Notes of an address at Kilkeel 1990
“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12)
In one respect we might know a great deal about the truth, thank God for that. But I feel that we would all confess that in another sense we know so little, and there is so much to learn. When the Lord said that the disciples were not able to bear it, there was not anything morally wrong with them, and they were not careless in the matter of learning, it was simply because the Holy Spirit had not yet come. They were not yet fully equipped to receive the truth of God in all its complexities—and there was a tremendous amount to learn! They had been steeped in the Judaistic form of teaching, and were very much occupied with it. It was with much trial and difficulty that they got rid of these ideas that they were accustomed to for so long. This is the point—they were incapable of learning the truth of God in all its forms until the Holy Spirit came.
But having said that, the opposite is true. Every believer, once the Spirit came, is in the position of being able to learn all the truth of God. The disciples had a unique and privileged position, for three and a half years they had been with the Lord and had heard His ministry and had seen His works, and the Spirit, when He came, brought it all back to them in clarity and power so that they were able to pass that on. When we come to the Apostle Paul there was a further unfolding of truth from the exalted Head. Now for ourselves, let us be occupied with some of the reasons why we may not learn the truth so well, and we hope to see that there are very good guidelines to help us in learning.
“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal.” (1 Cor. 3:1-4)
The Corinthians were in a bad state. In chapter 1 we read of divisions amongst themselves, they were following men. Paul had to ask, “Was Paul crucified for you?” The answer is obvious, Christ was the One who had blessed them, and yet they were following men. Will we advance in the truth if we follow men, to the exclusion of Christ? It is very easily done. A man becomes an authority, and his word is accepted, and Christ is put out of His distinctive place as the Head of the body. He is the One who administers the truth to us in the power of the Spirit. So the matter of following men is a very serious thing indeed, no matter how spiritual or accomplished they may be.
In chapter 5, we have unjudged sin in a man’s life individually, and nothing done about it. Is it possible that we can make any advance in truth, or can we make any progress with those we seek to help if there is any acquiescing in sin? This is very solemn. There was carnality, an acting in the flesh rather than in the Spirit’s power, and this was one of the reasons, unjudged sin in the life. It is a principle that runs through Scripture, that whenever there is sin in anyone’s life, there is a lack of discerning of the will of the Lord.
In chapter 15 we find that there were those who raised questions about the resurrection. Can the Spirit help those who question the truth of God? Impossible.
We even read of those that were taking each other to law. How sad! There was an attitude of hostility and distance amongst those who belonged to the Lord. It was not an attitude of love, it was not following the commandments that the Lord laid down for His own, the commandment to love one another. Can the Spirit be free to give the truth to us if in any way this love is absent amongst us, if there is not faithful brotherliness? Impossible. We cannot get the gain of the Spirit’s power and service.
They even questioned the rightness of the Lord’s appointment, just as was done in the days of Moses, when Aaron and Miriam questioned the rightness of Moses being the leader, the Corinthians were questioning the appointment of the apostle Paul. He replied, “Aren’t you the proof of my apostleship? The fact that the assembly is here in Corinth is a proof that I was sent by God” (2 Cor. 3).
All these things were circulating in the assembly at Corinth. No wonder they were in this awful condition that the apostle speaks about in chapter 3 where he said he would have fed them with meat, but instead he had to feed them with milk. This is something that we sometimes overlook, that we as believers only get the ministry that we are entitled to. We cannot be specialists, we cannot say that we will preach the high and glorious things of God (though in one sense we can preach that objectively), but very often we get the ministry that we are up to morally and spiritually. The Spirit of God knows exactly what we require. We cannot be specialists, preaching the same thing everywhere, without taking into account what the Lord wants us to say in a particular assembly. One preacher said that he knew the spiritual condition of an assembly by the ministry that the Lord gave to him. That is exactly what Paul says here, he would have liked to give them meat, instead of which he had to feed them with milk because of their carnality. His heart was burdened about this.
To the Ephesians he said, “I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole council of God” (Acts 20:27). There was no hindrance, his heart could go out in all its fullness to those believers, full of the glory of Christ, full of the greatness of God and the Holy Spirit and the truth of the assembly. Why was it that in the 1830s there began a movement, and out of it came a diffusion of truth such as the church has not seen since the days of Pentecost? They gathered together in the way that the Holy Scriptures indicate, and because of that the Holy Spirit was free to move amongst those brothers and sisters; they were gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the truth of the church that is presented so plainly, and in such conditions, there was a diffusion of truth. Whenever this is given up the Holy Spirit’s service is hindered. So we desire, more and more, to know the unhindered service of the Spirit of God in making known to us these great and wonderful glories.
Oh that we might pay attention to the moral side! I know that in my life I have been greatly hindered because of the lack of paying attention to these very practical things in one’s life. Worldliness, immorality of any kind, sin of any kind, allowed in the life is a definite hindrance to the Holy Spirit’s service. Collectively too, when things are known and left unjudged, the Spirit is greatly hindered. How can the Spirit minister to us in such a case?
Think of a man like Ezra. He set his heart to learn the truth of God, and to practice it, and then to teach in Israel statutes and judgments (Ezra 7:10). Here is someone that the Spirit can use, someone with a heart to learn the truth of God. There was such a man in the New Testament. The Ethiopian eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to learn something about worshipping God and he was returning home a disappointed man; but he wanted to learn, and he was reading the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Join yourself to that chariot.” Then there was an unfolding of truth, setting the man free from Jerusalem or anywhere else, and brought him directly into contact with the Lord Jesus. There is the heart to learn, the heart to obey, then the Holy Spirit will help and encourage.
Then in the book of Daniel we find two further examples. Firstly, when Daniel and his companions met together in prayer, they wanted to know the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had had, and also its interpretation. In answer to their prayer, the God of revelation made it known to them, through the Spirit, so that they could tell the king. Then in the praise that Daniel gave afterwards we read again and again about revelation. Things were revealed to people who were prepared to spend time on their knees, that they might know, that they might learn. We spend a great deal of time reading books, and praise the Lord for that, we do not want to decry that, we want to read as much as we can, but we need to spend time on our knees also. If there is dependence in learning, then the Holy Spirit will help us.
Then in chapter 9 we have a beautiful example of a man who was not afraid to unburden his heart before God, and to lay his heart bare before God in confession of sin on behalf of his nation, crying out to God, not only about getting right with God personally, although that was dear to his heart, but he cried aloud to God for His interests—the city, the sanctuary, the land and the people. These were the burdens that were upon his heart. Then was revealed to Daniel, the man beloved of God, in the vision all that would eventually come in in power to his nation and bring glory to God. How was he going to do that? Through Christ. The Holy Spirit would delight to reveal this to Daniel.
Lastly, in 2 Peter 2, we get definite guidelines, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” Oh, how the Holy Spirit would give us help and encouragement to those with desires of that kind! Oh, for a desire to learn the truth of God, not for the sake of learning, but for the sake of enabling us to have a part in the testimony for the glory of Christ.
I would like to quote the writings of Bernard of Clairveux, “There are some who desire to know with the sole purpose that they may know, and it is bare curiosity; and some desire to know that they may be known, and it is base ambition; and some desire to know that they may use it for wealth and honour, and it is avarice; but there are some who desire to know that they may be edified, and it is prudent; and some who desire to know that they may help others, and it is charity.” Covet earnest the best “known”, that is, to know to be a help for others. That is one of the wonderful things about divine knowledge, it is not only good for one’s own soul, it is good for those you come in contact with. And in the local company that knowledge can glorify Christ. There is no excuse for being ignorant in the things of God. The shame is ours if we do not understand. The Holy Spirit has come that we might know and enjoy the truth. He not only gives us the knowledge of it, He gives us the enjoyment of it. This is when the truth becomes influential, when it has its effect upon us, and brings us closer to Christ, that we may glorify Him. May we be encouraged for His name’s sake.