The Wisdom of the World and of God

Let me thank you so much, Lord God, for today, Father. Thank you for all these blessed saints before me, Father. Their desire is my desire, Lord.

We want to worship you, Father. We want to put you on display. You're the most important thing to us in our lives, Father, and it's good to get together on a Wednesday and to gather together as your body, Father, and we know that you're honored whenever we gather together and study your word, Father.

We pray that you would be with us, Father, and help us to open our hearts up so that we might understand the great truths of your word, Father, and help us to live this building, Father. I'm thankful for who you are and what you did for us on the cross. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

So if you would open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. It's a study that we did in our men's Bible study together, and I apologize if you’re man that was here for that earlier study. I'll try to change a few things around to make it more interesting to you, but we want to share with you the wisdom of the world and of God. I hope you have your notes, and we'll be talking about the wisdom of the world and compare it to the to the wisdom of God.

God's wisdom in comparison to the wisdom of man, and certainly God has perfect wisdom. He tells us through his word how people should think and how people should believe, but the world does the same thing. They also are trying to persuade us how we as Christians should think and should believe, but godly wisdom would certainly include the eternal plan of salvation and eternal plan of his sovereignty and God's plan for his church, and we'll look tonight about how God wants us to run his church and how what we should do as we humble our hearts as we serve within the church, but the world does think itself wise, and one of the biggest discussions right now on the wisdom of the world today is the discussion on the new role of artificial intelligence, AI in the world.

This is the area that we should focus upon as believers in Christ, and the world certainly is that they try to figure out how wise AI is, and they try to figure out whether it's good or evil. Will it destroy us? Will it make our lives better? I think certainly we can all agree that AI has some definite benefits within the culture we have. It's done some amazing marvelous things, but we also need to be aware that also although it's called artificial intelligence, there's only one who's ultimate intelligence.

He's the real intelligence, right? He's a God of real intelligence, not some artificial intelligence. He is all-knowing, and he's omniscient. He's all-powerful, but the unbeliever thinks that they are pretty intelligent.

They think that they've figured out and solved most of the problems within their own lives. Unbelievers walk around even right now thinking that they've figured it all out. They have the answers to this life, and the problem this would have been solved, yet despite the arrogance the world is still trying to be extra smart using AI, extra intelligence to help give them perhaps a better ability to solve problems in a faster and correct way.

What men should do, however, is to look to God and look to his word to help them to solve the problems, and the concern that I have sometimes for the church, for the believers in Christ, is that they will look in the wrong direction. Instead of looking toward God's word, they will look toward the worldly wisdom of artificial intelligence, super intelligence, which although it does do some amazing things for us, certainly within the medical field, it's just a machine, and it's controlled by people's worldly thinking. So we need to, as Christians, to be aware of what's coming in our direction and to get in front of it, so to speak, so we're not overcome by it.

We don't just do things because the rest of the world goes to AI, therefore we should also. So we need to make sure we think about this and consider the hearts of two people that might be within the same room. One being an unbeliever who believes in humanly wisdom, and the other a Christian in the same room who believes in godly wisdom, and the first man thinks of a question to ask AI and clicks on the dive deeper button.

Who's ever seen the dive deeper? That's what then, you know, Google search to dive a little bit deeper into the AI. They click on that button in Gemini 3 to try to get the answers to their problems, to perhaps dive deeper into the entire knowledge of human history. Every book that is written can be searched by AI within a millisecond.

They have the whole world's library at their hands. How could you not succeed in finding great wisdom here? And they click on that button and they wait half a second for the answer to come back, amazed and marveled by this great technology that can tell them the answer to their problem, and they answer according to the way it thinks, and the person, the unbeliever, the first person in the room believes it to be true. He wants to search and he wants a summarization of human knowledge to help him solve a problem or even to understand what is right and what is wrong.

The second man believes in God's wisdom. Instead of clicking on the button, he opens up his Bible, right? He searches God's word and God's infinite wisdom, which is revealed within his word, and God tells him clearly how he created the universe. He solves his problems through reading God's word and obeying God's word.

He bends his heart to obey what God says is right and what is wrong. And while the AI machine tries to search the entire breadth of human wisdom to give an answer on ChatGPT, God knows every question. God knows every answer.

He knows exactly what's going to happen even before we even think of the question, even before we verbally think about it or write it down to a computer. God knows all things, and we need to make sure that we think about this. I asked AI and Gemini 3 this question in a deeper dive mode.

Here's the question. Who knows more, God or AI? And here's the answer I came up with. It says, some philosophers and tech enthusiasts argue that as it approaches superintelligence, it may eventually mirror some traits we associate with the divine, such as omnipresence, through the digital realm, or a form of omniscience, through access to all human data.

It says somehow superintelligence may somehow mirror God in some way, right? You have all of the history of mankind at your fingertips, and we need to make sure that we make sure we go according to Psalms 139, which says, you have searched and known me. You know when I sit down and when I get up. You understand my thought from far away.

You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before, there was a word on my tongue. Behold, Lord, you know it all.

1 John 3:20, for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. We need to think about this topic of AI, and our topic today is human wisdom versus godly wisdom. We need to make sure we use our Bibles as a filter to block out the things from the world which can possibly get to our heart.

We need to hold up our Bible to the TV and to music and to movies that might try to get to our hearts, and our kids need to do the same thing. If it can't get through God's word and through what it says, then we shouldn't believe it. It's a filter that we use to block out the ways of the world.

We trust upon our Lord and his ways, but the AI within the church is something to think about within our church. Last Sunday, we had a nice, very good meeting with Tim and with A.J. and the elders discussing the topic of AI usage within the church, and pastors could possibly misuse it and say, give me a message. Write your whole message.

Pastors can, I'm sure, some people do use that. Some people might use that within our world today, but as believers in Christ, we need to consider these issues and let us not marvel over a machine, but over our God instead. Let us not seek the answer to our problems by clicking a button on a device in our pocket.

We need to make sure we keep our focus within God's word, and our topic today, as you can see, is 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and Paul has the same issue in his time as we do within ours. Let's go ahead and pray before we read 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1 to 16. Heavenly Father, I give so much to our God for tonight, Father.

Be with us in our time, Father. Help us to look to your word, Father. See how we should actually bend our hearts, Lord.

Paul says, and when I came to you, brothers, I did not come with the spirit of wisdom, order or wisdom, proclaiming to you the witness of God, but determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Yet we do not speak wisdom among those who are mature, or wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are being abolished. But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom which has been hidden, which God predestined before the ages to our glory, which none of the rulers of this age has understood. For if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, just as written, things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him.

But to us, God revealed them through the spirit, for the spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the depths of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, the depths of God no one knows, except the spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.

But a natural man does not accept the depths of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually examined. But he who is spiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one. But who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will direct him, but we have the mind of Christ.

Paul is speaking to those within the church of Corinth, and he's trying to tell them, explain to them, how they need to direct their church and to direct their hearts. And as you look at your notes, you'll see Paul reminds them that they need to preach Christ crucified. He reminds them that the unbeliever cannot understand the wisdom of God. It's not humanly discovered.

Point number three, he explains to them how God has used the Holy Spirit to show himself to us. And lastly, our Lord tells us, clearly in point number four, we have the mind of Christ.

And Paul is reminding the church in Corinth that before he left them, he was a pastor with them for 18 months. He spent time coming alongside them and teaching them and showing them God's word. And they were raised together in the church, and many people got saved within the church of Corinth before he left them.

But while he preached to them, he did not do so, he says, with impressive words or with humanly wisdom. He didn't do that. He preached God's word.

He said, you know, come to Corinth as other Greek philosophers did. There was 50 Greek philosophers at the time that would go into the church, into the area in the city of Corinth. And they would, the Corinthians were very interested in philosophy and interested in the different Greek philosophers that came that way.

And while in the city of Corinth would also, their thoughts would also spill into the church of Corinth, which was next to it. And so the church was starting to be infiltrated with philosophical ideas. They started to like the idea of Greek philosophy.

And Paul says right here, I didn't come with this superiority of speech, he says, or of wisdom. These humanly philosophical beliefs, I didn't come that way. But now, as it comes back after 18 months, these philosophers have crept to the church, and Paul feels a need to address them.

He said he did not, he came proclaiming to you the testimony of God. Paul says, I came proclaiming Christ. I saw Christ.

He testified what he witnessed. He's a witness. He testified what he saw with Christ and what he heard and what he experienced.

He said that he witnessed that how Christ changed his heart. And one could imagine that Paul could have taken the opportunity with the Corinthians during those 18 months as a pastor, and he certainly could have used the time to lift himself up into the congregation. He had 18 months to do that.

And more people probably would have attended church in Corinth if he had done so. If Paul had spoken with, he says, superiority of speech or wisdom, more people would have flocked to the church if he had spoken that way with persuasive words or wisdom. But Paul didn't do that.

He made a willful choice in how he would preach and proclaim God's word. He would proclaim what he had seen and what he had heard and experienced with Jesus Christ. But this text goes to show us how we are to preach God's word and the focus of the message that we should have from the pulpit, how we are to preach the gospel.

And Paul states here, not with superiority of speech. Let us not be persuasive. The pastor should not be persuasive or elegant.

People want to just hear him because of his eloquence. We're not interested in preaching about men's ideas or humanly wisdom, not in persuasive words or wisdom. First Corinthians tells us in 13.1, Paul says, if I speak with tongues of men and of angels but not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

We are always to speak about God's word and share God's word out of a heart of love. It goes to the motivation of the pastor. We are to speak, as Paul states, that a word should be about Christ.

Let us not be offensive on top of God's word, which already offends the heart of the unbeliever. But he says quite clearly in verse number four, but he does so, he says what? But in demonstration of the spirit and the power. That's what Paul did.

He spoke that way. He desired to be obedient to our Lord. And he knew that it was the spirit of God that gave him the power to do so.

That God was the one that would change man's heart, as it did for those 18 months. And he saw the amazing responsibility that was before him, and that God had called him into Corinth. And that now he was sending him on to another church afterwards.

He was asking for other pastors stepping up to him to also preach God's word. He saw God's larger plan than himself. And he was obedient to that plan.

He had no desire to preach with pride and desire to lift himself up. He saw that his heart was changed by Christ on the road to Damascus. And that with a converted heart, he would preach Christ.

And he says, for I determine no nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. That was Paul's desire, as it should be our desire. First Corinthians 1:23, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles' foolishness.

And today we have people that don't do that. You wonder what would you do if you were the pastor for 18 months of a church? What would you preach on? I trust it wouldn't be humanly wisdom, but we know as many pastors out there that don't use the time given to them, 18 months or whatever time might be, to glorify God. Many pastors today are influenced by the wisdom of the world, and their churches are based on humanly thinking, based on what they want to do to please the culture around them.

They're the man-centered gospel preaching churches. And the world focuses their thoughts instead upon being self-centered rather than upon being God-centered. But the wisdom of the world will creep into the church, and it will try to influence the pastor.

And pastors will sometimes try to compromise God's word and to tickle the people's ears, and to try to entertain the people, and try to please the people, as they say within the pulpit. Paul would have nothing of that. He said, I determined, he thought willfully about this, I will preach nothing else, nothing else among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

He could have preached many things about the 18 months, certainly about heaven, certainly about man's relationship to each other. But he said, you know what? The heart of the gospel is Christ crucified. That's our salvation.

He didn't want to stray from the heart of the gospel. And Godly wisdom to preach Christ crucified. Paul was determined to keep his mind and his heart focused on Christ.

And certainly God wants our minds and our priorities to be on the heart of the gospel, not about anything else. All what we do and testify is about Christ. We're to speak about Christ only.

We have to be focused upon the cross and the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made upon us. We're to reflect upon our salvation and call Christ changed our hearts in the way they used to be. Think about the eternal plan for our life.

Think about the plan for us and our homes. Focus upon a larger perspective than ourselves. And while it's great to study many things from predestination to ecclesiology, the cross is the heart of the gospel that we need to speak about to our loved ones.

We love Christ. We cling to Christ. He's everything to us.

He died for us. He's the heart of our lives. We must preach Christ crucified.

Without him, we are nothing. And Paul says, I determined to know nothing else. Verse number five, he tells us why he preached Christ crucified.

Look at verse number five, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men from the power of God, right? Your faith would rest on Christ by his power. He was determined to preach Christ crucified. He doesn't want Timothy that in latter times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of the proxy of liars, seared in their own conscious as with the branded iron.

1 Timothy 4:1-2. And 2 Timothy 4:3, Paul says to Timothy, for the time will come when they will not endure some doctrine, but want to have their ears tickled. They will keep it for themselves, teachers, in accordance to their own desire. But our faith in Christ does not rest upon the wisdom of men, not based on the false beliefs that one can earn salvation, not based on the false belief that God is only loving and that he's not a judge.

That he's not as holy as he proclaims himself to be. Men want to make God less holy and themselves not as sinful as they are. We need to pick Christ as holy, holy, holy, and even more so than he is.

God's the holiest thing imaginable. And know that your flesh doesn't seem as holy as he truly is, not on this side of eternity. Someday you won't have this flesh that wants to lift yourself up and to lower him, that will proclaim and worship him for the way he rightly is.

He's a holy, holy God. And Paul focused our hearts on how we are saved. It's by the power of God, not by any humanly wisdom.

In point number two, we see verse number 6 to 9. Paul says, its godly wisdom is not humanly discovered. He says, you would not speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however, now this age, you know, the rulers age, who are passing away.

But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined for the ages of our glory, to our glory. The wisdom, which none of the world's age has understood. But if they understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Jesus glory.

Verse nine, but just as written, things which eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all the gods are prepared for those who love him. True wisdom, godly wisdom, is not discoverable by humanly wisdom. God's wisdom is only revealed through his word and through, he reveals to us his eternal plan of salvation.

God's wisdom is Jesus Christ crucified. God's is living our lives by God's desire and by God's will. And he makes it quite clear that man can understand that without the Holy Spirit to show them this to be true.

I like what J. Mac says in his commentary on this topic, as far as man not be able to understand. J. Mac, John MacArthur says, it's impossible for a lesser creature to understand a more advanced one. How can anything understand something more complex and advanced than itself? For a flea to understand a dog, it would have to be at least as advanced as a dog.

For a dog to understand a man, it would have to be at least as advanced as a man. How much greater distance is there between creature and creature? Men can't imagine what God might be like, and people have plenty of ideas about him. Almost everyone has an opinion as to what God is or is not like, or as to whether he even exists.

But man's opinions are irrelevant because they can never be more than speculations. By his own resource, the creature cannot possibly comprehend his creator. You can't possibly do so within your natural flesh.

But God's word is a means by which the Christian can understand his creator and can understand who he is. God's word and his wisdom, the text says, are not of this age, nor of the religious age who are passing away. Paul's making the point that mature believers in the church can understand God's word, but the unbeliever cannot.

The gospel, he says, will be foolishness to them. God's wisdom is a mystery to them, he says, to the unbeliever. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, he said, for the word of the cross is foolish to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

God's wisdom is hidden wisdom to them because God chooses not to reveal all of his nature to them. He chooses in his judgment to keep some things hidden from them out of his mercy. Otherwise, he might have to have mortgages upon their hearts.

He says in verse number 9, for if they understood it, they would have not crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. The leaders of the Jews, Jesus was a stumbling block. To the Gentiles, the gospel was foolishness to them.

We certainly are blessed by God's mercy to understand the gospel which is given to us. And then Paul quotes from Isaiah 64:4, you see there, things which eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him. God's word, his eternal wise plan is prepared for those who love him.

He states that while men may not understand the gospel in their own flesh and abilities, they cannot understand the gospel that has been given to them as he preached the gospel to the unbeliever. It's the Holy Spirit and the word of God, he's switching his thoughts now, the work affecting the heart of the unbeliever. And we're going to examine a little closer now the Holy Spirit's role in helping us have godly wisdom.

The Holy Spirit's role in conferring the heart of the unbeliever, because man cannot and will not come to God on their own free will. Man is free to act and to choose within the boundaries only of his own sinful nature. He will not come to Christ nor desire to be with God, but God by his mercy has come to mankind and to the power of the Holy Spirit he prompts man's heart to change and to believe.

Point number three, godly wisdom leads to man's salvation certainly, but the Holy Spirit is the one that shows us himself and he does so through, first of all, revelation. The Holy Spirit helps to have godly wisdom and to see who Christ is, converting the heart of the unbeliever. And God does that through his revelation, because God must reveal himself to mankind, because man has no desire to see anything else but himself.

If God does not open his heart to help him to see him, man will stay in the same place he always has been condemned to go to hell forever. But consider God's means of communication or revelation to mankind. And God has certainly decided that in this unique way, his word, he will save mankind and convert his heart through revelation, and he does so through the Holy Spirit.

Verse number 10, the text says, for to us God revealed them to the spirit, for the spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. Who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the spirit of God. Paul focuses the Corinthians' minds upon the amazing role the Holy Spirit plays in their salvation.

He wants them to lean on the Holy Spirit and not on being divisive. The first four chapters about Corinthians, about them being divisive, and how some would say, well, I am a Paul, I'm a Paul, I'm Apollos, I am a Peter. They are making divisive factions and groups within the church of Corinth and dividing themselves that way, thinking that the person they're following is the person that should lead them.

Paul is telling their hearts, no, it's the Holy Spirit that has changed your heart to begin with. We are not to be divisive within the church. We are focused upon Christ, upon Christ crucified.

So Paul's focus of hearts upon the Holy Spirit is the means by which we should lead within the church, the means by which we should serve within the church. He says the spirit is all things in the depths of God. The Holy Spirit knows our thoughts better than we do, and while we certainly know ourselves very well, God knows us more.

He knows every bit about us. Men are taught and learned through the Holy Spirit, and God's word must be read and understood for men to be saved. More specifically, God used the Holy Spirit to reveal himself through his word.

Do you know what it means? People are not saved through watching a Christian movie. People are not saved through listening to a Christian song on the radio. They're not saved by having a dream.

These things might inspire people to read God's word. They're not even saved by a person coming through their door and knocking on their door. For people don't save people.

It's only when a person reads God's word and believes God's word, not the person who's preaching, but believes God's word, not the preacher, not the person who's talking before them. While they might have credibility in their eyes, they must believe God's word to be true, to be saved. We must push God's word forward to them, have them read God's word for themselves, that the Holy Spirit might convert their hearts, might convert their souls.

Romans 10:17 says, so faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. That's our focus when we share with our loved ones, we focus with friends. They need to read God's word, and your job and my job is to put God's word before them.

Certainly they see our testimony example as a Christian that has an influence upon their hearts and adds reliability to what we're saying, but it's so much better for them to read God's word on their own than for us to preach to them. God wants them to read God's word, certainly wants us to preach to them, certainly, but God's word is the means by which our hearts are converted. It's God's revelation that reveals salvation to mankind and the Holy Spirit is the means by which that is revealed to them.

First Thessalonians 2:13, for this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as a word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. God's word is that which performs the work not upon us.

The pastor is a tool to bring people to Christ. The pastor is a tool to bring God's word to the heart of the unbeliever through the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what Paul was focused upon to the Corinthians. Let us not be divisive.

Think about the Holy Spirit and the role which it converted you. Think about Christ crucified. It's the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.

Peter said in 1 Peter 1:23, for you have been born again, not of sea, which is perishable, but imperishable. That is through the living and enduring word of God. It is God's word that changes the hearts of people.

Hebrews 4:12, for the word of God living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It's God's revelation. And we need to see our role as we think about God's revelation to bring God's word to people.

They are not to believe upon anything else, but upon the independent word of God and the Holy Spirit is the means by which men's souls are converted. But how does the Holy Spirit convert the wicked heart of men? He does so also not only through revelation, but also through inspiration. God changed the heart of a believer through revelation to become a child of God, but also through inspiration.

That's verse number 12. But we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God. So we may know the things freely given to us by God.

Paul says, we have received this. It's inspired by us. Men cannot discover God's truth within their own.

His truth must be given to men. And the Holy Spirit inspires or transmits his truth to men. That's what inspiration means through God's word.

God transmits his truth to men. He is inspired by God. We know 2 Timothy 3:16, all scripture is inspired by God and proper for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training of righteousness, so the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. The inspiration is from God. God's word inspires men to believe and he does so through the Holy Spirit.

Men must receive his word, which has been offered up to them by God. God offers it to the unbeliever and he either accepts it or denies the word. I remember when I was in church with Linda, when I, before I got saved, I would go into church and I would hear the pastor do an altar call and I would put my hands on the pew in front of me and count to 20, hoping he was done with his call.

And then I'd count the 20 backwards to one, just not wanting to give my heart to Christ. I was battling the pastor and battling God and battling his word in my life. But God calls us and talks to us and reveals to us who he is.

He inspires us to give us his great truths. And men have the responsibility to bend their hearts, to lean their hearts toward Christ. And Paul's taught in the Corinthians, God is the one who has inspired you to believe upon him.

You must receive his words, which has been offered up to you by his grace and offered up to you by his mercy. God's word is grace and mercy given to the unbeliever. It was given to us by his grace and mercy.

Paul tells the Corinthians, now we have received this. He tells him in order for God to be received by men, he must first offer himself up to man as he has. He wants them to see that it is God who is reaching out to man, not man reaching out to God.

We have received the Holy Spirit so that he says, we may know the things freely given to us. Verse number 12, that which is freely given to us, his grace, his mercy, his kindness, God reveals this to us. So we might see it. And also we might be saved.

We must have the Holy Spirit transmit his great truth to us. As we read his word, we see his grace. We see his mercy. We see his sovereignty within our lives. We see how he's put in the place he has and the people he has used in our lives to bring us to salvation.

And I trust you could name numerous people that were instrumental in your life and brought you to Christ in one way or another. We see that, we understand God reveals himself to us. He transmits or inspires his great truth to us.

Then he also illuminates our minds. He opens our minds. He changes the heart of the unbeliever to become a child of God through the process of illumination.

That's verse number 14. Paul says, but a natural man does not accept things of the Holy Spirit, spirit of God, for they are foolish to him. He can't understand they come there because they are spiritually appraised.

But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he would instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. The natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of God.

And some people will read God's word, which has been offered up to them. And they choose not to receive God's word into their hearts. And we look at them now like, what are you thinking? Why don't you see the grace of God? We see that today, the beauty of the majesty of Christ.

It's in our hearts. We see that. And our loved ones don't see that.

Their minds can't comprehend that. They can hear God's word and choose not to receive it into their hearts. We think of the parable of the soils and how God's word, when the sower goes out to sow the fields, the seed he drops, which is God's word, falls upon the hearts of men.

And the seed he drops falls either on hard soil or rocky soil or thorny soil. And they choose not to receive his word. They love their sin.

They love the life that they're living. They're no better or worse than you and I, who have the same motivation, same thoughts in our hearts. They choose not to receive God's word well.

The parable also tells us that some seed will fall upon good ground, good soil. And some people will receive God's word well. These people that receive it well are not better than anybody else.

They chose by God's grace and mercy to open their hearts to the illumination of God into their hearts. God is the one that illuminates the unbeliever's mind to see God and understand that Jesus is their only Savior, the only way of salvation. This is the gospel of illumination.

Great spiritual truths to be able to understand through the Holy Spirit to the unbeliever's heart. He understands. He opens his eyes just a little bit to see, understand, and a little bit more as God illuminates his mind.

The text says because they are spiritually appraised. The process of man's salvation and regeneration can be seen in this process of illumination, open their minds. And men certainly must repent to be saved.

But God must open their eyes before they can repent and they can believe. Luke 24:45, then he opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures. 2 Corinthians 4:6, for God who said, let light shine our darkness made his light shine in our hearts to give us a knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

He illuminates our minds. But worldly wisdom, on the other hand, the way the unbeliever thinks is he doesn't want his mind illuminated. The unbeliever thinks he's pretty good.

He doesn't need his eyes opened up to understand. I was offended when Leonard had my name on a prayer list from a church. How dare you pray for me? I don't want, I don't have a problem.

I don't need anything to open my mind. It's already opened already. I have great knowledge already.

Today they even have AI, right? Worldly wisdom. If anything, the unbeliever today needs to be more woke, more woken up to ideas of liberalism and being progressive and accepting of that which is sinful in their hearts and their minds. God chooses out of his glorious mercy to illuminate our hearts.

And he does so also by convicting men of their sins. John 16:8, and he, when he comes, the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment concerning sin, because they do not believe in him. Paul's pushing the point.

You have the Holy Spirit as you build us himself to us and stop being divisive within the church. But the Holy Spirit, while it does convict men of their sins, the unbeliever certainly does not want or see the need for the heart to be convicted of their sins. John tells us in John 3 that they love their sin.

They love the darkness. They love the way they are. It's a miracle that anybody has any change within their hearts, because they're so devoted, loving their sin, so passionate about who they are, thinking so much that they're right in their thinking.

How can anybody's heart possibly be changed by a pastor, evangelist, sharing the gospel with them? It truly is a miracle that someone's heart is converted. John 3:19, this is a judgment that light has come to the world. People loved the darkness rather than light, for their deeds were evil.

Doesn't say they like, they love the darkness. They're deeply indwelled within their sinful nature. They're like pigs wallowing within the mud and enjoying the simpleness of their hearts.

That's the way we once were. And God, by his grace and mercy, opened our eyes so we might see that we were like the pigs wallowing in the mud. He helped us see how wonderful and how holy and how gracious and how mercy and how kind he is, and he changed our hearts.

The Holy Spirit convicts men of their sin. He also changes the heart of men. That's Jeremiah 24:7. I will give them a heart to know me, for I am the Lord, and they will be my people, and I will be their God.

For they return to me with their whole hearts. And without a new heart, we would think and believe the same way as we used to. God, by his grace and mercy, changes our hearts so that we think differently now.

Our heart's desire is to follow him. Our heart's desire is to obey him. Our heart's desire is to go to church and to read his word and to pray and to worship him.

We did not desire these things before God changed us. He changed our hearts. He gave us a new heart.

He helped us to think differently. We love him now. We love him back.

Well, first he loved us, and before we hated him, whether we said those words or not, now we love him back. We love him back. Then he caused our hearts for men to believe and to have faith.

Here's when man has a responsibility in the salvation process, to believe and have faith. Here's when men exercise their free will to either receive God's word in good soil or poor soil. Men do have a responsibility and the free will to listen to the preacher and to read God's word and to accept into their heart that they are accountable to God for the choice that they make.

But men may still choose to reject Jesus Christ. The hearts may still not be moved to a place of acceptance of God's great truths. But as God has granted the ability to believe in the first place, to have faith upon him, it is a gift given to us by God.

We believe and we repent and we confess because God has given the ability to do so. But man still has a decision to make in that process, to confess and to repent. God's process.

1 John 1:10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. That is the heart of some unbelievers. God's a liar.

I'm not lying. God's the problem here. I'm not the problem here.

John says, if we say you have not sinned, you're saying he's a liar and God's word is not in you. But God calls men to confess their sins before him and to repent of their sins. Through repentance, out of mercy comes the ability for men to see their sin, to see that they're wrong, to see that they need to change, to confess their sins, to get right with God, to believe that he is their judge and to believe that there is a hell awaiting them if they don't confess their sins and get right before our Lord.

Luke 9:23 is such a great verse on repentance. Our Lord says, and he was saying to them, if any wish to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. God allows men the ability to repent, which is an amazing concept.

Think about that. God allows men the ability to repent. Does he have to? He can give them what they deserve, but he allows men the ability to repent in the first place, to change their hearts.

It's a great thought to have to think about the significance of that, that God allows men the ability to repent in the first place.

And lastly, he makes us a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come.

Paul wants them to focus their hearts on how to serve within the church. Stop being divisive. Stop focusing upon yourselves. See how Christ changed your heart. See what the Holy Spirit's done within you. See how he's going to use you.

You're a new creation as we have become a new creation. Our heart's desire now changes. We now desire to try to live for Christ.

I love Galatians 2:20. Look at that verse, if you would. Such a great verse in scripture.

It's a life verse. It's a verse to live your life now that you have a new heart. Paul says in Galatians 2:20, I am in crucifixion with Christ. No longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

God's the one who has changed our hearts. We see that we've been crucified with Christ. We are part of who he is now. It's no longer we who live, but Christ that somehow lives within us.

That's our motivation as we serve within the church. Christ lives within us as we serve. Now I live in the life which I now live in the flesh.

I live by faith now in the Son of God, seeing that he is the one who loved me and gave himself up for me. That's how we serve. As we answer the doors on Sunday, we think, God loved me.

He gave himself up for me. I have been crucified with Christ. Let me go to my ministry.

Let me walk this way or that way. Let me sit within the pews and hear our pastor preach the word, knowing that I've been crucified with Christ. No longer I live, but Christ who lives in me.

I'm a new creature. I'm a new creation. God's changed my heart.

And God does change the heart of an unbeliever to become a child of his. He does this through Godly wisdom and not by man's worldly wisdom.

Lastly, Paul hits the last point. The hammer on the nail in verse 15 and 16, we have the mind of Christ, the heart of the scripture. But he who is spiritual prays all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he would instruct him.

But we have the mind of Christ. The natural mind does not know the mind of Christ. He can't think God's thoughts.

And the unbelievers would make fun of the gospel. They would make fun of us as believers in Christ. When they argue with you, they try to, they say things which are opposed to God's word because that's the way the hearts are.

They are not arguing with us, but ultimately, they're arguing with God and are not wanting to have their hearts changed. They think so differently than we do. Paul says, we have the mind of Christ.

An amazing statement that he gives to us. We are believers in Christ, think the same way that Christ does. We feel the same way that Christ does.

That which God desires, we desire. That which God wants, we want. We want his will on heaven as it is the earth.

We desire everything that he desires for us. It's one of the greatest sentences ever written in the Bible. We have the mind of Christ.

We now have, we are in his creation. We think like Christ. We now desire what he desires.

And God allows us amazingly in some manner to partake in his thinking. Why would God do that? Why would he allow us to partake in his thinking, to have the mind of Christ? It speaks of his desire to have a relationship with us, to want to be part of his divine prerogatives. He shares part of his communicative aspects with us.

He wants to have a dear relationship with us. He wants us to see who he is and understand why he does what he does. He desires for us to see him and to love him out of free will and free choice.

God desires that we come to him, desires that we be with him for all eternity. And Paul wants the Corinthians and us within this church to stop being divisive. Not that we are divisive.

We are not. But stop looking towards the wisdom of men as can potentially happen within the church, even our church. As we surf the internet, as we look for the things which marvel us, as we click on AI and wait for the answer to come, what could the answer be? Here's my answer.

Yes, there's the answer. I get to follow the answer now. No, Paul wants our minds to focus upon him.

God wants the Corinthians and us to see the beauty of his salvation plan. He wants us to see how we are to serve within the church in Corinth and also the church within Christ's community church. God has changed our hearts in the same manner by his grace and his mercy.

The Holy Spirit has changed the heart so we might serve within his church. By his sovereignty, he brought us to this church. By his instruction, we have the ability to obey his word.

And we will serve within his church, always leaning on God's power to help lead us. Let's go ahead and pray.

Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord God, for the time you've given to us.

My time to think about Corinth and Paul and his desire, Lord, to correct your church, Father. Certainly our heart's desire, Lord, that we might also, Father, be corrected when you see a need to correct us, Father. Our heart's desire is to see you, Father, and to love you, Father, and to see how you brought us to this place for a purpose and a reason, Father, and help us to see how we are to serve within your amazing church, Father.

Help us to love each other within the church, Father. Help us to see how you brought us such a wonderful pastor, Father, with a desire to preach your word to us, Father, and to help us to grow closer to your word, Father. His desire, Lord, is that we might grow in Christ's grace and mercy, Father.

That's where our hearts lay, Father. We're thankful for your salvation. We're thankful for the church and for the many blessings you've given to our lives, Father, for truly being a great and wonderful God.

Our desire is to praise you and worship you for all eternity, Lord. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.