are freely given to us of God” (I Cor. 2:12). There is nothing which is beyond His knowledge. Make no mistake about it. The Bible is a treasure-house of divinely-revealed truth; therefore the key that unlocks the treasury must be Divine. Man in himself is not that key. The Author of the Bible is the Teacher of the Bible. If every Christian cannot understand these things, who among Christians can? Paul distinguishes be tween two kinds of Christians: “ spiritual” and “ car nal.” The carnal Christian has not obeyed the Spirit, is not in fellowship with the Spirit, therefore he is insensitive to the Spirit’s teaching. Paul wrote, “ And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spir itual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able" (I Cor. 3:1, 2). There are Chris tians who are carnal. They live as though there were nothing beyond physical life. Their needs are all ma terial. Such a man cannot understand spiritual things. William Barclay says, "A man who thinks that noth ing is more important than the satisfaction of the sex urge cannot understand the meaning of chastity; a man who ranks the amassing of material things as the supreme end of life cannot understand gener osity; a man who thinks his appetite the last word cannot understand purity; and a man who has little thought beyond this world cannot understand the things of God.” And there are Christians like that. In fact, there are too many of them. They are carnal. The carnal man is a babe. He has the desires and appetite of a babe. His capacity is spiritually limited. He is content to have someone else find spiritual food for him. Because he is unspiritual, he misses the blessed communion of the Holy Spirit and, there fore the deep things of God never become known to him. Having arrested his own development, he ceases to search for spiritual food. He has no appetite for the deep things of God. My Christian friend, it is so easy for any one of us to become just like that, to become so involved in our earthly existence that we reach out for noth ing beyond this world. Those in Corinth to whom Paul wrote were living like Corinthians instead of like Christians, I am afraid that we Christians in America live like Americans rather than like Christians. We live as though the Holy Spirit does not exist. Instead of praying and searching for soul food, we are re signed to being prayed for and to having someone else search for us. We attend church, take an active part in its affairs, but we are carnal, like children in knowledge and experience. We give intellectual and verbal assent to the doctrines, but we can neither develop them nor explain them. This is our own fault. The Spirit searches the deep things of God, but He can teach us only so far as we have the capacity to receive them. It was a reproach to the Christians at Corinth when Paul said, “ Hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able” (I Cor. 3:2). 19
diligently, but who have difficulty in remembering, can take comfort here. Our Lord promises that the Spirit, along with teaching new truth, will bring back to their memories the many things that He [Christ] had taught them. We need not go outside the Gospel according to John for illustrations of this. We read, “ When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said” (John 2:22). And again, “ These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him” (John 12:16). Now notice the time element in these two verses. It is “ When he was risen from the dead," “ when Jesus was glorified.” The fulfillment of Christ’s promise began on the day of Pentecost and continues through out this present dispensation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the common property of all believers and He continues to teach them and bring hitherto revealed truth to their remembrance. Let all Chris tians sit down with the open Bible and pray to the Holy Spirit to open up its meaning. Let all ministers pray to Him before entering the pulpit, that He would strengthen their minds and give them utterance to glorify Christ. This is the Spirit’s great ministry, and He delights to perform it in us. By the expression the deep things of God is meant the fathomless depths of Divine truth about God and His great plan of salvation for man. God is knowable, but such knowledge is to be compared to the bottom less and unfathomable depths of the sea. The nat ural man cannot penetrate them; they are beyond his depth. Since the Spirit only can know the depths of God, it behooves the Christian to avail himself of His searching ministry. But do all Christians enjoy this phase of the Spirit’s ministry? Most certainly not! More than once I have heard a Christian say, “ I do not know how some people get so much out of the Bible. I read my Bible but I do not receive such understanding of its mean ing.” There is a reason for this. The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit. The thoughts and the words are His. Therefore He is the important and necessary One in its interpretation. The Christian who would know his Bible better must come to the study of it in a self-judged, humble spirit, depending absolutely upon the Holy Spirit and not upon his own intellect. In another passage Paul wrote, “ 0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out” (Rom. 11:33)! As far as the hu man mind goes, the depth of the riches of the wis dom and knowledge of God are inexhaustible, incon ceivable, inscrutable. The finite mind of man could never trace out or track down such infinite depths. But, thank God, none of His children need remain in spiritual darkness. “ We have received . . . the Spirit which is of God: that we might know the things that SEPTEMBER, 1970
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