The Word of God Becomes Real

As we have been considering the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, we have seen how He gives us the power to be all that God would have us to be. Next we saw how He conforms us into the image of Jesus Christ: “We, with open faces beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed from glory to glory, even into this same image by His Spirit working in us.” Next we saw how He brings to us the agapé love of God, helping us receive it and then giving us the capacity to love with God’s agapé love, for the Holy Spirit has shed the love of God abroad in our hearts and in our lives.

Now we would like to study the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, making the things of God and the Word of God real to us.

Eye Has Not Seen

In 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul wrote, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those that love him.” This Scripture has often been misinterpreted. In fact, I think that of all the Scriptures in the Bible that have been misinterpreted or quoted out of context, this verse ranks near the top. You usually hear this Scripture quoted in regard to heaven. Heaven, we are told, is going to be so glorious, so marvelous, so beautiful that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those that love him.”

All the time in church as I was growing up, this is the way I heard this passage quoted, and so the first ten years in my ministry I interpreted it like this too. Then one day I read the whole context and realized that Paul was not talking about heaven. Paul was talking about the things that God has for His people right now—those things that God has for us because He loves us and we love Him. What is Paul saying? The natural man cannot see, he cannot know, he cannot understand those things that God has for us. That is what he is talking about. The natural man’s eye cannot see, his ear cannot hear, and neither has it entered into his heart those things that God has for us because we love Him. Peter tells us that even the angels desire to look into the things that God has in store for His church. It no doubt amazes them that God would actually come and dwell within us.

Notice what the next verse says: “But God has revealed them unto us.” Paul is not talking about heaven. He is talking about the present glories of the life empowered by the Holy Spirit. “God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?” (1 Corinthians 2:10–11). In other words, who really knows what is in your heart except you? You may be putting on a pretty good front; it could be that you are deceiving a lot of people. I really do not know what is in your heart. You know. You know what is covered and veiled and what you are hiding from everybody else. So, Paul is saying, “What man knows the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11).

The Revealing Spirit

There are things God knows (for example, aspects of God’s love) that man does not understand; only the Spirit of God understands. Paul continues, “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 of God” (1 Cor. 2:12). The Holy Spirit reveals those things that God has freely given us. “Which things,” Paul says, “also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy [Spirit] teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural 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” (1 Cor. 2:13–14).

A lot of people have made the mistake of trying to discover what the Bible is all about on their own. They have read the Bible to discover its message, but they did it with only their human intellect. This usually ends in failure. They try to read, but they get nowhere. They say, “I’ve tried reading the Bible, but I can’t see what anybody gets out of it. I just can’t understand it.” That’s exactly what Paul is saying: “The natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit, neither can he know them.” It is impossible for the natural man or the natural mind to comprehend the things of the Spirit because he lacks the capacity to do so. You could say with equal logic that a blind man cannot appreciate the beauty of the sunset or a deaf man cannot enjoy the music of a concert, because he lacks the capacity by which these things are appreciated and understood. Unless the Holy Spirit opens our heart and our mind to these things, we just cannot understand them.

Seeing and Not Seeing

One of the most difficult things is to have a clear understanding of an issue and wonder why someone else does not have the same clear understanding. It is so plain! It is so obvious! Why can’t you see it? It is right there—look! But if they are not spiritually awakened, if the Spirit of God is not dwelling in them, they can look all day and still not see it. This understanding and enlightenment must come through the power of the Holy Spirit to open up the things of God to our hearts. Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers in 1:17 that God might give to them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The work of the Holy Spirit is to let us know that glorious grace of God bestowed unto us, that work of God in our behalf and that which God wants to do within our lives. How tragic it is that people are seeking to live the Christian life and understand the Christian walk without the help of the Holy Spirit! It simply cannot be done.

God has made available unto us all that is necessary for life and godliness. God has not left a single thing out; no matter what the situation is that we might be facing, God has the way out for us. God has already made His provision. The Holy Spirit makes us aware of those things that God has already freely given us, so that we can then appropriate the work of God for our particular need and situation.

I do not sit down to read the Word of God without first saying, “Oh Holy Spirit, open my mind and my heart to receive and understand the Word of God.” I dare not approach the Word of God with my own natural intellect. It will just be a blur. I need the help of the Holy Spirit to teach me what God has said. In 1 John 2:27 we read, “Ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things.” So we can look to the Holy Spirit to teach and guide us as we study the Word of God.

Learning of Jesus

When we are talking with people who have just committed their lives to Jesus Christ, we seek to emphasize the importance of learning about Jesus. Jesus said three things: First, “Come unto me”; next, “Take my yoke upon you”; and then, “Learn of me.” Salvation is more than just coming to Christ: it is taking His yoke upon us; it is submitting our lives to the mastery of Jesus Christ; it is turning the reins of our life over to Him. But then if I am to grow, I must learn of Him.

Many a person has failed to continue in the grace of God because he has not learned of Jesus Christ; he has not grown in his knowledge of Him. There is only one way you can learn of Jesus Christ, and that is by reading the Word of God. The Word of God is the only spiritual food for the new Christian, the spiritual babe; you cannot grow apart from the Word of God and the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ through the Word. It is vital for your Christian experience and for your Christian growth.

Which Way Is Right?

I am always instructing people, “Before you start to read, just pray, ‘Lord, open my eyes and let me see, open my ears and let me hear what the Spirit would have to say through the Word.’” Some people say, “There are so many interpretations that I just get confused.” I am not asking you to read some man’s interpretation of the Bible. Just read the Bible itself. Some people ask, “How do you know your way is right? Maybe Joe Smith was right, or maybe the Jehovah’s Witnesses are right, or maybe Mary Baker Eddy was right. Everyone has his own interpretation. How do you know you’re right?” Let me say this: I am not at all worried what you will come to believe by just reading the Bible. I believe that the Holy Spirit is able to teach you—right out of the Bible itself—all that you need to know. I do not encourage you to read some interpretation of man. I encourage you to just read the Bible and let the Holy Spirit teach you what God has said.

I am not worried about how you are going to interpret the Bible if you just read the Bible alone. I am not worried about you getting off into some false doctrine or some weird trip if you are just reading the Bible. I am worried about the weird trips that you get on when you read some of the junk that is going around supposedly interpreting the Bible.

Learning and Recalling

Jesus said, “The Holy Spirit will come alongside you and help you; He will teach you all things and then bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have commanded you.” Notice that He will bring all things to your remembrance. What does that mean? This means that the things have to be planted there in order to be brought to remembrance. He cannot bring something to your remembrance that has not been planted in your mind first. It is important that you read the Word of God. David said, “Thy Word, O LORD, have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” You may not remember what you read five minutes after you read it, yet a crisis situation may arise in your life and all of a sudden a Scripture pops into your mind. What has happened? The Holy Spirit has brought to your remembrance that which had been placed there, and now in this moment of emergency the Holy Spirit has helped you.

In John 16 Jesus was talking with His disciples just before going to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He was to be arrested. This was the last night that Jesus was sharing with His disciples before His crucifixion. He said to them in verse 12, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” He had been with them for three and a half years teaching them, and now there were many things that He still had to say to them, but they were not capable of receiving them. So He said, “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13). Jesus was saying, “I have a lot of things to say to you; you can’t handle them now, but when the Spirit of truth is come, He will lead you into all truth, and He will show you things to come.” The Spirit of God is given to us to teach us the things of God; the Spirit of God is given to us to lead us into the truth of God, and then to show us things that are going to come.

Knowing What’s Coming

Concerning His showing us things to come, the apostle Paul said in writing to the Thessalonian church, “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that day [that is, the day of the Lord, the rapture of the church] should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light” (1 Thessalonians 5:4–5). What is he saying? He is saying that the day of the Lord, the coming of Christ for His church, should not take us by surprise. It should not catch us unaware. If we are walking in the Spirit, if we are being led by the Spirit, He is showing us things to come and is keeping us alert as to the day in which we live.

I am really shocked at how blind many people are to this age in which we live. I was on a radio show panel one night in Los Angeles when I mentioned the second coming of Jesus Christ—His soon return. All the other panel members (who were religious leaders) thought that it was horrible to think that the Lord is coming soon, and that we ought to be more interested in making this a better world. I replied, “You’ve been trying to do that for a long time, but we’re in the worst mess ever.” I am surprised that they are not discouraged; you have to credit them for that! When you try so hard to make a better world but it just gets worse and worse, if you are not discouraged by now, you have got some kind of grit. But I think a person has to be totally blind to look around today and say, “How lovely! Things are getting better!”

They are not facing reality. I am a realist. The church, in its endeavor to make the world a better place to live, has just about wiped itself out. The methods by which they are seeking to make the world a better place to live are things I do not understand. When some church groups support African terrorist organizations and the PLO, I hardly see how this can contribute to a better world.

The Tragedy of Blindness

The frustrating thing about walking and being led by the Spirit is that when the Spirit shows you things that are so obvious and plain, you just cannot understand why the next fellow cannot see them. But the reason he cannot see them is because the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit: “…neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.” There are those who are such obvious counterfeits, yet people are deceived by them. It is like seeing the portrait of a smiling Abraham Lincoln on a five dollar bill; it is so obvious that it is phony, and yet people are just as blindly duped and taken in. You think, “Can’t you see? They’re ripping you off. He’s a phony.” But they do not have the gift of discernment, and thus they are totally fooled. It is the hardest thing to see so clearly and not to understand why other people cannot see the issues as clearly as you can.

The return of Jesus Christ is so near; we are right at the end of the times of the Gentiles, and it is so obvious that the coming of the Lord is at hand. The Scriptures are so clearly fulfilled, and yet people are totally oblivious to this whole prophetic picture; they are blinded and continuing their lives as if they are going to be here forever. Unless the Holy Spirit had revealed the Second Coming to us, we would never have known it.

The Real Source of Truth

When John said, “You have need that no man should teach you, but the anointing which you have received will teach you all things,” does this mean that I am not to fellowship at church, but to stay home and read my Bible, allowing the Holy Spirit to teach me there? No. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit has placed pastors and teachers in the church for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry. But the truth still stands that only the Holy Spirit can teach you, and if you receive any truth at all from God, you receive it only because the Holy Spirit has made it true and brought it to you, opening your heart to understand it. I might be bringing God’s truth to you, and all of a sudden you say, “I see it! Oh, thank you, Chuck!” No, do not thank me, because you would never have seen it unless the Holy Spirit had revealed it to you.

Another person reading the same page did not catch it. He is still in as much darkness as he ever was. He does not understand it at all; it went right over him. “Well, why did I see it and he didn’t?” Because the Holy Spirit taught you the truth; you were ready for it. It was time for you to know, and the Holy Spirit opened your heart and taught you the truth. I perhaps declared the truth, but you cannot receive it or understand it unless the Holy Spirit brings it to you. Your understanding of spiritual things can only come through the Holy Spirit.

Two Kinds of Teachers

It also follows that you cannot teach the truth of God except by the Holy Spirit, for how can you teach what you do not understand? This means that, though a man may know Greek and Hebrew fluently, and though he may have committed the Old and New Testaments to memory in the original languages, and though he may know all the commentaries, if he is not filled with the Spirit, he cannot be a true guide in the things of God. You would do better to listen to a young man without a seminary degree who is filled with the Spirit. An uneducated, but Spirit-filled servant of God is a truer guide to scriptural truths than a Ph.D. who is not born again. No man can truly understand the things of the Spirit except the Spirit teach him, and no man can truly teach the things of the Spirit except the Spirit anoint him to teach.

Knowing the Greek language is very beneficial to understanding the New Testament, but the fact remains that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to teach us the things of God, to bring them to our remembrance, to make the things of God real in our life, to open up our understanding of these spiritual things and to the work that God has done for us. It is the Holy Spirit who makes us aware of the things that are coming to pass in the world around us and alerts us to the day and the hour in which we live. Thank God for the Holy Spirit in our lives, making God’s Word come alive and making us the partakers of those rich things that God has freely given us!