Helps!

(John 4:24) “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

We have many helps as Christians and they all have their place. We have the Spirit, without Him it would be impossible to see heaven let alone get there. We have faith, which would remain man-centered without the work of the Spirit in our lives. How one may ask? Without God’s Spirit as the actual catalyst driving and guiding us individually, we would soon get lost, in fact to be more accurate we may even think that we are on the true Celestial road and on our way to heaven, but in fact we travel a road that has similarities but will eventual lead into a ditch (hell) and not heaven. Can I prove this thought from scripture, or is it just my imagination running riot? I surely can!

Let us see what the Lord Jesus said to those who were trained up in the scriptures, there was a certain man, who was a leader of the Jews, a spiritual leader, one responsible for getting his nation to heaven. And yet he was leading them down a road of destruction, he taught them man-centered philosophy even though he taught from the Holy Scriptures, He taught from the Old Testament, and even though he had a doctorate in theology he was as “blind as a bat”. Why? He did not have the Spirit of God enlightening the truths of God’s Holy Word, in other words the map to heaven was in braille. The blind leading the blind and both destined to fall into the dyke, unless God steps in and enlightens their path. This is how it happens in principle, circumstances and places may vary but unless God the Spirit quickens one’s spirit, we will remain as those who clutches at straws whilst in the dark.

Here is the account of Nicodemus as he tried to make sense of the Lord Jesus’ teaching on this exact subject…

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?"

Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? (John 3:1-10)

This teaching is then fundamental, we must start here. Our Spiritual life must have a beginning and that is not when we are christened as infants. That is just another smoke screen to keep us from the truth and it is the same with confirmation. We must find ourselves in “type” falling to our knees and asking God for forgiveness for our sins. It is and must be a personal experience and not simply a religious exercise. Understanding that it is not through penance, or through works that we find forgiveness but only by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If not, we may think we understand heaven and its calling but we are way off the truth, without God the Holy Spirit as our guide we would still be blind even if we read from the same Bible as those who are able to see. This is sometimes overlooked; in fact it is overlooked often. We speak as if we in ourselves have this great ability to change the course of history. We believe we are the ones who come up with brilliant ideas as someone special and we forget to give place to the greatest of teachers, God the Holy Spirit. The pride of man a wicked thing!

Having said that, we still need teachers, who are gifted as teachers by God and not by men, without them we would be lead astray at times to supposition and inklings. We may even get carried away by what we think is the leading of the Holy Spirit. It could well be His voice we hear, but unless what we perceive is confirmed by sound doctrine, we cannot and must not be lead astray by what we think we have received. Why? We have many enemies; the devil roars seeking to devour, while our own flesh leads us down a slippery path and looks to ensnare us in these three areas of our lives. The pride of life, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes; “For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1John 2:16): - It is only sound doctrine that will keep us from their entrapment. God the Holy Spirit, without exception always works in tandem with the Holy Scripture, the Bible! It is therefore those gifted as teachers that we must give earnest heed too. Who gifts men as true teachers? It is the person of the Lord Jesus who imparts this gift on to someone and not institutions. An institution may well help equip someone to be more skillful but it is not a given.

“But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:7-14)

The ability to teach sound doctrine is a gift from the Lord Jesus and not all have been given this gift and in particularly women will not receive the gift of teaching, hear me carefully on this, if not you will be led astray but what they think is true but in fact is not. Why are women not permitted to teach, Paul gives us an inclining to why they should not teach; “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”  (1Timothy 2:12-14): - If you as a woman do not like this portion of scripture, I would ask you to examine your birth certificate. I only mention this as we are taught that all scripture is there to teach us the ways of God and we must give earnest heed to their wisdoms. I fear for some, I cannot be more specific but as a brother looking out for his family, I have been lead and am now compelled to highlight this truth. I pray it will be well received! Beware of all that is not confirmed by God’s Holy Scriptures, the Bible! And remember that God the Holy Spirit whom God the Father has sent in the name of the Lord Jesus will only ever lead us to the truth; “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24): - And it is imperative that we not only understand this next portion of scripture but that we make it our own; “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-15) 

As Christians it is our responsibility to lock hand with one another as we guard against the errors of all that opposes the truth of God’s Word. My prayer would be even though we fail in many areas of our lives, may we never err on the side of that which is not comprehensive, as the Word of God shall endure forever!

Signing off

Tyrone