Looking for the Wrong Things
We must look for the right things, namely, the revelation of God's heart, love, and purpose of redemption, to gain spiritual insight and understanding.
Joseph Parker emphasizes the importance of seeking spiritual discernment rather than being preoccupied with intellectual arguments or seeking elaborate proofs. He urges believers to focus on purity of heart, love, and a childlike desire for the essence of Christ, rather than getting caught up in understanding miracles and signs. Parker encourages a return to a childlike faith that seeks after God's heart, love, and redemptive purpose, leading to a deeper spiritual insight that can only come from being rooted in God's presence.
Text
"But he that is spiritual judgeth all things" (1 Cor. 2:15).
Many men also suffer from looking for the wrong thing. They are looking for argument, demonstration, long and elaborate statement of pros and cons. They will be disappointed with Christ. He will have nothing but pureness of soul, love of heart, a desire after the very spirit and genius of childhood; where he sees these things there he abides, and he makes the heart burn with new love, and gives the eyes the delight of continually changing and brightening vision. Lord, make us little children; enable us to look for the right things, namely, the revelation of thy heart, thy love, thy purpose of redemption; deliver us from this satanic temptation of wanting to understand miracles, signs, and wonders, and impossibilities; lead us up the green gentle slopes of loving prayer and desire; and then when we get near the top we shall be able to look down and see the miracles as very little things; help us, Lord, and give us vision of soul.
Spiritual insight can only come with spiritual life; in other words, if you have not the life, you cannot have the insight. Unless we live and move and have our being in God we cannot read the Bible aright. We must be in the Spirit. This is the day of the Holy Ghost, this the Pentecostal era. Yet men are fooling away their time in asking wrong questions about wrong subjects; they are busy at the wrong door; they will agitate themselves about things that need not come within purview just now.
Sermon Outline
- Looking for the Wrong Things
- The Right Thing to Look For
- The revelation of God's heart, love, and purpose of redemption
- Spiritual insight comes with spiritual life
- We must live and move in God to understand the Bible
- We must be in the Spirit to have insight
Key Quotes
“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things” — Joseph Parker
“Lord, make us little children; enable us to look for the right things, namely, the revelation of thy heart, thy love, thy purpose of redemption;” — Joseph Parker
“We must be in the Spirit. This is the day of the Holy Ghost, this the Pentecostal era.” — Joseph Parker
Application Points
- We must live and move in God to understand the Bible and have insight into His heart and purpose.
- Being in the Spirit is essential to gaining spiritual insight and understanding.
- We must look for the right things, namely, the revelation of God's heart, love, and purpose of redemption, to gain spiritual insight and understanding.