Now, illumination means that you and I have
a book, and we have said it's a
God book.
It's a human book written by men who
are expressing their thoughts, but when they do
that, they are writing down the Word of
God and the marvel of it.
And the thing that makes it supernatural is
that God, without destroying their personalities, He didn't
turn them upside down like a fountain pen
and write with them.
They wrote what was in their minds and
hearts, but the Spirit of God so guided
them that many of them actually wanted to
look into the things they wrote about but
couldn't.
That's what Peter says.
And they wrote without error.
Now, Moses made mistakes, and he wrote about
those mistakes, but the writing about those mistakes,
there was no mistake, my friend.
That, may I say, is a record that
when he's giving to us the Word of
God, that we are getting a revelation from
God.
Now, in view of the fact that that
is true, we're dealing with a book that
takes more than just mental acumen in order
to understand.
Paul made a very interesting statement, and that
statement is simply this.
He says, and I'll have to turn to
it now, it's found in 1 Corinthians 2,
beginning at verse 7, but we speak the
wisdom of God in a mystery, even the
hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world
unto our glory, which none of the princes
of this world knew.
For had they known it, they would not
have crucified the Lord of glory.
But as it is written, I hath not
seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him.
Now, you and I today get most of
what we know through the eye gate and
the ear gate, or by reasoning, by thinking,
rationalizing.
Now, actually, Paul says here that there's certain
things that eye hasn't seen, certain things that
ear hasn't heard, and there are certain things
that you can't even get into your head
at all.
Well, how in the world are you going
to get them?
Well, a great many in the past have
taken this verse of scripture to a funeral,
and I've heard it used at a funeral
years ago like this, that brother so-and
-so, he was a great fellow, didn't know
too much down here.
That's the inference always.
But now he's gone up there and he's
really got on his thinking cap now, and
he knows things he didn't know before.
Well, I think maybe that's probably true.
I think we're going to get quite an
education, we'll get a new degree when we
move up there.
But that's not what this verse says.
Paul says there's certain things right down here
long before you get to the undertaker.
Now, a lot of things down here that
you and I can't get through the ordinary
natural means that we learn.
Well, how are we going to get them?
Verse 10 now, "...but God hath revealed them
unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of
God."
Now, the Holy Spirit has to be our
teacher.
Now, you will recall that back on the
day of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
he walked down the Emmaus Road and joined
himself there with a couple of brethren that
were walking along.
He entered into their conversation, by the way,
and he asked them what in the world
it was that had engaged their conversation.
Well, the very interesting thing is they said,
well, is it possible you've been around here
and you don't know what's taken place in
Jerusalem?
He said unto them, what manner of communications
are these that ye have one to another
as ye walk and are sad?
And the one of them whose name was
Cleopas answering said unto him, Art thou only
a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known
the things which are come to pass there
in these days?
In other words, he says, why, if you
were just a stranger around here, you should
have known about this.
And he said unto them, what things?
And they said unto him concerning Jesus of
Nazareth, which was a prophet.
Notice that was.
As far as they're concerned, he's gone.
But he was talking to them.
And he was a prophet, mighty indeed in
word before God and all the people.
And they go on, how the chief priests
and our rulers delivered him to be condemned
to death and have crucified him.
And you remember, he predicted that.
And the very interesting thing, prophecy had been
saying it for years.
And then they expressed that faint hope that
it died out.
But we trusted that it had been he
which should have redeemed Israel.
And beside all this, today is the third
day since these things were done.
And they went on to tell about it,
what they knew and what had been found
out when they left Jerusalem, that the women
had reported.
Apparently, not many paid too much attention to
what the women said.
And not only that, verse 24, certain of
them which were with us went to the
sepulcher, found it even so as the women
had said, but him they saw not.
And then their hopes dimmed and darkness entered
their hearts.
Now listen to the Lord Jesus.
And he said unto them, O fools and
slow of heart, to believe all that the
prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have
suffered these things and to enter into his
glory?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them and all the scriptures
the things concerning himself.
Friend, wouldn't you love to have been there
that day and have heard him go back
into the Old Testament and lift out the
scriptures concerning himself?
And when he finally made himself known to
them as they sat at the meal, you
see, it's when you're feeding on the word
of God and feeding on him, that's when
he reveals himself in all of his glory.
And this is their comment.
And they said one to another, did not
our heart burn within us while he talked
with us by the way and while he
opened to us the scriptures?
You see, we're studying a book, friend.
It's different from any other book.
It's not that I'm just believing today in
the inspiration of the Bible.
Why, I believe that this is a closed
book unless the Spirit of God will open
your heart and make it real, by the
way.
And so I find that he continued teaching
at that time because when he returned to
Jerusalem, he appeared to the disciples.
And then will you notice down in verse
44 of Luke 24, And he said unto
them, These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the law of Moses and in
the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.
Let me pause there.
He believed Moses wrote the penitent.
He believed the prophets spoke of him and
that the Psalms that all of them pointed
to him.
Now, here is the great verse.
Then opened he their understanding that they might
understand the scriptures.
And friends, if he doesn't open your understanding,
you're just not going to get it.
That's all.
And that's the reason we ought to approach
this book in great humility of mind.
And I do not care how high your
IQ is.
I hope I'm talking right now to some
young graduates of some of our seminaries today
who think they know it all.
Well, may I say that I went through
that period too.
I thought when I was in seminary, I
knew it all.
But I found out since then that there
are one or two things I don't know.
I'm going to keep reading here because it's
important.
And he said unto them, thus it is
written and thus it behoove Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third
day and that repentance and remission of sin
should be preached in his name among all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
And you're witnesses of these things.
Now, will you notice how they're going to
witness?
They're going to have to have a little
help.
In fact, they're going to have to have
a whole lot of help.
Verse 49.
And behold, I send the promise of my
Father upon you, but tarry ye in the
city of Jerusalem until ye be imbued with
power from on high.
In other words, you will have to have
a teacher to open the word of God
to your understanding.
Now, I go back to 1 Corinthians again
and this passage that I was reading.
And he goes on to say, Paul does
in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 13, which things
also we speak not in the words which
man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost
teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, their foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they're
spiritually discerned.
I'm never disturbed when one of these unbelievers,
even if he's a preacher who comes along
and says today he no longer believes the
Bible is the Word of God.
He never did believe it, to tell the
truth.
But may I say to you, that's the
way he should talk.
I mean, after all, if you're not a
believer, you couldn't believe it.
It takes the Spirit of God.
And that's the reason I quoted Bishop Hadley
the other day when he said, there is
more meaning in every word of holy writ
than we shall ever get out of it.
And you know, it was Mark Twain that
made a very interesting statement, and he was
no believer.
He says that he was not disturbed by
what he did not understand in the Bible.
He said what worried him were the things
he did understand.
And there are things you can understand, and
it's that that keeps many away from the
Word of God.
It was Pascal who said, human knowledge must
be understood to be loved, but divine knowledge
must be loved to be understood.
That's very, very important to get, by the
way.
There needs to be that illumination.
It was Robert Alfred Vaughn who made this
statement, speaking of these unbelievers in their conceded
rejection of the light without until they have
turned into darkness their light within.
And that's what Paul meant when he says
that they would not receive the love of
the truth, and God would let them believe
a lie.
The unbelievers said some harsh things about us,
but God has said some very harsh things
about it.
I'd like to give you this statement of
Bishop Pollock.
He says, the Bible is a corridor between
two eternities down which walks the Christ of
God.
His invisible steps echo through the Old Testament,
but we meet him face to face in
the throne room of the new.
And it is through that Christ alone crucified
for me that I have found forgiveness for
sins and life eternal.
The Old Testament is summed up in the
word Christ.
The New Testament is summed up in the
word Jesus.
And the summary of the whole Bible is
that Jesus is the Christ, a statement by
Bishop Pollock.
And it was Mr. Spurgeon who said, I
can never doubt the doctrine of plenary verbal
inspiration since I so constantly see in actual
practice how the very words that God has
been pleased to use, a plural instead of
a singular, are blessed to the souls of
men.
May I say these are tremendous statements coming
from men of the past, and it's very
difficult to eliminate and to blot out what
these men have said.
The wisdom of the ages has not really
settled in us today.
As a generation, we've really got the world
in a mess.
Now, we were talking about illumination, the fact
that the Spirit of God must take these
words and make them real to us.
The reading of the Bible can become almost
profitless, pastime by the way.
And it is a book, though, that will
bless you, even if you do not have
the spiritual truth open to you.
It's a, Goethe said, the mere ethical teaching
of the Bible would alone stamp it as
the greatest literary treasure of mankind.
May I say to you that that was
one of the saddest things that took place
when the Bible was taken away from the
public school, why they took away the best
production of literature, and then they flooded it
with some of this dirty, filthy, modern literature
today.
Quite hypocrites for men to say they didn't
want the Bible taught to their children because
it contained stories that might soil their mind.
Believe me, my friend, they're getting them soiled
today in our schools and in the name
of freedom.
And it's nothing in the world but dirt.
Why is it that when we talk about
freedom of speech, what we really mean is
we want to talk dirty, and we want
to look dirty, and we want to be
dirty.
That's freedom.
Well, it is because man is totally depraved.
When he's given freedom, that's the direction he
wants to go.
It was John Milton who said, There are
no songs comparable to the songs of Zion,
no orations equal to those of the prophets,
and no politics like those which the Scripture
teach.
It's a wonderful book just to read.
It was Webster who said, If there be
anything in my style or thoughts to be
commended, the credit is due to my kind
parents for instilling into my mind an early
love of the Scriptures.
What about you today, Christian parent?
Are you making a Daniel Webster in your
home, or a little hippie?
You'll be making one or the other, I
can assure you.
And apparently, Webster thought it came about because
his parents taught him the Word of God.
May I say to you, the Spirit of
God, though, will have to open your mind
and heart if you're going to understand spiritual
truth this year.
And Paul, writing to the Corinthians, in 1
Corinthians 2, verse 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.
And may I say to you that Paul
says that the Spirit of God is our
teacher.
And that's one of the reasons that we
have prayed that the Spirit of God would
teach us on this program, because may I
say, if He doesn't teach me and teach
you, we're not going to get anywhere as
far as the Bible is concerned.
We're dealing with a supernatural book, if you
please.
The Lord Jesus Himself said in John 6,
63, It's the Spirit that quickneth, the flesh
profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they
are Spirit and they are life.
A great man of the past made a
statement concerning one of the greatest writers of
the past, and he says his words, if
you cut them, would bleed.
Well, may I say to you, that's true
of the Word of God.
And the Lord Jesus said, The words I
speak unto you, they're Spirit and they're life.
And the Spirit of God can make it
real to you.
And in John 17, in his great high
priestly prayer, in verse 18, he made this
statement, For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, not the thoughts,
the words which thou gavest me, and they
have received them, and have known surely that
I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me.
It was back in Exodus 20, verse 1,
where Moses wrote, And God spake all these
words saying.
It was God who did the speaking.
That's what Moses wrote.
It's very difficult today to reject the Bible
without impugning it as an evil book.
Now, notice what he said in John 3,
verse 17 and 18, For God sent not
his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through him might
be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed on the name
of the only begotten Son of God.
In other words, may I put it very
frankly to you, the Lord Jesus said that
if you don't accept this Word, you're condemned.
If you accept it, you're saved.
That means that you've accepted and received him
as the Savior of the world.
Now, I want to make just one or
two other statements.
You remember that when Simon Peter answered him
after he had inquired of them, What are
men saying about me?
And they said everything.
They still say that.
You can get about as many answers today
as as many people as you happen to
ask, and therefore there are many viewpoints of
him.
But he said to Simon Peter, or he
said to the apostles, and Simon Peter answered,
and I think he answered for the others,
Whom do men say that I am, and
whom do you say that I am?
And he said, Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God.
Now, you remember what our Lord said to
him?
He said to him, Flesh and blood hath
not revealed this unto thee, but my Father
which is in heaven, and he is the
one.
And blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah.
And I say to you, only God today
can open up the Word of God for
us to really understand it.
And our Lord said, the Father opened it
for Simon Peter, and the Lord Jesus taught
them and opened up their understanding before he
left.
But he said he was going to send
the Holy Spirit, as we saw in Luke,
wait for the promise, because he's the only
one that can make this thing real.
And he had said to them, yonder in
the upper room, you will recall, in John
16, verses 7 through 11, I have yet
many things to say unto you, but you
cannot bear them now, howbeit when he, the
Spirit of truth, is come.
He will guide you into all truth, for
he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever
he shall hear, that shall he speak, and
he will show you things to come.
And he went on, he'll take the things
of mine and show them unto you.
And may I say I leave this subject
of illumination by saying only that the Spirit
of God today can open your mind and
heart to see and to accept Christ and
to trust him as your Savior.
How wonderful.
I have always felt, as I entered the
pulpit, how helpless I am, because, believe me,
Vernon McGee can't convert anyone.
And I feel just that way before this
microphone right now.
But I not only feel weak, but I
also feel that I'm mighty, not mighty in
myself, but that the Spirit of God today
can move out you unto where you are,
riding in your car, in your home, doing
housework, sitting down at a meal, or wherever
you might be, in your place of business,
wherever you might be, right now, the Spirit
of God can take these dead words and
make them real and living to you, incorporate
them into your life, and give you an
excitement, an enthusiasm that only he can give
today.
Now, may I say that it's nice to
take all the vitamin pills that you can
today.
My doctor keeps me loaded with them.
But I want to say to you, my
friend, the Spirit of God can give you
something that vitamin pills can never give you.