Lyth and Burder talked about four things that knowledge is. This devotion looks at the first two: spiritual and supernatural.
Nuggets
- Knowledge of Christ brings us enhanced spiritual discernment.
- True knowledge only comes to those who have been regenerated.
Before we took a break for Christmas, we were looking at knowing Christ. There are a few more things that we can get out of Lyth and Burder’s sermon.
Let’s jump back in.
As disciples, the knowledge of Christ supersedes all other things. This knowledge is superior to the ignorance we once possessed.
But what is this knowledge? Let’s start taking a look. (We’ll have to finish it in the next devotion.)
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
I used Lyth and Burder’s The Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ as the foundation of the devotion.
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Knowledge Is Spiritual
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better” (Eph. 1: 17 NIV)
Knowledge of Christ brings us enhanced spiritual discernment.
Our goal is to know Jesus better. Why?
That knowledge gives us discernment. Discernment means we can evaluate the situation and recognize right from wrong.
Knowledge alone isn’t good enough. It is what we do with that knowledge that is that important.
We have to apply that knowledge to impact our everyday lives. We must use it as our guide in determining right from wrong.
Discernment fosters growth. We want to grow more like Christ, as then we become more like God.
What grows is our faith. Faith is a gift from God and a work of the Spirit that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
Glossary
We grow closer to Jesus by this growth. We want a strong, unflinching faith in Jesus.
Growth comes from the instruction of the Holy Spirit. Muir told us how that happens. He wrote, “[The influence of the Holy Spirit] assimilates the perceiving power to its own nature, and imparts new knowledge of Divine things.”
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Without this guidance of the Holy Spirit, we cannot discern God’s truth. Knowledge and discernment only come through revelation.
This instruction only happens when the Holy Spirit lives within us. Indwelling comes at salvation. Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
Glossary
One thing we have to make sure we understand is that the wisdom we are gaining is specifically about God. It isn’t about how God did things or why He did them the way He did.
We are to learn of God’s character – Who He is.
Knowledge Is Supernatural
“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” (I Cor. 2: 14 NIV)
True knowledge only comes to those who have been regenerated.
This verse is a great contrast of in Christ and without Christ. The Holy Spirit only cones to live within us after we are in Christ — after we have ABCDed.
The natural man — those who haven’t ABCDed — looks at the world through the worldview knowledge. Evans described what that is. He wrote, “If he is intellectual, he delights in a mental activity purely human, and exerted on objects merely mundane, and is attracted by worldly philosophies that fail utterly to lead the mind up to the high truth of God.”
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Read that again — purely human. Knowledge by itself is not what is needed. We must accept Jesus as our Savior to put the right perspective on circumstances. We must learn about God.
But it is more than that. The natural man is pursuing sin. He doesn’t follow God’s laws and commandments.
Lyth showed us three characteristics of those who does not have the Holy Spirit indwelling within us. We are
- Prejudiced
- Indifferent
- Unenlightened.
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Oh, yeah. I hear the worldview people arguing that it is the disciples who are prejudiced. They think our not condoning sin makes us prejudiced.
No, it makes us following God’s Will.
Burton described the “… cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” (I Cor. 2: 14 NIV) part of the verse. He wrote, “There are windows in the soul of the spiritual man through which he looks into the mystery of invisible worlds.” The windows can only be opened by God for children of God.
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Glossary
Why do we say that? “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness …” (I Cor. 2: 14 NIV).
God reveals some things to all to offer the Plan of Salvation. The things God tries to reveal to worldview people are not accepted, so He can’t reveal deeper knowledge. It is through this deeper knowledge that God reveals Himself.
True knowledge of God can only be revealed to those who have submitted their lives to Him.
We also have to remember that God has infinite knowledge — we don’t. “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isa. 55: 8-9 NIV).
If we have not submitted our lives to God, we are going to follow our sinful desires. God won’t condone that.
God calls us to repent of our sins. Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to change our sinful ways to ways of righteousness through obedience.
- Obedience means submitting ourselves to the will of God as it is presented to us and living our lives accordingly.
Glossary
That means we stop desiring to sin. We start to desire the things of God.
Making the Connections #1
Muir told us what we gain from this newfound knowledge.
- Hope of our calling
- Riches of glory
- Resurrection power within us
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We gain glory, salvation, and eternal life. Those are good things to gain.
Making the Connections #2
Just because all do know believe this knowledge does not lesson the knowledge in any way. Burton gave a great example of this. He wrote, “There is no rainbow to the blind man, no music to the deaf. So it is with the things of the spirit.”
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Of course, there are rainbows and music. We cannot say there aren’t just because not all see or hear them.
We cannot say there is no God because not all believe in Him. There is.
Making the Connections #3
Knowledge hinges on regeneration. Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Glossary
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Spurgeon explained what the worldview people miss. He wrote, “You may educate a nature up to its highest point, but you cannot educate an old nature into a new one.”
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Our relationship with God trumps our knowledge of Him — or anything else. There can be no substitute.
Only through regeneration do we become new creations.
Glossary
How Do We Apply This?
- Use our knowledge of Christ through our faith to witness to others.
- Change our motives to guide our actions to follow God’s Will.
- Listen to God’s revelations given to us through the Holy Spirit.
- Consider our bodies God’s temple as the Holy Spirit resides within us.
- Act like God is indwelling within us.
- Know God and Jesus to fully understand His truth.
- Accept and appreciate God’s knowledge and wisdom, even if mankind thinks it is foolish.
- Seek God’s knowledge.
- Use God’s knowledge in our lives.
- Show God the gratitude He deserves for providing the Plan of Salvation, given through His grace and mercy.
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Father God. Your knowledge brings discernment so that we can tell right from wrong. But we can only have this discernment when we ABCD. Lord, we submit our lives to You. Amen.
What do you think?
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