The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.
11 sermons cite this verse
… relationship with God. But I didn't want to at first. And that's because the Bible says the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit. They are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Now, with most of you, that is not the problem. You're a church. You put clothes on, got in a car, brushed your teeth, put some kind a nice cologne or perfume on to show up with a Bible. You want it. You have a desire for it. In fact, let's just take a little survey again. How many of you brought a Bible with you? If you brought it, throw it up in the air. Throw it up in the air. Let's just look around at that beautiful sight of a Bible. Okay. Now, you carried it to church. Some people carry the Bible wherever they go. You don't do that with a math book. you don't do that with a science text. You don't do that with a history book. You do it with a Bible. Why? Because you know this book is different. This book can do what no other book can do. …
… When you think of verse 14 where it says, 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. Oh, okay. So if that's true, if faith is given to us and it is a gift, that makes a lot of sense why you go somewhere and two people hear the same gospel and they respond totally differently. Have you thought about that? Why is that? Because the Bible is telling you and me that you and I are spiritually incapable of producing faith. that's why people can hear the same sermon and you would and so one individuals it's like it means absolutely nothing to them one person hears the good news and they embrace jesus and they want to serve jesus they want to walk with the lord another one hears the gospel and it's foolishness they walk away and they're not moved at all paul says the ultimate explanation is not because one person is more intelligent one person has more education, one person's personality, the difference is simply and clearly the work of the Holy Spirit. …
… 1 Corinthians says, 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. Basically, without knowing God, without having a relationship with Him, without having an intimate life with Him, without having the Holy Spirit in you, it's almost impossible for you to understand what's going on. And it's almost inevitable that you will fall into that trap. Hosea says, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge. I also will reject you from being priests for me because you have forgotten the law of the God. God is looking at people and he sees how fast they fall for this deception. And it's only because they don't know him. You don't know the God of Israel. if you hate Israel. Trust me. And you don't know the Messiah, the Holy One of Israel. And you don't have the Spirit of the Holy One of Israel in you. …
… The things of God do not make sense to us and neither do we desire the things of God. 1 Corinthians 2.14 says, The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit. He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. That's us in our natural condition. Romans 3, we all know these passages. There is no one righteous, not one. No one who understands, no one who seeks God. That's us in our natural condition. In other places, the Bible speaks to our natural condition as spiritually blind, spiritually deaf, spiritually lame, all metaphors for our spiritual inability and deadness. So if we are dead in our sins, something must happen for us to be made alive. As Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. That is, you cannot see or embrace the saving rule and reign of God. We must be made alive. Our eyes must be made to come open. …
… words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 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. Keep going. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. This is all about God giving us his mind by his spirit so that we can freely know. so the strategy of heaven is to break the lie off of your mind that makes you wonder if God said it and God is getting ready to shift it and you are going to go from wishing to hoping to believing to knowing and there's a flow there's a wave coming your way in this season worship God with me if you believe it It's coming. And the enemy doesn't want you to know it. The Bible says Those who know their God Shall be strong And they shall carry out Great exploits Daniel spoke that I'm landing In the context Of the last days You're going to know a real believer from a believer by title by what they know. …
… the natural person does not does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him he's not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned the natural man cannot penetrate to true spiritual insight. He cannot. And when we're born again, these barriers, Satan, sin, are decisively overcome. We have a new heart. God is writing on our hearts with the pen of the Spirit and the ink of his word. Read 2 Corinthians 3. But, oh, brothers, don't underestimate or overestimate the ongoing effects of indwelling sin in your life to make insight impossible. blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matthew 5.8 everything impure every impurity anger you dealing with anger? I think anger kills more than sex greed lust every impurity will diminish your insight into the unsearchable riches of Christ. He leads the humble in what is right. He teaches the humble his way. The secret counsel of the Lord is for those who fear him. …
… The person who is without the Spirit, the person led by his fallen nature, that person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them because they are evaluated, they are judged by the Spirit. But the person led by God's Spirit evaluates, judges all things, and he himself is judged by no man. because who has known the mind of the Lord or has instructed him? But we, we together have the mind of Christ. That's from 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2. Paul teaches them and he teaches us that God is by nature a loving father. He's a good dad and God has always been like this. He's always been overflowing with this spirit of fatherly love because God has always had his son, Jesus. And God created us. He created all humans to become like his son, like Jesus, to become God's adopted children, God's kids. God wants to give us his spirit so that we can become more and more like Jesus, our brother. …
… 2 Corinthians 2.14, 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. But that's not you if you're in Christ. If you're in Christ, you can see things in this book that they can't see. You can understand things that they can't understand. Where they see foolishness and irrelevance, you see unspeakable beauty. You see a stunning window into ultimate reality. That's what you see because the Spirit of God lives in you. And he's in your eyes. and it's not because you're smarter or more educated or merely a better reader than they are that's not what second Corinthians 2 says no it's because you're not a natural person anymore you're a supernatural person with supernatural abilities supernatural mind and heart and eyes God has shown in your heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Corinthians 4, 6 that's who you are when you open the Bible and because you're someone new, you can understand more of the Bible than you might think. …
… It's not accessible to them. He said that back in chapter 2, 1 Corinthians 2, 14, a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised. So how is the world going to ever hear the truth about God if they can't access it themselves? The Lord has answered that with the call to ministry of servants of His who are stewarding His divine mysteries, meaning the revelation of God contained in Scripture. That's our function. We are stewards of divine revelation. You wonder why carefully and thoughtfully and consistently we exposit the Scripture verse by verse by verse, because that is the only way that we can discharge our responsibility to be stewards of the mysteries of God. We can't pick and choose. We can't mingle it with our own ideas or with psychology or philosophy. Jesus says we are stewards of God, essentially the same thing. God has deposited His truth in our hands to manage for the benefit of His house. …
In 1 Corinthians, Paul helps us with filling out our definition. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 14, a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. They are foolishness to him. God is foolishness to him because he is a fool. A fool sees through his foolish eyes and turns everything into foolishness. In 1 Corinthians 3, and down in verse 18, we read this, "'Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks he's wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he may become wise.'" This is sarcasm. If you think you're wise when you're a fool, you need to become a fool to be wise. The wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. And verse 20 says, the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise. They are useless, futile in their speculations, airheads. So, this is the foundational pathology of what it means to be a fool. You reject God and all that is true about God, and in its place you put yourself and the gods of your own making. …
… It relates to the fallen nature. And if you'll recall in First Corinthians chapter two, verse fourteen, He says, but a natural man doesn't accept the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them because they're spiritually praised. So, you get in a discussion with somebody who doesn't believe believe what you believe about the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of holy things. And you know what? We say, well, why can't you believe that? And you know why they can't? Because God said they couldn't. Apart from the Spirit of God, they will not be able to understand the things of God. And so, maybe you may be one of those persons and you're listening to this message and you'll say, well, I don't believe all that. You know why you don't believe it? If you're just putting everything on your knowledge and your wisdom and your basis, He says, this is a This is a description of wisdom without God. That is man's knowledge. …