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Saturday, February 25, 2012

"Deep Calls to Deep", part 2

2. “Deeper” hidden principles or truth in the Word of God lie beneath the surface understanding of the casual reader and require revelation by the Holy Spirit.

I Cor. 2:10 tells us that only the Holy Spirit can reveal “the deep things of God.”
I Tim. 3:9 speaks to deacons and ministers understanding “the deep truths of the faith.”

Jeremiah 33:3- “Call to me and I will show you unsearchable things you do not know.” This passage refers to going deeper into the scriptures to discover hidden truths and revelation given to the reader by the Holy Spirit. This Christian is a serious student of the Word, a more mature believer and is not satisfied with just a casual, surface understanding. There is a desire to gain deeper insight into what God is saying to us which only the Spirit of God can reveal. The reader moves from a surface level of natural understanding to a deeper level of spiritual or prophetic understanding into the ways of God. We move from feeding on the sincere milk of the Word to feasting on the meat God has to offer.

Jesus taught spiritual principles using parables which were stories expressed on a natural, surface level, but needed to be understood on a deeper, spiritual level. This way he could bring messages to a large crowd of people at the same time. People with hardened hearts heard the parables, but left without understanding the true meaning of what Jesus was saying. Some left feeling frustrated and confused by what they heard. Others left feeling angry and determined to put a stop to this imposter. At several of Jesus' large, public meetings some Jews heard the message on a shallow, intellectual level and rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah that the scriptures prophesied would come. They viewed him as a false prophet and a threat to their way of life.

At the same time and in the same place, the Holy Spirit gave enlightened understanding to people that were being drawn into the kingdom of God. The difference was God's chosen and elect had humble hearts and spirits. They were not running away from God, but running after Him. They were ripe to receive truth and desired to be transformed by it. Thousands of Jews and Gentiles alike, experienced revelatory truth all at once and became born again believers. They heard and received Christ's messages on a deeper, heart level, a Spirit-to-spirit level of communication. Multitudes through the centuries have received Christ as their Savior in just this way.

Since shallow is the opposite of deep let's look at many believers today who stop right there satisfied with thinking their eternal salvation has been secured. They believe and confess that they are sinners and that Christ died for their sins and now they believe on that basis alone they will go to heaven. Many modern-day, evangelical Christians hear the gospel message and make an intellectual decision to call Jesus Christ Savior, because that is the logical and safe decision to make in order to have some fire insurance. “Better safe, than sorry.” However, they never go on to experience the deeper life In Christ where they call Him-- Lord of all their attitudes, emotions and behaviors. They give mere lip service to the King, but their heart is far from Him. A shallow commitment means a shallow walk with the Lord. Unfortunately, one day when they get to heaven, if they do maintain their salvation and don't fall away, they will hear Jesus say, “I never knew you.” They never took the opportunity to develop a deeper, intimate relationship with the Son of God, therefore, they have no place in the kingdom.

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