Church Unity (Part 1)

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No Compromise Radio Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author,

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Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the

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Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

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One of my favorite things to do on No Compromise Radio ministry is to talk about commonly misinterpreted

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Bible verses. I mean it's just so easy because there are so many commonly misinterpreted

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Bible verses. It's almost not fair to do a show on that because it's low -hanging fruit.

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Revelation chapter 3, behold I stand at the door and knock. Matthew 18, where two or three are gathered.

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John 3 .16, for God so loved the world. So many verses that we know, rightfully so we know them, but we don't really know the meaning.

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My question this morning is why don't we know the meaning? Why don't we understand the meaning of the text?

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After all, we're looking for what God meant when he wrote that, right? Authorial intent, the meaning of God as he wrote this.

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And you know the reason why we don't understand commonly misinterpreted Bible verses is we don't understand the what?

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The context, that's right. Context means everything. The passage we're going to look at today, alright let me just pretend like I'm in No Compromise Radio ministry for a minute.

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I'm nicer than I am, I've come across on the radio. I would imagine that almost everybody in this room goes to 1

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Corinthians 2 .14 and uses it for evangelistic strategy without ever considering why

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Paul wrote that verse. I say that because I did it for a long time.

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And so why don't we turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 2 as I attempt to try to finish 2 today, 1

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Corinthians 2 verses 14 -16. As you know, the book of 1

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Corinthians was written to address problems, chapters 1 -6 and then answer questions, chapters 7 -16.

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We've got some problems, they're moral problems, they're legal problems. And so could you answer those questions

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Paul, chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. And there's some specific questions that the people had and they wanted to ask

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Paul. After all, Paul had been there for 18 months teaching, Acts chapter 18. And so there are specific questions about marriage and divorce, speaking in tongues.

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But where we are right now, chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4 has to do with what? And I've been beating this drum for what, 30 weeks now?

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Unity, church unity. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 have to do with church unity.

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So we're going to have to make sure if we look at chapter 1 and chapter 2 that we see those things in the greater context.

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How do you keep a unified church? We just can't somehow drop in, parachute in in chapter 2 verse 14 and say, this is good presuppositional, methodological, evangelistic verse.

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It's true, it can be applied and we need to know that when we go evangelize. But why is it even here?

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Paul is dealing with church unity and he says this, if every one of you

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Corinthians and every one of you BBCians follow

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Christ and his wisdom, we'll be a unified church. If we all follow different philosophies and different wisdoms, we'll all split up.

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I mean, after all, look at us. What keeps us together? Man and woman, black and white, pro -homeschool, pro -public school, pro -birth control, no birth control, smoke, don't smoke, drink, don't drink,

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Colombians, Peruvians, Ukrainians, Afrikaners, Irish, how are we all together?

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How do you keep a group like this together? You keep a group like this together by focusing on Christ, his work, his person, and his word through the apostolic messengers, and then we line up under that.

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The converse is also true. Show me a church that is fractured and split apart and I'll show you people that have different ultimate authorities besides Christ and his word.

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And so Paul says, let's all be together by being under Christ and his word through the apostolic messengers.

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And he says, we've got to follow the right wisdom in chapter one, two, and then in chapter three and four, he says, we've got to make sure we understand leadership correctly.

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So what does chapter two, verse 14 and 16 have to do with church unity?

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That is the question that unlocks the original intent of this passage. And what

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Paul is going to do that we'll see today is he's going to try to make you walk down memory lane to make you realize, what was

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I like before I was a Christian? And now look at what God has done. Look at what

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God has done for me. Look at how God has given me the spirit to illumine my mind.

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If it wasn't for God, many of us here who are English, we would still be running around in England worshiping trees.

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If it wasn't for God, some of us who are from India would be worshiping other kind of idols.

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But God has done something to us and therefore out of humility, we ought to follow him.

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Why do preachers quote people? Well, maybe they run out of information, but I like to quote people to confirm and affirm in your heart that I'm not the only one that would come up with a crazy interpretation.

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D .A. Carson said this, Paul wants to make sure his readers fully grasp their utter dependence on the

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Holy Spirit, for nothing else will so quickly humble their endless pretensions to greatness and all the divisiveness, self -centeredness, and lovelessness that follow hard on the heels of such puffery, end quote.

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If you get that, you'll get 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 14, 15, and 16. Now let me read the passage and then let's talk about it a little bit in a way that does not forget the context of church unity.

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1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 to 16 in the ESV. The natural person does not accept the things of the

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Spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

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The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the

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Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Paul is going to try to instruct the

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Corinthians, and I'm going to try to instruct you through Paul to stay humble and remember what you have received.

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You have not only received the Lord's death in your place with the confirming resurrection, but you've also received insight into that.

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Isn't that amazing that God would do that? God could have his son die on the cross for sinners, raise him from the dead, and we would not know the details.

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We would not know the precision, the interesting nuances, the depth. We would know

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Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so maybe, but we wouldn't know about reconciliation, forgiveness, substitution, redemption, propitiation.

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We wouldn't know any of that. The only reason we know that is what? God told us.

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God told us. And so if God told us, what do we have that we have not received?

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Nothing. So why should we ruffle up our feathers kind of like peacocks and say, you know what, look at us.

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We all have received the truth from God. We've all been saved by God. Then let's just line up under God.

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I think it was Watson who said, it's a good thing that peacocks have black feet so that they can remember that they're not so pretty.

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Paul's going to use chapter 2 verses 14 and 16 to say, now I just want to remind you one last time what you would have been like.

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So you can all line up under this wisdom from God that was decreed before the ages began, that is given to you freely.

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It used to be a mystery you couldn't figure out, and now you know. And if you've received wisdom from God, how could you be bragging?

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How could you say, follow me? Let's go this way. The leaders are going that way. We'll follow this way.

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And Paul says, no, chapters 1 and 2, we have the spirit of God to teach us. Let's follow him.

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You say, I get it already. I'm glad you do, but there are a few that need to be reminded just in context, what is going on here?

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Listen to what Jonathan Edwards said. Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility.

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That's what Paul's after here. Humble people don't split churches.

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Those that follow God's wisdom through the apostles don't split churches. My take on Edwards' quote would be this, nothing sets a church so much out of the devil's reach as humility.

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So I think here's what we'll do today for an outline. Let's look at chapter 2, verses 14 through 16.

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In a way that will help you remember the context, let me give you six motivations designed for you to stay humble so that the church remains unified.

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And again, we're going to see Paul dabble with a little bit of what the unbelievers were like. So you will say, and I think

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Carson is right, yes, that's what we used to be, and we used to divide. We used to say, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Socrates, I am of Plato, I am of this person,

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I am of that person. There's a reason why you used to do that. You had to do it, we'll see, but we're going to have a mind that thinks properly.

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Let me give you six motivations designed for a church like Bethlehem Bible Church to stay humble and to stay unified.

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Motivation number one, if it were not for the grace of God, you would never accept the things of the

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Spirit of God. It's found right there in chapter 2, verse 14. The text gives the outline, if it was not for the grace of God, if it were not for the grace of God, you would not accept the things of the

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Spirit. Paul says, remember what you used to do and you will be humble.

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The natural person, verse 14, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. I used to like to do everything with alliteration, but why spend time on alliteration when

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I can just give you the outline point from the text. Point number one from verse 14, the natural man does not accept the things of the

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Spirit of God. If it wasn't for God, that would be us. As a matter of fact, what is a natural man? The one who doesn't have the

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Spirit, the one who's not born again, he has no Spirit dwelling in him. He's unconverted. Jude 19 says he's devoid of the

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Spirit. He has worldly wisdom. And what does this worldly wisdom person do or not do?

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Does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. I wish the text would be a little bit different here in English because, oh,

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I just don't accept that. No, thank you. Could you please pass the salt? No, thanks. We kind of get this word where it's just, you know, it's no problem,

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I just don't accept that. You know what the word really is in the force of the original language? Reject.

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I reject that. If I say, could you please pass the salt, or you say, would you like some salt? And I put my hand out, kind of a stiff arm, kind of a linebacker kind of thing, and I go,

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I reject that. That's what the word is implying. It's not just, oh,

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I don't accept it. Can you remember when you were an unbeliever and people came to preach the gospel to you?

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The first time, the hundredth time. You know, you're a sinner and you need to be saved by God's grace, and your self -righteousness is going to condemn you.

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What did you do? Oh, thank you, sir. May I have another? I didn't. I thought this, although I was sophisticated enough on the outside.

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How dare you talk to me that way? I would fall right into this kind of, you know,

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I'm religious, I'm spiritual, I'm spiritually religious.

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This means to rebuff, to refuse, to reject. And the word has got a meaning that means if someone comes to your door, you either welcome them or you reject them.

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This is the opposite of a welcome mat at someone's door. We used to go door to door at Grace Church for evangelism class, and I've told you the story many times.

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I would remember the first time I went to somebody's door, and I remember the guy's name who

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I went with, I know where he's teaching, he's teaching at Cornerstone Seminary, and I said, okay. I knock at the first door, you talk.

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We were in seminary, but we were completely paralyzed with fear.

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So I'll knock, and you talk, and so it's like, okay, not home, go to the next door.

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Hi, my name's Mike, and we're with Grace Church, and we have this concert. And I always remember to this day, the big

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Hell's Angel kind of biker guy like, hey, come on in, man, you want a beer? And I remember the older lady who looked like my grandma, and I thought, oh, she opened the door, this is going to just be sweet, she's going to say, come on in for some cookies, she's going to receive us with a welcome mat.

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You've even seen welcome mats that sometimes say what on it? Welcome. We have some visiting pastors here today, so.

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And that lady took the door when I said, hi, I'm with Grace Community Church, and we're here, slammed the door.

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That's exactly the word here. Corinth, you should be doing the opposite, because that's what you used to do when you were unbelievers and pagans when

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I showed up in Acts chapter 18. But the Spirit of God has saved you, regenerated you. It's the

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Spirit of God who has applied Christ's work to your life. You see things differently. You understand that the Spirit of God uses apostles like Paul to talk, line up under that.

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This is what you used to be. Don't do that anymore. By the way, the original is a consistent and persistent rejection.

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If believers in James are to receive with meekness the engrafted word, what do you think unbelievers do with their rebellion and their rejection and their love of their own virtue?

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We don't want the Word of God to rule over us. Now, of course, these things help us in evangelism, but primarily, that's not the point here.

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Why do people reject the Word like that? Listen to what Aldous Huxley said,

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I had motive for not wanting the world to have meaning. Did you get that? I had a motive for wanting the world, not wanting the world to have meaning, consequently assumed that it had none and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption.

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The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with the problem in pure metaphysics.

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He's also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to or why his friends should not seize political power and govern in the way that they find most advantageous to themselves.

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Listen to this, show me an unbeliever and I'll show you somebody who's constructed this kind of worldview for this reason.

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For myself, Huxley said, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political.

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I want to sin, I want to live the way I want to live, I want to do what I want to do and I want to sleep at night and not have a conscience that keeps saying, stop, stop, stop, stop.

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So I have to say to the Word of God when it comes to inform my conscience, I reject you.

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I don't want that. Get it away from me. That's nice for you.

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And they kind of pat you on the forehead. I'm glad it's working out for you. So Paul's saying, remember what you were like, but we're the opposite now.

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We accept this truth from God and we line right up underneath it. We accept it as chapter two says, given by the

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Spirit. Secondly, the second motivation designed for us to stay humble and therefore unified is if it were not for the grace of God, you would think that the

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Bible and Jesus are foolish. You would think these spiritual things, spiritual truths of forgiveness and Jesus are folly, the

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ESV says. First of all, you give the stiff arm and second of all, you think it was folly.

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Now the flip side for us is we don't think it's folly anymore. We think it's wisdom. We think it's eternal. We think it's fabulous.

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We just think we can know what God thinks. In grammar, this is the reason for the first.

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Why don't you accept it? Here's the reason. For they are folly to him. Foolishness.

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I like how Charles Hodges interprets this. They are absurd, insipid, and distasteful.

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Go back to chapter one. We saw the same word, didn't we? Verse 18, for the word of the cross is what?

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Folly. It's moronic to those who are perishing. Verse 21, for since in chapter one, for since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know

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God through wisdom. It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. Calvin rubbed people the wrong way and he meant to with this quote.

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Faced with God's revelation, the unbeliever is like a donkey at a concert, but I don't think he went far enough there, unless he means the donkey was using its hind legs to kick, to say this is just causing some kind of noise.

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I like donkey serenity and you're making noise and I'm going to stop the noise. This is what we used to be like.

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And Paul says, remember, you're not the natural man. He's just said in chapter two, verses six through 13, do you see

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God's holy wisdom through the apostles inspired by the spirit of God line up under that?

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We're not like this natural man anymore, this unbeliever. Some of the

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Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with Paul and said, what does this babbler wish to say?

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This is stupid. Now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but since it's a matter of questions about words and names and your own loss, see to it yourself.

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I refuse to be a judge of these things. Three different quotes from Acts. Thirdly, Paul says, remember, this is what you were.

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Now here's what you are. And it's all by God's grace. So be a humble church. The sixth, the third motivation, if it were not for the grace of God, do you think you could come up with the next outline point?

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By the way, what's the outline point? You could not or would not understand the things of the spirit.

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Verse 14, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

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I reject them. They're foolish. And here I don't understand them.

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Oh, unbelievers can understand grammar, can't they? They can put together lexicons and dictionaries and they can understand syntax, but they don't have the spirit of God in them to illumine, to have some kind of decoder.

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I remember the Enigma code. Remember the Enigma machine back in World War II? They don't have some kind of decoder ring, as it were, because these things, these truths, forgiveness, redemption,

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Christ, substitution, atonement, resurrection, bodily resurrection. These things are spiritually discerned, spiritually discerned, by the way, judicial investigation.

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That's where we get that word. It's an investigation. You see, I'm going to look at all these things in a court of law.

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This is object number one. This is evidence number two. And you look at them with the mind of a lawyer to say, this is right and this is wrong.

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The unbelievers say, what? I don't know. It works for you. It's okay with you. Used of a pre -trial examination in Acts 25, after we have examined him,

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I may have something to write, said King Agrippa. For the unbeliever, the scriptures are not difficult.

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They're not hard. They're not able.

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It's impossible for them to understand them. Martin Luther said, the Bible cannot be understood simply by study or talent.

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You must count only on the influence of the Holy Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit has given you that insight, why would you run around and be factional?

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Unless the Spirit of God has factions. One man said, the best an unbeliever can do is gnaw the bark of scripture without getting to the wood.

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Man is like a pillar of salt like Lot's wife. He's like a log or a stone. He is like a lifeless statue which uses neither eyes nor mouth nor senses nor heart unless he is enlightened, converted and regenerated by the

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Spirit. Turn with me, if you would, to Ephesians chapter four.

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I want to talk about the mind just for a second because I think we forget. Ephesians chapter four, truths are spiritually discerned.

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My question is going to be this. Why did God give you your mind? What is the ultimate purpose for your mind?

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You've seen the commercials, haven't you? A mind is a what? Terrible thing to waste. And that's exactly what every unbeliever does.

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Because the mind is given by God for one primary purpose. What is that purpose? Look at Ephesians chapter four, verse 17.

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Ephesians 4 .17, Paul, again, the author here, is beginning to tell the church how to respond to Christ's work, the

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Father's election and the Spirit's sealing ministry. And he says with almost the same kind of idea of 1

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Corinthians 2 .14 and following. Now, this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the

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Gentiles do. How do unbelievers walk? In the futility of their minds.

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They have failed to attain the real and primary purpose of the mind.

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And that is to what? Mark this well. To receive God's revelation about Christ Jesus and respond with honor, praise and thanks.

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That's why you have a mind. That is the primary reason you have a mind. And what does an unbeliever do?

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The text futility means useless. It means worthless. The original purpose of the mind, one man said, was to be able to comprehend

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God's revelation. That's exactly right. But now they have a mind that is an intellectual functioning thing, but they have aimlessness, purposelessness, uselessness.

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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.