God desires everyone to know Him, but many people are too fightened to do
so
and others are to prideful to allow themselves to do so. And that is a
shame
for they are missing out on the joy and love God provides. Clark Tanner
delves into this in this sermon.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
---
The Knowledge Of God
by Clark Tanner
"For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which
exists among you, and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving
thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of
wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him."
With verse 14 Paul has ended his lengthy and praise-filled salutation to
the
Ephesians. The more I study the epistles of this man, the more I
understand
and appreciate those who have been so drawn to him as a person, even now,
2000 years after he walked this earth.
Paul is so filled with Christ; so overflowing with the Holy Spirit in
power
and love, that he can't even say 'hello' without bursting into a virtual
song of wonder and praise.
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ"... and off
he goes!
I recently ran across a statistic compiled by a German scholar whose name
I
can't pronounce. He determined that in Paul's 13 epistles, some very short
(Philemon is little more than a page long), he uses the term "In Christ"
or
some form of it ~ "in Him", "in the Lord" ~ no less than 164 times! How he
loved to talk about Jesus!
Here in the first chapter of Ephesians he spells out all these spiritual
blessings God has lavished on us out of the kind intention of His will. He
tells us that the end, or the purpose of all this blessing is that we
should
be to the praise of the Father's glory. Our calling, our hope, our
forgiveness, our redemption, our inheritance, the gift of the Holy Spirit
in
us, sealing us, preserving and protecting us as God's own possession.
And it's im****tant to remind you of those things today as we continue,
because Paul begins his next thought with "For this reason..."
Due to the fact that God has blessed us with all these spiritual
blessings,
and has sealed us unto Himself in the Holy Spirit in order to redeem us to
Himself as His own possession.. because He has done all this to make us
His
(glory to His name)... "for this reason"...
I, Paul, give thanks for you without ceasing, and I never forget to
mention
you in my prayers, asking God to give this to you: the Spirit of wisdom
and
revelation in the knowledge of Him.
In other words, Paul is praying for the Ephesians the most im****tant
prayer
any Believer can pray for another Believer. That God would take them
deeper
and deeper into an intimate knowledge of Himself.
Man's chief end is to know God and to enjoy Him forever, it was determined
in the Westminster Catechism; but Paul knew and taught that basic truth
long
before.
"...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give
to
you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him".
Now something that, I must admit, surprised me about the various
translations I checked , is that only the NIV translates verse 17 to say
"the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, giving the word 'Spirit' a capital
S.
The same Greek word is used for spirit throughout the New Testament,
whether
referring to the Holy Spirit or the spirit of man. The application of it
is
generally determined by the context. For example, chapter 1:13 uses the
term
Holy Spirit and that makes it quite obvious. But over in chapter 2, verse
18, when Paul says that we all have our access in one Spirit to the
Father,
it is understood that he is referring to none other than the Holy Spirit,
the third Person of the trinity, as we know that it is His office to bring
us, draw us, to God.
So looking closely at our text, verse 17, I have to assert that the
wording
of it and what Paul is praying for the Ephesians is for something that
only
the Holy Spirit of God can give.
He is not praying for them to have an attitude, or a strength of
determination, or any other thing that can be conjured up, mustered up
within a man; he is praying and asking God for this particular thing
because
he is praying for spiritual wisdom and revelation, that can only come from
God.
Now does that mean he's praying for God to give them the Holy Spirit? No.
He's
writing to believers. They have the Holy Spirit since their salvation.
What
he is praying for simply, is the Holy Spirit's help and continued unction
in
bringing to these faithful believers ever greater wisdom and revelation in
the knowledge of God.
Christian, we spend a great deal of time closely examining Paul's
doctrine;
debating the finer points and talking about how we should be living
according to the truth of them.
And of course I agree and consistently teach that Paul's aim was to
magnify
Christ and to point us to Him, and it is Christ we need to study and learn
to know personally, and it is Christ who is our ultimate example in all
things.
But we could learn some things by looking at the example of the Apostle
Paul
too.
When was the last time you prayed for the spiritual growth and well-being
of
another Christian? Oh, you may have prayed for your child. You may pray
often for your child. Your child may give you very frequent cause to run
to
your room and fall on your knees in prayer. And I hope you pray for your
spouse. I believe there is a great deal of spiritual power in the prayer
of
a husband for his wife and visa versa.
But I wonder how many Christians, even among pastors of congregations of
people, intercede for other believers ~ for believers everywhere ~ and
pray,
not for things, not for health, not for help in specific, known
cir***stances, ... but just that the Holy Spirit would give them wisdom
and
revelation in the knowledge of the Father of glory.
Since I've been studying this great epistle for this series, I have been
moved to pray these things for you. On my morning walks I like to run your
faces past my mind's eye and pray for you by name. And if I know of any
particular, present need, I mention that. But some things I can pray for
each and every one and never have to wonder whether I am praying for a
legitimate need or not. I can pray that the Lord will enlighten the eyes
of
your heart, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are
the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the
surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe; and be confident
that I am praying aright. Because I'm praying the scriptures for you.
Can't
go wrong there!
I can pray that the Lord will give you an ever greater hunger for His
word,
and that He will use your study to draw you ever closer to Himself, and
that
as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him you will be used of Him to
illumine the world around you.
These and many other things I can pray for you from the scriptures, and I
hope that you will pray the same for me. I don't care if you pray that the
Lord will give me physical comfort. I don't care if you pray that the Lord
will meet my financial needs or keep me safe from harm or illness.
But I will be blessed beyond measure, if you will pray that the Lord give
me
the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
You see believers, this is a great and wonderful privilege we have; to
pray
this way for one another. Because no one outside of Christ can pray this.
When we pray this way, we're asking God to give us and give our fellow
believers something that is only available to us who have the Holy Spirit
of
God.
Proverbs 9:10 declares, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
Man in his natural mind cannot begin to comprehend God. In fact, one basic
truth that the scriptures teach us from beginning to end, is that apart
from
the Spirit and spiritual birth, God is infinitely and eternally out of
man's
grasp.
Actually, the best commentary on Ephesians 1:17 to be found is I
Corinthians
chapter 2.
Listen to verses 6 thru 8 of that chapter:
"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; 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;"
Then in verse 14 Paul says,
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for
they
are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are
spiritually appraised."
He is, in effect, repeating Jesus' teaching when He told the Pharisee,
Nicodemus, "...unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
I have a copy of an e-mail that was sent to the host of a website. We used
it just this last week in our Wednesday night study, to challenge our
ability to answer some questions. So I'm getting a lot of mileage out of
this e-mail. But I want to read it to you today, because it so clearly
illustrates the truth of these things Paul has been saying to us from I
Cor.
2
"Hello Todd. You seem like a well meaning fellow and all but the thing
that
makes all of this quite illogical is this: You say "God" (and I use that
term loosely) wants all people to repent of their sins and misdeeds. To
reach "salvation" one must have faith and repent and all of that. Wait a
second here. If there really is a God, one who is all-powerful, all
knowing,
all this, all that, who had no beginning and will have no end, what would
he
care if people repented or not? That is, if he even created them in the
first place. If he had to concern himself with all of that trouble,
wouldn't
he have just skipped that part of creation? Wouldn't he say, 'To heck with
mankind, they're not worth all the trouble in the first place'. And what
would God care what I or anybody else believes? He'll continue being God
without regard for me or anyone else. Are you saying I'll ruin his
existence
if I don't repent or believe? I hardly think so. I'd be just another atom
in
the universe to him. You see, it makes no difference either way. He either
does not exist (which is highly probable) or does exist but doesn't care
about anyone because he is God. One more thing that is disturbing. Just
who
created God anyway??? Don't give me that 'it's just a mystery' stuff
either.
It is totally illogical and senseless in addition to impossible that he
never had a beginning or will have no end. Best regards, Lou
I wish I could respond to Lou. I hope someone from that website did
respond,
in love and in persuasive terms. Because frankly, if I knew Lou's e-mail
address, I would write to him and tell him that I agree with him. I would
tell him that the god he described does not exist. I would tell him that
the
God who is revealed in the scriptures, which is the only place available
to
learn of God, is quite the opposite of the uncaring, unfeeling god of his
e-mail.
Nevertheless, my point here is that Lou is simply confirming to us that
the
natural man cannot fathom the things of the Spirit.
The best that the natural man can ever hope to come up with is a god of
futility. A mental image that is by nature as shallow and two-dimensional
as
a character in a grade B novel.
A figure carved out of stone or wood and made to stand in a corner or on a
shelf, to be dusted once a week, but that has no life or breath in it.
Because the natural man, since he can think no higher than his human
spirit
will let him, can therefore only make gods like himself and no higher.
But since no one can know God or His thoughts except the Spirit of God,
then
God cannot be known except by His Spirit. Again in II Corinthians, verse
10
"For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches
all
things, even the depths of God."
So now we touch on this word 'revelation'. "For to us God revealed
them..."
Paul prays, "...that...the Father of glory may give to you the Spirit of
wisdom and revelation.
We've been seeing that man cannot have the knowledge of God apart from His
Spirit. The wisdom, or the learning, the understanding of the things of
the
Spirit.
But I can go farther and say that apart from God's revelation of Himself
to
the spirit, there can be no understanding of God at all.
Here is probably the clearest and best example.
The disciples walked and talked with Jesus for over three years. They were
with Him constantly, listening to Him teach, seeing His miracles, asking
Him
questions, seeing Him in all the aspects and cir***stances of life.
But they did not understand. They did not perceive His purpose in coming,
until after the resurrection...and even then they continued to ask
questions
that exposed their ignorance. "We were hoping that it was He who was going
to redeem Israel"
"Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"
It wasn't until they were gathered in the upper room, and there came from
heaven a noise like a violent, ru****ng wind, and it filled the whole house
where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire
distributing themselves and they rested on each one of them. And they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit was giving them utterance.
And they stepped out onto the streets of Jerusalem...
Now I want you to take notice here... they weren't given a crash course in
theology. They didn't stay sequestered in the upper room for another 13
weeks while Jesus appeared to them with a dry erase board and a box of
scrolls and taught them doctrine and homiletics and how to properly
exegete
the scriptures.
They had a certain knowledge, a learning that He had stored up in them
while
He was with them, but they had no revelation of the Spirit, until He came
from the Son and filled them; baptized them, there in that upper room.
And when He did, these disciples who only days before were still asking
questions in ignorance; these same ones whose hearts were still filled
with
fear and doubt when they met him after the resurrection on the Mount of
Olives; who stood gazing into the sky as He ascended and even after He was
out of their sight, as though they thought He was going to return
immediately and had to be exhorted by angels to go about the task He had
given them to do...
....now stepped immediately out of the upper room and preached a Holy
Spirit
inspired sermon that had even those who crucified their Lord crying, "What
must we do to be saved?"
So you see, it is not enough to have just a head-knowledge of Jesus. To
examine Him and scrutinize His word and His actions and think to
understand
Him that way.
Our relation****p to Him must be based on the revelation of Himself through
His Spirit to our spirits; it will only be in the spirit and by the Spirit
of wisdom and revelation that we will begin to understand His mission in
the
world, His purpose in us; Only by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that
we begin to know the Father.
I'd like to enter into a pact with you, that we pray these things for each
other faithfully.
Not a pact that calls for some legalistic accountability. I'm not going to
call you on the phone one day and say, "Hey! The Lord has revealed to me
that you haven't prayed for me for over a week...what's the deal?"
But let's simply agree, earnestly and sincerely, that in the course of our
days, as the Lord brings us to each other's minds, or even if it's
something
other than the Lord that brings us to mind... even if it's the Enemy,
trying
to make us think poorly of one another in an attempt to destroy our
unity...
let's agree to turn that around and say, "Lord, give (this one or that
one)
the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You."
And in the days and weeks and months to come let's watch and see what
marvelous things the Father of glory does in and through us as a family of
believers.
I want to finish today by reading you an excerpt from D. Martin
Lloyd-Jones'
commentary on this verse. I enjoyed what he said and I want to share it
with
you.
"We have been considering one of the most im****tant doctrines of the
Christian faith. The Protestant Reformers used to tell their hearers that
there is a double action of the Holy Spirit. There is the 'Testimonium
Spiritus Externus' - the Spirit that is in the Word, as it were, the
Spirit
that inspired the men who produced the Word. That is essential. But it is
not enough. Before I know that this is God's Word and God's truth, before
I
can read the Bible and discover health and food for my soul, something
additional is necessary - the 'Testimonium Spiritus Internus'. The Spirit
in
the Word, the Spirit in the reader! And without the Spirit in him no man
will be able to understand the meaning of the Word. The two operations are
absolutely essential.
In other words we have seen that the Apostle prays for the Ephesian
believers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may
give them 'the Spirit of wisdom (the Spirit in the Word) and 'the Spirit
of
revelation', (the ability to see it and to receive it and revel in it and
to
enjoy it). What a perfect provision for damned, blind, helpless, wretched
sinners! All the truth I need to know and the ability to receive it and to
apprehend it! And all given freely through the Holy Spirit of God! What a
perfect salvation! 'All I need, in Thee to find'."
{Wisdom: The Spirit in the Word} {Revelation: The Spirit in the believer,
taking the Word and from it revealing the person of the Father in all His
glory}
I am constrained to return to an anthem of praise that I have found myself
repeating with increasing frequency, my friends...
....what a wonderful and loving God we serve, whose plan and design for us
in
everything He has done, every gift He has given, every promise He has
made,
His very call to us, His purpose in us and through us, is all for the sake
of having our company; our fellow****p. He wants to be with us and us with
Him, so much, so very, very much, that He even teaches us to pray for one
another, an ever-deepening knowledge and understanding of Him. Not just
facts about Him... but Him.
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