Biblical Discipleship Pt. 32 We Must Study The Word & Be Taught By The Spirit of God.

 In our last post, Jesus expounded upon the ministry of the Spirit of God. We learned that the Spirit of Truth has threefold mission to rebuke, convict and convince sinners regarding sin, righteousness and future judgment. 

Jesus had more to say but the disciples were not yet ready. 

John 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 

As we think about Jesus' words in John 16:12, it is helpful to remember that the Old Testament scriptures from God was their Bible. 

The first gospel would not be written until around 40 AD. The rest of the New Testament would be written many years later, and this is why Jesus said He had many more things to say to them. 

During their last hours together, Jesus taught His disciples much detail about the cross and the vile treatment He would receive from Israel's religious leaders. 

He made it clear that they would suffer for His name's sake as they preached the gospel. Truths Jesus shared filled their hearts with sorrow at the thought of carrying on ministry without the physical presence of the Good Shepherd.

This is why Jesus said that they could not yet bear more teaching and more truth at that moment. The word "bear" is used for carrying heavy loads of materials, goods and grains. More truth would overwhelm them and the Lord of Glory knew it.  

Jesus laid the groundwork for more truth.

Christ gave them many doctrinal truths and many teachings about His kingdom, but His glorious teachings would be more fully developed in the apostolic writings. This is known as the principle of progressive revelation.

Progressive revelation means that what Christ taught laid seeds of truth that the Spirit of God would elaborate on to help us understand the fulness of Christ's glory.  

All scripture is a book of progressive revelation.

Isaiah 28:9-10  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10) For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 

Scripture teaches what is often called "progressive revelation." Simply put, this means that God revealed Himself to His people over many centuries. God periodically gave new revelation of Himself and His purposes that built upon previous revelation He had given. 

All new revelation harmonized with and complemented revelation given at an earlier time. New revelation never contradicted what has been previously revealed. New revelation never replaced previous revelation from God. It built upon it and more fully unveiled what God said to us.

For example, the book of Genesis contains the first promise of Messiah, the seed of the woman, who would crush the head of the serpent. Yet, the development of who Messiah is and what He will do is unfolded throughout the Old Testament writings of the law, the poetry and the prophets. 

Thus, we need to study all of the Old Testament in order to understand Christ in the New Testament. 

Genesis includes the very first example of blood atonement by the slaughter of an innocent, spotless substitute for the sinner. Again, this beautiful truth showing that God tells us how we can be saved and have a relationship with Him, is developed incrementally throughout the Old Testament. 

All of the New Testament books frequently cite Old Testament scripture as the foundation for further amplification of truth. 

Every single book of the New Testament except one, cites Old Testament scripture as its authority for fulfillment of scripture, for doctrinal truth and for the application of the Word to believers.   

The Spirit of God is our guide into all truth. 

John 16:13  Howbeit 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.

However, all of the additional "many things" Jesus had for His disciples were going to be given to them by the Spirit of God. 

Everyone who is born again starts new life in Christ as a spiritual babe (1 Corinthians 3:1; 1 Peter 2:1-3). We need a reliable, trustworthy "guide" from God to show us the path we must walk on. 

He will guide us on the road to spiritual growth, ongoing progress toward maturity in our faith. This is why it was expedient for Christ to leave, to send the Spirit of God to be our guide. 

The word "guide" is often connected with traveling to unfamiliar countries and being led by a "guide" who knows the destination that you wish to reach. 

The Spirit of Truth is going to "guide" all believers into God's written revelation known as the Bible. He will amplify what Jesus said and open the minds of the disciples so that they might understand. Whatsoever He shall hear from the Father is what He shall speak.

This has profound implications for all believers. What the Spirit of God gave us through the inspired scriptures and through the apostles is Divine truth we can safely rely upon. 

God's glorious hidden wisdom revealed!

1 Corinthians 2:6-9  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 7) But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8) Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9)  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 

This same wisdom of God that is hidden in Christ was preached by the apostles as the Spirit of God revealed truth to them. The scope, splendor and majesty of God's perfect wisdom in Christ, is captured by Paul's description. 

All that we can see or hear or otherwise experience on this earth, as beautiful and wonderful as they may be, cannot compare with the glory of the things God prepared for all who love Him. 

How can we know these things that are the hidden wisdom of God in Christ? Paul answered that question for us.

The Spirit of Truth opens up the things of God for believers. 

1 Corinthians 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 

God reveals His wonderful wisdom to us by His Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that searches out and fully knows all of the deep things of God. 

The word "searcheth" means to uncover, lay open what has previously been veiled or covered up.

The Greek word translated "deep things" is found in our word "bathyscaph" which is a deep sea exploration vessel. 

The deepest spot in the ocean is the Marianna trench. It is about 36,000 feet deep and the pounds of pressure on each square inch of a bathyscaph at that depth, is a staggering 15,600 pounds! 

Two principles to consider. 

2 Timothy 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

The first principle is that the more we desire to grow in our faith, the more work it will take on our part.  Spiritual growth takes a commitment  of our time, our energy and our resources. 

It requires prayer for the Spirit of God to come alongside to aid our ability to understand the things of God (Psalm 119:18  Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.)  

The word "study" has the idea of speed and making haste. It means having a sense of urgency to apply ourselves to the task of studying the scriptures. The word also means to exert ourselves in the endeavor of Bible study.

Why? Because diligently studying the scriptures pleases God. The words  "shew thyself" mean to bring us into a closer fellowship or intimacy with Christ. 

The idea of the word "approved" is that when we love God's word and study it, we have passed a test of our faith. This word is often used in connection of determining the purity of precious metals like gold or silver. 

Words speak louder than actions. Those who say they love God but have no interest in hearing from Him, or in reading their Bible, have not met the test of true discipleship. 

We are to be "workmen" which is a word in that culture that referred to agricultural workers who till, plant, weed, water and harvest the crop of fruits, nuts or vegetables (See Matthew 20:1-16). 

It means using our mental abilities and leaning on the Holy Spirit, our faithful guide into all truth. Those who will devote themselves to studying God's word will never stand before God ashamed. 

However, those who do not give themselves to knowing God more intimately by studying His word, will have no excuses. They will be embarrassed when they stand before Him. 

The second principle is that the closer we grow in our walk with the Lord, the more intense pressure we can expect to encounter. Our enemy does not want us to become more like Christ. He does not want us to enjoy a stronger, deeper, more vibrant relationship with our Savior. 

Thus, like an exploratory bathyscaph headed down to the bottom of the Marianna trench, we will experience great pressure not to go deeper into the things that God has prepared for us. 

Our enemy actively schemes against our quest to grow in our faith.

Ephesians 6:10-11  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

2 Corinthians 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. 

The "wiles" of the devil refer to his methods of attacking our faith. He attacks the word of God, the deity of Christ, and he seeks to sow seeds of doubt in our hearts. 

He will cast our sins in front of us as say "You cannot be a Christian-look at your sins." We do carry our memories of our sins in our minds and the devil can use this as a tool to discourage or derail us.

Satan's "devices" refer to his cunning schemes and relentless effort to take away our joy, our assurance and if he can, he will try to tempt us so that we fall into sin. 

Our Lord showed us that our weapon is knowing the word of God (Matthew 4). We hide God's word in our heart so that we do not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). We cleanse our way by taking heed to His word (Psalm 119:9).

Praise God, for He knows all of this, and has sent His Spirit to dwell in us. This is the same Spirit who thoroughly plumbed the depths if all Divine truth and who is our guide in these things of God. 

Heaven's mighty help from the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:12-13  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 of God. 13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

As our guide and teacher in the Word of God, the Spirit of Truth helps us know the things that God freely gives to all who are born again. 

He will teach us by bringing parallel passages of scripture together so that we see a fuller, more complete picture. He will guide us to compare different scriptures in order to help us gain by comparisons and contrasts. 

A properly trained and experienced guide knows the path that takes us to where we want to go. Such a guide has traveled on it many times and has accumulated the right experience to safely lead us to our destination.

Thoughts to Ponder...

There are unreliable guides and discernment is needed. False teachers are everywhere and whatever people want to hear can be found in the internet. 

Jesus warned about guides who are not from God and who are notoriously untrustworthy. Those who follow them will end up in trouble in a ditch (See Matthew 15:12-14).

Praise God for giving us His Spirit to indwell each believer. He will open up all the treasures of heaven that are in Jesus Christ so that we might rejoice and be motivated to love and serve our God.

He will teach us like babes in Christ when we are new believers. He will give us the milk of the word until we are ready for the meat. 

He will give us a line of truth, here a little and there a little. He will show us the precepts of God incrementally so that we can grasp what God wants us to understand. 

He will show us the beauty of progressive revelation concerning Christ and the great doctrines of our faith. 

We can expect our enemy to resist our efforts to study the scriptures. We can expect that it will take work, effort, focus and prayer to study the word of truth. We can expect to face pressure and opposition when we seek to grow in our faith and become more like our Lord.

But, we have the Spirit of God in us, mighty help from heaven and He will bring aid to us and He will elevate Christ. 

May we run our faith race with patient endurance, always seeking to honor God in all that we do. May the Spirit of God have His way in our hearts this day.

Bob