The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1905, Page 67

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

67

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The Holy Ghost Has Enlightened Me with
His Gifts.

‘All our knowledge, sense, and sight
Lie in deepest darkness shrouded,
‘Till Thy Spirit breaks the night
With the beams of truth unclouded.”

This we sing in the well-known hymn. And these
words are based upon Holy Scripture, which tells
us that we are by nature blind in spiritual things
and can know nothing of them unless our eyes be
opened by the Holy Spirit. We are by nature dead,
spiritually dead. Now we know that a man physic-
ally dead is unable to hear or see anything; equally
unable is a man spiritually dead to see or under-
stand spiritual things. For this reason the Bible
often refers to the natural condition of man as a
state of darkness.

This spiritual darkness the Holy Ghost dispels
by the beams of His light. He opens our eyes and
gives us power to see and understand something of
divine things. 2 Cor. 4, 6 the apostle writes: ‘‘God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ.”” Gen. 1, 2 we read that ‘‘darkness was upon
the face of the deep,’’—not a vestige of light, no
twilight, no dawn, but deepest darkness, impene-
trable darkness covered, as a black pall, the face of
the deep. Then God said, ‘‘Let there be light,’’
and there was light. By His almighty Word God
‘“commanded the light to shine out of darkness.’?
Even so has the Holy Ghost shined into our hearts
and enlightened them with the knowledge of God in
Jesus Christ. Had God not spoken His omnipo-
tent ‘‘Let there be light,’’ darkness would have con-
tinued upon the face of the deep; and s0, likewise,
man is and remains dead and blind in sin, unless
he be enlightened by the Holy Ghost.

By nature man has no true knowledge of sin and
grace, he knows nothing of his Saviour, has no de-
sire to come to Him, and sees not the way to life
and salvation. Even when he hears the Word of
God, he grasps not its meaning; having eyes to see
he sees not, and having ears to hear he hears not.
The things of which he hears told in the Word are
foolishness unto him, and he cannot discern them,
until the Holy Ghost gives him the power to under-
stand.

Little children may see that they are dirty, but
though they see this, they.are by no means worried
about it, since they do not understand the nature
of dirt. So with the natural man; he may see his
sin, but he knows not its true hideousness, till he

is enlightened by the Holy Ghost. And because
children are not convinced of the filthiness of dirt,
they have no desire to be cleaned and cry when
their mothers would wash them. So the natural
man, not having a true knowledge of sin, has no
desire to get rid of it, but refuses to be washed in
the fountain filled with blood flowing from the Say-
iour’s veins ,—objects to being plunged beneath
this flood to lose his guilty stains, —until the Holy
Ghost opens his eyes to see the sinfulness of sin and
gives him the true knowledge of Jesus as his Saviour.

Also this blessed work of enlightening the Holy
Ghost performs by means of the Word of the Gos-
pel, for He calls us out of darkness into His mar-
velous light, 1 Pet.2,9. The Gospel, which calls
us to Christ, is also the powerful means which en-
lightens our darkened understanding and gives us
the power to see and understand God’s Word and
the things of the Spirit of God. Through the preach-
ing of the Word the light of the knowledge of Jesus
Christ is given unto men, 2 Cor.4,6. When God,
on the first day of Creation, said, ‘‘Let there be
light,”’ this almighty Word created the light and
caused it to shine out of darkness. So, likewise,
when the Gospel-call, ‘‘Let there be light,’’ is heard,
this divine call opens the eyes of the blind and gives
him power to understand what before was only fool-
ishness unto him. The almighty power of God is as
much in the Word to-day as it was on the first day
of Creation. When the Holy Ghost comes to us and
in His Word says to us, ‘‘Repent!’’ then this Word
awakens to repentance, gives repentance, works re-
pentance. And so it is with every word of God.
The whole Gospel is full of life and strength, giving
life to the dead, strength to the impotent, and com-
fort to the sorrowful; it quickens and refreshes
and fills our hearts with joy and peace in the Holy
Ghost. :

Our Catechism says that the Holy Ghost has en-
lightened us with His gifts. These gifts of the Holy
Ghost are the knowledge of Jesus as our Saviour,
confidence and faith, joy and comfortin Him. Hay-
ing brought me to a knowledge of my natural wretch-
edness and my need of a Saviour, the Holy Ghost
has led me to the cross of Jesus, has taught me to
know Him as my Lord and Saviour, and filled my
heart with trust and confidence in Him and His
merits. And this blessed knowledge of Christ, for
whose sake God has accepted me as His dear child,
forgiven me all my sins, and made me an heir of
His heavenly kingdom, fills my heart with lasting
joy and sweetest comfort. These are the blessed
gifts the Holy Ghost gave me when He enlightened
me by the Gospel. —