Discovering the Biblical Kingdom of God, Jesus & Holy Spirit
America's Choice: Constitutional Republic or Democrat-Socialism?
"Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants." (Benjamin Franklin)
"The world by wisdom knew not God"
Biblical "fools" and "wisdom"
The one who is from God hears the words of God: because of this you do not hear, because you are not from God. --John 8:47
Even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it can't see Him, or know Him. But you know Him for he dwells with you and shall be in you. --John 14:17
But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding. --Job 32:8-10
Worldly wisdom is not Biblical wisdom
Wisdom Challenge: Which do you subscribe to? God's design or Satan's counterfeits? Do you abide by "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," which includes biology, or do you abide by what the "reprobate minds" (Romans 1) of a depraved secular [im]moral compass? Do you care about the mental and health well-being of your children or are you willing to risk the dire consequences?
"Those who have no master are slaves to
themselves... ...you will either serve Satan or Christ, either self or
the Savior. You will find sin, self, Satan and the world to be hard
masters; but if you wear the livery of Christ, you will find him so meek
and lowly of heart that you will find rest unto your souls." --Charles
Spurgeon
"I will destroy the wisdom
of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the
prudent." -- 1 Corinthians 1:19; Isaiah 29:14
The physical world, which is
temporary, was created by the spiritual world, which is eternal.
There is a difference
between information and revelation. Information is of the soul or mind
and of the world, while revelation from God's Holy Spirit to our spirit.
A.W. Tozer stated: "It may shock some readers to suggest that there is a
difference between being Bible taught and being Spirit taught
."
Meaning, as the Scriptures were inspired by the Holy Spirit, the
Scripture needs be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, as evident from Jesus
and Scriptures below.
Job 32:8-10 - But there is a spirit in man: and the
inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding. Great men are not always
wise: neither do the aged understand judgment. Therefore I said, Hearken to me;
I also will show mine opinion.
Ephesians 1:17-18 - That
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His
calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints...
1 Corinthians 2:6-16 - But we are speaking wisdom among those ready to
apprehend divine things, but not the wisdom of this age and not of the leaders
of this age of those things that are being abolished: but we are speaking wisdom
of God, the wisdom hidden in a mystery, which God predestined for eternity for
our glory, which none of the leaders of this age knew: for if they had known,
they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But just as it has been
written, "What eye did not see and ear did not hear" (Isaiah 64:3; 52:15) and
did not go up upon the heart of man, what God prepared for those who
love Him.
James 3:17 - But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good
fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
Matthew 11:25-27 - "...Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Your sight.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the
Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the
Son will reveal him."
John 6:63- It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
2 Corinthians 4:18 -
While we look not at the things which are seen,
but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are
temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Proverbs 24:3-7 - A house is built through wisdom and it is established by understanding. And by knowledge will the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant
riches. A wise man is strong. Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength. For by wise counsel you will make your war, and in a multitude of
counselors
there is safety. Wisdom is too high for a fool: he does not open his mouth in the gate. Matthew 13:3-23 - And He (Y'shua) told them many
things in parables saying, Behold the sower of the seed came out to sow. And while he was sowing
some indeed fell by the way, and when the birds came they devoured them. But
some fell upon the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and it sprang
up right away because it had no depth of soil: and when the sun rose it was
burned, and because it did not have a root it was withered. But some fell upon
thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them. But some fell upon good ground,
and gave fruit, on the one hand a hundred times, on another sixty, and another
thirty. The one who has ears must listen continually. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 -
For the message of the cross on the one hand is foolishness to the lost, but on
the other hand, to those among us who are saved, it is the power of God, for it
has been written, "I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise And I shall do away
with the understanding of the intelligent." (Isaiah 29:14)
"Because of our lack of
understanding, we have always viewed the spiritual world as that which is to
come. ...Jesus told the religionists in days gone by, the
deep spiritual truths and yet they did not have ears to hear. They were down in
the flesh realm and He was in the realm of the Spirit. The moment He said
anything they could not analyze with their critical minds, they rejected
rejected His statement and repudiated Him." --"Made
Alive" - By Charles S.
Price The Disciples were with Jesus three years, yet He declared:
"I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth." (John 16:12-13)
Isaiah 11:2 -And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
"Knowledge unenlightened
by the truth of God is dark knowledge. We may have a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D., but without the Lord all we have is dark
information. It may help navigate us in the world of darkness, but by itself will never lead us to the truth. Apart from the
revelation of the Spirit of God, none of us could ever find our way into the light. Darkly educated people are
like those whom Paul described to his young protoge', Timothy, as 'always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.'"
(2 Timothy 3:7) "Rediscovering the Kingdom"- by Myles Munroe For we were once foolish,
disobedient, being deceived, serving various desires and pleasures, while we
were living in wickedness and envy, hateful, hateful, hating one another. But
when the goodness and loving kindness of the Savior our God appeared, He saved
us, but according to His mercy, not as the result of works of righteousness
which we did, but through the washing of regeneration and of renewal by the
Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out richly upon us
through Jesus Messiah our Savior, so that since we have been made righteous by
the grace of that One, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal
life. --Titus 3:3-8 LORD, how great are your works! and your thoughts are very deep.
A brutish man does not know; neither does a fool understand this. --Psalms 92:5-6 A wise man fears, and departs from evil: but the
fool rages, and is confident. --Proverbs 14:16
In Proverbs
1:7, we read, "The beginning of knowledge is the fear of the LORD, but
fools despise wisdom and instruction." Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians
1:18 that "the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." The
fool does not understand the gospel and believe, and the fool does not
begin with the Word of God and reverence Him. The fool does not even
believe in God or act as though there is a God. The fool builds his
house upon sand, and as a result, it is easily destroyed because of the
inherent instability of its foundation. The Bible is not using the word
"fool" in a name-calling way. It's referring to a specific spiritual
condition, spiritual stupidity, the stupidity that does not know how to
live in God's world and honor God and be successful. The unbeliever is a
fool. Answer not a fool according to his
folly, lest you also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his
folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. --Proverbs 26:4-5 Let no man deceive himself. If any man
among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he
may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For
it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness.
--1 Corinthians 3:18-19 The way of a fool is right in
his own eyes: but he that hearkens unto counsel is
wise. --Proverbs 12:15 See Trinity: Created in
His Image for insight on how it is our spirit, not our intellect, that
receives "the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding" from God's
Holy Spirit.
But God has revealed them to us through the Spirit: for the Spirit searches all
things, even the deep things of God. For who of men knows
the things of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? Thus then no
one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
And we did not take the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is from God, so
that we would know the things freely given to us by God: and this is what we are
speaking, not in teachings with words of human wisdom but in teachings of the
Spirit, those thoughts joined together with spiritual teachings.
But natural man does not take the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness to him and he is not able to know, because they are
discerned spiritually. And the one who discerns all things by the Spirit, then
is himself called to account by no one. For "Who has known the mind of the Lord,
who will instruct Him?" (Isaiah 40:13) But we have the mind of Messiah; we know
what He has taught.
Then when the disciples came they said to Him, "Why are You speaking to them in
parables?" And He said to them, "Because it has
been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of the Heavens, but it
has not been given to those. For who has, it will be given to him and he will
have great abundance: but who does not have, even what he does have will be
taken from him.
I am speaking to them in parables because of this, because although they see,
they do not see, and although they hear, they do not hear, and they do not
understand, and the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled to them, the one saying, "To
perceive by hearing, you will hear and you will not understand, and seeing you
will see and will not see or understand, For the heart of this people has been
made dull, and they heard in their ears with difficulty, and they closed their
eyes lest they would see with their eyes and they would hear with their ears and
they would understand in their heart and they would return and I would heal
them." (Isaiah 6:9,10)
And blessed are your eyes because they
see and your ears because they hear: for truly I say to you that many
prophets and righteous people desired to see what you are seeing but
they did not see, and to hear what you are hearing but they did not
hear."
"Therefore you must now hear the parable of the sower. For everyone who hears
the message of the kingdom and does not understand,
the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart, this one is
what is sown by the way. And the one sown upon the stony ground, this is the one
who hears the message and immediately takes it with joy, but it does not have a
root in itself, but it is temporary, and when affliction or persecution comes
because of the message, he is immediately caused to fall away. And the one sown
among the thorns, this is the one who hears the message, and the anxiety of the
age and the deceitfulness of wealth (Matthew 6:24) choke the message and it
becomes useless. And the one sown upon the good ground, this is the one who
hears the message and understands, who indeed bears fruit and makes on the one
hand one hundred times, and on another sixty and another thirty."
Where is a wise person?8 Where is a scribe? Where is a
debater of this age? Was not God making foolish the wise people of the world?
For since the world did not know God through its wisdom, in the wisdom of God,
God took delight through the preaching of foolishness to save those who believe:
and since Jewish people are asking for signs and Greeks are seeking wisdom, but
we are proclaiming a crucified Messiah, on the one hand a stumbling-block to
Jewish people, and on the other hand foolishness to heathens, but to those who
are called, to both Jewish and Greeks, we are proclaiming the Messiah of God and
proclaiming the power and wisdom of God: because the foolish thing of God is
wiser than men and the weak thing of God is stronger than men.
But the natural man receives not the
things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians
2:14)
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 -
"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the
god of
this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
Answering
Fools According to Their Folly - By Greg Bahnsen - ...The Bible uses
the word "fool" descriptively, applying it to someone who is spiritually
ill-informed, who just doesn't get it. Who is a fool in the Bible? "The
fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" (Ps. 14:1). I hope you can
see how foolish that is. What else does the Bible tell us about fools?
"The wise man builds his house upon the rock," Jesus tells us. "The
foolish man builds upon the sand" (cf. Matt. 7:24-27). Jesus is saying
that His words are the rock, the rock upon which everything is built.
The wise man builds upon the rock foundation of God's Word, while
everyone else builds his life on the foolish and destructive sand of
human autonomy.
