TEXT.--
Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It
is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will
not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do
not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me
no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but
you cannot bear them now. However, when
He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He
will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and
He will tell you things to come. (John
16: 7-13)
The
doctrine of the need for Divine Influence to enlighten and sanctify our minds
is very abundantly taught in the Bible, and it is generally maintained, as a
matter of opinion at least, in all orthodox churches. But, in fact, there seems to be very little available knowledge
of the gospel among mankind; so little that it exerts comparatively little
influence. The great goals of the gospel
concerning the production of holiness on the earth have hardly begun to be
realized. Whether we really need Divine
Influence to attain the goals of the gospel is an important question; and if we
do need Divine Influence, then how much of it do we need, and why? If our minds are unsettled on this question,
we will be unsettled on all the subjects that deal with our sanctification.
In
discussing this subject tonight, I plan to pursue the following order:
I.
I will discuss how far our reason, unaided by Divine Illumination, is capable
of understanding the things of religion.
II.
Show where our reason is defective concerning the ability to gain any available
knowledge of the gospel.
III.
That the Spirit of God alone can supply the Illumination that is needed.
IV.
That everyone may have the influence of the Spirit, according to his needs.
V.
Why people fail to receive this divine aid to the extent that they need.
VI.
We are responsible for the light that we might have, as well as the light that
we actually enjoy.
I.
I will discuss how far our reason, unaided by Divine illumination, is capable
of understanding the things of religion.
1.
Our mind can understand the historical facts of religion, just as it
understands any other historical facts.
2.
Our mind is capable of understanding the doctrinal propositions of the gospel.
In
other words, our mind can understand those abstract ideas that make up the
skeleton of the gospel; such as the being and character of God, the divine
authority and inspiration of the scriptures, and other fundamental doctrines
that make up the framework of the gospel.
That is, we can understand fundamental doctrines as propositions, and
see that the evidence that supports them is true, just as we can understand any
other propositions in science. For example:
A
person, using his reason, may understand God’s law. He can understand that God’s law requires him to exercise perfect
love towards God and all other beings.
He can see the ground of his obligation to do this, because he is a
moral being. He knows by experience
what love is, for he has exercised love towards different things. Therefore, he can form or comprehend the
idea of love; enough to see that God’s requirement is reasonable. He can understand the foundation and the force
of his moral obligation, and see, in some measure, the extent of his obligation
to love God.
Likewise,
he can see that he is a sinner, and that his own works cannot save him. He can see that He has broken the law, so
that the law can never justify him. He
can also see that if he is ever saved, he must be justified through mere mercy,
by an act of pardon.
I
might go through the whole circle of theology, and show that human
understanding is capable of knowing theology, in the abstract, as a system of
propositions to be received and believed on evidence, like any other
science. However, I am not saying that
unaided reason can attain any available knowledge of the things of religion, or
any such knowledge that will be effective in producing a sanctifying change.
II.
I will show where our knowledge of the things of religion must be defective
without the aid of the Holy Spirit.
In
other words, I will show what our knowledge of the gospel lacks, to make it
available for salvation.
And
here we need to distinguish between knowledge that might be available to one
who is disposed to love and obey God; and what will be available to a sinner,
who is anything but holy. It is easy to
see, that one who is disposed to do right would be influenced to obey God by a
far less amount of illumination, or a far less clear and vivid view of reasons,
than one who is disposed to do wrong.
What we are now inquiring after concerns facts in this world. Whether the knowledge we could attain using
our present faculties would help influence us to do right if there were no sin
in the world is more than I can say. In
fact, the knowledge that Adam had when he was innocent was obviously not enough
to influence him to do right. However,
we are now speaking about things as they are in this world, and investigating
why sinners can’t have a helpful knowledge of divine things; why they can’t
have the knowledge that will influence them to love and serve God.
Knowledge,
to be of any help towards accomplishing its purpose, must be the kind of
knowledge that will influence a person’s mind.
That person must control his will.
And to do this, his mind must have such a view of things that it stirs
up emotions corresponding to the object he has in view. Knowledge alone will never move someone
act. A pure scientific mental
abstraction that does not touch feelings or excite any emotion cannot move a
person’s will. This is true everywhere,
even in heaven. You must bring your
mind into a certain degree of excitement to influence your will in any situation. And in the situation of sinners, to
influence sinners to love and obey God, you must have enough light to
powerfully excite his mind and produce strong emotions. The reasons why they should obey God must be
presented to them with enough strength and vividness to subdue their rebellious
hearts and bring them to obey God voluntarily.
This is available knowledge.
This, people never have, and never can have, without the Spirit of God. If people were disposed to do right, I don’t
know how far the knowledge that they can obtain by unaided reason might help
them. But, since they are universally
and totally selfish, this knowledge will never be sufficient. Let me mention some of the reasons why:
1.
All the knowledge we can naturally obtain of spiritual things is by analogy or
comparison.
Our
minds are locked up in our body, and we get all our ideas from external objects
through our senses. Now, we can never,
by ourselves, obtain enough knowledge of spiritual or eternal things in this
way to properly influence our wills. Our
bodily powers were not created for this.
All the ideas we can have of the spiritual world come by analogy, or by
comparing spiritual things with the things around us. We can easily see that every idea conveyed to our minds this way
must be extremely imperfect, and that we do not, no matter how many analogies
we use, get the true idea of spiritual things in our minds. The Jewish types were probably the most
forcible means that God could use for giving to the Jews a correct idea of the
gospel. The eastern nations were
accustomed, by their education, to use figures, parables, and types. Probably the system of types was the most impressive
and happy mode that could be devised to provide the clearest path for the truth
to their minds and give them a better idea of the plan of redemption than could
be communicated in any other way. And
yet it is clear that the ideas which were communicated in this way were
extremely imperfect; and that, without divine illumination, to make them see
the reality of spiritual things better than they could by unaided reason, they
would have received very little useful knowledge.
Words
are simply symbols of ideas. They are
not ideas, but they represent ideas. It
is often very difficult, and sometimes impossible to convey ideas by
words. Take a little child, and try to
talk with him, and you will find it very difficult to get many of your ideas
into his little mind. He must have some
experience of the things you are trying to teach him before you can convey
ideas to him by words.
Suppose
this congregation were all blind, and had never seen colors. Then suppose that on that wall hung the most
grand and beautiful painting, and that I am a perfect master of the subject,
and should try to describe it to you.
No language that I could use would give you an accurate idea of that
painting. Words would enable you to
form a picture of it in your minds. If,
on any subject, we must use figurative language, analogies, and resemblances to
convey our idea, the knowledge we communicate will be defective and
inadequate. Who of you have not heard
detailed descriptions of people and places until you thought you had an
accurate knowledge of them; but when you finally saw them, you discover that
they are quite different from what you imagined them to be?
Suppose
an individual were to visit this world from another planet, where all things
are created on the most opposite principles from those which are created
here. Suppose he remained here long
enough to learn our language, and then he tries to give us a description of the
world he had left. We would understand
and picture his world according to our ideas and experiences. Now, if the analogy between the two worlds
is very imperfect, it is clear that our knowledge of things there, from his
description, must be imperfect in proportion.
Likewise, when we find, in the Bible, descriptions of heaven and hell,
or anything in the invisible world, it is clear, that from mere words, all our
thoughts and ideas are woefully inadequate.
2.
The wickedness of our hearts is so great, that it perverts our judgment and
shuts our minds off from much that we might understand of the things of
religion.
When
a person's mind is so perverted on any subject, that he will not examine the
evidence concerning it, he cannot, of course, arrive at the knowledge of the
truth on that subject. This is our
situation concerning religion.
Perverseness of heart so shuts out the light, that a sinner’s mind does
not, and from the nature of things, cannot even get the ideas we might otherwise
gain concerning divine things.
3.
Prejudice is a tremendous obstacle to receiving correct knowledge concerning
religion.
Look
at the disciples of Christ. They had
strong Jewish prejudices concerning the plan of salvation. Prejudices so strong that all the
instructions of Christ himself could not make them understand the truth. After teaching them personally for three
years, with all the talent, simplicity, and skill He was master of, He could
never get their minds to possess of the first principles of the gospel. Up to His very death, He could not make them
see that He should die and rise from the dead.
Therefore, He said in His last conversation, “If I don’t go away, the
Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you”. This was the very purpose of His going away
from them, that the Spirit of Truth might come, and put them in possession of
the things that He meant by the words He had used in teaching them.
The
general truth is this; that without divine illumination, men can understand
from the Bible only enough to convict and condemn them, but not enough to
sanctify and save them.
Some
may ask, “What, then, is the use of revelation”?
Revelation
is very useful. The Bible is as clear
as it can possibly be. Who doubts that
our Lord Jesus Christ gave instructions to His disciples as clearly as He
could? Look at the effort He took to
illustrate His teachings, how simple His language was, how He brings His
teachings down to the simplest understanding, as a parent would do for a little
child. And yet, it remains true that
without divine illumination, the unaided reason of man never did, and never
will attain any available knowledge of the gospel. The problem lies in us.
The Bible contains the gospel as plain as it can be presented. In other words, it contains the symbols of
the ideas as far as language can represent the things of religion. No language but figurative language can be
used for this purpose. And this will
forever be inadequate to put our minds in real possession of the things
themselves. The difficulty lies in our
ignorance, sin, and in the nature of the subject. This is the reason why we need divine illumination to get any helpful
knowledge of the gospel.
III.
The Spirit of God alone can give us this illumination.
The
Bible says, “No man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord, but by the Holy
Ghost”. Now the abstract proposition of
the Deity of Christ can be proved as a matter of science, and thus gain the
agreement of any unbiased mind to the truth that Jesus is Lord. But nothing short of the Holy Ghost can put
the mind in possession of the idea of Christ as God, and fix the soul in the
belief of that fact, and make it available to sanctify the heart.
Jesus
said in the 6th chapter of John, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they
shall all be taught by God’. Therefore,
everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me”. (John 6:44-45) Here we see that the drawing mentioned in this passage, is
teaching by the Holy Spirit. They must
be taught by God, and learn from the Father, before they can ever have the kind
of knowledge of the things of religion that will bring them to Christ.
Christ
says, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth.
It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the
Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you”. (John 16:7)
The word Paracletos, sometimes translated Comforter, properly means a
Helper or Teacher. “And when He has
come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My
Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is
judged. I still have many things to say
to you, but you cannot bear them now.
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into
all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He
will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” (John 16:8-13)
So
in the fourteenth chapter, our Savior says, “And I will pray to the Father, and
He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor
knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17) And again, in the 26th verse, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring
to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” Here you see the purpose of the Spirit of God is to instruct
mankind concerning the things of religion.
Now,
it is clear that only the Spirit of God can rectify this problem from one
single consideration: That all teaching by words, whether by Jesus Christ, or
by the apostles, or by any inspired or uninspired teacher, that comes merely
through the senses, can never put the mind in possession of the idea of
spiritual things. The kind of teaching
that we need is this: we need someone to teach us the things of religion who
does not have to depend on words or does not have to reach our minds through
our senses. We want some way in which
the ideas themselves can be brought to our minds, and not merely symbols of
ideas. We want a teacher who can
directly approach our mind itself, who does not have to go through our senses;
and who can show us the ideas of religion without having to use words. The Spirit of God can do this.
How
the Spirit of God does this is something beyond our understanding in this
world. However, the fact is undeniable,
that the Holy Spirit can reach our minds without the use of words, and He can
put our minds in possession of the ideas themselves, of which the types,
figures, or words of a human teacher are only the symbols or imperfect
representations. A human teacher can
only use words that affect our senses.
He finds it impossible to put us in possession of ideas that we have
never experienced. But the Spirit of
God, having direct access to our mind, can, even through outward symbols,
possess us of the actual idea of things.
In fact, what Christian does not know this? What Christian does not know from his own experience, that the
Spirit of God leads him to instantly see something in a passage of scripture,
which all his study and mental efforts had failed to reveal to him?
Let’s
again look at the example of that painting on the wall over there, and suppose
that this whole congregation were blind, and I was trying to describe to you
that painting. Now suppose, while I was
trying to make you understand the various distinctions and combinations of
colors, and you are stretching your minds trying to understand it, all of a
sudden your eyes are opened! You can
now see for yourselves the very things that I was vainly trying to produce in
your minds by words. Now, the office of
the Spirit of God, and what He alone can do, is to open your spiritual eye, and
bring the things which I try to describe by analogy and symbols, in all their
living reality, before your mind, so that it puts your mind in complete possession
of the thing as it is.
It
is also clear, that only the Spirit of God so knows the things of God that He
is able to give us the idea of those things correctly. “For what man knows the things of a man
except the spirit of the man which is in him?”
(I Cor 2:11) What can a beast
know of the things of a man, like, for example, a man’s character, or his
plans, or intentions? I can talk to you
because you are human and we both know the things of man. But I can’t talk about these things to an
animal, nor can an animal talk about these things, because he doesn’t have the
spirit of a man in him, and cannot know the things of man. Likewise, verse 11 continues by saying,
“Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God”. The Spirit of God, knowing the things of
God, possesses a different kind of knowledge of these things from what we can
possess; and therefore, the Holy Spirit can give us the kind of instruction
that we need, and the kind of instruction that no other being can give.
IV.
The needed influences of the Spirit of God may be possessed by all men freely,
and under the gospel.
A
few passages from the Bible will show this:
Jesus
Christ says God is more willing to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him,
than parents are to give their children bread.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and
it will be opened to you.” (Matt
7:7) “And all things, whatever you ask
in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
(Matt 21:22) “Therefore I say to
you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and
you will have them.” (Mark 11:24) James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let
him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be
given to him”. (James 1:5) If it is true, that God has made these
unlimited promises that ALL MEN, who will ask of Him, then we may have divine
illumination as much as we will ask for!
Then it is also true that all men may have as much of divine illumination
as they need.
V.
I will show the reasons why people do not have as much divine illumination as
they need.
1.
They do not ask for divine illumination in the manner or degree that they need
it.
2.
They ask amiss, or from selfish motives.
The
apostle James says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that
you may spend it on your pleasures”.
(James 4:3) When an individual
has a selfish motive for asking, or some other reason than a desire to glorify
God, he can’t expect to receive divine illumination. If his purpose in asking for the Holy Ghost is that he may always
be happy in religion, or that he may be very wise in the scriptures, or be
looked on as an eminent Christian, or have his experience spoken of as remarkable,
or any other selfish view, that is a good reason why he shouldn’t receive even
what he asks.
3.
They do not use the proper means to attain what they ask.
Suppose
you neglect your Bible, and yet you ask God to give you knowledge of the things
of religion. You are tempting God. The manner in which God gives knowledge is
through the Bible, through preaching, and through other appointed means of
instruction. If you will not use these
means when they are in your power, no matter how much you may pray, don’t
expect divine instruction. “Faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
There
is an important difference between those who possess these means and those who
don’t. I believe that a person may learn
the gospel and receive all the illumination he needs under any circumstances. For example, if he was on a desolate island
with no Bible or no Christian to witness to him, he might receive direct
illumination from the Spirit of God.
This is also possible in any other circumstances where he has no access
to any means of instruction. Some very
remarkable cases of this kind have occurred within the past few years. I have known one case, which I looked on at
the time as miraculous, and for that reason I have seldom mentioned it because
I felt that even the church wasn’t prepared to receive it.
When
I was an evangelist, I labored once in a revival in a neighborhood where there
were many Germans. They had received
very little instruction, and many of them could not read. But when the gospel was preached among them,
the Spirit of God was poured out, and a most powerful revival followed. In the midst of the harvest, if a meeting
was held anywhere, the whole neighborhood would come together, fill the house,
and hang on every word the preacher said while he tried to possess their minds
with the truths of the gospel. One poor
German woman who was naturally intelligent but who could not read, in relating
her experience during one of those meetings, told this fact which was confirmed
to by her neighbors. With many tears
and a heart full of joy, she said, “When I loved God, I longed to read the
Bible, and I prayed to Jesus Christ, I said and felt, O Jesus! You can teach me to read Your Holy Bible,
and the Lord taught me to read. There
was a Bible in the house, and when I had prayed, I thought I could read the
Bible, and I got the book, and opened it, and the words were just what I had
heard people read. I said, ‘O Lord
Jesus Christ, you can teach me to read,’ and I believed He could, and I thought
I did read. But I went and asked the
school-madam if I read, and she said I read it right, and the Lord has taught
me to read my Bible, blessed be His name for it.” I do not know but I believe the school-madam to whom she referred
was in the house and heard her read.
Anyway, she was a woman of good character among her neighbors, and some
of the most respectable of them afterwards told me that they did not doubt the
truth of what she said. I have no doubt
it was true.
At
the time, I thought it was a miracle; but since then, facts have developed
within the past few years, concerning the indestructibleness of the
memory. I have thought that this case
might be explained in that way; and that she could have been told the names of
letters and their powers when young, and now the Spirit of God, in answer to
her prayer, had quickened her mind, and brought it all to her remembrance, so
that she could read the Bible.
Some
of you will remember the facts that were stated here one evening by President
Mahan, which showed that every impression that is made on the mind of man
remains there forever indelible. One
situation that he mentioned was that of an old lady, who, when she was young,
had read a poem that told a little story.
Many years later, when she was old, she wanted to tell the story to some
children to whom she thought it would be useful. To her surprise, the whole poem came up fresh in her memory, and
she repeated the poem verbatim, although she had never committed the poem to memory
at all, but only read it when she was young.
Another was the situation of an ignorant servant girl. She had once lived with a learned minister
who was accustomed to read aloud the Hebrew Bible in his study, which was
within hearing distance of the place where this girl did her work. Of course, she did not understand the words,
but only heard the sounds. Long
afterwards, when she was on her deathbed, she astonished the bystanders by
reciting whole chapters of Hebrew and Chaldaic. The neighbors at first thought it was a miracle, but soon learned
why. We can see from this, that even
unintelligible sounds may be so impressed on the memory, that long afterwards
it can clearly pop back into our memory.
This was probably the case with that poor German woman, and that the
Spirit of God, in answer to her fervent prayer, so refreshed her memory as to
recall the sounds and forms of letters that she heard when she was a child, and
thus enabled her at once to read the Bible.
Therefore,
I say, that while those who do not have any outward means of instruction may
obtain directly from the Spirit of God whatever degree or kind of illumination
they need in the things of religion; those who possess or can obtain those
outward means, and do not use them, tempt God when they pray for divine
illumination and neglect the available use of means for obtaining
knowledge. To those who have the opportunity,
“faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” If you avoid the means within your reach,
don’t expect illumination in any other way.
But, if you are cut off from that use of means, as God is true to His
promises, we must believe that you can be illuminated without means, to any
extent that You need.
4.
Another reason why many do not receive that illumination from the Spirit of God
that they need is because they grieve the Spirit in many ways.
Many
live in such a way that they grieve, or offend the Holy Spirit, so that He
cannot consistently grant them His illuminating grace.
5.
Another reason is that they depend on those instructions and means that are
available without divine influence.
How
many rely on the instructions they receive from ministers, commentaries, books,
or their own mental abilities, not realizing that all these things without the Spirit
of God will only kill, but can never make alive, can only damn, but will never
save. It seems as though the whole
church is wrong on this point. They
depend on fleshly means for divine knowledge, without being aware that no
means are effective without the Spirit of God. Oh, if the church only felt this need. If they really felt that all the means in creation are worthless
without the teaching of the Holy Ghost, how they would pray, cleanse their
hands, and humble their hearts, until the Comforter would descend to teach them
all the things that they need to know of religion.
6.
Self-confidence is another reason why so little divine illumination is
experienced.
As
long as professing Christians place confidence in learning, or doctrines, or
their natural ingenuity, to learn the things of religion, I promise you, they
probably won’t enjoy much of the illumination of the Spirit of God.
VI.
People are responsible for what they might have of divine illumination.
This
is universally acknowledged by the whole human race. A person is just as responsible for what light he might have, as
for the light that he actually has. The
common law, which is the voice of common reason, adopts it as a maxim that no
one who breaks the law can be excused because of ignorance of the law, because
all are required to know what the law is.
The same is true with your children.
In a situation where they might know your will, you will consider them
much more blame-worthy, if they offend you, because they should have found out
what you wanted them to do. The same is
true in religion: where people have both the outward means of instruction, and
the inward teachings of the Holy Spirit, completely within their reach. If they sin in ignorance, they are not only
without excuse on that score, but their ignorance is itself a crime, and is an
aggravation of their guilt. And
everyone is clearly without excuse for not possessing all the knowledge that is
available for their perfect and immediate sanctification.
REMARKS.
I.
You can see the effect instructions have on a congregation that does not enjoy
any divine influence.
The
minister may convince the church to perform works, but it will never produce
sanctification. His instructions may
harden their hearts, but it will never change them. Without divine influence, every instruction is but a savor of
death unto death.
II.
You can see that it is important to use all the appropriate means of religious
instruction within our power, as the medium through which the Spirit of God
conveys divine illumination to our mind.
There
is no reason why we should not use the means within our power, and apply our
natural abilities to acquire knowledge of religion, as faithfully as if we
could understand the whole subject without divine influence. And if we do not use the means that are
within our power, we have no reason to expect divine aid. When we help ourselves, God helps us. When we use our natural abilities to understand
these things, we can expect that God will enlighten us. To turn our eyes away from the light, and
then pray for God to make us see, is to tempt God.
III.
Those who attempt to teach others the things of religion, without being taught
of God, are like the blind leading the blind.
No
degree of learning, or power of discrimination as to the teachings of theology,
will ever make anyone a successful teacher of religion unless he enjoys the
illuminating powers of the Holy Ghost.
He is blind if he thinks he understands the Bible without this, and if
he tries to teach religion, he deceives himself, and all who depend on him, and
both will fall into the pit together.
IV.
If an individual teaches the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
others will understand him.
A
person may understand the gospel, and yet, he cannot make his hearers
understand it, because the Holy Ghost is not sent on them as well as
himself. But if the Spirit of God is on
them, the more he understands the real meaning of the gospel, the more he will
make his hearers understand it.
V.
In preaching the gospel, ministers should never use passages that the Holy
Spirit has not taught them the meaning.
They
should not try to explain passages that they aren’t confident the Holy Spirit
has taught them the meaning. This is
presumption. They don’t need to do it,
because they can always have the teachings of the Spirit simply by asking. God is more ready to bestow divine
illumination than an earthly parent is to give bread to his child; and if they
ask, like a hungry child asks his mother for a piece of bread, they can always
receive all the light they need. This
applies to preachers, Sunday school teachers, and Bible study leaders. If any of them try to teach the scriptures
without being themselves taught, they are no more fit to teach without divine
instruction than the most ignorant person in the streets is fit to teach
astronomy. I fear that both minister
and teachers have generally understood very little of their need for this
divine teaching, and have felt very little need to pray over their sermons and
Bible lessons until they feel confident that the Spirit of God has possessed
their minds with the true idea of the word of God. If this were done, as it should be, their instructions would be
far more effective than we see them today.
Do
you, who are teachers of Bible and Sunday school classes in this church,
believe this? Are you in the habit,
conscientiously and uniformly, of seeking the true idea of every lesson on your
knees? Or do you go to some commentary
and then come and peddle out what you get out of those commentaries and books
to your classes without any of the Holy Ghost in your teaching? If you do this, let me tell you, that you
had better be doing something else.
What would you say about a minister, if you knew he never prayed over
his texts? You might as well have
Balaam’s ass for a minister, and even the dumb beast in such a case might speak
with man’s voice and rebuke the madness of such a person. Balaam’s ass could give just as much
available instruction to reach the deep fountains of the heart, as such a
preacher. Now, this is just as
important for a Sunday school teacher as for a minister. If you do not pray over your lesson until
you feel that God has taught you the idea contained in it, BEWARE! How dare you go and teach those things for
religion that you don’t honestly believe you have received from God?
VI.
Theology students make a terrible mistake when they study to get the views of
all the great teachers, the literary works of the fathers and doctors, and
everybody’s opinion as to what the Bible means, they get everybody’s opinion
but the opinion of the Holy Ghost.
With
hearts as cold as marble, instead of going right to the source of light, they
go and gather up the husks of learning, and peddle it out among the churches as
religious instruction. Horrible! As long as they do this, we will never have
an efficient ministry. It is right they
should get all the help they can from learning to understand the word of
God. But they should never rest on
anything they get from book learning; until they are satisfied, that God has
put them in possession of the very idea that He wants them to receive.
I
have tried hard to make this impression, and I believe I have succeeded to some
degree to make this impression, on the theological students under my care. If I had done more of this, I might have succeeded
better. And I can say, that when I
studied theology, I spent many hours on my knees, and perhaps I might say
weeks, often with the Bible before me, laboring and praying to come to the very
mind of the Spirit. I do not say this
boastingly, but to show that what I am saying is not a new opinion with
me. I have always gotten my passages
and sermons on my knees. And yet, I am
aware that I have gained very little knowledge in religion, compared with what
I might have had, if I had immediately taken a hold of the source of light, as
I should have done.
VII.
How little knowledge the great body of the church has concerning the word of
God!
Have
a congregation, for example, read the epistles and other scriptures, and they
will probably not have enough knowledge to give an opinion as to the real
meaning of one tenth of the Bible. No
wonder the church is not sanctified!
They need more truth. Our
Savior says, “Sanctify them by Your truth”.
(John 17:17) This grand means of
sanctification must be more richly enjoyed before the church will know what
entire sanctification means. The church
does not understand the Bible. And the
reason is, they have not gone to the author to explain it. They have this blessed privilege every day,
and just as often as they choose, they can carry the book right to the Author
for His explanation. Yet how little,
how very little, the church knows of the Bible, although they are aware they
should be taught to know by the Holy Ghost!
Read today’s scripture again, read other similar passages, and then say
if Christians are not to blame for not understanding the Bible.