The Spirit Illumines
- isn’t God good?
- I’ve been encouraged these past few weeks
as I’ve been thinking about the Holy Spirit
- when we become Christians, the Holy Spirit moves
in
- and when he moves in, he begins that critical
work of turning sinners into saints
- he fills us, he moves us, he convicts us, he
purifies us
-
- but there’s one problem
- I’ll explain this problem very bluntly:
we’re dumb
- we’re pretty simple-minded people
- we lack the cranial capacity to really grasp
what we need to know in order to live the spiritual life
-
- to give you an example, I have a pet dog who
is rather intelligent for being a dog
- but the one thing I find is that my dog lacks
the cranial capacity to grasp the nuances and subtleties of human thought
- I talk to my dog, and unless I say her name,
or walk, or food, or one of the 50 or so words that she knows, basically
I get a glazed look in response
-
- now, let’s think about the mind of God
- think about God’s mind compared to our mind
- God tells us in the Bible that his mind is vastly
superior to anything we can know or comprehend
- (Isaiah 55:8) "For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
- (Isaiah 55:9) "As the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts.
-
- (Romans 11:33) Oh, the depth of the riches of
the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and
his paths beyond tracing out!
- (Romans 11:34) "Who has known the mind of
the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"
-
- we cannot begin to grasp the mind of God
- basically, we as human beings are limited to
things we can understand
- have you ever noticed how many times Jesus spoke
in the Gospels and people were confused?
-
- but there’s a solution to this problem of
our lack of comprehension
- the solution isn’t more brains, the solution
is a better teacher
- the answer is that God has given us his Spirit,
and the Spirit has taken on the role of teaching us and illuminating
us
- somebody has called the Holy Spirit "the
go-between God"
- what he does is he takes the things of God and
makes them real to us on one hand
- and he also takes our longings and prayers and
brings them to the Father on the other
- in essence, the Spirit is a translator, making
known to us the incomprehensible things of God
-
- that’s why Jesus could say in Matthew 11
- (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.
- (Matthew 11:26) Yes, Father, for this was your
good pleasure.
-
- this morning I would like to describe three aspects
of this ministry of the Holy Spirit
- the technical name for this ministry is illumination
– the concept of turning the lights on in our souls so we can perceive
spiritual things
- these three aspects of the illuminating or teaching
work of the Spirit make a tremendous difference in our lives
-
- THE FIRST WAY IN WHICH THE SPIRIT ILLUMINATES
US IS BY GIVING US SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING
- please open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 2
- (1 Corinthians 2:14) 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.
- this verse describes the man without the Spirit
- Jude 19 describes this sort of man as one who
follows mere natural instincts, and do not have the Spirit
- the man without the Spirit, or the non-Christian,
is basically dominated by the merely physical, or worldly life
- they can see, they can smell, they can hear,
they can touch, and they can feel
- and that’s it
- they do not have the Holy Spirit, and therefore
cannot receive the truth that comes from the Spirit
-
- before you become a Christian, you’re missing
out on a whole other world
- (1 Corinthians 2:9) 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"--
- (1 Corinthians 2:10) but God has revealed it
to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things
of God.
- (1 Corinthians 2:11) For who among men knows
the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same
way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
- (1 Corinthians 2:12) 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.
- verse 9 talks about the great things God has
planned for us
- and then verse 10 tells us that God has revealed
these things to us by his Spirit
-
- you see, without the Spirit, there is no revelation
- without the Spirit, we are unable to grasp the
wonderful things that God has planned for us as believers
- Paul goes on to explain this in verse 11
-
- who knows you best?
- no one knows you better than you
- no one knows your private thoughts and your inner
struggles better than you do
- there are things about you that no-one else could
ever know unless you revealed it to them
- what Paul says in verse 11 is similar
- no-one can know God’s thoughts except for
the Spirit of God
- but God, verse 12 says, is pleased to freely
reveal these thoughts to us
- God has chosen, through his Spirit, to reveal
himself to us as believers
-
- think about it – through the illuminating
and revealing ministry of the Holy Spirit, we have access to the very
heart and mind of God
- someone has said that the Spirit of God is like
a scuba-diver who goes down to the depths and finds out what’s
down there
- the Spirit does "deep thought fishing"
to connect us to the mind of God
-
- but the unbeliever does not have access to the
mind of God
- (1 Corinthians 2:14) 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.
- you see, the things of God are silliness to the
lost person
- they have no apparatus to receive the truths
of God
-
- you see, what happened when we became believers
was that the Spirit allowed us to comprehend the things of God
- they made no sense to us before
- but all of a sudden, we were no longer limited
to what we could pick up from our five senses
- in a sense, we were given access to the very
mind of God
-
- now, let’s think about this
- when we share the Gospel with someone, it’s
going to be silliness to them
- but it’s not our job to convince them; that’s
the Spirit’s job
- when we present the Gospel to someone, your job
isn’t to lead them to Christ
- only the Spirit can do that
- your job is to be an instrument that the Spirit
can use
- if this morning you have not received Christ
as Savior, you need to come to Christ and pray that he would open your
mind to spiritual things
-
- THE SECOND THING THE SPIRIT DOES IS HE TEACHES
US
- (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.
- (John 16:13) But when he, the Spirit of truth,
comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own;
he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to
come.
-
- we tend to forget, don’t we?
- even after we read the Scriptures and the words
of Jesus, we need the Spirit to teach us and to bring these things to
our remembrance
-
- when Jesus said these words in John 14, the Gospels
were of course not written
- in fact, some of the books of the Bible were
written forty years after Jesus died
- how could ordinary fishermen and tax collectors
and laborers remember what Jesus had said, and write it down later?
- because the Holy Spirit enabled them
- Jesus said in effect, "When the time comes,
the Spirit has everything on file, and will remind you of what I said"
-
- but even for today, the Spirit teaches us and
opens up the Scriptures for us
- the Spirit is involved in teaching us through
the Scriptures the mind of God
- every believer has the Spirit as a teacher, a
teacher who puts us on heaven’s frequency
- a pastor can’t do that
- no human teacher can do that
- but the Spirit can
- (1 John 2:20) But you have an anointing from
the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
- (1 John 2:27) As for you, the anointing you received
from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you.
- it’s easy to misunderstand this last verse
- John isn’t disparaging human teachers, since
he himself was one
-
- John was writing at a time when Gnostic teachers
claimed to have "higher knowledge" that only they possessed
- and John’s point was this: you don’t
need any higher knowledge
- you already have the anointing of the Spirit,
and he is teaching you everything you need to know
-
- now let’s get practical
- D.L. Moody said, "The Bible without the
Holy Spirit is a sundial by moonlight"
- when we read the Scriptures, we need the Spirit
to teach us
- sometimes I’m reading a book, and I can’t
understand what the author is saying
- I sometimes wish I could talk directly to the
author, and say, "What did you mean by this?"
- when we read the Bible, we can talk directly
to the author!
- we should pray that the Holy Spirit gives us
his illumination as we study Scripture
- we don’t need any additional spiritual knowledge
other than what the Spirit reveals to us as we study the Scriptures
-
- you see, Christian living requires a continual
openness to the Spirit and his communication to us, not about strange
mysteries, but about what Christians have in the gospel and about its
significance for life
- we continually need insight into the faith, because
we have a darkness that needs enlightening
- the teaching ministry of the Spirit does not
involve the revelation of new truth
- but it does give us a capacity to appreciate
and appropriate God's truth already revealed
-
- have you ever had the experience of reading a
passage of Scripture that you have read many times before, and the Spirit
gives you fresh insights into that passage?
- as we read the Holy Word of God, we need to request
the Holy Spirit to lead us into the truth
- we need to ask the Spirit to teach us
-
- some time ago, a young man became a Christian
- this man was a soldier, and not long after his
conversion, he was sent to North Africa
- there was no way for his Christian friends to
help him take his first baby steps in the faith
- and his Christian friends became worried for
him
-
- some months later, his friends heard that he
was organizing a Bible study in his North African quarters
- and not only his piers were coming, but also
his higher-ups in the army
- this man had no human teacher, but he had the
Spirit of Christ and the Scriptures, and through them he grew in knowledge
and in spiritual stature
- this is the great teaching ministry of the Holy
Spirit
-
- THE LAST THING THE SPIRIT DOES IN THIS MINISTRY
OF ILLUMINATION IS THAT HE GIVES US CONFIDENCE
- (2 Timothy 1:7) For God did not give us a spirit
of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
- you know, the road God has chosen for us as Christians
is not always easy
- but we don’t have to be timid as Christians
- through the illumination of the Holy Spirit,
we know where we’re going and we therefore have confidence
-
- the Holy Spirit gives us confidence because he
reveals to us things that other people don’t see
- when other people look at a situation, they see
what is visible
- but when Christians look at an event, they see
God’s power and purpose behind it
- I love the story of Elisha in 2 Kings 6
- Elisha and his servant woke up one day and were
surrounded by the Arameans
- the servant looked out and panicked
- he said, "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?"
- but Elisha said, "Don’t worry –
we’ve got them outnumbered"
- I think his servant probably thought Elisha had
lost it
- but then listen to what happened:
- (2 Kings 6:17) And Elisha prayed, "O LORD,
open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's
eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of
fire all around Elisha.
- when God opens our eyes, he allows us to look
beyond our circumstances to see the vast amount of resources we have
in him
- when God gives us illumination, everyone else
is panicking around us
- but God opens our eyes and we see the mountain
full of God’s chariots and horses providing protection and deliverance
- we see what can only be spiritually discerned,
and as a result we have confidence
-
- one of my favorite stories is about the church’s
first martyr, Stephen
- in Acts 7, Stephen had just been charged with
blasphemy, and was about to be killed for his faith
- the religious leaders were furious with him
- but listen to Acts 7:55:
- (Acts 7:55) But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,
looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at
the right hand of God.
- in other words, Stephen saw something the others
didn’t see
- and instead of being scared or timid, Stephen
received incredible confidence and boldness
-
- now if we look at circumstances, we’re going
to be scared
- but if we, like Stephen, see Jesus standing at
the right hand of God, we’re going to stop looking at our circumstances
and we’re going to start looking at the glory of God
- and I can guarantee you, you’re going to
be confident!
-
- it’s like the two men who were walking to
Emmaus in Luke 24
- they were dejected and downcast, because Jesus
had been crucified
- but then a stranger appeared to them, and just
before he left, the passage says, "their eyes were opened"
- their emotions changed
- that’s illumination, and that’s what
the Spirit does in our hearts
-
- do you want to know the mind of God?
- or are you simply going to live in the realm
of the five senses?
- would you like the Spirit of revelation to do
his work in your hearts, that you may know God better?
- would you like increased confidence in your life
as God reveals spiritual truths to you?
-
- I hope you will let me pray a prayer for you
- if you have a pen, this prayer is found in Ephesians
1:15-19
- please close your eyes as I pray this prayer
- I am praying this prayer for you
-
- (Ephesians 1:15) For this reason, ever since
I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the
saints,
- (Ephesians 1:16) I have not stopped giving thanks
for you, remembering you in my prayers.
- (Ephesians 1:17) I keep asking that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit
of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
- (Ephesians 1:18) I pray also that the eyes of
your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to
which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the
saints,
- (Ephesians 1:19) and his incomparably great power
for us who believe.
- Amen
- Open our eyes, Lord,
- We want to see Jesus,
- To reach out and touch him,
- And say that we love him.
- Open our ears, Lord, and help us to listen,
- Open our eyes, Lord,
- We want to see Jesus
