12)
I
have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
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.
14)
He
shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew
it unto you.
15)
All
things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto
you. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye
shall see me, because I go to the Father.
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order to know the truth, we must be
directed by the Revealer of all truth.
It is the Lord Who gives revelation and understanding in the knowledge of the
truth, so because many are without the Revealer, they are without the truth.
For
weeks now, the Lord has been directing us concerning having and making "a
positive confession." What we cannot afford to forget is that the first confession that one must have is
the confession of salvation. However, even in order to have this, one must know
what to confess. Specifically, after
being baptized and filled, one must understand what it means to be saved. Too many times, a man is
delivered from his sin, yet fails to make any changes in his life. More and
more, we see this as a result of a failure to allow one's own mind to be
transformed to that of Christ.
If
we walked in the new life conferred upon us at the receipt of the Holy Ghost,
we would realize that what the Lord is trying to teach us is obviously not what
is natural. If being a natural man were sufficient and pleasing to the Lord,
then we could safely remain in the condition in which we were born and be able
to inherit heaven.
"Tradition"
has been an impediment to the spiritual understanding of man for entirely too
long. Some have gotten so "hung up" on what they have been taught,
what they think and by whom they have been taught it that they are unable to
receive the truth when it is presented.
The only way out of this predicament is sincerely to want to know the truth and then seek
after it! This means that the seeker will hunger after what God, Himself, says. He will no longer be satisfied with what he
has been taught that cannot be verified in the Word of God.
In
our text, today, we read Jesus' words to those without the Holy Ghost. He knew
what He needed to say; indeed, He would have
to say. However, He also knew that in their present state, they would not be
able to handle His words. You see, those to whom He spoke would be under great
pressure to try to relate their natural understanding to what He would tell
them. Why? Because that was that with which they were familiar. When Man is
placed in unfamiliar situations, he often feels as if he is hanging "out
on a limb."
This
is much the same as the Church, today. Too many attempt
to take the spiritual which the Lord speaks about His spiritual kingdom to men with the Spirit and make them apply to
the natural life. The reason that this is and always will be unsuccessful is
that spiritual things are measured by a different "yardstick." It is
much like the proverbial adding of apples and oranges. They have nothing in
common (except the fact that they are fruits) and so, cannot be compared to one
another.
The
natural and spiritual lives are perhaps even more disparate. Their goals, aims
and foci are diametrically opposed to one another. At the helm of the former is
the flesh, led of the devil and focused on that which benefits self. The latter
has at its center, Jesus, and is focused on that which will advance the kingdom
and purpose of God. One can get no more opposite than that.
Jesus,
being the "Spirit of Truth," is also the Spirit of Wisdom and it
takes wisdom to bring out truth. Therefore, only He can work in our lives to
bring us to wisdom that we might accept truth. This is a matter of life and
death and as such, the Lord fashions our tests to bring us to the greatest
wisdom in the least amount of time. You see, He never wastes an instant on the
inconsequential, so whatever He allows is to do what it needs to do when He
sends it! The reason, then, that we get "behind," so to speak, is
because we refuse the wisdom in favor
of what we perceive as
"comfort."
We
seem to forget, sometimes, that if the Lord needed to get our permission before
He sent a test, He would ask it! The very fact that He doesn't should indicate
to us that He does, indeed, know exactly what is necessary for us. It should
also indicate to us that He is, indeed, the all-wise God, Who knows the
reception that He would receive should He "warn" us of tests and
trials.
Oh,
if we could only see and accept the blessing of submission and endurance. You
see, there is a divine "gift" awaiting us at the end of all tests. At
the end, like a beacon, shines the light of truth, revealed to us only as
we allow the Lord to lead us. Implicit, of course, in this statement is
that we must know how to follow
. A leader with no one to follow him is as powerless as one with a
leader whom he will not follow.
Our
Savior, Himself, was, of course, the epitome of submission and discipleship. In
all situations, He dedicated Himself to learning the lesson of His Father. Therefore,
He never prayed for God to change a
situation, but rather, that He might align Himself with the Father's
purpose. It is the cessation of one's own fight and the aligning of oneself
with the common Goal that brings about full, unadulterated revelation.
The Spirit of Truth came to us and indwells us that we might
become part of the few who will ever really have a purpose to their existence. It
is sad that for all of those who accept His Spirit, comparatively few will ever
really accept Him. These people will leave this life and enter an
eternal life of terror not really ever having come to understand the true
purpose of salvation. Sadly, only those who are able to turn themselves
completely over to Him will be able to gain the wisdom necessary to obtain the
mind of Christ. Those who are unable to give themselves (as He did) will never
know that Jesus is real, His power is real and His saving grace is real. n