- 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 -
page 2
Jesus Taught That
the Holy Ghost Himself Is Our Teacher
Jesus taught that the
Holy Ghost Himself is to be our Divine Teacher:
“When That One should come, the
Spirit of Truth, He will show you the way, guide
you, as a Guide who introduces the traveler into
an unknown country, into all Truth: for
He shall not speak from, on the part of, Himself;
but whatsoever He should hear, that will He
speak: and the things coming, He will proclaim to
you. That One will glorify Me: because out of
that of Me He will receive, and shall proclaim
it to you. [The repetition of the word proclaim
three times in this passage puts emphasis on this
dimension of the Spirit’s work]. All things
that the Father has are Mine: on account of this
I said, that out of that of Me He will receive,
and proclaim to you.” John 16: 13-15.
(Literal translation from Greek).
The Most Glorious
Gift
So everything that the
Father has is the Son’s –the infinite
love, justice, righteousness, purity,
holiness-all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. The Holy Spirit receives these
glorious attributes of Christ and the Father, and
proclaims them directly to us, as a Divine
Guide Who shows us the way into this glorious
unknown country, into all the truth
possessed by the Father and the Son. Just
contemplating this great Gift utterly takes the
breath away. What a Treasure, what a Gift! All
else must be laid aside to make room for the
reception of the most glorious Treasure in heaven
and earth!
The Donation of
the Holy Spirit
“The
donation of the Holy Spirit was the greatest gift
God could bestow upon finite man. This
is free to all and in this gift, there could be
no computation; this endowment specially
signalized the enthronement of the only begotten
Son of God in His mediatorial kingdom. In this
the gift of the Comforter the Lord God of heaven
demonstrates to man the perfect reconciliation
which He had effected between Himself and men,
which hope, says the apostle, “we have as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and
which entereth into that within the veil, whither
the forerunner is for us entered.” 6MR 224.
Christ’s
Largest Subject
“Christ had an
infinite variety of subjects from which to choose
in his teaching, but the one upon which
he dwelt most largely was the endowment of his
Holy Spirit.” RH 6-10-02
“Before offering
Himself as the sacrificial victim, He instructed
His disciples regarding a most essential and
complete gift which He was to bestow upon His
followers-the gift that would bring within their
reach the boundless resources of His grace.”
AA47.
The Time of the
Holy Spirit’s Power
“But Christ as the
precious pearl, and our privilege of possessing
this heavenly treasure, is the theme on which we
most need to dwell. It is the Holy Spirit
that reveals to men the preciousness of the
goodly pearl. The time of the
Holy Spirit’s power is the time when in a
special sense the heavenly gift is sought and
found. In Christ’s day,
many heard the gospel, but false teaching
darkened their minds, and they did not recognize
in the humble Teacher of Galilee the Sent of God.
However, after Christ’s ascension
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit signalized His
enthronement in His mediatorial kingdom.
On that day of Pentecost the Spirit was
given.” COL 118-120.
The Holy Ghost, not
Spiritual Directors, not ecclesiastical
hierarchies, is our Teacher.
The Anointing
In the New Testament this
understanding is developed: “Ye
yourselves are taught of God to love one
another.” 1 Thessalonians 4:9. “But the
anointing which he have received of Him abideth
in you, and ye need not that any man
teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you
of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and
even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in
Him.” 1 John 2:27.
The Individual is
Taught Directly by the Holy Spirit
Thus in Protestantism,
the individual is taught directly by the Holy
Spirit. “Has not God said He would
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?
And is not this spirit a real, true
actual guide? Some men seem afraid to take God at
His word as though it would be presumption in
them. They pray for the Lord to teach us and yet
are afraid to credit the pledged word of God and
believe we have been taught of Him. So
long as we come to our heavenly, Father humbly
and with a spirit to be taught, willing and
anxious to learn, why should we doubt
God’s fulfillment of His own promise? You
must not for a moment doubt Him and dishonor Him
thereby. When you have sought to
know His will, your part in the operation with
God is to believe that you will be led and guided
and blessed in the doing of His will. We may
mistrust ourselves lest we misinterpret His
teachings, but make even this a subject of
prayer, and trust Him, still trust Him to the
uttermost, that His Holy Spirit will lead you to
interpret aright His plans and the working of His
providence (Letter 35, 1893).” 3 BC 1155,
1156.
The Holy Spirit
Can Teach You More in One Moment Than All the
Great Men of Earth
How powerful, effective,
and all encompassing is God’s teaching?
“God can teach you more in one
moment by his Holy Spirit than you could learn
from the great men of the earth.”
RH 2-18-90.
Born Into the
Kingdom
The true Christian, the
true Protestant is born again from above, by the
Holy Ghost: “Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born again (margin, from
above) he cannot see the kingdom of God…
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God… The
wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth: so is
Every one that is born of
the Spirit. “ John 3:3, 5, 8.
Freely
Surrendered to the Spirit’s Control
This new birth is a being
born into the Spirit, into the baptism of the
Spirit, where the human will is gladly and freely
surrendered to the Holy Spirit’s full and
absolute control. This produces the highest sense
of freedom that the soul is capable of, for
“the Lord is that Spirit: and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
The Highest Sense
of Freedom
“In the work of
redemption there is no compulsion. No external
force is employed. Under the influence of the
Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he
will serve. In the change that takes
place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there
is the highest sense of freedom.
The expulsion is the act of the soul
itself.” DA 466.
Man is in bondage to
Satan and sin until Christ sets him free in the
new birth when the soul surrenders to Christ and
there is the highest sense of freedom.
Having been born into
freedom, he is to stay in freedom: “Stand
fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1.
Born Into
Freedom, Taught by the Author of Freedom
Thus, the Protestant
Christian is born into freedom, true freedom, and
the highest freedom that they are is-the full and
absolute self-surrender to Christ and the Holy
Spirit. Now Christ and the Holy Spirit teach him
all about freedom. Things are deeper than the
human mind is capable of are revealed to his soul
by the Holy Spirit: “Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us
by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God.” 1
Corinthians 2: 9, 10.
Faith Demands
Freedom
Faith demands freedom for
its very existence and exercise.
Righteousness by
Faith
Another crucial element
in Protestantism is Righteousness by Faith.
Sola Fide, by Faith alone, is the motto of
true Protestantism. Righteousness by Faith is the
means by which the soul lays hold on the
very righteousness of God Himself by
faith-not through a
Spiritual Director and Spiritual Formation.
By faith, alone the very
righteousness of Christ Himself becomes our
righteousness. He becomes our way: “I AM the
Way, the Truth, and the Life.” John 14:6.
Living By the
Word
The born again Christian
lives by the Word of God. Jesus said, “If
any man will do His will, he shall know of the
doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I
speak of Myself.” John 7:17.
This is why the true
Protestant takes the Word of God as the man of
its counsel, and the Holy Spirit as teacher of
that Word. Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone, is
the great motto of true Protestantism.
Exactly to the degree
with which we cherish, surrender to, and follow
the Holy Spirit and Christ in our heart-to that
degree do we have true freedom.
- 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 -
|
