Now don’t you think that would go without saying? Yet how many preachers, Bible teachers, and especially “lay” Christians make that mistake? “But as it is written, ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart (mind) of men, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him,’ but God hath revealed them unto us (the apostles, as well as those chosen by God to be teachers of the Word in the various congregations) by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth ALL things, yea, the deep things of God’. (Isaiah 64:4). For what man knows the things of a man (human knowledge), save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but (by) the Spirit of God. (I Corinthians 2:9-11). You wouldn’t expect an English speaking person to understand a manual written in Mandarin Chinese, would you? So don’t expect someone without God’s Spirit to understand spiritual truth! It is only the mind that has been renewed in Christ Jesus that can grasp spiritual truth. I am not at all surprised when, from time to time, someone reading one of my postings makes the one word comment, “Nonsense!”
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God” (I Corinthians 2:11). Without the Spirit of God illuminating the mind much of what one reads in the Bible is just plain unbelievable, if not viewed as utter nonsense. The Spirit of God teaches spiritual truth to spiritual minds – a mind that has been truly converted. “But the natural (unconverted) 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.” (See I Corinthians 2:13-14). Spiritual truth cannot be force-fed. One can quote every pertinent Bible text that even remotely addresses the issue of sabbath observance and it will go right over the head of the natural man. And even a truly converted man, one who actually does have the Spirit of God imparted to him, can fail to see God’s truth in a given matter if that person is allowing sin to continue in their life. The apostle Paul implored the Ephesian congregation, “SIN NOT….neither give place to the devil” (See Ephesians 4:26-27). If a believer does not immediately confess and forsake a sin they might commit, then immediate place is given to the devil to move and draw the offender deeper into sin as well as deceive them, blinding them from seeing God’s truth in a given matter. That is why there are scores and scores of differing denominations in Christianity. Trying to impart God’s truth to an unrepentant sinner is an exercise in futility. No man has the mind of Christ who continues in sin.
Never forget the prophet Daniel’s confession: “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God THAT WE MIGHT TURN FROM OUR INIQUITIES, AND UNDERSTAND THY TRUTH” (See Daniel 9:13). Don’t try to rightly understand and comprehend any doctrine of God’s church while continuing to sin. God’s Word clearly says that ain’t happening! Revelation and obedience are conjoined twins. They cannot be separated as the twin of truth, or revelation, will quickly die if the twin of obedience disobeys its Lord.
Christ’s Aged Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley