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Third Avenue Baptist Church

Louisville, KY

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

November 1, 2026

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Third Avenue Baptist Church

Louisville, KY

2 Corinthians 4:13–5:10

October 25, 2026

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Good morning. I greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is good to be here together. Ask you to turn in the scriptures to 2 Timothy chapter three, or as the British would say, two Timothy chapter three. It is a warm, warm, incredibly encouraging sight to see all that we have seen in the course of the past few days here on this campus and see students and so many others, the board of trustees meeting earlier this week and the Southern Seminary Foundation gathered here now and such dear friends to the seminary. And then we had the preview conference of Boyce just at the end of last week, and now we welcome those who are here for the preview conference for the seminary. It means a very great deal that all of you are here. And it is something of a reminder of the fact that we as human beings live in cycles and institutions live by cycles.

One of the most familiar of these cycles to all of us is the school year. And I think it’s really interesting to note that throughout just so much of human history, something like this has happened. This is just what happens. The fall, this is what happens. The spring, this is what happens. And of course, in the Christian tradition, once in the formation of Western civilization, Christianity took on such a central role, then the entire year revolved around the festival of the incarnation in December and the festival of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in the spring and then various times of Thanksgiving and all the rest. And I will just tell you that as you get older, they pile up.

They do. I mean, you look at a Christmas picture, when was that? Mary will know. She always knows, but I have to ask her, “What is this? Where was this?” And when the year goes on and the years pile on, memories are sometimes harder to fix. Where exactly was this and what was I doing there? And all that just sometimes becomes fuzzy. However, I will tell you there’s some things that aren’t fuzzy in my memory at all. And I think the older I get, I realize that some of these memories are just so important and they’re so vital to understanding who I am that I have the memories very clearly. One of those was the memory of setting foot on this campus for the very first time. I felt the call of God. I felt it in an overwhelming way. I didn’t know all that it meant. But I did know that something was very right in God’s purpose for my life and me being here.

I had no idea that I would be back as president and that I would spend my life here. We would spend our lives here with Mary and we would invest our lives together and we are pressing on, but we don’t press on at the expense of what we have learned in the past. By God’s grace, we press on with the edification, the armor, the encouragement of so many years in the past. But there is a great shift that happens. It’s a great shift that happens, I can say in a man’s life. It’s a great shift that happens and I’ll just tell you, it’s awkward at times, but it has to happen. It has to happen in terms of Western civilization. It has to happen in terms of the future of the family. It has to happen in terms of the entire culture. It has to happen in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has arranged things by his sovereign pleasure in such a way that a young man becomes an older man, becomes an even older man, becomes an old man. The good news for the Christian church is that by God’s grace, behind an old man is a young man. That’s the glory of what we have in the two letters from Paul to Timothy. That’s the glory of what we have also with Paul’s letter to Titus. We turn now to the second of Timothy’s letters in chapter two, that is to say,   2 Timothy chapter three. And here we see the apostle Paul pour his heart out to Timothy and we’re in the middle of an argument and we know it and we’re going to rehearse that in a moment, but we’re going to fall here in the middle of his argument. In verse one of chapter three, Paul writes,

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having the appearance of godliness but denying its power, avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jonas and Jambres oppose Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith, but they will not give very far for their folly will be plain to all as it was of those two men. You however have followed my teaching, my conduct, my amen life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

I’m so thankful for God’s word. I’m so thankful for this particular passage. I’m so thankful for the fact that I can remember this passage being preached to me. I can remember when I’ve had the opportunity to preach this passage.

However, in so many of those cases, the text selection has been different. As a matter of fact, I think a lot of people know some of 2 Timothy 3 basically because of the way the chapter ends.

This is an especially spectacular statement concerning scripture, “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” And then that’s so often rightly just the introduction to the next phrase which comes in 2 Timothy chapter four, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching.”

We can understand why it’s often preached that way because the natural flow is from this glorious statement of the inspiration and authority of scripture, the word of God to the command, the imperative, “preach the word in season and out of season.” This morning what I want to do is to look at this passage in terms of what precedes it and then recognize that this majestic statement on scripture kind of sneaks up on us. We have to look at the context here of 2 Timothy. We would do well to look at   1 Timothy also, but we don’t have the time for that. So just look at where we are in this argument as Paul writes this second letter we have in the canon of scripture to Timothy. And just remember how he begins in chapter one and we’ll just skip down to where he tells Timothy that he is to “guard until the day that has been entrusted to him all that has been taught to him.” Look in verse 13, “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” This is just incredibly helpful. Christianity is not a mood, it’s not merely a lifestyle. It is all based upon the truth that is revealed in God’s word and that doctrine, which is how it comes to us, there are people who don’t like propositional statements. If you don’t like propositional statements, you don’t like the gospel. Propositional statements are these absolutely important statements in which the truth of the gospel, the truth of God’s revelation are made clear in words. There’s a subject and a predicate and a period at the end. There is, according to what Paul writes to Timothy here in this first chapter of 2 Timothy, there is a pattern, the pattern of sound words. The very first publication, the very first publication of one religious publishing house was simply called sound words simply because Christianity comes down to sound words, a sound pattern of words, a good deposit. This is a treasure that’s been entrusted to us and we are to guard it.

And then after some other statements, we come to chapter two of 2 Timothy where Paul writes to Timothy, “You then my child, my son, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust of faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering is a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” Now I have preached that passage many times and by God’s grace will again, it’s an astounding passage for a number of reasons.

Number one, in this particular passage, speaking to young ministers, the apostle Paul says, here are three metaphors for you. There are three metaphors for the Christian ministry. A young man preparing for ministry should have these three metaphors, these three pictures in mind. And the first one is of a soldier. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. We’re to share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now in the Roman Empire, you didn’t have to look far to find a soldier. And you didn’t have to look at the crowd and wonder who was and was not a soldier. They were dressed like soldiers. They were dressed in armor. They were carrying spears. They were armed with a sword. They were always ready for whatever. They were the force that maintained order in the empire and conquered in the name of the empire.

But it was also obvious to people who watched soldiers that they suffered a very great deal. It’s not easy walking around with all that armor. It’s not easy putting your life on the line continuously. And in a normal circumstance, when you’re maintaining order like this, your life is almost entirely boring except for the few moments in which it’s not boring at all.

It is interesting. The apostle Paul picks the picture of a soldier, which is also, remember the soldier wearing the Roman armor is the symbol of imperial Rome. It’s a reach. The Apostle Paul doesn’t have to reach far for the picture, but it’s a reach considering the fact that he chooses a secular soldier and says, look at this as a model. And the second is an athlete. And of course the Olympic background, that’s very much in the phrase here that the athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. Even in this season, and you guys know what a phenomenal sports fan I am. You know how I just can’t wait for the next sporting event. But I have been fascinated this year by how many calls I have noted or heard about where someone’s broken the rules and there’s a penalty. And sometimes that penalty can be decisive, if the athlete is crowned, he has to run the race according to the rules.

Okay, so we can picture culturally the accessibility to the apostle Paul and to Timothy of the soldier and the athlete. It’s the third of these metaphors that Paul uses that is most remarkable, a farmer. “It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first year of the crops.” Now you’ll notice it’s the shortest one because there is no reference to the apostle Paul having anything to do with farming in the entirety of his life. As a matter of fact, he was the product of an urban culture and he was very much at home in an urban culture. And as a matter of fact, you look at the letters, they are largely to Christian churches and urban cultures. The Roman empire honored farming, but considered it beneath the dignity of other callings.

Now, the scripture doesn’t see it that way. And you’ll notice here, the apostle Paul says; Be a good soldier, be an athlete who competes according to the rules, emulate a hardworking farmer. Very interesting and that’s just in chapter two. And then you have another statement of the gospel in beautiful form here, beginning of our eight, “Remember Christ Jesus risen from the dead, the offspring of David is preached in my gospel for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” In the next section of that very same chapter in the flow of this letter, Paul writes to Timothy in verse 15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” And so the scripture shows up so quickly, “rightly handling the word of truth,” “rightly dividing” is the way I memorized it from the King James, rightly interpreting.

So not only does the athlete have to compete according to the rules, but the exegete has to act according to the rules. And by the way, the failure in athletics is spectacularly embarrassing, but the failure in exegesis and interpreting the word of God comes with far greater, graver consequences. Rightly handling the word of truth. And then he speaks directly… In the later part of this passage, he speaks to Timothy, “So flee youthful passions” in verse 22, “pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart.” And then listen to this, “have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. You know they breed quarrels and the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will.”

All right, so that’s the background that brings us to the threshold of what Paul is going to present in chapter three. And it begins with, rightly, English translation is good, “but understand this.” In other words, there is a change, but here’s something else, when we read those first verses of 2 Timothy chapter three, it’s kind of a downer. The bad news before the good news, the hard stuff before the material that follows, he is warned. Timothy is told, and I mean this is really scary stuff, that in the last days there will be times of difficulty. In general terms, we can see that. But how about specifics? “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful and holy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of Godliness, but denying its power.” And then the next three words, “Avoid such people.” Well, you bet!

I mean, here’s something very characteristic of the Apostle Paul in his letters, but in his letters to Timothy and especially in this letter, have you noticed how he piles things up? I mean, he piles the bad things up and he piles the good things up. He piles up all these horrible, evil traits that are demonstrated by horrible, evil people. In the last age… In the last days, they will invade the church. And furthermore, they’re going to take people, they’re going to be persuasive. They’re going to take defenseless women and others. It’s a very specific passage that evidently was a problem that Timothy was going to face. But let’s face it. I mean, I think two or three of these bad things would get my attention, but this many, and have you noticed how he lists other things? And we’ve seen this already. He piles things up when he mentions himself and what he’s experienced, he piles those up. When he’s talking about good things that Timothy is to do, how he is to act, how he is to minister, how his character is to be formed, he piles up things. And then when they’re bad things, wow, does he pile them up? It is interesting. I mean, you notice this because this tells you that it’s an intergenerational issue. Okay? So it’s not only that they’re proud, arrogant, abusive, they’re also disobedient to their parents.

And then it just goes on. “Swollen with conceit, without self-control, brutal, not loving good.” Can you just imagine writing to someone as a prospective pastor and saying, “We’re having some issues in our church. We have a few troublesome people.” Well, in what way are they troublesome? Well, now that you ask, “Lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient parents, ungrateful and holy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having the appearance of God knows by denying his power,” pretty much that.

Oh, my heavens! My goodness! And remember, he’s trying to encourage a young man in ministry. Good grief. And then you also notice, if you go back to 1 Timothy, in a very similar passage, you have in this case in chapter four of 1 Timothy, you also have the same kind of warning. Look at this now, the spirit expressly says that “in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciousness are seared, who forbid marriage and require absence from foods God created to be received a thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received at Thanksgiving for it is made holy by the word of God in prayer.”

I want us before we leave 1 Timothy for a moment to notice how the Apostle Paul shifts. And every one of these warnings, he shifts from a very powerful, I mean, frightening, horrifying warning to Timothy about what may come in ministry, what will come in the last days. And he paints this picture with such vivid colors, but then he immediately, in all of these cases, sends him to work. “If you put these things for the brothers, you’ll be a good servant of Christ Jesus being trained in the words of the faith,” that pattern of sound words we saw “and of the good doctrine that you have followed.” And then it just goes on. But we have to go back to 2 Timothy chapter three.

We look at this and we recognize in the flow of this kind of letter, there is not only a literary flow that we can almost hear as a rhetorical, as an oratorical flow. We can almost hear him say these things. And I imagine that Timothy as this young pastor, this young protege of the apostle Paul, I can almost be assured he could hear Paul’s voice in reading these words. We come to chapter three, after Timothy has been told that he needs to be a worker, who has no need to be ashamed, who rightly divides the word of truth as we see all of this, we do understand the dangers that Paul lays out, the big trouble that the apostle Paul refers to, and quite frankly, there’s a danger for us, I think, in going over this too quickly. But for the sake of time, we just need to look each other in the eye and say, these are really horrifying things. These warnings are spectacularly bad. It’s good for us to know that opposition to the gospel coming from Satan will show up in people who will come into congregations in order to oppose the gospel, in order to create disorder, in order to cause problems and create factions and lead people away from the truth and lead them into error. I want to tell you just very quickly before we leave this, I think that if I got up at a pastor’s conference and in my own authority said something like this, I think people would dismiss me as an old crank.

But I didn’t come up with this. I read this to you from the inerrant infallible word of God. I read to you from Paul’s encouragement to Timothy. But let me rest you in your conscience because that’s not where this ends. Let me give you heart and hope because with verse 10 of chapter three, everything changes. If I would be asked for a title for this message, it would be drawn from the first words of verse 14, “but as for you.” It changes everything. All that’s true, Timothy. Everything I’ve just told you is as bad as it looks. Actually, it’s worse than it looks. You and your youthful innocence don’t recognize how bad this is.

It’s as bad as it looks. It’s worse than it looks. “But as for you,” the same thing is found at the beginning here of this part of the passage where in verse 10, he says, “You however.” So this is in contrast, in contrast to those who are bringing such pain in the church, who are bringing such division in the church, bringing such evil in the church. “You however,” in contrast, you have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life. He goes on there. I talked about how Paul piles these things up and sometimes in his letters, and it’s true in many of his letters to the churches, he gives these verses we even have memorized and they’re so familiar to us where it’s just word after word after word after word after word. Paul talks about the pattern of sound words, but the Holy Spirit through Paul was giving us a pattern of sound words.

You however, have followed my teaching and here he mentions nine different things. And so you’re talking about piling things up. We saw all the bad things piled up in the early verses of chapter three, so much so that it’s just horrifying. But look at the good things the apostle Paul piles up here beginning in verse 10. First, my teaching. Second, my conduct. Third, my aim in life. Fourth, my faith. Fifth, my patience. Sixth, my love. Seventh, my steadfastness. Eighth, my persecution. And nine, my sufferings. It is interesting that yes, persecution and sufferings come at the end of this.

But Paul says to Timothy, even as these evil men are infecting the church, even as they’re bringing so much poison into the church, even as they’re preaching in defiance of the pattern of sound words, even as they are leading so many astray, you are there as the minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the one who shows up with the pattern of sound words. You’re the one who shows up to guard the deposit that has been entrusted to you. You’re the one who shows up, as we will see later in this letter, to preach the word in season and out of season. You’re the one to show up. And how do you know to do this? The apostle Paul is very candid. Well, for one thing, you’ve been with me.

And even as these evil people show all their evil traits, it is interesting how he piles this up. He says to Timothy first, “my teaching.” Now, I could camp out here for a semester. I just want to tell you that I think the most wonderful theological education possible would be being Timothy to Paul. If you have an opportunity to be Timothy to Paul, take it. But you need to know the purpose of this school as a theological seminary is to follow the example found in this passage. It is to put men of God in the classroom to teach the men of God who are coming in to preach and teach the word of God. And you know what? I thought about this just even in praying about this passage. I thought, maybe a part of me needs to say to the faculty, you need to be just as candid as the Apostle Paul about how wretched things can be out there in the world.

But I’m so thankful for the colleagues I have as the faculty of this institution because they are set out in such a way that their mission is to teach, to teach the whole council of God, to teach those who will teach and preach the word of God. Paul says to Timothy, well, for one thing, you have “my teaching.” Second, he says, “my conduct.” It is interesting how the apostle Paul, and remember he was an apostle. The apostle Paul wrote to people saying, emulate my conduct. I am living according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the minister of the gospel needs to be an example in conduct, not only Paul an example to Timothy, but Timothy, as he says explicitly, an example to others.

Every once in a while, I hear someone and the formula they use, I recognize. When I hear him preach, he sounds like X. When I hear him preach, he reminds me of yet another pastor. I have to tell you, that’s as natural as it comes. It’s as natural as it comes. We sound like what we hear. We sound like what we’ve heard. We sound like what we have heard in order for us to know what we are supposed to sound like. Now, eventually over time, every preacher finds his voice, but it is interesting. The apostle Paul here, he holds himself up as an example. Sometimes it comes out even in the way we hear people, you have seen my conduct. Third, “my aim in life.” This is a little more complex. It’s fascinating. And this third thing, the apostle Paul says, “I have before me the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the grace and for the glory of Christ I minister. I am running a race for the goal that is set before me.” It’s just beautiful language. You know my aim in life? My aim in life is not earthly riches. My aim in life is not earthly glory. My aim in life is not to manipulate people. My aim in life is not to spend myself in some ridiculous religious movement. No, my aim in life is to please God and to be a preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to build up the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and to edify the saints. And so at the end of this letter, let’s just remind ourselves he’s going to write to Timothy about having finished his race and running his course. He’s done this. You know my aim in life.

Number four, “my faith.” Paul’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. His beautiful language, he knows in who he’s believed. He’s absolutely confident that he’s able to do all that he’s promised. The Apostle Paul becomes the great definer of the gospel in so many ways. When we tell people what the gospel is in so many ways, we’re using words the Holy Spirit gave to the Apostle Paul. We understand his faith. It’s laid out for all of us to see and it’s laid out in the history of his life and then even the circumstances of his death. He’s faithful all the way to the end of the race, even unto death.

Number five, “my patience.” This is one I struggle with. I’ll admit I struggle with this in a big way. I will tell you, I think I have a bigger temptation towards impatience on unimportant things. And sometimes for some reason I have more patience about very important things. I think that’s a part of the character problem of patience. We do know the big things take time. It’s hard to keep that in mind sometimes. I think especially when young, I think I was on some of the big things. I was impatient to see things. But I will tell you, the Lord gives you in ministry over a period of years, the satisfaction and the joy of seeing things happen, not on your timetable, but on God’s. Patience, “my patience,” his patience of working with people. I mean, for crying out loud, given all the things the Apostle Paul has piled up about his concerns about the churches, I quit would be the third letter, but that’s not true. He’s patient.

Sixth “his love.” And of course, this is the love that the Apostle Paul writes about in a different context at Third Avenue Baptist Church. I’m preaching verse by verse, teaching verse by verse through 2 Corinthians. And you look at the Apostle Paul and he has to say such hard things, but it’s very clear he’s saying these hard things because he loves the church. This is a love, first of all, love of God, love of Christ, love of the gospel. But he means here, I think his love for fellow Christians, his love for the church. He’s poured his life out for the church.

Seventh, “his steadfastness.” This is a good word and it’s an old English word which shows up here and it’s in the King James tradition, the Tyndale tradition. It’s in most modern translations, something like this. We don’t use this word in everyday language, but there’s almost no other way to translate it. And it just means standing there and refusing to be moved. Steadfastness is staying at the task. It’s staying at the job. It’s staying at the station. It’s staying at the post. Steadfastness means I’m not going to be moved. And this is really important for us to know, steadfastness is one of the things the Apostle Paul says to Timothy, “You are to emulate in me as you follow my example, follow my steadfastness.” Again, it shows up. I think of the Corinthian correspondence and you think of 2 Corinthians and you look at that and you think, why didn’t you just get up on these people? Why are you putting yourself through this, Paul? And it’s because of his steadfastness in ministry. It is because of the faithfulness to which he has committed himself and it is because of his love. All these things in this list, he loves that church.

Eighth, however, “my persecutions” and ninth, “my sufferings.” And of course, the Apostle Paul was in prison. He’s likely headed soon to his death. When he writes about my persecutions and my sufferings, it’s no small thing. No small thing at all. The Apostle Paul understands this is a contrast. He’s telling Timothy the truth. He’s laid out encyclopedically and in an incredible ratcheted list, all the evil that’s going to show up in these days, all the evil that will show up and even have to be confronted by a minister of the gospel.

But then he says, “You however,” and then in verse 14, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed.” And this is what’s so sweet. So the passage about scripture sneaks upon us. Notice how he introduces it. “But as for you,” this is such a significant shift. Everything now changes. That is true. All that is true. Not only is it true, it’s the unvarnished truth. I’m even using strong words to describe how bad the challenge can be. I’m also reminding you in a piling up of words, you follow my example and just in case you missed anything, I’m going to put it in a list. But then as he closes this particular part of the argument, it’s so sweet beginning in verse 14, “But as for you,” here’s the contrast. “Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.” Okay, so this is something. So the apostle Paul has held himself up. You have observed me, you have watched me, I have taught you. But I want us to note something, and this is also true for ministers of the gospel. And I just want to say, as you consider your calling and those who are called to preach the ministry of the gospel, you have been taught. And the apostle Paul makes clear it didn’t begin with Paul. Notice what he says. It’s so sweet knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ, Jesus. His mother and grandmother, faithfully teaching him the scriptures from the time he was knee high to a grasshopper. The apostle Paul says, remember that. When you don’t remember anything else, remember what you’ve been taught and from whom you have learned these things. In heaven, we’re going to meet a lot of Eunices and Loises, a lot of mothers and grandmothers who are the direct connection, the direct human conduit for how the Bible got into a child’s heart, how the stories of scripture began to shape a child’s heart and soul and how the apostle Paul wants to say to Timothy, even a call to gospel ministry was planted when you had no idea it was being planted. The apostle Paul says, you have watched me. But here he goes back far beyond himself. He goes back to before he ever met Timothy to when Timothy was learning from his mother and his grandmother.

“You know,” you know, he says, who made you acquainted with the sacred writings, the scriptures, “which are alone able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” And then the statement about scripture, this is what sneaks up on us. “All scriptures breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” If I had to point people to one verse concerning scripture, this is the verse to which I would point them. When you’re asked, why do you believe in the divine inspiration, the Holy Spirit inspiration of the scriptures, it is because that is exactly what is described here right down to it being breathed out by God.

And because it has been breathed out by God, its attributes are also clear. “It’s profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.” He takes the apostle Paul, excuse me, the apostle Paul takes Timothy and he shows them that the evil he’s going to confront, the great challenges he’s going to confront. He’s very honest about the evils of the age and the evils that are yet to come. And then he writes to Timothy saying, You have observed me. But then he presses back and says, you have observed others as well. You have learned from me, but you have learned from others as well. And where did we learn? We learned from the holy scriptures. And it is this honoring of those who came before even the apostle Paul to make Timothy acquainted. That’s even the term, acquainted with the sacred writings with the scriptures.

And then this climactic statement about scripture. How much is scripture? “All scripture.” All scripture is breathed out by God. It’s profitable for teaching. What else are you going to teach? Good luck with that. I don’t even mean that. Bad luck with that, but don’t do it. It doesn’t work. There is only one word that can be preached that’s profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction. Those two certainly must make some reference back to how in the world Timothy’s going to confront those who in the last day are going to show up in such theological and spiritual rebellion. He’s going to have to do a lot of reproving. He’s going to have to do a lot of even correcting, but also for the saints training and righteousness. Then the apostle Paul speaks to Timothy so directly “that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work.”

In this passage, we see the apostolic warning in verses one through nine. I think we see an apostolic example in verses 10 through 12. We see an apostolic testimony in verses 10 through 13. And then we see the apostolic authority in verses 14 through 17. At the end of the day, the apostle Paul, having been so bold as an apostle to say to Timothy, you have observed me. And I’m even going to suggest with a piled up list of things which you have learned from me. But when you stand in the pulpit, you don’t preach me. You preach the word in season and out of season and you stay at it. You stay at it with tenacity. You stay at it with courage. You stay at it with conviction. You stay at it indefatigably. You stay at it until the end. And when the apostle Paul at this point in this letter with his life coming to an end, when he says you do this to the end, brothers, he means you do this to the end.

We do this to the end!

I love this verse on scripture, but as I thought about being here with you and this opportunity in chapel, it struck me, as I was looking at this passage for I don’t know how many times, this testimony about scripture sneaks up on us at the end of an argument where the apostle Paul is writing to Timothy and Timothy may not have seen this coming. All right? Maybe if we’re honest, we didn’t see this coming, but here it is. We’re given the word of God to preach and to teach. We have no other word. The apostle Paul writes to Timothy about the calling that has been invested in him and he makes very clear, Timothy, you’re to be serious about this. As serious as a soldier, as serious as an athlete, as serious as a farmer, you are to be diligent in this. You’re to be patient in this. You’re to follow my example. You are to know how evil the opposition may be. You need to know Satan is going to do as much trouble in the church as he can do. You need to know all these things are going to happen. So to a certain extent, you however, remember me in my example for you, but ultimately remember what you have been taught from the holy scriptures and remember that you have been given the word of God. And as he will make clear in the passage that follows, your task is to preach the word of God in season and out of season until you, like me, one day die. That’s all.

Let’s pray.

Father, we are so thankful for all you’ve given us in your word. Father, thank you for this testimony to your word, in your word. Thank you for the apostle’s exhortation to Timothy. Father, thank you for speaking to our hearts. And Father, to those who are here, following the call of God to preach, may you open their eyes and their hearts to know exactly what you would have them to do for a lifetime of faithfulness and ministry. We pray all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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Third Avenue Baptist Church

Louisville, KY

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

October 18, 2026

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Good morning. I greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is wonderful to be here in this service with you. Special privilege to have these guests here for the Boyce College Preview Conference and just wonderful to come out of the rain and come into the chapel and be able to sing songs like we have sung and to hear the word of God. I want to invite you to hear the word of God now from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians known as 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Paul writes,

And I, when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling in my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But it is written,

‘what no eye has seen nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.’

These things God revealed to us through the spirit, for the spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him.So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit that is from God that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are folly to him and he’s not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ.

Thanks be to God for his word.

As you know, in the books of the Bible, we have different forms of literature. We have historic books. We have the Torah, the Pentateuch in the first five books of the Bible. We have wisdom literature such as the Psalms and Proverbs. We have the prophetic corpus. It’s always interesting. I was looking again at a King James Bible last night and it said the major prophets and the minor prophets. Sounds like you have the senior prophets and the junior prophets. It’s not true. It’s just bigger books and shorter books, that’s all. Then in the New Testament, we have the four gospels and we have the book of Acts and then we have mostly the apostolic testimony. And when the Apostle Paul wrote the letters and we know there were four letters in total he wrote to Corinth because there is this letter, there’s a letter between this letter and 2 Corinthians.There’s a letter before this. And so you put it all together, there are at least four letters. The Holy Spirit evidently wanted us to have two of those.

And by the way, in the second of the books we have in the New Testament, second Corinthians, Paul references a letter that is not1 Corinthians that is a hard letter. I’m preaching through2 Corinthians right now at church and I can just tell you, if that’s not the hard letter, I cannot imagine what the hard letter was like. The Holy Spirit wanted us to have these two letters, 1 and 2 Corinthians. And the reason I mentioned the epistle, the letter form is that we don’t write letters chapter 1 verse 4, but that’s a structure put on later as we know and actually very helpfully. It’s very helpful. I can say1 Corinthians 2 and you could turn to it. And so that’s very helpful. We can talk about verse 13, 14, 23. We can find them. But one of the dangers in all of this is that we will think the apostle was thinking led by the Holy Spirit in blocks that are numbered.

Which is to say, we were just reading 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and you know that that means there’s a 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And it is the flow of one argument and it’s an astounding argument. I just want us to think about it in terms of the flow. To most Christians, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 is actually more familiar than 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

Now I want to tell you why we need to do this and it is because the last verse that I read out loud, the last verse of 1 Corinthians chapter 2, that is verse 16, Paul writes, “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him” That’s rhetorical question. Looks back to Isaiah chapter 40 and also sounds like echoes of Romans chapter 11. Paul is echoing a question that is asked in the Old Testament, who has known the mind of the Lord so as to be his counselor. But the last words of the chapter as we have it are the words, but we have the mind of Christ.

Seriously. We have the mind of Christ, and Paul is saying that. And that is the theme of my message. That’s the compelling interest that drives me back further into the text. Seriously, we have the mind of Christ? If we have the mind of Christ, it has to be one of the most astounding things we could ever know. The mind of Christ, we’re going to have to find out what that means, but it is really interesting to note Paul’s rhetorical strategy. His rhetorical strategy is to make very clear that the gospel is not a message that conforms to human wisdom. It’s not intellectually packaged. It’s not philosophically sophisticated. It is foolishness to the Greeks. It’s a scandal to the Jews, the message of the cross. Paul will say these things recurringly. But it’s in this passage, he actually says to believers, we have the mind of Christ.

Let’s think back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where in verse 18, the apostle Paul writes, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Paul asked the rhetorical questions in chapter 1 beginning of verse 20 “Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom. It pleased God through the folly, the foolishness of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews to man signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” It’s an astounding passage.

We are not an intellectual society of those smart enough to figure these things out. This is not a gnostic gathering, the gnostic heresy being an ancient heresy, very much in the background, has to be in the background of this, in which salvation came through the possession of a secret gnosis, the Greek word for knowledge. If you just know the secret, then you’re an illumined one and you are among the very rare who see this. There are societies on earth today that follow the very same gnostic logic. There’s an intellectual key to the universe. They know it. We don’t know it. They’re keeping it to themselves. We’ll just die ignorant.

We know that Corinth as a city is a place that has some relevance here. Corinth was a center of the Greek civilization. It was largely destroyed by the Romans in an invasion which killed most of the Greeks there, but the Greek culture continued and it became a major Roman city after it was a major Greek city. It was a place of intellectual intersection. People from many different places in the world came there. And even as you think most famously of a place like Mars Hill and Athens where the Apostle Paul witnessed Christ. The Corinth is one of those intersections in the world, certainly in the Mediterranean world, the ancient world in which all these things were present. All these interesting things were going on. And as is described elsewhere in scripture, people were just waiting to hear the most interesting new thing that might come.

When they heard about Christ and they heard about Christianity, it is clear that at least some of them thought, well, this is a new mystery cult. This is a new mystery cult in the name of this Christ. And thus if you become a member of this cult and you’re given the secret knowledge and the secret knowledge makes you a worthy one, and as one of the worthy ones, you then can decide who might else be a worthy one to be invited into the secret knowledge.

The Apostle Paul, of course, will have nothing to do with that. He’s declaring Christ publicly and he also is extremely clear about how the gospel works and the gospel doesn’t work by tickling and enticing our intellect nor certainly giving us grounds for pride in our own intellect. Instead, the message of the cross, it’s foolishness to those who are perishing. It’s foolishness to the Greeks. Those looking for sophisticated worldly wisdom, we point them to a bloody cross and an empty tomb. We don’t have a mystical key to the universe. We share with them and then teach them the secret handshake and welcome them in. By the way, you know you’re not in it if you don’t know the handshake.

That’s just the way these things work. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul is just dead set to make very clear that the gospel is not the product of human wisdom. It’s not something that is even attractive in some ways to those who pride themselves on their intellectualism. I mean, for one thing, let’s just remember the fact that the main structure of the gospel is the reminder that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The truth is we’re rebels against God. It’s not a lack of information. The revelation of God is all around us. Not only is it all around us, as the scripture says, it’s inside of us. The problem is we are sinners. It is true. And as we are sinners, we’re dead in our trespasses and sin.

Salvation does not come to those dead people who wake themselves up. Salvation comes to those who are made alive, quickened in Christ. We’re not those who figured this out, we’re those whose eyes the Holy Spirit have opened that we might see, whose hearts have been open that we might receive. Paul’s trying to explain the glory of the gospel over against all the confusions. There are those who want to turn Christianity into a magic formula. And by the way, that didn’t die in Corinth in the First century. Used to be able to say you could turn on your television and see, but nobody does that anymore.

But you can certainly on your own private device find those who are trying to make the gospel of Jesus Christ into a modern mystery cult. Prosperity theology or something other than what the gospel is. Paul, by the way, suggested the Corinthian Christians just as proof, not as the foundational authority, but as positive proof of the fact that this is not an intellectual society. He says, look at yourselves. Verse 26 of chapter 1, “For consider your calling brothers, not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” But God chose, this is a divine put down. We need this.“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing, things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him”, here’s the power of the gospel. “And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that as it is written, ‘let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’” Okay, that is one of the most invigorating passages in scripture. It is one of the most liberating, sweet, kind passages of scripture. It tells us that it is not because of us that we are saved. It is because of the grace and mercy of God.

And by the way, there is a knowledge, that’s the gospel, but it’s not a knowledge we come to ourselves. We are brought to it, called to it. All right, so if I’m putting chapter in verse divisions in1 Corinthians, I’m not going to say where they did it is the worst place. It might be the best place. Chapter1 ends, let the one who boast, boast in the Lord, great. That sounds like an emphatic statement. And it does change somewhat and we need a division. So here, chapter 2, verse1, Paul writes, “And when I came to you brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, very much a continuation of what came before, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” So Paul is continuing the same thing. It’s not worldly wisdom.

This isn’t a sophisticated philosophy. This is the message of the cross. It is the gospel of Christ. So we don’t have anything to do with those who are playing intellectual games and are filled with intellectual pride. This is not the product of an intellectual quest. There is cognitive truth content to the gospel, but you only believe it if your eyes have been opened and your heart has been called in such a way that you hear the gospel and believe in believing you are saved.

And the apostle Paul comes back, you notice how he makes arguments. He’s like a courtroom attorney. He argues this way, then he argues that way. Then he argues in the front. He argues from the back. He leaves you no escape. And just when you think he’s finished with the thought, he’s not finished. He speaks very personally in chapter 2. And when I was with you, he says, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” So there’s this dichotomy. It’s a very clear distinction. Our faith is going to rest either in the power of God or in the wisdom of men. Now that’s actually one of those verses in scripture that is incredibly helpful to me every single day.

Every single day, every single day as I have to think about the things I have to think about. I wonder, how can people think as they think? Seriously, how can they think as they think? How can they say it’s just biomass in a woman’s womb? How can they say that? How can you say that? How can you say that a boy can be a girl? I mean, how can you say that? But that’s just kind of two of the most obvious things that are said as evidence of a massive, massive, massive civilizational project to say things that are absolute nonsense. We don’t know better because we are smarter. We know better because we are Christ. We don’t think better because we’re smarter in the ways of the world, but rather the gospel has reached us. The apostle Paul speaking of himself makes very clear that at least some in Corinth were looking for the wrong things. They were looking for Paul, the super apostle who had come in with power and oratory and he would come in and he would fill the room and people would say when he spoke what a marvelous, marvelous much as it was, every word he speaks is dripping with authority.He is the master of rhetoric. He is the doctor of logic.

Instead, there were some in Corinth who heard the apostle Paul preach the gospel and they said, That’s all there is? And he’s not impressive. The apostle Paul says, “Not only was I not impressive, I was trembling. I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling and my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom.” We were just asking the question, how can people think as they think? How can they think as they think? Sociologists and others speak of plausibility structures. It’s actually very helpful when you’re thinking about how worldviews work. We each have a worldview and that worldview includes some plausibility structures. Those plausibility structures are thoughts that make other thoughts possible. So just to take an obvious example, very much in the headlines these days, you either consider it plausible or not that gender is separate from say biological sex, right? But if you do accept the plausibility that gender can be separated from biological sex, then you can say plausibly of a boy that’s a girl or a girl there’s a boy or a woman there’s a man or a man there’s a woman or he’s a woman today.You can’t even keep the pronouns straight, they can change overnight.

But behind that principle, there’s another belief that makes that subsequent belief plausible. And before that, there’s another belief that makes everything that follows plausible. That’s a way of argument. It’s an ancient way of arguing. It’s a plausibility structure. You start with one thing, we’re agreed on that, now this, now this, now this, now this, now this. And there’s a sense in which when we share the gospel, we want to do so in an orderly way. We want to do so in a way that makes very clear the rational truth claims of the gospel. We want to be persuasive in the right spiritual sense, but we’re not showing up like the polished orator of Athens, the polished rhetorician of Rome. We’re showing up as a witness to Jesus Christ. That’s the Apostle Paul. He was with you. He was with them. He says, “I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling. My speech and my message are not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that,” and so now we have the instrumental in demonstration of the spirit and of power “so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Now once again, this is very helpful, very helpful. Our faith is either going to rest in the wisdom of men or in the power of God. And you’ll notice these clauses are not the same. It doesn’t say so that your faith might not rest in the power of men, but in the power of God. It also doesn’t say that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the wisdom of God, the Holy Spirit inspired so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

So our salvation is directly traceable to what by human wisdom is absolutely insane, that our problem is sin and that the redemptive remedy is the cross. I’m thankful we can put that to beautiful music. It’s glorious to sing it, but we need never to forget what it sounds like to those who are hoping for something else. This is all we’ve got, the message of the cross. But I turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and I think that the break actually comes not so much in chapter 2 verse1, but in chapter 2 verse 6. I think the first 5 verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 2 are really a continuation in one rhetorical stream or train of what the apostle Paul was doing in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And let’s recall, let’s just remind ourselves. In1 Corinthians chapter 1, he’s saying, “You weren’t saved because you’re wise. You weren’t saved because of your intellect. You weren’t saved because you figured this out. Christianity’s not a wisdom cult. It’s not a mystery cult. Christianity is a public gospel, a redemptive message, the singular redemptive message for humanity. All of this is to be so that our faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

But verse 6 begins, “Yet.” Okay, there’s more. Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom. It’s not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a whoa, secret and hidden wisdom of God. Whoa, whoa. So after saying Christianity is not a mystery cult, after he’s saying this is not about worldly wisdom, but about the power of God, he then says on the other hand… Okay, now when someone like the Apostle Paul says,” On the other hand, we better pay very close attention for two reasons. Number one, because what’s going to come as surprising, and number two, if we’re not careful, we’re going to get this wrong. So on the other hand, we really have to lean into everything we’ve heard the Apostle Paul say, everything the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and in the first verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

But then he says after this is about the power of God, not the wisdom of men, he then says, “Yet, on the other hand, among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age.” It’s going to pass away. It’s doomed to pass away. But he even uses the term secret and hidden. We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

Oh, wow. We better be really careful here. So the first thing we come to know is that Christianity is not about wisdom. The second thing we come to know is that Christianity is about wisdom. All right, we just jumped to verse here. Okay, so if Christianity’s not about wisdom, but mature Christianity is about wisdom, we better track the word wisdom real carefully. All right? So the apostle Paul has spent all this time in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and the first verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 2 saying it’s not about worldly wisdom. And in the last verse of this flow of the argument in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 5, he says, “It’s not about the wisdom of men, but about the power of God. But who is the all wise one?” God alone.

And we do impart a wisdom to the mature, to those who are in Christ. It’s a secret and hidden widow of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. And the Apostle Paul says, “The rulers of this age don’t get it. They reject it. If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” All right, so he says there’s a secret and hidden knowledge. He cites the Old Testament, “what no eye has seen or heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” And then in verse 10, these things God has revealed to us through the spirit, for the spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. He speaks to the spirit’s role in the Trinity “for who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of the person who is in him. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God.

Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given us by God and we impart this.” That’s very key. In verse 10, we impart this. In verse 6, he said, “We do impart wisdom.” So here’s where the circle comes. “We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths for those who are spiritual.” Okay, that’s really helpful. There’s a lot of words in a rush. We better think very carefully. It’s not about wisdom. Oh yes, it’s about wisdom. It’s not about earthly wisdom. It’s not about human wisdom, but the gospel does impart a wisdom to the mature, to those who are in Christ, to those who are growing in grace. They’re also growing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

They are growing in the knowledge of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. They are growing in obedience to Christ. They’re growing in the spirit and they’re growing by revelation. Notice how careful the Apostle Paul is to say, “This isn’t a secret knowledge that we’re sending you out to investigate in terms of further secrets. It’s all about the revelation of God taught by the spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The Holy Spirit is who alone,” and this is the digression here in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit alone is able to reveal these things to us, but the Holy Spirit does reveal these things to us. And there is among the mature, among born again believers, there is a mature, a wisdom that is imparted and that wisdom comes through scripture and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The church has this responsibility, and I love the fact that he uses the same verb. So in verse 13, we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit. That’s what I’m seeking to do right now. I have no authority. I’m bringing you this. There’s no secret knowledge I have that’s worth knowing. I’m preaching Christ to you from the scriptures. It’s the authority of God in his word. It’s not my authority. This also isn’t secret. We’re streaming this to the world. The world may ignore it, but it is the same message we proclaim. We proclaim the same message in here as out there. Someone ask us what is the gospel of Christ? We answer the same way in here and everywhere else. But we do grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do grow. We are to aim towards maturity. The Apostle Paul makes that so clear. We aim towards maturity and to the wise in the world, there is no credit, but to the mature in Christ, it’s evidence of grace.

The Apostle Paul in this last part of chapter 2 says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God for their folly to him. He’s not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” So someone who’s spiritually dead cannot discern the things that can only be discerned spiritually. But in verse 15, he says, “The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.” That’s also important. That’s also important. I’ve had to lean into this verse in my life. I’ve been in situations of intellectual exchange. I’ve been in situations of debate. I’ve been in situations of conflict. And I can just tell you that I’ve been in situations where there are some who are unbelievers, who are professors and authors and intellects of renown, and they will basically hear the presentation of the gospel and then they will look at the one who brings it and they will judge him. You’re stupid enough to believe this. They may be kind enough to think, you’re brave enough to show up and say it, but the natural person doesn’t understand the things of God. To the natural person, to the natural person, the gospel is totally alien. He’s not able to understand these things because they’re spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. We don’t submit the Christian gospel for the latest list of mystery cults and intellectual systems. We preach Christ.

In verse 16,” For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him,” again, that reference to Isaiah 40,” But we have the mind of Christ.” In the background to our thinking and our thinking about thinking and our thinking about who we are thinking about thinking, in the background to all of that, we know there is a flow of human history and that flow of human history includes cities like Athens and Rome and Jerusalem. There is a wisdom that we inherit from Jerusalem and Athens and Greece. There is a civilization we call Western civilization and it’s largely shaped and I think essentially shaped and can only be shaped by the kind of ordered thinking that came in precisely through the Christian church, through centuries of Christian influence. All that is now being denied and all that’s being subverted. We as Christians trying to find our way in the midst of all of this, we rightly turn. It’s not wrong. We rightly turn to try to seek to understand intellectually the challenges of our age, the apologetic challenges, the evangelistic challenges, the how are we going to live faithfully challenges for the Christian church. We have a confrontation of worldviews. We have a clash of ideas. Christians are involved in all of this. And we have to be the people who show up saying, “I am here as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m here in the authority of God’s word. I stand on the authority of God’s word. That’s the only authority I have. That’s all the authority we need.” But we do understand that we are currently in a situation that is probably hauntingly like that of the first generation of Christians in Corinth. A swirl of worldviews, a swirl of confusions, a swirl of ideologies and all the rest.

And then of all things, the Apostle Paul comes along and makes very clear God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong. Just in the time we needed the encouragement that we have a role to play in terms of defending the Christian faith and presenting the faith, the things of Christ. And just when we think, okay, we got a big challenge here. He punctures our pride and says, no, that’s not how you got here. It’s not how you got here. The Christian gospel, the gospel of Christ is not about worldly power or worldly wisdom. As a matter of fact, God said, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discerning of the discerning I will thwart.”

And then he says again in chapter 1, he says, look at yourselves. Seriously, “look at yourselves. Not many of you are wise by worldly standards. Not many were powerful, many of noble birth. God shows what’s foolish in the world to shame the wise. God shows what’s weak in the world to shame the strong.” Thanks. We need it. We know we need it. Thanks be to God for that revelation. We need to know the power of the gospel is foolishness to the world. We’re not believers because worldly wisdom brought us here. But yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom. There was not a wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away. Well, if it’s not that, yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it’s not a wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age, well then what is it?

Well, it’s the things revealed to us by the spirit. It’s not matters that are conveyed by human wisdom, but those that are taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. What I want you to see, what I want us to see together is that that entire chapter and that entire argument of 1 Corinthians chapter 1 takes this diversion in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 6. Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, though it’s not the wisdom of this age. Well, then what is it? And the least elaborated thought in this entire text are the final words of chapter 2, “but we have the mind of Christ.”

I don’t know how to express that. It seems it needs to be shouted. I mean, what would it mean that we have the mind of Christ? I mean, just pause for a moment. We have the mind of Christ. All around us are pretensions of wisdom and all around us are displays of worldly wisdom and all around us is a conspiracy to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We’ve been redeemed by grace, bought by the blood of the lamb. And it’s not because of human wisdom and the gospel doesn’t even ring true to human wisdom, but it’s true and powerful and saving for those who believe who are called unto Christ by the power of the spirit.

So we’re not a society of the wise and yet we are. We are called to a wisdom. It’s not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age. And then how are we going to describe it? What then is it? The mind of Christ? I just want to submit to you, I think this is one of the most astounding statements in all of the scripture. I think it’s breathtaking. You have to go back to it again and again. Did Paul really say we have the mind of Christ? All right. Well now we better be careful, right? We better be very, very careful. It’s not exactly the same as saying we have Christ’s mind.

We’re talking about Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man, second person of the Trinity. We’re talking about God and human flesh. We’re talking about perfect, absolute, unconditional knowledge. That’s not what Paul is saying we have. So then what have we? If we don’t have the mind of Christ in saying we have Christ’s mind, then what do we have as the mind of Christ? It is the intellect, the wisdom, the rationality of a mind devoted to Christ, transformed by Christ and united to Christ in union with Christ. Now, we speak of the imperative and we rightly speak of the imperative of developing a Christian mind.

A generation ago, Harry Blamires, a British author, wrote a book entitled The Christian Mind. And the reason why that title is mentioned so often is because he kind of coalesced in a title, a concern that so many people had. The book’s not phenomenal, but the title’s powerful. We are to develop a Christian mind. We are to have the mind of Christ, but we are growing into the mind of Christ as we are taught. It is a wisdom imparted to those who are mature. We grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who inspires the words of scripture works in our hearts to illumine us. The same spirit who drew us unto Christ for our salvation draws us also into maturity in Christ. But it is described here in terms of Christian maturity as something that is given to us by God’s grace and that is the mind of Christ.

And thus we are to seek to live by the mind of Christ. We are to seek to think by the mind of Christ, to live to be out of the mind of Christ. That is a mind that is rightly taught by Christ, rightly submitted to Christ, rightly devoted to Christ, rightly sacrificed to Christ, rightly learning from Christ. And it is the mind of Christ in the very important sense that it can come only to those who are in Christ, united to him by faith, redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

I am not someone who enjoys a roller coaster. I find them bodily offensive. I was talked into riding on the beast at King’s Island nearly a half century ago. That’s how old it is. I think a part of me still rides on that roller coaster. I have no good memory of it whatsoever other than I survived. This is however, a textual roller coaster. You better buckle up. 1 Corinthians1 and 1 Corinthians 2, just in what we’ve seen, it’s a roller coaster. By God’s grace and for his glory, we are shown that God chooses the foolish things of the earth to shame the wise, the weak things of the world to shame the powerful so that no pride would be in us. There is no worldly wisdom that draws us to the cross or keeps us at the cross, but yet, yet there is a wisdom that is imparted to the mature. And then just when we’re trying to figure out what in the world that would be like, we come to the last phrase and it just stands there, but we have the mind of Christ. I just want to tell you something. I have to tell you something. I don’t know how in the world we would do what we do. I don’t know how in the world this institution would even exist. I have no idea how we would operate in the world. I have no idea what we would teach or how we would teach or anything else, but for the confidence that is here declared in God’s word as the Holy Spirit has inspired the Apostle Paul to say to Christians, remember all that, but remember this, we have the mind of Christ.

Otherwise, there would be no hope for us. We would be intellectual roadkill. We would be absolutely defenseless. We wouldn’t know what to say or think or do, but for one thing, but what a one thing it is, brothers and sisters, we have the mind of Christ.

Let’s pray. Father, we’re so thankful for all you’ve revealed in your word. Thank you so much for this passage. Thank you for taking us up and down, surprising us, astounding us. But Father, we thank you for saving us and for redeeming us and for uniting us to Christ. And may we grow in grace and may we grow in knowledge in such a way that the mind of Christ becomes ever more real in us and everything we do is to that end to your glory, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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Third Avenue Baptist Church

Louisville, KY

2 Corinthians 3:1–18

October 11, 2026

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Third Avenue Baptist Church

Louisville, KY

2 Corinthians 1:12-2:17

October 4, 2026

* Please note there is 13 minute gap in the teaching recording due to a power failure at the church.

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Third Avenue Baptist Church

Louisville, KY

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

September 27, 2026

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Third Avenue Baptist Church

Louisville, KY

The Flow of Biblical History in Joshua

Joshua 1:1-24:33

September 20, 2026

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