reject it – the point is they are incapable of grasping it because they don’t have spiritual discernment.

C. Truth is ours to share

Paul has laid the foundation to come back to the church and deal with his mission.  He tells them the kind of disunity they are experiencing is from worldly wisdom, not Godly wisdom.

• He will challenge the Corinthians with this truth
• We are being challenged right now with this truth.

Application:

If you are Here and this does not make much sense to you I can probably tell you why if you haven’t figured it out – If the spirit of God is speaking to you right now

• Perhaps you have doubts, and the spirit of God is saying you better check on this.

When we are Praying for unbelievers – pray this way; O’God let the spirit of God so grip that person that they see the need for you…that’s a passionate, biblical prayer. If you are here as a born again Christian – know that we have the thought life of Christ in us –

• Paul says the mature understand it – the potential is there but we need to cooperate with Him to appreciate it and realize His thoughts.
• We have to do our part to have that grow.