Break on through to the deep things

“I try to say to you about the Christian life, it might LOOK like a good work and yet be produced by the energy of the flesh,” says Jordan. “It might LOOK like just the right thing; the issue is where does it come from? That’s THE issue.

“You don’t know how many times I’ve sat with people and they come to their senses and begin to ‘recover themselves,’ like Paul talks about, and it’s just like, ‘Oh, man, I just forgot about . . .’ You see, you just get disoriented to who you really are.

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“The whole purpose of reversionism is to have your emotions running your life and you live under the tyranny of them.

“Notice how Paul describes these people and their recovery process in II Timothy 2. In verse 25 he says, ‘[25] In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

“I love that definition. What are they doing? They’re literally OPPOSING themselves. They are living opposite of who they really are! This guy here is trying to live one way when God made him another way.

“Verse 26 says, [26] And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.' That’s it!

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“Remember back when you got saved? I see it happen around here all the time. Somebody gets saved and they’re just so excited; they’re going to ‘set the woods on fire.’ You remember the old Hank Williams song?

"They’re going to go out and live for God, but you know what they run into? Romans 7. You don’t have to know anything about the Book of Romans but you are going to hit Romans 7 in your experience. I don’t care what happens, it just comes.

"You get battered and bloodied and all of a sudden you’re defeated and it’s, ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’

“The first thing you need to do is learn by heart and memorize the first 11 verses of Romans 5. It will make all the difference in the world. You learn how to handle your problems on the basis of who you are in Christ and on the basis of understanding the reality of what’s going on.

“Once you learn the first six chapters of Romans, you’re ready to deal with the Romans 7 experience, but NOT before. You understand you’re free from your need to perform on your own, and you’re ready for it just to be Christ living in you and not about you doing it. That’s the whole issue in Romans 7.

“You get to chapter 8 and he reminds you, ‘Hey, when you walk in your wisdom it doesn’t work, but if you walk in the wisdom of God it will.’

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“The mind is a function of your spirit. Your heart is a description of the mentality of your soul. Your brain is in your body, but you know there’s a difference between the physical brain and the thinking process that goes on in your mindset.

“Paul warns in Ephesians 4:17, ‘This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.’

“The unsaved man walks around with a mind like a vacuum cleaner, constantly sucking up things. The mentality of the spirit is to pull in.

“Have you ever wondered why Oprah Winfrey is always one of the most successful business women in America? I mean, what is it of any tangible value that she’s producing? Nothing like GM or IBM. She’s producing stuff that people’s minds just suck in.

“The satanic system Paul talks about where he says the man is ‘tossed to and fro,’ the mind of that man sucks in human viewpoint. It’s reactionary legalism (Genesis 3), mental-attitude sins and the emphasis of the details of life and total self-preoccupation. One of these leads to the next.

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“Paul writes in I Corinthians 2:9, [9] But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

“In this verse, Paul talks about the three ways you can know something. By the eye, or empiricism, the ear (rationalism or figuring it out on the basis of reason) and then revelation. God can reveal the thing to you, as in verse 10: [10] But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

“Notice the description of the things of God in verse 10. ‘The Spirit searcheth all things.’ That is, He knows everything there is to know. He’s not talking about how the Spirit doesn’t know what’s going on so he looks into it. He’s talking about how there’s nothing held back from what the Spirit of God understands and knows.

“David says to God, ‘Search me and know me. Try me and see if there be any evil way.’ He isn’t saying God doesn’t know what’s in his heart. He’s saying, ‘Come down here and know me and look and see and examine.’ Not as someone who doesn’t know, but as someone who DOES know.

“The spiritual man can personally, experientially enter into all things--‘yea, the deep things of God.’ He knows the doctrines of God inside and out; he even knows the deep things of God. When Paul’s talking about deep things, he’s talking about mystery truth. He calls them that because they’re hidden things and not known.

“Notice how this word ‘deep’ is used in Psalm 92: ‘[5] O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
[6] A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.

“The idea there is a brutish man, a natural man, can’t know them. For a thought to be deep, the idea there is that it’s unknown. It’s not understood by others. They’re hidden thoughts. They’re thoughts that are kept back and not made known.

“The mystery truth is that God kept some things secret and hid in Himself so that no one else could know them. They were tremendous in their value and scope but it was also hidden wisdom.

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“Romans 11 says, ‘[33] O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
[34] For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller?
[35] Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

“Paul has just spent 11 chapters writing down, delineating, and explaining the judgments and the ways of God. He’s just spent all the previous part of Romans revealing to you the MIND of the Lord.

“In I Corinthians 2, the last verse says, ‘[16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

“Where do you have it? In the Word of God. Folks, you wouldn’t know the depth of them if they weren’t revealed to you. You ever thought about that?! You would just SUSPECT that they must be deep, big and wonderful.

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“In your Bible, there’s not only the deep things of God; there’s another system of deep things. In the first two chapters of II Corinthians is the conflict between divine viewpoint and human viewpoint. More than that, though, between divine viewpoint and ‘the wisdom of the princes of this world which God’s wisdom has brought to nought.’

“The program of the Adversary is referred to in Revelation 2:24: [24] But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.

“Notice, the depths of Satan is associated with a doctrine. There is a wisdom and a set of principles, programs and plans and philosophy that are described in the Bible, not as ‘the deep things of God,’ but rather as the deep things of the Adversary.

“It’s his agenda, his program, his plans, his purposes, his personality, and what he is seeking to accomplish. It has to do with a doctrine.”