Psalm 42

THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD: PART II

"The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." 1 Corinthians 2: 10-11

Through neglect or fear, we must remind ourselves this morning that the Holy Spirit is our divine source of strength and guidance. The Holy Spirit must be invited into our thoughts as a welcomed friend if one is to truly be in reception of a Sanctified Imagination, not only for the purpose of fellowship with God but, as well, in fulfillment of the Divine call to speak truth to power and to give prophetic witness in this rapidly deteriorating unholy and unsanctified world.

And we must be mindful that in cultivating the deep things of God, the Spirit might tell us that some of our thoughts are too closed and do not allow for our mental and spiritual growth, that some of our thoughts in seeking to preserve the past actually impede the Spirit’s work in and through our lives because they block the new visions -- new ideas -- new directions, which the Spirit has come to bring for our future.

Some thoughts are in need of being exorcised because they carry with them an element of the demonic. We are reminded that Satan did enter into Judas, as well as Simon Peter. And our Lord had to rebuke the demonic in Peter, saying, "Get behind me, Satan, for your thought honors not the things of God."

The verses of our theme: "But God revealed it through this Spirit, for the Spirit explores all things, even the deep things of God."

Verses 10 -16 stress the importance of the Holy Spirit in revealing the wisdom of God. One in fact cannot receive God's revelation of Jesus Christ as savior without the Holy Spirit. The believer cannot bear any type of spiritual fruit without the presence of the Spirit. We cannot perform any task in the name of Jesus in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, lest the Spirit enable us to do so. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

There are deep and intimate things in God which only the Holy Spirit knows, and the Holy Spirit is the only one who can lead us into discovering, receiving, and understanding the deep things of God. It is only through periodic renewal and recovery of spiritual depth, in and through our relationship to the Holy Spirit, that we will experience change in our personal lives as well as in our churches and the church’s ability to prophetically witness to Jesus Christ with demonstrable power.

How does the Holy Spirit serve the purposes of God to renew our awareness of "What thus saith the Lord of Hosts" and give us the anointing as it did for Paul with unanswerable demonstration?

"I came to you in weakness and fear, and much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with demonstration of the Spirit's power."

It was the relationship that brought the Spirit's power. Do we believe this morning that irrespective of the aging of our churches the Holy Spirit has a way of giving old soldiers renewed vitality, that like Moses old saints can have clear vision to see what God is yet doing and support what God wants to do in new and fresh ways ... until the Spirit sends more recruits?

The Deep Things of God. Dr. Julius Scruggs, author of the book God Is Faithful, suggests, "One of the greatest needs of the modern Christian church is for its disciples to swim away from the shallow banks of peripheral Christian living and plunge into the deep waters of faith and loyalty to God." The church is in need of a deep encounter with the Holy Spirit. We need this deep encounter with the Holy Spirit, because I believe the Spirit refuses to share the Deep Things of God with those who prefer a shallow relationship with him. May the Lord shed some light on this theme as we consider it from another perspective, on a more personal level.

The author of Psalm 42 found himself in a predicament which caused him to raise deep questions about life. He discovered that shallow answers did not satisfy him. In verse 7 he exclaims: "Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me." This man was in deep trouble. Some suggest it was the waves of a deep depression, as a result of some circumstance in life. Biblical scholars suggest that he was depressed because he was living in exile somewhere in the region of Mt. Hermon. His enemies taunted him, "If your God is so great, why doesn’t he help you?"

Even when the Psalmist tried to sleep at night, the loud splashing and clashing of waterfalls resulting from melting snows from Mt. Hermon reminded him of the turmoil in his own soul. The sound of his soul's depression began to sound like the splashing mountain waterfall. In fact he shouted in vs. 3: "My tears have been my meat day and night, while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’ "

The psalmist was having tears for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He was drowning in his own tears, drowning in the deep of depression. Well, this Psalmist did a remarkable thing. He did what all saints of God do who possess deep faith. He allowed his soul to go deep into a serious talk with God. He went deeper into his relationship with the Lord. When the predicament is deep, somehow God uses it to inspire us, to dive deeper into our relationship with him. Amen. Deep does call to Deep.

He allowed the deep in him to call to the deep of the universe -- God. For the Psalmist believed that if deep calls to deep, then deep will answer deep. If people call God in deep fellowship with God, even when we seem to be almost swallowed up by deep waters, the deep in God will reach out to the deep in us. I wish I knew how to make it plain. In the deepest trouble, the Psalmist calls out to the deepest source of help.

Let me put it this way. When we have deep questions, we have to go deep in order to find the answers. Shallow answers are not sufficient. When we feel deep hurts and deep longings, surface cures or superficial remedies -- Band Aid cures -- will not satisfy. Deep has a way of calling to deep.

Harry Emerson Fosdick learned this fact while he was a young man. Toward the end of his senior year at Union Theological Seminary in New York, he had a nervous breakdown. He had to be confined to a sanitarium in order to recuperate. It was there, in that confinement, that Fosdick said he learned to pray. He allowed the deep in him to call to the deep in the universe, who is God. He allowed the deep in his broken and exhausted mental state to reach out to the deep of God's all-sufficient love and mercy.

What was the result? Fosdick discovered a relationship with God which he had never before experienced. The deep in God rebuilt the deep in Fosdick. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the life of Harry Emerson Fosdick, but he was pastor of the historic Riverside Church in New York. He is considered to be one of the most prolific preachers, scholars, and prophets of the twentieth century. The Church and the world have been blessed because of his deep and abiding relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Yet Fosdick would not have become who he became without a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit. Deep calls to deep. You don’t have to have your name on the cover of Time magazine, as did Harry Emerson Fosdick. One does not have to have a nervous breakdown to go deeper in the Lord. But a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit produces deep saints in the Lord. For the Spirit reveals the deep things of God to those who are invested in a deep relationship with the Spirit. Those who seek to cultivate deep relationships with the Holy Spirit become fountains of blessing in the ministry of the Spirit. Deep calls to deep.

Yes, it is a basic truth in God's universe that deep calls to deep. Deep needs and deep longings are satisfied only by deep sources and resources. For example, fresh, thirst-quenching water is found in deep wells. Not shallow ponds. Oil, "black gold", is found by drilling deep into the earth; it is not found scratching on the top of the ground like a chicken. Coal, a valuable mineral, is found by digging deep into the earth's layers, not by pawing on its surface. The best diamonds, I am told, are found deep in the earth. Big fish are not caught in shallow ponds; rather they are caught in deep water in the deep sea, in the oceans. Big ships and barges carrying huge cargoes cannot move in shallow streams; they must sail in deep seas, oceans, and rivers.

Having said all of this, yet it seems many of our churches are driven by everything but a deep intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. I don't know, maybe we spend too much time on our money, our traditions, our position papers, our programs, and our buildings, driven by our busyness.

Have we gotten ourselves, as the church, into a dysfunctional relationship with the Holy Spirit? I mean, the church says it is depending upon the Holy Spirit, and yet are we Holy Spirit shy?

We want to put the Holy Spirit on a stop watch. We want the blessings of the Spirit's presence without a deep sense of personal purity. The old church used to call it being Holy and Sanctified. We want power without a significant prayer life, vision without studying to show ourselves approved, blessing without sacrifice. I wish I knew how to make it plain. Title and position without service.

I don't know how you are feeling at this very moment, but I am convinced and convicted that the Holy Spirit is telling me I have not gone deep enough in my relationship with Him. Deep calls to deep. That what ails we might be experiencing in personal life and the concerns we all have about our churches require a deep, lasting, intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, Who alone is able to equip, renew, and revive with unanswerable demonstrable power.

Yes,

Spirit of the living God, Fall afresh on me;

Spirit of the living God, Fall afresh on me.

Melt me, mold me, Fill me, use me.

Spirit of the living God, Fall afresh on me."

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