Sermons To Me: Who Can Comprehend?

Friday, June 6, 2025

Who Can Comprehend?

1 Cor. 2:6-7, We speak the wisdom of God in a MYSTERY among those who are spiritually mature, the hidden wisdom which God predetermined before the ages for OUR glory...
...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.

Who can comprehend the width and length and depth and height of God's love and mercy, displayed in salvation in Christ Jesus! These are infinite considerations too remarkable for finite minds.

1 Cor. 2:16 says, Who can know the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? Indeed, WHO is searching to find out the unsearchable riches of Christ?

Eph. 3:8-10, To me (Paul), who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery...

God had determined to lay our sins on Jesus, Who would be the vessel to receive God’s wrath as the required judgement for sin which otherwise would have been poured out on us. And by so doing, to make a display of His perfect salvation for condemned man. Perfect in that while the world asks, “How can a loving God destroy that which He loves?” He demonstrates the righteous judgement of sin by pouring out His wrath on Himself ...by way of an innocent body He prepared for Himself named Jesus.

As bad as we can imagine the last three and a half years of the tribulation to be, that any individual who will experience it will suffer more than Jesus did? Or as bad as we think hell would be, do we perceive that Jesus took that upon and IN Himself?

The world thinks God won’t condemn anyone to hell because He is a loving God. What the world does not “comprehend” is that those who reject God are condemned already. God has done everything to warn us, and counsel us, and deliver us, just like He did in the beginning with Adam, when He said to him in Gen. 2:16, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

God warned Adam by the wisdom of His word, “If you disobey My word, you will surely die” ...because sin was already in creation in the form of satan, and we know that, The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

We must note that eternal life for Adam was being sustained by the Tree of Life (a type of Christ) which, apparently, they were allowed, as we read in Gen. 2:9, And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The Tree of Life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But there was one obligation, if you will. Even though it was “food” Adam was commanded not to eat of that one tree. Disobeying God would bring death. He (and his progeny) would be banished, exiled, expelled, and separated from God’s presence and fellowship (spiritual death) and eventually his corrupted body would decay and cease to exist (physical death).

So what the whole world needs to “comprehend” is: that if man chooses to disobey God, he IS banished, exiled, expelled, and separated from His presence.... self-condemnation! But the curse is... we are born that way.

What can we say to this?

Every part of salvation is beyond WORLDLY comprehension!
But 1 Cor. 2:16 says, we have the mind of Christ.

The answers to ALL our questions can be found in the persons of Adam, the son of God (Luke 3:38) and Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Matt. 16:16). The first tells us what went wrong; the last tells us how it was made right.

“God’s salvation as planned by the Father in foreknowledge, and as accomplished by the Son in redemption, and as applied by the Spirit in regeneration, and as experienced in the souls of the elect, is indeed a mystery... until revealed to the heart.”
While many commentators and teachers have expressed this truth in various words, it is not a quote attributed to any one person. It is a central and recurring theme in the Bible.

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" Rom. 11:33

The “unsearchable riches of Christ” are not only the gifts or blessings that come from our position in Him, but are in the Mystery of Christ Himself.

Ephesians 3:16-19...
May You grant us, according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with might through Your Spirit in (our) inner man, that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith; that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; that we may be filled with all Your fullness.

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The GOSPEL

"...that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures..." 1 COR. 15:3-4.

As defined by Paul, THE Gospel declares the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ according to the Scriptures. But surely that declaration doesn't explain the full Gospel message of the entire Word of God, which reveals Who the biblical God is (the Father), Who the biblical Christ is (God the Son), what the biblical problem between God and man is (sin), the biblical and only means of man's forgiveness by God (Jesus the Lamb of God, the cross), and the eternal consequences for those who reject the biblical Gospel (eternal separation from God, i.e., Lake of Fire). None of these is a peripheral point of doctrine (to the Gospel) to be ignored or compromised. To do so would be a departure from the faith into apostasy to proclaim a false gospel.

As AWESOME as that is, even more awesome (to me) is that Jesus Christ should do that for me!

QUOTES

"We don't need more Bible teachers, we need more Bible students." ~fb

"They that consider themselves above the ignorance of religion will not believe in the God of the Bible... until they die." ~fb

"If the Christian will not elevate his living to the heavenlies by walking in the Spirit, then he lives in an earthly, carnal religion." ~fb

"Can flesh and blood be pre-existent?" ~fb

"Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life should be lived in the light of eternity!" ~C.H. Spurgeon

"Ears listen but it's the heart that hears. Eyes look but it's the soul that sees." ~fb

"There are none more asleep than those who are woke." ~fb

"I am not concerned with preparing for death and judgement; I am concerned with living for Christ." ~fb

"Isms... the bane of reason and truth."~fb

"He who does not recognize that he stumbles will never walk uprightly."~fb

"There can hardly be goodness in a man if he be not angry at sin; he who loves truth must hate every false way."~C.H. Spurgeon

"I ask not the favor given to Paul; I seek not the grace bestowed upon Peter, but I beg the mercy granted to the thief on the cross!"~Copernicus

"Love is the highest pinnacle of spiritual maturity."~fb

"Truth suffers in the hands of pride." ~fb

"When the truth is attacked, it is but the defense of a lie." ~fb

"It is incredibly foolish to consider that life would spring spontaneously from non-life, by chance." ~fb

"For some people, the difference between light and darkness is the flip of a wall switch." ~fb

"It is not our doctrines the world laughs at; it is not our faith the world mocks; it is not our religion the world despises; it is our hypocrisy that provokes their scorn." ~fb

"We must always have in our minds a reverence of God's majesty, a dread of his displeasure, and an obedient regard to his sovereign authority over us: this fear will quicken us to our duty and make us circumspect in our walking. Thus stand in awe, and sin not, Ps. 4:4" ~Matthew Henry

"There must come with decision for truth a corresponding protest against error." ~C.H. Spurgeon

"There is an inherent idolatry in celebrating, or worshiping a 'baby' Jesus." ~fb

"Gospel integrity is the best security against wickedness." ~fb

"You either understand God’s Word as you read it, or you study God’s Word to understand it." ~fb

“It is better to be divided by truth than united with error." ~Adrian Rogers

"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it." ~George Orwell

"With a sincere commitment to the faith, there comes a sudden spiritual awakening that immediately validates itself." ~fb

“Truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just need to figure out who is worth the pain.” ~Adrian Rogers

“There can be no civility when confronting lies.” ~fb

"The greatest, and perhaps ultimately the only expression in Creation, is to love." ~fb

"It isn’t that LIBERALS are IGNORANT, it’s just that they know so much that ISN’T SO!" ~Ronald Reagan

"Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him." ~Prov. 26:4

"Work as if you were to live 100 Years; Pray as if you were to die tomorrow." ~Benjamin Franklin

"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?... Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin... Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." ~Rom. 6:2 and 6 and 12

"Archaic = a term which the 'contemporary' man (from whatever era) introduces in order to do away with that which he will not or can not deal with." ~fb

"Without saving faith, all moral virtues are but splendid sins!" ~Charles Spurgeon

“The reading of good sermons is the most underrated kind of Christian literature on the market today.” ~Joel Beeke

"We look upon the enemy of our souls as a conquered foe, so he is, but only to God, not to us." ~Oswald Chambers

"There is an arrogance within Christianity that would walk away from the faith and presume to call it 'another' denomination." ~fb

"A false doctrine is in conflict with the whole Word of God, while the Truth is in harmony with every part of it." ~W.J. McClure

“What is morally wrong can never be politically right.” ~Lord Shaftesbury

"Error is always in excess." ~fb

"Shall I use the fire God gave me to burn incense all day long? No thank you!" ~Jose Ferrer as Cyrano de Bergerac

“A sacred regard to the authority of God ought to lead us to reject an error, however old, sanctioned by whatever authority, or however generally practiced.” ~Charles H. Spurgeon

"There is more Bible-buying and Bible-selling, more Bible-printing and Bible-distributing, than there ever was! But all this time, I fear we are in danger of forgetting that to have the Bible is one thing; and to read it privately ourselves (with appetite and pleasure) is quite another!" ~J.C. Ryle, 1895

"Naiveté is not a characteristic of Christ-likeness." ~fb

"The kingdom of heaven was never intended to indulge the ease of triflers." ~Matthew Henry

"True repentance is not that which humbles us on any given Sunday, but for the rest of our life." ~fb

"Impress the young convert from the very beginning with the conviction that God has called him into His kingdom to struggle with the corruptions of his heart." ~William B. Sprague

"The will, engaged in evil, feeds on sinful desires, and wastes itself without fruit." ~J.N. Darby

"Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." ~Psalm 90:12

"I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount." ~Martin Luther

"The fool will not listen... The wise already know." ~fb

"It is impossible to maintain civilization with 12-year-olds having babies, with 15-year-olds killing each other, with 17-year-olds dying of AIDS and with 18-year-olds getting diplomas they can't read." ~Newt Gingrich

"God does not expect us to do our best, He expects us to manifest His best." ~fb

"Sin is a plague, yes, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, how few are there that tremble at it, that keep at a distance from it!" ~Remedies Against Satan's Devices

"I declare I know of no state of soul more dangerous than to imagine we are born again and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, because we have picked up a few religious feelings." ~J.C. Ryle

"So remember, you who profess to be followers of the Lord Jesus, that to you indifference is impossible! You must bless the church and the world by your holiness, or you will curse them both by your hypocrisy and inconsistency. In the visible church it is most true that (no man liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself)." ~Charles Spurgeon

"The conflict is with a heart that loves the thing against which we strive; we do not separate ourselves from it in thought." ~J.N. Darby

"Any one who can think of their god as an 'exalted man' has nothing better than himself as a savior." ~fb

"Knowing that blank page will always remain empty, I do lament what might have been written upon it" ~LSM

“You should always make sure to go to your friends' funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.” ~Yogi Berra

"I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them." ~E.V. Lucas

“I am in the prime of senility.” ~Benjamin Franklin

“You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six.” ~Yogi Berra

"It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future." ~Yogi Berra

“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.” ~Winston Churchill

“I hate quotation. Tell me what you know.” ~Emerson

“Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.” ~R.L. Stevenson

“Now the average citizen can't relate to a billion or a trillion. A million dollars in thousand-dollar bills is a stack of bills, four inches high. A billion dollars in thousand-dollar bills is 300 feet high. A trillion dollars in thousand-dollar bills extends from the top of this [table] to 63 miles out in space.” ~Ross Perot

“I am a verb.” ~Ulysses S. Grant

“My anger protected me only for a short time; anger wearies itself out and truth comes in.” ~C.S. Lewis

Friday, June 6, 2025

Who Can Comprehend?

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