Is Doubt of Supernatural Truth Your Friend?

He Has Given Us

(1 John 4:13, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 8, 2017)

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us,

because he has given us of his Spirit.

We know

The intimacy of our relationship with God—We in Him. He in us.

God has determined to be close to us—not just with a temporary experience, but that we would “abide” in Him and that He would live and remain in us.

Who is the LORD who has determined to have fellowship with human beings. He is God over all, the Creator and Sustainer of all worlds. He is in charge of all time and space. He has the future entirely in His hands. Even the Son of God has been revealed to us to be God over all, in the words of the creed, “God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God.” Paul refers to Jesus in Romans 9:5 as “the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” Jesus is referred to as “Lord,” and the Spirit is also identified as Lord, just as the Father is Lord. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

This amazing Lord is King over the present creation that is fading away, over the present realm of heaven, and over the eternal resurrection world to come, and He is pleased to be close to us as one God existing eternally in three persons. He allows us to live in Him and He lives in us.

The fact of our relationship with God—It can be known. We do know.

This may sound very speculative, but that conclusion would be a mistake—a category mismatch based on the wrong idea that what we have in Christianity is just like a scientific discovery of some “truth” in the natural world. It is not. Our faith-knowing is a gift of the Spirit. Therefore we can simply acknowledge from the Scriptures that this relationship between God and His people is a fact—a fact which can be known, and even more, a truth that should not be doubted.

You and I have already committed to a Scripture-based life. We understand that God's Word is absolute truth, and that our own inclinations in life, ethics, and doctrine must be subject to what God says in the Bible. Without that foundation, we eventually lose all sense of reliable truth.

If we reject the Scriptures as truth, we might decide on the alternative of living based on what might seem to be the more obvious facts of what experts have observed and thought about most carefully. One practical difficulty with that approach is that when we examine even a simple question—for instance, what we should eat if we have one or two medical conditions—those who have devoted their lives well to observation and reason in those areas of study will not all agree. Why else would we ever get a second opinion on anything from a new cardiologist or a diabetes specialist? Particularly if we look at the changes in opinions over several decades, we find that what we thought was settled might have been wrong. What then about what appears to be most settled today? What will we think about that in a mere twenty years?

In fact, when we encounter a researcher or writer who demands that the current majority opinion is so certain that disagreements cannot be tolerated, we begin to be oddly suspicious that this new objective consensus is more religious rather than it is scientific. Good science should welcome doubt, since it is dependent upon continually improving observation and reason. It should always be open to new data and new thoughts on the meaning of what we have observed.

As an example of this good approach, one of the world's foremost scientific organization with headquarters in London, England, The Royal Society, held a conference in November, 2016 entitled “New Trends in Evolutionary Biology.” Here is statement from the Society's summary of what took place among some very top scientists in that field from throughout the world: “Developments in evolutionary biology and adjacent fields have produced calls for revision of the standard theory of evolution, although the issues involved remain hotly contested.” This should not surprise us. What we should be alarmed about is any announcement in a scientific matter that insists that debate is closed. That sounds like religious dogma, as if the latest theory is supposed to be treated as Scripture for some reason. But why?

How do we know supernatural truth?

He has given us of His Spirit

You and I do believe that the Bible is God's Word. Scripture is dogma to us. The central truths of that book have been understood well long before we were born. As we face questions of faith and life, we do look to the Bible for our heaven-sent direction because we understand that the books of the Old and New Testaments present themselves to us as the Word of God. They are not in the same category as the excellent and noble efforts of researchers considering the virtue or detriment of a low-fat diet for someone who has both a heart condition and diabetes.

We know that we abide in the Lord and that He abides in us as a gift of the Holy Spirit. Reason and observation can only play a supportive role here. We know absolutely that God lives in us because God has given us His Spirit, and the Spirit says so in clear passages like 1 John 4:13.

Receiving and Living in the Gift of the Holy Spirit

God has given His worldwide church the gift of the Holy Spirit.

But how well do we say “Yes” to such a great gift? Though scriptural truth is 100% certain, that does not mean that we all always receive it for what it is—the Word of God. In this case, the Scriptural truth is that all who call upon the Name of the Lord (Joel 2:32, Acts 2, Romans 10) are saved and have received the gift that God promised Israel and that Jesus won for us through His death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. He said that He would give us the holy Spirit and He has (John 14-17 and Acts 2).

This greatest of all donations must be received and daily welcomed into our normal lives. We cannot love with the love of Christ without the Holy Spirit. But the church does have the gift of the Holy Spirit. Do not walk in doubt. Walk in faith. God's Word on this and all matters is true.

Old Testament Reading—Zephaniah 1:7-18 – The Day of the Lord – All the Earth

Gospel Reading—Matthew 5:27-30 – [27] You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ [28] But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. [29] If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. [30] And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.