From the Text to the Heart

1 Corinthians   •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Introduction

I think it was my 13th birthday that my mom and brothers pulled off an epic surprise party for me. The church we were attending had a separate building as their teen center, and I had stayed the night at a friends house who lived close to the church. There was some sort of ploy to trick me into going into the teen center, and when I entered, I discovered my entire class and a lot of my other friends and cousins were all there for me. The surprise worked, and I had a great party.
I tell you that story because it kind of illustrates something Paul wrote about in 1 Cor. 2:5-13. Paul wrote concerning the wisdom of God that, at one time was hidden, but had now been revealed. However, the wisdom of God had not been all revealed at once, in one person’s ministry, that it had been progressively revealed. God established His wisdom in eternity past, but He chose to reveal it and deliver it to men like Moses, David, Isaiah, and other men who wrote down the OT. However, as the NT shows, there was more to come. Jesus would impart more, and He said the disciples would receive and impart even more (Jn. 16:12-14).
Paul also honed in on the process of God revealing His word or His wisdom to human authors. The Holy Spirit, knowing the plans, motive, and nature of God because He is God revealed God’s wisdom to the prophets and apostles, and those words received by the Holy Spirit these men taught to those who are “spiritual.”
Do me a favor. Everyone look at your Bibles. As you look at it, try to contemplate that what you have in your hand is a copy of the message the Holy Spirit progressively revealed. This book does not describe everything concerning God, but we have all He has revealed to us about Himself.
But, how did the truth contained in this book come to impact you personally? We know because Paul told us how it came to us, but how did we recognize it to be God’s wisdom? I grew up in church, attended a Christian school my entire life. I heard hundreds, perhaps thousands of sermons and lessons. I could tell you many stories, quote scripture, and even share the gospel as a youngster, and yet I had not personally responded to the gospel call until much later. When I did respond, what caused me to hear the gospel in a way I never had before? What caused me in that moment to finally see my condition, that though I had Bible knowledge, that truth of Scripture had never penetrated my heart, and I understood I needed to cry out to God? Today, Paul answers that question for us.
Last week Paul revealed how God’s word had been delivered, but today he shows how God causes His word to penetrate our hearts. Again, this occurs through the work of the Holy Spirit in a work theologians have called spiritual illumination.
Illumination” refers to a work performed by the Holy Spirit in the minds and hearts of those He regenerates, where He enlightens them to the truths found in scripture and they recognize them as true and having authority over their lives.
READ 1 Corinthians 2:14–16
1 Corinthians 2:14–16 (ESV)
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
TRANS: Paul shows that this work of illumination only occurs within those who are spiritual and not the natural man. These 2 categories of humanity formulate my 2 main points - I. The Natural Person and God’s Word, and II. The Spiritual Person and God’s Word (vss. 14-16)

I. The Natural Person and God’s Word(v. 14)

Q: Who is the “natural person?” Though this is our first time encountering these words, Paul has referred to these categories throughout. He’s referred to those who are “perishing” and those “being saved” (1:18) ETC. Now, Paul refers to these two groups as “the natural ” and the “spiritual” (2:14-15).
The word translated “natural” (ψυχικός, Psychikos) is sometimes translated “unspiritual.” James 3:15 says, “That is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but it is earthly or unspiritual, demonic.Paul is referring to those who are “unregenerate,” those who have not experienced the new birth. These are humans in their natural state, how they are from the womb.
A. The Natural Person REJECTS GOD’S TRUTH(v. 14) - They do not accept the things of the Spirit of God...
Remember, in our context, those things given by the Spirit refers to the teachings given by Paul and the other apostles. Those teachings, according to v. 13, were imparted in words what were “taught by the Spirit.” These words were “inspired,” breathed out by the Holy Spirit and given to the apostles and prophets who imparted them to believers. The CSB says the natural person does not welcome what comes from the Spirit of God. They reject it.
ILL: I remember I had to get a new debit card, and I also had to get a new 4 digit pin. One of my first times using the card, I had to enter my pin, but as I stood near the register with a long line of people behind me, I couldn’t remember the my new pin. I could remember the old pin, which I thought in that moment was the new one I chose. It wasn’t. And, I’m noticing I’m having these struggles more and more the older I get. But every time I tried the old pin, the card reader rejected my card. And this is how the natural heart responds to God’s word, ultimately it rejects it.
B. The Natural Person SEES GOD’S TRUTH AS FOOLISHNESS (v. 14) - “…for they are folly to him...” - Paul revisits the word “folly” or the Greek word μωρία, where we get “moron.” They see God’s Word as ridiculousness, something wildly mistaken and unfounded.
TRANS: And the natural man rejects God’s word and see’s it as folly because, ultimately, Paul says...
C. The Natural Person is UNABLE TO UNDERSTAND GOD’S WORD - (v. 14) …and he is not able to understand them...” - Notice the shift from “does not receive” to “he cannot understand.” The “natural man” is insufficient for the task, unable to understand the truths of scripture and recognize them as true and having authority over their lives. Paul is not saying unbelievers cannot learn anything from God’s Word, but they cannot rightly comprehend it.
ILL: Not long ago, I watched a western movie where a white man lived among the Indians. In the movie, any dialogue between the Native Americans was in the native language. The actors spoke in Sioux, Cherokee, or which ever language was being depicted.
I was completely unable to understand what they Indians communicated. I heard the words. I saw they gestures. I even heard the tones, so I could understand somethings, but I had no ability to understand them. The director knew this would be the case for most people, so they provided subtitles at the bottom of the screen. They interpreted what I was unable to understand, and make it understandable.
APP: This may be where my illustration breaks down, because theoretically I have the natural capacity to learn that language given enough time and effort. However, this is not the case for the natural man when encountering God’s truth. Before anyone can accept and understand it, the Holy Spirit must preemptively work in them and make the “natural person” to become a “spiritual person.”

II. The Spiritual Person and God’s Word (vss. 15-16)

How does a “natural person” become a “spiritual person?” How does one go from not having the Spirit indwell them to having the Holy Spirit?
The NT shows the Spirit must first quicken someone (Eph. 2) or cause them to be born again (Jn. 3). This work too is performed by the Spirit, where He enters the spiritually dead person and infuses them with spiritual life. Paul wrote to Titus,
Titus 3:5 (ESV)
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
The NT also shows at the moment of regeneration, the Spirit indwells all who are born again. Later in 1 Cor. 6:18-19
1 Corinthians 6:18–19 (ESV)
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
The Spirit resides within all whom He regenerates. And, now indwelling those who have spiritual life, the Spirit illuminates the truth of the gospel to their hearts, giving the ability to understand it and recognize it as true and that it requires a response to it.
TRANS: Let’s see the result of this work of the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 2:37, Luke refers to the response of many in the crowd to the message preached by Peter. Luke writes, “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’”
What caused 3,000 to respond to that message? And though we are amazed that 3,000 responded to the gospel, we know that there were thousands more in Jerusalem who heard the same message who did not respond. Why is this? Though they were religious, they were yet “without the Spirit, [lacking] the one essential ‘quality’ necessary for them to know God and God’s ways” (Gordon Fee, NICOT: The First Epistles to the Corinthians rev. ed., 125).
TRANS: Though we’ve seen how the Spirit will illumine hearts and cause them to respond to the truth of the gospel, in our text, Paul shows the Spirit continues His illuminating work in the life of one who is “spiritual.” He says in v. 15...
A. They Can Appraise what God Had Revealed (v. 15) - “The spiritual person judges all things...” I think the NASB is helpful as it says, “he who is spiritual appraises all things.” I like the word “appraises” as I think it gets us closer to Paul’s intent.
ILL: A real estate appraiser can assesses the value of a property. That is, they are (supposedly) enlightened to the truths of the market and your properties features, and they can recommend an accurate course of action. They can tell the seller where to set the price of the house. When a person has been given spiritual life and has the Holy Spirit indwelling them, the Spirit continues to work in them, and they are able to appraise God’s Word.
APP: Paul is not saying that Christians now have universal wisdom about all things. He’s not saying that all true Christians know the inner-workings of the Trinity or the Incarnation of Jesus. Rather, “all things” contextually refers to the truths revealed by the Holy Spirit (Garland, 101), that is Scripture. The spiritual person has a truth-Teacher within enlightening them concerning all that God has revealed in His Word where they recognize it as true and having authority over their lives.
This is very important, as the idea of illumination is often misunderstood by Christians. Spiritual illumination is NOT the Spirit somehow providing special insight or special understanding of the Bible’s meaning.
Nor does illumination refer to God giving you a personal interpretation. It is very common to read a portion of scripture and say, “this is what it means me.” ILL: I was in a counseling session with a couple, and one spouse was acting in a way that was contrary to something in scripture. So, I opened the Bible and showed her how the Bible clearly disagrees with them. The response was, “well, that’s not my interpretation, that’s not what it means to me.” Scripture only had one meaning, not many.
And, the Spirit’s illuminating work does not mean we will not need to labor in understanding scripture. We cannot think that because we have the Holy Spirit illuminating us, we do not need to work in understanding what God has delivered. Rather, we should recognize that He will illuminate scripture to our hearts the more we labor in the scriptures.
And do not be confused with how others connect the idea of “illumination” with receiving new special revelation from God. You may hear some say something like, “God illuminated me, speaking to me, or telling me” something. The Spirit’s work of illumination is always tied to the established Word of God, where by He enlightens us to its truths and we continue to recognize His word as true and having authority over their lives.
TRANS: Not only does Paul show a spiritual person will appraise God’s Word, He also shows...
B. The Spiritual Person Is Not Understood by the World (v. 15) - “...but is himself to be judged by no one.The spiritual man will not be rightly understood by the world. The natural person will pass his own judgments on the spiritual person, saying he who follows such foolishness must be a fool himself. Because they hold the gospel in contempt, they will hold those who proclaim the gospel in contempt.
APP: You may be a new believer, and your old friends no longer treat you as they once did. They see you are not the same, and they do not understand what has happened to you. They may seem supportive or okay with it at first, but things are becoming different. You may be a believer and teen and others at school shame you if they get a whiff that you genuinely follow Christ. Paul shows us, “don’t expect to be understood” and rightly judged by the world. The natural cannot rightly appraise the spiritual.

Conclusion:

There is a clear difference between the natural person and the spiritual person. Perhaps during our study today, the Holy Spirit has worked in your life, illuminating your heart to the truth of the gospel. Perhaps you have come to understand the gospel and you recognize that you are what Paul describes as the “natural man,” one without the spirit. The Holy Spirit may have revealed this to your hearts, but His work will lead to a response. Perhaps like those in Acts 2, your heart is asking, “what must I do?” Let me give the same response as the apostles: repent. Turn from your life of sin and a life dedicated to self, and turn to Christ.
PRAYER: Holy Spirit, thank you for your work in our lives. Thank you that you provide all who are called with spiritual life. Thank you that you indwell us. And thank you for illuminating your Word to us.
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