The Village Church
The Spirit who is from God - Audio
Bible, please open it to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. After the birth of Christ, and after his three-year ministry, after his death, his resurrection, and ascension, after those things, what do you think was the next great moment in the history of Christianity? And it was not the reformation for those of you who are thinking about it. What's the great next moment? Yes, Pentecost. Acts 2, the common of the Holy Spirit was a next great moment in the history of our faith. When Jesus went into heaven, when he was glorified, you know his disciples, they didn't immediately start their ministry. You realize that, right? They just didn't, Jesus ascended, they just didn't say, "Well, all right guys, let's go. It's time for us to go." No, they did not. Something else had to take place before they went out. Think about it like this. If you're watching a TV show, a good TV show or a good movie, and you get to the middle of some good drama or suspense, you know, you get excited, you feel what emotion, because you want to see what happens next, right? You want to see what the climax is going to be, and then they throw a curve all at you to be continued. You're like, "What?" You first, you're anxious because you want to know it's going to happen next, but you got to wait seven days. And this is what the disciples had to go through. When Jesus ascended, it was to be continued. Something else had to come. He tells them in Luke 24, "Behold, I'm sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power for my life." In other words, it is to be continued, my disciples. And in Acts 2, it was. Because we know in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came down and it filled all the first believers right there. And Peter preaches great sermon after he was filled with the Holy Spirit. And I say last week, that same spirit lives in each of you if you are a believer this morning. He is not a different spirit. Same spirit lives in every believer. But I think, as believers, particularly in our country, we have a spiritless life. A spiritless life. We give, I think, lip service to what it means to walk by Him. It's easy not to, but all the things we can do in this country in our own strength. Who needs the supernatural of the Spirit when I'm capable enough of doing whatever I want to do. It's free to do whatever I want to do. Do we really need the work of the Spirit in America? Or is that just for the suffering church or the channel? Do we need Him? We do. We do. We do. So if you have your Bible, open it to 1 Corinthians 2. You're going to look at verses 10 through 16. "For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows the person starts and set the Spirit of that person, which is in Him. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God and set the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the Spirit of the world, for the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given to us by God. And we impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting the Spirit of truth to those who are spiritual. The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit, for they are folly to Him. He is not able to understand Him because they are spiritually designed. The Spirit of person judges all things, but He Himself is to be just by no one. But who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. This is God's Word. Please pray with me. "Lord, as we come to your true Father, we need your Spirit. We need that Spirit. The Spirit who is from God to move. The Spirit of the world, human wisdom, cannot do it. We need Him to do it. The counselor, the helper, the one who is the goddess and all of truth. We need Him to take the word and apply it to my heart and apply it to everyone's heart that is here this morning. Because if He doesn't move and nothing gets done, we need to believe that. We need to believe it that our faith is highly supernatural. And we can't take the supernatural out of it. So Spirit of truth, they are a person of the Trinity, calm and move and bring glory to Jesus' mouth. Amen." The first thing Paul refreshes us about the Spirit is this, that the Spirit is the one who searches the things of God. He searches everything. That's what he says here in verses 10 and 11. "It's the Spirit's work to search everything, even the depths of God. This searching by the Holy Spirit is a never-ending searching. And everything means everything. Nothing escapes him. Nothing is hidden from his sight." As one believer says, "The Spirit serves all the things, which means he doesn't couldn't do a search for new information or attain information, but he penetrates all things." Think about that. The Spirit penetrates all things. There's nothing beyond the Spirit's knowledge. Paul is showing us, just in that one verse, how vital and how important the Holy Spirit is for believers. He penetrates all things, particularly the deep things of God, the depths of God. How is that possible? Because the Spirit is part of the Trinity, the third person in the Godhead. So what is the Trinity, Alex? Father, Son, Holy Spirit, these three are one God, same in substance, equal in power and glory. And so it's fitting for the Spirit to search the deep things of God, to understand them, to comprehend them. And Paul's analogy in verse 11 makes that clear. What does he say? "When no one knows that person's thoughts, except the Spirit of that person, which is in here." So also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now that is quite humbling and convicting at the same time, because no one is hidden here is not just referring to non-believers, even believers, even those pastors you idolize in worship, that you like to read in them. They don't comprehend the things of God, the Spirit does. Paul is explaining to us that the human mind cannot comprehend the things of God. We are five nights, not understanding. Real limited, that's what that means, when it comes to things of God. For he's the only one that can understand it. He has the power and the capability to do it. If we're trying to comprehend the things of God, you know what that's like? That's like a little mouse trying to take down the elephant. Now the mouse can be a little confident mouse. He can have the best training in the world. The mouse can even go to school and he can study elephant knowledge. But guess what? That mouse is never going to take down that elephant. I don't care how much elephant knowledge he knows to understand. He never will take down that elephant. We are the mouse people. Every theologian, past, present, or future are a mouse when it comes to understanding that they're a guy. Do you see that? Do you understand that? Do you think pastors, theologians, got all that understanding and insight just because they're smarter, just because they're intellectual, because they work harder. They went to the right school, they read the right books, they belong to the right theological tradition. If that's what we believe, then we have a spiritless faith. If that's what we believe. If we have a faith that rests in the wisdom of men, not the power of God, it takes more than just my intellect. If y'all think that's all we need, then what we did in the world of people, I'll go ahead and tell you. If that's what you think is going to grow this church is me preaching every Sunday and my strategies were dead in the water, people. We need the spirit of God to move. The spirit not only comprehends and understands the thoughts of God, he also is the one who gives understanding to God. He gives understanding, not us. Here in this verse when Paul says we have received the spirit, he's talking to believers here. Now we have not received the spirit from the world. Now what is the spirit of the world? Based on the content of the spirit of the world is referring to the wisdom of the world, human wisdom. As one believer said, the spirit of the world is the spirit that makes the world second. Just the spirit of the world. In other words, it's the world that is in opposition to God, his word, his kingdom. It's the spirit of the world that creates ways to be independent from him that started in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. I can be like God? Okay, give me the fruit man. No, you want to be God and be independent of God. That's the spirit of the world. And Paul says those who are operate by the spirit of the world are a natural person, they're unspiritual, and they cannot accept the things of God. They are falling to him. He is unable to understand them because the things of God must be spiritually decided. You see the natural person, the unspirited person operates out of the spirit of the world. Human wisdom along and human wisdom will never lead a person to accept the things of God's spirit. Never. He has to be spiritual to understand the things of God. The things of God will always be foolish to him, falling to him. It means an unspiritual person does not have the spiritual discernment that he needs to understand the things of God because he doesn't have God's spirit in him. Or her. The spirit does not live inside that person. The person does not mean guided by the Holy Spirit. It takes more than human wisdom to understand spiritual things as related to the Bible. You know what that means? When you engage in a non-believer in conversation, you shouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get it. You shouldn't be surprised. You shouldn't be surprised by some of the things that take place in the country that does not honor God. You shouldn't be surprised by what's going on at Vanderbilt right now when it comes to the Christian organization. If you argue, you just naive the word that we live in. You can't expect people who don't have the spirit to understand the things we understand. It's going to always be falling to them. It's going to always be foolish to them because they don't have God's spirit. They were always held in veil over the eyes as we all had before Jesus saved us. Human wisdom, the spirit of this world, would never lead a person to embrace the gospel, saving things. You can't argue people into the kingdom. You need the spirit of God that brought them to ask the spirit to use our words because that's what I have to take to it. For the Christian, the believer, the one who does house saving faith in Christ, we have not received the spirit of the world. We do not operate off the spirit of the world because we have the spirit of wisdom God. And he is a person. He's not an it. He's part of the Godhead, the Trinity. And everybody has been given the spirit as a gift. And not only that, you have been sealed with the spirit who is a deposit. Guarantee your inheritance until you have a proposition of it. That's what it says in Ephesians 1. You are spiritually alive before the Father. You know that? You're no longer spiritually dead. Because what happened? Why am I no longer spiritually dead? Because when you embrace the gospel and saving faith, when you pray that sin is prayer, it becomes the spirit of God brought life to your heart of stone that you never saw before. And when he did that, you chose Christ as in saving faith because of what the spirit did to your heart. That's what happened. That's why you're a believer. That's why I am because of what the spirit did. But guess what? He's not done yet. His work doesn't end at conversion. Well, the spirit's done with me now. I guess I'm on my own. No, he still is at work in you, helping you to understand how to live and nurture your spiritual life. He's your helper, your counselor, your God. Paul tells us in verse 12, the reason why we have the spirit from God is that we might understand that things really given to us. Apart from the work of the spirit, there is no understanding. None if he doesn't give it. Those pastors and theologians, they understanding of the scriptures and all the great books they have written because the spirit has given them insight into us. That's why. We got to give credit to us and it's not due to us. They're due to one outside of us, the one outside of us. We operate off worldly wisdom more than we realize. If I just had the right strategy, not to do it. If I just build it, then they will come. If I just read that book, I got to get everybody to read this particular book. If you read this particular book, it's going to change your life. If I was just part of that church, the cool church, then I'll be where I need to be. If we just did this, then we would grow up with just this. If we just did this, then we would grow up. When we do those things, we take the supernatural and spiritual spirit out of the equation when we think like that. We take the supernatural and spiritual spirit out of our faith and our lack of prayer is evident. It's evident. Look at your prayer life. They can tell you all you want to know about your spiritual life and your reliance on the Holy Spirit, your prayer life. You know what Jesus told the disciples in John 6, 68, it is the spirit who builds life. The flesh is no health at all. Let that sing unto your soul. It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is no health at all. Do you believe? It's like a writer 4-6, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, declares the Lord. The spirit works through the word and alongside of the word in his life. The helper, the counselor, he convex the world of sin, not you, not me. He convex the world of righteousness and judgment that comes. He glorifies Christ. He is the spirit of truth that guides us into truth. He helps us in our weaknesses. He prays for us when we don't know what to pray for. How often do you sense that power in your life? How often do you pray to him? Do you ever have the Father to make you more sensitive to the Spirit's leading in your life? Or do you just take him for granted? Or is he just the red headed step child in this holy trinity? But the Father's son, oh, yeah, then the Spirit. Yeah, the Father's all, yeah, yeah, then the Holy Spirit, yeah. The step and red headed step child. If that's what you believe, then it's the Spiritless life. Spiritless life. We have been given the Spirit and we might understand it. They ain't really given to us. What are those things really given to us? The gospel, salvation, your faith, mercy, adoption into God's kingdom, perseverance, hope, peace, security, wrath, protection, all those kingdom benefits. You understand them through him. And so that means if you don't understand them, then you need to pray to the Spirit to give you anything. Not just go around and get another book on grace, which could be helpful. They have the Spirit to give your heart understanding of it, relying on the Spirit of God in your life. You know, we say things like just preach the gospel to yourself. That's fine, but when the last time you asked the Spirit to move your heart in that direction, we say, well, just rest in God's grace, just rest in the finished ruck of Christ. But when the last time you called out to the Holy Spirit will help you to find grace, because if he doesn't move your heart, he ain't resting. When the last time you prayed for that, whose power are you operating out of? Who's power? You've heard me say this before, I'm going to always tell you this. There are many benefits and blessings given to all believers from our Father, for our enjoyment of them, our understanding of them, and our resting in them comes through the effectual work and power of the Holy Spirit in us. Not because we're smart, not because we listen to the certain type of sermon, or listen to certain type of pastors because of the Holy Spirit. And if you ain't understanding it, then you need to get all your needs and be asking to give you understanding of them. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't read certain books, but I'm not saying the Spirit has to have a role in your Christian life. He has to be there. The Spirit gives us understanding of my faith, but he also empowers us. Verse 13, "And we impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting the Spirit to truth to those who are spiritual." The Spirit not only gives us understanding the Spirit of things, but he empowers us to be able to interpret those things for other people, to other believers. The Spirit empowers and guides us to examine all the things according to God's Word. In verse 15, Paul says, "The Spirit of person judges all the things, but he himself is to be judged by no one." That means the Spirit of God enables you to have this sermon. He allows you to apply the scriptures through your life. It comes to him, through him. The Spirit empowers the believer to use God's Word as a lamp to his past and a light before his Spirit is to power behind him. Everything that's something to talk about in Psalm 119, the Spirit has to woo your heart towards him. The Spirit has to. The Spirit empowers us to see life through the eyes of Christ. And when he says we have the amount of Christ, that's what he's talking about. The Spirit empowers you to do that, to see the things and the lenses of Christ. He does it. The Spirit penetrates all things. He gives understanding and he empowers us in his life. He is extremely important to you, to your Christian journey. Whatever God has called you to do, but all the roles that God has called you to play, the Spirit has to be there moving and working. And he is, and he is, even if you can't see it. That's one Christian theologian says about the Christian life. He said the Christian life is this. He says this is the only how. This is the how the Christian life, and there's no other. It is the power of the crucified risen glorified Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit by faith. This is the how the Christian life. There is no other. It's the power of the crucified risen glorified Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit by faith. By faith. Now that doesn't mean you just become a passive frozen person, but it means you live out your responsibility by offering right now the Spirit's power. As Paul says, we walk by the Spirit. That is seeking direction, guidance, and empowerment from him. And I believe it starts on your knees. It has to start down. Prayer. Calling out upon the name of the Lord, persistently, like the persistent widow. That type of prayer. Remember, it is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is going to help at all. Pray that the Holy Spirit removes. Pray that the Holy Spirit will call more and more people into God's kingdom through this ministry. Pray the Holy Spirit will provide what is needed. I'm not calling you to be capable of enough to pray. I'm calling you to be desperate enough to pray. Are we desperate? That's a different. Are you desperate? Or do you believe because we know the right people, because we got money, because we are connected. That's enough. Again, if that's what you believe, we're dead in the water. We fail before we are ready to start. Are we desperate enough to research, to call out upon the name of the Lord, to pour out His Spirit, like a drink offering, on this community, that the Spirit will rise up and do what we cannot do in our own spring. And if we're desperate, then we need to be on our knees daily. Let us pray. Father, I pray you make me desperate. You're not capable, but desperate to pray to the Spirit. I pray that for every member, every believer here, every ministry here that's represented, that we'll all be desperate, crying out, fasting, warning the Spirit to move, because He has to do it. Empower us, strengthen us, give us understanding Spirit, and I pray, Spirit, that you will continue to move in this church, that you will move in this church in a mighty way. Lord, that you will move, Father, and in LVM, and you will move in the preservation corporation, you will move over in that new school Spirit. Do what we can't do. You know what's needed? You know the people that is needed, the funds that are needed? Provide. Let us pray, not try to fix everything, but cry out. The apostles were praying before the Spirit came down, and when they got the power of the Spirit, they went out. We need direction from you, Spirit, from above. We pray for guidance, we pray for wisdom, and Lord, I do want to also pray for my new friend Lee Worley, who has a bad help, and he couldn't make it today, so I pray for healing for him, and I pray for his friend who just got diagnosed with a blood inflection, only have two months to live, and so I pray for his soul, that this friend knows you, and if he does not know you, I'll pray that your Spirit will move, but send someone to him through shed Jesus with him before he passes on to the next life. Lord, I expect you to move, Father. I expect you to move, and I pray that we all do. I expect you to do great in mighty things, and I expect you to cross them up there. Amen. Please stand.