Thank you, you may be seated. If you have your Bibles there this evening turn back to the book of 1st Corinthians please, 1st Corinthians and chapter 2. 1st Corinthians and chapter 2 and I believe that tonight's theme will fit somewhat into observance of the Lord's table as we contemplate the wisdom of God in the gospel, the wisdom of God in the plan of salvation. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and why don't we read the whole chapter together and then we'll pray and ask for God's help tonight as we get into his word. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 reading from verse 1. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. Feel free to read along with me, that's a good idea. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man that 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 the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.' And so we're dealing tonight with the theme, The Right Kind of Wisdom. The Right Kind of Wisdom. Lord, we ask for help now in these moments together. Help me to say only what's necessary tonight so that we can give appropriate attention to the observance of the table. But Lord, we pray that you might minister to our hearts now help us to get a grasp on what the Holy Spirit is seeking to teach us through this important section of 1st Corinthians about the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of men and Lord it's just quite striking to notice the repetition of key themes in these verses and clearly it's something you would have us grasp and get a hold of as your people so bless us tonight we thank you for the reminder in our reading of the Holy Spirit's ministry and how he can how he is our teacher and our guide and so we ask for his help tonight in the exposition of Scripture that we might have a faithful and accurate understanding of your word we pray in Jesus name Amen. So we're dealing with this major theme in this section of 1st Corinthians concerning man's wisdom versus God's wisdom and I was really struck this week as I studied for this message at really at some of the repetition of key themes here and repetition in the Bible equals importance and I was just struck with a thought, clearly the Holy Spirit wants us to get a clear grasp of the importance of divine wisdom versus the wisdom of this world and I think God knew that we as people would be susceptible to the influence of worldly wisdom and so just like the Corinthians were of old and so we need these truths that we might have a proper view of the world's wisdom and a right view of God's wisdom, understanding that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, but the wisdom of God, as found in the Word of God, is of infinite value. And so, the Apostle Paul, in this section here, reveals the origin of this divine wisdom and the role of the Spirit of God in making it known to the saints. he reveals that man in his natural state without God cannot understand divine wisdom, it requires regeneration, spiritual maturity and above all the aid of the Spirit of God and it was this wisdom and not man's that the Apostle and the other faithful ministers and other faithful ministers proclaimed. So tonight we want to look at three truths concerning divine wisdom or God's wisdom. In our message last week we saw Paul's preaching ministry and how that his speech and his preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Now look at verse 6 it starts with how be it. Howbeit we speak, what? Wisdom! So Paul's not against wisdom but he's making a very clear distinction between the worldly wisdom and the godly wisdom. And so we notice firstly tonight what I would call the definition of God's wisdom. The definition of God's wisdom in verse 6 through 8. Let's define true wisdom, let's define God's wisdom from the verses here. Divine wisdom firstly is pure wisdom. Pure wisdom, if you're filling in the notes there, verse 6. pure wisdom, it is the saints wisdom under that, it is the saints wisdom, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. So, the wisdom of God is for the saints, for those who are saved and more specifically here, for those who are spiritually mature. Paul was all for speaking God's wisdom especially among those who were mature and receptive to it. The word mature, the word perfect here is from the Greek word teleos and it signifies that which has attained its end Okay, it denotes the full-grown, says Vine, the mature in contrast to the babes. And certainly that should be the goal of every Christian, to reach not a state of sinless perfection in this life, that's not what the word is speaking about, but we do want to come to spiritual maturity. we understand that that is a process that never ends in the Christian life and while none of us can attain perfect maturity we can by God's grace I believe come to a measure of stability in our Christian lives where the foundation of truth is laid down and we yes continue to grow but some things have been established there's been a maturing process that's that's gone on there and it makes you therefore more receptive to to wisdom. Wisdom received brings more wisdom ultimately, doesn't it? Light received brings more light and as we assimilate the Word of God and as we more importantly apply the Word of God in our lives, then we are able to digest further wisdom. And so it's this wonderful process, isn't it, of growing in the Christian life. I hope you're excited tonight about the possibilities of Christian growth. What a blessed process that is, to know Christ as Saviour, that's the starting point, but then to go on to maturity and to grow into spiritual manhood, spiritual womanhood. And Paul said, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. Okay, it's those who are maturing spiritually who are receptive to God's wisdom and that of course implies salvation because you can't start maturing until you've first been converted. And so that's what we see here, the wisdom of God is for the saved and especially for those who are maturing because they will be more receptive to it. So it is the saints wisdom and then we could also say it is sanctified wisdom because it's wisdom that is distinct from the world and notice Paul highlights this again, yet not the wisdom of this world. Can you see that Paul is going to great lengths in this section of 1st Corinthians to make it clear what wisdom is and what it is not. Not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world that come to nought. The world's wisdom amounts to nothing because ultimately it is nothing. You say, what's the fundamental problem with the world's wisdom? Well, it's wisdom without reference to God. Now, in the world people may know certain facts, they may know things about science, they may know things that are true as far as the physical creation is concerned, but those things really have no meaning unless they are seen in their relationship to Almighty God. And so, even though the world may possess wisdom in the sense of knowledge about certain things, that knowledge does not lead to salvation and therefore ultimately comes to naught as far as eternity is concerned, whereas the wisdom of God, as seen in God's plan of salvation, God's wisdom, as seen in the gospel, brings us to eternal life. It's wisdom that is invaluable and precious. So it's not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world. The princes are those, says Vine, whose policy is occupied solely with the affairs of this present world period, during which mankind is in the darkness of alienation from God and under the prince of this world. We have a good illustration of really God's wisdom versus man's wisdom in the parable of the wise versus foolish man. Remember the Lord Jesus told that story in Matthew chapter 7 and in Luke chapter 6 about the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the rock there represents Christ's teachings and so the rain comes and the storm comes and the house that is built on the rock stands the storm and the wind because it is built upon the solid foundation there, whereas the foolish man builds his house upon the sand and we could say that the sand represents man's opinions, it's movable isn't it, it's always moving, always shifting, always changing, isn't that the nature of man's wisdom out there? All you have to do is tune into the news occasionally or tune into popular talk shows and it's always shifting, always changing because man is not the source of ultimate truth. We're talking about that in the A to Z class tonight. As soon as you lay aside the Word of God as the absolute truth and in its place say that man determines his own truth, we're in a very dark place. Because man's wisdom does not lead to eternal life, it's moving, it's shifting. And as believers, we have the wonderful blessing of founding our lives upon the eternal, unchangeable, unshakable rock of truth. But the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. Another illustration here is, how many of you have heard of TED Talks? There are thousands of these little short video presentations, they get different business people and different academics to talk about, do these little short presentations about things and they've been viewed billions of times but there's no eternal wisdom there. There's scientific facts, maybe some profound observations but no real wisdom because God is left out of the picture. lot of it's just false by the way as well, don't forget that. Okay, sometimes unsafe people deal in facts, scientific facts and things that are reliable as far as solid knowledge goes but a lot of it's just rubbish or it's knowledge that's then communicated within a framework that is calculated to take you away from God rather than to God, that's another danger isn't it? It's the 99% truth but then the little 1% of poison that's designed to kill you along with the truth. So God's wisdom, as we're defining it from the text here, is pure wisdom. It's for the mature, spiritually mature, it's the saints wisdom and it's sanctified wisdom, it's distinct from the world and the world's rulers. Then it's predetermined wisdom and this is amazing, these verses trace the origin of God's wisdom all the way back into his eternal heart before the world began. That's the kind of wisdom I want to build my life on. wisdom that was in the heart of God before the universe was created, isn't that amazing? But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, verse 7, even the hidden wisdom, listen to this, which God ordained before the world unto, whose glory? Our glory. These are majestic statements. So, predetermined wisdom. Look at the mystery of this wisdom. The mystery of this wisdom, verse 7. You say, what's a mystery? Well, a mystery is a sacred secret, concealed in God's will to past generations, but now revealed to the New Testament apostles and prophets. So, a mystery in the Bible is not something mysterious. It refers to a truth that was concealed in the past, but is now revealed through the New Testament apostles and prophets and the Apostle Paul was the recipient of most of the mystery doctrines as you study the New Testament. The mystery, the rapture is a mystery, okay, that's why you have to see a distinction between the Second Coming and the rapture because the Second Coming was not a mystery, we see that very clearly in the Old Testament. The truth of the rapture of the living, instantaneous glorification of living saints is a truth that is unveiled in the New Testament. not in the Old Testament. And if you want a good biblical definition of a mystery, read Ephesians 3, 4 and 5, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known under the sons of men, as it is now revealed under his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. So God ordained this wisdom before the world. word ordained there means to mark out beforehand, to determine before. It's predestination, God's predetermined wisdom. And the meaning is that God's wisdom in relation to the gospel of his grace was predetermined by him before any period of time began. The gospel was not an afterthought. So this verse takes us back, as I said, into eternity past, before the world was even created and it's here our finite minds fuse out. But we can be worshipful, can't we? And thank God for this wisdom, the plan of salvation that was in the eternal heart of the eternal, all-perfect, all-knowing, all-powerful God. God determined before the world began that He would put His salvation plan in motion for us. Because it was ordained before the world, look at this phrase here, verse 7, unto our glory. unto our glory. What a marvellous statement. Now, this shows us that... what love is in the heart of God? This shows us that we were the focus of this wisdom, the plan of salvation. Isn't that amazing? God had our good and our ultimate glorification in mind in his plan of salvation. Before the world even began, this wisdom, this plan of salvation, was intended for you, for your good. Now, when you read unto our glory, don't misunderstand that God is saying He wants us to be glorified as He is glorified, in the sense of us receiving any glory, we're quite clear from the previous chapter that God will not share His glory with others. that's not what's in view here, it has in view the blessings of salvation and our ultimate glorification, our transformation by the power of God. It contemplates all the goodness and blessings intended for us through salvation. John Phillips writes that... Don't you see the wisdom of God in the Gospel? That's one of the key reasons we know that the gospel is the truth. Man would never have thought up such a plan. sinful man would never devise such a plan that strikes at the heart of his pride and his self-effort. The truth of salvation by grace through faith not of works is certainly not something that man would come up with. No, man's religions reflect man's pride and self-achievement but this is the wisdom of God we see in the Gospel of God. It should leave us in awe and in wonder as we contemplate the plan of God from eternity past. So, the mystery of this wisdom, verse 7, look at the mastery of this wisdom, verse 8, "...which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." God's wisdom triumphed over the rulers of this world, both visible, earthly rulers, and invisible devils. Interestingly, the Greek word here translated rulers, can refer to both. If you trace the word through the New Testament, it sometimes refers to earthly rulers and sometimes it refers to principalities and powers, like in Ephesians 6, clearly dealing with not just earthly rulers but demonic powers. So which one's in view here? Well it would seem from the context that it's more earthly rulers but we know that Christ triumphed over both at the cross, didn't he? He bruised the servant's head and so both earthly rulers and demonic rulers were defeated by the wisdom of God and if they had known the wisdom of God's plan they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory. You think about it, from man's perspective and from the devil's perspective, when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, it seemed that they had triumphed over him, but little did the devil know, and little did sinful man know, that when Jesus was hanging there in humility and in shame and bleeding and dying, that he was bringing about the defeat of Satan, the defeat of sin. Oh, that's the wisdom of God. Christ Jesus, the Son of God, dying on the cross, bringing about the defeat of this world system and all of those things. So that's the wisdom of God. From man's perspective it appeared that Christ had been defeated but in reality the cross would defeat the devil, death, sin and this world's system. And notice, just notice as well, that he's called there the Lord of Glory. Who was crucified? The Lord of Glory, that's another clear reference to the deity of Christ, that's a title of deity, isn't it? God is depicted as the God of Glory, Acts 7.2, the Father of Glory, Ephesians 1.17, and the King of Glory, Psalm 2.4, and so this is none other than the incarnate Christ, the God-Man, Jesus Christ is God. So we have the definition of God's wisdom there. It's pure wisdom, it's predetermined wisdom, it goes all the way back into the heart of God before the world began. Boggles the mind doesn't it? But hopefully as a humble believer it just makes you worship. I can't fully understand that, that God had the plan of salvation in his heart before the world was even created but I accept it by faith. I'm so thankful for it because God is timeless, we're time-bound creatures aren't we? We live in a time-bound universe that God created time but God is outside of time and he's timeless, he's the eternal one, the I am. Then we look number two at the revelation of God's wisdom in verse 9 through 11 and these verses answer the question how is God's wisdom revealed? Now it's interesting that these verses are often quoted reference to heaven, have you ever maybe quoted them that way yourself? And most times when we quote that verse we're thinking about heaven but read the next verse... So clearly, I'm not saying it's wrong to maybe apply that verse and think about things to come in eternity that I have not seen or heard, that's true, we understand there are glories up there in heaven we haven't seen yet, but actually what's in view here is the Spirit of God bringing us into an understanding the truths of the Word of God, the wisdom of God, that cannot be understood and assimilated through natural means only, but it requires divine help. So, we notice how this wisdom is not revealed and then how it is revealed. So If you're taking notes there, letter A, it is not revealed through natural means. How is God's wisdom revealed? Well firstly, it is not revealed through natural means. But as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. When we have reference to the eyes and to the ears, they are references to organs through which we receive sight and sound. And as marvellous as this is, on their own they do not have the capacity to discern God's wisdom. So we could say that God's wisdom is not revealed to man's sense perceptions nor is it revealed to man's internal rationalizations. The heart is certainly not a source of wisdom because it's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. We need help from a divine source, so the revelation of God's wisdom, it is not revealed through natural means, but let it be that it is revealed through supernatural means, verse 10 and 11. And here we notice the role of the Spirit of God in helping us to understand the wisdom of God. And it is the Spirit of God who inspired the Word of God, this is where we find the wisdom of God here in the Scriptures, so no doubt the Scriptures are in view here. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man that is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. So look at the operation of the Spirit there. Verse 10, the operation of the Spirit. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. So you see the contrast here between the rulers of the world who did not understand the wisdom of God and in their natural state cannot understand the wisdom of God but the wisdom of God is revealed to those who know God, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Do you love God tonight? know, you can't truly love God until you've been born again. So loving God is a fruit of salvation, we love Him because He first loved us, right? And so God reveals these things by His Spirit to those who love Him, those who are saved, those who love God as a result of their salvation. What glorious, wonderful things God has prepared for us the recipients of his saving grace. God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals the things of God through the Scriptures which he authored. 2 Timothy 3.16, 2 Peter 1.21, the Holy Spirit indwells believers and he guides and instructs them in the truth, John 16.13, 1 Corinthians 2.13. So we can see in this passage that we need the Holy Spirit for enablement, verse 4, Paul spoke about that, his preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so we need the Holy Spirit for enablement but we also need the Holy Spirit in order to understand the Word of God, we need the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's operation in our lives in order to know the wisdom of God and in order to understand the wisdom of God. And the Holy Spirit is well qualified to teach us Do you know why? Because we note, next, the omniscience of the Spirit. The omniscience of the Spirit, look at it there, verse 10, This word searcheth... means to investigate and when the Holy Spirit is said to investigate something, do not get the wrong idea that that means that he is searching in order to gather information or obtain information. When the reference to the Holy Spirit searching the deep things of God is highlighting that the Holy Spirit has perfect and complete knowledge of the deep things of God. that's what it's doing. We know that the Holy Spirit is omniscient, so when we talk about the Holy Spirit investigating the deep things of God or searching the deep things of God, it's a reference to his omniscience, the fact that he understands the breadth, the depth, the height, he understands all the dimensions of the wisdom of God, he has perfect and complete knowledge of penetrates into the deep things of God, he knows every aspect of God's redemptive plan and therefore it is his role to instruct us and to teach us as his people. The deep things of God... the deep things of God... isn't it amazing how a little child can understand the simplicity of the gospel? But for the rest of your life as a saved person, you're just trying to plumb the depths of it. True? I mean, do you not just feel amazed as time goes on? the deep things of God, the depth, the unfathomable depth of God's love and the enormity of our salvation, I mean you simply can't get your heart and mind around the dimensions of the love of God, it's just impossible as a finite human being and that's the wisdom of God. On the one hand it's very digestible, very easy to understand, but at the same time it's so profound and so deep, we need the help of the Holy Spirit who has plumbed the depths, who has plumbed the depths of that wisdom to reveal more and more of God's wisdom to us. It's like that when you read John's epistles, so simple and yet you could meditate on it for a lifetime and never plumb the depths completely. So understandable in one sense, but at the same time so unfathomable. That's the gospel. That's the plan of salvation. I hope that the plan of salvation just thrills you as a believer, as you contemplate it, as you think upon it. That's part of the purpose of what we're doing tonight in the Lord's Table. It's an opportunity for us to meditate and to reflect and to think upon the awesomeness of God's plan of salvation. So the spirit searches the deep things of God. So we have an analogy and then an application. We understand that the human spirit is the faculty by which we understand certain things about our humanity. That's what makes us distinct from the animal kingdom. We have a spirit, the animals do not. And that spirit gives you self-consciousness. There's thoughts, internal reasonings, and a certain innate understanding of our humanity, certain aspects of our humanity, and even understanding of one another, intuition and various things. so what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, here's the application, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. So the Apostle Paul compares what the human spirit knows, says Phillips, with what the Holy Spirit knows. So without the Holy Spirit's help, we cannot comprehend divine truth. Therefore, as believers, we need to be careful to cultivate the right relationship with the Holy Spirit. Think about that. If the Holy Spirit, if we are dependent and we are upon the Holy Spirit to teach us the things of God and we're grieving Him, do you think that's going to have an impact on our Bible study? Do you think that's going to have an impact upon our reading of the Word of God? Yes! In fact, as you go through and look at all the ministries that the Holy Spirit has in our lives, we can't afford to grieve Him, we can't afford to quench Him, and if we do, we need to put it right with Him, because without a right relationship with the Holy Spirit, we are not going to have a fruitful time in the Word of God, we're not going to understand the things of God without His help. Because the Holy Spirit searches the deep things of God, He knows the things of God in all their glorious dimensions. almost think of the image of the Spirit of God hovering over the waters in the time of creation and think about His delving into, as it were, the deep things of God, His omniscience. And He reveals these things through His Word to those who love God. Do you love God? So the Revelation of God's wisdom. Finally, look at the illumination of God's wisdom. And we continue with looking at the spirit of God's ministry here. Now we have received, verse 12, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So, the illumination of God's wisdom. The Holy Spirit has revealed the mind of God through the Word of God and He illuminates us, He gives us understanding. So we could say, the Holy Spirit shows us the truth. We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God. Why? That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So we have not received the Spirit of the world, we've received the Spirit which is of God and we know the Holy Spirit is received when we repent and believe it's a gift. Well, the Holy Spirit, sorry, is a gift given to us at the moment of salvation. He is a gift. So we have the person of the indwelling there, the Holy Spirit, and the purpose of the indwelling is that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. The Holy Spirit was given to us as believers that we might know something of our vast, matchless inheritance in Christ. The things that are, look at these words, freely given to us of God. That phrase freely given comes from the Greek word karidzomai and karidzomai is made up of karis or part of that word is karis which is the word grace and so it's a gift of grace, it's God giving to us out of grace. The linguistic key says it means to give as a gift of grace, to give graciously as a favor and so salvation with all of its attendant blessings are a gift that God gives to us. when we repent and put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It cannot be earned. We're reminded that tonight, aren't we? all of these salvation with all of its attendant blessings cannot be earned they are freely given to us of God and the Holy Spirit enters our lives to give us and a big part of his ministry as the verse says here is to show us the things that we've been freely given. You know, sometimes we just don't fully appreciate, I'm sure we don't, even as mature as we mature, we just don't fully appreciate, as I say again, the dimensions of salvation. And that's why the Holy Spirit's been given to us to show us the things that have been freely given to us, to reveal more of them to us, to help us to grow in our understanding of them, to go deeper as it were, to plumb the depths more and more of God's wisdom as seen in the gospel, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. I hope that's your desire to go deeper as it were into the Word of God, to go deeper and not in some mystical strange sense but as with the Spirit of God as your guide to allow Him to minister in your life, to help you to understand in a deeper way the magnificence of salvation. So the Holy Spirit shows us the truth. And then he also teaches us the truth, verse 13. So we have the proclamation here of the Spirit's teaching, the proclamation of the Spirit's teaching. And it's not man's words, can you see Paul emphasizing this again? Not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth. It's a terrible thing, trying to communicate divine truth with human wisdom. Man's wisdom, not the words of man's wisdom, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, the Spirit's words. Where do we find the Holy Spirit's words? Here. This is the verbally inspired Word of God. the words of the Holy Spirit are found in the Word of God. That's why we believe that every word of God is perfect and every word of God is essential for our Christian lives. We don't have this view, modern view, of just slicing up the Bible and those sorts of things. No, these are the words of the Spirit of God found here in the Scripture and these are the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, present tense. He has that teaching ministry in our lives. You know the most important teacher is not the preacher, it's the Holy Spirit and we need to pray for that teaching ministry because The preacher, he's just human, he can't make you really understand. Now hopefully he's understood something of what he's preaching before he brings it to you, but he needs the help of the Holy Spirit in the office, so to speak, as he studies. He needs the help and the enablement of the Holy Spirit to declare that truth and then the hearer needs the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to receive it and to understand it. that is what we long for that's what we pray for is that the Holy Spirit would be moving as the preaching is going on that he would be the primary teacher taking the Word of God and and illuminating the hearer and bringing it home as it were to the hearer and applying it to each individual heart and life and it's amazing to me as a preacher how the Holy Spirit can do this and one message is preached from a certain passage of Scripture and this one was blessed in this particular area and the Lord dealt with this person over here in this particular area and someone else received instruction here and to me that's a wonderful sign of the Spirit of God's ministry where the Spirit of God is teaching the things of God to the people of God as the Word of God is being read and declared And that's what we need, we need the ministry, the teaching ministry of the Spirit of God in our personal lives and in the pulpit ministry that we might receive and understand the things that God has prepared for us. So that's the proclamation of the Spirit's teaching and it's those words that we are to speak as preachers, which things also we speak So we need to learn and understand God's truth and his words and then make that the basis of our preaching. And then we notice the process of the Spirit's teaching. What is the method of the Spirit of God when it comes to helping us to understand the Word of God? Look back at the verse there. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, and how does he teach? What's the last phrase say there? Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now I'm always intrigued at where sometimes you come to a verse which to me is very clear and the commentators get all confused and go running off in all sorts of directions, maybe they help each other out with that, I don't know. But most commentators I read said, oh, we're not sure if this is comparing spiritual people with spiritual people, and they're all agnostic about what it really means. I think their context is very clear. When we talk about the words the Holy Ghost teacheth, that has to be the words of Scripture, right? Because we don't subscribe to the charismatic view that we just receive direct revelation outside of the Word of God. So the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth would have to be the inspired words of God. I've always understood this verse, I don't think it's very confusing that the way the Holy Spirit helps us to understand his truth is to compare Scripture with Scripture. You have one spiritual thing as it were over here in this part of the Bible and that shines light on another spiritual truth over here. So, That's why comparing Scripture with Scripture is such a fundamental rule of Bible interpretation. And when you compare Scripture with Scripture, guess what you're doing? You're aligning yourself with the Spirit of God's method of helping you to understand the Word of God. So, context is important, and then comparing Scripture with Scripture. If you can get those two principles of Bible interpretation into your heart and mind, it'll save you a lot of doctrinal error. what is the context and what other Scriptures speak about this same subject that could shine a light on this. What do the false teachers do? They wrench a verse out of its context and they usually ignore and they don't want you to know about these other verses that shine a light on that verse. So, that's the process of the Spirit's teaching. He compares spiritual things with spiritual. And as we're going to see in our next message, you need to be a spiritual man, spiritual woman, to be able to really receive those things, because the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, verse 14, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual, that's again referring to someone who's clearly born again, and someone who's spiritually mature, judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. So God willing, in our next message, we're going to deal with this theme. Are you natural? carnal or spiritual. The natural man, he's unsaved. He doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God, they're foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned, he's lost. The spiritual and the carnal, they're both saved. And every Christian falls into one of those two categories because chapter 3 is very clear, the carnal believer is a saved person. But they're unreceptive. the meat of the Word of God, they're unreceptive to going deeper as it were with the help of the Spirit of God into spiritual maturity because of their fleshliness. And so we want to be by God's grace spiritual people, genuinely spiritual people and you cannot be spiritual without the Spirit of You cannot be a spiritual believer without the help of the Spirit of God who indwells us and so we need his help. Let us stay close to him, let us keep short accounts with him. We need his help to understand the words that he has inspired in the Bible. Let's bow for prayer as we prepare for the Lord's table tonight. Let's have every head bowed, every eye closed as we come to the table tonight. Let us come with that thought in mind The wisdom of God, God's wisdom displayed in the gospel, God's wisdom seen in the glorious plan of salvation, that's what we're remembering tonight, God's plan of salvation, the cross and let us glory in that tonight and give thanks for the wisdom of God. The Lord of glory crucified for us according to God's wisdom. that wisdom which was ordained before the world began unto our glory. Maybe that would be a good thought to just anchor our minds on tonight. What wondrous wisdom, what love What indescribable wisdom, what indescribable love that God, before the world even began, would ordain this wisdom, His plan of salvation, for our good, for our blessing, and for our ultimate glorification. Lord we thank you tonight for your Word, we thank you that it is the truth and Lord we do need the help of the Holy Spirit to understand your Word, I need your help Lord, each one of us needs your help and Lord we pray that we would be going on to maturity, that we might be receptive to the things of God and to the ministry of the Spirit of God working in our lives. We thank you for divine wisdom, oh how we how we marvel and how we stand in awe of your wisdom and of your goodness in salvation so Lord we pray that you would help us to approach the table with that spirit of worship tonight and Thanksgiving knowing that you have ordained that you ordain salvation for us that you had our benefit and our good in mind when you devise salvation's plan before the world began we bless you for that we thank you in Jesus name Amen