LET TALK HOLY SPIRIT(Part 2) The Holy Spirit brings to remembrance the words of Christ. John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Here again we have teaching of the Holy Spirit, but we have something besides. This promise was made primarily to the Apostles, and is the guarantee of the accuracy of their report of what Jesus said; but the Holy Spirit does a similar work with each believer who expects it of Him, and looks to Him to do it. He brings to mind the teachings of Christ and the Word, just when we need them for either the necessities of our life or of our service. How many of us could tell of occasions when we were in great distress of soul, or great questioning as to duty, or great extremity as to what to say to one whom we were trying to lead to Christ or to help, and just the Scripture we needed -- some passage we had not thought of for a long time and perhaps never in this connection -- was brought to mind. It was the Holy Spirit who did this, and He is ready to do it even more when we expect it from Him. Is it without signifi- cance that in the verse following this blessed promise, Jesus says: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you? If we will just look to the Holy Spirit to bring to mind Scripture just when we need it and just the Scripture we need, we will indeed have Christs peace. The Holy Spirit reveals to us the deep things of God which are hidden from and foolishness to the natural man. It is primarily to the Apostles that He does this, but we cannot limit this work of the Spirit to them. Also: The Holy Spirit imparts power to discern, know and appreciate what he has taught. 1 Corinthians 2:9-14 [9] However, as it is written: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him -- [10] but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. [11] For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the mans spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. [12] We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. [13] This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. [14] The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. Not only is the Holy Spirit the author of divine revelation -- the written word of God -- He is also the interpreter of what He has revealed. How much more interesting and helpful any way deep book becomes when we have the author of the book right at hand to interpret it to us. This is what we always may have when we study the Bible. The author, the Holy Spirit, is right at hand to interpret. To understand the book we must look to Him and the darkest places become clear. We need to pray often with the Psalmist: Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. ( Psalms 119:18 ) It is not enough that we have the objective revelation in the written word, we must have the (subjective) inward illumination of the Holy Spirit to enable us to comprehend it. It is a great mistake to try to comprehend a spiritual revelation with the natural understanding. It is the foolish attempt to do this that has landed so many in the bog of the higher criticism. A man with no aesthetic sense might as well expect to appreciate the Sistine Madonna because he is not color- blind, as an unspiritual man to understand the Bible simply because he understands the laws of grammar and the vocabulary of the languages in which the Bible was written. I would as soon think of setting a man to teach art because he understood paints, as to set him to teach the Bible because he understood Greek and Hebrew. We all need not only to recognize the utter insufficiency and worthlessness before God of our own righteousness, which is the lesson of opening chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, but also the utter insufficiency and worthlessness in the things of God of our own wisdom, which is the lesson of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, especially the first to the third chapters. See, e.g.: 1 Corinthians 1:19-21, 26-27 [19] For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. [20] Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? [21] For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. [26] Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. [27] But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. The Jews had a revelation by the Spirit but they failed to depend upon Him to interpret it to them, so they went astray. The whole evangelical church recognizes the utter insufficiency of mans righteousness, theoretically at least. Now it needs to be taught and made to feel the utter insufficiency of mans wisdom. That is perhaps the lesson that this nineteenth century of overweening intellectual conceit needs most of any. To understand Gods word we must empty ourselves utterly of our own wisdom, and rest in utter dependence upon the Spirit of God to interpret it to us. Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. When we have put away our own righteousness, then, and only then, we get the righteousness of God. Philippians 3:3-9 [3] For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh -- [4] though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: [5] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; [6] as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. [7] But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. [8] What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Romans 10:3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to Gods righteousness. When we put away our own wisdom -- then, and only then, we get the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 3:18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a fool so that he may become wise. Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 1 Corinthians 1:25-28 [25] For the foolishness of God is wiser than mans wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than mans strength. [26] Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. [27] But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. [28] He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things -- and the things that are not -- to nullify the things that are, When we put away our own strength, then, and only then, we get the strength of God. Isaiah 40:29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christs power may rest on me. 1 Corinthians 1:27-28 [27] But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. [28] He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things -- and the things that are not -- to nullify the things that are, Emptying must precede filling. Self poured out so that God may be poured in. We must daily be taught by the Spirit to understand the word. I cannot depend today on the fact that the Spirit taught me yesterday. Each new contact with the Word must be in the power of the Spirit. That the Holy Spirit once illumined our mind to grasp a certain passage is not enough. He must do so each time we confront that passage. Andrew Murray has put this truth well. He says Each time you come to the Word in study, in hearing a sermon or reading a religious book, there ought to be, as distinct as your intercourse with the external means, a definite act of self- abnegation, denying your own wisdom and yielding yourself in faith to the Divine teacher.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 23:30:23 +0000
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