Spiritual Illumination
John 16:13; I Cor. 2
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/SpiritualIllumination.html
I can speak to ears, but only God can speak to hearts! That's supernatural revelation...the Spirit of God opening our eyes to the truths beyond our intellect.
Now, spiritual illumination...
1 Corinthians 2:14
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.
What's the difference between supernatural revelation and spiritual illumination? One is God revealing truth to man, the other is God giving man the ability to comprehend and apply it to life. It's the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to take knowledge and apply it correctly to life.
ill.--remember school? A lot of knowledge was imparted, but between spit balls, passed notes, naps, and pranks on the teacher, there wasn't a lot of illumination. That seems to come more from life experience. True wisdom is a whole other level.
Spiritual illumination happens in the human spirit by the Holy Spirit. Only man has a spirit. Animals do not. Sorry! This is one reason evolution cannot be true. Man is not just a highly evolved animal. My body connects with the environment and my soul connects with others...but my spirit communicates with God!
v. 11 If I can't know another human without them opening up to me, how can I expect to know a supernatural God without help?
Isaiah 55:8-9
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
How much higher is heaven than earth?
We can't get to Him, so He came to us. He mingles His Spirit with our spirit, and we are illumined.
ill.--you don't really know a person until you marry and move in to the same house. And when you got saved, God took up residence in you!
You hear a lot of professors today saying, I have this degree and that, and written all these papers, and I can't understand the Bible. I say, that's what they get for reading someone else's mail!
They don't want it to make sense, and God gives them just what they want. But in the end, will they want what they got?
The Word of God was inspired by the Spirit of God, and it takes the Spirit of God to help us accurately understand it.
1. Don't expect the world to honor you if you have spiritual illumination.
Godly wisdom is contrary to worldly wisdom. If what you are seeking is fame and popularity, you'd better try Hollywood, because if you truly go God's way and end up famous, you might not be the real thing and may have to settle for having church in a basketball arena!
I get a good dose of hate mail, especially at times when I take on controversial subjects, which I only do once or twice ... per week. Well, one thing our many web clicks does for the online ministry is move it up in search engine rankings, where many of the bashers reside, looking for a fight.
They ask things like, are you saying Jesus is the only way, and that a Buddhist who doesn't accept Christ goes to hell. My response: A Baptist who doesn't accept Christ goes to hell! I'm not here to win friends and get new subscribers, but to lift up Jesus, who will draw people unto Himself. His Spirit will reveal Him to those sincerely seeking the truth, and that same Spirit will conceal Him from those who want to go in the other direction...He gives them a little push. They get what they want. But in the end, will they want what they got?
2. Don't think you have to know all about God in order to know God.
When I got saved, I knew God immediately...my eyes were opened...the blinders fell off. And yet I knew very little! Now, I've learned a lot with my head, but sometimes it feels like my heart relationship is somewhere south of where my salvation moment attained!
ill.--I trusted my dad before I knew his middle name. I would jump off the top bunk into his arms and never doubted that he would catch me. I loved him before I ever knew him enough to discover any criticisms about him!
On day one of salvation we can know God, and what a blessing that day by day we have the opportunity to know Him better!
ill.--go to the ocean and fill a bucket from it. The bucket is full of ocean, but you don't have the ocean in the bucket. It is full to the brim...full of ocean, and yet there is much more ocean outside the bucket than inside of it.
Let the Spirit of God grow your bucket, step into the water, wade out deeper, immerse yourself in His knowledge and illumination.
3. Don't think spiritual illumination means you don't have to study.
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.
I've heard from pastors who say things like, I don't need to study and don't need a bunch of notes...I just step into the pulpit and open my mouth and let God take over.
I've heard their sermons and I must say, don't blame that on God!
Supernatural revelation and spiritual illumination depend upon...
Biblical inspiration
v. 13 If ever I claim revelation and illumination from God, but it doesn't match up with Biblical inspiration, show me the door without a severance package.
About the inspiration of Scripture, let's shore up our defenses, because the world is attacking the Word and its authority.
Verbally inspired. Not just thoughts of God that man put into his own words. And by the way, you can't have thoughts without words any more than you can have notes without music.
ill.--in Jesus' temptation by the devil He said, man should live by 'every word' that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Matthew 5:18
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Dot every i and cross every t! Perfect accuracy. Not one apostrophe out of place, and no confusion between your and you're!
The greatest controversies in history have to do with the Word of God. The biggest battles were over the Bible. The most loved book is the most hated. The most criticized book of all time is the most accurate. The most banned book, the most burned book, is the all time best seller!
Still today, the battle for the book continues. Many say it is just the words of men. Others believe parts they like and say other parts are outdated. Even those who believe the Bible is inspired battle over Bible versions and translations. But the Word of God stands undaunted through tests of time, and man cannot undo its power!
Plenary inspiration. Not just words, but every word.
Luke 24:25-27
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
ill.--the Jesus Seminar for decades met, until 2006, to judge whether recorded words of Jesus were inspired by God or inserted by man. They used a system of beads in their voting [red, pink, gray, black]. They reject many of His teachings by majority opinion.
But we are not to stand in judgment of the Word. The Word is to judge us!
It's all inspired, because it says it is.
2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
But is that verse inspired? Yes, because it says it is! How do we really know? I can give you many scholarly evidences another time, but ultimately, the Spirit guides us into all truth!
I challenge you to do more than just say amen to this. I challenge you to get into the Word on a daily basis. Study! Meditate!
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/SpiritualIllumination.html
