THEME: THE HOLY GHOST AND THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT
LESSON: FIVE
TOPIC: How leading in their diversity leads to nature formation/Life/Character Formation
TEXT: Genesis 3:1-9; Deuteronomy 8:1-6; Psalm 25:4-10; Ephesians 2:1-5
MEMORY TRACK:
By God’s grace, we learnt in our last lesson that God is the author of nature and that the first person among the creatures to tamper with nature for his selfish use was Lucifer who became the devil. He first changed his own nature, then the nature of some angels lower than him, and finally man’s nature. He tampered with nature of other creatures by the law of hope and expectation.
Understanding Truth (Exodus 34:6; Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 43:3)
Truth is what captures the revelation of God to His creatures. Earthly creatures hold diverse expression of knowledges that was meant to reveal God unto man and through it, man will access the truth of God which surpasses what creatures hold (Romans 1:25). There is a kind of truth God gave creatures (man and angel) in a shadow and in various degree, but this truth is not the Truth according to “the brightness of His glory and express image of His person” (Hebrew 1:3).
The actual knowledge of God (epignosis) is called truth. What God requires of men when truth is revealed is alignment and worship (obedience/agreement/thanksgiving/covenant) and this response will lead to life. This is how God keeps creatures alive and in alignment to his purpose and will. God filled the whole creature both in heaven and on earth with truth because God is plenteous in goodness and Truth (Exodus 34:6).
Jesus the Truth (John 14:6, Eph. 4:20-21)
The truth we learnt through the knowledge of God in creatures is imperfect that is why such truth can be corrupted.
The exact expression of Truth is what Jesus Christ embodies, preaches and teaches (John 1:14).
Converting the truth of God into a Lie (Romans 1:19-25)
Lucifer was the first angel who converted the truth of God in him to a lie and also taught other angels how to convert theirs into lies and finally convinced man to do likewise. Satan is a liar and the father of it (John 8:44).
What is a Lie? (Romans 1:19-21)
The knowledge of creature, what creature can give, or what we can make out of creature and the glory creature can vest upon the soul of man for personal use is what is called a lie. Lies span through the realm of visible (what you can feel, touch, smell and sense through the five senses) and invisible (things that touches the soul like glory, honour, reputation, praise of men etc). So, the rebellion of Lucifer brought about the birthing of both heavenly and earthly lies.
Subjective Leading unto Death (Mathew 7:13-14, Romans 2:10-13, 1Peter 2:25)
Satan designed lies to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). Satan does these three things by designing a system and a life that will overwhelmingly convince man to believe in lies. All humanity was brought into subjective leading by Satan, which leads to subjective living by believing in a lie (Rom 5:12-14; Rom 3:9-12,23). Man became subject to a lie through agreement thereby leading to covenant (Isa 28:15 – lies became man’s refuge because of covenant made with death and hell).
To believe in a lie is to agree with it (2Thes 2:11-12). What lies do to man is very devastating. Lies imports the nature and character of fallen angels into the soul of man but this doesn’t happen so easily as we may have thought. Man, through agreement has to walk in the path of lies (call way of death) to inherit the promises (Rev 22:14-15).
Subjective Leading unto Life (Hebrews 12:9; John 6:53)
The most effective leading of the spirit is one where the soul is subject to a path contrary to his “love”. Recall we have established that Man was subjectively led into death by agreement with a lie, therefore, we can infer that God will achieve little or nothing if He waits for us to make up our mind to follow Him. God knows that we have been hypnotized and deceived by a highly intelligent creature. So, God’s original principle of hope and promises, pressure and pain is the only potent pathway to deliver man’s soul from a lie.
God also use Truth as the means of converting the soul to inherit his nature. For instance, there are men who God encountered and dealt with for them to inherit a nature in Him. He dealt with Moses to reveal His meekness and humility in Him (Num 12:3). He dealt with David to reveal his mercies and loving kindness (Isa 55:3), He dealt with Daniel to reveal his wisdom, understanding and knowledge. These characters are natures in God which He gives through Truth.
Truth Makes Free (John 8:32)
The first step towards freedom is the revelation of the knowledge of truth. This knowledge holds promises that are everlasting and eternal in nature (John 17:3). God send forth the ministry of the Holy Ghost through the seven spirits to make us see the knowledge of truth so that we can agree (John 16:13). The path of truth is opened when we agree.
The Way of Truth
The way of truth is designed to deliver us from lies or hope of vanity. The way of truth both make free, preserve and make us inherit the nature of God. God in His wisdom subjects us into conditions (through The Spirit) that will make the soul free from vanity. From the scriptures, we see examples of men that God used their needs to save them from lies thereby pushing them into the path of truth. The path of truth is designed to deliver our soul from idols/creatures so that we can serve The True and Living God (1Thess 1:9). Some biblical examples of these men are:
- Abraham: Needed an heir and a city (Gen. 12:1-2, Gen 15:5-4, Heb.11:9-12)
- The Israelites: Needed food and raiment and wanted their promised land that flows with milk and honey (Deut 8:1-5, Exodus 13:5)
All these men and more in the scriptures were subjectively led in their soul by God to drop their old nature in order to pick His own nature. All of these men walked with God and inherited something bigger than what they lost.
All the ways of God are Mercy and Truth (Psalm 25:10, 86:15)
The subjective leading of The Spirit is purely a demonstration of God’s mercy and love. The path is hard for the flesh but the gain is bigger than the loss (Rom 8:18; 2Cor 4:17). In fact, what we lose in the way of truth is vanity and dung (Phil 3:7-8).
Being Subject under the Spirit of Truth (Heb 12:9)
The Holy Ghost assumes His ministry as we enter into the path of truth. He prepares the enabling environment to bring us to the experience of the truth so that we can be free. We must be willing, we must love and continue in the way of truth so that the nature that truth gives may be resident in us.