The Holy Spirit serves as the divine teacher for believers, revealing the spiritual truths of God that are beyond human comprehension. This divine education, originating from God, is imparted through the Spirit, not through worldly wisdom or human teaching. The sermon highlights that while the natural man cannot understand spiritual things, a spiritual believer, guided by the Holy Spirit, can discern them. The methods God uses to communicate these truths include preaching, personal witness, scripture reading, and the conduct of a godly life, all of which are spiritual means to impart spiritual things.
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Shall we turn in our Bibles tonight to the Epistle of Corinthians, the first one, chapter two? Continuing our meditation and a precious study regarding the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. We shall never be able to magnify sufficiently that blessed person and to recognize the wonderful work that he himself is able to do with the believer, in the believer, and through the believer. Please may I emphasize one thought that just comes to me.
The work of the Holy Spirit in relation to his ministry is a twofold one. as we have already noted, first to the world to convict them of sin and righteousness and judgment. But in particular relationship to you and to me, my fellow believer, his special work is in relation to the testimony that we bear for the Lord Jesus Christ below. May I say, when you and I receive the Holy Spirit, And when we receive him with a night or the day whenever it might have been, the moment we receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior, and he became ours.
He dwells in every believer. We've emphasized and re-emphasized it again with no apology. He dwells with believers, and he indwells believers. He's in the heart and soul of every believer. That we have already been noting. But we've been emphasizing in First Corinthians chapter two one specific work for the believer and to all believers. He is the divine teacher of the believer's spiritual education. And the only one May I re-emphasize that, don't depend on any man, but the only one upon whom we must be dependent to know the truth of God.
Now we have already noticed, let me just repeat it in chapter two, in verses seven and eight, we found that when Paul was mentioning the wisdom by which he had been speaking he says in verse seven but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world to our glory we must re-emphasize please may I re-emphasize it the context of this particular portion of Scripture and in the words that we have just read emphasizes the source of the believer's wisdom in his and her spiritual education.
The source is God. You can't trace it to man. It may come through man, but the source is God himself. Then also we notice, if I may, the scope of that wisdom in verse nine. Let me read that verse again. as it is written, I have not seen nor heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, the scope of that wisdom. No human ear, no human heart, no human eye can ever produce it.
It's not produced by the human eye, nor the human ear. Did you ever notice, all that you and I can tell is what we have heard or what we have seen. That when it comes to the things of God, it is not of human production, but it is of God Himself. For may I read on? In verse ten. But here we have a divine revealer, a divine teacher. But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. For the spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.
Let me read the verse again. No words that I may put in. They don't belong there. But God hath revealed them unto us by the preacher. It doesn't say that. By his spirit. Even though he may come through the preacher or any person as we shall see. And then thank God. Let me please emphasize. I want to emphasize before going on verse twelve. When we stopped last week. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit and that should be a capital F referring to the Spirit of God but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God my beloved please may I refer to the fact Paul was writing in the early days of Christianity you know as well as I do the beginning of Christianity was a Pentecost when the Spirit of God came and thus
brought into existence the body of Christ the believers who trusted the Lord Jesus and then began the work of the Holy Spirit through them and here is Paul emphasizing we have received not the Spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God and then the purpose of it that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. My beloved, may I say it humbly, regardless of where you may be or what education you may have, and where you may obtain it. When it comes to the things of God, they are by the Spirit revealed.
And God has given every believer the Spirit of God that we might know the things which be of God. It's a blessed education. May I put it this expression? It's a divine education. It's divine in its source. And it's divine in its character too. As well as it's divine in its revelation. The Holy Spirit has to do it. And let me quote what we said in closing last week. The words of one of God's servant long ago who wrote, At the judgment seat of Christ, we believers shall be judged and appraised about how much we knew the word of God and what we did with it, and also what we might have known but did not.
May I humbly say, my conviction is this. When we get to glory, our spiritual education is going on. You'll never graduate. On and on forever. Let me quote John seventeen three again. I like it in a paraphrase rendition. This is life eternal. What does eternal life consist of? But going on and on and on and on forever, knowing thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou is sent.
My beloved, let me mention one fact. When you leave this world, you're going to forget all your earthly education. You're not going to take it to heaven with you. You're not. No. No. You may have many degrees. Matters not. One intellectual capacity in the things of this world you may have had. You're not going to take them to heaven. The only thing you and I believe are going to take to heaven is our eternal life which we have in Christ. That eternal life which we have in Christ.
what we found and received where we took him as our Savior eternal life and what we have learned since he gave us eternal life and growing in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus now go on with me to the next part of the section we would like to cover first in verse thirteen and I want you to notice something very special the divine method the divine method of imparting the truth of God Paul writing which sings also we speak none in the words which man's wisdom teaches take that in again not by any teaching of man's wisdom we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Ghost teaches.
Can I pause for just a moment? It is my responsibility at the present moment to be speaking words that the Holy Ghost teaches. Now what I think, what I may put together never, but what the Holy Spirit teaches, And here's the method he does it. How he does it. Teaching or comparing spiritual things with spiritual. May I render it from the Greek text. Communicating spiritual things by spiritual means.
Let me repeat it again in another manner. Communicating spiritual things by spiritual words now please know what is the Holy Spirit occupied in what to teach me spiritual things spiritual things spiritual things the things of God not the things of the world but the things which be of God and communicating them And let me re-emphasize the translation by spiritual words or by spiritual means.
Let me emphasize that word spiritual. It's the method of the Holy Spirit to use spiritual words and spiritual means to teach the truth of God. Let me point out to you some examples, if I may please. Look in chapter one of Corinthians here, chapter one and verse twenty-one. The twenty-first verse that Paul writes relative to his coming to Corinth in the first days of his ministry, verse twenty-one, for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, yet it pleased God.
Now note. by the foolishness of preaching to save them the believe. Now I know what it does not say by foolish preaching. It doesn't say that. But what the world thinks of preaching, they think it's foolishness. The unsaved world thinks it's foolishness. And I have no doubt as all that tonight Many of the unsaved in this world, and maybe some saved in this world, may look upon this little group of believers in astonishment that you would come together and study the Word of God. But one way the Spirit of God communicates the truth is by the foolishness of preaching.
So keep up preaching anyway. they may call you fools. Well, Paul admitted he was willing to be a fool for Christ's sake. And there's one thing in this same chapter, the unsaved man, the natural man, he perceives not the things which be of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Now, let me repeat it again. When you witness to an unsaved person, to that natural man, It's foolishness unless the Spirit of God reaches its heart and conscience. But then you can...
But that's what God uses. Paul called it the foolishness of preaching. Not often an occupation that men appreciate at all. May I say frankly You may have some relatives that don't appreciate the fact that you're trying to preach to tell them the gospel. But that's the way God communicates. The spirit of God communicates, comparing or communicating spiritual things by spiritual means.
And one of the spiritual means is preaching. But not only that. But with me in Acts chapter eighteen, will you please? The Book of the Acts, chapter eighteen. And I think it's verse twenty-six, where there is an individual testimony. Chapter eighteen of the Book of the Acts and verse twenty-six I may read. And it's regarding Apollos. Let me begin in verse twenty-four. Get the context right. And a certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man, mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in the Spirit. He spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. Now notice verse twenty-six. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and they expounded or communicated unto him the way of God more perfectly. The personal witness of this man and his wife, as they took this servant of God, who needed to be instructed further in the things of God, they personally witness to him and by personal witness it's a spiritual means and method whereby God can reach others but let me also read one in Acts chapter seventeen please chapter seventeen in verse eleven chapter seventeen in verse eleven when Paul came to Berea and where we find and read these words in verse eleven when Paul and Silas came there.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so. And the reading of the Scriptures is a spiritual method of imparting the Truth of God. And as you have it here, These Bereans were no more noble than those of Thessalonica. They searched the Scriptures, and that's one of the spiritual means of the Spirit of God revealing himself and the great gospel.
But let me also go to another. First Peter chapter three, if I may. First Peter chapter three in verse one. The epistle of Peter First Peter chapter three in verse one where we have unquestionably what could be called the conduct of the believer is another means of witnessing the conduct of a believer the means of witnessing for the Lord. First Peter chapter three let me read verse one that Peter has written to say likewise ye wise Be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation or the manner of living of the wives.
My beloved, even the silent testimony of a godly life is one of the ways God communicates His truth through the Holy Spirit. by the witnessing and testimony of the godly without even talking. Without even talking. It is possible. I remember a dear uncle of mine who used to ask me the question one time. He said, John, what do you think of testimony meanings? Well, we talked about it for a little while. Then he told me, he said, this is what I like to think of. The testimony of the lip It's good we like to hear it.
And he says, but he says the testimony of the life is better. And it is. The world made a statement many centuries ago. I can hear what you say because of the way you live. And how often that can be true of the Christian testimony? Our life may not be according to the testimony as it should be. But the life in its private testimony and godliness is a testimony to the Lord and for the Lord.
And I'm sure that there have been many that have confessed that it's been the conduct of a believer that has persuaded them to listen to the gospel but that's God's way of doing it but may I point out something else emphasize something else look very carefully too and that is in our scripture the method of testifying is to be spiritual not worldly spiritual spiritual Now there are many ways of entertaining and unfortunately today there's much entertaining.
But entertainment isn't spiritual necessarily. But it can feed the appetite of the flesh. But that's not a spiritual way of ministering the word. unless you're sitting down and eating with them and giving them the gospel with your own lips but the thought is this the means to be used whatever they are must be spiritual and we can say in connection with it according to the word of God and as Paul has well written these words are to be taught comparing or communicating spiritual things by spiritual means.
But now know, as you come to verse fourteen, I want you to know, as you come to verse fourteen, you find in verse fourteen and fifteen, who can understand it? Now I know verse fourteen, 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 or by the Spirit to be discerned. May I emphasize again, we did it at the beginning, we had those three men brought before us, in chapter two and chapter three of the Corinthian epistle here, the natural man, the unsaved man, the spiritual man, the believer going on spiritually and in chapter three the carnal believer not growing in grace but only being a babe in Christ instead of growing but when it comes to the natural pleads if a man is not saved he's not going to understand if he thinks the gospel is
foolishness and his foolishness to him he cannot receive it My beloved, I'm sure, there are many today who may hear the gospel and never receive it. Their mind blinded by the God of this world, though they hear it and though they may be listening to it. But he cannot understand the things of God. And no, to him, they must be spiritually discerned. They must be spiritually discerned. My beloved, that emphasizes a fact. As you have it in verse fifteen, the great need of being spiritual.
Look at verse fifteen. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. Let me read it again. Note the change of word. But he that is spiritual discerneth All things. Stop there for a moment. A spiritual believer can discern what the Spirit of God teaches him and her. Understand then. Oh, my fellow believer, how important it is to develop spiritually.
Go down chapter three with me, please, see. For just a moment, Verse one in chapter three and two. I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal and even as unto babes in Christ. And if you want my humble opinion, the Corinthians were not spiritual. They were carnal in their belief and in their practice. Sleshly. And note in verse two, he indicates why. I fed you with milk. not with me for hitherto ye were not able to bear it neither yet now are ye able for ye are yet carnal and so on and he tells some of the some of the types of their carnality beloved look as a believer determined to be a spiritual believer but be reminded you have to be taught by the Holy Spirit the things of God You have to learn the things with God.
Go back to our fifteen verse again. But he that is spiritual discerneth all things. Yet he himself is discerned, that's the meaning of the word, of no man. The spiritual believer discerns the things of God. But he himself is not on the pedestal. He's not discerned of any man. Now let me give you the thought. If you've read carefully the preceding part as well as the next chapter in fact, you will find that Paul accused the Corinthians, some of them were following Christ, some of them were following Paul, some of them were following Apollos, some of them were following Peter.
They were following The best creature they like. But the spiritual man, he's not going to be put up with that. He's not the man to be followed. We're to be following Christ. But you have in Corinth at that time. And may I point out to you, if you begin the chapter one, you'll find out they had every spiritual gift that God had given the church but they were carnal in their character in testimony instead of spiritual they couldn't even be taught the need of the word of God they had to take the milk bottle you know I remember as a boy in England sometimes we used to walk to school different ways just for the sake of going a different direction and there was one particular way we sometimes went passing a home and in front of that home we'd see a baby in a
high chair looking perhaps to be the age of a few months no more than twelve months at the most but that little baby we knew was twenty-one years old. What a sad fact. It could never grow. It had a problem that could never be solved and corrected. And it would be a baby all its life. You've got a lot of Christians like that spiritually. You get the thought. He that is spiritual. and when it comes to knowing the things of God don't forget your teacher the Holy Spirit and thank God for the Holy Spirit I remember reading one time in the magazine published by Donald Barnhouse he told and wrote the story of a school teacher every summer she spent her years at school, at school again to refresh her studies that she was teaching.
And one year between the school summer sessions, she found the Lord Jesus as a Savior. So the next summer when she went to the university where she attended to refresh her studies, she often talked about the Lord to her companions. And there were many people there that were professors, school teachers over one kind of another. Then one old professor got older one day and said, Listen, my dear, who's been teaching you the past year? You're talking to us about things we never heard of before. She was talking about the things of God.
And those professors and teachers, intellectual as they were, they didn't know a thing. And he said, Who's been teaching you? Oh, and she told him, I found Christ as my Saviour. And I've got a cap teacher with a capital T, meaning the Holy Spirit. My beloved Lord. The education of a Christian. Spiritual. All we can ask, shall we not ask the Lord to search our hearts that we might not be called on? but be spiritual believers.
Shall we pray? Our beloved Blessed Father, we bow in thy presence, knowing that the Holy Spirit is present with us, and knowing from the word that we have just meditated upon, The Holy Spirit is the divine teacher to reveal the things of God to us. And that he dwells within us that we might know the things which be of God. We pray for each other, Lord.
We pray for many people this evening, Lord. Rightly so. But now, concluding the lesson, we pray for our spiritual conditions. individually as well as collectively. Lord, help us to be spiritual Christians growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by the help and teaching of the Holy Spirit. Amen.