Sunday, July 1, 2012
THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH
John 16:12-15
For the
past few weeks we have been looking at what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit
the last night he was on earth. Our text
has been the words recorded in John 14-16.
We have seen that Jesus introduced the Spirit as the Comforter, the
Helper, the Paraclete (that is, the One called alongside). Jesus made it clear that it was to the
advantage of His apostles that He go away and send the Spirit to them. Not only was it advantageous to them, but it
is also to our advantage. Last week, as
we looked at how the Spirit’s presence is to our advantage, we dealt with John
16:7-11, where Jesus tells us how the Spirit will convict the world of sin,
righteousness, and judgment. This
morning we are going to continue right on with what Jesus said immediately
after that. So let’s read John
16:12-15…
I still have many things to say to
you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when
He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He
will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and
He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify
Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that
the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare
it to you.
Notice in
verse 13 that Jesus refers to “the Spirit of truth.” He is obviously talking about the Holy
Spirit, whom He often calls the Helper, or the Comforter. We find Jesus using that same term “Spirit of
truth” two other times earlier in the evening.
John 14:16-17, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He
may abide with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with
you and will be in you.” Also in John
15:26, “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the
Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of
me.” Jesus gives a certain emphasis to
the fact that the Spirit whom He will send is the Spirit of truth.
This morning we want to look at the
ministry of the Holy Spirit as it relates to truth.
I. The Spirit of Truth and the Bible
I want us
to begin by considering how the Spirit of truth is related to the Bible. Surely we would all agree that when we want
to find truth, we go to the Word of God.
But since the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, why not go to
Him? Perhaps we should rely upon both
the Bible and the Spirit of truth in our quest for truth. So which is more important? That is not a valid question. The written Word of God and the Spirit of
truth are intricately connected.
Question: When Jesus said in John 16:13 that the Spirit
of truth would guide into all truth, to whom was He speaking? Yes, to the eleven apostles (Judas had
already gone out to betray Jesus). Keep
in mind the immediate context of this statement. What did Jesus say in the verse before, in
verse 12? “I still have many things to
say to you, but you cannot bear them now?”
What did He mean, “You cannot bear them now”? Remember that the apostles were under a great
deal of stress. Their hearts were full
of sorrow. They couldn’t understand what
was happening. Even if Jesus had told
them more, they wouldn’t have remembered.
After the words recorded in the rest of this chapter (verses 13-33),
Jesus would say no more to them. Chapter
17 is His prayer to His Father. Though
Jesus had much more to say, His apostles were not able to handle them at this
time, and Jesus knew it.
It is
immediately after this statement that He tells them that when the Helper, the
Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide them into all truth. Do you see the connection? If Jesus has much more to say, but He can’t
say it at this time because His apostles aren’t ready for it, then when is He
going to tell them? After all, He will
be leaving them shortly, just as He had said.
Jesus won’t say much more to them, but when the promised Holy Spirit
comes to them, He will speak much to them.
He will guide them into all truth.
Jesus wasn’t able to lay all the truth on them at this time, but the
Spirit of truth would do it.
Now the big
question: What does Jesus mean by “all
truth”? At first, we might say, “We
don’t know, because Jesus doesn’t tell us.”
But think of it this way. If the
Spirit of truth communicated to these men all truth, then we should follow them
and see what they had to say after the Spirit of truth had blessed them with
“all truth.” So I ask you, what did they
have to say? One of those apostles was
named Matthew. Did he have anything to
say? Indeed, he did. We have it divided into 28 chapters and we
call it “The Gospel according to Matthew.”
What about John? Not only did he
write “The Gospel according to John,” but also three little letters and the
Book of Revelation. Did Peter write
anything? Yes, we have in our New
Testaments I and II Peter. In addition,
it has long been believed that Mark got most of his information for his gospel
account from Peter. If that is true,
three of the four gospel accounts rely upon the apostles as their source. Luke was not an apostle. As a doctor and historian, he explains that
he did careful research in order to write his account. Do you think he interviewed some of the
apostles, or at least others who knew the apostles? Surely he did, because some of the events in
his gospel account were known only by Jesus and the apostles.
Here’s the
point: The New Testament is basically
the product of the apostles, plus the work of that other apostle who was born
out of due time. What was his name? Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the
apostle.
So how were
these men able to write what they did?
Understand that they didn’t write anything until decades after Jesus
died and rose. How did they know what to
write? After all those years, how could
they remember so well the things that Jesus had said? Not only did Jesus say that the Spirit would
guide them into all truth, but He also said back in John 14:26, “But the
Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach
you all things, and bring to remembrance all things that I said to you.” That’s it.
They weren’t at the mercy of their human memory; Jesus promised that the
Spirit would remind them of all the things He had said. That is how Matthew was able to record the
Sermon on the Mount, and that is how John was able to remember all these things
Jesus said on this last night, even though he was confused and experiencing
deep sorrow.
Notice
especially those words we just read in verse 26 -- “all things that I said to
you.” To whom does the “you” refer? To the eleven apostles. Jesus was speaking directly to them. He didn’t say that to you and me. We have never heard the in-the-flesh Jesus
speak to us, but those men heard Him with their own ears. And because they heard Him and the Spirit
reminded them, we now have the very words of Jesus set forth in the gospels,
and praise God that we do.
So we see
that the Spirit of truth was instrumental in giving us the New Testament, and
the substance of “all truth” is what we have before us in that New
Testament. What is true of the New
Testament is just as true of the Old Testament.
Peter, one of those men whom Jesus promised to guide into all truth
writes these words in II Pet. 1:20-21, “ knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is
of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the
will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit.” Did you
hear that? Holy men of God spoke as they
were moved (literally, “carried along”) by the Holy Spirit. Who were these holy men? They were the men who wrote the books of the
Old Testament, for the Old Testament was the Bible of the apostles.
Jesus told His apostles that the
Spirit would bring to their remembrance all the things that He had said, but He
also said the Spirit would show them things to come (16:13). From the New Testament we discover that He
did both. He not only enabled them to
recall what Jesus said in the past, but He also showed them things to
come. On the very day that Jesus sent
the Spirit, the day of Pentecost, Peter quoted from the prophet Joel and spoke
of things to come. In the gospels, in
the epistles, and in the Revelation the Spirit tells of things far in the
future.
Brothers and sisters, be encouraged
to know that when you are reading the Bible, you are reading the work of the
Spirit of truth. Aren’t you glad that we
don’t have to go to the Bible with the task of determining what is true and
what is not true. There have been many
so-called biblical scholars down through the years who have felt it necessary to
discover which parts of the Bible are true and which are not. We can have confidence that the Spirit of
truth authored the Bible and preserved it so that we can read the very truth of
God. It is no small thing that the
Spirit of truth came to give us the Word of God.
II. The Spirit
of Truth and the Godhead
So how is this Spirit of truth
related to God the Father and Christ the Son?
During a Bible study this past week, someone was asking questions along
the lines of that question. Has the
Spirit always been? Yes, just as surely
as God the Father was in the beginning, so was the Spirit. That is why in the second verse of the Bible
we read that “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen.
1:2).
The reason we are considering the
Spirit’s relation to the Father and the Son is because that is what we
encounter in our text. Think about it
for a moment. Jesus’ apostles trusted
God the Father and they were learning more and more to trust Jesus. But now Jesus tells them that it is the Holy
Spirit who will guide them into all truth.
They were not ignorant of the Spirit.
They certainly knew the story of how the Spirit had come upon Samson,
and Gideon, and king Saul, and king David.
But now they were faced with the prospect of Jesus leaving and them
being dependent upon the Spirit. Could
they trust the Holy Spirit? What if He
told them something that wasn’t true?
Notice how Jesus speaks to this
issue here in verse 13, “However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, He
will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but
whatever He hears He will speak…” Just
let that soak in -- the Spirit of truth will not be acting on His own. If He is not going to speak on His own, then
where is He going to get this truth that He is going to communicate to the
apostles? Now come to verse
14, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare
it unto you.” There it is -- He will be
speaking on behalf of Jesus Himself.
This fits perfectly with what Jesus has already told them, that He will
not leave them as orphans, but He will come to them. When the Spirit of truth comes to these men
and speaks to them, what He says will come from their Lord Jesus.
So does God the Father play any part
in this process? Verse 15, “All things
that the Father has are Mine. Therefore
I said that He will take of Mine and declare it unto you.” I remind you that when Jesus spoke, He didn’t
speak on His own either. John
5:19, “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly I say to
you, the Son can do nothing of Himelf, but what He sees the Father do; for
whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.’” And again in John 5:28-29, “Then Jesus
said to them, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am
He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these
things. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left
Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.’” Here Jesus tells us that He both speaks and
acts as the Father directs me. So it
will be with the Spirit; He will only speak that is given to Him. And what will be given to Him will come from
Jesus, but what comes from Jesus really comes from the Father, for all that the
Father has belongs to Jesus. So the work
of the Spirit of truth is grounded in the Father and Son of truth.
So Jesus sets their minds at
ease. They can indeed trust the Spirit
whom Jesus will send. He is the Spirit of
truth, because He will take the truth that Jesus has received from the Father
and will communicate it to them.
Don’t miss the opening words of verse
15, “He will glorify me.” It is
such a simple statement, but it is critically important for our understanding
of the ministry of the Spirit. If we
remember this one truth and apply it thoroughly and often, we will be spared
many false ideas about the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus.
Consider that truth in light of the
apostles. Remember that these are the
men who will be the basic source for the New Testament. What they write will be under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit. And what will the Holy
Spirit do, as He guides them in writing and telling others? He will glorify Jesus. We see this truth played out in the fact that
the New Testament we have in our hands supremely glorifies Jesus. Jesus is it’s primary subject matter. Jesus is it’s supreme person. We find Jesus from Matt. 1:1 to Rev. 22:21,
from the very beginning of the New Testament unto its very end. What we find everywhere in between is the
glory of Jesus. Truly the Spirit of
truth, who is the ultimate author of the New Testament, has glorified Jesus
throughout its pages.
I remind you of what we discovered
earlier, that the Holy Spirit was sent by both Jesus and the Father. John 16:7, “Nevertheless, I tell you
the truth. It is to your advantage that
I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I
depart, I will sent Him to you.” But we
read in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring all things to your
remembrance.” We find these two truths
closely linked in John 15:26, “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to
you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will
testify of Me.” Here we see Jesus as the
sender of the Spirit, but He sends Him from the Father and He proceeds from the
Father. How could the Spirit of truth be
linked any closer to the God the Father and Christ the Son? Brothers and sisters, understand that the
Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, is indeed God.
III. The Spirit
of Truth and the Believer
Up to this point, I have put a great
deal of emphasis on the fact that when Jesus talked about the Spirit of truth
guiding into all truth, He was speaking to His apostles. The first application must be to them, and they
did indeed receive truth through the Spirit in a unique way, a way in which we
have not received truth. The Spirit was
able to bring things to their remembrance because Jesus had spoken those things
directly to the apostles. Surely we
cannot deny that the first application must be to these men through whom we
have received the New Testament.
Having said that, let me be
absolutely clear that such an emphasis does not mean the Spirit of truth has no
relation to the believer today. We might
say, “Well, of course the Spirit of truth is related to the believer today,
because it is through Spirit of truth that we have the scriptures, and the
believer is vitally related to the scriptures.”
While that is certainly true, we cannot limit our relationship to the
Spirit to the role of the written Word in our lives. The Holy Spirit relates directly to the
believer.
How do we know that? Think with me. The Spirit is a person. He is not some supernatural force; He is a
person, as much so as God the Father and Jesus the Son. We see this clearly in the New
Testament. The Spirit can be lied to
(Acts 5:1-11), grieved (Eph. 4:30), and quenched (I Thes. 5:19). He speaks (Rev. 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22) and
He directs (II Pet. 1:21). Furthermore,
He is alive today. We see the Spirit
from Gen. 1:2 to Rev. 22:17. And the
Spirit who is alive today lives within the believer. Were our relationship with the Spirit only
through the scriptures, there would be no reason for Him to live within
us.
At
this point, someone might say,
“But He lives within us so that He can make the scriptures plain to us. Are we not told in I John that He is our
teacher?” Again, this is certainly true,
but the Spirit’s illumination of the written Word does not exhaust His ministry
within the believer. As we saw last
week, it is the Spirit who gives us assurance.
He bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God (Rom.
8:16). It is through the Spirit that
Jesus has come to us, as He promised to do (John 14:18).
Now understanding that the believer
relates to the Spirit day by day, let’s come back to His identity as the Spirit
of truth. What does the indwelling
Spirit relate to the believer with respect to truth? Just as He guided the apostles into all
truth, so he leads us into all truth. Of
course, we have to again define “all truth.”
Emmet, this does not mean that when you take a math test, the
Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth by giving you the answer to all the
questions. Nor does it mean that the
Holy Spirit will give you inside information on what is going to happen with
the stock market or the price of gold.
We need to come to some understanding about “all truth.”
As various people shared last week,
the ministry of the indwelling Spirit is great and varied. This morning let me point out three things
that the Spirit does in the believer with respect to truth. First of all, He focuses the believer on
Jesus. This is what will help us most in
defining “all truth.” The Spirit will
testify of Jesus (John 15:26) and His testimony will glorify Jesus (John
16:14). So when we Jesus says the Spirit
will guide into all truth, we must understand that the “all truth” is centered
in Jesus. That certainly makes sense,
for Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” (John
14:6). Just as the truth of the
Bible is centered in Jesus, so the work of the Spirit in our lives will be
focused on Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, this is a
wonderful truth. We know that our
purpose in life is to glorify the Lord.
But in our own strength, we are not capable of carrying out that
purpose. We get distracted easily and
began to focus on other things of lesser value.
But praise God that His Holy Spirit works in us to bring glory to our
Lord Jesus. This is where we see the
Holy Spirit as our Helper, as the One called alongside. What greater ministry could there be than to
assist the believer to glorify the Son of God?
Right alongside glorifying Christ in
and through us, the Spirit of truth also guards us against deception. It would seem to be the most natural thing in
the world for followers of Jesus, who is the ultimate truth, to pursue truth
with all their hearts. Don’t you
think? However, there is a major problem. Our foremost enemy is none other than the
great deceiver, as he is called in Rev. 12:9.
He is the father of lies (John 8:44).
Though he is as vicious as a roaring lion, he masquerades as an angel of
light (I Pet. 5:8; II Cor. 11:14). Were
we battling him on our own, even the very elect would be deceived by him and
his allies (Matt. 24:24). Praise God
that we are not on our own, for the Spirit of truth dwells within us. He is not called the Spirit of truth for no
reason. He guides us into all truth.
One
of the greatest areas of deception revolves around that very Spirit of
truth. People attribute all kinds of
things to the Holy Spirit. Many of you
could give dozens of examples. One of
the greatest safeguards against such deception is the very Bible that the
Spirit authored. The Holy Spirit will
never lead someone to violate the scripture.
Suppose a woman tells you that the Spirit is leading her to divorce her
husband because he is verbally abusing her.
Surely you can’t be so bold as to decide whether or not the Spirit is
speaking to this lady. Yes, you
can. “No, this is not the Spirit of God
who is speaking to you, because He is the Spirit of truth and He has given us
His truth in the Bible.”
Please hear me. There is not a person in this room who is not
vulnerable to deception. That is because
Satan’s ability to trick us is overpowering.
The moment you think you are on solid ground and could not be deceived,
you are in big trouble. As I heard
someone say the other day, “Every time that I have been deceived, I was unaware
of it.” That is the very nature of
deception. Many years ago I remember
being greatly deceived, but I thought I was going in the right direction. My precious wife tried quietly to head me
off, but I was much too wise to listen to her.
A couple of brothers told me flat out that they thought I was off base,
but I marshaled all my abilities in trying to convince them that I was indeed
doing the will of the Lord. It would
have been better if I had listened to those who loved me. I and those around me would have been spared
much intense pain, but praise God that the Spirit of truth did turn me
around. He convicted me of my sin,
opening my eyes to the fact that I was not glorifying the Lord, and then He set
me back on the way of pursuing truth.
Conclusion
I want to conclude by looking at
something else the indwelling Spirit of truth does, which is closely connected
to His ability to guard us from deception.
The Spirit of truth also guards us against deception. As we talk about this valuable ministry, I
will also be summing up and illustrating how the Holy Spirit guides the
believer into truth.
Please turn to I Corinthians 2. We are going to be reading more of the
context in just a moment, but first let’s read just I Cor. 2:12, “ Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but
the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely
given to us by God.” Paul contrasts the Spirit of God with the
spirit of the world. The attitude that
is in the world is not dominated by truth, but the Spirit of God is indeed the
Spirit of truth. He has been sent to us
who belong to God in order that we might know the things that have been freely
given to us by God. I believe the
context makes it clear that this is more than just a mental knowledge; this is
an experiential knowledge that pierces deep within us.
We might ask, “What are
the things that have been freely given to us by God?” We can best answer that question by looking
at the context of this statement. As we
do so, I want us to watch for some things.
Thing about the things that have been freely give to us by God as
parallel to the “all truth” of which Jesus spoke. And as we read, remember that the Spirit
glorifies Jesus. Also remember what we
said about the Spirit guarding us from deception. And finally, be on the lookout for how the
Spirit deals with our pride. Now let’s
get the larger context of this verse by reading I Cor. 1:17-2:16…
For Christ did not send me to
baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of
Christ should be made of no effect. 18 For the message of the
cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved
it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: "I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the
prudent." 20Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this
world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through
wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message
preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a
sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ
crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but
to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than
men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For you
see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the
foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the
weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28and
the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen,
and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that
no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are
in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption-- 31 that, as it is written,
"He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not
come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of
God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness,
in fear, and in much trembling. 4And my speech and my preaching
were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the
wisdom of men but in the power of God. 6 However, we speak
wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the
rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
ages for our glory,8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for
had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But
as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into
the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love
Him." 10 But God has revealed them to us through His
Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For
what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in
him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,
that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These
things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the
Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But
the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet
he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For "who has
known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind
of Christ.
I realize that is a long passage,
but it is packed with truth. In this
passage, do you see the battle between deception and truth? The Jews who require a sign and the Greeks
who seek after wisdom are so deceived that the cross serves as a stumblingblock
to the Jews and is foolishness to the Greeks.
Both groups found the crucifixion of Jesus to be too confining. How could God focus everything on the death
and resurrection of this one man Jesus?
Surely truth is much broader than that.
Yet in this passage we see how all truth points unmistakably to the
cross. We see the glory of Jesus in 2:2,
“For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified.” And where did that come
from? We are told in verse 4, “And my
speech and my preaching was not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
The Holy Spirit was glorifying Jesus through the preaching of Paul, as
he focused on truth on the cross.
In 2:6 Paul continues to contrast
the wisdom of this world with the wisdom of God. Don’t miss the connection between the wisdom
of God and the Spirit of God. The rulers
of this world crucified the Lord of glory.
Nevertheless, what glory awaits those who love the Lord. Though no eye can see those precious things
which await, and though no ear has heard them, God has revealed them through
His Spirit. The Spirit is eminently qualified
to reveal these things because He searches the deep things of God. And we are qualified to understand these
things because we have not received the spirit of the world, but rather the
Spirit o God. Not only are we blessed
with the things that await us, but we have already been given much. It is the Spirit who enables us to know, to
experience, those things which God has given us. Brothers and sisters, whatever they are, they
are centered in Christ. We are told in
Col. 2:3 we are told that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden
in Christ. They are hidden to the world,
but the Spirit reveals them to us.
Now why has God designed it like
this? Why is it that He has called the
foolish, the weak, and the base things of the world? Why is it that a person cannot find His way
to God through the wisdom of this world?
The answer is in 1:29, “That no flesh should glory in
His presence.” God has so designed it in
order that none of His children can boast in His presence. If we don’t boast in ourselves, then what do
we do? We glory in Christ and His
cross.
Now let’s relate that truth to the
Spirit of truth. I am going to read
verses 14-15 out of the New American Standard Version because there is a word
that is used three times in these two verses, and the NASV translates it the
same way every time. I
Cor. 2:14-15 (NASV), “ But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.” The natural man is the person who does not
have the Spirit (see Jude 19, the only other place where the Greek translated
here as “natural man” is used). When a
person doesn’t have the Spirit, he cannot understand the things of the Spirit. The things of the Spirit are the things that
center in Christ. They are the things
that have been freely given to us by God.
No matter how smart a person is, he cannot experience these things. Oh yes, he can understand them. He may even be able to preach sermons on
them. But he cannot experience them for
himself, because they are spiritually appraised. That is, only the person with the Spirit can
attach the proper value to the things of Christ.
That brings us right back to what we
saw in chapter 1. The Jews, with their
tremendous knowledge of the scripture, stumbled at the simplicity of the
cross. The Greeks, with all their
worldly wisdom, look at Christ and His cross and considered it
foolishness. These natural men could not
receive the things of the Spirit. Their
pride kept them from the One in whom we behold the glory of God.
The Spirit of truth works within us
to crush our pride. It began at the
cross of the glorious Christ, and it continues as the Spirit guides us into all
truth, enabling us to gaze on the Lord Jesus.
As we do, we continue to shed our pride and be conformed to the image of
Jesus.
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