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Bramhall, John WThe Holy Spirit 19 ~ His Ministry Of Teaching

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Beloved radio, friends, we greet you in the ever-precious and the worthy name of the blessed Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. We greet you heartily and welcome you to the continued study of God's precious word and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which is our present consideration. We are touching upon in this message as well as in the preceding message we have given on the ministry of his teaching in reference to the saints of God. We have noted in chapter fourteen as well as chapter sixteen of the Gospel of John that our Saviour, when he promised the coming of the Holy Spirit, gave great emphasis to his ministry of teaching. My fellow believer, may I repeat, may I emphatically repeat to your heart and conscience, he is your great teacher and mine, the revealer of the truth of God. He is called the Spirit of Truth because of that. And may God help you and me to thus know and prove this ministry in our hearts and in our lives. We continue on the theme concerning his teaching and go to First Corinthians chapter two. We would like to meditate on our closing discussion regarding his ministry of teaching on verse six. in First Corinthians chapter two, verses six through to the end of the chapter. For here is the one who is our divine teacher revealed by Paul, as he writes to the Corinthians long ago, that he is the teacher of all things. May I point out in verses six through verse eight, as I read how Paul indicates that the teaching of the Holy Spirit is not the wisdom of men, but rather the wisdom of God. How be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect or matured, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Now let us recognize one fact. a fact we must confess. Tis not the wisdom of this world, that is, the subject matter of the Spirit of God's teaching to the believer. No, not the wisdom of man, but the wisdom of God, and the things of God. But now notice we read verse nine, if you will, please. I want you to note the scope of that divine wisdom and revelation that is thus available for you and for me to explore. and to be taught by the Holy Spirit. But as it is written, I have not seen nor heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Let me just point out, beyond the knowledge and the computation that the eye could ever measure, or that the ear could ever listen to, or that the heart of the mind and man could ever conceive, they are all greater things of divine scope, that are far greater for the child of God, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Now, beloved, may I state, I do not personally believe that this has only a reference to heaven and the glory of heaven that shall be ours who know the Savior. But I believe it has a reference to the things of God that even now a believer should be learning and should be coming to know. and the scope of that education, spiritual education, an education in divine wisdom and knowledge. Thank God the scope of that education can be entered into now, for we have a revealer. And in verse ten the apostle goes on to say, But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. I want you to know very carefully, my friend. Who is the revealer of divine wisdom? Who is the revealer of divine things? Who is the revealer of the wisdom of God? Who is the revealer of the things of God? May I state again, we are absolutely and exclusively dependent upon the Holy Spirit to give them to us. Again, may I remind you that every believer has the Spirit of God? We noted in our study in the early doctrines of the Holy Spirit as we consider them. Every believer possesses the Holy Spirit. Every believer has this divine teacher. And the Spirit of God is the revealer, for the Spirit searcheth all things and even the deep things of God. And our blessed to recognize that divine grace has certainly revealed by the Spirit, the scope of the education and knowledge that a believer in the Lord Jesus can have. But then let us indeed emphasize, as Paul goes on to say, that they are only known and revealed by the Holy Spirit to the child of God. Verse eleven. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Humanly speaking, it takes the spirit of humanity, the spirit of man, to understand the things pertaining to man in an earthly sense. Now, says Paul, even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. I wonder if you take those words in. The things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. My beloved fellow believer, may I state, for my benefit, it's also for yours. You and I are dependent upon the Spirit of God to know the things of God. No man can unfold them to us. Oh yes, I concede we may have teachers, we may have those who can impart competently and unfold to us the meaning of the Word of God and thank God for such. But may I also remind you, even they, They're dependent upon the Spirit of God for the light, for the truth that they can impart. For it is the Spirit of God alone who knows the things of God. And may I tell you very frankly, whatever I tell you concerning the things of God, I'm going to tell you frankly, they're not from myself. The Spirit of God gave them to me. And oh, the joy of realizing, my fellow believer, you have the same Spirit for the same purpose. to teach you the things of God. Now note verse twelve. Our searching of the words of verse twelve. Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Oh, my beloved, may I note with you? May I point out to you? You've got the same teacher as I have. The Spirit of God. We have received, not the Spirit of the world. All the world could never impart the knowledge of God to your soul, not to mine. But we've been given the Spirit, which is of God, the Spirit of God Himself. And He has been given. Now note the words at the end of verse twelve, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. My beloved, if you note something, the tuition of this wonderful university of the Bible in relation to the wisdom and the things of God The tuition is absolutely free. You'll never get an education like that from the world. You may get a football scholarship or some other kind of scholarship and get by in the earthly sense of knowledge and schooling. But here we find completely free is the tuition for the believer. And the teacher has been given. The university has been provided, which is the word of God from the beginning to the end. And the believer is the student. And the spirit has been given that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God. May God help you and me to realize his great work is to teach the believer the things of God. And then he tells us the method of his teaching in verse thirteen. Which things also we speak? None in the words which man's wisdom teacher, once again? Relegated out of this entirely is the wisdom of man? Completely set aside, impossible to be used, is earthly wisdom in relation to the things of God? But that which the Holy Ghost teacher, comparing or communicating spiritual things by spiritual, And the method of its teaching, now please note, it is a spiritual teaching. And comparing or communicating spiritual things by spiritual means. May I point out the method that he uses? He takes the scriptures and he puts them together for you. He puts them together for me. He expounds and takes the scriptures of truth. For instance, let me give you an illustration of it. We've been trying to do this. We have been seeking to study the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Now what have we been doing? We have been going from Scripture to Scripture, Scripture to Scripture, touching upon the person of the Spirit, touching upon the work of the Spirit. And we have been seeking to put together and in place the various functions of the Holy Spirit in His ministry and comparing or communicating these truths from Scripture to Scripture that we might have a knowledge of the person and work of the Holy Spirit that is his true ministry in relation to any subject of the Bible and he takes the Word of God from cover to cover and makes it clear and known to us as he compares the scriptures and brings them before us and mixes those scriptures to present to us whatever line of proof we may be studying now let us remember that in verse fourteen and we say it very quickly that the natural, the unsaved man, he can understand the Bible. The things that are spiritual, they're not discernible to him. They're foolishness to him. Neither can he discern them. They're spiritually discerned. But, oh, we know that every believer has the ability to learn. For we read in verse fifteen, he that is spiritual judges, and the word better translated would be, he that is spiritual discerneth all things. Yet he himself is judged or discerned of no man. My fellow believer, you and I have the mind of the Spirit of God. The sixteenth verse and the closing one of this section declares, Who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? You and I are not competent to teach the Lord, but he can teach us. And he's given us the Holy Spirit when we know Christ. And as Paul closes, he says, We have the mind of Christ. And what he means? We have been given the Holy Spirit to be our teacher. Oh, may I re-emphasize in these closing moments the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. My beloved friend, may I ask you a question. Do you ever take your Bible and in the presence of God bow your heart and say, Lord, by thy Spirit teach me thy word. Humble your heart in his presence. Be an obedient student. and seek to know the truth of God and ask him not only to reveal the truth, but to help you to live it. And you'll know the joy and power of the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. Oh, Father, sanctify these precious truths, we ask in the Savior's name and for his glory. Amen.