WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25
John 14:25-29
Psalm 25:1-5

“…for I longed for thy commandments.”

THE SPIRIT TEACHING (I)

A great deal of theological instruction in colleges and seminaries today is nothing more than men’s vain philosophy dressed up in pious terms and devoid of true spiritual power. Such knowledge “puffeth up” (1 Cor 8:1), causes swollen heads and empty hearts. Christians ought to be able to discern true Holy Spirit teaching from the false. Here are four critical tests.

1. Holy Spirit teaching stirs the soul. “For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6). The Spirit’s light penetrates and warms the heart, subdues the will and brings it into subjection under God. It moulds the heart and stamps God’s image upon it.

2. Holy Spirit teaching humbles the soul. It reveals our ignorance and worthlessness, our sin and corruption, our helplessness and bankruptcy. It causes us to exclaim like Isaiah, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips…” (Isa 6:5). Like the Apostle Paul, it makes us see ourselves as chief among sinners (1 Tim 1:15).

3. Holy Spirit teaching changes values and outlook. Things of the world, which to the unregenerate are highly esteemed, appear trivial and worthless. All the attractions “under the sun” become but vanity and -vexation of spirit, transitory and worthless. Earthly honours, riches and fame no longer grip the heart. Those things which once were gain are now but loss, no better than dung (Phil 3:7-8).

4. Holy Spirit teaching transforms lives. The soul that comes under the conviction of the Spirit is made to see the sinfulness of sin, its deceptiveness and its deadly end. The teaching of the Spirit causes us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world (Titus 2:12). The obedient soul becomes more Christlike in character and conduct.

THOUGHT: I have to live as the Lord Jesus did on earth.
PRAYER: Lord, please live in me and help me walk as Thou didst.