Adrian Rogers was a motivator, an encourager, and a leader of the faith. He was also passionate about presenting scriptural application to everyday life circumstances. And you'll hear that in today's message.
Now, let's join Adrian Rogers. Everybody here is in one of three categories. One of three classes, and I want to point them out. In chapter 2, verse 14, look at the first part of verse 14. But But natural Man.
Do you see it? All right, I don't want to read the rest of that verse. All I want to show you is the category. There's some here in the category of the natural man or the natural woman. Woman.
Now let's try and go down to verse 15. And look in verse 15. But he That is spiritual. That's the second category of persons here today. He that is spiritual.
All right, now go right on through chapter 3 to verse 1. And I, brethren, cannot speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. underscore the phrase, the word Carnal. There you have the three categories of persons. There's the natural man.
There is the spiritual man. There is the carnal man. Either you're a natural man, a spiritual man, A carnal man. You're a natural woman, a spiritual woman, or a carnal woman.
Now, we divide people into different categories. We say there's upper class, middle class, lower class, there's this or that. But it's not the blue book of society or the bank book of finance, but it is God's book. The Bible that puts us into these categories.
Now, you say, why do you want me to. categorize myself.
Well, obviously, I want you to be a spiritual person. But you see The Bible is like a roadmap to guide you to get to where you need to be.
Now there's one thing important about any map, no matter what map it is. A map is not of much value to you unless you know one thing. Where you are now.
Now, if you don't know where you are now, what good is the map? But if you know where you are now, you can say I'm here and this is where I need to get to. Uh you've been to uh Buildings, big buildings, and they will have a schematic of that building. Then there'll be a little red dot, and it'll say, You are here.
So, what I want you to do is to find out where you are in order to help you to get to where you need to be. The first question asked to man in the Garden of Eden was: this: Adam? Where are you? Where? Are you?
Now, God was not asking for information. God knew where Adam was. God wanted Adam to know where Adam was and to know the predicament that Adam was in.
So, here's what I want us to do. I want us to ask three questions. The first question I want to ask, and I want you to answer it, are you a natural man? doing what comes naturally.
Well, you say, yes, that sounds pretty good to me to do what comes naturally.
Well, the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 3: you are by nature. The children of wrath.
Now, let me tell you about the natural man, what he's like. I want to give you three marks of the natural man. First of all, He is born into the natural world. He is born just like anybody else. He has a natural...
Birth. And he's born once, he's born into the natural. world. We had a former Vice President of the United States. Who said this when he heard that?
One of the other presidents said he'd been born again. This vice president said this, and I couldn't believe he could say this. But he said it openly and publicly. They asked him, have you been born twice? He said, no, I haven't been born twice.
He said, I count myself lucky. to have been born once. But he said, I certainly haven't been born twice. A friend? The day will come when he'll not count himself lucky to be born once.
if he hadn't been born twice. Because you see, If you're born once, You die twice. The first death is the physical death, the second death is eternal death. But if you're born twice, You can only die once. You may die physically, but that which is born again goes on and on and on and on.
You see, the problem with man is what he received by his first birth. He is born into the natural world. I have reminded you before that if you have an apple and see a wormhole in that apple, Don't worry about the worm having come in through that hole. He didn't come in through that hole. He went out through that hole.
The wormhole didn't let the worm in. It let the worm out. You say, well, how did the worm get in the apple? He was born in the blossom. He was hatched in the blossom.
The egg was laid in the blossom, and that worm came out of the heart of that apple, and it came out of the heart of that apple to the outer extremity of that apple. And Jesus says that all of the sins that are in mankind come out of the heart. You never have to teach a baby to steal. You have to teach a baby not to steal. Isn't that true?
You never have to teach a baby to be selfish. You have to teach a baby not to be selfish. You never have to teach a baby to tell lies. You have to teach a baby not to tell lies. The Bible said the wicked are estranged from the womb.
They go astray speaking lies as soon as they are born. The natural man, he is born into the natural world, he's only had one birth. I want to say this. the very best quality in every individual. and then somehow combine all of those qualities into one individual.
There would not be enough goodness in that one individual to save his one soul. He would have to bow at the cross and receive Jesus Christ. The Bible says, in our own nature, there is nothing good. We are by nature children of wrath. The natural man is born into the natural world, and therefore he is blind to the spiritual world.
Look in verse 14: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness unto him.
Now watch this, neither can he know them. Because they are spiritually discerned, that is, they're spiritually Understood.
Now look at the word receive. Do you see it there in verse 14? The natural man receiveth not. That word, receive, literally means to welcome. He does not welcome spiritual things.
He has no appreciation for spiritual things.
Now, you put a natural man in a church service like this. There are a lot of things that a natural man could appreciate. A natural man could enjoy this choir. A natural man could enjoy handshaking around. He said, I like that.
Those are friendly folks. I like that. A natural man could enjoy hearing a message. He said, Yeah, that makes sense. I can understand what that fellow's saying.
A natural man can get excited about a Sunday school attendance campaign, meeting a budget, building a building, all of that. The natural man. He can understand those things, but he does not understand the things of the Spirit of God.
Now go back to chapter 1 and look in verse 18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Do you see that? It's foolishness. Look again in verse 14: but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Their foolishness. Under him. He doesn't understand what we were talking about. We were saying, hallelujah. Praise the Lamb.
that Jesus died for our sins. Behold, the Lamb of God. That taketh away the sin of the world. He doesn't understand that. Why are these folks so excited?
You see, he's born in the natural world. He is blind to the spiritual world. He doesn't enjoy the true things of God. Or he can enjoy the externals. You know You put a natural man in heaven, did you know why he'd be miserable?
He'd be miserable. Unless he gets born again. There are people who think they want to live forever. They don't even know what to do on a rainy afternoon. What would they do in eternity, for all eternity, not being able to say, hallelujah, praise the Lamb.
That's what they're going to do through all eternity is worship and praise the Lord Jesus Christ, the natural man, is born into the natural world. He, my friend, is blind to the spiritual world. You see, he has no appreciation. He has no understanding. Look in verse 14 again.
It says, neither can he know them. He couldn't figure it out if he wanted to. Don't get the idea, friend, that you can bring your intellect to this book and say, I'm going to rip truth out of this book. You can't do it. Until you get born again, you'll never understand this book.
You'll know the words, but you'll never get the music. You will never understand. The Bible says, neither can he know them. They are spiritually discerned. They're spiritually understood.
Say, well, why can't I?
Well, let me give you a modern-day illustration. If you had a little monitor, you could pick up maybe Gilligan's Island. You could pick up a replay of yesterday's sports. You could get this thing or that thing. All of those things are there.
But you'd have to have a tuner. to bring that out of the air so you could see it and receive it.
Now, your great-great-grandfather would not believe that if you told him that all these things are in the air, if you were to bring him out of that generation and jam him into this generation, but we know that's true. There's an unseen world, there's a spiritual world. Broadcasting on station W-O-R-D, the word of God. But unless you have the receiver, The problem with a natural man is he has no antenna. He has no antenna.
The Bible says he does not welcome the things of God, and neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. They are spiritually understood. Nicodemus was a master in Israel, but Jesus said, are you a master in Israel and you don't understand these things? You see, he he had all of this education. but he could not understand.
When you talk to an unsaved man about Jesus, And he may remonstrate with you and he may say, I just don't see it. Don't argue with him. Friend, he doesn't see it. He is telling the truth. He just doesn't see it.
He is born to the natural world. He is blind to the spiritual world and therefore he is bound to the material world. I'm talking about the natural man. He's born in the natural world, blind to the spiritual world, and therefore he is bound to the material world. This world is the only world that he knows.
He is a materialist. Pure and simple. He has no capacity for spiritual things. The Bible speaks of these in Jude verse 19 as sensual. having not the Spirit.
Sensual having not the Spirit. And the word sensual is the same word that's translated here as natural. It's the same word in the Greek language. Natural or sensual. He lives by senses.
I had the privilege to go to Moscow. And in Moscow, I was invited into the mayor's office, the mayor of Moscow. We went in through that up those Marble stairs over that red carpet. into the office of the mayor of Moscow and into that boardroom. and sat there with the people, who administrate That great city.
I said several things to them. I wanted them to understand who we are and what we believe, who evangelical Christians are. But I said to them, I hope in this revolution And this renaissance that you're having here. That as you look toward the west That you don't try to emulate everything in the West. And that you don't think that the secret of the West is.
Capitalism. And I said, very frankly, I believe in capitalism. I believe it's far better than communism. But I said, I want you to learn this. that capitalism and communism are two forms of materialism.
Both of them. Both capitalism and communism. And then I said to those men, I said, let me tell you what capitalism can provide for you. The very best it can provide for you is what I would call a good. Dogs life.
I said, if you give a dog A warm place to sleep. Give a dog adequate food to eat. Give a dog some affection, rub his head, scratch him behind the ears, pat him a little. And give a dog a sense of achievement, maybe a frisbee to catch. One time I said a cat could chase, and a lady wrote me a message like I was in favor of dogs chasing cats.
She was very irate, so. A frisbee to catch, all right. I don't want you to miss the point. Give that dog Those four things. Creature comforts.
Affection. A sense of achievement. And he'll be a happy dog. But I said to those men what I want to say to you, man is more than an animal. He has a capacity for God.
And if all he has is just those four things, a place to sleep, something to eat, some love and affection, and a sense of achievement, all he has is what a dog could expect. He's more than that. He's a spiritual creature. And I told those men what I want to tell you, that the crisis in the world today is a spiritual crisis. And the deep longing, the hunger of men's hearts is for God.
Augustine said there's a God-shaped vacuum in every man's heart, and man will never be satisfied until he knows the Lord. But what about the natural man? Are you a natural man? He's born into the natural world, he is blind to the spiritual world, and he is bound to the material world. He's just bound to it.
He cannot know God. He cannot fellowship with God. He must be born again in order for that to happen.
Now, that's the first category. Let's move to the second category of persons. The first category is the natural man.
Now, the second category. There's the spiritual man. Verse 15, but he that is spiritual.
Now, the natural man does what is natural. He does what comes naturally. The spiritual man does what comes supernaturally. The spiritual man has not been born only once, he has been born twice. Look, if you will, in verses 11 and 12.
For what man knows the things of a man, save or except the spirit of man? which is in him. Even so, The things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
Now, notice verse 12.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world. But the Spirit which is of God. The spiritual man lives. by the Spirit. He lives by the Spirit.
Verse 12 says, He has received. The Spirit of God. He has received. The Spirit of God. That is, this man has been born twice.
He's been... born of the Spirit. What is salvation? Salvation is not merely getting man out of earth into heaven. It is getting God out of heaven.
into man. He receives the Spirit of God. He has been born again. Learn this about Christians. Christians are not just natural people who decide to do better.
Christians have been radically dramatically, supernaturally changed by something called a new birth. He receives the Spirit of God. God moves into him. God inhabits his humanity.
Now, don't get the idea that a Christian, therefore, is like a tadpole who becomes a frog. You see, there is a frog in every tadpole, and if he just keeps maturing, he'll become a frog.
Now that's the kind of Christianity some people believe in. They think, well, I'll go to church and learn to do better. I'll grow up and be the frog I ought to be. A Christian is not like a tadpole who has become a frog. A Christian is like a frog who has become a prince.
by the kiss of grace. It is a miracle. It is a miracle. It is not just simply a change, a gradual change becoming more of what we are by nature. It is becoming what we could never be by nature.
He is a person, number one, who lives by the Spirit. He has received a new life. And because he lives by the Spirit, he learns from the Spirit.
Now look in verse 12.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God.
Now, watch it. that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. When you receive the Spirit, You received the organ of spiritual knowledge that you might know God.
Now remember the natural man, verse 14, he doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. He can't know them because they're spiritually discerned, they're spiritually understood.
So When a man Receives God. He receives, when he's born again, he receives life from the Spirit. He lives by the Spirit and he learns by the Spirit. When you get saved. even if you're a little child.
God turns the light on in your soul. The Bible says the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. What does that mean? When God wants to illuminate you, He takes your human spirit, He puts the oil of His Holy Spirit in that human lamp. And God illumines you.
The spiritual man lives by the Spirit, he learns from the Spirit, and he is liberated through the Spirit. Let me show you this. Look now in verse 15. Look at it, verse 15. But he that is spiritual.
Judges All things. Yet he himself is judged of no man.
Now, what does that mean, judges all things? Does that mean he sits on a bench and he says this is right and this is wrong? No, no, no. It's talking about inward discernment. Actually, some translations give it this way, the spiritual man diserns all things.
He has a different value system. He sees things through a different lens. Actually, this word discern is a legal word. And what it means is this. It means to make an examination.
And on the basis of that examination, make moral and spiritual judgment. He that is spiritual makes an examination. And on the basis of that examination, he makes moral and spiritual judgment. But what is the difference between the natural man who tries to do that and the spiritual man?
Well, the spiritual man... He sees with the mind of Christ. When a man receives the Spirit of God, He learns through the Spirit. He lives through the Spirit. He is liberated through the Spirit.
Because This world system. doesn't squeeze him into its mold. He sees through things. He sees what is happening in today's world. He's not like the marching millions that are going on to oblivion and going on to hell.
He has a value system that is completely different. He sees things from God's viewpoint. He has the mind of Christ and he sees through this world. He's not bound to the material world. He is liberated.
He is liberated. By the Spirit of God. He sees through things. Now the Bible says he discerns all things. He judges all things, but no man judges him.
What does that mean? It means. He understands the unsaved man, but the unsaved man doesn't understand him. They say, what makes him tick? Boy, is he weird?
Hey, folks, might as well face it. Those folks out there think we are Looney Tunes. They really do. I mean, they think that somehow we have jumped the track. The Bible says they think it's strange that we don't run with them and their excessive riot.
They think that we are the funny ones. They're like that woman who went to the psychiatrist, had the fried egg on her head and two strips of bacon over each ear. She said, I came to see you about my brother. They really think that we are the funny ones. He who is spiritual discerns all things, he judges all things, but no man judges him.
They don't understand him, they don't know what makes him tick. I had a preacher friend down in Florida, he was a drummer. in a nightclub. A nightclub band, and the Spirit of God got hold of Hugh Beasley, and he got saved. He knew he was in the wrong place.
He knew he was doing the wrong things. He became a mighty pastor and an evangelist, but he took his drumsticks on one night and just ran them through his drum.
Somebody said to him, Hugh! What's wrong with you? You sick? He said, no, I just got well. I just got well.
Now everybody else thought he was crazy. You see, he discerns all things, but he cannot be understood. No one understands him.
So what are the marks of a spiritual man? He lives by the Spirit. He learns from the Spirit. He is liberated through the Spirit. Now.
Let's move on to the third category. Have you found yourself yet? Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. Maybe you're a natural man, born into the natural world, blind to the spiritual world, bound to the material world. Maybe you're a spiritual man.
You live by the Spirit. You learn from the Spirit. You're liberated through the Spirit. Or maybe Maybe you're a carnal man. Mal.
The natural man does what comes naturally. The spiritual man does what comes supernaturally. The carnal man does what comes unnaturally. The carnal man is sort of a spiritual Monstrosity. He's neither fish nor fowl.
He's one of these persons who has been saved. But yet he is a very strange person. Look, if you will, in verse 3. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual.
Now he calls them brethren. They were in the church, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. And I have fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. Let me give you the three marks of a carnal man.
First of all, the carnal man is a Christian, but he is defeated. You know any defeated Christians? He is defeated. He doesn't have victory. He doesn't have the ability to do a thing that a mature man ought to do.
He cannot walk spiritually. He cannot war spiritually. He cannot work spiritually. He just is marked by his inability. Here's a baby.
And he says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. but as under carnal even as under babes in Christ.
Now he's not talking about little. physical babies. He's talking about spiritual babies. Did you know that in this church, we've got a lot of spiritual babies? And some of them have been babies for 40 years.
Babies for 40 years.
Now there's a legitimate childhood. We've had babies in our home and we love them. My sons are grown now. It was a thrill the first time one of my sons said to me, Dad, dad. But if one of them were to say to me, dad, dad, today, I think I'd swat him.
It's all right for a baby to be a baby. But the problem is that we have folks who have never grown up. Paul said, I couldn't speak unto you as spiritual. You haven't been liberated through the Spirit. I had to speak to you like little babies.
You are defeated. A carnal Christian is really kind of a contradiction in terms. It's like speaking of a heavenly devil.
Now, I want to say this. That I believe in the Christian world today. The average Christian is carnal. I didn't say the normal Christian. Because the average Christian is not normal.
I think it was Dr. Vance Havner who said, That the Church today. is so subnormal. That when a person becomes normal To the rest of the people, he seems abnormal. You see.
When I talk about a carnal Christian, I must say I believe that the average Christian is carnal. But not a normal Christian. A normal Christian is a spiritual Christian. That's normal. Don't think that you have attained if you become a spiritual Christian like, oh, you've done something wonderful.
Everybody ought to be a spiritual Christian. It is the carnal Christian who is doing that which is unnatural. He is defeated and he is dependent. Look if you will in verse 2. Paul said, I have fed you with milk.
and not with me. For hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye. And Paul is saying, I have become to you a spiritual nursemaid. You come to hear me preach and I give you a bottle. Did you know that carnal Christians, if they grow at all, they're dependent upon spoon-fed sermons?
They depended upon some teacher, some pastor, to teach them. They want to come to church on Sunday. Let the pastor give them a bottle and burp them on the way out. I mean, that's it. And I'll tell you the third mark.
of a carnal person. Not only is he defeated, And not only is he dependent, But he is divisive. He is divisive. Continue to read here. He says in verse 3.
For ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife, and divisions Are ye not carnal and walk as men, that is, as other men? For while one saith, I am of Paul. Oh, I love brother Paul. He's my favorite teacher and preacher.
He's so full of doctrine. Another says, I am of Apollos. Oh, I love brother Apollos. He's such a wonderful orator. Paul says, are you not carnal?
Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believe? even as the Lord gave to every man. I planted Apollos watered, God gave the increase. What happened to this church? They were dividing up over trifles, like little babies.
Paul said, You like little babies. Have you ever noticed how? babies and children. Get upset over trifles. I took the family fortune.
Our family fortune. About all $150 of it. And decided we were going to go in 1962 to San Francisco to the Southern Baptist Convention. We rented a travel trailer so we could take our children with us. We went all the way out to San Francisco.
I'd never been anywhere that far from home. This was our big trip. Then we got there to Fisherman's Wharf. I'd always heard of fisherman's wharf. And there were the restaurants.
I mean pricey restaurants. I mean back then I think a meal was maybe $7 and that was a lot. And I said, Joyce, let's eat. On Fisherman's Wharf, she said, all right. Let's bring our family in there.
We had got a table by the window. They brought that food in there. I thought, man, here we are, San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf, nice restaurant. Let my son order from the menu. We were getting ready to have a big time and I looked over there, his chins quivering.
Big old tears coming down. Here's cheese. I mean, this is our big moment. And there's that. Ankle biter.
I said to him, son. What's wrong? He said they got beet juice on my food. He had ordered beets and the beet juice had run across the plate. And I want to tell you folks.
I mean, here we are. And some beet juice. It's a wonder I didn't beat the juice out of him. Babies. Children.
Immature. You watch them in the churches. These are the people who are divisive. It is carnal people. Who can't get along.
They have their favorite preachers. They have their favorite teachers. They have this. They have that. And they will split a church over the difference between Tweedley-Dee and Tweedledee-dumb.
They will. I've had far more difficulty in churches with carnal, so-called carnal people, than I have with drunkards or anything else. Just carnal people, they're babies. They are Defeated? They are dependent.
and their devices. There are three categories of persons, the natural man. He does what comes naturally. The spiritual man, he does what comes supernaturally. The carnal man, he does what comes unnaturally.
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