Sunday School Lesson 42: INCREASING IN SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE

MEMORY VERSE: Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39

BIBLE PASSAGE: Proverbs 2:1-11

In the previous lesson we learnt about the desire of every maturing Christian to know more about the mysteries of God. The mysteries of salvation, of the bride of Christ, of godliness, of future life and of the incarnation of Jesus Christ are not taught to babies. To know these mysteries and similar ones requires that one should develop a close intimate personal daily walk with Christ. The resultant effect of this is that one will love Him more and glorify Him alone. Today, we shall be studying on how to increase in our spiritual knowledge in some details.

How can we know the mysteries of eternal life? Jesus Christ Himself gives a clue: “Search the scriptures,” Jn. 5:39. Searching is indeed a way of obtaining spiritual knowledge since the scripture is the word of God 2 Tim.3:16. God has a purpose in causing His word to be put down in writing Ps.68:11.

One of the reasons God caused His word to be written down is so that those who truly desire to know more about Him may search the scriptures and discover Him Rom.15:4. One of the things they will learn as they search the scriptures is that God is a consuming fire Heb. 12:29 and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God Heb. 10:31. Consequently, they will learn to fear Him Deut. 17:19. This will lead them to the path of wisdom, since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Diligently searching the scriptures makes one wise 2Tim. 3:15. This in turn makes one become well equipped to bear spiritual fruits Jam. 3:17 which are necessary for abiding in Christ. Abiding in Christ enables c know Christ the more, and as we learnt last week, to know Christ is to know all. Moreover, those who search the scriptures will be one to protected from going astray from the truth Matt. 22:29.

A higher step than searching the scriptures is seeking after the truth. Searching may be done lightly, superficially, but seeking implies a very serious and determined search as if one is looking for a hidden treasure Prov. 2:3-5. Seeking surely brings good result. In fact, those seeking after spiritual knowledge cannot remain ignorant for long because the Bible says that only men of understanding e do any serious seeking Prov. 15:14. Many people of faith consider faith to be enough, but the scriptures encourage even those of ever faith to seek even much deeper knowledge in His word 2 Pet. 1:5. In fact, we are encouraged to spend not only our time but our money also in our quest for spiritual knowledge. We are to invest financial resources to obtain it if need be Prov. 23:23. The joy it brings is priceless Prov. 3:13.

There are so much scriptural heresies and errors being circulated around the world today being paraded as truth 2Cor. 11:14. Even when you think that you have found the truth, it will be worth your while to study and search out the truth in order to be sure it is divine truth. Studying the Scriptures involves analysing it, comparing scriptures with scriptures, rightly dividing the word of truth. This may consume time, but its reward is ‘divine approval’ 2Tim 2:15. Also, the more you study the truth, the easier it will be for you to live holy day by day Ps. 119:9 because our souls are being constantly purified by obeying the truth 1 Pet. 1:22

 In the search for spiritual knowledge, we begin to see why others failed and learn from their errors 1 Cor. 10:11.