The Spirit and Scripture

Well as we open that book tonight, open the Word of God, trusting God to give us what we need tonight. Help us to see as we've just sung great things out of his Word, his book. Tonight we are totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit in that regard. And for what he will give us and show us from his Word, the Bible teaches that it is God's Word. It was given to us by the Holy Spirit. It's only through him that we can properly understand it and interpret it. So we're going to be looking at that some tonight. Last week we began talking about the ministries of the Holy Spirit. What he actually does after we saw his person who he is, that he is indeed a person, not just a force or influence or power. We looked at the fact that he is not just a person, he is God, just as much as God the Father and God the Son or God, God the Spirit is God. And last week we started looking at his ministry, what he actually does. And we began by looking at his work and creation. Now tonight we're going to look at his work in giving us scripture, but it goes beyond just giving us scripture. There are several ways in which the Holy Spirit is instrumental in the Word of God. We're going to look at three of those ways and it probably will take us at least a couple, maybe three weeks to see all of there is here because there's a lot of material in the Bible about this fascinating topic of the Holy Spirit and revelation, inspiration and illumination. Those are the three ways in which the Spirit is active in the Word of God. Just so that we kind of set the table here at the beginning, we're going to define each of those more carefully, but let's just make sure we understand the distinction between those. What do we mean by the Holy Spirit revealing the Bible? What is that? Opening our eyes, now that we'll get to that a little bit later and that's really more into illumination, but revealing what is revelation, not the book of revelation. When we say God reveals something in His Word, we're talking about the fact that He actually gave it to us. He unveils Himself, He makes known Himself. Actually, we're going to see that Word make known several times when it comes to the Holy Spirit. So revelation is one thing the Holy Spirit does. The second is inspiration. What are we talking about there? When He actually spoke through men to give us His Word. Revelation has to do with the Holy Spirit revealing to the men who wrote what they should write and then inspiration has to do with Him protecting them, bearing them along as they actually wrote it. The revelation is the information of God being given to their minds and hearts and then the actual writing of it has to do with inspiration. And then illumination is what Karen was talking about. Illumination is the Holy Spirit opening our eyes to understand the Word of God. So He's very active when it comes to the Word of God and it's very important that we understand what He's doing. So we're going to take a little time on this, beginning with the Spirit's work in revelation. The meaning of revelation, this begin there. I remember when I was a student at Piedmont Bible College back in the days when the earth was still water receding from the flood. When I was a student there, our student council one year had a project and that was to purchase a new sign for the school. And it's still there. It's still on the corner of the campus and the name has been changed to Piedmont International University. But I'll never forget the day that that student council made the presentation of that sign to the school. And we were standing beside the sign and there were speeches made and things said about how the money was raised and how all that took place. And then it was my responsibility to unveil the sign and there was actually some kind of blanket or covering over it. And we just pulled that off and the sign was revealed for everybody to see. Now, revelation is that very thing. Revelation literally means to unveil or uncover. So when we talk about God revealing himself, we're talking about God unveiling, uncovering who he is so that we can know him. And here's the reason why that's needed because God is infinite, perfectly holy because God is glorious. And we on the other hand are sinful and finite, we're limited, God's unlimited because there's such a huge difference between us and God. God remains a mystery to us unless he chooses to unveil himself, reveal himself, disclose who he is. And that's what we're talking about. The Bible is God's ultimate revelation. Now God has unveiled himself and revealed himself in a number of different ways, two primary ways. We call them natural or general revelation and special revelation. In general revelation, God has revealed himself to everybody in the world, at least it is accessible to everybody through things like nature, through man himself, the way he's made, man's made the image of God. So his conscience and so forth. Romans 2 talks about that speaking of God and his purposes to man. And through other things, even like historical events. So God has revealed himself in a general way, but he's also revealed himself in a special way which communicates more detailed knowledge about who he is and what his plan is. And that special way, there are several different ways he's done that through in Bible times, through visions and dreams and actually speaking directly to people and then through Christ. But the full and final and completed revelation of God, which lays out his purpose and plan, particularly the plan of redemption, is in this book, the Bible. So God has revealed himself in a lot of different ways, very general things through nature, but more specifically who he is, what his plan of salvation is, ultimately through the word of God. So that's what revelation is. God has disclosed himself, unveiled, revealed who he is and the primary means of that is through the Bible. Now we're going to see how the Holy Spirit was involved in that and there are three key passages we're going to look at. First of all, John chapter 14. We're going to spend a little time on these passages, especially first Corinthians 2, because they're so critical to understanding some basic things that are often misunderstood. John 14.26, notice what Jesus says. Let's begin actually with verse 25. He says, all this I have spoken while still with you. Now what is it he's talking about that he's spoken to them? Well, back in verses 23 and 24, his teaching. He said in verse 23, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My father will love them, will come to them, make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own, his teaching. So that's what he's referring to in verse 25 when he says all this, all this teaching, all these words that I've given you, I have spoken while still with you. So I've told you these things and you've heard them while I was with you, but now look at verse 26. But the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Now it's important that we understand the primary reference to what the Holy Spirit's doing here is to the apostles who were in the upper room. Now obviously we can apply what Jesus has said in the upper room to us in a very general way, but it's important to understand that when you interpret scripture, you have to understand who it was spoken to and what it meant to them and what Jesus is talking about here is specifically to the apostles because he's talking about the things they had heard him say while he was with them. God has not that that's not to me. I wasn't I wasn't with Jesus in the upper room. I wasn't with him on planet earth when he lived on earth and heard him teach these things. Now by extension we have them in the Bible and so we can apply that to us, but Jesus is specifically talking about you know certain things that I've told you, but the Holy Spirit's going to come and he's going to tell you more. He's going to remind you of the things that I told you and he will he will remind you of everything that I've said to you, he says and he will teach you all things. So that is a primary reference to the apostles. The Holy Spirit will bring to their remembrance the things that Jesus has said to them and the implication is it will become clearer in the other passages. The implication is so that they will be able to clearly have everything in their mind to be able to record it. How did Matthew remember everything he wrote in his gospel because that's what Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do. He would bring back everything he had said to them. And so Matthew would remember word for word what Jesus said on the sermon on the Mount. How did he do that because of this promise and the same thing with the other writers of the New Testament. So they record in scripture what God has what Jesus had told them and the things he had said to them. The Holy Spirit would remind him of everything. So primarily this has to do with God revealing truth to the apostles. Now again by way of application we can say well the Holy Spirit will help us to remember things and remember what the Bible teaches and understand it in the sense of illumination. But the primary reference here the primary meaning is the things that were said to these 11 men in the upper room the Holy Spirit is going to help them remember when it comes time for them to need to write them down. Okay. Comments or questions about this verse before we move on to the next one. All right let's look at the next passage then still the same setting in the upper room chapter 16 the upper room discourse begins back in chapter 13. Really picks up steam in chapter 14 and goes all the way through chapter 16. So Jesus is still with the disciples in the upper room and he says this to them this is even more clear that he's speaking of God's revelation of information to them so that they can communicate it to us. Verse 12 in chapter 16 says I have much more to say to you more than you can now bear. But when he the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own he will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because of this for me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. Now again these verses are often used for us you know and by way of application that's okay but but this is not a promise that the Holy Spirit will help us to remember all things or teach us new truth or reveal new things to us. Again he's speaking directly to the apostles who will be instrumental in writing the New Testament and he's basically saying to them. Everything that I have told you and more even beyond what I've told you in fact it even extends to what is yet come. Issues about prophecy issues about the second coming issues about what will happen in the tribulation issues that that I've not talked with you about. Jesus says the Holy Spirit will make known to you and three times he uses that word make known. The first time is actually in verse 13 but the end of the verse where he says he will tell you what is yet to come. The verb tell you literally is the same verb as in the other two verses to make known. At the end of verse 14 he will make known to you. At the end of verse 15 what he will make known to you. That word make known means to reveal something that is not known. Okay so it is talking about revealing something, disclosing something, a messenger that is revealing new information. This is specifically to these men who will be responsible to record the New Testament. Jesus says I've told you a lot of things. There's a lot more to learn. So when the Holy Spirit comes he will tell you everything you need to know. Even things that are still yet come and he will disclose them reveal them make them known to you. And again the implication is so that they can record them faithfully in the New Testament. I'm going to pause there but we're kind of building toward first Corinthians because first Corinthians is the passage that really describes in detail how this is done and really ties it to the recording of scripture. But let's pause for a moment so you have any question about what Jesus is saying here in John. Okay so what we're talking about is the Holy Spirit revealing information to the apostles. God's truth to the apostles even about things they've not been told yet. He will reveal truth to them and the implication is so that they will be able to faithfully record that. Yes he did. There are lots of ways to see that in the Old Testament. And we'll look at a few of those verses in a little bit when we talk about inspiration and how the Holy Spirit spoke in the Old Testament. There are lots of quotes in the New Testament say the Holy Spirit said, the Holy Spirit said, the Holy Spirit revealed and said in the Old Testament. So it's the same process. It's just not described as in as much detail in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit revealed the Holy Spirit to the apostles. Before it is written down for years what kind of time frame is involved in the revealing of truth and then when it's written down. When the apostles spoke in like in the book of Acts when they preached they were preaching revelation that God had given them. So that revelation starts early on even as early as Acts chapter 2. It's not all written down yet but it is revealed to them then. Paul tells us in Galatians 1 that after he got saved God took him into the desert of Arabia for three years and it was during that time that God revealed to him what he calls the mystery of the church being composed of Jew and Gentile. He didn't write that down till much later but God revealed it to him early on. Now the revealing of the truth is the truth coming into the mind and heart of the apostles so that they understand it. It may be later that they write it down. For instance Paul won't write Ephesians which is the book that really reveals all that about the church till much later. So there's some there's some difference in time between the revelation and the actual writing of it. But the actual writing of it is a different topic that's inspiration and so the Holy Spirit comes back in and does something there too to keep them from any error as they wrote it down. I would say the Holy Spirit providentially guided them. You see when you're talking about revelation you're talking about God giving new truth that is authoritative like the Bible. And so that's different than God providentially guiding someone. Providence simply means God uses all the circumstances available and around us to guide us and to direct our lives. I think the selection of the books that would go into the New Testament was obviously a work of God but I think it would be better referred to as him providentially guiding them not revealing new truth to them. So I think God protected those who ended up choosing the books of the New Testament and that's an interesting study in and of itself. The preservation of scripture and how the books came to get in our Bible would that would be a major detour tonight but that's an interesting study. But yes the Lord was certainly in charge of all of that and controlling that but probably the word revealing to them is not the best word to use for that. He was providentially guiding them. Some of the questions are clear about the word revealing to them. There are at least one clear passage maybe two and then there are inferences but the clearest passage is probably Jude verse three which says that Jude urges us to earnestly content for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And the idea was that God delivered it and then it was done. It was once for all he's not still delivering it. He's not still revealing new truth. He delivered it and when that body of truth was finished it was done. And then there may be depending on there's a lot of variance of interpretation of 1st Corinthians 13 but there may be some reference to it there as well. So if trying to come to the Bible here is a promise like Jude and specifically not to have two that says one for all delivered to the saints. Exactly. I hope you heard that. What Karen said is if what we're talking about is God revealing truth to the apostles they write it down and it was once for all delivered there was a stopping point then God is not revealing truth to anyone today that is exactly right. And that is the most damaging heresy of the charismatic movement is that God is still revealing new truth. So that if God reveals something to me I can stand up and say God told me this you can't tell me I'm wrong and I become just as authoritative as the Bible and there are lots of preachers who abuse people spiritually with that kind of thing. God told me this God told me that and they use it as authoritative as the scriptures that is very dangerous. God's not telling anybody anything but he is illuminating us. He's helping us to understand his word and that's a whole different concept that we'll talk about in a little bit. But that's one of the reasons why I want to really harp on this and land on this kind of hard because this is so misunderstood and so misused today. By so many people who say well God revealed this to me so you can't tell me I'm wrong. God revealed this to me. No, no. God has revealed all he's going to reveal in his word. This is our authority. Not my impressions, not what I feel like I should do. That's not authoritative. The Bible is authoritative. But now what God the Holy Spirit is doing today and I'm anticipating a little bit later in our study God is through his Holy Spirit illuminating us, helping us to understand his word. And I believe the Holy Spirit does prompt us and lead us always in line with his word. Okay, but he's not revealing new truth. Yes. Yes. Right. And that's another ministry of the Spirit that we'll talk about later. The Holy Spirit comes to induel a person when they get saved. Before they're saved the Holy Spirit is not in them. We're indwelling them. But now what you mentioned earlier, the Holy Spirit to an unsafe person, the way the Bible talks about what the Holy Spirit does for an unsafe person is he convicts them. Not that he reveals revelation is done, but he convicts. And we'll get to that when we talk about his ministry to unsafe people, we'll get to John 16 verses 7 through 11, the verses right before what we're in now. And it's in that passage that he really lays out what the Holy Spirit does to unsafe people. He doesn't reveal new truth. What he does is he takes the truth that's already been revealed in the Bible and uses it to convict their hearts of their need of Christ, of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He says those three things. It will take a look at that later on. But that's what the Holy Spirit does to unsafe people. He takes the already revealed truth of the Word of God and uses it to pierce the heart and convict the heart and convince the mind of the need for salvation. That's just as much a work of the Holy Spirit as him originally giving this book. Okay? Great questions. Thanks. Any others? Okay. We may spend the rest of the evening in 1 Corinthians 2 because this is such a fascinating passage. I love this passage. And again, it is often misunderstood. So we're going to we're going to unpack it very carefully. We're going to we're going to tear it apart very carefully. Okay? It's critical passage in what we're talking about now with Revelation. I think it is the clearest passage in the New Testament on God revealing truth and how that process actually works. Paul describes the process step by step of how it works. It's fascinating. Now in order to understand what's happening in this passage, you have to you have to pick up on an interpretive clue. I'm going to call it. It's a bit of a subtle clue. But when you see it, it's like boom, it hits you right in the face. You realize why did I see that? It's a change in pronouns. Okay? Now if you're reading through the book of 1 Corinthians so far, you're going to get through chapter 1. You're going to come to the first part of chapter 2. And Paul is talking about I and you. I preach. You've heard. You've received. And verses 1 through 5 of chapter 2. It's all I and my. When I came to you, I did not come with outcomes of human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the Testament. I resolved to know nothing while I was with you. It's I and you, I and you. And in chapter 3 verse 1, he picks back up on that. Chapter 3 verse 1, brothers and sisters, I could not address you. So this is an I and you situation. Paul and the Corinthians. But in chapter 2 verses 6 through 16 in the passage between those two, he shifts pronouns. And he uses the pronoun we. He doesn't say I and you. He says we. You see it. We do, however, speak of a message of wisdom. And he goes on through the passage, talk about what we do. It's clear that by changing those pronouns to we and us, Paul is speaking of a different group of people which includes him. It's not the Corinthians. It's not people he has preached to. This is a different group of people who have received information from God and communicated it in words that were directly revealed by the Holy Spirit. And I believe that group of we, we and us, including Paul, is is probably speaking of Paul and the other apostles who actually received this revealed truth of God and ended up recording it in the books of the New Testament. So the passage is speaking of God revealing truth to a certain class of people that does not include the Corinthians. So it's not talking about all Christians here. He's talking about a certain class of people, including Paul that received direct revelation from God and then used words to communicate it, speak it and write it down, record it. Now let's see exactly how he describes that beginning in verse six. He says we do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. Now this wisdom that he's speaking of, these words he's already talked about my preaching was not with wisdom and persuasive words back in verse four, but he says we, this group of people who are responsible for receiving this wisdom, we receive the wisdom from God not from this world. This is directly from God. This is not from the world. We didn't pick this up by studying philosophy. We didn't pick this up by studying in the university. This came direct from God. Okay, this is the wisdom, not of this age or the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. Verse seven, no, we declare God's wisdom. Now notice how he describes it next and this is very important. A mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. Paul uses that term that he will use often in his epistles, particularly in Ephesians and Colossians where he describes a mystery. Now and he makes it very clear in Ephesians three. We don't have time to study that passage night, but he makes it very clear what he's talking about there. A mystery in the New Testament sense of Paul's use of it is not an agatha chrystithriller. It's not it's not an Arthur Conan Doyle crime solving program. That's not kind of mysteries talking about. He makes it very clear in Ephesians three that what he means by mystery is something that was not revealed in the past, meaning the Old Testament, but it is now revealed in Ephesians three. He says to the apostles and prophets, these are New Testament writers of the books of the New Testament. So this is truth that wasn't revealed in the Old Testament, but it is now revealed to the apostles and the prophets, the men who spoke directly from God and recorded the New Testament. So he uses that same term here. So we, this category of I believe the Apostles, including Paul, we're declaring God's wisdom which is a mystery that has been hidden. Same terminology, same idea. This was not revealed in the Old Testament, but it has now been revealed to the Apostles. Okay, so that's the mystery. That's the wisdom that they're speaking of. And he says in verse eight, none of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And he's beginning to help us see that this revelation from God is not something we come up with on our own. This is not something you figure out on your own. It's given directly from God. And for that reason, the rulers of this world didn't understand it because it's not something you think through and study and figure out on your own. It has to be revealed from God. So the rulers of this age didn't understand this mystery and that's the reason why the crucified Christ had no clue what was going on. Now he goes on in verse nine to say, however, as it is written, what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love him. I remember this verse so well from the King James, I have not seen nor have ear heard the things that God has prepared for those who love him, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those loving. And most often that verse is preached about heaven, isn't it? We hear that verse and it's talking about heaven that we can imagine what heaven has for us. That's not at all what Paul's talking about. Now it's a wonderful idea. It certainly is a biblical idea. We can't imagine what's in heaven, but Paul's not talking about heaven here. What's he talking about? He's talking about this truth that has not been revealed in the Old Testament, but has now been revealed to the apostles, this mystery, these words of wisdom that come from God that the rulers of the earth can't figure out, the reason they can't figure it out is because this kind of teaching, this wisdom, this mystery, does not come to us through the normal avenues of acquiring knowledge that anybody can do, unsafe person, anybody. The way we acquire knowledge is by what we see, by what we hear, and by what we into it, what we learn in our minds or by intuition. That's the way we learn things. And what Paul is saying is that's not the way you get this wisdom. You can't figure this out on your own. This comes straight from God. This is a revelation from God, and it came to the apostles. It was a mystery hidden in the Old Testament, but it has come to the apostles. You can't figure it out by seeing it or by hearing it or by thinking about it. It doesn't come that way. The things God has prepared for those who love him come only through revelation. And you know why I know this is not talking about heaven and the things we don't know about heaven. People who use the verse to say that don't go on and read verse 10. These are the things God has revealed to us, this special group of people including Paul, the apostles who have been given this mystery, this wisdom from God to be recorded in the Scripture. These are the things God has revealed to us by his spirit. This is not talking about heaven. It's talking about the Scriptures. It's talking about the truth of God. It's talking about the mystery hidden in the Old Testament, but now revealed to the apostles and the apostles have received this truth. It's been revealed to them. And now they're sharing it with us through the Bible. That's what verse 9 is talking about. Okay. You know, go somewhere else. Revelation 21 and 22 to talk about the glories of heaven that we can't we can't understand. But that's not what this passage is talking about. It's talking about things that are not known by normal human means of acquiring knowledge, but the spirit of God revealed them to the apostles. Verse 10 says they have been revealed. So Paul understood whatever you can't understand in verse 9. Paul got it. So did the other apostles because it was revealed by the Holy Spirit. So it goes on to say middle of verse 10, the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now what he's saying here is God the Father is revealing all of this truth through the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit knows everything in the mind of God. The Holy Spirit knows all the thoughts of God. And so he can communicate them to us the apostles, that group of we that Paul is talking about. And notice how he does it. Verse 12, what we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God so that we may understand what God has freely given us. Again, he's still talking about the apostles here. You say what does that mean? The rest of us don't have the Holy Spirit? No, we do. But I don't think Paul's talking about having the Spirit in the sense of indwelling here, in the sense that all of us have the Holy Spirit. I think Paul's talking about we, the apostles, have the Spirit in a special sense of revealing truth, God revealing truth. And the reason I believe that is because Paul says that another time in the book of 1 Corinthians, hold your place here and turn over to chapter 7. Okay, we're not going to study the whole chapter, but in chapter 7, you remember Paul's talking about remaining single and whether or not it's better to remain single or merry. And he says things about that and about divorce and so and he'll say some things, the Lord said this and then he'll say, now I'm saying this, not the Lord. And what he means by that is there are some things that Christ did not speak about that I'm saying now in these words of Scripture because they've been revealed by the Holy Spirit to be recorded in Scripture. They're just as authoritative as what Jesus said. No difference. So some of the things Jesus talked about, some of the things the Spirit has revealed to Paul and notice when he gets to the end of the chapter, he says it this way, verse 39, a woman has bound her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she's free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is and I think that I too have the Spirit of God. Now he's not talking there about I have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit like any believer does, he's saying I'm convinced that the Holy Spirit has revealed this to me. This is my judgment, this is what I'm writing, but I'm convinced I'm doing it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit has revealed this to me. So he's talking about having the Spirit in that sense, that's why I think he's talking about the same thing back in chapter two. We, verse 12, we, this group of the apostles, have received is not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God. So the Holy Spirit has come to the apostles in a special way of revealing God's truth to them so that what they speak, what they understand, the universe 12, is what God has freely given us. Now here's what they do with that revelation, verse 13, this is what we speak. Not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with spirit taught words. Now here's the process of taking that revelation and communicating it, both in the apostles spoken word they're preaching and ultimately as it's recorded in scripture. He says, we take these words, this is verbal inspiration, every word that was recorded in the Bible is exactly what God revealed. So he says, this is what we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit. And he says, we do this explaining spiritual realities with spirit taught words. Now you may have a different translation that translates that a little bit differently there at the end of verse 13, but literally it is this. Literally it says combining spiritual with spiritual. If you just take the literal Greek words, the words Paul wrote, it's combining spiritual with spiritual. But the first word spiritual is neuter and the second is masculine. Remember, explain that before, now every noun in Greek had a gender to it. So that's why the modern translations translate the first word spiritual by spiritual things or spiritual realities as I have here in the NIV. That's the appropriate translation because the noun is neuter. It's talking about spiritual things, but the second one is masculine, second word spiritual. So by the rules of Greek grammar, it has to go back and refer to the last masculine noun that Paul has used, which is words back earlier in the verse. So the NIV has done a great job of translating this explaining spiritual things or spiritual realities with spiritual or spirit taught words. And that is how God revealed his truth so that the apostles could speak it and record it. He revealed to them this mystery that was not revealed in the Old Testament, but is revealed to the apostles and prophets. He revealed that to them in words that are not known by the average human means of knowing things. You don't learn this stuff. It's directly given by God to the apostles and they explain it. They speak these spiritual realities with spirit taught words. So it actually comes out in words, words that they spoke, but also words that would eventually end up on the pages of scripture. Now quickly, he says in verse 14, the person without the spirit, just a natural person who does not have the spirit, not saved, does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God, but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the spirit. Now we'll come back to that when we come back to illumination because this is not talking about revelation. Now verse 14 is talking about how you understand those words that have been revealed to the apostles and put into words and record it on the pages of scripture. How do you understand them? You can only understand them through the Holy Spirit. So you've got to be saved. If you don't have the spirit, if you're not saved, you'll never understand the Bible. And then he goes on to say the person with the spirit makes judgments about all things and again, we'll get to that when we talk about illumination. It simply means that you have the capacity to understand spiritual truths, all things. It's not that you're omniscient, not that you have all knowledge, but you have the capacity because you have the Holy Spirit to understand everything in the scriptures. But such a person is not subject to merely human judgments and what he's talking about there is that the unsaved person can't figure you out, can't figure us out, can't figure out why we believe what we believe. How can you believe in creation? How can you believe that life is sacred from the moment of conception? How can you believe that kind of stuff? You see, the world doesn't understand that because those truths are spiritually revealed, recorded in scripture, and you can only get it if you have the Holy Spirit in you. Okay? And then he says, for who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him, but we, who's that group again, the apostles, we, the people who received this revelation from God, the mystery, and recorded it in words, spoken in words, we have the mind of Christ. Now, tie that back to verse 10 and 11. What does it mean to have the mind of Christ? The Holy Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God, and knows in verse 11 all the thoughts of God. The thoughts of God, the Father, equal the mind of Christ equals what the Holy Spirit reveals to the apostles. Verse 16 is a verse that has been tragically abused and misused by preachers who want to have all the power and authority. Well, I have the mind of Christ on this. You can't go against me. I have the mind of Christ on this. That is a terrible abuse of scripture. And for any of us to say, well, I have the mind of Christ on this, it's really an attempt to subdue other people under your authority. Terrible abuse of scripture. Who has the mind of Christ, the apostles, the ones who received the mystery, the revelation from God by the Holy Spirit, who knows all the thoughts of God, revealed it to them so that they could then speak those spiritual realities, put them in spiritual words, and get them on the pages of scripture. That's who knows the mind of Christ. That's who has the mind of Christ. Now, I can only say that I have the mind of Christ in as much as I understand what's recorded in this book. It is not biblical for me to say, I believe this church wants to give me a million dollars. Now, I have the mind of Christ on this. I have prayed about it, and I have the mind of Christ, so you better do it. That's an extreme example, obviously, but some pretty wild things have happened under the misuse of this verse. It's unbiblical to do that. I only have the mind of Christ in as much as I understand what's recorded in the word of God. This is the mind of Christ. If you understand the whole flow of thought of this passage, it's a beautiful description of how the Holy Spirit revealed God's truth, the mystery that was hidden in the Old Testament, but Ephesians 3 is revealed to the apostles and prophets, how the Holy Spirit revealed that truth, the mind of God, things that you cannot know through seeing and hearing, and by your own mind, he revealed all that to the apostles so that they could take those spiritual realities and express them in spirit-taught words, which would end up on the pages of scripture. That is the process of God giving us His word, and it's the most beautiful description of it anywhere in the Bible. Yes. That was revealed. That was revealed. That was revealed. That was revealed. That was revealed. That was revealed. That was revealed later. That was revealed. That's exactly what Jesus was talking about in John 16. He says, I've told you some things, but there's a lot more to tell you. You can't bear it now, but when the Holy Spirit comes, he will explain all these things. He will tell you all these things. That's exactly what Jesus was talking about. Okay. Time is up, and I'm sorry for taking so much time just to talk, but any questions before we go. Okay. Let me just summarize with this. It is critical that we understand the process of revelation has to do with God giving His word to the apostles so that they could get it on the pages of scripture. Once that was revealed, once God made Himself known in that way, that revelation stopped, and the Holy Spirit now is helping us to understand the word. That's illumination, and we'll see that hopefully next week. But please don't misuse scripture by saying God revealed this to me. I have the mind of Christ. You can't oppose me because I know God told me this. You're not an apostle. God's not revealing truth to you that is just as authoritative as scripture. Okay. So that's a very, very important thing to understand. All right. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, your word, once for all delivered to the saints, your word which is perfect and pure. Thank you for giving it to us through the apostles as they were given this truth by the Holy Spirit, and we're thankful Father that it came straight from you. Help us to do everything we can to immerse ourselves in the Bible and learn what it says and live by its teaching and to that extent because we understand the word, we have the mind of Christ. Help us to learn and live by your word in Jesus name, amen.