ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE VS. THE TRUTH – Part 3

WBS.294

ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE VS. THE TRUTH – Part 3

Proverb 14:12  There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.

“We must begin to DO what we read in the Scriptures when they give us something to do.  We cannot be satisfied with just knowing what they tell us to do.  That will help begin the process of living in “Aha!” moments of revelation.”

OBSTACLES TO RECEIVING TRUTH:

In our first two posts in this study, we have discussed two important obstacles to receiving truth.

1.  Human intellect.    When we study the Scriptures in our own intellectual pursuit of what it says, we achieve a “natural” understanding, an academic understanding of the information.  We may be able to quote chapter and verse of many Scriptures and even teach the content of the books of the Bible; but human intellect cannot arrive at the Truth.  Revelation knowledge does not come to the intellect. This kind of pursuit of the Scriptures is why we had to discuss the second obstacle to receiving truth.

 2.  Not DOING the Word.  An academic understanding of the Scriptures seldom results in the believer actually acting on what is learned.  Doing what the Scripture instructs us to do is such an obvious and apparent expectation; and yet, we are generally content to simply know it instructs us to do something.  Like our illustration in the last post; we know the Scripture tells us to pray without ceasing, to always rejoice and to give thanks in everything.  We KNOW it says that; but we generally are seldom found to DO what we know it says to do.  Revelation knowledge cannot be expected to come to one who refuses to do even what an academic knowledge of the Scripture tells us we should do.  If we know the Scripture commands the believer to “take up his cross daily and follow me (Messiah),” (Luke 9:23) yet we do not endeavor to do so, how can we expect the Master to reveal to us HOW and WHY we are to do this?  Wisdom does not come to the thinker, but to the doer.

Today, I want to discuss a couple more obstacles to receiving revelation knowledge (Truth).

3.  A carnal/natural mind.   Today, the word “carnal” tends to carry a sexual connotation; but not so in the Scripture.  It simply refers to the natural mind…the unrenewed mind (See Rom 12:1-2). This is the mind that thinks that what it thinks is correct. Our opening verse reveals how wrong this human notion is.

Proverb 14:12  There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.

This is such critical counsel that Solomon restated it verbatim in Proverb 16:25.  This is the Old Testament’s way of stating what Paul tells us in the New Testament.

1 Corinthians 1:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of IAUE: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The things of IAUE (Truth, revelation knowledge) cannot be known by the human intellect.  They are “spiritually discerned.”

Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against IAUE: for it is not subject to the law of IAUE, neither indeed can be.

8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

The carnal mind, the natural mind, is occupied with self: self preservation, self control, self gratification, self importance, position and image of self, self achievement, self success.  Such values are alien to the Kingdom of IAUE; and the things that pertain to IAUE simply cannot be found while we are in pursuit of self. They do not exist in the same domain, the same realm. All pursuit of self is what drives the very core of the kingdom of darkness.  We who have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light should pursue that which is of the kingdom of light.

Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Messiah, seek those things which are above, where Messiah sitteth on the right hand of IAUE.

2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Messiah in IAUE.

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Luke 17:32 Remember Lot's wife.

33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

To the degree that our hearts still love the world and the pleasures of self, we barricade ourselves from the Truth of IAUE.  A natural/carnal mind does not operate in the same realm as the revelation knowledge of IAUE.  It is not subject to, it is not answerable to, and it cannot receive from the law of IAUE.

4. Non-reliance on the Holy Spirit. 

1 Corinthians 1:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of IAUE knoweth no man, but the Spirit of IAUE.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of IAUE; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of IAUE.

IAUE is not hiding the Truth from us.  He does not make it a game for us to have to hunt for revelation in the knowledge of Him and of Yahushua Messiah.  He states plainly here that only the spirit within a man can truly know the thoughts of the man, the heart and values of that man.  However, if somehow that man’s spirit could be put inside of us, then we would all have access to the thoughts and dreams and intents of the heart of that man.  Well, we who have received the Spirit of IAUE have within us the Spirit that is within Him.  We, then, have access to the thoughts and heart of our Creator.  We need merely listen to the Spirit to know those things that are freely given to us by Him.

1 Corinthians 1:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of IAUE: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The apostle Paul explains that worldly men communicate with worldly wisdom, but the only thing they can deliver is worldly instruction.  Truth requires a different language; one that taps into the Holy Spirit.  A natural mind will listen even to spiritual instruction and consider it foolishness.

I remember back in the 1970s, the leader and founder of the American Atheists, Madalyn Murray O’Hair had a radio broadcast through which she rabidly attacked Christianity and quoted heavily from the Scriptures to demonstrate the nonsense of believing in a deity.  I used to tell fellow believers that she could quote more Scripture than most believers could; and to people of natural minds, her arguments seemed sound; but to the spiritual mind, she was speaking absolute drivel.  She had no “revelation” of the Truth in the Scriptures; and consequently, she had no clue of what she spoke. Her use of the Scripture only betrayed how utterly devoid of the Spirit she was.

You will remember in our first lesson in this series when I said that if the Scripture is not used as a means to make contact with the Holy Spirit to hear from Him (the author of the Scripture), we are never going to have those “Aha!” moments when He breathes into us the Truth that brings life to the words we are reading.  Learning how to abide in Messiah (John 10) and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit is the most basic necessity of our spiritual lives.

One of the ways that I deal with passages of Scripture where I seem only to arrive at an academic understanding…or sometimes, I don’t even really understand what the words are trying to say at all, is to pray aloud in tongues for a while.  Not long after, I generally receive in my understanding, insight from the Holy Spirit that brings the passage to life and spiritual application.  Other ways that I connect with the Holy Spirit’s revelation is to just sit quietly and listen; or to pray for spiritual wisdom and understanding.  Later, those prayers are always answered as long as I am persistent about walking in the Holy Spirit and avoiding a natural/carnal mindset.

There is so much more that could be said about avoiding a carnal/natural mind and about the need to rely upon the Holy Spirit. You can readily search them out in the Scriptures, yourself.  Next week we will look at two more obstacles to revelation knowledge.

5.  Lack of understanding righteousness.

6.  Doublemindedness.  

I am eager to move on to the next subject the Holy Spirit has for me to share with you; but this topic is so critical to a spiritual understanding of anything. Without understanding these matters and applying the remedy to them, we are going to be stuck in the natural realm of possessing only an academic understanding of the Scripture; and that will profit us very little.