Section 1

1 The first fundamental sign is, a godly man is a man of Knowledge. Proverbs 14. 18. The prudent are crowned with knowledge. The Saints are called wise Virgins, Matthew 25. 4. A natural man may have some discursive knowledge of God, but he knoweth nothing as he ought to know, 1 Corinthians 8. 2. He knows not God savingly: he may have the eye of Reason open, but he discerns not the things of God after a spiritual manner. Waters cannot go beyond their Spring-head: Vapors cannot rise higher than the Sun draws them. A natural man cannot act above his sphere; he is no more able to judge aright of sacred things, than a blind man is to judge of colors. 1 He sees not the evil of his heart; if a face be never so black and deformed, yet it is not seen under a Veil: the heart of a sinner is so black, that nothing but Hell can pattern it, yet the veil of ignorance hides it. 2 He sees not the beauties of a Savior. Christ is a Pearl, but a hidden Pearl.

But a godly man is taught of God. 1 1 John 2. 27. The anointing teaches you all things; that is, all things essential to salvation. A godly man has the good knowledge of the Lord, 2 Chronicles 30. 22. he has sound wisdom, Proverbs 3. 21. he knows God in Christ: to know God out of Christ, is to know him an enemy; but to know him in Christ is sweet and delicious. A gracious soul has the savor of knowledge, 2 Corinthians 2. 14. There is a great difference between one that has read of a Country, or viewed it in the Map, and another who has lived in the Country, and tasted the Fruits and Spices of it. The knowledge wherewith a godly man is adorned, has these eight rare Ingredients in it.

1 It is a grounded Knowledge, Colossians 1. 23. If you continue in the Faith grounded. It is not a believing as the Church believes, but true Knowledge rests upon a double basis, Word and Spirit; the one is a rule, the other a witness: saving Knowledge is not pendulous or doubtful, but has a certainty in it, John 6. 69. We believe, and are sure thou art that Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, 6. being always confident a godly man holds no more than he will die for: The Martyrs were so confirmed in the knowledge of the Truth, that they would seal it with their blood.

2. It is an appreciative knowledge. The Lapidary is said to know a Jewel, who has skill to value it: He knows God, who esteems him above the glory of heaven, and the comforts of the earth. To compare other things with God, is to debase Deity; as if you should compare the shining of a Gloworm with the Sun.

3. The knowledge of a godly man is quickening, Psalm 119. 93. I will never forget thy Precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me. Knowledge in a natural man's head, is like a Torch in a dead man's hand: True knowledge animates. A godly man is like John Baptist, a burning and a shining Lamp: He does not only shine by illumination, but burn by affection. The Spouse's knowledge made her sick of love, Canticles 2. 5. Perculsa sum, I am wounded with love. I am like a Deer that is struck with a Dart, my Soul lies a-bleeding, and nothing can cure me, but a sight of him whom my Soul loves.

4. Divine Knowledge is appropriating, Job 19. 25. I know that my Redeemer liveth. A Medicine is best when it is applied; this applicative Knowledge is joyful. Christ is called a Surety, Hebrews 7. 22. O what joy when I am drowned in debt, to know that Christ is my Surety! Christ is called an Advocate, 1 John 2. 1. The Greek word for Advocate signifies a Comforter, O what comfort is it when I have a bad Cause, to know Christ is my Advocate, who never lost any Cause he pleaded.

Question. But how shall I know that I make a right application of Christ? an Hypocrite may think he applies when he does not. Balaam, though a Sorcerer, yet said, My God, Numbers 22. 18.

Answer. 1. He who rightly applies Christ, puts these two together, Jesus and Lord, Philippians 3. 8. Christ Jesus my Lord: Many take Christ as a Jesus, but refuse him as a Lord. Do you join Prince and Savior? Acts 5. 31. Would you as well be ruled by Christ's Laws, as saved by his Blood? Christ is a Priest upon his Throne, Zechariah 6. 13. He will never be a Priest to intercede, unless your heart be the Throne where he sways his Scepter. A true applying of Christ is, when we so take him for a Husband, that we give up ourselves to him as a Lord.

2. He who rightly applies Christ, fetches virtue from him: The Woman in the Gospel having touched Christ, felt virtue coming from him, and her fountain of blood was dried up, Mark 5. 29. This is to apply Christ, when we feel a sin mortifying virtue flow from him. Naturalists tell us, there is an Antipathy between the Diamond and the Loadstone, insomuch that if a piece of iron be laid by the Diamond, the Diamond will not suffer it to be drawn away by the Loadstone: So that knowledge which is applicatory, has an antipathy against sin, and will not suffer the heart to be drawn away by it.

5. The knowledge of a godly man is transforming, 2 Corinthians 3. 18. We all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same Image. As a Painter, looking upon a face, draws a face like it in the Picture: So looking upon Christ in the glass of the Gospel, we are changed into his similitude. We may look upon other objects that are glorious, yet not be made glorious by them: A deformed face may look upon beauty, and yet not be made beautiful: a wounded man may look upon a Surgeon, and yet not be healed; but this is the Excellency of Divine Knowledge, it gives us such a sight of Christ, as makes us partake of his Nature; as Moses when he had seen God's back-parts, his face shined; some of the Rays and Beams of God's glory fell upon him.

6. The knowledge of a godly man is self-emptying; carnal knowledge makes the head giddy with pride, 1 Corinthians 8. 2. True knowledge brings a man out of love with himself, the more he knows, the more he blushes at his own ignorance. David a bright Star in God's Church, yet he thought himself rather a Cloud than a Star, Psalm 73. 22.

7. The knowledge of a godly man is growing, Colossians 1. 10. Increasing in the knowledge of God. True knowledge is like the light of the morning, which increases in the Horizon till it comes to the full Meridian: So sweet is Spiritual Knowledge, that the more a Saint knows, the more thirsty he is of knowledge; it is called the Riches of Knowledge, 1 Corinthians 1. 5. the more riches a man has, the more still he desires; though Saint Paul knew Christ, yet he would know him more, Philippians 3. 10. that I may know him, and the power of his Resurrection.

8. The knowledge of a godly man is practical, John 10. 4. The Sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Though God requires knowledge more than burnt-offering, Hosea 6. 6, yet it is a knowledge accompanied with obedience: True knowledge does not only mend a Christian's sight, but mends his pace: It is a reproach to a Christian to live in a contradiction to his knowledge; to know he should be strict and holy, yet to live loosely: Not to obey, is all one as not to know, 1 Samuel 2. 12. The Sons of Eli knew not the Lord: they could not but know, for they taught others the knowledge of the Lord; yet they are said not to know, because they did not obey: when Knowledge and Practice, like Castor and Pollux, appear together, then they presage much happiness.

Use 1. Let us try ourselves by this Character.

1. Are they godly, who are still in the Region of darkness? Proverbs 19. 2. That the Soul be without knowledge, it is not good; ignorant persons cannot give God a reasonable service, Romans 12. 1. It is sad, that after the Sun of Righteousness has shined so long in our Hemisphere, yet that persons should be under the power of ignorance: Perhaps in the things of the world they are knowing enough, none shall out reach them, but in the things of God they have no knowledge. Nahash would make a Covenant with Israel, that he might put out their right eyes, 1 Samuel 11. 1. The Devil has left men their left eye, knowledge in secular matters, but he has put out their right eye, they understand not the Mystery of Godliness; it may be said of them as of the Jews, To this day the veil is upon their heart, 2 Corinthians 3. 15. Many Christians are no better than baptized Heathens. What a shame is it to be without knowledge! 1 Corinthians 15. 34. Some have not the knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame. Men think it a shame to be ignorant in their Trade, but no shame to be ignorant of God; there is no going to Heaven blindfold, Isaiah 27. 11. It is a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them, will not have mercy on them.

Surely ignorance in these days is affected; it is one thing nescire, another thing nolle scire, it is one thing not to know, another thing not to be willing to know, John 3. 19. They loved darkness rather than light. It is the Owl loves the dark: Sinners are like the Atlantes, a people in Ethiopia, which curse the Sun. Wicked men shut their eyes wilfully, Matthew 13. 15. and God shuts them judicially, Isaiah 6. 10.

2. Are they godly, who though they have knowledge, yet they know not as they ought to know; they know not God experimentally: How many knowing persons are ignorant? they have Illumination, but not Sanctification; their knowledge has not a powerful influence upon them to make them better. If you set up a hundred Torches in a garden, they will not make the flowers grow, but the Sun is influential: Many are so far from being better for their knowledge, that they are worse, Isaiah 47. 10. Your knowledge has perverted you; the knowledge of most makes them more cunning in sin; these have little cause to glory in their knowledge. Absalom might boast of the hair of his head, but that hanged him; so these may boast of the knowledge of their head, but it will destroy them.

3. Are they godly, who though they have some glimmering of knowledge, yet no fiducial applying of Christ: Many of the Old World knew there was an Ark, but were drowned, because they did not get into the Ark; Knowledge, which is not applying, will but light a man to hell; it were better to live an Indian, than to die an Infidel under the Gospel: Christ not believed in, is terrible. Moses' Rod, when it was in his hand, did a great deal of good, it wrought Miracles, but when it was out of his hand, it became a Serpent: So Christ, when laid hold on by the hand of Faith, is full of comfort, but not laid hold on, will prove a Serpent to sting.

Use 2. As we would evidence ourselves godly, let us labor for this good knowledge of the Lord: What pains will men take for the achievement of Natural Knowledge! I have read of one Benchorat, who spent forty years in finding out the motion of the Eighth Sphere; what pains then should we take in finding out the knowledge of God in Christ? There must be digging and searching for it, as one would search for a vein of silver, Proverbs 2. 3. If you seek her as silver.—Et pluteum caedit, & dimorsos sapit ungues.

This is the best knowledge, it does as far surpass all other, as the Diamond does the Crystal; no Jewel we wear does so adorn us as this, Proverbs 3. 15. She is more precious than Rubies. Job 28. 12, 13. Man knows not the price thereof, the depth says it is not in me, it cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious Onyx, or the Sapphire. The dark Chaos was a fit Emblem of an ignorant Soul, Genesis 1. 2. but when God lights up the Lamp of Knowledge in the mind, what a new Creation is there? How does the Soul sparkle as the Sun in its glory?

This knowledge is comfortable; we may say of the Knowledge of Nature, as Solomon, Ecclesiastes 1:18. He that increases knowledge, increases sorrow. The knowledge of Arts and Sciences is gathering of straw, but the knowledge of God in Christ is gathering of Pearl. This Knowledge ushers in Salvation, 1 Timothy 2:4.

Question. But how shall we get this Saving Knowledge?

Answer. Not by the power of Nature: Some speak of Reason well improved how far it will go; but alas the plumb-line of Reason is too short to fathom the deep things of God. A man can no more by the power of Reason reach the Saving Knowledge of God, than a Pygmy can reach the Pyramids. The Light of Nature will no more help us to see Christ, than the light of a Candle will help us to understand, 1 Corinthians 2:14. The natural man receives not the things of God, neither can he know them. What shall we do then to know God in a Soul-saving manner? I answer, let us implore the help of God's Spirit, Paul never saw himself blind till a light shined from heaven, Acts 9:3. God must anoint our eyes ere we can see: What needed Christ have bid Laodicea to come to him for eye-salve, if she could see before, Revelation 3:18. Oh! let us beg the Spirit, which is a Spirit of Revelation, Ephesians 1:17. Saving Knowledge is not by speculation, but by inspiration, Job 32:8, The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding.

Narrat Cassianus de Theodoro quodam, qui notitia Scripturarum praeclare emicuit, quam ei non tam studium lectionis contulerat, quam Spiritus Sancti Gratia; siquidem vix ipsius Graecae Linguae perpauca verba vel intelligere poterat, vel proloqui, quae Sancti Patris Oratio (inquit Acosta) non eo pertinere putanda est, ut studium humanum floccipendamus, sed ut hoc nobis eluceat, Divini Spiritus dono interdum fieri, ut homo plura de Sacris Scripturis Salvifice intelligat vel nuda lectione, quam magna vallatus copia commentariorum alioqui assequi possit.

We may have excellent notions in Divinity, but the Holy Ghost must enable us to know them after a spiritual manner. A man may see the Figures upon a Dial, but he cannot tell how the day goes unless the Sun shines. We may read many Truths in the Bible, but we cannot know them savingly till God's Spirit does shine upon us, 1 Corinthians 2:10. The Spirit searches all things, yea the deep things of God. The Scripture discovers Christ to us, but the Spirit reveals Christ in us, Galatians 1:16. The Spirit makes known that which all the world cannot do, namely, the sense of God's love.

Use 3. You who have this salvifical sanctifying knowledge flourishing in you, bless God for it; this is the Heavenly Anointing. The most excellent objects cannot be seen in the dark, but when the light appears, then every flower shines in its Native beauty. So while men are in the midnight of a natural estate, the Beauty of Holiness is hid from them; but when the light of the Spirit comes in a saving manner, then those truths they slighted before, appear in that glorious lustre, as transports them with wonder and love.

Bless God, (you Saints,) that He has taken off your Spiritual Cataract, and has given you to discern those things, which by Nature's Spectacles you could never see. How thankful was Christ to his Father for this! Matthew 11:25. I thank thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. How should you admire Free-grace, that God has not only brought the light to you, but given you eyes to see it! That He has enabled you to know the truth as it is in Jesus, Ephesians 4:21. That He has opened, not only the eye of your understanding, but the eye of your Conscience. This is a mercy you can never be enough thankful for, that God has so enlightened you, that you should not sleep the sleep of death.

1. The first foundational sign is that a godly man is a man of knowledge. Proverbs 14:18: The prudent are crowned with knowledge. The saints are called wise virgins in Matthew 25:4. A natural man may have some general knowledge about God, but he knows nothing as he ought to know it, as 1 Corinthians 8:2 says. He does not know God in a saving way — his eye of reason may be open, but he does not perceive the things of God spiritually. Water cannot rise above its source; vapor cannot rise higher than the sun draws it. A natural man cannot act above his nature — he is no more able to judge rightly about spiritual things than a blind man can judge colors. First, he does not see the evil of his own heart; no matter how dark and distorted a face may be, it cannot be seen under a veil — the sinner's heart is so dark that only hell could match it, yet the veil of ignorance hides it from his view. Second, he does not see the beauty of a Savior. Christ is a pearl — but a hidden pearl.

But a godly man is taught by God. 1 John 2:27: The anointing teaches you all things — that is, all things essential to salvation. A godly man has the good knowledge of the Lord, as 2 Chronicles 30:22 says. He has sound wisdom, as Proverbs 3:21 says. He knows God in Christ — to know God apart from Christ is to know Him as an enemy, but to know Him in Christ is sweet and satisfying. A grace-filled soul has the fragrance of knowledge, as 2 Corinthians 2:14 says. There is a great difference between someone who has read about a country or viewed it on a map, and someone who has actually lived there and tasted its fruits and spices. The knowledge that adorns a godly man has eight distinctive qualities.

1. It is a grounded knowledge. Colossians 1:23: If you continue in the faith, grounded. It is not merely believing what the church believes — true knowledge rests on a double foundation: the Word and the Spirit, one serving as the rule and the other as the witness. Saving knowledge is not uncertain or wavering; it carries a certainty within it. John 6:69: We believe, and are sure that You are the Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:6: Being always confident. A godly man holds nothing that he would not die for — the martyrs were so firmly grounded in their knowledge of the truth that they sealed it with their blood.

2. It is an appreciative knowledge. A gemologist is said to truly know a jewel when he can properly value it. The person who truly knows God values Him above the glory of heaven and the comforts of earth. To compare other things with God is to dishonor Him — like comparing the glow of a firefly to the sun.

3. The knowledge of a godly man is life-giving. Psalm 119:93: I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life. Knowledge in the head of a natural man is like a torch in the hand of a dead man — it gives no life. True knowledge gives life. A godly man is like John the Baptist — a burning and shining lamp — not only shining with understanding but burning with love. The bride in Song of Solomon 2:5 said her knowledge of Christ made her lovesick. I am wounded with love. I am like a deer struck by an arrow — my soul is bleeding, and nothing can heal me but the sight of the One my soul loves.

4. True knowledge is personal and applying. Job 19:25: I know that my Redeemer lives. A medicine is most effective when it is applied — and this kind of personal, applied knowledge brings joy. Christ is called a guarantee in Hebrews 7:22. What joy it is, when I am drowning in debt, to know that Christ is my guarantee! Christ is called an advocate in 1 John 2:1. The Greek word for advocate also means comforter — what comfort it is, when my case is desperate, to know that Christ is my advocate, who has never lost a case He has argued.

Question: But how can I know that I am rightly applying Christ to myself? A hypocrite may think he is applying Christ when he is not. Balaam, though a sorcerer, still said my God in Numbers 22:18.

Answer: 1. The person who rightly applies Christ holds two things together — Jesus and Lord. Philippians 3:8: Christ Jesus my Lord. Many take Christ as a Jesus but refuse Him as a Lord. Do you hold together both Prince and Savior, as Acts 5:31 describes? Are you as willing to be ruled by Christ's law as to be saved by His blood? Christ is a priest upon His throne, as Zechariah 6:13 says. He will never be a priest to intercede for you unless your heart is the throne where He rules. A true application of Christ means that just as we take Him as a husband, we also surrender ourselves to Him as Lord.

2. The person who rightly applies Christ draws power from Him. The woman in the Gospel touched Christ and felt power come out from Him, and her bleeding stopped, as Mark 5:29 tells us. To apply Christ is to feel sin-killing power flowing from Him. Natural scientists tell us there is an opposition between the diamond and the magnet — if a piece of iron is placed next to a diamond, the diamond will not allow the magnet to draw it away. In the same way, the knowledge that truly applies Christ has an opposition to sin, and will not allow the heart to be drawn away by it.

5. The knowledge of a godly man is transforming. 2 Corinthians 3:18: We all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image. Just as a painter looking at a face paints a likeness of it — so, beholding Christ in the mirror of the Gospel, we are changed into His likeness. We may look at other glorious things without being made glorious by them — a person with a distorted face can look at beauty and still not become beautiful, and a wounded man can look at a surgeon and still not be healed. But this is what makes divine knowledge so remarkable: it gives us such a sight of Christ that we actually come to share His nature. When Moses had seen God's back as He passed by, Moses' face shone — some of the rays and beams of God's glory had fallen on him.

6. The knowledge of a godly man is self-emptying. Worldly knowledge makes the head dizzy with pride, as 1 Corinthians 8:2 says. True knowledge brings a person to the end of himself — the more he knows, the more he is humbled by his own ignorance. David was a bright star in God's church, yet he thought of himself as more of a dark cloud than a star, as Psalm 73:22 shows.

7. The knowledge of a godly man is growing. Colossians 1:10: Increasing in the knowledge of God. True knowledge is like the light of morning, growing brighter on the horizon until it reaches full noon. Spiritual knowledge is so satisfying that the more a saint knows, the more his thirst for it increases. It is called the riches of knowledge in 1 Corinthians 1:5 — the more riches a man has, the more he desires. Even the apostle Paul, who knew Christ deeply, still pressed on to know Him more: Philippians 3:10: That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection.

8. The knowledge of a godly man is practical. John 10:4: The sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. Although God desires knowledge more than burnt offerings, as Hosea 6:6 says, He desires a knowledge that leads to obedience. True knowledge does not only improve a Christian's sight — it improves his walk. It is a shame for a Christian to live in contradiction to what he knows — to know he should be holy and disciplined, yet live loosely. Not to obey is the same as not knowing. 1 Samuel 2:12 says that Eli's sons did not know the Lord — yet they could not have been unaware, since they taught others the knowledge of the Lord. They are said not to know because they did not obey. When knowledge and practice appear together, like the twin stars Castor and Pollux, they promise great blessings.

Application 1. Let us test ourselves by this characteristic.

1. Are those people godly who still live in the region of darkness? Proverbs 19:2: That the soul be without knowledge is not good. Ignorant people cannot offer God a reasonable service, as Romans 12:1 says. It is a sad thing that after the Sun of Righteousness has shone so long in our sky, people should still be under the power of ignorance. Perhaps in worldly matters they are sharp enough — no one can outsmart them — but in the things of God they have no knowledge. Nahash was willing to make a covenant with Israel only on the condition that he might put out their right eyes, as 1 Samuel 11:1 records. The devil has left men their left eye — practical knowledge in worldly matters — but he has put out their right eye; they do not understand the mystery of godliness. What can be said of them is what was said of the Jews: To this day the veil is on their heart, 2 Corinthians 3:15. Many Christians are no better than baptized pagans. What a shame it is to be without knowledge! 1 Corinthians 15:34: Some do not know God — I say this to your shame. People think it shameful to be ignorant of their own trade, but feel no shame about being ignorant of God. There is no going to heaven blindfolded. Isaiah 27:11: It is a people of no understanding, therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them.

In our day, ignorance is often chosen rather than unavoidable — there is a difference between not knowing and not wanting to know. John 3:19: They loved darkness rather than light. It is the owl that loves the dark. Sinners are like the Atlantes, a people in Ethiopia who cursed the sun. Wicked men willfully shut their eyes, as Matthew 13:15 describes, and God shuts them judicially, as Isaiah 6:10 says.

2. Are those people godly who, though they have knowledge, still do not know God as they ought to — who have never known Him through personal experience? How many knowledgeable people remain spiritually ignorant? They have intellectual understanding but not sanctification; their knowledge has no real power to make them better. If you set up a hundred torches in a garden, they will not make the flowers grow — only the sun can do that. Many people are so far from being improved by their knowledge that they are actually made worse by it. Isaiah 47:10: Your knowledge has corrupted you. Most people's knowledge only makes them more skilled at sin — they have little reason to boast about such knowledge. Absalom could boast of his magnificent hair, but that very hair became the means of his death; in the same way, these people may boast of their head knowledge, but it will destroy them.

3. Are those people godly who, though they have some dim understanding, never personally apply Christ to themselves? Many people in Noah's day knew there was an ark, but drowned because they never got into it. Knowledge that is never applied will only light a person's way to hell. It would be better to live as someone who has never heard the Gospel than to die as an unbeliever after hearing it. Christ not trusted is a terrible thing. When Moses held his staff, it did great good — it worked miracles — but when it left his hand it became a serpent. In the same way, Christ, when grasped by the hand of faith, is full of comfort — but when not grasped by faith, He will prove to be a serpent that stings.

Application 2. If we want to show ourselves godly, we must pursue this good knowledge of the Lord. How much effort do people put into gaining natural knowledge! I have read of one Benchorat who spent forty years working out the motion of the eighth sphere. How much more effort should we put into finding the knowledge of God in Christ? It must be dug for and searched out like a vein of silver. Proverbs 2:3: If you seek her as silver.

This knowledge surpasses all other knowledge as far as the diamond surpasses crystal. No jewel we wear adorns us as this does. Proverbs 3:15: She is more precious than rubies. Job 28:12-13: Man does not know her value; the deep says, it is not in me; she cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir, or with precious onyx, or with sapphire. The dark chaos of Genesis 1:2 was a fitting picture of an ignorant soul — but when God lights the lamp of knowledge in the mind, what a new creation takes place! How the soul shines like the sun in its glory!

This knowledge brings real comfort. Of natural knowledge we can say what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1:18: He who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Gaining knowledge in arts and sciences is like gathering straw, but gaining the knowledge of God in Christ is like gathering pearls. This knowledge leads the way to salvation, as 1 Timothy 2:4 says.

Question: But how do we gain this saving knowledge?

Answer: Not through the power of reason alone. Some speak of how far reason, well developed, can reach — but the measuring line of reason is too short to plumb the depths of God. A person can no more reach saving knowledge of God through reason than a pygmy can climb the pyramids. The light of nature will no more help us see Christ than a candle helps us understand, as 1 Corinthians 2:14 says: The natural man does not receive the things of God, neither can he know them. What then must we do to know God in a soul-saving way? We must call on the help of God's Spirit. Paul never saw his own blindness until a light shone from heaven in Acts 9:3. God must anoint our eyes before we can see — why else would Christ have told Laodicea to come to Him for eye salve, as Revelation 3:18 says, if she could already see on her own? Let us beg for the Spirit, who is a Spirit of revelation, as Ephesians 1:17 says. Saving knowledge does not come by study alone but by divine inspiration. Job 32:8: The inspiration of the Almighty gives understanding.

Cassian writes of a man named Theodore who shone with remarkable knowledge of the Scriptures — knowledge that came not so much from diligent study as from the grace of the Holy Spirit, since he could barely understand or speak even a few words of the Greek language. This account, as Acosta notes, is not meant to make us despise human effort in study, but to make clear that by the gift of the divine Spirit, a person can sometimes understand the Scriptures in a saving way through simple reading more than another might achieve with a great library of commentaries.

We may form excellent ideas about God and theology, but the Holy Spirit must enable us to know them in a spiritual way. A person may see the markings on a sundial, but cannot tell the time of day unless the sun is shining. We may read many truths in the Bible, but we cannot know them in a saving way until God's Spirit shines on us. 1 Corinthians 2:10: The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. Scripture shows us Christ, but the Spirit reveals Christ within us, as Galatians 1:16 says. The Spirit makes known what the whole world cannot reveal — the personal sense of God's love.

Application 3. You who have this saving, sanctifying knowledge growing in you — give God thanks for it. This is the heavenly anointing. The most beautiful objects cannot be seen in the dark, but when light appears, every flower shines in its natural beauty. So while people remain in the midnight of their natural state, the beauty of holiness is hidden from them — but when the light of the Spirit comes in a saving way, those truths they once ignored now appear in such glorious brightness that they are carried away with wonder and love.

Thank God, you saints, that He has removed your spiritual blindness and allowed you to see what natural eyesight could never reveal. How thankful Christ was to His Father for this very thing! Matthew 11:25: I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. How much should you marvel at free grace — that God has not only brought the light to you, but given you eyes to see it! That He has enabled you to know the truth as it is in Jesus, as Ephesians 4:21 says. That He has opened not only the eye of your understanding, but the eye of your conscience. This is a mercy you can never be sufficiently thankful for — that God has so enlightened you that you will not sleep the sleep of death.