John Thiel mp3
It is my purpose this morning that we would worship God by marvelling over His Word, as we’ve just been singing in this beautiful hymn. You appreciate that there is something very precious about God’s Word that is more than just finding knowledge, more than just finding academic information. God’s Word has a capacity for expansion.
This is what I would like us to focus on so that we will set our minds in our worship toward Him to embrace this expanding discovery of His Word.
The truth, if received, is capable of constant expansion and new developments. It will increase in brightness as we behold it and grow in height and depth as we aspire to grasp it. TMK 340.3
The truth that comes from God is capable of constant expansion and new developments. But did you notice the proviso that is included in this statement? If received, or if we will receive it, that is what will happen. Our scripture reading that we read this morning from Philippians 1:9-10 connects the believer’s receptivity with the knowledge of the Word. Did you notice?
Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
Your love—our love—is connected there to knowledge. “Your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.” The marginal reading says “in all sense.”
Philippians 1:10 That you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.
Did you notice here that there is a specific application to the person, to the believer? The proviso is that our love is to be connected with knowledge, and then it will grow more and more. This is repeated in the Old Testament.
Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is as darkness. They know not at what they stumble.
Proverbs 4:20 My son, attend unto my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
Notice there that the word is to be adhered to.
Proverbs 4: 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
There you can see the connection again of the person who is responsible for relating correctly to the Word so that God’s Word can expand to him. It can bring him more and more to the perfect day. There is more and more discovery to be made. It’s an expansion, but that expansion is dependent upon the person. Did you notice verse 18 said the path of the just versus the way of the wicked? Those who are not diligently engaging in the life of the truth, as it’s said there in those other scriptures, in those texts that follow it, it says, “My son, attend to my words.”
If we do not attend to those words and incline our ear unto His sayings, then the life in them and the health to our flesh will not take place. What did it say in verse 22?
Proverbs 4:22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
It is for us to discover the expanding dimensions of God’s Word that will provide for us that which is written. Therefore, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. This takes us right back to what I introduced. The truth, if we receive it, is capable of this expansion and new developments. It is entirely up to the recipient of the Word whether that Word is going to expand for that person and for the people. Notice that to some people, darkness happens. The way of the wicked is this darkness and yet, for others, the light increases.
I would like to reflect upon that reality that there is a company who finds increasing expansion, while another company says, “Well, the Word of God, I know that already. Why do we have to go over it again?” This is what I’ve heard many times. This thought is expanded upon:
There are many things apparently difficult or obscure, which God will make plain and simple to those who thus seek an understanding of them. But without the guidance of the Holy Spirit we shall be continually liable to wrest the Scriptures or to misinterpret them. SC 110.1
What are we continually able to do? To wrest—that’s the old English word for “twist”—the Scriptures or to misinterpret them.
There is much reading of the Bible that is without profit and, in many cases, a positive injury when the Word of God is opened without reverence and without prayer, when the thoughts and affections are not fixed upon God or in harmony with His will. The mind is clouded with doubts, and in the very study of the Bible, scepticism strengthens. The enemy takes control of the thoughts, and he suggests interpretations that are not correct. Whenever men are not in word and deed seeking to be in harmony with God, then, however learned they may be, they are liable to err in their understanding of Scripture, and it is not safe to trust to their explanations. Those who look to the Scriptures to find discrepancies, have not spiritual insight. SC 110.1
Did you notice what is essential if we are going to find the truth as a wonderful expanding and developing enlargement? It says that we need to receive it, and as it says here, that we need to have the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We need to come to the Bible with reverence and prayer. In other words, as I come to the Bible, my mind needs to be turned to affectionate communion with my God so that I can actually read Him aright.
But if I just read it as an academic exercise, if I just come casually to the Bible and read for information, I’m not going to discover that beautiful expanding reality. We read once more from “Selected Messages” here as we try to comprehend this proviso of finding this beautiful expanding truth rather than just finding information and saying, “Well, now I know, so what?”
The oracles of God have been so manifestly neglected that there are but few in our world, even of those who profess to explain it to others, who have the divine knowledge of the Scriptures. There are learned men who have a college education, but these shepherds do not feed the flock of God. They do not consider that the excellencies of the Scriptures will be continually unfolding, their hidden treasures as precious jewels are discovered by digging for them. 1SM 15.4
Here you have a beautiful picture of going through the dirt of the earth and looking for those precious gems. You have to wade through a bit of apparently unprofitable work—nothing there, nothing there—and all of a sudden, “Ah, I found a gem!” Then you go on and dig and dig because you are looking for those precious things that will become more and more brilliant, unfolding to us as we work through it.
This is why the Scriptures are to some darkness and to others increasing light, because some just don’t do that, and some do. What are the elements prerequisite to experiencing this expansion? Let’s go and explore each little point to see what is necessary for me to discover this. You know, I’ve been brought up in the ranks of Adventism from my earliest childhood. I knew nothing else but Seventh-day Adventism in my early years, and of course, then I studied more widely.
I have studied prophecies. I have heard prophecies from as far back as I remember being presented before the people. I have observed over the years that there are facts of prophecy that finally leave you in a state of, “Well, now we know it all.” The world nations that have passed by, the empires—well, that’s it. We’re at the last end now with all the different wars that are going on. It’s all just information that we know, but there’s no satisfaction in that. It’s just information.
To me, there’s much more in prophecy than what my fellow students of the past have just regarded as information in general. They have told me, and I have heard ministers say, “It doesn’t matter, Daniel 11, all those prophecies just follow Jesus.” Well, I’m absolutely puzzled, but here we have some understandings of why people say that.
For us to find the precious gems in prophecy, the precious gems in history, the precious gems in the instructions of the commandments of God’s Word, if we want to find them, what was it that we have been reading here? Did you notice that in Proverbs 4:20 it said “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.”
Incline your ear. In Isaiah 55, this inclining of the ear is expressed once again in connection with this precious discovery of expanding truth.
Isaiah 55:2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
You spend money to look for satisfaction, but it’s not bread. You labour for that which satisfies not. Then what does He say? “Harken how diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness; incline your ear and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”
Here is the element that is required for me to discover the delight of this expanding truth that you never become stale as you study God’s Word, saying, “Well, I know this already,” so it becomes more and more brilliant because, what? I’m harkening intelligently, and I am coming unto God in a reverent attitude of making a precious relationship bond with Him. That’s what makes the Word then so livingly expanding. He actually makes a point of it.
Isaiah 55:8 My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
If I will go beyond my thoughts, if I will incline unto the Lord and His Word goes forth to me, I’m going to discover the expanding universe of His Word because it says there, “You know, you look out into the stars, into the heavens, and you see it goes on and on.” People who study the cosmos see, “Wow, it’s endless, it’s infinite.” And that’s what God says: “My thoughts are like that.”
As you study my Word, you might be looking up into the same Word again and again, but it comes like an expanding universe.
But those whose hearts are in harmony with truth and duty will search the Scriptures with a heart prepared to receive divine impressions. 1SM 20.1
Can you see the prerequisite element here? As we incline our ear, as we come to the Lord, what does it say? We come with hearts in harmony with truth and duty. It is to these people that the truth expands because they are always realising their shortfall of duty, and as they study it, they discover new dimensions. The Scriptures come to those who come to the Scriptures with a heart prepared to receive what sort of impressions?
Divine Impressions
“My thoughts are not your thoughts. Come to me, and I will show you things that you don’t know through my Word.”
The illuminated soul sees a spiritual unity, one grand golden thread running through the whole, but it requires patience, thought, and prayer to trace out the precious golden thread. Sharp contentions over the Bible have led to investigation and revealed the precious jewels of truth. Many tears have been shed, many prayers offered, that the Lord would open the understanding to His Word. 1SM 20.1
The illuminated soul—what is the illuminated soul? Who receives God’s Word like that. You know we are living today in a world of debate, and people take pleasure in debating. To win a debate is satisfying to their thoughts and to their soul. But God’s Word is not there for debate. While debate goes on, the genuine person will come and say, “Lord, what are the facts here? What is the reality?” Many tears have been shed because the sharp contentions over the Bible have led them to realise, “Well, where is the reality here? This debate is not leading me into any green twig,” as it were. “I need something here. Lord, please, the Bible must be true. Help me here.” This is precisely the path that I have had to walk because I have been through many debating concepts of biblical truths that have left me high and dry after the debate was over. So what? It did nothing for me. I wanted to find the truth behind the debate, and by God’s grace, the joy of expanding truth became a reality to me.
This prerequisite to the discovery of expanding truth is again expressed. The book of Revelation, is a book that was written by John on the island of Patmos. Many, many people get all confused in the book of Revelation.
On the Isle of Patmos, John saw the things which God desired him to give to the people. To every mind through whom the Holy Spirit works, these themes are presented fresh and new. TMK 340.2
She’s talking there about the themes through Revelation. “These themes to what? To the mind through whom the Holy Spirit works. “These themes are presented fresh and new, just in accordance with the mind and the spirit of the human agent.” Did you pick something up here? It depends on the mind and the spirit of the human agent. The themes of Revelation, the themes of the Bible depend upon the prerequisite of the mind of the human agent. Is the human agent concentrating his mind upon the themes of the Bible to discover the food for the soul? According to that, the Bible will expand; the truth will expand.
The Lord Jesus promised that the Spirit He would send would recall His words to the minds of those prepared to receive them. TMK 340.2
Did you pick that up? A mind that is prepared to receive the things that the Spirit wants us to have. If my mind is hungering and thirsting for truth, isn’t that what Jesus said? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” If my mind is hungering and thirsting, and I really lay this upon our hearts, if I am a slipshod person, if I just put it to rest, I’ll move on from one thing to the next to the next. I’m sorry, you’re going to miss out. Our mind must be of such a nature that I am concentrating with great hunger for the things that God is going to show me here. This is a prerequisite to the discovery of expanding truth.
he Lord promised that the Spirit would be sent to help us remember something in God’s Word that is connected with another part of God’s Word. As I’m reading, another part of God’s Word comes in and goes, “Oh, I’ve never seen that before.” I’ve just seen an expansion. We are dependent upon the Holy Spirit if we will receive His words.
Have you ever been in a situation where a thought came to you, and you were so busy you just let it pass? Many times the Holy Spirit comes to us, and we are so overwhelmed with the distracting influences around us. It comes in and slips out of my mind, and I have just lost an expansion because my mind is occupied in every other direction.
The Lord Jesus promised that the Spirit He would send would recall His words to the minds of those prepared to receive them. After His resurrection He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. Up to that time the disciples had not comprehended them, for the rubbish of rabbinical lore had hidden the truth from their view. TMK 340.2
The rubbish of rabbinical law, L-O-R-E, the rabbinical ideas and theories that prevented them from understanding what Jesus was trying to communicate with them. I have experienced precisely this, that what my mind has been conditioned over the years from ideas and opinions of teachers that I had been under, I discovered that I found nothing that was satisfying in them.
But here in the Scriptures, as they continued to expand before me, I actually realised that I was under a delusion before. There were some mistaken views that had been entrenched in my mind, and like the disciples, we are in exactly the same danger. The Holy Spirit is needed to help us understand what is actually involved in that Word.
What are the lessons to gain? What are the lessons to gain as we put ourselves in the correct setting of mind by the reading and study of God’s Word?
On the Isle of Patmos, John saw the things which God desired him to give to the people. Here, what God had given John and Patmos in Revelation, the whole book of Revelation, here is a theme worthy of our contemplation. Here are large and comprehensive lessons which all the angelic hosts are now seeking to communicate. 2SM 340.2
That thought just absolutely captivates me; it enthralls me. “The Book of Revelation is a book in which there is a theme worthy of contemplation.” You know, I’ve often felt this: people come together and they talk about everything else but that which is contained in that theme of contemplation. They’ve studied the laws, they’ve studied the prophecies, and yet we know that there is nothing more to contemplate. But what is this? Angels are seeking to communicate these lessons. Infinite wisdom, infinite love, infinite justice, infinite mercy—depths, heights, lengths, breadths—this is to be found in the prophecies, in the Book of Revelation. What are we to discover there? The infinity of God’s wisdom, of God’s love—it’s there in the Book of Revelation, as well as in the other prophecies—infinite justice, infinite mercy. There are depths, heights, lengths, and breadths. It’s a four-dimensional discovery. What a field of contemplation!
Numberless pens have been employed to represent the life and character and mediatorial work of Christ, and yet to every mind through whom the Holy Spirit works these themes are presented fresh and new. TMK 340.2
The themes are the wisdom of God, the love of God, the justice of God, the amazing discovery of God’s character are contained in those prophecies. To just study them for events is not going to do the job. We must come with that reverence.
The truth, if received… TMK 340.3
If we’ve done it, come to it in the right attitude as I laid out in the beginning.
If received is capable of constant expansion and new developments. It will increase in brightness as we behold it and grow in height and depth as we aspire to grasp it. Thus it will elevate us. TMK 340.2
What will it do? It will elevate us.
Thus it will elevate us to the standard of perfection and give us faith and trust in God as our strength for the work before us. TMK 340.2
Can you understand why so many Christians today, including Seventh-day Adventist ministers, say it is impossible for you to become perfect? Well, of course, you can’t get perfect if you’re just reading the Bible from intellectual academic approaches. But if we read it the way that we have just been talking about, highlighting here, it is when we do this and let the truth expand in our appreciations, in our mind activities, then, and then only, can we be uplifted to the standard of perfection. That’s how it will happen. We can become perfect as we concentrate on the lessons that are portrayed in these prophecies.
I’m preparing a Sabbath school lesson on Daniel chapter 11. This is so warming to me because I know exactly that that’s what Daniel 11 is about—to discover this great expansion of God’s wisdom and love in dealing with the human race. We will look into that in our next quarter’s lesson.
Thus it will elevate us to the standard of perfection, and give us faith and trust in God as our strength for the work before us. We need the truth as it is in Jesus… As His representatives and witnesses, we need to come to a full understanding of the saving truth which we must know by an experimental knowledge. TMK 340.3
What must we do with the Word? We must experiment with it. As we experiment with the truth, we will make an experimental knowledge which will throw us into the vast infinite expanses of God’s Word.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. TMK 340.4
That statement needs to be understood in its expanding reality. This is the great—what is it?
This is the great practical truth which must be stamped upon the soul. It is of the greatest importance that all should comprehend the greatness and power of the truth to those who receive it. “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).38 TMK 340.4
That statement just absolutely enthralls me. All the fullness of the Godhead bodily was where? In Christ. In him who takes the Word like that, we are to receive the divine nature. We are to receive in our body the fullness of the Godhead. This can only be done if we will let the Bible truth expand in our life. It will elevate us to the standard of perfection. What is available to us?
Titus 2:7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, 8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
As I was reading that, I thought, “Whoa, have there been some evil things that have been said justly about me?” Hmm. Then the Lord came in with aspects of His Word that said that if you do what I say in this circumstance, then ultimately these people will have no more to say against you, eventually. I thought, “Yes.” To pay close attention to the doctrine, as it is in Jesus, “In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity.” Gravity? You stick to it; don’t let it go. The doctrine with gravity, sincerity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned.
We see faults in one another, but when we take hold of the Word and let it expand in our life, we will remain consistent. We will remain in the Scriptures, “for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me”. Search the Scriptures to find this beautiful relationship with Jesus. You will find it in the prophecies, you will find it in the law, you will find it in the sanctuary prophecies, you will find it everywhere; you will find Jesus. If we do this, if we will do this kind of research with this attitude, with the prerequisites in place, studying carefully, looking at all those things, what is the inadvertent consequence of doing that? We’ve already been identifying that in the perfection to be gained. Remember, in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
If Christ is abiding in our hearts by faith, we shall, by beholding the manner of His life, seek to be like Jesus, pure, peaceable, and undefiled. We shall reveal Christ in our character. We will not only receive and absorb light but will also diffuse it. We will have more clear and distinct views of what Jesus is to us. The symmetry, loveliness, and benevolence that were in the life of Jesus Christ will be shining forth in our lives.—Manuscript 24, 1890. 2SM 22.4
That’s what will happen. Perfection will come through because we are studying Christ, this character, and we will not only receive and absorb the light; we will not only stand in amazement at the light, the marvellous light of God’s beautiful truths, but what will happen is we will diffuse it. We will become agents by whom the light will shine upon others. But you can’t shine the light upon others when you’re not absorbing that expanding light.
We will have more clear and distinct views of what Jesus is to us. 2SM 22.4
Because it’s an expanding reality. Distinct views of what Jesus really is to me. We saw dimensions in our Sabbath lesson, and it gets more and more bright.
The symmetry, loveliness, and benevolence that were in the life of Jesus Christ will be shining forth in our lives.—Manuscript 24, 1890. 2SM 22.4
Remember, in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Manuscript 24, 1890. 2SM 22.4
Let not anyone be afraid of going to extremes while he is a close student of the Word, humbling the soul at every step. 2SM 22.2
No extremism then, because we are just basking in the amazing light of heaven. Very humiliating that way.
Christ must dwell in him by faith. He, their Exemplar, was self-possessed. He walked in humility. He had true dignity. He had patience. If we individually possess these traits of character, who accept justification by faith, there will be no extremists…. 2SM 22.2
We will be like Jesus—perfectly in control.
He never erred in His judgment of men or of truth. He was never deceived by appearances. He never raised a question that was not clearly appropriate, never gave an answer that was not right to the point. He silenced the voice of the caviling priests by penetrating beneath the surface and reaching the heart, flashing light into the mind and awakening the conscience. GW 317.2
…which annoyed them. They didn’t like it, but that’s what the light does, but they would not yield to conviction.
Christ never went to extremes, never lost self-control or the balance of mind under any excitement. He never violated the law of good taste and discernment when to speak and when to keep silent. Then if all who claim to see the precious golden rays of the light of the Sun of Righteousness will follow the example of Christ there will be no extremists…. TMK 178.3
We have a wonderful balancing message if we will receive the truth and let it expand as we have been brought to it here this day. We will fulfill the prerequisite: the diligent listening, the reverence to the One who is the author of this truth, that we will have a mind that is receptive to the working of the Holy Spirit and is hungering and thirsting for truth. If so, we do, and we come to any subject of the Bible, we will discover lessons, and we will discover angels helping us to understand these lessons. Jesus will become livingly experienced within me, and the fullness of the Godhead will be manifest, and there will be no extremism.
May God help us to apply ourselves in these last moments of Earth’s history to this because we will need it. We cannot stand as true Christians without this. Bless the Lord for His wonderful truth and light, and let us receive it with all our hearts, is my prayer.
Amen.
