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Separating the True From the Fictitious, April 28
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and
shall be turned unto fables.
2 Timothy 4:3, 4
.
Much is being said regarding the impartation of the Holy Spirit, and by
some this is being so interpreted that it is an injury to the churches. Eternal
life is the receiving of the living elements in the Scriptures and doing the will
of God. This is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God.
To those who do this, life and immortality are brought to light through the
gospel, for God’s Word is verity and truth, spirit and life. It is the privilege of
all who believe in Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour to feed on the Word
of God. The Holy Spirit’s influence renders that Word, the Bible, an immortal
truth, which to the prayerful searcher gives spiritual sinew and muscle.
“Search the scriptures,” Christ declared, “for in them ye think ye have
eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (
John 5:39
). Those who
dig beneath the surface discover the hidden gems of truth. The Holy Spirit
is present with the earnest searcher. His illumination shines upon the Word,
stamping the truth upon the mind with a new, fresh importance. The searcher
is filled with a sense of peace and joy never before felt. The preciousness of
truth is realized as never before. A new, heavenly light shines upon the Word,
illuminating it as though every letter were tinged with gold. God Himself has
spoken to the mind and heart, making the Word spirit and life.
Every true searcher of the Word lifts his heart to God, imploring the aid
of the Spirit. And he soon discovers that which carries him above all the
fictitious statements of the would-be teacher, whose weak, tottering theories
are not sustained by the Word of the living God. These theories were invented
by men who had not learned the first great lesson, that God’s Spirit and life are
in His Word. If they had received in the heart the eternal element contained in
the Word of God, they would see how tame and expressionless are all efforts
to get something new to create a sensation. They need to learn the very first
principles of the Word of God.—
Selected Messages 2:38, 39
.
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