Ron Dunn Podcast - The Spiritual Man

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

The ideal and standard that the Bible holds up is that you might be spiritual.

I'm reading again this evening from 1 Corinthians, the second chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, beginning with the 14th verse, and we'll read through the first verse of chapter 3. 1 Corinthians 2, 14, through verse 1 of chapter 3. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? And then here comes a phrase that you wouldn't believe if it weren't in the Bible, but we have the mind of Christ.

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. But he that is spiritual, that is the ideal that God holds up to every believer. There is a certain destination, a certain goal that every true believer wants to arrive at. And as we've already seen, it is necessary, first of all, for him to discover where he is before he can make any progress. But if you would like to know what is the destination and what is the goal that God is trying to draw us towards, you have it right there in verse 15, "...he that is spiritual." That is the ideal, the standard that the Bible holds up for every believer. If I had to be in this life, it's this, that you and I might be spiritual,

spiritual, the spiritual believer. Now there are three kinds of Christians. We will discuss the other two kinds at a later time, but tonight we want to discuss this kind, he that is spiritual, he that is spiritual. I've made an interesting discovery as I've studied this. How would you describe a spiritual man? How do you know when a fellow is spiritual or not? If I were to ask you, write down in one phrase what you consider to be the distinguishing characteristic of a spiritual man, what would you write? Now, no fair looking at your Bible. Don't peek.

But what would you say is a spiritual man? Who is a spiritual man. Who is a spiritual man? You say, well, a spiritual man is someone who is filled with the Spirit. Now, a spiritual man is a Spirit-filled man, but a Spirit-filled man may not be a spiritual man. Is that clear? A spiritual man is a spirit-filled man, but a spirit-filled man may not be a spiritual man. And one of the discoveries that I made is that if I had been writing this text and I had been describing a spiritual man, I would never in a million years have used what the Apostle Paul used to describe a spiritual man. Man, here's a great opportunity, Paul, for you to really describe what a spiritual man is. And it seems to me that he blew it. He that is spiritual, notice, he that is spiritual judges all things. Now, would you have ever in your lifetime used that to describe and to identify

one who is spiritual? He that is spiritual appraises, judges, evaluates, discerns all things, yet he himself is not appraised, not evaluated, not judged, not discerned by anybody. Now that is an unusual description of one who is spiritual, but I think before we're through tonight you will see that it is the primary description of one who is spiritual. Now are you spiritual? Am I spiritual? We want to classify ourselves. We're trying to find our location, our position spiritually in this pilgrimage. How do I know whether or not I am spiritual? What is the identifying marks of one

who is spiritual? I have two or three that I want to share with you tonight. The spiritual man, in the first place, the spiritual man is the Christian who is mature. Now, I said a moment ago that a spiritual man is a man who is Spirit-filled, but a Spirit-filled man is not necessarily spiritual. In other words, not everybody who is filled with the Spirit is spiritual in the sense, the technical sense of the New Testament. You see, he that is spiritual is one who is mature. He is a mature Christian. It is possible for an immature Christian to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is possible for a brand new Christian to be filled with the Spirit. As a matter of fact, it's my belief that every person at the moment of his salvation be filled with the Spirit. As a matter of fact, it's my belief that every person at the moment of his salvation is filled with the Spirit. I believe at the very

moment a man is saved, he is filled with the Spirit. Now, he gets empty not long after that because he fellowships with so much other Baptists, but when he is saved, he is filled with the Spirit. Why? Because when a man is saved, he is filled with the Spirit. Why? Because when a man is saved, he is as right with God as it's possible for a man to be. He has submitted himself to the Lordship of Jesus. He has brought himself under the sovereign control of the Lord Jesus Christ. At that moment, the Holy Spirit is in control of his life. He is filled with the Spirit. But after that, the flesh asserts itself because of inadequate instruction,

because of the immaturity of his own experience, he falls prey to the flesh and to the world and the devil, and he comes to go through a wilderness experience. And this is why in Ephesians chapter 5, Paul writes to people who've already been saved, who have already been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and commands them that they are to be filled with the Spirit. It is possible for a young, immature Christian to be filled with the Spirit, but simply because he has been filled with the Spirit does not mean he is, quote, spiritual.

Because the spiritual Christian is the mature Christian. Now, two things I want to say in support of this. The first one is found in chapter 3, verse 1. Paul says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Now do you see the contrast? Paul is saying at one end of the spectrum we have babes in Christ. Now let me insert, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but the Greek

word translated carnal in verse 1 is different from the word translated carnal in verse 3. The word translated carnal in verse 1 does not denote a bad Christian. In verse 1, there is no indictment leveled against these people. The indictment doesn't come until the latter part of verse 2. And Paul is saying, when I came to you, my first preaching mission to you, when I came to you, I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. I couldn't feed you with strong meat. You weren't able to bear it. You weren't grown up. I had to feed you with milk because you were a babe in Christ. You were a young Christian. Nothing wrong with that. Everybody has to start out a baby. Everybody has to start out young. Everyone starts out on milk. He says you were babes in Christ. Therefore, I could not

treat you as though you were spiritual. You see, what Paul is saying is this. On the one hand, there are the babes in Christ. On the other hand, there are those who are what? Spiritual, mature, full-grown, spiritual adults. All right, another passage, one that we'll be looking at several times, Hebrews chapter 5, verses 11 through 14. Hebrews chapter 5, verses 11 through 14. Of whom, speaking of Melchizedek, we have many things to say, and are hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing. Paul says, rather the writer of Hebrews says, I have a number of things I want to

say to you about Melchizedek, but he said, I don't know if I can go on or not because you are dull of hearing. You're not able to take much of this. For in verse 12, when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk, now get this, is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. Verse 14, But strong meat, or solid food, belongeth to them that are of full age, mature, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Now, I want you to put these two passages together.

In 1 Corinthians 2, 15, what is the identifying mark of he that is spiritual? He has the ability to discern. In Hebrews chapter 5, verse 14, what is the identifying mark of that person who is mature, who is full grown? He has trained himself to become able to discern good and evil. Now, I want you to see something. He says in verse 14 that they that are of full age are those, who are those who are full grown? Who are those who are mature? They are those who, the King James says a little bit ambiguously, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. The New American Standard reads like this, but solid food is for the mature who because, now get this, who because of practice

have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Another literal rendering of the Greek text is this, they have skill acquired through practice to discern good and evil. Another man translates it like this, their faculties have been trained by practice to discern good and evil. Now, he that is spiritual is he that is able to discern all things. He's able to look at something and evaluate it. Now, Hebrews says that that man who is mature is that one who has, now follow me, through practice, not through an experience, but through practice, not through an experience, but through practice has trained his faculties to discern good and evil. Do you see the time element involved? Do you see the time element involved? Now, as I was reading this, the first thought that came to me was, well, what about the gift

of discernment in 1 Corinthians 12? That doesn't take training, and that doesn't take time, that doesn't take skill, that doesn't take practice. If a man is given the gift of discernment, he has it. But if you'll check it out, you'll discover that Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 is talking about a discernment of spirits. That is the ability to discern whether or not someone who is speaking is speaking from God or is speaking from the evil one. That gift was necessary, especially before the Bible came to be in written form as we have it, and when the Word of God was passed on by oral tradition.

There were men and women in the church, and even to this day, who had a supernatural ability to discern what spirit that message came from. That's altogether different from what he's speaking about in these passages. This is simply the ability to look at two things, to examine them, and be able to tell which one's right and which one is wrong. And my dear friends, that does not come overnight. That does not come through a supernatural experience. That does not come through just an experience of being filled with the Spirit, that comes through time, through training, through practice,

when a man has trained his faculties and has acquired skill to discern right from wrong. The spiritual man is a mature Christian. He is a mature Christian. Now, there are two characteristics of a mature Christian. He is a mature Christian. Now there are two characteristics of a mature Christian. Number one, he's able to take strong meat. He's able to take strong meat. He's able to take the strong things of the Word of God. He's able to take and understand and appreciate the deep things of the Word of God. Our good friend, Dr. J.P. Macbeth used a phrase some time ago that I asked him about. He spoke of a certain church being able, being full of intelligent listeners. It was easy for him, he said, to speak in this certain church because it was full of intelligent

listeners. I said, what do you mean by intelligent listeners? He said, the more a person knows, the more he has experienced, the more he has learned, the more he has grown, the more intelligently he can listen and hear. And he said, I can take them farther, and I can take them deeper into the Word and they can listen and appreciate it because they are intelligent listeners. He said, other churches that I go to, they do not have intelligent listeners and I cannot go too deep in the Word. I have to stay with the elementary things of the Word of God.

The mature person, the spiritual person, is one who is able to take the strong meat of the Word of God. The mature person, the spiritual person, is one who is able to take the strong meat of the Word of God. Let me just illustrate this, a very simple illustration. If you were to go into the average, now I'm underlining that word, the average Southern Baptist church, or the average any Baptist church, I would say, and say that you're going to have an evangelistic campaign, and you bring in an evangelist and a music evangelist, and you advertise and you promote, you could have a great attendance. But you go into the average Baptist church and say, we're going to have a Bible conference, and we want you to come together every night,

and we're going to study the doctrines of the Bible, I guarantee you, you won't have half the crowd at that meeting that you'll have at the other meeting. Why is that? Because there are few people in the mass of our churches who are spiritually mature enough to appreciate and to take the solid meat of the Word of God. So the first characteristic is this, that mature Christian, that spiritual man,

is that one who can take strong meat of the Word of God, appreciates the deep things of the Word of God. The second characteristic is this, not only is he able to be fed with strong meat, he is able to feed others. I think I could just about classify everybody in MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church into this category. Either those who have to be fed or those who are able to feed others. Did you know there are many Christians that you're always having to feed them. Sometimes a pastor is nothing more than a, I started to say a 200-pound nurse, but I will amend that. Sometimes a pastor is nothing more than a 180-pound babysitter who has to spend most of his time, and this is the tragedy of modern-day pastors, they have to spend most of their time babying and nursing people

who ought to be able to take care of themselves spiritually. And there are those who are never able to make it for themselves, never able to feed themselves or feed others. They are constantly needing to be ministered to, constantly needing to be fed. And the writer of Hebrews says,

right now you ought to be teachers, and yet you are those who have to be fed. And the writer of Hebrews says, right now you ought to be teachers, and yet you are those who have to be taught over and over and over again the elementary things, the ABCs of the Christian life. The mature believer is that one who is able to minister to others. He is able to feed others. In tracing down these different references to those that were spiritual, I came to this one in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 1, a very interesting statement. He says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, now notice this, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, Now, I want you to notice, and this is extremely interesting to me,

Paul says if there's somebody in the church that has fallen, that has backslidden, they have slipped and they're out of joint, they're out of place, he said now that brother needs to be restored. But who is to do the ministry of restoration? He says, ye who are spiritual. Those that are mature are supposed to do the work of restoration. Two reasons for this. Number one, an immature Christian will find himself criticizing and condemning that person who is weak in the faith.

This is why he says you must restore him in a spirit of meekness. I find that one of the characteristics of an immature Christian, of a baby Christian, is his intolerance of the faults of others. By the way, that is the mark of an immature person, period. Intolerance of the failures of others. And one of the benefits, I suppose, of growing older and more mature because you yourself fail so much is you develop a certain empathy, a certain sympathy, a certain understanding, a certain tolerance for others

when they fail. And so he says, those that are mature, those that are spiritual, are to be the ones who are to restore others because they will be less likely to be critical and condemning. They will be tolerant and understanding. They will do it in the spirit of meekness. Second reason it ought to be a spiritually mature person is because he says, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. Now, are you listening carefully? There have been many instances where a young Christian has seen another Christian falling by the wayside, and he has attempted to restore him, but because he himself is immature, and he

himself has not yet reached maturity, instead of helping that man out of the hole, he falls into it with him. I've seen it happen again and again. When a young, immature Christian tries through fellowship and association and companionship restore a fallen brother. Most of the time, so much of the time, he will find himself slipping down to where that man is. And so the mark of a spiritual man is not only is he able to take the strong things, the strong meat of the Word of God,

he is able to feed others also. He's able to help others also. A spiritual person is that one who is mature. Now, I hope you appreciate this. This can be very helpful. This can be extremely helpful because in our church, as in many other churches, a great many people have come into a new experience with the Lord. They have submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

They have been filled with the Spirit, and they've found themselves to be manifesting so many immature characteristics. They have found themselves to be exhibiting so many things that are childish in the Christian life. They find themselves failing over and over again, and one of the first reactions is to discount that experience that they had, and say, well, man, I guess it wasn't real. I guess there's nothing to it. If you come to understand that being filled with the Spirit does not mean that you are mature, but it puts you on the road to maturity, it'll help you a great deal.

If we can get away from this idea of saying that anybody who's Spirit-filled will be mature at the same time. It will help us a great deal because as someone has said, there is such a thing as instant spirituality, but there is no such a thing as instant maturity. It takes time. All right, the first thing, he is a mature believer. Now, you may be spirit-filled. You may be zealous. You may be a soul winner. Man, you may be on fire for God. That does not mean you are spiritual. That does not mean you are mature. You may still be a babe in Christ, growing but not grown. The spiritual person is he that is mature. Second characteristic, we've already touched on it, he has the ability to discern.

Now, as I said earlier, this to me is a very unusual way to identify a person who's spiritual. I would never have thought of it. He that is spiritual judges or appraises all things. That Greek word is a legal term, meaning to make a preliminary examination, to scrutinize or to investigate, to make a preliminary examination, and then on the basis of that examination to make, now follow me, to make a right judgment. It is the ability to judge that which is spiritual from that which only seems to be spiritual. It is the ability to make a correct moral and spiritual judgment in people and in things. You know, I've seen in my own life, you've seen in your life and in the lives of others, here is a person, man who has an experience with the Lord, he's on fire, his heart is hot for God,

he's filled with the Spirit, but you know what? He can be deceived again and again and again. He'll look at something and he'll think that it's spiritual. It looks spiritual. It smells spiritual. It sounds spiritual. But it isn't. It's soulish. You know, a lot of times churches have been embarrassed and they've had to live down the reputation of some of the people they've had in to give testimonies i was talking with this about a friend not long ago you know the the moment a hollywood star is converted to christ or we hear that they're converted you know we'll rush right out and ask them to give their testimony that's fine that's great but i tell you a lot of times we've had to hang our heads in shame and be embarrassed because that person that we thought

was spiritual turned out not to be spiritual. And later on, he said and did things that caused us a great deal of embarrassment. It's pretty tough for a church, for our denomination to have to live down a testimony of somebody. And you see, that person who is spiritual has the ability, the sensitivity of the Spirit. He has developed his faculties through training and practice where he can judge and appraise a thing whether or not it is spiritual or if it just seems to be spiritual. Now, I want to tell you something. One of the tragedies of so many churches is that they are being run and the business of the church many times is being carried on by people who do not have the ability to appraise and see who is spiritual and who is not.

As I go from church to church, I discover that there are two extremes to this, that the majority of the work, the leadership, the planning, the organizing of a church in your average church, and I'm speaking on the average church, that's to escape anything personal here. But anyway, I'm speaking on the average. That you have two extremes. Many times in a church, the major business, the major decision, the organizing, the planning, the actually running and leading of that church will be done by men who are old in years, but not in the Lord. And sometimes we have the idea that because simply a man has logged a number of years in the church,

this means that he is spiritually mature. And sometimes you will have older people yet spiritually immature making the decisions in a church and they do not have the ability to appraise that which is spiritual and that which is not. The other extreme is, and I find this in so many churches, that here is a young convert or a young fellow, man, he's just made a decision for the Lord. He's just turned it all over to the Lord. He's so zealous. He's so enthusiastic.

He's filled with the Spirit, and suddenly he finds himself in position after position, and yet he does not have the ability to discern that which is spiritual from that which only appears to be spiritual. The leadership and the work and the planning and the organizing of the church ought to be carried out and be led by those who are spiritual, who have given evidence they have the ability to appraise all things, to judge that which is spiritual from that which is not. So a spiritual man, a spiritual person, a mature person,

is that one who when he's faced, let's say he's faced with two decisions. He has a point of reference in himself. He's faced with two decisions. He has a point of reference in himself. He's faced with two decisions. Now, he has the ability to investigate, examine those two decisions, and to judge correctly which one is the spiritual and which one is not. The immature Christian, well, he'll hit and miss. But that's the way he becomes mature. Because as the writer of Hebrews says,

he through practice has acquired the skill of doing it. Now, I do not want to put this on too human a plane because it is the Holy Spirit within us that does give us the ability to discern, but the Bible also makes it clear it is also our experience time and time again, trial and error, that gives us this ability. And so it takes practice, and you make a lot of wrong decisions. Don't let that bug you. Don't let that bother you. Don't let the devil accuse you of that because you've made some wrong judgments and you've made some wrong appraisals. This is the way you are training yourself to make a right judgment. This is the way you are acquiring skill to do it. Well, you say, what should I do then if I do not have this skill, if I am not

mature enough? Then the writer of Proverbsverbs says there is much wisdom in many counselors. You need to ask God to show you people that you believe to be are more spiritual than yourself, more mature than yourself, that do have the ability to discern and to make a right evaluation about things and seek their counsel. And in seeking their counsel and in making your own mistakes, you will acquire the skill of discernment. Now this is so important because this is something that we very rarely ever think of in this matter of spirituality.

I'd be willing to say tonight that not one out of a hundred of you tonight have considered and thought in the past six months of this characteristic being necessary in the life of a man who is spiritual. And it is so easy for us to get our attention on experiences, on things like being filled with the Spirit and making a decision for Jesus to be Lord, and equating that with full maturity. It is not. It is not. The spiritual man is that one who has the ability to make right judgment, right judgment. All right, one more thing and then we'll be finished. The spiritual man is not only a mature Christian, he's not only a Christian who has the ability to evaluate, and notice it says all things.

I wish we could stop there for a minute. He says all things, not just sacred things, but secular things. And let me just back up there for a minute. He goes on in verse 16 to say why he has the ability. He says, we have the mind of Christ. Now that's amazing. The word mind means we have the understanding of Christ. It's not the word for brain. It's the word for understanding, the thought processes.

In other words, the spiritual man through maturity has come to the place where he sees things from not the world's viewpoint, not from his viewpoint, but he sees things from the Lord's viewpoint. He has the Holy Spirit in him, the passage says, and that Holy Spirit has given him through practice, through effort, through trial and error, through training, has given him the ability to say, hey, that fellow, there's something not right. This thing that we're contemplating, this is right. Now, he may not be able to give you a logical explanation. He may not be able to give you a rational explanation because it is an intuition that he has. It is an intuition. It's kind of like a woman's intuition. Well, on the average, on the average, we may not have any average women here tonight,

but I dedicate this to the women's lib movement. On the average, a woman does not need logic. Now, I didn't say she didn't have it. I said she doesn't need it. Man is dependent upon logic, by and large. I mean, you know, you have to be able to rationally, reasonably prove something to him logically. A woman doesn't necessarily need logic. She has a divine instinct.

She really does. She has an instinct. And I tell you, there's nothing quite so aggravating as someone who's right and doesn't know why they're right. You see this. You see this in Pilate's wife. She said, don't have anything to do with this man. I've been warned in a dream. Well, now that's the most illogical, unrational, unreasonable thing you've ever heard of. Here is a governor having to make an important legal judgment, and his wife comes along and says, listen, I had this dream. But he would have been a wise man if he'd listened to her. A woman doesn't need logic.

Why? She has an instinct, and she can instinctively know when something is right or something is wrong. Now, that's what the Apostle Paul is talking about. This is why the third characteristic says that he is an enigma or a mystery to the world. He appraises all things, but nobody can appraise him. He is able to evaluate all things, but nobody can evaluate him. Why? Because he knows by intuition, and he may not be able to give you a logical, rational, reasonable explanation for why he thinks as he thinks and why he believes as he does, but he knows it to be true, and you can understand it because he is spiritually in tune with the Lord.

The spiritual man is an enigma to the world. The world cannot figure him out. He's a mystery to the world. Therefore, he is often a misunderstood person. He is often a maligned person. He is often a person that is passed over by the world because the world cannot understand him. What the world cannot understand, it will attack. I was reading in the Gospel of Matthew a few days ago when Jesus was performing some miracles. And the people that were watching said, well, say, isn't this the carpenter's son? Yeah. Isn't Mary his mother? Yes. Don't his brothers and sisters live in Nazareth? Yes. Well, then where do

these miracles come from that he's doing? You see, they were trying to figure Jesus out. They were trying to appraise him. They were trying to discern him. They were trying to understand him. They said, now wait just a minute. Here's a fellow who's a carpenter's son, marries his mother. He grew up in Nazareth. Here's his brothers and sisters just like us, and yet he's performing miracles. Now how can that be? How can a fellow who's one of us, just a carpenter's son, that's all, how can he perform miracles? Well, we don't understand it, so he must be doing it by the power of the devil.

Something wrong with him. You see, what the world cannot understand, it will attack and criticize. The spiritual person is an enigma. Sometimes a man will become spiritual, and suddenly his family won't be able to understand him. They just, it's an enigma. Why is he doing what he's doing? What in the world has happened to my son?

What in the world has happened to my son? Oh, son, you need to take care, and you need to do certain things, and you need to, you're losing your sense, and you're losing your bearings, and you need to come back down to earth. He's just an enigma to them because he has reached a certain level of maturity, not where he's doing crazy, wild things, I'm not saying that at all, but where he is moving in a realm in which they themselves are not familiar with. He has become an enigma to them. So,

let me in summary say, a spiritual man is filled with the Spirit, but not every person who's filled with the Spirit is spiritual. A spiritual person is a mature person. He is mature. It's taken time. And folks, it's going to take time. I'm sorry, but it's going to take time. I wish tonight, I wish tonight that I could say to you, if you'll come and kneel here at this altar and you'll have this great experience, you'll go out a full-grown, mature Christian. But that's not the way it works. That's not the way it works. That will help you to become mature. That will give you impetus to become mature.

That will give you encouragement and strength and energy to become mature. But that will not make you mature. There is only one thing that will make you mature. That is your continuing cooperation with the Holy Spirit day in and day out and day in and day out through practice, through practice, through training, through training, through training. You develop your skills where you are able to judge that which is right from that which is wrong. He is a mature believer. Secondly, He has the ability to evaluate correctly all things. Boy, doesn't that make you want to be mature. Doesn't that make you want to be spiritual.

The ability to make a right judgment. Hit the nail on the head every time. Now immediately, that tells me that none of us have reached as far as we can. No matter how mature you are tonight, you can get more mature. No matter how much you have grown tonight, you can grow even more. And third, the spiritual person is that one who becomes an enigma to the world. Because he lives and moves with a different set of values, he sees things and evaluates things, not from the world's viewpoint, but from the Lord's viewpoint, because he has the mind of Christ.