January 15th

The Things of the Spirit of God

1 Corinthians 2:14 But 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.

Spiritual Truth

As we grow in the knowledge of God and of His kingdom, it often becomes apparent to us that we are privy to knowledge that the unsaved person is seemingly incapable of grasping. That’s because he can only begin to understand those things when his spirit is made alive through the salvation of Christ, after receiving the Spirit of God to guide him into an understanding of the truth.

Many Things to Say Unto You

Jesus told His disciples, as He was facing the hour of His crucifixion, that He had many things that He wanted to teach them, but that they were not yet able to understand them.

John 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

His disciples, though they had been with Him for three years, were not yet born of God, or born from above, or born again, because Jesus had not yet risen from the dead. No one could be born again until that event had taken place. And they were familiar with the Holy Spirit, but He was not yet living in them.

The Spirit of Truth

They would be able to understand these things that Jesus wanted to tell them only after the Spirit of Truth had come, or, that is, after the Spirit of God had come to live in their hearts.

John 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he [the Spirit of Truth] shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

The Hidden Wisdom

The Apostle Paul speaks of a wisdom that he refers to as the hidden wisdom, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and he gives a short explanation in verse 14 as to why the unsaved, unregenerate person cannot understand this hidden wisdom of God.

The Spirit of Man

Paul says that the natural man, the man subject to appetite and passion, the man who is living only by his natural senses, does not take hold of or comprehend the things that the Spirit of God is able to reveal and teach. Neither can he know, perceive, or have knowledge of them, because they are investigated, examined, enquired into, and scrutinized spiritually, or with the spirit and not with the natural senses. Until a man is capable of discerning spiritual things, the things of God will appear to him as foolishness.

It is the spirit of man that is made alive in the new birth of Christ’s salvation. Every man has a spirit, but a man’s spirit is, as the Bible says, dead in trespass and sin, or, that is to say, separated from fellowship with God, because of unforgiven sins. When forgiveness of sins is received through faith in the blood of Christ, the spirit of that person is made alive again unto God, and God can then fellowship with him and dwell with him by His Spirit.

Growing in Wisdom

Then and only then can a person begin to grow in understanding of the things of God, because his spirit man is now alive unto God. He becomes aware of truth that he was not capable of understanding before. And the newborn spirit of that man begins to feed on the word of God, and begins to grow in the knowledge of God, the knowledge that can only be revealed to him by the Spirit of God.

Start today to seek out, examine, enquire into, and scrutinize the knowledge that God has reserved for all those who love Him, and have chosen to follow Him and live their lives for Him. The Bible says that eye has not seen, nor ear heard what God has prepared for those who love Him, but that He has revealed them to us by His Spirit. If you are reading this, and you are not yet born of God, then give your life to Him today, ask Him for forgiveness of sin, and ask Him to come and live in your heart. Let a new world of truth and understanding be opened to you from the kingdom of God.