I invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. What is the value of wisdom? My grandfather used to say, too soon old, too late smart. Too soon old, too late smart. Wise, what is the value of wisdom? I mean, wisdom can't fill your gas tank, and wisdom cannot fill your grocery cart. Wisdom is not gonna pay your rent for you, right? What's the value of wisdom? In our world, commodities are the king. So should we even care about wisdom? In 1 Corinthians chapter two, the apostle Paul's gonna unfold the difference between worthy wisdom and godly wisdom. I mean, there's no shortage of information, is there? I mean, we have Google, we have AI, we have 24-7, 365 access to important facts, things that you need to know. All kinds of information is available to us. Knowledge is a click, swipe, and tap away. What would we use wisdom for anyway? Some people say knowledge is power. But what is wisdom worth? Some have described the difference between knowledge and wisdom this way. Knowledge is knowing that Frankenstein isn't the monster. Wisdom is realizing that Frankenstein is the monster. Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting tomatoes in your fruit salad. Knowledge is knowing how to attach a rocket engine to your bicycle. Wisdom is letting your little brother try it out first. Knowledge, some people would say, is knowing things. Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know. Wisdom is the stuff of poets and philosophers, right? No, not so fast. We have no shortage of knowledge in our day, but we are running a deficit in wisdom. In the first letter to Corinthians, the apostle Paul addressed misconceptions in the church. Corinth was an immoral city, but it was not an ignorant city. There was knowledge. There was information. There were smarts. Paul was calling the hedonistic and materialistic and humanistic concepts that were invading the church at Corinth, he was calling them to be dissolved. He wanted to do away with these false forms of wisdom. He makes the point that the preaching of the blood-stained, blood-drenched cross of Christ is both wisdom and power. even though he preached it, as we looked at last week in verses one through five of chapter two, although he preached that message in weakness, in utter weakness, even if he was a laughingstock before the watching world. So today we're gonna hear the Apostle Paul contrast the two forms of wisdom, worldly wisdom and godly wisdom, and we're going to see why we need to have such a wisdom. You remember the church at Corinth we found was disunified. And this disunified congregation needed to have godly wisdom. They had bought into the superiority of worldly wisdom and they as a church were paying the price for it. So each of us needs gospel wisdom. Look with me, 2 Corinthians chapter two. We'll start at verse five and read through verse seven. He says 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 or mature, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes, or of the world that come to naught, but we speak the wisdom of God and the mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Let's just bow for a moment in prayer. Father, open our eyes to your truth, help us to understand wisdom that can only come from a personal relationship with you. Help us not to settle for any substitute forms of wisdom that this world offers. Help us to cling to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen. Have you ever heard a student say, how am I going to use this in real life anyway? How am I going to use this when I'm out of school? so much of our formal educational system is information-based. Get the facts, learn the facts, take the tests, get good grades, get more tax money, and we're all happy. That's sometimes what is thought. When Solomon penned the Book of Proverbs, he put a premium on wisdom. He saw it as a priority. His form of education for training the youth was to not just give information, not just to give knowledge, but to give them a godly wisdom. He said this in Proverbs 9, verse 10. He said, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. And so wisdom is sourced in the person of God. True wisdom, true understanding comes from a knowledge of God. And so in 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul was concerned that the Corinthian church not just know how to live, but to know why they live how they live. He wanted them to know how to live, but he wanted them to live what they know. Christians also must live what we know. and God has given us in Jesus Christ the wisdom to do so. Look with me at verse 16, the end of the chapter we'll look at this morning, and he says, for who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. In Jesus Christ, if you have him, you have been given all you need to supply you with wisdom, not just information for life, but how to live your life to the glory of God. We're gonna look at three studies to gain gospel wisdom this morning. Three studies to gain gospel wisdom. The first is to study the source of wisdom. That's found there in verse six. He says, how be it when wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world that come to naught." And he's making a contrast here. He says the wisdom we're talking about here is something that needs to come from somewhere other than this world. You need to find where to draw this wisdom. Where is the source of this wisdom? The wisdom that the world offers, it's like It's like a puddle, right? It's not very deep, and it's dirty, and it's stagnant, and it's scum-covered. The wisdom of this world, there's not a lot of depth to it. The wisdom of the world says, you know, honesty is optional. Pleasure is a priority. As long as you can get, get, get, you'll be happy. That's what the wisdom of this world offers. But for us, if we want to know the wisdom of God, we must go to the source. We're living in what has been termed the post-modern world, or post-Christian world, that says there's no God, that says there's no truth, and then what's left? Power. And so we see fights in our culture for power. Who can demand authority? I read a conspiracy theory in BBC News this week. I don't know if it's true or not. There's been a group of people who are the founders of cryptocurrencies, and they want to develop cyber nations. Just like you can switch your insurance company, you could switch your nationality. And the grand scheme, according to this conspiracy theory, was that the kings of these empires, of these digital nations, would be the founder of the cryptocurrencies, of course. to make themselves kings. It's a natural human desire to rule. It's a sinful desire to push the other man down. In fact, it tells us in Mark chapter 10, verse 42, Jesus said this. He says, you know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. And their great ones exercise authority upon them, right? That's natural, human, dog-eat-dog world. There's a fight of, I want power, I want authority, and my opinion is the power, and my party is the power, and it's a battle of powers. And so what do we do? We want to align ourselves to who we think is the most important power. But Jesus Christ calls us to the individual rather than ruling over others, He's called us to follow His example. He says, but so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister, and whosoever will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, to give his life a ransom for many. So rather than to domineer, rather than to manipulate, rather than to seek control over the others, the calling of a Christian is to follow the example of the Lord Jesus. And he says the greatest is the servant. The greatest is the minister. So the source of wisdom is, it's sourced in God. The ideas of this age like a little mud puddle have very little to offer other than demanding your right. But we see in verse 7 that they are the source of wisdom. comes from the mystery of eternity, from something that God knew before the foundations of the world. Look what it says, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Now it's not something that could never be known, but something that God concealed. The Old Testament saints, as they walked with God and they knew God, they did not quite understand all that God had. He had not unveiled the mystery. He hadn't revealed His son, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would take the penalty for sin upon the cross of Calvary, would be buried and rise again. They were looking forward to Jesus, looking forward to God's forgiveness and salvation, but they didn't understand the means by which it would come. It was a mystery. There's a mystery from eternity. He says in verse 9, but as it is written, this is a loose translation from Isaiah, as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. They didn't understand in the Old Testament the intimate relationship that we would be able to have with God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. They didn't quite understand all of that. But it's been revealed today to us. This tells us that there is a depth beyond our sight lines. There's things going on in the universe that we don't see with our naked eye, right? There are things taking place not only in this room, but in our lives and in our world that you can't see. And rather than play in the puddles of the wisdom of the world, Jesus invites us to plunge the depths of the well of the wisdom of God. Isaiah 55 verse eight says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Through the Lord Jesus Christ we have the privilege of plunging into the wisdom of God, rather than play in the puddles. God calls us to an unending well of his wisdom. Romans 11, 33 says, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. So search the origins. Ideas have consequences, but ideas also have origins. It's important that you understand that you put your faith in something that you know where it came from. There are genealogies, you could say, to ideas. They're gonna come from somewhere. And through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the privilege to understand. We see the origin comes from God, but we also are gonna see that it's important for us to study the spirit of wisdom. He continues in verse 10, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. And so the Holy Spirit of God, who's been given to believers, what is He doing today? He is at work. You may not be able to reach the bottom of the well of God's wisdom, but the Spirit of God, be assured, He's gone there, and He goes there, and He is searching out today to bring truths to your heart, truths that you will grasp and understand. We'll look in the future in chapter three, but in verses one and two, we see that Paul wasn't able to instruct the church in certain areas of doctrinal truth. There were things that they couldn't latch onto, things that they needed, but they weren't getting hold of because their minds weren't prepared, their hearts weren't readied for those truths. Because of their pride, because of their selfishness, because of the immaturity that had been shown in the church, they had stunted their spiritual growth. But we're told here that the Spirit of God, He is searching. He is searching to bring truth to hearts, truth that you can receive, truth that you will hear. The Spirit gives us the gospel. Verse 11, he says, for what man knoweth the things of the man, save the spirit of man which is in him. Even so, of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Look at verse 12, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God. The ramifications of what the gospel is, Christ did die, he was buried, he rose again, and what is he offered to you and I? freedom from sin, forgiveness for sin, eternal life in heaven, but this ongoing intimate relationship with Him. And so what's God's desire for you and I? Just to get you into the family? Well, that's where it starts. You've been baptized by the Spirit once you're saved into the family of God, but He wants you to develop an ongoing, everlasting relationship with Himself. And the Spirit of God is given to us to guide us. He guides us, and how does He do it? Through Scripture. Look what He says in verse 13. 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. And the idea here is this. There are spiritual ideas and spiritual concepts that the Spirit of God has put into words. And He's brought those spiritual ideas to spiritual men and women. And so as you and I interact with the word of God, as we learn of God's wisdom and his word, what happens? We grow in our understanding of who God is and our understanding of what the gospel means for our daily life. The spirit gives us the gospel, but he's given us the privilege of knowing God. And again, there's nothing in this world that, you know, the greatest of engineers, and the greatest of scholars, and the greatest of artists, and whatever realizations they have come to, whatever the greatest minds in the world have processed, and have documented, and have recorded, whatever that is, it's nothing compared to the plunging to the depths of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. And the Spirit of God makes that accessible to you and I. No matter what your educational level, if you're saved, you have the Spirit of God. And Romans chapter eight tells us that. If you don't have the Spirit, you're not His. But if you are saved, you have the Spirit. And that Spirit is there to not just give you facts and information. He is here to help you navigate life with the wisdom that comes from knowing God. How to make it in a world that's turned its back on God. How will we do it? We walk with God by His Spirit in His Word. God wants to lead us. He wants to guide us. And so what do we do? We study the source of wisdom, that's God. We study the Spirit of wisdom, the Holy Spirit of God given to us to not only help us, He's called the Comforter. And there is an aspect where He comes alongside. We know He is the He is the paraclete. He's the one who comes alongside to help us and protect us. He's the one who convicts us. But the Holy Spirit of God also is given to guide us. As Jesus said, guide us in all truth. So study the Spirit of God. That's a source of wisdom. Do you understand this morning? You and I need more than information. We need more than access to information. I remember when you would buy memory cards. When first getting digital cameras, you'd buy these memory cards and, you know, at first it was, whatever, 8 megabytes, you know. It was like, whoa, 8 megabytes! And then it was like, whoa, you can get 16! And then it was like, whoa! And, you know, I don't even know how many gajillion terabytes you can get, but, I mean, it's just... There was a time when memory was the thing, but now you don't need to have that. If you have access to the internet, it can all be stored somewhere else, and you just have access to that information. My friend, the wisdom of God is stored in God, but you and I have access to it by the Spirit of God. It's not going to be a matter of how much you can retain. It's a matter of how much you walk with Him and know Him. Thirdly, study the secret of wisdom. This comes to us in verses 14 and 15. For 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. Two thoughts here. One, he doesn't know them because he doesn't want to know them. One, there's that idea. The natural man doesn't receive it, right? He's pushing away truth. He doesn't have any desire to have the wisdom of God, to know God. The natural man here is an unbeliever, somebody who is not saved. They do not have the Holy Spirit living inside of them. And so, whatever it's preaching, whether it's reading a Christian book, whether it's even opening the words of the Bible, they really don't have a stomach for it. They don't really have an appetite for the word of God. I'd rather not, thanks. But what does he say here? He says they're foolish unto him, neither can he know them. Part of the reason they have no stomach for it, no desire for it, is because the Spirit of God puts a desire within our heart to understand and know God and to illumine our eyes. The Spirit not only has inspired the Word, 2 Timothy 3.16, but the Spirit of God is also the one who illumines, helps us to understand the Word of God. But what happens with the unbeliever, the natural man? He doesn't receive it, he doesn't want it. A.B. Simpson likened it to a canary. He said, we need more than a supernatural truth, we need a supernatural mind to receive it. And he says, you can go home and repeat the message you heard this morning to your canary, if you have a canary in your home. He may cock its head or he may look interested in you, but the canary doesn't have the capacity to understand what you're telling it, right? We were first married, we had a parakeet. And when Holly was going through morning sickness, I'd go talk to the parakeet, and the parakeet would do that. It would turn its head, it would look at me. It had no idea what I was saying. In the same way, an unbeliever, you're saying, unbelievers, I'm not saying they're ignorant. I'm saying they don't have the spiritual capacity to understand the voice of the Spirit of God. It's a reality, that's what God said. He says you can try to make the parakeet know your thought and meaning, but you'll find that he has not grasped it. His little mind is not equal to your higher thought. He has only the mind of a bird, while you have the mind of a man or woman. In order to make him understand, you will need to put your mind into his brain. And so, when we bring our little mind up to the great thoughts of God, we are inadequate. We cannot take them in. And so your philosopher, your man of science, your scholar, may know a few intellectual tricks, but he has only a human mind. He cannot take in the things of God without divine illumination. The Holy Spirit does not annihilate the intellect, but he also quickens it and infuses it into the mind of Christ. Look at what it says in verse 16. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. As a Christian, you have the wisdom that's been, what you need to live for God. The trouble in Corinth was not that they didn't know, but they didn't live it. They had knowledge, they had information, but they were seeking to live after the wisdom of the world rather than the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God brings the gospel into account. It understands that it's sourced in God himself. And then day by day for me to partake in God's wisdom means I need to continue to walk with God, to have a relationship with Him, to have fellowship with Him. Because you and I can gather all the facts, all the information, spend our life in church and still not be spiritually mature. And Paul prefaced all of this in verse six by saying this is a message I want to give to the mature. But in chapter three we find that they weren't mature. He says in verse three of chapter three, for you are yet carnal. Whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions. Are you not carnal and walk as men? You're not very mature, that's what he's saying. The story's told about Raphael, the Renaissance painter. He was commissioned to paint a portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to do that, he took a New Testament. He acquired a New Testament and he, day by day, would open the New Testament with his paintbrush and study the life of the Lord Jesus. Every feature of Jesus riveted him and every thought absorbed him until one day he slipped upon his knees and he cried, my Lord and my God. The picture was never painted, but God had stamped an image on Raphael's soul that would never be obliterated. He found the wisdom of God. Lew Wallace was a Civil War general. Perhaps you've heard the story. He was challenged. He was a good writer and challenged by a friend. Why don't you write a story about the Lord Jesus Christ and give details about his life and tell the story of the gospels, but leave out all the supernatural stuff. Write it in such a way that people will believe your words, but they won't believe in the supernatural power of Jesus Christ. This friend who told him this on the train received Lou's acceptance. I'll take your challenge. I'll write that book. And he began to write. or begin to research the story. He studied the life of the Lord Jesus. And as he was seeking to put this book together, he came to faith in Jesus Christ. He put his confidence and trust in Christ alone for salvation. He ended up finishing his book, but it was not the book his friend intended. It was the book Ben-Hur, a fictitious story that points to the person of Jesus Christ and the reality of his supernatural power to save. In Corinth, there was a disunified congregation. They bought into the superiority of worldly wisdom, and they were paying the price for it. James, the half-brother of Jesus, said it this way in James 3, 13 and 14. Who is a wise man and an endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. So there is a kind of wisdom that we can have as true believers that is not of God. And the evidence of wisdom is the fruit lived out in the life, right? If you're living day by day, a life that pleases and honors God, a life of joyful love and submission to one another, a desire to build up and to strengthen one another, that's an evidence of spiritual wisdom, right? You've not just got the information, you're putting that information to practice in your life that comes by the Spirit of God. If in your life it's not that, it's contentious, and there's anger in your heart, and there's frustration on your lips, and day by day, there's not joy there, maybe it's not the wisdom of God that you have bought into. In fact, James suggests that it came from demons. Back in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18, Paul said, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. Notice this, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in wisdom, the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. to save them that believe. Where are you living today? Are you surfing and skimming the top of the puddle? Are you seeking to raise your family with a lot of head knowledge that has not been transmitted to biblical wisdom, heart knowledge? What about our church? Are we like the church at Corinth? Are we filled with knowledge and information, sorely lacking in wisdom. So what do we do? We seek the origin of wisdom. It's God himself. We seek God. We steep ourself in the spirit of scripture, like a tea bag. You put that tea bag in the hot water and you let it absorb. If you take that tea bag out too quick, it didn't get enough, right? And so as we steep ourselves in the spirit, now that's through the word of God, the spirit of God. We steep ourselves in the word of God. We have the rich aroma and flavor and depth that comes from a walk with God, true wisdom. Will you savor the secret? The secret comes to us in verse 16, it's Christ Jesus. You have the mind of Christ. Jesus Christ is not only the key to the gospel, he is the key to true Christian growth and wisdom. Are you allowing influencers, philosophers of our day to form your system of belief? Is what they say what you believe? If you get your cues of life from the movers and shakers of this world, and you say, well, that's how they dress, that's how I'm gonna dress, and that's what they talk about, that's what I'm gonna talk about. You can spend your life chasing after the wisdom of this world, but when it comes to eternity, it will be of no value. It will be erased. The wisdom of God is eternal. You don't have to spend your life in the puddle. You can plunge the depths of the wisdom of God through his word. And that wisdom is not just, okay, I'm gonna sit up in a lofty tower somewhere and contemplate deep understanding. No, the wisdom as talked about in scripture is actually skill in living. It's able to make a difference by your life for the glory of God because you know God, because you walk with God, because you spend time with God. And the indication, the litmus test of whether or not we're walking in the spirit, if we have the spirit of, God's spirit of wisdom in our life, is if I have skill to live for God or I'm not living for God. And the cacophony of dust from the storms I create by my life is evidence that I'm not living biblical wisdom. One day, when all man's wisdom is washed away, you will stand before God If you are gospel wise, if we are gospel wise, we will live gospel lives. In the book of Proverbs chapter eight, it says in verse 22, speaking of wisdom, but I believe also speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord possessed me in the beginning, of His way. Before His works of old, I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth. The Lord Jesus Christ, He says in John chapter 1, that He is the Word, and the beginning was the Word. The Logos. And the word was with God and the word was God. The wisdom we're talking about is not just a way to live. The wisdom we're talking about is actually a discussion of Jesus Christ. It's not just an option for the Christian. It's an imperative. In the book of Job, as Job was Working through trials God had allowed him to endure. Attacks by Satan himself. But God said this in Job 38 verse four. Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding. Where were you? Where were we? You were in the mind and the heart of God. And God who made you loves you. and has sent his son the living word to provide a way of salvation for each of us. Have you personally received the Lord Jesus Christ? To receive his forgiveness, to receive his forever relationship, to receive his wisdom. The wisdom of this world will never save and it will never satisfy. All you have to do is follow the lives of the most successful people in the last 10 years and tell me where they are today. brokenness, suicide, misery. There's no satisfaction in this world, but there's a wisdom from plunging the depth of God that will always satisfy eternally. Father, I thank you for your word. I pray that we would grab hold of the wisdom that comes to us through Jesus Christ, through the gospel. Not that we would just gain more info, but that we would experience true transformation, to live our lives in a way that pleases you, serves others, and is a holy and godly living sacrifice to you, in Jesus' name, amen.