Tozer; Knowledge of the Holy

Chapter 1: Why we must think rightly about God

Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, 'what come into your mind when you think about God?' we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow.

A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be trace finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.

The gospel can lift this destroying burden from the mind, give beauty for ashes and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and no burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.

The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders it high opinion of God.

Chapter 2: The Incomprehensibility of God

Darkness to the intellect
But sunshine to the heart
 -- Frederick W. Faber

Chapter 3: The Holy Trinity

Love and faith are at home in the mystery of the Godhead. Let reason kneel in reverence outside.

The Nicene Creed also pays tribute to the Holy Spirit as being himself God and equal to the Father and the Son:
I believe in the Holy Spirit
The Lord and giver of life,
Which proceedeth from the Father and the Son,
Who with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified.

"In this Trinity" runs the Creed, "nothing is before or after, nothing is greater or less: but all three Persons coeternal, together and equal."

The Person of the Godhead, being one, have one will. They work always together, and never one smallest act is done by one without the instant acquiescence of the other two. Every act of God is accomplished by the Trinity in Unity.

Trinity in the scriptures:

In the Holy Scriptures the work of creation is attributed to the Father (G1:1), to the Son (Col. 1:16), and to the Holy Spirit (Job 26:13 and Ps. 104:30). The incarnation is shown to have been accomplished by the three Persons in full accord (Luke 1:35), though only the Son became flesh to dwell among us. At Christ's baptism the Son came up out of the water, the Spirit descended upon him and the Father's voice spoke from heaven (Matt 3:16-17). Probably the most beautiful description of the work of atonement is found in Hebrews 9:14 where it is stated that Christ, through the Eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God; and there we behold the three persons operating together.

The resurrection of Christ is likewise attributed variously to the Father (Acts 2:32), to the Son (John 10:17-18) and to the Holy Spirit (Rom 1:4). The salvation of the individual man is shown by the apostle Peter to be the work of all three Persons of the Godhead (1Peter 1:2, and the indwelling of the Christian man's soul is said to be by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-23)

Chapter 21: The Holiness of God

Until we have seen ourselves as God sees us, we are not likely to be much disturbed over conditions around us as long as they do not get so far out of hand as to threaten our comfortable way of life. We have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as the natural and expected thing.

God's holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable. The natural man is bline to it. He may fear God's power and admire his wisdom, but his holiness he cannot even imagine.

Holy is the way God is. To be holy he does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is.

He hates iniquity as a mother hates the polio that takes the life of her child.

Chapter 22: The Sovereignty of God

Perhaps a homely illustration might help us to understand. An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. It destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty.

On board the liner are several scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat., sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port.

Both freedom and sovereignty are present here and they do not contradict each other. So it is, I believe, with man's freedom and the sovereignty of God.

In the meanwhile things are not as smooth as this quick outline might suggest. The mystery of iniquity doth already work. Within the broad field of God's sovereign, permissive will the deadly conflict of good with evil continues with increasing fury. God will yet have his way in the whirlwind and the storm, but the storm and the whirlwind are here, and as responsible beings we must make our choice in the present moral situation.

2 Corinthians 13: Research

Tom Wright:

this has been controversial. Coming to the know the one true God in and through Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified and risen one, and coming to know this God, and this Jesus, in and through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, demands a change of heart, life, community and behaviour so thorough and costly that many back away from it.

Once the light has begun to illuminate the world around you, enabling you to see everything and everyone in a new way, the choice is clear. Either you must go forwards, at great cost, into that grace, love and fellowship; or you must step back into the darkness. Paul wrote this, his most deeply personal and heartfelt letter, to urge the Corinthians to do the former. He would wish no less for us.

Phil Moore:

after 29 chapters, two letters and two lost letters Paul signs off his writings to the Corinthians. How does he do so? (With a 'ICNU' - I see God at work in you.)

He is convinced that they will listen to his admonition over sexual immortality, because he sees christ Jesus in them and believes that they will not unite Jesus with any illicit sexual partners. He is convinced that they will defy the money-grubbing culture of Corinth, because Christ Jesus is in them and those who have Jesus are assured of all they need. He is convinced that they will renounce their pride and party politics, because Christ Jesus is in them and calls them to die to themselves and be raised to live for him and for others. Seeing Jesus admist the mess made a world of difference to Paul, and it would to the Corinthians too.

• restoration - katartizo, repairing nets.

Paul's letters worked:

• Paul wrote Romans from Corinth in early 57AD during the three months he spent there between Macedonia and Jerusalem and we find several clues that the crisis was resolved:
• 1- R15: 'the Macedonian and Achaian churches were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.' 
• 2- Paul wanted to go on to preach in Spain because 'there is no more place for me to work in these regions.' The Corinthians had clearly thrown off its division and sexual sin, disorder and worldliness because Paul felt that his work in that region was 'done'.

Can we see God in the midst of our mess.

• More chapters were written to Corinth in the NT that any other church.
• Of the western church The Independant wrote in April of 2000 'Church will be dead in forty years time'
• One Bishop is quoted as saying in 2000 'It is hard to see the church surviving for more than 30 years.' (Telegraph in June '09)

Arthur Puddy story:

Arthur Puddy a rifleman form Devon who fought in WWI. Dismissed as near dead by the doctors in 1917 out in a field hospital in Mesopotamia. To save room and free up a bed a doctor assessed his condition, saw the onset of sandfly fever (something that had already claimed the lives of many of his comrades) and declared 'this one won't make it 'til morning'. Two orderlies carried his limp body outside and laid him on a pile of dead bodies. Arthur Puddy lay there all night thinking of the wife he married only a few days before leaving for the war. As he lay there he remembered the words from a church service back home. God is faithful. God is faithful. As he lay there groaning he made those words his feverish prayer, laying hold of the only one who could save him from death.

Arthur Puddy survived. At first light a nurse noticed he was moving. He was loaded onto a stretcher moved back inside and nursed back to health in a comfortable bed. The man written off as too weak to survive returned to the front lines and helped win the war. The childless twenty-year old died eight decades later, surrounded by his family at the age of ninety-seven. Phil Moore married one of his great granddaughters and his father to four of his great great grandchildren and uncle to five more. God is faithful indeed.

Paul Barnett NCINT Commentary:

'Proof' - Paul's severe letter required proof of their loyalty to him which they did prove by disciplining the man who had wronged Paul. Something they did do. They now are saying that they require 'proof' that Christ is speaking in Paul. Much of the letter has been about that. Paul's reply to them is that they ought rather to be concerned with proof that they are in Christ, they need to be convinced for themselves that they are. He has offered them 'proofs' of his apostolic Christian leadership and so he says 'whether or not you consider these 'proofs' enough isn'y my primary concern. Instead we're mainly concerned that you pass the proofs test that your repentance and subsequent purity lines up with your profession of faith.

'Using the same blacksmith vocabulary in the next paragraph Paul expresses te hope that in his forthcoming visit he will not be 'disproved' in their eyes though he accepts that they my regard him as 'disproved'. It is more importnt, he says that you 'prove yourselves... understand within yourselves that Christ Jesus is in you.' That the Corinthians 'prove' themselves to be indwelt by Christ is more important than their opinion whether or not Christ speaks in Paul.

Weak powerful motif:
3b - Christ is not weak... he is powerful toward you
4a - He was crucified in weakness... lives through the power of God
4c - we also are weak in him... through the power of God
This serves as his second to last word of self-defence against their criticism.

crucified out of weakness is not weak it is powerful since christ's crucifixion was their forgiveness and power for transformation.

'Christ crucified is not weak' it is a powerful thing that transforms lives, confronts arrogance, heals, makes whole, restores. He was crucified in weakness yes but he is not weak, but strong and his crucifixion was not devoid of power but was in fact the power of God by which you/we have died to selves and now live for God.

Christ crucified is not a 'weak' message for 'weak' people: Thought they may despise as 'weak' the message of 'Christ... crucified' and the messenger who preached and embodied thagt message against the willful sinner, the reality was that Christ crucified is not weak in his impact ojnthe believer in his sins and pride.

weak in him, crucified in him, ineffective in discipling the rebellious Corinthians... yet by God's power.

One of the clearest proofs of his apostleship for Paul is the existence and establishment of them the Corinthians. If they approve of themselves as being 'in Christ' then they also must approve Paul as genuine.

Paul will not deviate one bit toward 'power' or imitating the SA because he is committed to the truth.

Kevin DeYoung:

• First paragraph is a warning - I'm coming for the third time and if you don't get this mess straightened out it's not going to be a fun visit! If they have sin there he is going to come and bring discipline, I won't spare you (excommunication).
• v5 - a call for self-examination. Two purposes. 1 - examine themselves to see if they're in the faith. 2 - provide confirmation for his ministry. He assumes that they'll pass the test and then realise in turn that he is genuine.
• It is fitting given the themes of the letter that he calls them to examine themselves. He has been under the microscope for a long time justifying his ministry and now he turns it on them - your turn.
• Greek order - Yourselves examine, yourselves test.
• We're very good at examining others: other drivers, the in-laws, the coaches, taught at school to critique and think critically and analytically, but we often don't look at ourselves (X Factor example perhaps). We've thought a lot about what's wrong with others but we haven't often thought to examine ourselves... what are we like? We put the emphasis on 'everybody else, examine' but how much pain and hurt could be avoided if we 'ourselves, examine'. There is nothing more important in the whole world for you than 'are you in the faith? are you a Christian?

• 1 John. 3 Categories of evidence: theological (what you believe), ethical (how you behave) and social (how you treat others) 
• 2 Corinthians same three issues: 
• Theological C11- stand fast in the gospel 'don't go after another Jesus'
• Ethical C12 - turn from your former sins
• Social - C2welcome back sinners, C9give generously

Order: Warns them calls for self-examination and concludes with some final instructions.

John Stott:

• most of us hate examinations - June & July the dreaded months for school children - because we hate examinations Paul's command to examination doesn't come as a welcome thing. 
• 3 times - examine yourselves, test yourselves, 'do you not know yourselves.' This is a proper test for us. The thing we're being called to is to know whether we are real Christians or not. Church attenders and members - examine yourselves, test yourselves. Are we true genuine authentic Christians?
• 6/7 times the verb 'to test' is used. After all the testing you're either 'approved' or 'disapproved' (blacksmith terminology). 
• Introspection is unhealthy but it's not the same thing as self-examination. To be turned in yourself and see introspection as the end in itself is unhealthy. Self-examination is an occasional discipline of the Christian who is normally turned outward but from time to time turns in on himself in order to serve Christ better.
• Assurance is the purpose of self-examination. Assurance is not presumptuous. 'Hope for the best' theology is not right, we can and should know - John's epistle 'that you may know' humbly and definitely know.
• Self examination is not introspection and need not lead to arrogance. 
• Tests: 
• Doctrine: v5 to see whether you are in the faith - 'the' faith is not something in us but something God has revealed, truth. The faith is the Christian faith. Are you standing in the Christian faith. The super-apostles Paul says were teaching 'another Jesus' not the true one/gospel. They were/are outside of the faith. Uses those three phrases in C11; another gospel/Jesus/spirit. This isn't the final test. It is possible to be orthodox and yet 'spurious'. We must be loyal to the faith. It is in believing in Jesus that we are saved and if we believe another Jesus we believe an anti-christ. The Creed 
• Experience: 'do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you.' The indwelling. 'I live and yet not I but Christ lives in me.' Galatians, 'I can do all things through Christ in me' philippians, 'Christ in you the hope of glory.' Colossians. Essential understanding of what a Christian is. Somebody in whom Jesus Christ lives. 'How do I know whether Jesus Christ is in me?' i) assuring us inwardly by his Spirit in us 'Spirit bears witness with our Spirit.' ii) by reproducing his character in us. not just a test of feeling but of character. 
• Fellowship: 12:20 'i worry that i won't find what i wish but instead will find jealousy, quarrelling...' how can you claim to be christians he says if these things are spoiling your church life. 13:11 'mend your ways' restore your nets. 'Agree with one another' Do we rejoice in our membership of the church, do we love the brethren? It is a test of our authenticity.
• God is a God of truth, righteousness and love.
• True or false? You've examined the leaders, now examine yourselves. 
• All of us will have to face a divine examination on the last day.

Rico Tice:

• There are some events in all our lives that cause us to stop and examine ourselves (like the death of a friend). It makes you stop. The whirlwind of activity that we call life stops. 1662 book of common prayer 'on sunday next i purpose through God's assistance i intend to administer communion next Sunday... my duty is to exhort you to consider the holy mystery and the great peril of unworthy receiving there of... that you may come holy and clean to such a feast. 
• 1Cor 11:28 'let a person examine himself.' before coming to communion meal. 13:5 'it's the burden of the whole letter' 13:5 is where it's all at - examine yourselves, test yourselves!
• They say... 'you don't take money as they do, you're not an orator as they are...' 'actually' he says 'it's you that needs to test yourselves.'
• most of us like to think that the days of examination and tests are over: driving tests have gone. This is a test we don't do on others, we do on ourselves. In Boots 'self-tests' like pregnancy tests and high-cholesterol tests 'I've not done either of them' but this is a self-test and it's not in Boots it's in the Bible. 
• This test is set by a friend not by Anne Robinson on the weakest link out to trip us up. Paul is a 'Spiritual Father' who will spend everything they have on his children... 
• he's a master builder doing a site visit. Is the building going to withstand the storms? 
• he's on his knees praying for them.
• This test is helpful it's positive to help them to see - Christ is in you. 
• This is not an entry exam to determine whether or not they are accepted by God. We have been made acceptable to God by Jesus, he has given us that qualification. Jesus gives me his perfection. 2Cor5:21 the great exchange. 
• at school in the 'self-tests' I did better when I could mark my own paper!
• God by his Spirit is insisting that we do it: 
• Belief and behaviour tests: Doctrinal and moral. They were so pleased with themselves, proud of themselves. Paul hopes they will past but he knows they need to examine yourselves. 

First: Belief: v5 - in the faith. Are you still in the parameters of the gospel? Don't assume it, test it. The false teacher's message may seem similar but it's a different gospel altogether. The Jesus who was crucified in weakness who brings me forgiveness, righteousness, reconciliation is the real Jesus.

• Two lies in our world are that we're accepted by our good works or by the act of dying. A third false belief is that we are victims and therefore don't need forgiveness.
• What is the faith in the culture that puts me right with God? in the newspapers/televisions/obituary page... 
• One lie = accepted by being a nice person (Lady Diana was so nice of course she's saved) 
• Second = lie, they're accepted by the actual act of dying. It's so horrible to die and for us to lose them that the pain they've gone through is their righteousness. 
• Third = my pain and difficult life means that I'm a victim and therefore don't need forgiveness. We are rebels as well as victims.

Does God come to fill you and meet your need or does he convict you? They had a gospel-lite. Have you let the culture walk in with you?

Second: Behaviour test.

• v5 - Christ is in you... unless of course you fail the test. Why mention this? The presence of Christ is in us individually and as a church and as a result sin is incompatible. Christ's presence in us is demonstrated by our repentance, by our driving out of sin from our lives. That sin is being driven out, that's our assurance? Oil and water do not mix. Oil will drive out water. Christ's presence will drive out sin. He's afraid he might flunk this test, that they don't drive out sin. Repentance is the proof that Christ's transforming presence is changing you. 
• Illus: A tourist visiting a small village a man asked someone 'were any great men born in this village?' 'no, only babies.' - there needs to be progress and development. 
• v11 - finally brothers... live together and God will be with you. God in their midst is the promise and their resource. Repent.