We have said that God speaks to His people by His Spirit through His Word, prayer, circumstances, and His church to reveal Himself, His purposes and his ways. Over the next few weeks, we will consider the means through which God speaks to us by His Spirit. Today, we will consider how God speaks to his people through His Word.
In our text, Jesus told these new believers that the key to their truly being his disciples was that they would “hold” to his teaching. If they would do this, he said, then they would know the truth and the truth would set them free - free to experience all that God had in mind for them. Christian freedom - true freedom - isn’t freedom to do and be what I want to do and be, but freedom to do and become all that God wants me to do and become.
What was true for those believers addressed here by our Lord is also true for us today. If we are going to experience all that God has in mind for us as his children, we must “hold” to the teachings of Christ - teachings which are discovered in God’s Word. I must learn to hear what God has to say to me through his Word, so that I might adjust my life to his truth.
Letting God speak to me through His Word involves three things:
1. I must submit to the Spirit of Truth.
Why is this important if I am to hear God speak to me through His Word?
A. Because God’s Word has been inspired by the Spirit.
This is what Peter tells us about the Old Testament -
“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
- 2 Peter 1:20-21 (NIV)
This is what Paul tells us about the New Testament -
“However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’ - but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”
- 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 (NIV)
B. Because God’s Word is discerned by the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10; 12; 14
“The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you.”
- John 16:13-15 (CEV)
How do I submit to the Spirit?
“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.” - Ephesians 5:18 (NLT)
“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].” - 1 John 1:9 (Amplified)
1) Submitting to the Spirit is something I do consciously.
Being filled (controlled) by the Spirit is a command!
2) Submitting to the Spirit is something I do continuously.
My life is either being lived under the control of the Spirit or under the control of sin and self.
Therefore, when I find unconfessed sin in my life, I must choose to confess it, thus renouncing sin and self’s control over me and submitting myself to the control of God’s spirit.
Through committing sin, we take ourselves out of the circle of the spirit’s control and submit, instead, to the control of sin and self. But through confessing sin, we take ourselves out of the control of sin and self, and submit ourselves afresh to the control of the Spirit. As we are within the circle of His control, we are in a position to discern God’s voice and walk in His truth.
2. I must adjust to the Person of Truth.
Jesus said that as we hold to his teachings, we will know the truth. God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). God’s Word is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). The Spirit leads us into all truth (John 16:13). Therefore, the spirit uses god’s word to reveal God’s truth to us.
But what is God’s truth? Perhaps a better question might be, “Who is God’s truth?” God’s truth is a person - Jesus Christ.
“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” - John 14:6 (NLT)
Through the Spirit revealing more of Christ to me through God’s Word, I know the truth. But it isn’t enough to know the truth, I must adjust my life to the truth. I must adjust my life to Jesus Christ.
Paul tells us in Galatians 5:25, that as a Christian, I “live by the Spirit.” in other words, my life has the Spirit as it s source, not the world. I am to learn to live on a spiritual plane, not simply an earthly plane. I must develop a spiritual perspective, not simply an earthly one.
That is why Paul tells us in Galatians 5:25 that I must “keep in step with the Spirit.”
And what are the steps that the Spirit wants us to walk in?
“For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].” - Ephesians 2:10 (Amplified)
“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” - 1 John 2:6 (NKJV)
How am I to walk as Jesus walked? By adjusting my life to what the Bible says is true of me “in Christ.”
When the Bible speaks of our salvation, we find that it is described as having three phases:
Phase 1: Justification - I am saved immediately in my spirit (Romans 8:16); and I have been saved from the penalty of sin (John 3:16).
Phase 2: Sanctification - I am saved progressively in my soul (James 1:21); and I am being saved from the power of sin (Galatians 5:16).
Phase 3: Glorification - I will be saved eventually in my body (Romans 8:23); and I will be saved from the presence of sin (Revelation 21:27).
That which we are speaking about today has to do with Phase 2. When I am born again (Phase 1), I am made spiritually alive and am enabled to discern spiritual truth and thus be able to live according to spiritual realities, rather than just earthly realities; and the spiritual realities by which I can now live are summed up and personified in Christ. What is true of Christ is now true of me.
“But God--so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation). And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).” - Ephesians 2:4-6 (Amplified)
Now, the means whereby we translate this spiritual realities into daily experience is Phase 2. The key to Phase 2 is renewing my mind.
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”- Romans 12:2 (NIV)
When I adjust my life to the Word of God, I adjust to the person of Truth - Jesus Christ. That adjustment begins with my thinking, which impacts my feelings, which impacts my choices, which impacts my actions, which impacts my world!
3. I must Obey the Word of Truth - James 1:21-25
To not obey God’s Word is like looking into the mirror in the morning, seeing that I need to comb my hair, then walking away without doing it. I have not adjusted my life to the truth concerning the need to comb my hair.
Likewise, James tells us that we must make obey the Word of God if we are to see true life transformation. When God speaks to me through his Word, and I do not adjust my life according to his revealed Truth, my time spent with God’s Word has not benefited me at all.
Here is an illustration of the way God may use His Word to speak to you. Suppose you are reading your daily Bible reading from Psalm 37. You have read this Psalm many times before. You come to verse 21 and read: "The wicked borrow and do not repay." You are. "drawn" back to that verse. You read it again. Then you remember a debt you have failed lo repay.
You realize that this Scripture applies to you.
The Holy Spirit has just spoken to you through that verse. You have encountered truth. Now you understand that those who borrow and do not repay are wicked in God’s sight. The Holy Spirit has called your attention to a specific instance where this verse applies to you. He is convicting you of sin. He is the only One who can do that. God has just spoken to you by the working of the Holy Spirit and through His Word. God wants you to have no hindrances to a love relationship with Him in your life.
Once God has spoken to you through His Word, how you respond is crucial. You must adjust your life to the truth. In this case the adjustment is this:
• You must agree with the truth - those who borrow and do not repay are wicked in God’s sight.
• You must agree that the truth applies to you in the particular instance brought to your memory. This is confession of sin. You agree with God about your sin.
In this way you have adjusted your understanding about borrowing and repaying to agree with God’s will in this matter. To agree with God you must change your understanding to agree with His. This requires an adjustment. Is that all you must do? No! Agreeing with God is not enough. Until you repay the debt, you will continue to be seen as wicked in God’s sight.
This is where obedience comes in. You obey God’s will by repaying the debt. Now you are free to experience a more complete relationship with God.
Obedience is the appropriate adjustment in your actions that reflects the adjustment in your attitude.
