A Teacher Come From God
1 Corinthians 2:9-13


1 Corinthians 2:9-13. "But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12. 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. 13. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

When Jesus was here on earth, He must have been a puzzle to those who didn’t believe in Him. He knew their thoughts before they spoke, He answered questions before they were asked. He told of unseen things to come with authority and with familiarity as though he had seen them himself. He knew things that others knew nothing of and He did things no man had done before and He explained truths from the Old Testament than no man had understood before. He describes what God is like, and what happens after death. He predicted future events with total accuracy.

When Jesus was about to leave His disciples and go to the cross, they were puzzled when He said to them, in John 14:16-18, (in what is called the Upper Room Discourse), “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, nor knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you. 18. I will not leave you comfortless:"...

In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 10, the Apostle Paul is referring to the promise Jesus made in John 14 about the coming of the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit would teach us when He came.

When Paul came to Corinth, he found a city that was committed to the philosophy and wisdom of men. Even after the church had begun there, the Christians still showed great regard for the wisdom of the philosophers. This gave Paul occasion to set forth how the cross of Christ undercuts all the pride and boasting of man, and all man’s power and glory and he presented to them instead what he calls, in verse 7, "the secret and hidden wisdom of God which is made available to us by the Spirit."

Some of the things Paul brought out about that secret and hidden wisdom was that it is intended for our glorification. This wisdom is the missing link in the truth about ourselves and about our humanity. And this body of truth is not something merely religious, it’s something men everywhere desperately need in order to fulfill their humanity. Paul says it’s designed and intended for our glorification, that is, to make us into men and women who are the kind of human beings that God designed us to be. It is intended to produce compassionate, loving people, not only outwardly but inwardly as well, people who are filled with grace and strength. That is the body of truth that Paul speaks of in this chapter, the secret and hidden wisdom of God which was ordained before the ages unto our glorification.

Another thing Paul says about this wisdom is that it is a permanent body of truth. It does not pass away and fade with the changing of the years. It is a body of truth that is designed to transcend time, it’s there to prepare us not only for now but for the eternal life of the believer in Christ.

Paul continues with the fact that this body of truth can’t be discovered by natural process. No university professor, no philosopher, speaking outside the Christian framework, could ever teach or explain this line of truth. No psychologist or psychiatrist who is not instructed in the Scriptures knows anything about it. It can’t be found by observation. “The eye cannot find it." Listening to the voices of the present or of the past can’t reveal it. "The ear cannot discover it." You won’t read about it in history and the mind of man can’t discover it by reasoning. Yet it’s a truth that any believer in Jesus Christ with even the simplest of man’s understanding can know. Verse 10: But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." The truth is made known to us by the Holy Spirit. Without these truths, all sorts of evil and violence break out in society, and all the evils we see around us come in. It is the most vital line of truth the world can know anything about.

Verse 11: “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” God has revealed these things to us through the Holy Spirit. No other creature can understand a man's thoughts except another person. By the same token, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God’s thoughts, plans, and purposes.

This all-knowing teacher come from God, the Holy Spirit Himself, is designed to instruct us with the Word of God and lead us into the truth of God that will change our lives and reveal this secret and hidden wisdom of God to us.

When we discover that, our life is going to be changed. This line of truth is designed to set us free from the ways and attitudes of the world and to let us be the men and women God designed us to be.

Notice how Paul points to the Holy Spirit's superior knowledge. Life is constructed at various levels; the higher level can reach down to the lower, but the lower can’t reach up to the higher. We have plant life, we have animal life, then human life, then the angelic life, and finally, divine life. The higher can reach down to the lower, but the lower can’t reach up to the higher. As an example, no animal can enter into the realm of human relationship and talk and reason with us, but other human beings can.

Did you ever try to tell your troubles to a dog? He'll whine, wag his tail, and try to lick you on the face. He knows you're trying to get something across to him and he is trying so hard to understand, but he can’t comprehend the things of a man.

If you sit down and tell your troubles to another human being, they will have the ability to understand because the spirit which is in man shares a common basis of understanding.

How can we know the secrets of this great God of our universe, this Being with infinite wisdom and unlimited power? These scriptures tell us that we can’t unless He discloses Himself to us.

You can’t find out about God by searching. Man, by wisdom, does not know God. Man, by investigating all the natural forces of life, will never find his way to the heart of God. God Himself must disclose Himself to us. He does this by way of the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God.

A simple answer to the question, "What is God like?" is to say He is like Jesus. Jesus appeared as a man in order to give us a visible demonstration of what God is like. But it is the work of the Holy Spirit to show us what Jesus is like. Jesus said, "He will take of the things of mine and show them unto you," John 16:14.

Verse 12-13: “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. 14. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

You can read all about Jesus in the Bible, but the living Lord does not stand out by merely reading about Him. The Spirit can illuminate those pages and make them vivid and real to the believer in Jesus Christ and you will find yourself confronted with the living, breathing Christ himself. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.

That passage seems kind of complicated, but I think if we look at it rather simply we can get it’s meaning. It outlines several things that the Holy Spirit of God follows in order to teach us this secret and hidden wisdom of God.

The first step begins with the apostles who received the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentacost. Paul says, "Now we [the apostles] have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God." {Verse 12} The spirit of the world is that strange, intelligent being behind the whole thinking of the world. Behind all the confused knowledge and wisdom of the world is this spiritual being the Bible calls the Devil. The world does not realize that, and, Paul says, that is not the spirit we {believers} have received. Verse 12 refers back to the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit of God came in a new way. The Holy Spirit had been present in the world before, but when He entered into the apostles they were enabled to give us the Scriptures.

It was the Spirit of God that taught them and illuminated their minds. This is not about spiritual gifts, he’s talking about the whole realm of knowledge and truth that God has for us.

It is apparent when we read the Gospels that the apostles often didn’t understand Jesus when He taught. He puzzled them and angered and upset them at times. Sometimes He said things that embarrassed them. On one occasion they said to Him, "Lord, don't you realize you offended those Pharisees?" Matthew 15:12. As if He didn’t realize that! But when the Holy Spirit descended on them on the day of Pentecost, suddenly all that Jesus had said made sense and they began to see it in a totally different light.

That is the reason why non-Christians can read their Bibles and it seems to be a totally different book to them than to a Christian. They don’t have the Holy Spirit to guide them.

Before I became a Christian, there was nothing exciting in the Bible. It was a dull book. Then when I became a Christian and received the Holy Spirit, the book gradually became alive. Now I find it the most interesting book I can read. This is what Paul is talking about here. The Spirit began with the apostles and they were illuminated by the Spirit.

Then another phenomenon happened, Verse 13a: "And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but words taught by the Spirit." One of the major arguments of our day is over the question of the in-errancy of scripture. I think that question is answered by Paul's statement here. He says that when the apostles began to speak and to write the Scriptures, they did so by words taught by the Holy Spirit. I don’t think he meant that the Holy Spirit of God dictated the Bible to them. I think that the Spirit of God enabled the minds of the apostles to understand the truths and they were at liberty to choose their own words to express it. It seems as though each apostle's personality comes through in the words that he uses. And yet, in a strange and wonderful way, the words the apostles chose are the exact words that God Himself approved. Some of Paul’s writings bear that out in particular. It is certainly within God’s ability to use men’s minds to convey His truths.

Paul wrote to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is breathed out from God," God can’t lie, and God makes no mistakes, He sees the end from the beginning, so every word in Scripture is true. I have discovered that I don’t have to understand everything the Bible says in order to benefit from its wisdom. I've learned that even if I don't understand everything it tells me, I know that if I obey it, I will benefit from what it says.

Verse 13: “These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

The things Paul taught were not gained from man’s wisdom. They are the facts about life, facts about our personalities and our makeup, the facts about God himself that are revealed in this secret and hidden wisdom of God, and the Holy Spirit has taken them and fitted them to the circumstances and the personalities of each individual. In other words, He makes the Word alive to us and in us. If we are believers, the Spirit of God is working in us 24/7.

Jesus said this in John 7:37-39: “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38: He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 39: “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive;”

You will also find this confirmed elsewhere in Scripture, that the moment you believe that Jesus died for your sins, and you take Him as Lord of your life you receive the Holy Spirit.

There is a beautiful analogy in Scripture that often compares this new spiritual birth to physical human birth. A new human life begins to develop and grow, and it soon becomes evident that a new life is there.

When we are born again spiritually, a new life begins to develop and grow and it becomes evident that it is a new life. That’s the way the Holy Spirit is born into our hearts.

Those who receive the new birth receive the Holy Spirit and become a new creation in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit enables each believer to understand the truth as it fits their life. No man ever designed that, but God did, and the results are fantastic and powerful and evident. You listen to the Spirit, you hear the word of the Spirit, you believe the word, and then act on the word of the Spirit. Then this whole body of truth becomes active in our lives and they are changed.

The critical point to recognize is that we are not, and cannot be, indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God until we accept His Son, Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.

Acts 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,”

John 3:16-17. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

John 6:47: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life."

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