Opening Prayer
Lord, enlighten us so that we receive the wonders of Your testimony!
Text: First Corinthians 2:9-13
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Devotion
No, it is certain these things are not conceived in any human heart. Never in all eternity could a human being imagine what God’s Word teaches us about salvation in Christ and the glory that awaits the believers. This counsel of wisdom which so gloriously unites love and righteousness and changes our deep fall into the highest salvation – by the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the only-begotten Son; this eternal thought of mercy that destroyed the worlds and fills heaven with saved mankind: could such things originate anywhere but in God’s own heart? “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1Co 2:14). How could these things originate from human beings? Ask the world’s wisest person if he thinks the Bible’s teaching of salvation is rational, if he could come up with such a plan from his own mind! But what does not originate in any man’s heart, and what is and remains hidden to the fleshly-minded, that God has revealed to His faithful and reveals it more and more to each of them. The treasure of the kingdom of heaven is given to us from Jesus in His Church’s Means of Grace; in the apostolic word the mysteries of grace are revealed; but the worldly do not understand what is spiritual. The good things of God’s house that can make one eternally rich and happy are right before their eyes, but they do not see them. The Gospel sounds in their ears, but just as one who is completely tone-deaf hears the most beautiful music without enjoying any of its beauty, so the worldly comprehend nothing of the content of the Gospel. Only God’s Spirit Himself can teach us to understand God’s Word and to know what is given by God. You must follow these three rules: 1) Read and hear the Word faithfully and be willing to learn. 2) Pray without ceasing that the Holy Spirit may enlighten you; and hold on to His promise to do this (Luke 11:9-13). 3) Obey the Word from your heart, as far as you understand it. Then you shall surely receive new light in your soul and see your own need and poverty, but you shall also see the glory that is given us in Christ.
Closing Prayer
God, Holy Spirit, let your beams shine on our heart, we pray You sincerely in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hymn
The day of Pentecost is here;
Come, Holy Spirit, God of Cheer,
Who with the Father and the Son
Is God eternal, Three in One.
O God triune, strong grace impart
Into my sinful, death-bound heart,
That it a temple blest may be
Prepared and holy made, for Thee.
Come, Holy Ghost, and witness bear
That I with Christ new life shall share,
And that I know no other name
To save my soul from guilt and shame.
O Counselor of truth and light,
Teach me to know my Lord aright,
That from the way of faith I may
In sunless vales of death not stray.
Blest Spirit of my God and Lord,
Preserve me in Thy way and word,
Anoint me with Thy fire and breath,
Console me in the hour of death.
Kingo: Nu nærmer sig vor Pinsefest L 421:6.9.10; We substitute: 1.2.3.4.10 tr. J. C. Aaberg;
tune: Vom Himmel hoch (ELH 123); alternate hymn: Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word ELH 1