Dependence on The Holy Spirit

Review of Previous Lessons: Disciplines of Private Means of Grace

0:01 I wish we'd spend just a few minutes reviewing the ground we have thus far covered. The nature of our adult class for the foreseeable future is that of the forum. It is not a lecture time. It is a time when together with our Bibles before us in dependence upon the Spirit, we seek to discuss and arrive at new light from God in areas of practical concern as the people of God.

0:28 And the first area that we are studying, the first focus of our study as far as subject matter, is what we might call in a broad sense the disciplines of the private means of grace. We are considering together the whole subject of the Christian and his personal habits of prayer and study of the Word of God. Thus far, by means of three or four very simple but pointed questions, we've established the necessity of such disciplines, we ask the question, is it necessary for a believer to have disciplines of private study and prayer?

1:08 And from the Scriptures we established, without any reservation to my understanding as a class, we came to the conviction that the Scripture answers with an emphatic yes. Such disciplines are necessary. And secondly, we try to ascertain what principles should guide us as to when and how much time should be given in the life of a believer to these disciplines. And our conclusions were that the answer to that question is not the same in the case of any two Christians, and therefore to absolutize, to set up rules and regulations as though the Word of God taught them, is to impose a legalistic bondage for which there is no warrant in the Word of God.

1:52 That every Christian ought to study the Scripture secretly, that every Christian ought to pray in secret, is clearly taught. But when he should pray in secret, how long he should pray in secret, how much of the Scripture he should read, this the Scripture does not legislate in terms of absolutes, but rather it gives us broad principles which the believer must himself apply with honesty in the presence of God. And then we came in the third place to the conclusion that the essential ingredients of these disciplines of the private means of grace, are preparation, the reading and meditation upon the Word,

2:34 and the engagement in the various forms of prayer. Now what we've been doing since we established those three things, the necessity of this discipline, the time allotted for the discipline, the essential ingredients, we are now taking those ingredients and breaking them down in some detail. We dealt with the various ways in which we can prepare ourselves to pray and to read the Word of God. Last week we began a consideration of how we should read the Scriptures.

3:04 And the next point will complete our review. We established in the first place that the Scriptures must be read systematically, that we must have some plan of reading the Word of God. And again, we looked to the Scriptures to show why this was necessary, since all that Scripture is given to make the man of God thoroughly furnished unto all, since all that Scripture is given to make the man of God thoroughly furnished unto all, since all that Scripture is given to make the man of God thoroughly furnished unto all, since all that Scripture is given to make the man of God thoroughly furnished unto all, since Jesus said, Man shall live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, we saw that there was necessity to cover the whole spectrum of divine revelation. But having established that, what plan should we follow?

3:46 We saw again, we cannot establish a new legalism. We cannot say you must read two chapters in the Old and one in the New every day, and get through the Scriptures once a year, or you're sinning. And if anyone ever told you that, you tell him, that he is not the voice of God to you. We cannot say how frequently we should go through the whole range of Scripture.

4:05 But every believer ought to have some systematic plan in order to cover the whole spectrum of Scripture. And we gave various suggestions, and we can't go over that ground. If you're interested to pick up those suggestions, you get the tape from Roger. All of the things are being taped.

4:23 All right? So much for our review. We got through in about five minutes. That gets increasingly difficult.

4:28 With the accumulation of material, I hope you budding preachers will at least remember that, and work long on your review and introduction. It doesn't take much sense to spend a long time on a review and going over ground that will just put the Lord's people to sleep as you do it week after week. All right? Now, having established that we ought to read the Word of God systematically, and having given some practical suggestions, and having received from you as a class, some patterns that have been helpful to you, let's move in the second place to some of the other elements that ought to guide us in our reading.

How to Read the Word of God: Initial Suggestions

5:08 How should we read the Word of God? We've prepared our hearts. Perhaps we've sung a psalm or a hymn, and we've meditated on the goodness of God, and we've looked to the Lord to bless our time alone with Him. And we have either in our minds, or in the flyleaf of our Bible, or stuck in our Bibles, maybe the little outline called the McShane pattern of reading the Word of God, and we know the chapter or chapters or portion to which we should turn for a given day.

5:38 Now precisely how do we read the Word of God? Assuming now we have some system, how do we approach it in order that we might feed upon every word that proceeds from the mouth of God? That's a question addressed to you. It's not a rhetorical question.

5:56 That's the question to spring loose your own suggestions and contributions. Having established the system, now then, how shall we read the Word of God? With an open mind. With an open mind.

6:13 Now would you like to explain what you mean with an open mind? We began to touch on this last week. Well, if the Lord has something for you, I can review and take it, and if He has something for you, we can pray. Okay, we'll put that over here, and I hope that some of these things you'll see can all be gathered under one heading.

6:31 With an open mind. With a teachable spirit. As we said last week, not coming to the Word simply to have previous notions confirmed, not coming to the Word in order to prove something that we're already committed to, that we may have sneaking suspicion about, it may not be of God, but coming with a teachable spirit. All right?

6:51 How else should we read the Word of God? Yes, Bud? All right. So we're reading then not only with an open mind, but with an inquisitive, active mind, comparing Scripture with Scripture.

7:15 What is the only infallible interpreter of Scripture? Scripture itself. And there's a beautiful statement on this in the Westminster Confession, that the message of Scripture is one, and therefore the only infallible interpreter of Scripture is Scripture. And so Bud has suggested that with the help of a concordance, we may not only read with an active mind, but with an inquisitive, with an open mind, but with an inquisitive, active mind, comparing Scripture with Scripture.

7:43 All right? What else should characterize our reading? If your mind is too open, I think you should look where you've been there before, probably right next to it the day before. It would be well to take a moment to put a perspective between where you are and where you might be going.

8:01 All right. What you're saying, Bob, that an open mind is not a blank mind. All right? And I don't think that was in our brother's mind when he said an open mind.

8:09 But not a blank mind. In other words, we just don't come to it as a tablet upon which nothing is written. No. We bring to it the train of thought that perhaps was present in our reading before.

8:21 For instance, if you were reading through the, in the New Testament, if you were reading through Ephesians, I hope when you came to Chapter 2, you'd remember the general content of Chapter 1, and you would carry that with you as you sought to discover the mind of God in Chapter 2. So, an open mind, let's put in parenthesis up, here, not blank. Okay? All right.

8:46 Louise, what were you going to suggest? Louise is saying that she keeps a Haley's Bible handbook by, and wouldn't that come under here, an inquiring, active mind that not only, A, compares Scripture with Scripture, but B, that seeks to understand, and we can rearrange this later, seeks to understand something of the purpose of the book is, and so on. All right? Now, suppose someone should ask the question,

9:31 that's so undevotional and unspiritual to be reading Haley's Bible handbook in your devotion. I mean, somehow, that just doesn't quite seem spiritual enough. How would you answer? I mean, that's letting men intrude into your sacred time with God.

9:46 Who's Haley to come in and speak to you when God is prepared to speak to you? How would you answer that objection? Well, you all smile as though you never heard it, but you, some of you, if you're honest, you'll know you've exactly, you've actually had quads of conscience about reaching for a dictionary in your devotions. You won't admit it, but it's true.

10:05 If I could get you in secret, you'd admit it. And looking at a commentary, that just seems so unspiritual. I have the Holy Spirit and I have the Word, but you know the necessity of it. Yes, John?

10:13 I've been purchased for these church teachings. Those teachings throughout the ages have been God's instrument to talk the Word of God and to rule the Word of God. God has been pleased to record what these men have taught. They have been taught that the Word of God is God's instrument to speak to you and to guide you and to guide you towards the ways that you would read in the sermons and the ways you would read in the Scriptures and the way you start to speak in a hymn.

10:43 All right. So what John is saying is that when we come into our quiet time, our time for the disciplines of private prayer and reading of the Word, though we come in a spirit of dependence upon God the Spirit, conscious that only He can open the Word, there is no contradiction between the Spirit's ministry directly to me through the Word and the Spirit's ministry directly to me through the Word and the Spirit's ministry directly to me through the Word and the Spirit's ministry ministry to me indirectly through those whom he has given his gifts to his church. Now that's a great principle to recognize, that the gifts of the Spirit to the church are never in conflict with one another. Paul said, all things are yours. Paul, Apollos, Cephas.

11:26 Well, in that sense, when I come to my quiet time, all of the discerning, careful students of the Word of God, who have left a legacy of biblical learning, they are mine, to the end that I might better know the mind and will of God. All right, someone else. Yes, John, and then...

11:45 2 Timothy 4.13, where Paul is writing, when you come, bring the coil which I lent, and the books, especially the parchment. All right, so here the Apostle...

11:56 Paul, be concerned about the books that he has learned. All right, yes, Jim? Also, the Lord has taught us that, thank the Lord, that we should love one another. The Lord our God with my whole heart, soul, and mind.

12:10 All right, very good. You're building up now to one of the exhortations I want to make, and you may well give it before I have to, but the fact is, right there, there's to be the activity of the mind. Yes, Joy?

12:26 It's so terrible to go to those books. Are the same people around you meaning to listen to man or a woman?

12:38 That's a good point. That's a very good point. I never thought of it in quite that light. So often...

12:43 The people who rant and rave about saying, I need nothing but God, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, they're the ones that are running out to meetings three or four times a night to follow their favorite preachers. Very good point. All right, how else should we read? With an open mind, but not a blank mind, with an inquiring active mind that will involve comparing Scripture with Scripture, if necessary, seeking to unlock a passage or a book as to its general intent and purpose, doing a little background reading in Haley's Bible Handbook.

Addressing Objections to Using Study Aids

13:12 As has been suggested, checking the meaning of a phrase in a Bible dictionary or a concordance. How else should we read? Yes, Russ?

13:23 All right, now what do you mean? A spirit of prayerful expectation. That sounds great. Now, what do you mean by that?

13:39 All right, a very good, very good point. Did we come in the expectation that God does not mock us? When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek? Why? Because the Scripture says it is not in vain to seek the Lord. He's promised. So

13:55 that there is that spirit of expectation. All right, let's put that down here as a expectation.

14:04 All right, what else? And we can maybe get a number of these things together and then maybe sort them out and rearrange them. What else should characterize the spirit, the attitude, the mentality with which we come to the reading of the Word? What else? All right, Louise?

14:24 All right, under the general heading of reading with an inquisitive, active mind, seek to, as it were, plow through the passage with a series of questions, as Louise has suggested. What does it tell me about my God, about my duty, about the world? In which I live, all right? What else should characterize? You try to analyze how you

14:53 read the Word, because you see, again, we're not saying that when you come to the Scripture we want you to go now with a list of ten things and say, now I must read the Word. Am I doing that? Check it off. No, no. With many of these things they become second nature. But it's

15:07 good, you see, to get them out, to analyze them, because there may be some of these things that you're omitting. And that may be the heart of some of your barrenness in devotional exercises. And then we also have a lot of...

15:19 And then we also have a lot of... And then we also have a lot of...

15:19 And then we also have a lot of slaves in Christ, for whom so much of this is new, and to have it articulated will be of special help to them. Yes? If you could write it down so that you could get the books you have before, then you could understand, you know. All right. Let's put that down as seeking to retain, seeking to retain what the Lord

15:42 has shown us from His Word, all right? I will read with an attitude that is concerned to retain what God has spoken to us. There are some words that are spoken to us. There are some words that are spoken to us.

15:51 There are some words that are spoken to us. There are some words that are spoken to us. There are some words that are spoken to us. There are some words that are spoken to us.

15:51 And I know that some of you have found this helpful to try to just put in a paragraph at the end of their time in the Word something from the passage that was of particular relevance to them, and then go over on the Lord's Day as one of the disciplines of sanctifying the Christian Sabbath. Go over God's Word to them through the week, and see how they've been implementing it. I know there are some of you that do that with the sermons, even. You take notes with a view to reviewing that and asking yourself, am I walking, living, thinking, acting, and moving? You take notes with a view to reviewing that and asking yourself,

16:21 in the light of what God said to me. All right? What other things should characterize our reading of the Word? Paul?

16:28 All right? This would come under what? Anything here?

16:40 Let's say, read with a view to obey, a view to obedience. All right?

16:50 Anything else? Yes, Eugene? And then speak up so all the others can hear you, Eugene, if you will, please.

17:11 All right, so what Eugene is suggesting that under this matter of reading with an inquisitive, active mind, with a view, to obedience and to retention, maybe even you, 2 Timothy 3.16, as sort of an outline, what does the passage give me in terms of objective teaching? What does it say

17:55 in a way of rebuke, reproof, instruction in the life of righteousness? All right? That's a helpful suggestion. All right?

18:03 Anything else? Oh, I'm sorry. I bypassed you, forgot you'd raised your hand. All right, Jeff?

18:08 We mentioned this last week,

18:12 reading the Word with complete understanding

18:20 All right, we just mentioned it. I don't think we had time to develop it, but reading with a spirit of dependence on the Holy Spirit. And forgive me for just putting the initials, but I have no room here. There's no irreverence meant by that.

18:34 Dependence on the Holy Spirit. All right, I think we have, as it were, the broad spectrum now of the various ingredients that will make up fruitful study of the Word of God. Now, any one of these we could expand into a lesson, two lessons, three lessons, but our purpose here, is not to be exhaustive. Any of you who have a spirit of inquiry and you want to follow through on any one of these things, I'll be glad personally to give you some directions in terms of reading material that will be helpful to you.

The Fusion of Dependence on the Spirit and Mental Activity

19:03 But what I'd like to do now is go back over and sort of rearrange these things. And again, the order is not inspired, but in teaching, you've got to have a first, a second, and a third. You can't just send out a buckshot, a wad of buckshot, and hope that people will get hold of it. So let me suggest, that first of all, there must be this reading with utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit, coupled with the most active, intense action of the mind as we read.

19:38 And I'd like to just sit on that principle for a little bit, that there is no contradiction between a spirit of utter dependence upon God and the full employment of all of our Godly, God-given faculties. And a failure to grasp that simple little principle at any point in the Christian life will lead you into crippling error. Now that's a simple statement, it's a broad statement, it's a very sweeping statement, but it's true. There is no contradiction between God's activity and the most intense, conscious activity of the redeemed creature.

20:21 Now let's see how this is clearly brought out in several portions of the Word of God and then apply it to the subject that is at hand. Will you turn, please, to a passage such as 2 Timothy, chapter 2. 2 Timothy, chapter 2. The Apostle has been giving exhortations and instruction to Timothy.

20:51 He's been giving some analogies of the Christian life. He likens the servant of Christ to a soldier in 2 Timothy, chapter 2. In verse 2 and verse 4, he likens him to a runner or a contender in athletic contests in verse 5, and then he likens him to a farmer in verse 6. So the Christian worker is in some respects like unto soldier, runner, and farmer.

21:20 And let me pause to say beware of anyone who builds the doctrine of the Christian life on any single analogy of what the Christian is.

21:30 Great heresies have been let loose in the church because someone got hold of John 15. And the analogy between vine and branches that reflects in some dimensions the relationship of Christ to the church and they built their whole doctrine of the Christian life on the vine branch concept. Now what was the problem if you build your whole picture of the Christian life on the vine branch concept right off the bat? Tell me.

21:58 John? All right, you just can't do justice to the other analogies. It's great, but what practical problem arises? Ralph?

22:08 Something more fundamental than that. Don't look for something profound, Al. The fact is the branch on the vine is always passing. Say it loud, will you?

22:23 The branch on the vine is always passing. That's it. Our apple tree. You get tired of me talking about my apple tree in my garden, but that's all right because we're enjoying the apples.

22:34 And I've actually heard people say, did you ever see an apple tree grunting in sweat? And wiping its brow in the middle of the summer saying, oh, I'm working hard to produce these apples. No, it's just there. And lo and behold, in October, late September, wonderful apples on this.

22:51 They say, see, if you only learn to abide in Christ, no struggle, no conflict, no warfare, there. And if you can just get the roots right and the branches right, then you just relax and all this luscious fruit will be formed. Well, you see, that's heresy. And if you take it seriously, as some of us tried to, who were taught that, it'll bring you into the worst kind of bondage if you take it seriously.

23:24 No, there is one aspect of the Christian's relationship to his Lord that is beautifully illustrated by the vine and the branch analogy. But there are other aspects that are beautifully illustrated by the shepherd and the sheep analogy, by the vine, by the bride and the bridegroom analogy, by the soldier and the enemy analogy, and Christ being the captain of the Lord's host. You see, you have a diversity of analogies, none of which contains the whole. I thought I should inject that little warning as a little aside for you.

24:01 All right, now, we move on. And after he has given all these various analogies, someone please read verse 7 for us. Verse 7.

24:12 Anyone? Anyone read it out loud? Nice booming voice. Consider what I say, for the Lord shall give the understanding in all things.

24:19 All right, now, that's a wonderful little text. Here's some great truth that's been unloaded on Timothy. Timothy, you are to conduct yourself like soldier, like unto runner, unto athlete, unto farmer. Now, Timothy, what do I mean by all these things?

24:38 Well, he says, first of all, Timothy, only the Lord can give you understanding. The Lord must give you understanding. Timothy, I've spoken to you. I've used simple analogies.

24:48 I've used clear, blunt, street Greek. And that's what the Koine Greek was. I've used plain, blunt, street Greek. He talked in what we would call contemporary colloquialisms.

25:02 But he said, Timothy, that's not enough. That's not enough that you've got the most fresh translation in your hands. In up-to-date language, the Lord must give you understanding. Oh, wonderful, then.

25:14 The Lord's going to give you understanding. And I just sit back and wait. Lord, give me life? No, no.

25:17 What's the command? What's the verb, the imperative verb? Consider. And that word, consider, literally means think.

25:25 Its root word is the Greek word for mind. Mouse, your thinker, your gray matter. Timothy, think, consider, meditate. Bring all of your mental faculties to play upon what I've said.

25:40 And wonder of wonders, in the context of your earnest thinking, the Lord will grant. Illumination. So then, when Timothy got insight, he didn't reach around and say, boy, you really unlocked it. Boy, you really thought.

25:55 No, he thought, but it was the Lord who granted the understanding. See the beautiful fusion in one text of Timothy's conscious, vigorous mental activity and the gracious illumination of the Holy Spirit in opening up the truth. And Paul just puts it together in one little simple text, in a word of direction to one of his associates. Well, you find the same thing suffused through the 119th Psalm.

Vigorous Activity and Divine Illumination in Proverbs 2

26:20 We'll not take time to go into it, but you find it there again and again in the 119th Psalm. Let me refer just to one other passage in the Old Testament, and then I'm sure you'll begin to see others in your own reading, but in Proverbs chapter 2.

26:36 And all we're attempting to establish now is that in the reading of the Word of God, dependence upon God the Spirit and conscious, deliberate, mental, inquiry and activity are not contradictory. There must be a confluence, if we may use that term, of flowing together of our activity and God's. All right? Proverbs chapter 2.

27:03 Now will someone read, please, verses 1 through 6. Someone again who can read with a good, loud voice. Proverbs 2, 1 to 6. You have to read that for us, will you please?

27:16 My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou wouldst find thy ears and your wisdom and apply thy heart's understanding, may thou cryest after knowledge and lift up thy voice for understanding. If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her and for his pain, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom out of his own hand, and out of his own hand, out of his own hand, out of his own hand, out of his own hand, out of his own hand, out of his own hand, out of his own hand, out of his own hand, out of his own hand, out of his own hand, out of his own hand, out of his own hand, All right? You see the fusion of the two things?

27:55 He says, My son, if you are ever to understand with true heavenly wisdom, God must open his mouth to you. God must give you understanding. The Lord giveth wisdom, verse 6, out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. But, he says, that knowledge and understanding does not come in the way of passivity.

28:16 And he uses figures here that are, they're almost overused, overwhelming in their emphasis upon the vigor of his son's activity. Incline your ear. Apply your heart. Cry after.

28:32 Lift up thy voice. There's the language of dependence. Oh, God, teach me what it is to be wise. Here's the young man.

28:40 He's not sure what life is all about, what his role in life is to be, who he is, what he's to be, how he's to conduct himself, what is he to do. He's to cry out that God would teach him. He's to lift up his voice for understanding. Then he's to hunt for it like silver.

28:56 He's to hunt for it as precious metals and for his treasures. Then, he says, in the context of that kind of vigorous mental and heart activity, there will be the illuminating work of God in opening up the text of Holy Scripture. So, let me encourage you and underscore particularly for the number of you who are relatively new in the faith that you might be spared the great errors that have come to many believers for failure to grasp this simple principle that touches every facet of the Christian life. There is no contradiction between your vigorous activity and God's gracious work in opening up the Holy Scriptures.

Warning Against Cold Rationalism and Elated Mysticism

29:40 Philippians 2, 12, and 13 is another eloquent statement of this principle. Now, you see, on the one hand, with reference to the reading of the Scripture, you have the error of a cold rationalism that approaches the Scripture with no dependence upon the Spirit. The Spirit, the attitude that says, well, I have a relatively good mind, I've got a Bible dictionary and concordance and several good commentaries, and as I approach the Scripture, I can unlock what they say. If I get in over my head, I've got my helpers on the shelf.

30:12 That's the spirit of cold rationalism that approaches the Scripture with the Spirit, though it would never be articulated in so many words with the Spirit, I am competent to understand what God has said. On the other hand, you have the spirit of what I would call elated mysticism that approaches the Word with no active mental endeavor. You just sort of shift yourself in the neutral and you're threading the words of the Bible through your eyes until something leaps out and gaps you.

30:43 And they call that holy zapping, I guess. That's where you're just waiting, very passive, threading the words through, going down through, waiting for the Word to come. You think it's something that just leaps out and smashes. That's elated mysticism.

30:56 And that puts you in a terribly dangerous place because, see, if you've got the zapping mentality, then certainly when something gaps you, you dare not doubt that it was from God. And you'll have people say, I know that God led me to do such and such. Why? Well, because God gave me this verse.

31:13 And when you ask them what the verse was and you start reading the verse in its content, the verse is not saying anything like unto that which God day to day God said to them through that verse. Well, what kind of a God is that that speaks his mind in the Scripture and then contradicts his mind through the very words in which he revealed his mind?

31:35 What kind of a God is that? That's a God of double talk. He talks out of both sides of his mouth. And that's not the God of the Bible.

31:43 All his words are words of truth. And so we must beware of that latent mysticism that just shifts into neutral and waits for something to zap us. We must beware of the cold rationalism that does not come with this spirit of dependence upon the Holy Spirit. The fusion is in David's words.

Practical Application: Avoiding Shortcuts and Seeking Counsel

32:06 He cries in Psalm 119 in verse 18 Open thou mine eyes literally undress my eyes take away the veils from my eyes but then he goes on to say I will meditate upon my statutes. Lord, you give me light I am determined that I shall have light as I apply myself to the study of the word. All right, any question or further contribution on that principle? Yes, Ralph?

32:57 Yes, well that's the very thing we're talking about, Ralph, but that's really looking for a shortcut. For instance, and I know this is not your problem, but I'll use this as a far-out illustration, all right? The person that's much in earnest, much in prayer and deeply concerned about knowing God's precise place for him and his plan of getting the gospel to the ends of the earth and he's deeply exercised. Shall I commit myself for missionary service, etc.?

33:24 Well, he's been so agitated about this for so long that he's weary for an answer and almost anything will do. And he happens to be reading in Jeremiah, you see, one of the other prophets, and he'll come to a phrase about him, the Lord said unto me, go thou to the such, and he looks up on his map and says, well that's such and such a place, God is calling me to go to such, and I had friends in Bible school who actually based their focus, they called to a specific field, to some phrase, some obtuse phrase from one of the prophets that came to them with power, they thought, in their own devotions. That's sheer fanaticism. Now God may overrule it because they did it in ignorance and thank God that he overruled our foibles, but that doesn't mean he justifies them, nor that those foibles become

34:09 the regulative principles by which others should be governed, you see.

34:14 Right, instead of backing off and saying, all right, now my question is, how shall I relate to this employer, or this employee, all right? Shall I leave this job, shall I dismiss this worker? And I'm deeply agitated about the question, what is my Christian responsibility? Well, you know, the easy thing to do is to find some phrase in the prophets where you could get the hint.

34:38 Well, that's the Lord telling me to pull them out, dude.

34:42 Why is going to Egypt? You know, well, I'll give them a boot in the first few miles toward Egypt. Sorry, Mr. Briefcase, I just kicked my briefcase.

34:51 That wasn't his shin. But this is the easy way out. It's a cop-out. Whereas what God wants us to do is to bring to remembrance the relevant portions that deal with employer-employee relationships, the general principles of equity and the rest that are found in the book of Proverbs, and then asking the Spirit of God for light and grace to apply those principles in the specific situation if necessary, to seek counsel from others who've wrestled with the principles after we've wrestled.

35:19 You see, there's a way of abusing counsel to make me lazy. I'm going to run to someone else before I've wrestled. And the other way to abuse it is I've got my convictions, I'm going to run to someone else to put their rubber stamp on me. Well, both of those are an abuse of Christian counsel.

35:36 The function of Christian counsel is I've wrestled, I've prayed, I've fought, I believe I have some answer from God, but I don't have that much confidence. I'm going to go check out my answer knowing the Spirit of God will speak with similarity if I'm rightly understanding the principles and I go to have my own direction checked out. If I've missed an aspect, God can use godly counsel to bring it into focus. Whereas on the other hand, some people go for counsel as a substitute for their own activity or for a confirmation of their own nature.

36:10 More than once I've had to say to someone, you haven't come for counsel, you've come for confirmation. Now do you want counsel or confirmation? And this is the way to handle it. Does that speak to the issue Ralph?

36:21 All right, any other questions? Now on this general principle, we'll go to the application of it in a moment, but the principle is what I hope we all speak to. Yes, Eugene?

The Dangers of Mysticism in Leadership and the Nature of True Fervor

36:33 Yes, nice and loud so everybody can get it. There is an important thing about the Spanish for all of us in Babylon. And this faith, the message of the hills and so forth. I was reading this today because my mother was talking about cooking fasting.

36:57 Anyway, I think that's a good diversion because I wanted to do my first thing. So when I started reading, it was interesting that God gave me a vision.

37:14 The Bible was told in the Word of God. And what that, what version of the Word of God was said, get in and out of the way of the Lord. He turns you into all your hearts and is fasting. And in that fasting was it put a burden on you.

37:39 So fasting is that 40 days for one fast day of the day of the Lord. This is again an example of the very thing we're talking about. And Lord willing, we'll be touching on some of

38:18 exposition tonight as well as we get to the message from John chapter 20. But this simply underscores what we're saying. You see, it's a tragic thing when an individual believer deals with the Word in this mystical way. But when a spiritual leader does, what a frightening tragedy because he brings so many ignorant and unstable people in his train.

38:42 That's why Paul said in Ephesians chapter 4 that God has given gifts to his church and one of the main reasons is what? That he be no more children taught to enroll by every wind of doctrine and the flight of men who in cunning craftiness race with the sea. And so it's essential that we get grounded in this principle. Now we're not calling for a new rationalism in which the Word of God is just dealt with coldly and objectively and with no heart warmth.

39:13 We're not talking about that at all. And if God can help us to steer the course of the Christian life to between the shows on the one side of a cold rationalism and the shows on the other of a wild-eyed mysticism, we are a blessed people if we can be kept with that fusion of all of the subjective inner warmth and passion of true biblical mysticism that always has its taproot in the objective Word of God written and never shifts the mind into need. God does not lead his people into ecstasy. In their most intense moments of spiritual fervor, they are in the full possession of their rational faculties.

39:57 That was true even when they were charismatic gifts. As Paul said, the spirit of the prophet is subject to the cross. If somebody there in Corinth says, who said the cross is subject to the cross? came on me, I couldn't be cross.

40:11 The spirit of work on me wasn't the Holy Ghost. He never would go to employment and the full roots of the

40:21 mental faculties. He says, the spirit of the prophet is subject to the cross. I will sing with the spirit, I will sing with the understanding of God. We're not crying for a cold rationalism.

40:33 If there's some of you that want to become leaders of the world, wait a minute, Jesus said, my words are spirit and they are life. We just don't talk about the dead letter of the word, they are life giving words. All right, so much for the principle. Any further questions before we move on?

Ascertaining the Flow of Thought in Paragraphs

40:56 All right, we are to come then with that attitude of dependence on the Holy Spirit that will express itself frequently in specific prayer to God before we read the word. Lord, open up the scriptures. You have David's prayer in Psalm 119 and then Paul's wonderful prayer as an example in Ephesians chapter 1 and then again in Ephesians chapter 3. Prayers for spiritual illumination, prayers that we need frequently to pray.

41:24 All right, having prayed and having turned then to the chapter or the portion of chapter which we're going to read,

41:34 how do we actually ascertain the mind of God to our heart.

41:44 Well, let's take this principle now. Come on, get your spirit in my face here. All right, that coming in dependence upon the spirit, we are now in the second place going to read with an open inquisitive thinking mind. Pray for the gift to write better, but it wouldn't hurt if somehow I got it, had I not.

42:17 All right,

42:20 now, as we do so, just a few practical suggestions. Reading in this way, what's the first thing that we ought to do with the passage before. Now, some of these things will be flexible. Obviously, if you're reading through Proverbs, especially from Proverbs 10 on, there's very little sequence of thought.

42:37 Each of the Proverbs is a little unit of thought in itself. In the first nine chapters, you do have paragraph divisions, in which in many cases there are units of thought. But apart from such places as the book of Proverbs, which to my knowledge is the only real exception, unless you're thinking of some of the miscellaneous collections, actions of exhortations at the end of some of the epistles, when Paul says, rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, there is not enough what we would call logical progression of thought. You just have to sort of attach all the things that Paul wanted to say to them, and he threw them in the hopper and sent off the letter.

43:17 But apart from those portions, generally, whether you're reading the historical portions, you're starting Genesis, you're reading the Gospels, you're reading the epistles, there's going to find that God is conveyed to us in thought units. And what do we call thought units?

43:36 Yeah.

43:39 What's that stand for? Paragraphs. Paragraphs are thought units. They come to us in paragraphs.

43:44 So reading with an opening, inquisitive, speaking mind, the first thing we ought to do is to speak to gain some understanding of the flow of thought, the flow of thought in the paragraph. Now this is not an extensive course in hermeneutics. Several of one of the brethren came and said some of us were saying we'd love a course in hermeneutics. I said I appreciated the suggestion, but I didn't feel it would be proper at this time to go into an extensive course in hermeneutics.

44:16 There are some good books to recommend, but this is sort of a poor man's abbreviated practical course in hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is of course the science of interpretation, how we understand the meaning of words. So for any of you who are disappointed that this is rather non-technical, it's not that I don't understand there was a technical approach to the science of hermeneutics, but it's simply that we want to get through this in some degree of reasonable length of time. It seems to ascertain the flow of thought.

44:49 Now let's show how this can have such practical implications in our devotional reading. Let's turn to the book of Colossians for an example. All right?

Case Study: Misinterpreting Colossians 2 by Neglecting Context

45:09 Now, if you're simply reading the scriptures as little bits of unconnected things, instructions, exhortations, and promise, and you're reading through, waiting for one of the exhortations taken to the instruction of promise to just leap out and draft you, can you see what would happen if you're reading in Colossians 2? And we made reference to this before, but let's look at it again. All right? We've been reading through the individual verses, and not too much has hit you until you came to verse 21.

45:50 And you read, hand or not, more faith, more touch. Now, suppose as a Christian you've been praying about whether or not you ought to get a television set. All right? Let's take that.

46:03 You've been exercised. Should I have a television set in my house? You've been deeply exercised, and all of a sudden this thing comes handled by an exaction. You say, there's my answer.

46:18 God's telling me not to handle the television. It's intrinsically evil. I should have another material thing, be it any of God's gifts of food or drink or any of these things. And you're listening to this issue, and looking through the passage, you're simply taking each individual verse, and all of a sudden you're zapped.

46:44 Maybe you're someone who's just been wrestling with whether or not you ought to join the women's temperance union. That you ought to really join it and throw your weight. Now what's the problem? Well you see the problem is that there is a complete overlooking of the flow of thought.

47:08 That flow of thought begins in the first few verses of this chapter. I shouldn't say with the first few verses. With the whole first section of the chapter it says, And in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in him ye are made full. He's dealing with the believer standing in Jesus Christ.

47:38 That in Christ he is made complete. He has been crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, raised with Christ. And all of the ordinances that were against us, the position in Christ, verse 16 is the exhortation. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is Christ.

48:19 Let no man rob you of your prize by Christ. You are delivered from that system of things which had this you may touch, that you may not touch. He said don't let anyone impose that system of extrinsic regulations upon you. Why?

48:41 He said it's a denial of what you are in Jesus Christ. Now in that setting he goes on in verse 20 to say if he died with the Lord he would not touch you. Now the ordinances here were not the law of God but the rules of men. Handle not nor taste nor touch all of which things are to perish with the using after the precepts and doctrines of men.

49:15 Rather than a command not to touch, to taste, not this or that because of this. He's utterly overlooked the flow of thought and God does not speak contrary to the intention of his word. Or I say again you have God speaking double talk and I use this again just as a rather crude illustration. Usually our problem is aspects of this, expressions of the word and the meaning of the word.

49:54 And that's not the reason why it's so useful. Why it's essential to catch the flow of thought in the passage. Yes Bill? There's a person who follows this type of life of reading.

50:14 What does this possibly mean? The overall life of that Christian? So that even though he's not looking for the flow of thought, he'll put the individual statements into the general teaching of the word of God. The categories which are being etched in his mind by a solid ministry.

50:43 So that the results will not be as disastrous. However, on the other hand, if as in the case that Eugene has of most Spanish churches where there is a high emotional element, very little sound exegesis, you couple a public ministry that is based on it. Someone comes into the pulpit, very little of any preparation. The Holy Ghost gave him a message.

51:18 You see a text flashed into his mind while he was in the pulpit. The Holy Ghost gives you the epitome of spirituality. Then you have someone carrying that principle through in his own individual life. Then you have chaos.

51:42 You have habit. Often you have gross forms of immorality. Yes, you do. Gross forms of immorality.

51:52 Because you are given the ability to visualize where there is a more sound ministry. Is that all right? Any further questions? Yes dear.

Understanding the Purpose of Genealogies

52:19 . . . .

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52:47 . All right. But this discipline helps again to show that there is the flow of thought and how we can proffe into the flow of thought by trying to articulate what that particular portion says in the general context. Any further questions on this general principle?

53:10 If we are the thought itself will be right on end to what you would normally take as tomorrow's reading. Yeah. I was just noticing here in Colossians at the end of chapter 3, verse 1, chapter 4, is actually the end of the full talk. Yes.

53:28 If you stop short, just because you did chapter 4, then you missed the full talk of the previous. Which is why the 1901 edition, among others, is nice because the paragraph goes right through to 4.1. You'll see.

53:43 It goes right through to 4.1, and if you were reading, you would drop on down to include that. All right? Any other questions or contributions on this principle?

53:51 Yes, Dad? What do you do with genealogies?

53:55 What do you do with genealogies? Right. Well, I'll tell you what I did one time, and it amazed me. I was struggling through the genealogies and finding very little, if any, yield of devotional help, of practical help, and I said, well, if anyone, if anyone can help me, probably old Matthew Henry.

54:13 And lo and behold, without resting scripture, Matthew Henry has some wonderful little nuggets of spiritual truth and principles in the genealogy, but if nothing else, and this is where you see, looking to external help, maybe of assistance. Why are the genealogies there? You've asked that question, haven't you? I've asked it.

54:32 If God only had one inscripturated, verbal revelation to give to man, there's so many things I wish he had told me that he had, but why has he given me those chapters full of nothing but the begets? Full of names. Have you ever asked that question? All right, some of you have asked it.

54:51 Have you gotten an answer? Yes.

54:54 Nice and loud. The genealogy in Matthew is a specific reference made to Christ as the son of David and the son of Abraham. It couldn't be shown that he was literally a descendant of David, literally a descendant of Abraham, that he couldn't be received of Abraham and received of David. All right, so sometimes, you see, the blessing will come not in trying to find some mystical interpretation of the given names, but to back off and say, now why did God put this here?

55:32 Why he put this here that we might be absolutely certain that when we fall at the feet of Jesus of Nazareth, whom we call the Lord's Christ, we are not falling at the feet of an imposter. Some Johnny-come-later, lately intruder, who said, I am he, but one whose bloodlines demonstrate that he is what he ought to be. Well, then you're off in a season of praise. Lord, thank you for your faithfulness.

56:00 When men sought to obliterate that nation, you kept it intact. You kept those bloodlines such that my Savior should come. There's one very fundamental principle. All right?

56:12 Some others that you found helpful. Yes, Jeff? Well, that's true. In the Old Testament genealogy, it's having to do with Christ, but what about the Old Testament?

56:22 All right, can't the same principle be applied? What is the purpose of those Old Testament genealogies, among other things? Now, I'm not the, you know, I would not purport to be the Old Testament scholar who could, you know, lecture with profound insight for three hours on the intent of God in the listing of the Old Testament genealogies, but is there not, you see, this similar concern of God to show that His revelation has come to us, in the stuff of human history? And in our day, where history is regarded as junk, and where people want a Christianity that has no roots in history, that has its roots in something up here that's outside of history, how essential for us to know

57:06 that that revelation comes unfolding itself in the context of valid history. And then also, there are wonderful little nuggets of amazement. When you read the bloodlines of Christ, you see some pretty shady characters, in there. Where sin abounds, grace is much more abound.

57:25 Well, there's some thoughts that you had to add on this. No? Yes. Well, I think you'll find, Matthew Henry, if anyone can bring out some of the practical applications and helpful aspects of the genealogical sections, Matthew Henry does, and I found that helpful.

57:42 Well, it's just about time to quit.

57:46 This is elementary, but I hope it's been helpful to you. And don't be discouraged. There are times when it's difficult to find the flow of thought. I'm reading now in my Old Testament reading in the prophecy of Isaiah.

57:58 And at times, I just don't seem to find the flow of thought. Well, I take E.J. Young down from the shelf.

58:05 I take his introduction to the Old Testament.