Three weeks ago, we came to the first verses of Acts 13, and I told Andrea that I wished I would have preached this message two weeks ago, because it's really part two. But it's all right, part two, three weeks later, it should still be all right. Acts 13, verses one to three says, now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers. Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manin, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So we asked, three weeks ago, the question, why don't we have any prophets here at Living Word? and we saw that the key to answering that question, and we need to be able to answer that question. It's important that we answer it, not just so that we can win an argument or feel smug in our doing things right, but rather so that we can see the beauty of why we don't have profits. There's a goodness to that. There's a wonder to that. So first, we must understand the unbreakable connection between prophets and divine revelation. Thus saith the Lord, prophets and divine revelation. Having understood that, the second thing we need to understand is that prophetic divine revelation was always bound up with, you cannot separate prophetic divine revelation from the covenant. So we remember covenant enforcement mediators. The prophets enforced the covenant as God's covenant mediators. And they enforced it with the people who were worshiping Baals and idols and had all sorts of troubles. We also know that it was connected with the covenantal unfolding of redemptive history. So the prophets, not only would they enforce the covenant, warning of judgment for disobedience and blessing for obedience, but they also foretold the culmination of redemptive history in a coming Messiah. explaining and unpacking then the fulfillment of that history in the end. Remember that even the revelations or the prophecies in scripture that seem to come to individuals and their specific life situations and specific well, specific individuals, that has to be understood in connection with and in relationship with the unfolding of redemptive history. So, with that, and that was all a big message and I just tried to cram it into really quick so I could make this part two. Why don't we have prophets at Living Word? Why don't we? And the answer is twofold. First, because redemptive history has already reached its culmination. It's already reached its goal, its telos in Christ. He is the final eschatological prophet in the fullness of time. So therefore, We don't need prophets anymore as God's tools or agents in the unfolding of that redemptive historical plan. What were prophets for? When we understand what prophets were for, and then we understand that what they were for no longer exists, that means the prophets go away as well, because history has reached its telos in Christ. Here then we see that the cessation of prophecy doesn't mean we have less of God's revelation, that we're kind of not as well off as all of them were back when, but rather we have the fulfillment of God's revelation in Christ. and in the apostolic deposit in our Bibles. That's not all. There's another reason we don't have prophets at Living Word, because in the second place, we are all prophets. We're all of us prophets insofar as we all have the Spirit. So Revelation has reached its culmination in Christ, the redemptive historical climax, and we are all now prophets because we all have the Spirit, Word and Spirit. Therefore, there's no longer any need for prophets as covenant enforcement mediators. We don't need a prophet to stand up among us and say, hey, all of you, half of you in here who are still worshiping Baal, beware, God's going to pour out the covenant curses on you. We don't need that anymore because we all have the Spirit. And so we're all, in that sense, prophets. God has written his law in our hearts. He's put his words in our mouths. He's enabled us to walk in the way of righteousness. So, the fact that the cessation of prophecy has come about does not mean an inferior experience of the Spirit's power. A lot of people feel that, well, if we're not having the Spirit now and we don't have prophecies now, of all times we should have it now because we live in the age of the Spirit. Well, in fact, we do. And the Spirit has now put the word of Christ on all of our lips, in all of our hearts. We have a greater experience of the Spirit than they ever did when they had prophets, right? This is the good news. So the cessation of prophecy points to the fullness of the Spirit's presence with us today as he applies to all our hearts and places in all our mouths the word of Christ. Now, that's a really fast sweep through what we talked about three weeks ago. There are many Christians who believe that prophecy has ceased, but who have never really understood or been taught why it is so good, so wonderful. that this is true, biblically and theologically, not just with patrite answers, but with theological answers that feed the soul, right? The result of this fact that many believe it ceased, but they don't necessarily know why they believe it ceased or why that's so good and so beautiful, the result of this is that many of these same Christians who believe that prophecy has ceased continue to claim new revelations of the Spirit. You say, well, how can you believe prophecy has ceased and still be claiming new revelations of the Spirit? Well, practically speaking, that's what is happening. So I want to ask, what are we to make of language like this? And this is language, and we want to be sensitive here. And maybe many of us will have to take a step back and ask ourselves questions. And be patient. Let this process. What do we make to make of language like, I felt the spirit leading me to do this or to do that? Sometimes it's just language we might use, but we don't think about it. What about, I felt God guiding me to make this decision, or that decision. I sensed the Spirit's clear direction to go here, or to go there. My question to you is, what does that language mean? What does it mean? It's one thing to use it, It's another thing to know what it means. More importantly, is it supported by any biblical example? Do we hear anyone in scripture saying, I sensed the Lord leading me to do this, or I felt God directing me to go here? Do we hear anyone in scripture using that language, or is it supported by any theological principle? Luke writes in verse two of Acts 13, and while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So my question to you is what does it mean when it says the Holy Spirit said? How did he say? Most commentators hold that the Holy Spirit spoke through one of the prophets with an inspired, prophetic utterance. So, do you agree? Does the Holy Spirit said, does that mean an inspired, God-breathed, authoritative, prophetic utterance? Well, how would you decide? Notice, first of all, what it is the Holy Spirit says. Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them." Now maybe that's just their summary of a feeling they had? I think that's what the Holy Spirit is saying? Or did the Holy Spirit actually prophetically say that through a prophet and inspired prophetic utterance? It's all in the first person, notice. Set apart for me, for the work to which I have called them. It's also an imperative in the Greek. It's in the imperative mood. It demands obedience. You could translate, you shall set apart for me. Now we could say maybe they were, we've sensed that the Spirit is directing us and so it's a command, you shall set apart for me. Or did the Spirit say that through a prophetic utterance? Not only is the verb in the imperative, there's actually a Greek particle that's not translated in our translations, but it would have this sense of, come now, set apart for me. It indicates the need for immediate action in your handout. So this has all, all of the hallmarks of an inspired, God-breathed, prophetic utterance. Thus says the Lord. And we know, we know how we are obligated then to respond to when God speaks. This makes sense too in that Barnabas and Saul are being set apart for a work unprecedented in redemptive history. So we're not surprised to hear a prophet speaking at this point because they're being called to do something that's never happened before in all of redemptive history. They're being set apart to bring about the fulfillment of the expansion of the church to the Gentile end of the earth. When we read that the Holy Spirit said we should immediately assume a verbal revelation given by the Spirit to one of the prophets. How that verbal revelation was given, I don't know how, whether it was a vision or an internal, actually word, not like a feeling that we have, not a sensing that we have, that's a mystery. I've never been a prophet, I've never received divine revelations, neither have you, so how that worked, I'm not quite sure. But the prophet received this revelation. He then prophesied to the rest of the New Covenant community. But there are a few commentators who miss what I would suggest is the obvious because of our modern day Christian assumptions. And I want to read to you what they say because we're going to use this language throughout the sermon. So one commentator says, particularly unspecified is exactly how the Spirit initiated this mission. There was some type of clear indication, I like that, clear indication, right? So we're talking about something less than prophetic here, because it's an indication. But it was clear. It was a clear indication. that this was to be done among the group. And then he says, often God directs in ways that are spiritual and mysterious. Now that's not saying much right now, but yet in a sense, if we're not careful, we read it and we say, oh, that sounds good, that sounds spiritual, it sounds biblical. In this case, the community, and here's the key word, sensing God's clear direction. in some unspecified way, put its weight behind an outreach far beyond its own walls. Another commentator speculates, using other language, when Luke writes that the Holy Spirit said, he may mean that the Spirit spoke publicly through one or more of the prophets in the church. I would suggest that he does, in fact, obviously mean that. In fact, most commentators say that. However, it is also possible that a conviction about God's will in the situation was given to each one present. This is no longer prophetic. It's just a conviction that everyone had and came to. And so, as a result of that conviction, it could be said, Yet another commentator says this, Now, inviting us to really think this through, think this through. It could have been inward rather than outward, that is, through the Spirit's witness in their hearts and minds. Now, a quick question. Does the Bible justify the language of the Spirit's witness in our hearts and minds in that kind of a context? The Bible uses that language. Yes, it does. But in what context does it use it? So, in your handouts, I've called this Tord, because we're barely going to scratch the surface, a biblically robust, because that was the perfect word, theology of revelation. Brothers and sisters, I want us to glory in the reality and the miracle of revelation in our modern church context. this language of the Spirit's witness in their hearts and minds, or a felt conviction about God's will in the situation, or sensing God's clear direction, that sounds good. In fact, I can almost have this sense that I might be in trouble after this sermon because I might be preaching something heretical. It sounds so good and even spiritual, but while Again, all of this is no doubt well-intentioned and I love each of those commentators and use them regularly. Is it actually good or spiritual after all? We have to step back a moment and ask, where did this come from and what are we meaning? What are we saying? Let's pretend for a moment, just pretend. that in Acts 13, this option was not already ruled out by the immediate context. Let's say that, well, maybe the Holy Spirit did say it like that, like sensing something, an inward conviction. The first question we need to ask is this, would this sensing of God's clear direction, and I'm asking you to answer this, would it carry the same weight of divine authority as a prophetic revelation. Are you thinking that through? Of course, here in Acts 13, Luke is clear that it would carry the same weight of authority. What we have in Acts 13 is not just a prompting, it is a command. Therefore, this sensing of God's clear direction must be equally as clear and equally as binding on the conscience as any prophetic utterance that begins, thus saith the Lord. It must be equally. But this means that this sensing of God's clear direction must be the functional equivalent of prophetic revelation. So what I'm saying now is that there's prophetic revelation and there's something else that's the same as prophetic revelation. Because it's just as clear and it's just as binding on my conscience and it's just as authoritative. Let me just say this, if something is the functional equivalent of prophetic revelation, with the same authority to bind the conscience and demand obedience, then it It is, by definition, prophetic revelation. Now, we've already said that we don't want to claim to be prophets here. No one uses that language as, well, many who use that language are not claiming to be prophets. But now we're seeing that, well, If it carries the same weight of authority and it's just as clear as prophetic revelation, then it is prophetic revelation. So what's the other option? We say, well, no, I'm not saying it's prophetic revelation. The only other option is to suppose that there are higher and lower levels in your handout of revelation. with the higher level of revelation, the prophetic and God-breathed revelation, binding the conscience of those to whom it comes, while that lower level of revelation, which is sensing God's clear direction. See, we want it to be clear, but we're only sensing it. We want it to be direct and obvious, but we're only feeling it. And so that revelation is not equally as clear, though it's still very clear. And that revelation is not equally as binding on my conscience, though it is still very binding. So we would say that the higher level of revelation has passed away, but this lower level, it's here still, and it's here to stay. The question is, now I'm asking us to have a biblically robust theology of revelation. And what we do by looking at this so-called higher and lower levels of revelation is we realize maybe our theology of revelation isn't so robust as it should be, as it could be, giving us enough awe and wonder at the miracle of revelation, at what it really is. Because nowhere in the Bible does it distinguish between higher and lower levels of revelation, with some forms being more or less binding upon our conscience, and some forms being more or less clear, or with some forms of revelation tied to the covenant and redemptive history. That's the really important revelation. And then other forms of revelation unrelated to the covenant. and unrelated to redemptive history, but simply bearing on my individual life situations, needs, and concerns. Now some might say that, wait a minute, you're forcing me into two categories and I don't fit in either one of those categories, right? I'm not saying that this is a higher level of revelation or a lower level of revelation. I wouldn't say it's revelation at all. It's just sensing clear direction. But if God's clear direction and the witness of the Spirit in my heart, which produces a conviction of God's will in a situation, if that is not revelatory, brothers and sisters, then language has lost its meaning. When I have the clear direction of the witness of the spirit in my heart producing a conviction of God's will in a situation that is revelatory. Finally then we need to ask what we mean by the word sensing. Now I'm gonna come, our next section is toward a biblically robust theology of the spirit. We ought not to deny the powerful working of the Spirit, but we must understand biblically what that work is so that we can rejoice in it fully. But let's step back again. What do we mean by sensing? Now, in the Bible, you never find that word. No one ever sensed anything when God was speaking. You didn't have to sense it. It wasn't like that. In the Bible, God clearly directed, and how did he do it? through revelatory medium, the revelatory medium of visions, and dreams, and theophanies, and angelic messengers, and ecstatic, we call it ecstatic spirit-inspired utterances. But now the same commentator who speaks of sensing God's clear direction, whatever sensing means, also says that often God directs in unspecified ways that are spiritual and mysterious. What are those unspecified spiritual and mysterious ways by which God by which God clearly directs and reveals his will to us. Where do we find them in the Bible? This is what I like to ask people. Well, where is that in scripture? Let's look at some other case studies and acts for our biblically robust theology of revelation. We read in Acts chapter eight, an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip. saying, rise up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he rose up and went. And behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the spirit said to Philip, go over, that's imperative mood, it's a command, and join, that's another imperative, this chariot. The context indicates that this isn't just a strong spiritual impression. I feel like, I'm feeling like God wants me to go there. No. This wasn't just a prompting resulting in a conviction about God's will. Instead, it's a special, unmistakable, verbal communication of the Holy Spirit. A communication of words in some unspecified way. Then the Holy Spirit said to Philip, when it says that God said, it's not a sensing. That's revelation. And we must not take revelation and use the word sensing for it. When God says, it's clear. It is therefore binding on the conscience, authoritative. We read in Acts chapter 10, while Peter was reflecting on the vision of the animals let down in the sheet and the command to kill and eat, the spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you, but rise up and go down another imperative, and accompany them." Imperative. Why? Because whenever God says something, it's an imperative, right? "...without taking issue at all, for I have sent them myself." Again, obviously not just a strong spiritual impression or sensing of God's clear direction, it's a special unmistakable verbal communication of the Holy Spirit. Even revealing to Peter there were three men looking for him. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit, it says, said to him. Acts chapter 20, 21. As we were staying in Caesarea for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, this is what the Holy Spirit says. That's the Greek translation of the Hebrew. Thus says the Lord. In this way, the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. We see the point there. Acts chapter 16 then, we must understand this verse in light of the ones we've just read. Acts 16 says, and they, Paul and Silas and Timothy, passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. Was that a feeling they had? Was it a sense they had? And after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. So once again, this forbidding, this not permitting, must be more than just a sensing of God's clear direction. You say, what is revelation? When God speaks, he speaks clearly, authoritatively, we could say prophetically. Just as the call to Macedonia came through the revelatory medium of night vision, so the forbidding and not permitting came through some revelatory medium which left no doubt about the obedience that was required. for Paul and Silas and Timothy. to go into Asia at this point would have been disobedience, because God had commanded them not to. Acts 20, and now behold, bound by the Spirit, I'm on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying, now what do you think it means by that? If you were just reading this on your own, we might, because of our modern day Christian lenses, We might think, the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city saying the chains and afflictions await me. That might have been just kind of Paul having this feeling that the Holy Spirit was giving him that chains and afflictions were coming. But notice what he says, the Spirit solemnly testifies to me where? In every city. Does that mean the Spirit's not testifying to him in the countryside? Or as he travels between cities, the Spirit stops testifying? No, the point is that in every city, there were prophets, like Agabus, who were solemnly proclaiming to Paul by revelation of the Spirit what lay in the future for him. So once again, it's important to remember, the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying, You say, okay, I get the point. Well, that raises the question. The more we see that every time the Spirit speaks, he speaks clearly, prophetically, in what other ways does the Spirit speak, revealing which city we should go to, to evangelize? or what we're supposed to do in this life situation. In all of these examples that we just looked at, the revelation that's given is connected with the covenantal unfolding of redemptive history. And no revelation we could ever be given could be connected with that unfolding of redemptive history because it's already reached its culmination in Christ and the apostolic deposit. When we say that we want God to reveal his will to us, we mean good by that. I think, well, not always. There's always sin lurking. But often, we're sincere in that. We mean good. We want God to reveal his will to us. But the reality is that when we say that, what we're either asking for is prophetic revelation which is authoritative and binding on the conscience. But we know that prophetic revelation has ceased and it was never ever directed to individualistic life situations. That's not what prophetic revelation was for. Or else we are asking for a secondary level of non-prophetic revelation. But there's no example of that anywhere in scripture. Indeed, when we suggest a secondary or lower level of non-prophetic revelation, sensing God's clear direction, having the witness of the Spirit in my mind and heart so that I have a conviction about God's will in this situation, then I'm confronted with two questions. One of them is about clarity. Well, how clear is this internal sense, conviction, and witness? And if it's not perfectly and explicitly clear, then is God being vague and ambiguous? Is God being vague? Or is he being vague just to test how spiritually attuned I am? How spiritually sensitive I am? And this is where we can actually end up with a form of, as it were, spiritual elitism, where those who are most in tuned with the spirit can sense his leading, and it's more clear to them than maybe to those who are not as attuned. And then the next question is, not only do we need to ask about clarity, how clear is this sense, conviction, and witness, but about authority. How binding on my conscience is this sense, conviction, and witness? That's an interesting question, because in many cases, what we want is not a command, we just want a sign that, yes, go ahead. Yes, do this, and I will bless it. We're not necessarily looking for, you shall buy that house, and if you don't, you've disobeyed my revealed will. The question then is, what is the authority of these revelations of God's will, of this sense, conviction, and witness? How binding on my conscience is that? This is where many get tied up in knots. Therefore, we need to understand, or let me just say this, the reality is that in the Bible, whenever God speaks, this is our biblically robust theology of revelation, whenever God speaks, he is always explicitly clear. That's good news. God is never, he has never spoken and been ambiguous. He has never required anything from us and been hard to read. And so also, whenever God speaks, what he says is always authoritative. Here we are standing before Revelation, binding on our conscience. His word is never a mere prompting. You will never have to worry about, I think God is speaking. I think it, I feel it's just prompting. And when he speaks, it's binding. It's not prompting. It's binding. Therefore, whenever God speaks, revelation, biblically robust theology of revelation, whenever God speaks, that's the word for revelation, we must always assume prophetic revelation. We must not, in your handout, downgrade. This is the opposite of robust, right? We must not downgrade revelation by blurring the line between that which is revelatory and that which is not. Or by positing different levels of revelation. Neither should we describe something that is revelation and then refuse to call it revelation. All of this inevitably leads us to subjectivism. and a practical diminishing of the true authority and sufficiency of Scripture. So a lot of times when we, almost always, when we speak of sensing the Spirit's clear direction, what we end up practically doing, though not on paper, is diminishing the full sufficiency of God's revelation deposited in Scripture. In fact, it even opens the door to the neo-orthodox view of scripture, which is this. It says the scriptures are not objectively the word of God. They become the word of God as I encounter God in them. And many of us have practically that kind of approach, where even when I approach the Bible, I'm approaching it so that in and through my reading of the Bible, I can get these extra biblical revelations from God. Let us rejoice, brothers and sisters, that God has indeed spoken. He's spoken clearly and authoritatively in the prophets in many portions and in many ways. And that he has in these last days spoken clearly and authoritatively to us in his Son. who has now been explained by the New Testament apostles and prophets. God has spoken and we rejoice in that. If what we need then on the one hand is a biblically robust theology of revelation, now hopefully we're gonna answer your other questions, but wait a minute, have you just denied the Spirit and the Spirit's working? Is this actually heresy, right? What we also need then is a biblically robust theology of the Spirit. And this is just toward that. We're only going to talk about one aspect. So how is it that we are led by the Spirit? How are we led by the Spirit? We've already seen, three weeks ago and in our quick review this morning, that the Spirit, what is the work of the Spirit? The Spirit writes God's law on your heart. Is that not a miracle? That He enables you then, through that writing of the law on your heart, rather than on external tablets of stone, He writes it on your heart. He enables you to walk in true repentance. faith in him and obedience to that law that he's written on your heart. So when our ears, to use the language of the prophet Jeremiah of Isaiah, when our ears hear a word behind us saying, this is the way, walk in it, that is not a sensing of God's will concerning specific life choices I must make, is it? When our ears, when my ear, when my ears hear that word behind me saying, Timothy, this is the way, walk in it, what is that way? It's the way, it's the already revealed way. It's not a way that's being newly revealed to me. It's the way that's already been written and transcribed on my heart. That's the way, it's the way he's written on my heart. The already revealed way of righteousness, and how do we know this? Because the very next verse, your ears will hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. The next verse says this, and you will defile your graven images, overlaid with your silver and your molten images, plated with your gold. You will scatter them as impure thing and say to them, be gone. That wasn't anything new. But now that law had been written on their hearts. And it said, this is the way. This is the way. No more idols. No more graven images. You shall worship only the Lord your God. That's the way. Walk in it. When Paul speaks in Romans of being led by the Spirit, This is the language we like to use, right? But how does Paul use the language? He says, specifically, he's speaking of the Spirit's power and enabling to put to death the practices of the flesh and the body. And maybe we think, well, I don't know, I'm kind of beyond that. I don't have so many practices. I've already put those to death. Now I need some higher leading of the Spirit, right? I've reached a level of sanctification that now I need the Spirit to tell me something else. Like, what I should do in this situation now, because I'm really confused. Instead of seeing our true sinfulness, of seeing the wisdom that we need, that only the Spirit can give, to live out the way of righteousness already clearly revealed. Romans chapter 8 verses 12 to 14 says, So then, brothers, we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit, what are you doing? You are putting to death the practices of the body, and we know what they are. The Bible outlines it clearly. We know what the will of God is that we don't do, and that we do. And if you're doing that by the Spirit, you will live. For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, oh, there's that language, and what does it mean? Led by the Spirit of God in what way? in the already, fully, clearly revealed way of righteousness. This is the beauty of the Christian faith. We have it clearly revealed and then that's given us the Spirit so that we might walk in what has been clearly revealed. And we cannot do that apart from the Spirit. We cannot. This isn't just a matter of external conformity. It's a matter of the Spirit's powerful work in our hearts. These are the sons of God. Similarly we read in Galatians chapter 5. But I say walk by the Spirit and what will you do? It doesn't say you will know God's will for all the decisions you should make in your life. It says you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Now that might eliminate certain decisions you want to make. But it's not going to tell you which one of how many options is God's perfect will, the center of God's will for your life, right? And the goal here is to set us free, but also to set us free from our sin, our selfishness, our pride. We'll see that in a minute. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another so that you do not do the things that you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, there's that language, led by the Spirit, in what way? In the new covenant way of righteousness. You are not under the law. Now, the deeds of the flesh, which is opposite the spirit, are evident. And we already know what they are, and God's told us what they are. Sexual immorality, which goes, of course, to the heart, not just outward deeds. Impurity, sensuality, idolatry, which goes to the heart. Sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy. I mean, how often are we jealous with not even knowing about it? We're not beyond this, are we? Are we beyond needing the spirit's work in these ways? Do we need higher forms of revelation? Outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit, and of those who are being led by the Spirit, is this, love. joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in step with the Spirit. And we take that language as if I'm walking in step with the Spirit, then I'm knowing to use the generic language that we often use, then I'm knowing which house I should buy of the three apparently equal options. And I'm knowing if this woman or this man I was gonna marry is really the center of what God, I wanna find that out ahead of time before I marry them, right? So that I'll know I did it right. And we worry about this, but this is unbiblical. and it distracts us from the Spirit's true work. Now, of course, as the Spirit leads us, it's gonna eliminate some options for marriage, right? And give us wisdom in walking, but it will never reveal to us God's will. We'll never have that. That's revelation. That's prophetic revelation. And there's not secondary or primary levels of revelation. So he says, if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in step with the Spirit. Let us not become those with vain glory, challenging one another, envying one another. And so we see again that the work of the Spirit in your life is not to reveal to you the previously unrevealed will of God for your life. It is rather to lead you in and to powerfully enable you to walk in the already fully clearly revealed way of righteousness, the law that is written on our hearts. The Spirit does this, how? By imparting to us a spiritual wisdom. The wisdom that is able, brothers and sisters, we need this wisdom to discern between righteousness and wickedness. Between humility and pride. Now, we're saying I can discern it in someone else, but the Spirit's saying, you need the wisdom to discern between humility and pride in you. That's the wisdom that he gives. And if discerning between humility and pride helps me discern between buying the multi-million dollar house I can't afford and the small little hovel that I can't afford, right? Well then, yeah, he guided you in that. But it wasn't which house, it was you discern between humility and pride. That was the work of the Spirit, not which house. No, because that's revelation. That's extra-biblical revelation. Between generosity and greed, the Spirit gives me the wisdom to discern between generosity and greed in my heart, between bitterness and forgiveness, and to recognize even that it's there. Am I bitter? I didn't even know it. The Spirit gave me the wisdom to discern that, that I'm bitter. Or that maybe I'm not Quite bitter, but neither have I forgiven. Well, where are you in the middle? That's the wisdom we need. The wisdom between contentment and covetousness. Between love and selfishness. Between doubt and faith. Between a longing for the kingdom of God to come on earth and a longing only for my own personal temporal comforts. This is the wisdom the Spirit gives. In other words, wisdom in the Bible is not a revelatory wisdom. Which job? Which house? Which person to marry? Wisdom is not a revelatory wisdom by which we come to discern the secret will of God for my life. Now, I say wisdom in the Bible is not that. It is in places like in Daniel. But in fact, that was a revelatory wisdom as he received visions and dreams. Wisdom in the Bible for us is rather a moral wisdom by which we are enabled to walk experientially in the already clearly revealed way of righteousness. Why don't we see how clearly revealed the way of righteousness is? Because the sin blinds our eyes. What is the work of the Spirit? The work of the Spirit is to open our eyes to that clearly revealed way that we might, and then to enable us to walk faithfully in that way. This is freeing. It's also convicting. We see Romans Psalm chapter 111 says, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. And what is this wisdom? He parallels it in this parallel, it's the Hebrew poetry, good insight belongs to all those who do his commandments. It's in this light we read in James chapter one, which is often perhaps used in a way that's out of context, but let's look at what it says. If any of you lacks wisdom, and what is this wisdom? In the Bible, wisdom is moral wisdom. It's the wisdom that enables me to walk righteously and not wickedly, to walk forgiving others and not being bitter, to walk as someone content, and not covetous. To walk as someone who's humble and not proud, that is wisdom. And this is why the youngest person can be wiser than the oldest person. If you lack wisdom, which is the wisdom to recognize and walk in the way of righteousness, ask of God And now we're saying, well, do I lack wisdom? James Point isn't. Well, some of you are all covered. You don't need to ask God. No. When you know what wisdom is, you're going to be asking God for it all the time, because you're all going to say, I lack it. Ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. This reminds us of, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. But then he says, he must ask in faith, doubting nothing. And then he says some really tough things about the doubters. Look what he says about the doubters. They're like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That man ought not to expect he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Seriously, did you see that coming? I thought I was just doubting, and now I'm a double-minded man, unstable in all my ways. Do you know what it means when it says, let him not doubt? The point there is, don't waver, don't ask, and then not be sure you're going to get it, because the reality is, you're not sure if you really want it. That's what it's saying. So when you ask God for wisdom, don't go asking him when all the while you're not really sure you want it, because you want to keep walking in your simple-minded, foolish ways of wickedness. See, when you come to God and you ask, and you're not really sure you really want the wisdom he promises to give, don't expect, obviously, you're going to receive anything from God, not favor nor blessing, because you're like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. We've seen then that the language of being led by the Spirit. So when I wake up in the morning, and when you wake up in the morning, ask God for wisdom. And what is that wisdom? The wisdom to be humble and not proud, content and not covetous. Humble and not...all of this. We've seen the language of being led by the Spirit and walking in wisdom. is simply the language of living in obedience to God's already clearly revealed will. Now, we're prepared to see the same thing is true when Paul speaks of discerning or approving what the will of God is. When we hear discerning what the will of God is, we think discovering what his will is. Discovering what was previously unrevealed, we've now discovered it. Well, is God's will unrevealed? Brothers and sisters, I ask you, is God's will for your life unrevealed? No. It's 100% revealed. It's all revealed from first to last already for your life. No. There's his secret will. There's his decree for the foundation of the world that none of us are going to figure out. God says, I'm not going to tell any of you of that. That's his secret will. It all unfolds after it happens. You look back and you see. But all the will you need to know now is already revealed to you. Romans 12, one to two. Therefore I exhort you brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies, your whole life, as a sacrifice. living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world with its idolatrous, self-centered, human-exalting ways, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is my sanctification so that you may approve, the Greek word is very difficult to translate, it means in a sense, in essence, so that you might prove in your own experience, so that you might experientially live out and approve what the will of God is. He's not saying figure out the will of God. He's saying live it. know it, not simply as words on a page, know it as one who lives it, so that you might know what the will, approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. Ephesians 5 says, therefore do not be partakers with the Gentiles, for you were formerly darkness, now you are light, and the Lord walk as children of light. For the fruit of that light consists in this, all goodness and righteousness and truth. It's already been clearly revealed. Approving, there's that word again, proving in your own experience what is pleasing to the Lord, and do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness. That is God's will for you. But instead, even expose them, for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. Therefore, look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. There it is. redeeming the time because the days are evil, on account of this, do not be foolish." What is that? To be foolish is to walk in the way of wickedness, like the Gentiles do. Instead, understand what the will of the Lord is. Brothers and sisters, he's not saying to all you spiritually elite, figure it out. He's saying, understand by the experience gained in obedient living what the will of the Lord is. It's one thing to know it, it's another thing to understand it by living it faithfully in obedience. And what is the will of the Lord? It is that which he has clearly revealed through his apostles and prophets in the scriptures. As Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4, this is the will of the God for you, your sanctification. Brothers and sisters, there's no biblical precedent or theological principle anywhere in scripture which supports the language of sensing God's clear direction, having a conviction about the will of God in relation to my individual life situations, needs, and concerns. Does this mean I'm free to live how I want? Obviously not. We've just seen nothing could be further from the truth. So the Bible says in Deuteronomy 29, the secret things belong to Yahweh our God and he does not ask you to figure out what those secret things are. But the things revealed through his prophets belong to us. The good news is you don't need to focus on what's not been revealed to you. All you need to focus on is what has been revealed. Those belong to us and to our sons forever that we may do all the words of this law. The catechism asks and answers this series of questions and I love, this is so beautiful. So listen to the, it says, what is the duty which God requires of man? I ask you that. What is the duty which God requires of man? The answer, the duty which God requires of man is obedience to his revealed will. Yeah, there is a secret will, but he doesn't require obedience to that. He does not require obedience to any other kind of will but his revealed will. That's revelation. What did God at first reveal to man, then, for the rule of his obedience? The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience was the moral law. Not an additional positive law unique to every individual. There's not a law for every one of us that encompasses every part of our life. No. No, the moral law. And where is the moral law summarily comprehended? Where is it summarized? The moral law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments. Already spelled out in black and white and now written on our hearts. And last, what is the sum of the Ten Commandments? Does this encapsulate all of life? Does it impact every decision I make? Yes. Yes. The sum of the Ten Commandments is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. In short, God never requires that you discover any still unrevealed part of His will for your life. But only that you live out experientially the truth that, to quote Abraham Kuyper, there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, mine. Are we let off the hook? Certainly not. God never, although we don't want to call it a hook, do we? the Spirit has done a work in our hearts. God never requires that you discover any remaining unrevealed part of his will for your life, but only that you live out experientially by the power and by the wisdom that the Spirit gives and without which it's impossible to do this. The holy in your handout all-encompassing way of righteousness In this way, loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. The work of the Spirit, then, is not to provide us with prophetic words individually tailored to our life situations. The work of the Spirit is not to reveal to us the previously unrevealed will of God. The awesome, powerful work of the Spirit is this. In the language of the Confession, to bear witness by and with the Word in our hearts. So brothers and sisters, think about it like, think about these beautiful realities. It's as the Holy Spirit bears witness by and with the Word in my heart that I can have righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That's just not some subjective wishy-washy thing the Spirit is doing in me. No, he is doing it in me as he bears witness within me by and with the Word in my heart. It's as the Holy Spirit bears witness by and with the Word in my heart that He works in me, and I'm just saying me, you say me, I'm speaking for all of us, He works in me wisdom and faith, faith and encouragement, and that the love of God is poured out within my heart. This is a living reality. It's as the Holy Spirit bears witness by and with the Word. Don't untether the Spirit with the Word from the Word, the Word from the Spirit. That we are more and more sanctified in the Spirit, walking in the way that is written on our heart. Again, when Paul says in Romans 8, that the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit. Remember, that's the language that was used at the beginning. The Spirit was bearing witness in their hearts, giving them a conviction about what they should do in that situation, that it was this, they should send them out now. But that was taking it out of context. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. And this testimony that we have that says, I'm a child of God, Is that something purely subjective, like it's just this feeling I have? Well, it's not just that, but neither is it a special revelatory activity by which God has given me a prophetic utterance respecting my salvation. Like, I've had a special revelation that says I'm actually truly and for real a Christian. No. It's a combination of the subjective and the objective. It is the Spirit testifying with our spirit by and with the Word in our hearts. Do you want the work of the Spirit within you? Come to the Word. Do you want to understand the Word and have the Word do its work in you? Depend upon the Spirit. Why do we want to be able to sense God's clear direction for which house I should buy, which job I should get, which way I should turn on the way home from work? You could take it to anything, because God's will covers all sorts of things, the secret will. Why do we want the witness of the Spirit in our minds and hearts? Why do we want that untethered from the prophetic word? Why do we want the extra-biblical revelation? The secondary level of revelation? Why do we want that for our individual life situations? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Well, many sincere Christians have simply been taught this way. And they have a humble, sincere desire to make sure that they're pleasing God and doing what he wants and being obedient to him in every single decision they ever make. And they're afraid that they're gonna, and so this inevitably results in the struggle with paranoia and fear, lest they miss God's will and prove to be disobedient. You see, they get it. There's a lot of people who say, oh, you shouldn't be like that. But that goes back to why do I want God's special revelation? I don't want him telling me, I just want him assuring me it'll be all right. I just want the guarantee of success. These people understand that if God's got a will and he reveals it, if I miss it, I'm in trouble because I disobeyed. Because I was unfaithful. Which leads us to realize that There are times when we want God to reveal to us his secret will, just so I can be confident of his blessing and a good and successful outcome. If I'm sure I got it right, I can be pretty sure everything's going to turn out well. Maybe other times we want to believe in sensing God's clear direction because that seems to hold the promise of a fresh and authentic intimacy and connection with God. So we have this connection, this intimacy by which I'm in tune with God and I'm getting what his will is for all these different things. Yet others want to believe in sensing God's clear direction or claiming a conviction about God's will. Because then who can argue with you? You have a divine mandate with which no one else can argue. When we have a biblically robust theology of revelation and a biblically robust theology of the Holy Spirit, then we can lay aside all our fear and paranoia. Then we can lay aside all our misguided self-centeredness. and pride and joyfully set about the task that has been given to us of living out experientially the all-encompassing way of righteousness. That's everything. It impacts all the thoughts you never realize you're even thinking. It impacts everything in our life, the way of righteousness. as the Holy Spirit bears witness by and with the Word in our hearts. Let us rejoice then with trembling that God has spoken clearly, authoritatively, and that he never asks you or me to discover his will. He's already laid it out. All he requires, if we should use the word all, only, he only requires, that in every square inch of my life, I am daily proving what the already revealed will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, help us to rejoice, to know the miracle of you speaking, and that you have spoken clearly, that you have condescended to take your will for us and put it into writing. And then, not just that, but to write it on our hearts. Thank you that you have done this by the work of your Spirit. who now testifies to that word written on our hearts, leading us in the way of righteousness. Lord, I pray that we would all of us have more and more and more of that spiritual wisdom that the Spirit gives, hearing more and more and more of the word behind us saying, this is the way, the way that you've revealed clearly in your word, but that our sin would take us away from. Let us hear the word saying, this is the way, walk in it. Give us the wisdom to see, to recognize when we're not longing for your kingdom to come, but only for our own temporal comforts. Give us the wisdom to discern the difference between pride and humility in our hearts and minds. Give us the wisdom from above that can discern the difference between sin and righteousness, contentment and greed, love to you, love to our neighbor, selfishness. We confess to you, Lord, that in ourselves we do not have this wisdom. Lord, we pray for a work of grace in us by which we continue to walk in the way of repentance. confessing sin, and also longing after, striving after the way of righteousness. And we thank you, Lord, that as we do this, we can be assured of your true blessing on our lives. As we do this, whatever job we choose, whatever place we live, Whatever spouse we choose in obedience to your will, that is, it's already revealed in scripture, we can move ahead in faith without fear, without paranoia, knowing that you are faithful, that you will never leave us or forsake us, that you are good, sovereign, powerful, and wise, even in the things that don't turn out as we would have liked them to. We pray for your comforts in all of these things and that we will just be a people unto your glory. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.