The Work of the Holy Spirit - 5

Well, good evening. Good to see you tonight and mixed feelings. I know we've got to get this over with and go home, but I'm not looking forward to leaving. We have had such a wonderful time here.

You have treated us royally and thanks to all of you for the gracious reception you've given to Paul and I and the wonderful attention you've given to the preaching and ministry of his word and thanks, a special thanks to those who have taken us out and wined and dined us, well they didn't wine us, but you know what I mean, and fed us royally and we just appreciate the wonderful, wonderful fellowship we sense and feel here in your presence. And we look forward, if God wills, to seeing you again down the road. We'll see what his providence has for us.

I've learned no use trying to predict. We'll see. The Spanish down in Mexico have a saying, Barremos como salle la cosa. That means we'll see how the thing exits. And that's a good saying. One of my favorite Spanish expressions.

We'll see. Tonight, you're over, I trust, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 for this final section that we're taking for the five sections of our conference. And as you do, let us quickly look back over where we've been after that glowing appraisal of the church there in Corinth that just sounded wonderful.

Then all of a sudden, the other shoe drops. Paul begins to address some of the problems that he has been made aware of by Chloe's people, whoever they are. Don't know who Chloe was, but her people have apprised him of these divisions in the church. Some I'm Paul, some I'm Apollos, some I'm of Cephas, or Peter would be who that is, and some just of Christ. And so Paul is bringing us back dead center to the gospel.

In other words, get your eyes off of the human instrument and the human agent. It is not of Paul that you're in Christ Jesus. It's not of Apollos that you're in Christ Jesus.

We just read at the end of chapter 1, it's of him, of God, that you're in Christ Jesus. As we have been pointing out, we're just the waiters in the restaurant. We're just delivering the food. The food happens to be the bread of life that we just sang about. We are not the bread. We didn't give the bread. We didn't send the bread. God the Father did that. We're not the bread. That's God the Son. And tonight, we're going to see that it is God the Holy Spirit that gives us the hunger for the bread. From first to last. And we're just the messenger boys, trying not to mess it up, trying not to dump bread on the floor, trying to get it to the table.

Okay? So get your eyes off of men. We're just ministers. We're just stewards, he will later say about himself and Apollos. I watered, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

It's because of him, not us. We're just the instruments that God gave. That he used. And then he goes into bringing us back to Dead Sinner, discussing this thing that we have seen running all through this discussion, the wisdom and power of God. And again, we have to make it clear in our minds, what kind of wisdom are we talking about? Not natural wisdom, not the wisdom to invent some new invention. We're talking about the wisdom that brings us to God, into his favor, into a saving relationship with him. And what he has taught us very plainly throughout all of this is that we will never be able, by our own wits, to reason our way up to God. Instead, it will be through God revealing wisdom to us. We believe in foolishness in the sense, not that that's actually what it is, but that's how the world sees it. They see this message, this saving message, as a bunch of foolishness. Silliness, a good way to put it. But to us who are called, says Paul, to us, it's not silliness, it's Christ, the wisdom and the power of God. We get it.

It's the plan by wisdom. It's the means, the mechanism by which God puts us in it. In heaven, okay? So that's what we've been discussing. And it should be of interest to you if it's the call of God that makes the difference.

And you go back to chapter one, that's clearly what's going on. To the world, it's a message of foolishness, silliness. But to us who are called, it's Christ, the wisdom and the power of God. It's the call of God then that makes the difference. And we've talked about that call a little bit. Yes, there is a general call. To all men, the whosoever wills of scripture, the if any mans, a general promiscuous invitation to all men to come to Christ.

It is universally offered and it is universally refused. Unless it is attended by another kind of call. The kind of call we saw in chapter one. We call that an effectual call. The call that gets the job done. The call that opens men's eyes that they see what the world calls foolishness as indeed the power of God to salvation.

So it might be of interest to you and me to discuss how exactly does that call work. And that's where we started last evening in the first part of this second chapter. We notice that there is an external thing going on and an internal thing. External is what we looked at last night. We're going to focus on the internal tonight.

And the external, well let's go back to that verse. If God has chosen, if it's pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, then you don't have to be a genius to figure out. Somebody's got to go preach this foolishness. Right? If this is the means that God has chosen to bring men to salvation, then there's a responsibility of man to take that message and proclaim it to men.

Right? That's why we send missionaries. You're not going to get saved by sitting outside and staring at the stars. You're not going to get saved by staring at your navel. You're not going to find him where to go find Peter, who's going to come and tell you words by which you may be saved. And we asked ourselves, why didn't the angel just go ahead and tell him that? Because God has reserved that for you and I. It is through the human agent that the gospel is proclaimed to men.

The message that they must believe. This silliness. And again, I'm calling it that tongue in cheek.

That's what the world calls it. Last evening in verse six of chapter two, it's not silliness at all. It's really wisdom. But it's an unseen wisdom. It's a wisdom that he calls that they that are perfect get.

They that are complete. He's talking about Christians. They see it as wisdom.

The world sees it as silliness. But notice verse seven. God, but it's in a mystery. A hidden wisdom.

Let that sink in. What is a mystery? All of you know what a mystery novel is, I guess. You know, somebody gets murdered and the police show up and they're trying to figure out who did it. And a good mystery writer is dropping clues as you turn the pages of the book.

You learn more and more. Is it the young man? Is it his girlfriend? Is it the mother? Is it the mother-in-law?

Is it the cook? Who did it? It's a who done it, we say. And a good mystery writer does not give you enough information to figure it out on your own. You have to read the rest of the book. You may make some guesses, but there's never enough information given for you to say definitely this person did it. Till you get to the last page and then you say, yeah, the butler did it.

Right? That's how mysteries work. That's what's being talking about here. This wisdom of God is hidden wisdom. It's in a mystery. God ordained it, notice verse seven, before the world unto our glory and the princes of this world didn't know it. It is predestinated to be revealed to you and I. Now it's no longer a mystery. As we go into our text tonight, verse nine, I just noticed in studying for this, how many times the word things pops up in our text. Did anybody notice that as you were reading it?

Look, look carefully. Verse nine, eyes not seen nor heard, neither into the heart of man, the things which God had prepared for them that love him. Verse 10, the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. Notice verse 11, what man knoweth the things of man, even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. Verse 12, we've received the spirit who is of God that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God. Verse 13, which things also we speak. The Holy Spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Verse 14, the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God, he can't know them. Verse 15, but he that is spiritual judges all things. 10 times we have this expression, these things and especially going back to verse nine, what things?

The things that God has prepared for them that love him. Now this verse is often misapplied and I must confess my guilt here. I'm probably the worst offender because I sometimes quote this in speaking of things that are coming, things that are waiting for you and I in our eternal inheritance that we can't even conceive of the things that God has prepared for us in glory. Now that's true and this verse by extension certainly covers that, but that's not what Paul is saying in the context. He's talking about, again, the whole discussion is over this thing, this mechanism, this wisdom of God that brings a man to salvation and notice it was hidden, it was concealed in the Old Testament age, but notice now it has been revealed.

Again, things that man couldn't, notice the list here. We have never even imagined God has prepared for us. In other words, there again you see that man by his own reasoning, by his own wits will never figure this thing out. Now I know some of you are saying, but wait a minute, we read that passage last night from Isaiah 53, it's so clear what's going on at the cross from the Old Testament perspective. We're looking back from fulfilled prophecy, but nobody was standing at the cross that day saying, oh yeah, I see, I get what's going on. The disciples said, oh yeah, we were taught this. You can't find the disciples, they're in hiding. They're in crucified over there and somebody walks up to you and says, that man on that middle cross over there, that's God's son, that's the Messiah and what he's doing up there, he's gonna save his people. You would say, are you kidding me? That's ridiculous, that's moronic, that's silliness, right?

That's how it looks. And may I point out, on the third day nobody is standing there early in the morning outside the tomb saying, oh yeah, we're here, we're ready for the Lord to come out of the tomb. Nobody's expecting this.

They never saw any of this coming. But now that it has happened, we can look back and say, that's exactly what Isaiah was talking about. We get it, we see it. Look at this again, verse nine. None of these things have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. I want you to notice the past tense here. This is not saying that, and I had a lady one time that stirred up a lot of trouble, but this was one of her key texts, that the Bible is sort of like, I'm dating myself here by saying like a Little Orphan Annie decoder ring.

I realize only a few folks old enough to remember what that is. But it was like the Bible says this on the surface, but the real meaning is underneath this, not this literal meaning on top. You ever run into that? It's sort of a side of the charismatic thing. We have the spirit of prophecy, so we can look at this text and that God is revealing the spiritual meaning that lies underneath the actual words. That was her interpretation of this text. And I pointed out to her that in verse 10, what God is saying here is not that he is revealing unto us these things, but he has revealed these things to us. The contrast is between what was concealed in the Old Testament is now revealed in the New Testament.

The cat has been let out of the bag. The mystery has been solved and it is our job to proclaim the solution to the mystery. The mystery is basically the problem of how can a God put a hell-deserving sinner in heaven and be just in doing it? That's the problem.

To proclaim in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes I think being a physicist in my training, the greatest solution that the world's ever heard of is E equals MC squared. Everybody knows the solution, but nobody's ever seen the problem. I saw the problem one day. Our physics prof put it up on, well, he took three blackboards.

To put the problem up there of which E equals MC squared is the solution. And so notice that you really are not going to be able to glory in the solution until you understand the problem. And here's the problem. God is just. The judge of all the earth shall do right. And that's the problem because we are hell-deserving sinners.

We have broken the law. We deserve eternal wrath. How can that possibly be that a hell-deserving sinner could be put in heaven and God be just in doing it? How are you going to solve that? And that's what the gospel solves.

That's the solution. And that's what we are proclaiming before the world. And notice verse 10 again, that God has revealed these things to us by his spirit. And he goes on then speaking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

We've sort of gone all the way through the Trinity, haven't we? We've come now to the work of the spirit that is going on. We had the external proclamation of this wisdom of God. Now we see there's a work internally that must go on in the heart of man if he ever receives, believes that message. We're being taught here by by Paul how you come to faith in Jesus Christ. This is how it works.

Number one, you've got to have the external. You can't believe in him of whom you've not heard, right? There must be the external proclamation of the gospel. One way or the other may not be in a formal setting like this but somehow the gospel message has to get to you, right? But in addition to that, you know that's not enough. We preachers know it's not enough. We're going to be in a room like this and there's a lot of lost people in here and we preach the gospel and maybe one is converted.

If just hearing it was the effectual thing, then everybody who heard it would believe it, right? But what happens is only this one. Maybe none.

Maybe later this one and so forth. Hardly ever Paul went down to the riverside in Philippi. I've been to that riverside by the way. That's quite a spot.

Nico and my friend from Greece. It's about 200 yards away from the old ruins of Philippi and walked right over in the shade of these trees, this little stream flowing through. I mean without doubt this was the stream where Paul met with the women. Remember they got into Philippi and there's no synagogue there but some of the women would meet down for prayer by this little river, this little stream.

That's the one that's there and out of those women, one. The Lord opened Lydia's heart. Notice it doesn't say Lydia opened her heart to the Lord. It says the Lord opened Lydia's heart to attend to the things Paul was preaching. There's an example of what we're talking about.

They all heard the message but just one had her heart opened. So in other words, there has to be something else in addition to just the external application of the message. Something has to happen within and Paul is explaining what that is and it is the work of the Spirit of God in the heart.

He's going to go through here in verse 11 to show that that's what's necessary because the things of a man, the only things going to know the things of a man is the spirit of a man. That make sense? Let me use a dog for example. A dog does strange things. I mean how do dogs meet one another? Well, they typically smell each other's hind end, okay?

That's how they say hi. I don't get that, do you? Does that make any sense to you? It makes perfect sense to a dog, right? And if I had the spirit of a dog in me, then maybe I would understand that and I'm sure the dog looks at us saying why aren't they sniffing rear ends?

Why are they shaking hands? If he had our spirit, perhaps he would understand what's going on. Do you get the sense of this? Well, what he's saying is the only person who's going to truly know the heart and mind of God is the Spirit of God. And guess what? Verse 12, we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

That's exactly what is happening. We are found in the Christian heart. The Spirit of God has invaded us. The old movie invasion of the body snatchers.

I remember the only one I ever saw was the old 1950s one, black and white. It always made deep impression on me because these extraterrestrial pods had landed. These things get you. You say, well, what do you mean get you? Well, you wake up in the morning and you still look the same on the outside but this thing's got you.

You're not the same on the inside anymore. This thing possesses you. And so the group that the movie follows is this group of people who are doing everything in their power not to fall asleep, which really made a big impression on me. I can't imagine a more miserable existence than that.

Being in a situation where you gotta stay awake for days and the moment you fall asleep, they get you. Well, probably I'm the only person ever seeing that movie that saw the theological significance of it, okay? I doubt the producers of that movie ever thought anybody would use it in a sermon illustration. But to me, that's exactly what goes on in salvation. We have had a spirit invade us. And possess us in a sense. And though we look the same on the outside, when we look in the mirror, within were something, if any man be in Christ, he's what? A new creature.

We're not the same anymore. I had a man in my congregation, I guess the oldest man I've ever had come to the Lord through my ministry was this fella and he was a rascal. He was a pro baseball player for a while.

And just a rascal. And then God got a hold of him in his last years. And he used to tell me, Brother Mark, I got up, I was shaving this morning looking at myself in the mirror. And it's the same old face I've been seeing for years. But let me tell you, in here, his name was Sonny. He said it's not the old Sonny in here anymore.

Something got him, you see? And it's the spirit of God that invades those that God has ordained to salvation. This hidden wisdom ordained for our glory, says Paul.

Notice it doesn't get everybody back to chapter one. The world sees this as silliness, but those of us who are called. There's the distinction, there's the differentiation. It's Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Not all, but those whose heart the spirit of God has invaded suddenly are made aware of these things that God prepared for us from the foundation of the world.

Our eyes are open to them. We are taught, taught of the spirit of God. You know the verse, we love to quote good Calvinists that we are. Father, who has sent me, draw him, drag him literally in the Greek. But the next verse tells us how he drags us to Christ.

It's not kicking and screaming. He doesn't have us by the ear, pulling us in. He said, it is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. He's quoting from Isaiah again. They shall all be taught of God and everyone therefore that has heard and learned of him comes to me. The father drags us to Christ, not by outward compulsion, but by an inner drawing of our heart as our eyes are open to see these things. So the spirit of God has invaded, the spirit who knows as it were the nature and mind of God has invaded our hearts and is teaching us that we might know these things. Verse 13 is important. He says, these are the things that we speak.

Now he's talking about the preacher now. Those things, we're speaking these things, but we're not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but words, in other words, which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now he's not talking about going into some kind of trance or speaking in tongues or anything like that.

He's talking about messages. This is describing to you the scripture. That's what the scripture is. They're spiritual words that are inspired by the spirit. Holy men of God are moved by the spirit, you know. You get the sense, I don't want you to think that this is talking about some aesthetic vision or something like that or hearing voices.

If that's going on, we got a place for you, I'm sure here somewhere intact. But that's not what this is talking about. This is talking about what we call the words of scripture. These spiritual words have been inscripturated and these are the words, the words of the apostles and prophets are propagating. And when we get up and preach this word, it's the same word we're propagating. That the natural man, back to the world, the natural man received not the things of the spirit of God, they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. I believe if there's one verse that makes me a Calvinist, it's that one right there.

Natural man, man as you find him, just plain old lost man. Notice he does not receive these things. The things of the spirit, the things that we are taught by the spirit, he doesn't receive them. They are silliness, foolishness once again to him. And notice it's not just a will not know them, he cannot know them. Because they're spiritually discerned and he's devoid of the Holy Spirit. You get the problem? This is a spiritual message conveyed through these spiritual words taught by the Holy Spirit and here is lost man, absolutely devoid of the spirit of God who is incapable, unable to receive on his own this message.

You're not gonna happen. You're just barking up the wrong tree. We use other terminology in other places in the New Testament. Paul in Ephesians 2 calls this being dead in trespasses, in sin. Right? And we often use that as an illustration, you know, dead man can't do much. You ever notice that?

They never show up, they never hold up their end of the deal. But let's be careful. In that same passage in Ephesians 2, Paul, he says, it begins by saying you, you saints there in Ephesus, you were dead in trespasses, in sin. That's what you were. And these dead folks, we could call them, let's go back to a horror movie. For some reason, movies are on my mind tonight. A horror movie. Let's call them The Walking Dead. It's a zombie movie.

I mean, that's what a zombie movie's all about, The Walking Dead. And that's exactly how Paul describes lost man. The lost state of the Ephesian saints. You used to be dead in trespasses, in sin, and in those sins, you walked. You walked. You walked according to the course of the world. You walked according to the spirit of the world.

You walked according to the lust of your own. For dead folks, they got around. But notice, they're alive to the world. They're alive to sin. They're alive to Satan. They're alive to the lust of the flesh. They're dead as a doornail to the things of God.

It's a selective deadness. This is not the normal inability. We say that the natural man cannot receive these things. We normally would say, well, if that's the case, we ought to excuse him. I mean, we don't say a man who has no legs because he doesn't stand up. When we give everybody a command to stand up, ought to be condemned if he has no legs. And my point is that he has the apparatus.

All the equipment is there. It's the disposition that's not there. Let me try to explain. My girls, both my girls have hearing problems. And my oldest, Tanya, she had the worst. And we didn't know it for a while when she was really young. And I can remember one day sitting and telling her not, her back was too thin. I was telling her not to get in this cabinet. And she just ignored me and went right on in. And I went over and gave her a swat.

Don't tell human services, please. But that was back in the day when we gave them a swat for things. And, you know, because she had just clearly disobeyed me. Didn't hear and she didn't listen to me. I gave her a swat and I remember her face turned around, this look of shock, and it hit me. She didn't hear me. You talk about feeling that high. She punished her for not obeying me when she could not hear me.

And that was sort of the beginning of our, they've done very well. Don't feel too sorry for them. In fact, I think having a hearing problem actually helped her in school where she didn't get in the chit-chat and all the other stuff going on in the classroom. Made her stick to her studies. But when she turned 16, she developed another kind of hearing problem.

If you know what I mean. Had nothing to do with the physical ability in the ear. It had to do with the fact that mom and dad don't have any sense.

It's the disposition now that is the problem. That's the kind of deadness that we're seeing here. It's selective deadness.

The devil to the things of sin and to the lust of their own flesh. Just dead to the things of God. And that's where we were. In fact, that's what Paul is telling the Ephesians saints in Ephesians 2. That's where you were. You were dead in sins.

But God. Two of the most wonderful words in all the Scripture. But God, rich in mercy, raised you, quickened you together with Christ.

That's where you were though. Before the Spirit of God invaded your heart. You see what we're talking about tonight is called in other places the new birth. Being born again.

Made alive, quickened by God the Holy Spirit to be alive to the things of God. Notice that we've had the external presentation of the Gospel but now we have the internal work of the Holy Spirit working to bring about the reception in the heart of the external message. The external message is now being internalized. Let's put it like that. Statues.

You get the picture? What Paul is explaining here is that process. Yes, the new birth involves the external message. God uses the word in regeneration. But it is applied by the agent of regeneration, the Holy Spirit to the heart of man.

You have the instrument and you have the agent. And it's as the Holy Spirit takes the message of the Gospel. And applies it to the heart. That life, faith arises.

Okay, let that sink in. You see you got the external preaching of the Gospel. That's absolutely essential.

New birth's not gonna happen without it. But it's not sufficient unless there's a work of the Spirit of God bringing that message into the heart of man. Writing it as it were on his heart. So, lost man is in a state of inability but it's a culpable state of inability. You can't excuse him for this kind of inability. It would be like me going before a judge and a judge, yeah, I shot and killed the guy but you gotta understand I hated him so much that I just couldn't help but pull the trigger.

Yes, that's right. Your honor, I hated him so much I was unable not to kill him. Oh, we'll excuse you then. Hardly a grounds of excuse. In fact, that's what makes the crime even more heinous. Is that you couldn't help but kill him. You couldn't help but sin. Because you love sin that much. That doesn't excuse you, it makes you the more guilty.

That kind of inability. That's what's being described here in our text. Notice that verse 15, he that spiritual judges all things.

Judges is probably not the best. We've got that word used three times here in verse 15 and once in verse 16. It translates this. Appraises, it's like appraising. You know how you appraise your house if you're gonna sell it? And of course the appraiser comes in and you think your house is worth millions and he comes in.

No, it's worth this. It's the ability to properly evaluate something. To put the correct value on your house. Notice that the spiritual man, the man who has the spirit of God at work in his heart is able to properly evaluate the gospel. Let me say this. Lost man can do everything that a saved man can do.

Except for one thing. In other words, he can understand the words of the gospel. It's not that he's not educated. He can understand the concepts. He can understand the theology.

It's not that this is so difficult. He sees it in that sense. But he's unable to properly evaluate it. It would be like a pig looking at a diamond down on the ground. To him it's like another rock. It's like a dog listening to Beethoven coming out of the speaker. But there's no music. It doesn't captivate it. He starts howling because it's hurting his ears.

He has the ability to properly appraise it. Do you get the sense? The old preachers, when I was real young in the grace movement, a lot of those old preachers said the old preachers in their day said that a lost man can do everything, see everything in the gospel that a saved man can see except for one thing. The glory. Oh my.

That's it. It's sort of like me trying to see the glory in communism. And a communist might come to me and say, you don't see the glory. Well, it's just because you don't understand it. No, it's because I understand it. I don't see the glory.

I can read the books by Lenin and Marx. I can understand the system. I don't see any glory.

It looks like it. It looks like slavery and oppression to me. It looks like a system that can't possibly work and indeed that's what's happened everywhere you try to apply it, right? I don't see the glory. I don't see the glory in going out on the golf course and hitting that little ball.

Now some of you do. I tried. I worked real hard to like that game. He just didn't like me back. I wound up coming back just all wound up and frustrated and I said, let me go fishing instead.

At least I get some relaxation out there on the river. I don't see the glory. I don't see the glory in chocolate. I have shared with you all, haven't I, on past occasions my aversion to chocolate.

I know everybody then puts a big question mark over me. I am one of two or three people in the world that detest things chocolate and you say, well you just never have had my chocolate. My wife makes the best chocolate pie and the better it is the worse I want.

Do you understand? To have a really good chocolate pie is about the worst thing I can think of. What was the movie Willy Wonka? Why is movies on my mind? Willy Wonka Chocolate Machine or something?

That's like a horror film to me. There is no appeal. Why would anybody want to go to her Hershey, Pennsylvania?

I'm staying away from that place. It's a long story. I used to love it and then had an episode and from that point on I have no taste for chocolate. I don't see the glory.

You do, but I don't. And you say, Brother Mark, what would it take for you to see the glory of chocolate? Somebody is going to have to do an operation on my taste buds. Somebody is going to have to change my nature from within and that is exactly what's going on here in this text. That's what's happening in salvation. The Spirit of God invades the heart and changes the heart. Opens our eyes.

We describe it like that. Opens our ears to hear the music. Opens our eyes to see the beauty of Christ. So that we would say like Paul, if I'm going to glory, let me glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and only in the cross. Nothing but the cross. That is the thing that I glory in. The thing that the world despises, the Jew sees as ridiculous is the thing that floats our boat, thrills our soul. It's the thing we want to hear preached. It's the thing we want to sing about. Right? That's it.

That's dead center for us. And so we come to the end that we now have, we have the ability to make an evaluation that is proper and basically he's saying don't let anybody else in the last part of verse 15 evaluate you for that. They're not going to be rescued if they're lost. They're not going to see what you see.

They're not going to appraise this thing as you do. But we have the mind of Christ. Note that interesting question there in verse 16. Who has known the mind of the Lord that we might instruct him?

Of course the answer is nobody. Nobody was God's instructor. Nobody's teaching God. Job said he would there one time.

That didn't work out too well. Who has instructed God? But we have the mind of Christ. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Christ, we are given the mind of Christ to be able to properly perceive and evaluate what we call the gospel and the impact on our life. Remember let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. Paul writes in Philippians 2. Think like he thought.

Have his mind set. Guess what? That's what Paul is saying here. We have been given that mind set to be able to evaluate these things in their proper light.

Well that's the end. Except I think it would be wise that we just take a moment and address if I find myself in the state of one of these who do not see the beauty of the gospel, that are not able to properly evaluate it. And that you say, Brother Mark, if I'm honest I may never admit this out loud, but if I'm honest I really don't understand all this stuff. I don't see why all these people are so thrilled about this Jesus fellow.

And this thing called the cross. I honestly don't get it. I understand it.

I've been taught these things all my life. But it does not motivate me. It does not pull my chain. It doesn't rule my life. It's not thrilling to me.

I don't get it. What do I do? What do I do? You say what makes the difference here is this call of God.

And it certainly does. Do I need an easy chair and wait for the call to come? What should I do? Well number one, get under and stay under the gospel. Because as we've seen, what this is saying is that you're not going to be saved apart from being under the gospel message. That alone is not going to change your heart, but that is the instrument God uses. So get under the gospel. Sometimes parents come to me and say, well you know, I've got this child of mine who's lost and I don't really see any need for him to be in church because after all they're lost.

They don't get this stuff. I just wait and see if God will save them. My friend, if they're going to be saved, they're going to be saved under the sound of the gospel. It's sort of like a water faucet. And this is the faucet of grace. God's hand in my hand is not on the faucet. God's hand's on the faucet. But I can put my child underneath there that if he turns the faucet on, they're going to get a big dose of grace.

You get the picture? I'm going to put them in the place where the grace flows. And that's under the sound of the gospel. So first of all, you can at least do that. Secondly, you can pray. You can pour your heart out. You say I can't change my heart. No, you can't.

But he can. What you can do is to cry out to God. Cry out to the God of the universe, the one who made you in the first place, to give you a new heart. Give grace to the humble.

And the next verse says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due time. Get off your high horse and get on your knees and cry out to the God of the universe to save your soul. Plead with him. Go to him. How do you go to him up there? Only way I know is prayer.

Pour your heart out in prayer that God would look upon you in mercy and in grace and give you and do for you what you cannot do for yourself. I read the conversion of John Bunyan and he was wrestling with this very thing. And he simply was struggling with the fact of how, you know, how I don't know if I'm the elect of God. I don't know if I'm one of those that this has been ordained for their glory. I don't know that. You know, how then do I have any confidence, assurance that I can come to God and that he'll hear me?

And he said the thought hit me. Is there anywhere in the entire Bible that someone humbles themselves and comes before God asking for grace and mercy that does not receive grace and mercy? He went on a quest starting in Genesis all the way to the book of Revelation.

Anybody in the Bible ever come to God on those grounds seeking mercy and grace humbly that doesn't get it? Remember his old Ahab. You remember him in the Old Testament? Talk about a wicked guy.

Ahab and Jezebel, they were a couple. And Ahab, when he hears the message that judgment is coming, he humbled himself before God and God says, you see how he walks awfully before me? I'm going to send this evil not in his day but in the days of his son. I'm going to hop over him because look, he's humbled himself before me. Even wicked Ahab got a measure of mercy.

When he humbles himself before his God. My friend, you ought to learn something from that. That this is the pattern. Why? Because God is merciful. That's his nature. It's like an instinctive reaction to the humble lowly man who calls and cries to him for mercy and grace who will come on those grounds. God instinctively responds, go to him on that basis.

Get off your high horse. Quit touting your qualifications and look instead to what Christ has done for sinners on Calvary's cross, God's provision, and flee to him and call upon him. While on others, thou art calling, do not pass me by. Let's pray. Father, may you apply this to us as we need it. You know the needs of our heart for the saved tonight. May you encourage us. May this be a wonderful reminder of what has happened in our hearts and lives that the Christ we once had no use for, had no value for. Now is our all in all. What a miracle of grace.

All because you invaded our lives. In our heart by your spirit and did a work within us. But for those that are outside the kingdom, those that are lost, I pray that this might also be a warning, but also a glimmer of hope that yes, continue in that natural state and they will surely perish without Christ.

Who bow before you don't receive the doers you receive the can't doers, not the ones who are qualified, but the unqualified. You didn't come to save the righteous. You came to save sinners. Oh, may that be a wonderful word of encouragement to a lost soul out there to flee, flee for refuge to the mighty Christ. Father, it may be, may it profit all of us as we think on these things and rejoice in this miracle of grace that has come our way. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.