Full Knowledge, No. 5

Colossians 1:1-2

COL-085

We are studying Colossians 1:9-14. Our subject is "Prayer for the Colossians," segment number 19.

There is a triple threat to the Christian's walk in the will of God, and that is from: the world system which the devil has organized; the sin nature which is within us; and, the devil himself. These three elements are constantly on the alert to move the believer away from the will of God. These three forces seek to frustrate the fulfillment of the Christian's divine mission, so as to waste his life potential. And as you go through your day, this is what you should be on guard against: the world system around you, with all of its influences; the sin nature within you; and, and the wiles (the tricks) of the devil.

Full Knowledge

Now, God our Father has provided the Christian with the means to defeat these three evil factors. Through the grace system of perception, God has made it possible for us to learn doctrinal phenomenon, and to convert it, by our positive reception, into usable, full knowledge "epignosis" stored within our human spirits. Pertinent "epignosis" full knowledge is cycled up from the human spirit to the directive mentality function of the mind by the Holy Spirit in the case of the Christian who is in temporal fellowship. He should always be in temporal fellowship so the system is not short-circuited. This knowledge of "epignosis" forms within us the mind of Christ, so that on any particular issue of life, for making divine viewpoint decisions, and for expressing divine viewpoint emotions, and for taking divine viewpoint actions, we have the mind of Christ being operated within us by the Spirit of God.

The Frame of Reference

The full knowledge in the human spirit reservoir forms what we have pointed out and called "the frame of reference," by which the Christian is able to judge the appeals of the world's system; the sin nature; and, the devil. If you don't have a proper frame of reference, the world's system is going to be very attractive. Its ideas and its standards will become yours. If you don't have a frame of reference of full knowledge doctrine, you will find that the sin nature has all kinds of lusts, and you will rush to fulfill them. And if you don't have a frame of reference of doctrine, you will find that the devil can easily get to you.

The Christian is able, thus, to think and act in a divine viewpoint manner appropriate to his position in the royal family of God, the church. And this is the problem that we Christians constantly face. This is the problem we parents face, so that our children do not sell themselves short of what they are, and that our children do not forget who they are. They're the princes and princesses of the Most High God. The church is called a royal priesthood, because every believer is his own priest. And because it's a royal priesthood, it indicates that it's the royal family of God.

Now all of us look at the current family in England as well as other royalty around the world, and we recoil in horror from the way these people act, and for the lowlife types that they prove themselves to be. That is because when they walk with such dignity, and when they are attired with such respect and with such treatment of someone that is superior, and whose words are hung upon, we think that they should be superior people. And what are we finding? The heir apparent to the throne of England can't even continue in a marriage that he's entered at this point in life. And why? Well, because the guy is a new-ager. It's because the guy has the mind of the human viewpoint of the sin nature. Oh yes, he's the head of the Church of England, but he is obviously a man who cannot function, and does not function, on the mind of God. That's not what's controlling his thinking.

So, instead, he turns into the worst of commoners. And we take no pleasure in seeing something like that. We think that's very sad. We think that people who should be exemplary role models on that level should at least be the people we could count on.

So, we have to teach our children that they're not the common low-life that they're associated with, and the people that are their peers that move about them. But they'll think that unless they understand, and have grasped, a frame of reference of doctrine. And they've grasped it because they said, "Yes, yes, yes" to everything that the Word of God has said to them, as they've been taught that word here at church, and at home by their parents.

Our young people have to be aware of the fact that they have a deadly problem with that sin nature – that they have a deadly problem with the world's system. The way the world does things is not God's way. And every place about them, it's an uphill fight to say, "Wait a minute, how would Jesus do this? I'm supposed to walk in His steps. That's exactly what we were told in Scripture – that we could walk in His steps. And we do things that are hardly walking in His steps. Something is wrong.

The Christian life is not a yo-yo operation. The old spiritual that some of you know has the words in it: "Sometimes I's up; sometimes I's down; but always I's heaven bound." And it's sung as if that's normative. No it isn't. It's not: "Sometimes I'm yo-yo up, and sometimes I'm yo-yo down, but always I'm heaven bound." Yes you are. But there's to be a stability that is commensurate with the dignity that is appropriate to you as a member of royalty.

So, when I invite you to prayer meeting, don't give me a deaf ear, because it just might be that the Word of God is right when it says pray without ceasing. It just might be that the example of the New Testament church, that one of the things they gathered for was getting together in a world that hated them; a world that was deceiving them; and, a world that was downright disgusting and cruel, that they gathered together and found reinforcements with one another in prayer. So, we hope that you will take that seriously for the thing it is. And you don't have to pray just because you come to prayer meeting. We have some people who are very good talkers. They can pray for you. But we need you there – your reinforcement. And if you want to pray, that's great. And the older you get, the more you should take this place of dignity for yourself.

So, the believer, with this full knowledge and the reservoir of this human spirit of doctrine, is able to judge the appeals of the world system; the appeals of the sin nature; and, the appeals of Satan. And this Christian is able to think and to act in a divine viewpoint manner appropriate to his position in the royal family of God, the church.

With a solid frame of reference, the believer will not be intimidated, nor will he be silenced, by the ridicule; the contempt; and, the rejection of the enemies of Christ. That is a big feature. It is so easy, as a Christian, to be intimidated and to be silenced. And the younger you are, the more you want to be like the herd.

The Christian with a divine viewpoint frame of reference, who is in temporal fellowship, will, in fact, be on automatic pilot in terms of the mind of Christ operating in him. And if you don't think that's great, then you don't know what great means – to have a mind oriented to doctrine because you have been taught it, and because you have received it willingly, and then you keep your known sins confessed. You don't play loose with God without making corrections. And suddenly, you find that your mind is on automatic pilot control toward the destiny of great blessing in time and eternity.

This is what happens sometimes, when people find as they speak to people about spiritual things, often resistors; and all of a sudden they find that they're able to say things; they're remembering things; and, they look back and they say, "I couldn't believe I could think of that. I remembered this thing from Scripture. I remembered this thing I was taught. Long ago they talked about this, and bingo! It's in my mind." What's happening? They're in temporal fellowship, and the Spirit of God is kicking up the doctrine from the human spirit – that human spirit which is our point of contact with God.

So, the Christian has this great potential in his life. Any Christian who lacks a divine viewpoint frame of reference is going to be an easy target for his three deadly foes. And he will become a spiritual casually. There are no questions about it. It's just when the sin nature; the world system; or the devil is going to get you, if you are resistant at some point, and not the least of which is the good judgment of your parents. Somebody again today said that they were really struck when I mentioned, "Wouldn't it be nice to be able to know everything you know now, and go back in your life, and start over again, and meet every step and every issue, remembering and knowing what you have in the background, and the road you would take?" And then they said, "But our children, if they listen to the instruction of the Word of God, can do that now. They don't have to go back. They can do it right the first time." And I said, "Yes, and especially if they listen to their parents; if they have parents who are oriented to the Word of God, because sometimes it's tough to listen to your parents when your parents are saying the thing that is right, but it's not accepted in general. The rest of the kids in your age level aren't doing this thing. If you lack a divine viewpoint frame of reference, then nothing else in life that you have is worth a hill of beans.

The Lord Jesus Christ had an "epignosis" full knowledge, doctrinal frame of reference in His human spirit, and He was never once defeated by Satan. He was never once defeated by the world system. He was, of course, never once defeated by the sin nature because he didn't have one. But He did face the world, and He did face the devil himself, as you know. And you know that he was called many ugly and insulting names, as I went over with you this morning, but he never cracked, and he was never silenced by the world. The devil could never put into flight. Jesus met the temptations of Satan with appropriate Scripture. Where did He get that? Please don't make the mistake of saying, "Well, that's cause he was God." No, no, no. When he was a 12-year-old boy, and He had an enormous divine viewpoint frame of reference, He got that from the instruction of his parents, and because He said, "Yes Lord, yes Lord," every time He was taught a principle of truth.

Consequently, when the devil faced Him in that wilderness temptation, how did He meet it? The devil gave Him a proposition. Bingo! From His human spirit shot up a verse of Scripture – an appropriate principle of doctrine, and He repeated it to the devil. And what did the devil do? He was silenced. He didn't argue. He couldn't argue. He was silenced. So, he said, "I'll try it another way." He tried it three ways. And every time, the Word of God silenced the devil, and the third time, the Scripture says, the devil just shrugged his shoulders; walked off; and, left him.

You can't beat someone who is living on the mind of God. And that's what Jesus was doing. And that's exactly what you and I can do. To Jesus Christ in His humanity, positive volition to the world and to the devil was an act of spiritual madness. He had no attraction for going with the sin nature; the world; or, the devil. A church-age saint with the functioning mind of Christ is repulsed in like manner by all the appeals of this evil trio: the sin nature; the world system; and, the devil.

Your Frame of Reference

Now, this evening, let's look more closely at this mind of God as a frame of reference within your soul. This is essential for you to function on the will of God. Whatever else you may have in life, none of it is going to be worth anything on the other side, if it has not been the fulfillment of the purpose of God for which you were conceived, because that's when that purpose of God begins. You have a mission, and you have some great spiritual gifts. And because you have those, you should esteem those very highly, and do nothing to try to contaminate your ability to exercise those spiritual gifts, and fulfill your mission. That is the greatest thing in life for you.

The Pastor-Teacher

Now, if you walk into a service, and it's a lot of heavy singing, and a lot of inspirational talk, and a lot of challenges, then you might as well stay home. If there were a lot of cute one-liners, you might as well stay home. In the charismatic circle of preachers, they like to act as if they were at a political convention. They speak in such a way so that people clap, and they cheer. Nobody ever claps for me. Nobody ever cheers for me during a service, even when I sing a verse from a song, or something like that. But these guys deliberately play the emotions of the audience. That's what they're after. And when you walk out, you say, "Boy, we had a good time." Yeah, but how's the mind of Christ in you? Was it strengthened? If it isn't, then you shouldn't even put anything in the offering box.

If the pastor-teacher does not teach his flock the doctrinal principles of Scripture, and how to metabolize that for spiritual growth, the organization of the local church becomes a social club, and it has programs of various types. It becomes a social club with programs to try to meet various needs that it anticipates that people have. The local church then degenerates into a big benevolent lodge. Many people find the local church only useful as business contacts. Others like the social programs that they put on, of one kind of another, and that's why they go. There is nothing like getting a big gymnasium, and filling it with a couple of hotshot youth entertainers, and having a lot of fun and games, and then saying, "Our kids are going to love the Lord." No they won't. Some will say, "Our kids are going to grow in the mind of Christ." No, they won't. How stupid can you be? What you have done by that is moved him away from the mind of Christ, and you have substituted a human viewpoint idea that this is the way for me to walk with God, and to relate with Him – when it is not.

If that pastor in that local church is not himself (and many of them are not) capable of explaining the Word of God, you're gone. You'll have more money than other churches. You'll have more attendance than other churches. You'll have more programs going on than other churches. But it's all for naught. When we stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ (JSC), it'll be all for naught. And that's too late to find out.

People who are not taught the Word of God are left to their own authorities in understanding Scripture. And what do people do then? They interpret Scripture to fit their own sin natures. They'll do it every time. They'll justify the evils of the sin nature. They'll interpret Scripture so that they can fit into the system of Satan, the world system. And they will not interpret it in terms of what the Holy Spirit means to tell them. People don't do it on their own. When you have your right pastor-teacher, and you are in your right church, then you have the capacity to find the will of God. If you are not in your right church, and if you're not with your right pastor-teacher, you will never find the will of God.

When you do find the right church and the right pastor, rejection of them, by staying out of the services, for example, will lose your orientation to the will of God, and you'll go religious. And you'll just become under the cutesy-pooh, emotionally-oriented Christians who is going to get knocked right out of the water, the first time you're up against something that finally gets out of hand, and you can't handle it.

The prophets of old constantly reiterated to the people of Israel that there were grave consequences to them if they did not have the divine viewpoint knowledge of the Word of God. The prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 5:13 said this: "Therefore, my people go into exile for their lack of knowledge." Here was the nation of Israel – a great nation. It had come to a wonderful position of prosperity under Solomon. And then it degenerated by a series of kings who were not oriented to the Word of God. Finally, it came to the point where God said, "That's it, I've had enough. Now judgment is going to come," which is exactly what happens in our lives when we stay out of the mind of God long enough: "Therefore, my people go into exile for their lack of knowledge." This is that full knowledge "epignosis" of the Word of God – things you've agreed to accept as the truth of God" "And their honorable men are famished, and their multitude is parched with thirst." The great and honorable men are famished. In what? They have nobody feeding them the Word of God. They're thirsting for what? For the water of life that comes from knowing the doctrines of the Word of God: "Therefore," it says, "Sheol has enlarged its throat, and opened its mouth without measure." Sheol is a reference to the grave. What are these people doing? They're the people of God, and they're living their lives in such a way that all that's going to happen is that they're going to their deaths.

Hosea 4:6 has this to say: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." There we have it again – the full knowledge of doctrine, which are the things I've learned and said "Yes" to: "Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being my priest. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also forget your children." Now, that's pretty sober stuff. Nobody exemplifies the principles of the mind of God to a young person more than his own parents. And Hosea told the people of Israel, "You parents have been blowing it. You have not demonstrated the character of God to your children. You've been playing cutesy-poop with the heathen nations roundabout. You've been intermarrying with their women and their men. You've been practicing their religious ways. You've been going over to their religious services, and you find it very exciting because they were flesh oriented. They were appealing to the senses. And God says, "The result is that I'm going to forget you. I'm going to forget your children."

That is a terrible thing to bring down upon oneself – to have God forget you, and to have God forget your children. But one has only to read the first chapter of Romans, and there you have it. What was it? God said, "Here's the truth." They said,"No, I don't care." God said, "Here's the way you act sexually." They said, "No, I don't care. I want to do it this way. This is more fun." And the result was finally that God said, "Okay, I'm going to turn you lose. I'm going to turn you over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28). Here's a mind that could have been filled with the mind of God, but I'm going to give you the reprobate mind of the sin nature in Satan." And then it describes the terrible things that were the consequences there. If you want to lack divine viewpoint knowledge, just be prepared for what's going to follow.

Now coming back to Colossians 2, we have been pausing on being filled with the full knowledge of His will. In what? The full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding – in every kind of spiritual wisdom and understanding. The word "spiritual" is "pneumatikos" (pnyoo-mat-ik-os') in the Greek, from which we get the English word "pneumatic," because the word "pneumatikos" has to do with what is spirit or air. The "pneumatikos" is a provision of God's Holy Spirit rather than human reasoning. It depends on something you get from God because you're in temporal fellowship, rather than because you have a high IQ. In other words, as a spiritual Christian, it deals with the laws of God, in contrast to the laws of man. It connotes being controlled and being used by the Holy Spirit in dealing with people and in dealing with things. It means the blessings of the soul in the spirit, in contrast to material blessings. Spiritual things over against material things is the idea. Non-animal sacrifices of various things that the Christian priests present are called spiritual sacrifices – something suited, in short, to a heavenly environment. That's why it's spiritual. It's suited to a heavenly environment rather than earthly. And what is it that we are going to have that is suited to a heavenly environment?

I can remember the day, almost, in high school, when I discovered that I had a mind. Up to then, I didn't realize that. I suddenly, one day, found that I could figure things out. It was a great thrill. I had a mind. I knew my dog and cat had a mind. I could see that. But I'd never connected that with myself. Suddenly I had a mind. I might even be a little smart, but no matter what that smart mind was, it was never going to get me to anything spiritual. Spiritual IQ is something you develop. You don't develop human IQ. You get it from your parents. And you just hope that you weren't behind the door when they were handing out IQs before you were born. But the IQ you have when you're born, that's what you have. And we can measure it, and give some idea of how you're going to do. It's very accurate and very significant. But spiritual IQ – man, you can go up to 200. You can go to the top. Nothing can stop you, no matter who you are, because it's only dependent on one thing: some pastor-teacher, who has the gift of explaining spiritual things to you, and your willingness to be there to learn it and say "Amen, Lord, I accept that." Then your spiritual IQ goes up a notch. And there's no limit to where you can go. But for you to do that then (to capitalize on that spiritual IQ), you have to have wisdom: spirit wisdom to apply spiritual things.

This leads you into the will of God and spiritual wisdom comes from the Holy Spirit, not from your IQ. It's what you have stored, and now He cycles up to your understanding. A life of spiritual wisdom is a life of victory and fruitfulness. It is the best of all conditions.

Understanding

Oh boy, isn't that what you need? The discernment to see: "If I do this, it bears this danger, and it can have this terrible consequence. Do I want that? Especially if it's irreversible." What do you think some of the people who have some deadly diseases now brought on by their conduct would like to do now, who didn't have spiritual understanding to kick in as the mind of God at a certain point, and say, "Oh, I don't want to do this. The consequences are too horrendous. It is not worth it." Comprehending what God thinks about a matter and what is His will – that's the most valuable thing. Spiritual understanding comes from the Holy Spirit, not from your human ability of thinking. A life with spiritual understandings is a life which escapes a great deal of self-imposed misery. If you have spiritual discernment, you'll have foresight, and you will save yourself a lot of grief.

Therefore, you should be open to discernment. It comes from different places. Fundamentally, it comes from the Word of God. It may come from your youth club leader; your Sunday school church; your training leader; and, certainly from your parents. It certainly comes from the pulpit if the pulpit is doing its job. And if you ever have any question, you shouldn't say "No." You should just put it on the back burner, and let it percolate a little bit, because it just may be that what you've been told is the truth. All knowledge of the will of God for a believer comes through these two factors: spiritual wisdom; and, spiritual understanding. And it all begins in a local church where you have a preacher who's preaching to you by the HICE teaching ministry. One of the saddest things is that, often, Christians in churches that do not teach by the HICEE method, become so acclimated to a lower level; to triviality; and, to shallowness, that if somebody were to walk in and really teach them on the basis of hermeneutics; isagogics; categories of doctrine; exegesis; and, etymology – if somebody were to teach them with all that background, that is back there in that original language, and then he comes down and says, "Now here is what that thing is saying to you," that is a very big difference. And anybody who's been under that for a while, well that's it.

I often have people who write me letters or they call me (tapers), and they say, "I just got on your tapes. I can't believe how I've been conned all my years. I've been in church. I've been in this big group. I've been operating here. And for the first time in my life, here I find that the Word of God has an enormous practical influence on my life. And I thought it was just Sunday school class; learning stories; and, trying my best." And I have to say, "I'm glad for your illumination." And I could hear the ring of bitterness in their voice, and I have to tell them, "You must understand that, whatever the reasons God has led you out of that, you must not be bitter," because they are bitter.

They'll say, "Here I am, 50 years old, and now for the first time I'm getting to understand how the Bible can work, and what it means to have the mind of God?" And people understandably are bitter when they think of all the years they've spent doing nothing with the potential of their lives.

All knowledge of the will of God begins right here from the pastor-teacher ministry. This whole book of Colossians that Paul is writing – what is it? It's pastor-teacher instruction for their spiritual development. That's what it's all about. Paul prays, therefore, that the Colossians would be positive to his pastor-teacher instruction, so that they may be functional believers capable of spiritual combat. He wants them to be filled with the full knowledge. That's the road to reality. He doesn't want them to be deceived by the human viewpoint unrealities of the false teachers that have already surrounded them in Colossae – these people who had speculations and declarations that they had superior knowledge, but all they were was full of hot air. This is why he uses this Greek word "epignosis" (full knowledge), because that's what all the false teachers were doing. They were saying, "Christians, what you have is wonderful, but we want to tell you that we have a great contact with the wisdom above, and we have full knowledge."

So, Paul says, "Let me tell you what "epignosis" full knowledge is. It is not what those yo-yos have. They have hot air. I'll give you what the real knowledge is. And that's what this whole book of Colossians is. He's going to hit great, tremendous points of doctrine as he goes through this, in order to demonstrate to people: here's where it's at. Why would you not have the mind of Christ? Look at all the grief you could have saved yourself already, because, with the mind of Christ, that's what decides your will. Every choice you make is due whatever mind is in you: either the mind of Christ; or, the mind of the sin nature. Look at all the grief you could have saved yourself (just run through your mind) because you operated on the mind of the sin nature. Or somebody you were associated with operated on the mind of the sin nature, and it brought you down.

That's the other problem – that if you do not function on the mind of God, you hurt other people as well. They get injured in the process – those who are closest to you. What the apostle Paul is doing here, he's writing this letter, and he's making it clear to them that they're on the right road, and that they should never give up on their intake of the Word of God and their positive reception of it. Keep building up that frame of reference of full knowledge within their spirits. He doesn't want them to be deceived by these false teachers. These false teachers claim that they were teaching the fullness of truth when, in fact, it was Paul who was giving them the fullness of truth with the doctrine that he was teaching them.

This is always the claim of cults and religious con men. Early on, I found within the charismatic circle, that they never denied what one had to say about the Word of God, but they said, "But there's something more." And that "something more" they didn't get from God, but they got from the devil in his deception.

So, "epignosis" full knowledge is mind-transforming, and therefore it is life-renewing. That's why there's a difference between human and spiritual IQ. Human IQ does not make you a great student of the Bible. Spiritual phenomena are all learned by the grace system of perception that we have walked you through under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And that's how you get a spiritually high IQ. Most people try to deal with spiritual things on the basis of their natural thinking, so they come up with the doctrines of Satan. Bible doctrine is learned by God's grace alone through the Holy Spirit. You cannot learn doctrine based on human IQ apart from the Spirit of God. Human IQ will produce nothing but religious principles and great pride and great self-righteousness.

The difference between human and spiritual IQ is what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 2:1-16. We summarize with this: "And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God." The apostle Paul says, "When I came to you, I wasn't a big order." In fact, you remember what they said to him in Corinth. Paul says, "Yes, I know. The people coming back have told me what you've been saying about me in the Corinthian churches. You've been saying that I'm not much of a speaker. You've been saying that I'm a big blow-hard when I'm away from you, but I'm nothing once I come in your midst." Paul says, "Well, we'll see how much of a blow-hard I am when I get there, and I exercise my apostolic authority over those of you who are guilty of most grievous sin." So Paul says, "When I came to you, I want to make it clear that I didn't come because I was well-trained in the university" (and he was). He took a lot of allocution. He took a lot of speech classes. He knew how to get up and speak before people, and he had a way with words. But he said, "I didn't use my oratory," which should make you suspicious when you get a preacher who stands up and he's very oratorical. You have to listen very carefully. You see if that oratory is a covering for nothing – nothing being said.

Paul says, "When I spoke to you proclaiming the testimony of God, it was not with human wisdom." 1 Corinthians 1:2: "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." He says, "I pointed you to the solution for every problem. I did not point you to something else psychological. I pointed you to Christ Jesus, crucified, Who has made it possible for you to do what? For you to have the mind of God:" "And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." He says, "Yes, I'm supposed to be the leader of the band." Paul says, "But I had my hard times. I had my uncertainties. And I had to be there with trembling," sometimes for his very life: "And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." He says, "When I spoke, the joy bells of heaven rang in peoples' ears because they heard the truth of God. And they were open to it, and they said, 'That's God speaking. That's the way it is.'"

"So that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." Paul said, "I didn't teach you little lists of things to do. I didn't give you my grocery list of – here's the things to do if you want friends: 1, 2, 3, 4. That's human wisdom. But I gave you the basis of associating with people from the Word of God, so that your faith was not on the smartness of men, but on the power of God, because God's power does not work through the smartness of men."

"Yet, we do speak wisdom among those who are mature – a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away." Paul says, "I know that in Corinth there are many of you who have the mind of Christ. You have been very receptive to the Word of God. And I know I'm speaking to mature Christians as well, and I treat you with the respect of those who deserve that kind of treatment." But he says, "I don't view you as having merely wisdom, which is passing away.

1 Corinthians 2:7-8: "But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery – the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory: the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood. For if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." If they had had the mind of Christ (the mind of God), they would not have killed the Son of God. And these were the people who were in religious authority and in political authority. Do I have to tell you that in political authority in our nation today, there is a paucity (rareness) of the demonstration of the wisdom of God, and that there is very little evidence of the understanding of divine viewpoint frame of reference?

One of our ladies this morning told me that one of our most prominent congressman, not so long ago, has become a Christian. And he is awed by the transformation which is taking place in his thinking. You see him now on TV, and he talks, and it's a different man who is talking to you now. He is doing exactly what the apostle Paul is saying: "I no longer talk to you in the wisdom of humanity. I now speak to you in the power of God." His wife, who was a very laid-back, private type of lady, now is meeting with groups of ladies, and has a testimony for Christ, and leads them in looking to the Word of God for the answers of our nation. And where are they? Right here in the suburbs in one of our Bible churches. And then they walk, and people look and say, "Hey, I see you on TV." And they say, "Yeah, but I'm a child of God. I'm a prince. I'm part of the royal family now. I'm something more than the gang in Washington.

It was the people who did not have that orientation in Jesus' day who treated Him with the contempt that sent Him to the cross. And it is the people in Washington today, and in positions of government authority, who, in effect, re-crucify Christ every time they operate with the mind of the sin nature instead of the mind of God. It's bad enough that those unbelievers do it. It's horrendous when Christians do it. And the younger you are, the worse it is, because you can hurt yourself so bad for so long a life.

1 Corinthians 2:9, "But just as it is written, things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him." This is not referring to some great fulfillment of prophecy. This is referring to "epignosis" doctrine. Paul says, "What I have talked to you about are things that your eye (your human capacities) could never have grasped. They are things that have never entered the heart (that is, the mind) of man, but which God has prepared for those of you who love Him." How do you love Him? Here is a principle of a moral code: "Amen. I'm for it, Lord, I'll stick with it." Children obey your parents in all things. "Amen, Lord. I'll stay with that."

1 Corinthians 2:10-11: "For to us God revealed them through the spirit, for the spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of man except the spirit of the man which is in him. Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God." You can tell what people think, but you cannot tell what God thinks until He tells you.

"Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God." Now, I have a difference of opinion of the translation that you have here. Most of you, in your Bibles, will read, "Now we have received not the spirit of the world." The Greek word for "spirit" is "pneuma" (pnyoo'-mah), P N E U M A. It happens to be neuter, which is why the old King James Version sometimes referred to the Holy Spirit as "It:" The Spirit Itself witnesses to our spirit that we are the children of God." This is an improper translation. They're following slavishly strictly the gender. They should have known that in the case of the Holy Spirit, because this word is used as meaning "air," and it is a neuter word, that in the terms of using it of the Holy Spirit, it is speaking of His personality. So, the later translations corrected that, and properly referred to Him as a person, with the word "He."

Now, in 1 Corinthians 2:12, it says, "We have not received the spirit of the world." The word "spirit" there is translated with a small "s." And that is the ideas or the attitudes of the dead human spirit of those who are unsaved. Then it says, "But we had the Spirit," and there it is translated with a capital "S." Now, in the Greek, it has the word "pneuma." They had to decide whether to make "Holy Spirit," or what else could it be? The human spirit. And I think that here, this is human spirit in the context of what he's talking about – how to grow in the knowledge of God. How do you do that? Because you get the mind of God. Where do you get it? At the point of contact with God – your live human spirit.

So, it should be a small "s:" "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the (live) human spirit which is from God" (at salvation). And according to the Greek, it should be "which is" – that we might know the things freely given to us by God. This splendid verse is telling us that, in our human spirit, is stored the mind of God through the Word of God.

1 Corinthians 2:13-14: "Which things we also speak not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit." There it is the same word "pneuma," but there it is properly translated with a capital "S," because it's the Holy Spirit combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words: "But a natural man, the unsaved person, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they're spiritually appraised."

Sooner or later, you're going to have somebody listen to some principle doctrine that you tell them, and they they're going to say to you, "Well, that's a bunch of foolishness." And they're using the very words of Scripture. Why is it foolishness? Because if you're not born again, you have no mental capacity through the Holy Spirit to understand spiritual things.

"But he who is spiritual (the person in temporal fellowship) appraises and understands all things. Yet he himself is understood by no man."

1 Corinthians 2:16, getting back to our verse that we had a little earlier: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct Him?" No one: "But we have the mind of Christ?" That's right. We who, through this system of learning the Word and our reception it, and storing it in that live living human spirit, that came alive at the point of salvation – we have a spirit which God has given us so that we might freely know everything that is given to us of God. That's the end of 1 Corinthians 2:12: "Freely know everything given to us of God." Now, if that isn't great to have that kind of guidance in life, I don't know what is.

So, because no believer is mentally handicapped by IQ in learning Bible doctrine, everyone is commanded to learn to handle the Word of God, so as not to be a shamed. Almost every Sunday morning, I read that verse, 2 Timothy 2:15, to you: "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, handling rightly the word of truth." Nobody in this body of believers should be ashamed of how you handle the Word of truth. Nobody is mentally handicapped.

One of our ladies, on a previous occasion when I mentioned this, came up to me, and said, "I know this boy. He is terribly handicapped mentally. He is retarded, and he is the sweetest little child, but he has a hard time learning things. He doesn't compute." But she said, "When we start talking about the Bible, and when his parents teach him the Word of God, he becomes a different person. All of a sudden, in his little childish winsome way, he learns the Word of God, and he says, 'Amen, Lord.' And he receives it." And she said, "And we'll talk to him about things of the Bible, and you can't tell that he's got some lack of IQ level – some learning problems. But you get on the Scriptures, and he's a star." She said, "That was exactly it for him. There was a classic example of what you were talking about this morning." That's the marvels of learning what God will teach you that you'll never learn on your own.

So, don't be taken in by the fact that you're in some hoopla operation, some religious operation that's got people and money and programs and whatever, and thinking that this is where it's at. If there's not a HICEE pastor-teacher in that pulpit, nothing is there. And you'll pay for eternity (all eternity) with the rewards and the enrichment of your eternity that could have been if you deny yourself that kind of access to the mind of Christ.

The perceptive mind learns doctrine. The directive mind, through the Spirit of God, will apply it to life situations. That's the bottom line. The perceptive mind learns doctrine. That's what you've been doing here all evening. And those of you who have accepted it now have it for when you need it. The Word of God cycles that up from your perceptive mind to your directive mind, and you'll be able to apply doctrine to your life situations. Nothing could be greater than that.

Dear God, we thank You for the Word of God, and for the mechanics that seem so simple once somebody has laid them out for us. What a workable system it is. And what a great tragedy it would be to ignore it, and to not live by it. What a great tragedy it would be to get somewhere farther down the line, and look back and say, "Oh God, how I wish I had connected with you there when I could have, and had Jesus thinking for me, and not my sin nature; the world; and, the devil thinking for me. We thank You, our Father, that this is the reality of the Word of God, and may it become the reality of all of us here tonight in a new way. We pray, Father, that every believer can walk out of here and say, "The mind of Christ has just been greatly expanded within my human spirit." We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

As you leave this evening, please greet one another, and please remember the offering boxes.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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