Truth That Changes Lives

Guest (Male): Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Not to us, but to your name be the glory.

Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in Biblical Studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Foundations. Let's listen in as JP gives us part two of The Holy Spirit.

JP Jones: These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, expressing spiritual things with spiritual words. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For "who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Here's a passage of scripture where the Apostle Paul takes this truth about the Holy Spirit, unpacks the work of the Spirit, and then describes how people respond differently to that work of the Spirit. You see, there is a unique ministry of the Holy Spirit. This passage just gives us a glimpse at that ministry.

Primarily, what Paul is saying is the Holy Spirit reveals God. That's his job. He is a revealer. The verb "apokalypto" means to unveil or to reveal. It's where we get the word apocalypse, like the Book of Revelation or the movie Apocalypse Now, whatever your background might be.

God reveals things through the Holy Spirit. God reveals himself to us by means of the Holy Spirit. God reveals himself to his church by means of the Holy Spirit. And it says here in this passage that this revealing work of the Holy Spirit is with respect to the deep things of God.

The phrasing here when it says that these things are revealed by the Holy Spirit is in what's known as the aorist tense in Greek. In the Greek language, there's two ways of describing action. One is looking at action as one picture or snapshot or one completed event.

Another way of describing action in the Greek text is as a continuous motion, like something you might see if you were filming it with a video camera. When it says here that the Holy Spirit reveals to us, it's in the aorist tense. It's one snapshot.

All that God has to reveal is revealed to us by means of the Holy Spirit. But when it says that the Holy Spirit searches the deep things of God, that verb to search is in the present tense. What that means is the Holy Spirit continuously is searching out, drawing out, and making known to us all that God wants us to know.

God has revealed everything he's going to reveal to us, but there is an ongoing searching and working and manifesting of the Spirit in the church and in the life of the believer. And it's with respect to the deep things of God.

Let me ask you, how many of you at some time in your life have had some question about God? Some question about scripture, some question about God's will, some question about the truthfulness of Christianity? If you've ever asked any kind of question of a spiritual nature, raise your hand. Yeah, every one of us here.

Guess what? The Holy Spirit reveals the answer. Even the deep things: the nature of God, the essence of God, the ways of God, the kingdom program of God, the covenants of God, the promises of God, the truths of God. The specific direction God has for me in my life and my marriage, the specific direction God has for our church.

The Holy Spirit reveals the deep things of God. Now, follow the logic of the Apostle Paul here in 1 Corinthians chapter two. God reveals these things, he says, through the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

And he says as an example, "Who can really know a person but that person himself?" Right now, we're a gathering of people here and you're looking clean-cut, spiritual, positive. But who knows what's really going on in your heart? You might be thinking I'm a jerk. Now, I know no one would really be thinking that, but you can be within a group of people and have your own private thoughts.

Only you really know you. Well, Paul uses that illustration to say only God really knows God. Left up to our own, we would never discover God. We're dead in trespasses and sins. We're separated by the fact that he's infinite and we're finite. On our own, we would not discover God.

But God loves us. God created us to know him. God wants people to be in a relationship with him. So God reveals himself. God the Holy Spirit makes known to us who God is. God the Holy Spirit makes known to us the ways of God. God the Holy Spirit reveals God to us.

And so we have received not the spirit of the world, according to verse 12, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the things freely given to us by God. That's great. God wants us to know him. He wants us to know his plan. He wants us to know his will.

And he's actually given us the Holy Spirit to personally indwell us and to guide us in the process. In fact, Jesus said in John chapter 16, he is the Spirit of truth who guides us into the truth. God just didn't give us some facts without any context.

If you see me or Dino our children's pastor today somehow acting a little different or nostalgic or emotional, it's not because of the big decisions that are before us as a church. It's because yesterday we dropped off our daughter Kylie to college, sent her off. And on Monday, Dino drops off his daughter to college, our niece, and sends her off to college.

I've got to tell you, I'm a big baby. I've been crying all week over the fact that my daughter's going off to college. In fact, two nights ago, I get in bed—I made the mistake of going by her room and looking at the empty room. I hopped in bed, turned out the lights, and was sobbing. My wife goes, "What's wrong? What's wrong?" I go, "I'm just crying." She goes, "Oh, I thought you were having a heart attack."

So I, without apology, I'm sad that my daughter is going off to college. Now, it's also exciting to send your kids off to college. You raise your kids to grow up to be adults and to live lives that are filled with hope and joy. And she's made great decisions about where she wants to go to school.

And so we're up getting her room all ready, her dorm room, and meeting her new roommate and her parents. You know, I could sit down with her new roommate and I could have just written out a bio sheet about Kylie and handed it to her. "Read that bio sheet. Those are some things that you can know about her." And she would have a certain perspective about my daughter.

But don't you think it'd be different if I sat down with her, went over that bio sheet, and talked about each one and what that really meant, and why I wrote that fact down, and what that story really brings out, and the whole context behind that? What it was like for her to go to the grammar school that she went to and the high school, and to be a cheerleader, and to unpack all of that stuff and explain it personally?

God did not just give us a book of facts. We have a book, we have truth. But you know what else? God gave us the Holy Spirit who makes these facts known and real, and explains them and interprets them to us, and gives us the backstory behind it, and shows us how it relates to us personally.

What it meant when it was written, but what it means right now to us and what it means to the church. The Holy Spirit makes these truths come alive. He's the author, but it's not just facts. It's life-giving truth made known, revealed by the Holy Spirit who reveals the deep things of God to us.

God wants you to know him. Not just know about him, but really know him. And so he's communicated to you in this book, but he gives you the Holy Spirit to understand this and to understand it for you personally, and for us to understand it for us as a church, so that we can know the deep things of God and enjoy God and be transformed by that knowledge.

So that with unveiled faces we behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and so that we are being transformed from glory to glory by the Lord who is the Holy Spirit. Paul says here in 1 Corinthians chapter two that God reveals these things by the Spirit, and we haven't received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God so that we might know the things freely given to us by God.

This is the word "charizomai." It's grace-gifted. God has grace-gifted us things and he wants us to know all that he's grace-gifted us with. And so he's given us the Holy Spirit to reveal them to us so that we might appreciate them and be transformed by them.

We have received the Spirit who is from God so that we might know, freely know all the things that have been given to us by God. Paul goes on to say that even though that is true, people respond differently to who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit has revealed.

In fact, Paul lists three kinds of responses that people have to the person and work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. And the first response is to reject him. He says in verse 14, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Paul says here "the natural man." He uses the word in Greek "psuchikos." "Psuche" is the word soul. "Psuchikos" means soulish or soul person or soul man. Now, when I was a younger person, there was a song, "I'm a Soul Man." And everyone over 45 is nodding, "I remember that song." I was educated at Woodstock... start loving, it just don't stop. I'm a soul man. That word has nothing to do with that song or anything to do with that concept.

"Psuchikos," soulish, means the totality of your life is just in your natural, physical, soul life. It's describing the person who has no spiritual life. They have soul life, they're alive physically, but they're not alive spiritually. Ephesians 2:1 says we were dead in our trespasses and sins in which we formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ, people are dead spiritually. And so some people are natural. They have no spiritual life. Therefore, spiritual things are foolishness to them. They can't understand them because spiritual things can only be understood by means of the Spirit, and they've rejected the Holy Spirit.

I don't mean to sound in any way judgmental if this is where you're coming from, but some people passively and some people actively just say no to God. Thanks but no thanks. They reject the revelation of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is Lord and the only Savior.

One response to the person and work and ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reject him. And if that's you, then according to the Bible, you're natural. You have physical life, but you don't have any spiritual life. Here's another option that's presented. Another category, another type of spiritual experience.

We can surrender to him. Verse 15: "But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For 'who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?' But we have the mind of Christ." Now, the term that Paul uses is not "psuchikos," but "pneumatikos." "Pneuma" is the word for spirit. "Pneumatikos" means spiritual, of the spirit.

Some people are surrendered to the Spirit. They receive the Spirit, they're humble before the Spirit, they obey the Spirit. The Spirit leads and directs their life such that they are spiritual. You can reject the Holy Spirit, or you can surrender to the Holy Spirit.

You can follow the Holy Spirit's leading in your life. You can say yes to the Holy Spirit as he reveals Jesus Christ and you can receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. And you can be in an abiding relationship with the Spirit day by day, moment by moment, following the leading that he provides and the teaching that he gives you from scripture.

You can be surrendered to the Holy Spirit and be spiritual. And Paul even says in this passage, this type of person actually has the mind of Christ. This type of church, a spiritual church, has the mind of Christ when they're surrendered to the Holy Spirit.

But there's one other option. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, verses one to three—he's continuing in the same context, it's a new chapter but the same context of idea: "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy and strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?"

Doesn't use the word natural. He doesn't use the word spiritual. He uses the word carnal. Now, this is the New King James Version. In the New International Version, NIV, it uses the word worldly. In the New American Standard Version, it uses the word fleshly.

The word is "sarkikos." So here's what Paul's doing if you're following the flow of his point. He's been saying all this truth about the Holy Spirit and then he describes three responses to the Spirit, and he describes them in a syntactical way, a grammatical way that follows. There is "psuchikos," soulish. There is "pneumatikos," spiritual. And now there is "sarkikos," fleshly, worldly, carnal.

Well, who is this "sarkikos" person? Paul says they're Christian. "I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual." Well, then you'd think he's going to speak to them as natural. No, they are Christians. They haven't rejected the Holy Spirit, but you know what they have done? Resisted the Holy Spirit.

You can be a follower of Jesus Christ and resist the Holy Spirit. You can be a deal-maker with God. "God, I'll give you this part of my life, but I want to hold on to this part of my life. God, I'll give you this decision, but I want to have this decision. I'll worship you on Sunday but do what I want to do on Monday."

"I'll look at your word and see what it says about how I should lead my family, but I want to do what I want to do with my finances." It's trying to make deals. It's negotiating, it's compromising, it's resisting full surrender. And what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, "I, brethren, wanted to speak to you as spiritual men. You are brothers and sisters in Christ. You've come to salvation in Jesus Christ, and I wish that you were living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. But I couldn't say that."

In fact, the only term I can think of to describe you is "sarkikos." Now, just think about that for a moment. You know, in Romans chapter 8 and in Galatians chapter 5, Paul uses this same word "sarx" for the flesh and "sarkikos" for fleshly behavior to describe a whole lot of bad stuff.

To be fleshly is to be selfish, arrogant, prideful, lustful, unbelieving, critical, divisive, self-centered. So before you think, "Oh yeah, I'm one of those carnal Christians," is that what you want? "Oh yeah, you know, I'm fleshly. We're a fleshly church." No.

Paul says that with remorse, with grief. "I wish I could describe you as spiritual people, but I've got to describe you as carnal." So if any church identifies itself as carnal, it needs to get on its knees and repent and ask for Jesus to be the Lord and for the Holy Spirit to fill them.

If any believer acknowledges that they are carnal, they should do that with repentance and confession and asking for the Holy Spirit's power and surrendering to the Holy Spirit's lordship. But we can respond differently to the Holy Spirit.

He's the third person of the Trinity, co-equal with the Father and the Son. He reveals God to us. But we can reject him. We can surrender to him. Or we can resist him. And it really comes down to this for all of us, wherever we are in the spiritual journey.

So whether you came here this morning as a devoted follower of Jesus and love Jesus, wanting to worship Jesus, or you came as someone struggling, or you came as someone who's a seeker and doesn't even know what you believe, the answer for all of us is the same: surrender to the Holy Spirit.

The call of God on our lives is to be a spirit-filled church. The call of God on our marriages is to have spirit-filled marriages. The call of God on us as individuals is to be spirit-filled people. Ephesians 5:18 says as a command, "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit." God's will for us right now is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And it's the old Fizzy principle. There used to be this little drink that came out like Kool-Aid called a Fizzy. It was a little tablet like an Alka-Seltzer tablet and had a different flavor and you dropped it in water and it fizzed. And if it was root beer, it fizzed root beer. If it was grape, it fizzed grape. If it was cherry, it fizzed cherry.

The point was when you dropped the tablet in the water, it just started being released in terms of the actual component of the tablet until the water took on the full flavor. When we become followers of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and he begins to transform our personality and our thoughts and our priorities and our actions and our words so that they reflect Jesus Christ.

The only thing that would stop that from happening would be for us to resist. And if that's you, stop resisting. Surrender. Every part of your life, every area of your life, every decision, surrender, so that the Holy Spirit can do what the Holy Spirit does: reveal the deep things of God and transform you to become more like Jesus Christ.

That's what it comes down to for every one of us, whether we've come here this morning as someone who doesn't know God, or someone who's been struggling in our walk with God, or someone who's been walking with God. Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

It's like the closing part of Bruce Almighty when Jim Carrey, playing Bruce, has come to the end of his rope. He's walking down the road, it's raining, he goes down on his knees: "I surrender!" Remember what happens? Big truck just runs him over. Bam!

And in the course of that movie, he meets God and he finally is at peace and his whole future turns around. Why? Because he surrendered. You see, God's intention for our church is to surrender to the Holy Spirit. And God's intention for our lives is to surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250.

For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment. But before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thank you, Greg. You know, the Bible says there's one God who eternally exists as three co-equal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, and we are to respond to the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that there are three ways we can respond to the Spirit in 1 Corinthians chapter two and chapter three.

One is the way of the natural man. That's to resist the Spirit and to reject the Spirit. That's the unbelieving response. Two, there is the spiritual man. That's the person who receives Christ, receives the Holy Spirit, and lives in the power of the Holy Spirit. They're spirit-filled.

And three, there is the carnal man. This is the person who's a Christian, who has received Jesus Christ and because of that they have the Holy Spirit, but they're living in the flesh rather than living in the Spirit so that they're carnal rather than being spiritual. Today you are responding to the Holy Spirit, even as you hear this message.

What kind of response do you have? Are you rejecting the Spirit? Are you surrendering to the Spirit, following the Spirit? Are you filled with the Spirit? Or are you a believer in Jesus, but are you still living in control of your own life? You're living more in the flesh than in the power of the Holy Spirit.

You see, the Christian life is a supernatural life. Only Jesus Christ could live it. Jesus lives the Christian life through us in the power of the Holy Spirit. That begins as we say yes to Christ and we believe the gospel, and the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, and then that lives itself out in us as we live spirit-filled lives, as we every day surrender to the Holy Spirit. So today is your response to surrender to the Holy Spirit. I hope it is. Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, we believe that you're the Lord and Savior. You've given us the gift of the Holy Spirit. As Christians, he lives in our lives and we want to surrender to the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, fill us and lead us and empower us to live the Christian life. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet you will find us at crosslinechurch.com.

We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives. The cross before, the world behind, no turning back. Raise the banner high, it's not for me, it's all for you.