Hearing and seeing in the Spirit

Dr.  Ronald K. Powell

Introduction:

When you buy a new gadget, it comes with an owner’s manual that tells you how to build or operate it.

Many of us skim the manual quickly, or never bother to read it at all. That’s too long, slow, or dull: tiresome or monotonous.

Besides, we think that we’re smart enough to figure this all out without reading the directions. But then when we can’t figure it out we return and read the manual!

But, as we do with so many owner’s manuals, we read God’s Word superficially or hardly at all and then wonder why the Christian life isn’t working the way it’s supposed to!

We need to go back and read the manual carefully, asking God to give us His wisdom and understanding.

Our Text:

Ephesians 1:15-23Living Bible (TLB)

¹⁵ That is why, ever since I heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and of the love you have for Christians everywhere, ^16-17 I have never stopped thanking God for you.

I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you wisdom to see clearly and really understand who Christ is and all that he has done for you.

¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can see something of the future he has called you to share.

I want you to realize that God has been made rich because we who are Christ’s have been given to him!

¹⁹ I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his power is to help those who believe him.

 It is that same mighty power ²⁰ that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in heaven, ²¹ far, far above any other king or ruler or dictator or leader.

 Yes, his honor is far more glorious than that of anyone else either in this world or in the world to come. ²² And God has put all things under his feet and made him the supreme Head of the Church— ²³ which is his body, filled with himself, the Author and Giver of everything everywhere.

• God invites us to the mountain tops,

Isaiah 2:1-3

1The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. 3And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

• God invites us to the throne room to sit in heavenly places with Him.

In Ephesians 1:3-6 Paul writes “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

•  God Reminds us of things we have been taught,

John 14:26

²⁶ But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

• God wishes to teach us things we do not know.

  Jeremiah 33:3King James Version (KJV)

  ³ Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

^{John 2: 27} But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Problems:

Man thinks like Man – Interprets like a Man

Matthew 16:22-23

Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” 23But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Paul describes unbelievers as (Eph. 4:18), “being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.”

In other words, sin blinds the minds of unbelievers and renders them incapable of understanding the truth of the gospel, unless God opens their blind eyes (2 Cor. 4:4, 6).

Answers:

Think on things above

Colossians 3:1-3King James Version (KJV)

3 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

² Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

³ For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Eyes of understanding opened

Ephesians 1:18King James Version (KJV)

¹⁸ The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Proverbs 2:1-5 ESV /

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

John 8:47 ESV /

Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

John 10:27-28 ESV /

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Mark 4:24 ESV /

And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.

Psalm 25:4-5 ESV /

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.

Psalm 37:4-5 ESV /

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

Revelation 3:20 ESV /

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Romans 10:17 ESV /

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Hebrews 4:7 ESV /

Again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Philippians 4:6 ESV /

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Job 33:14-15 ESV /

For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds,

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV /

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Closing:

Even though God has opened our eyes to see and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we still must seek Him to enlighten the eyes of our hearts so that we will come to a deeper understanding of these crucial truths. “The eyes of our hearts” refers to our total inner person, which includes the intellect, the emotions, and the will. In other words, this is not just an intellectual ability to understand or teach these truths.