Our Lord, when speaking of the Scriptures, said, “They are they which testify of Me,” and when the Spirit of truth is come, “He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you.” It is clear then that those who are led by the Holy Spirit into the true teaching of scripture will have the Lord Jesus Christ ministered to them. How can it be otherwise, for is He not emphatically “The Truth”? Is it possible then, to overrate the value of such divinely-given landmarks?
Atheists and Deists have long indulged in throwing their invectives against the sacred volume. Every now and then a Voltaire, a Tom Paine, or some other of that stamp, has been the avowed champion of infidelity, and has made no secret of his blasphemies; so that faithful men of God knew whom they had to encounter, and what they might expect from such. But now a far more effective class of instruments are actively employed in seeking to undermine the infinite worth and divine authority of the inspired word; and, we blush to add, not a few of them are the professed ministers of the gospel. The fatal mischief is wrought too, not as formerly by ignoring the Bible as a whole, as much as by various persons leveling their attacks on different portions of divine revelation; so that at this time there is scarcely a fundamental truth of scripture that is not being either questioned or denied in some part or other of Christendom. The days of evil have indeed come. The emissaries of Satan are active. Everything that can be shaken is on the move. Rationalists are busy. Distrust and incredulity abound; and many are fearful as to what may be coming next. And why all this? Is it not because they have not known “the truth”? Our Lord said, “I am... the truth.” “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free... If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” This only is true freedom. (John 14:6; 8:32,366Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)
36If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36)).
The root error of all this departure from the truth, is doubtless the refusal to accept the divine verdict that “they that are in the flesh cannot please God,” and receiving, instead, the false notion of human competency to judge the things of God; thus ignoring our fall through Adam’s disobedience. For matters of this life, no doubt, men have natural abilities; but we are plainly told in scripture that “the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:1111For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:11)). Even the apostles, who were “able ministers of the New Testament,” with marvelous gifts and qualifications, were wont to say, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (2 Cor. 3:5, 65Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (2 Corinthians 3:5‑6)). If such mighty men of God declared their inability to think a right thought apart from the teaching of the Spirit, how appalling is it in these days to find so many relying on learning and natural ability, and expressing their opinions of the scriptures with such temerity and boldness, instead of humbly owning and relying on the gracious ministry of “the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey Him,” and thus receiving in faith God’s testimony.
It is scarcely possible that Scripture could speak more plainly than it does on this momentous subject. We say nothing against learning and human talent for worldly things, but in reference to the things of God, another scripture says that believers have “received... the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God... but the natural man [observe it is the natural man] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:12,1412Now 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. (1 Corinthians 2:12)
14But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)). How truly this is verified in these days! Let us not fail to notice further that one must be “spiritual” (under the guidance, teaching, and power, of the Holy Spirit, who occupies the soul with the Lord Jesus where He is,) to discern the things of God – “He that is spiritual judgeth [or discerneth] all things” (1 Cor. 2:1515But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (1 Corinthians 2:15)). No doubt, most of the confusion in Christendom as to the Scriptures can be traced to confidence in human wisdom, instead of honoring the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It would be impossible for those who are born of God to advance opinions, or value those of others, as to the plain testimony of the written word, much less would they confer with known skeptics and Deists, if they knew in their own souls the teaching and power of “the Spirit of truth.” To question the divine authenticity of the Holy Scripture (alas! how few think it,) is to refuse God’s word, God’s Son, and therefore God’s salvation. We are told that our Lord, “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:2727And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27):). (To be continued.)