God’s Way Bible Study
THREE LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES, Part 3
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Listening to the Holy Spirit is the difference between being informed and being transformed.
Transformation happens as we obey the instructions we are given and practice what we learn.
Luke 17:11-19 NLT As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. [12] As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, [13] crying out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" [14] He looked at them and said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.
Knowledge without obedience is sinful.
James 4:17 ESV So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Persistent disobedience in spite of knowledge could even be demonic.
James 2:19 NLT You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.
God’s ultimate goal for us is transformation: who we become, and not merely what we know or have or even do.
Romans 8:29 KJ21 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
When we truly have spiritual understanding, we will not need to prove anything to anybody. If we truly have spiritual understanding, we will just live, and our lives will produce fruits that are consistent with our understanding.
John 1:12 NLT But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
Luke 6:40 ESV A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
Luke 6:40 NLT Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.
A Heart Like His
If we have true spiritual understanding, it will show.
Not only will our conduct and behavior look like God, but our hearts will look like His.
Men who see our conduct will glory our Father in heaven. But men can be fooled. We can gain enough understanding to act Christian, to fake it and fool everybody, including ourselves. But God cannot be mocked. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.
God knows those who have truly gained a heart of wisdom. Their hearts look like His. He called David, “a man after His own heart.”
1 Samuel 13:13-14 NLT "How foolish!" Samuel exclaimed. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. Had you kept it, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. [14] But now your kingdom must end, for the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart. The LORD has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command."
Acts 13:22 NKJV And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.'
It goes beyond conduct. It is who we become.
Trying to show spiritual maturity is not only unnecessary, it is actually suspicious.
There is nothing worse than trying to act Christian when one is not a Christian. It is hypocritical.
At the heart of hypocrisy is a deliberate attempt to deceive. A hypocrite knows who he is, but he wants benefits that are entitled to someone different than himself, so he puts on a mask to appear like that other person.
Practice hypocrisy long enough and you will end up confused and start believing your own lie.
Risks at Every Level
We identified the dangers we face at the two previous levels.
At the first level, at which we gain a literal understanding, our risk is falling into intellectual pride.
When we get to the next level where we have spiritual insight, we run the risk of adopting a sanctimonious, holier-than-thou attitude. This is spiritual pride and it is more reprehensible than intellectual pride.
Pride goes before a fall. When the intellectually proud fall, they face serious embarrassment, may be loss of social standing and income.
1 Corinthians 8:1-3 ESV Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." This "knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up. [2] If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. [3] But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
1 Corinthians 8:1-3 NLT Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that "we all have knowledge" about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. [2] Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much. [3] But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.
When a person falls into spiritual pride, he alienates himself from the people he is supposed to help; he becomes hyper-self-interested. He will resist God's gentle, fatherly corrections.
Proverbs 29:1 ESV He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
Eventually, God will have to oppose him.
James 4:6,10 ESV
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
[10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
1 Peter 5:6 NKJV Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
God knows, yet He cares.
The risks at each of these levels seem unavoidable because of fallen human nature. We often seem to think that falling is inevitable but I would not be a true representative of God if I fail to contradict that.
God is able to keep us from falling.
He will warn us before we fall. He will go to great lengths to keep us from falling. He will make a donkey talk sense to us. If we heed, if we humble ourselves, He will make sure we never fall.
Jude 1:24 NLT Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.
Jude 1:24 NKJV Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
Romans 14:4 NKJV Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
Romans 14:4 NLT Who are you to condemn someone else's servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord's help, they will stand and receive his approval.
God wants to keep us from falling
Not only is god able to keep us from falling, he actually wants to keep us from falling.
Exodus 20:20 NLT "Don't be afraid," Moses answered them, "for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!"
1 John 2:1 LSB My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
But God knows our frame, so He gently corrects us each time we fall.
If we are humble, if we are teachable, God gently breaks our fall, so that we do not crash and burn.
After they fall, God restores the humble.
He restores us time and again, but only if we are humble.
Proverbs 24:16 NLT The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.
There is no better example of God’s restoration after a catastrophic fall than David.
The story of David is the story of persistent Grace.
His story has a prologue and an epilogue, written by Grace.
The last son of his father, David was chosen to be king only by Grace.
Grace sent David to the battlefront at the time Goliath was boasting.
Grace directed David’s stone to the only unprotected part of Goliath's body .
Against all odds, David made it to the throne as king over a united nation, only by grace.
By Grace, David had a reign that was stellar, becoming the standard by which all kings were measured.
When David fell, and he fell badly, God's grace restored him.
Only Grace can account for Jesus going by the name, Son of David.
The Fall of the Man After God's Heart
Let's not make light of falling, just because of the availability of restoration. While it’s true that God will not allow us to be utterly destroyed, there is still a price to pay. Just ask King David.
After his sin with Bathsheba, he repented. God forgave him. God did not reject him. God did not remove him or his children from the throne, but the drama of heartaches he and his whole family faced should serve as a grave warning to all of us.
(Incest, rape, family feud, fraticide, fugitive status, coup d'etat, attempted regicide, rebellion, displacement and refugee status, dishonor and shame are a few of the consequences of David’s sin.)
Eventually, God restored him, but his family life was never the same again. There were two empty chairs at every family reunion, constant reminders of what happens when we play with fire.
Pride: The Gift That Keeps On Taking
Someone may think that they would never stop as low as David, taking another man's wife and making arrangements to have the man killed. But we have to remember that David's horrible sin started with unchecked pride.
2 Samuel 11:1-2 ESV In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. [2] It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.
At this point in his life, David was very accomplished.
His enemy King Saul had been killed in battle.
He was first made King over Judah. This sparked a long civil war in Israel.
He prevailed in the civil war over the house of Saul.
He was eventually crowned king over all the 12 tribes.
After securing peace domestically, he had turned his attention to foreign enemies.
He had gained victory in battle over all his enemies, including the Philistines, the Syrians and the Ammonites.
He had expanded the borders of Israel significantly.
He had established Jerusalem, which he won from the Jebusites, as the City of David.
He had successfully brought back the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.
He had attempted to build a house for God, but God disallowed him. Instead God entered a covenant with him, promising to build him an everlasting house.
At this point in his life, David was well established. When we are established is usually our most vulnerable time. The enemy, who had plans for him, had appealed to his pride. At the time when kings went to war, David was so secure he neither saw the need to go personally, nor did we read that he inquired of the Lord. This was pride. Instead of inquiring of the Lord as he always did, this time he leaned on his own understanding and did not allow the Lord to direct his path.
He made the worst decision of his entire life. The decisions that have the most catastrophic consequences often seem small and innocuous at the time. He sent the boys and he stayed home. An idle hand is the devil's workshop. Failing to perform his God-appointed duty, the devil found him something else to do.
We have to deal with and overcome our pride at each stage before we can proceed to the next. A failure to humble oneself is the reason why many of us are stuck at whatever level we are. We want to go to the next stage but pride is a very strong miry clay that keeps one from ascending to the rock. In that miry clay, there is no foothold, no ladder to get to the next level. Only God takes one up there.
Psalm 40:1-2 NKJV I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. [2] He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps
If we constantly humble ourselves before the Lord, we have no risks whatsoever.
If we present ourselves as ever. humble before the Lord, because we love Him, there is no risk, no danger, nothing that can separate us from His love. He promised to keep us, and we know in Whom we have believed, and we are persuaded that He is able to keep what we commit into His hands until that Day day of Jesus. (2 Timothy 1:12 NKJV)
Humility is not a fixed condition, but repeated action.
Humility is not a permanent state of being. It is a frequent, preferably daily emptying of ourselves. Unless we are fasting, we eat daily. If we are to be healthy, we also need frequent bowel movements.
God blesses us constantly. Pride causes spiritual constipation, making us full of ourselves. Humbling ourselves is the spiritual version of bowel movement of humbling ourselves daily. When we humble ourselves, we empty ourselves of self-will, a proud look, a high opinion of ourselves. We will have many opportunities to humble ourselves daily. If we fail to take them we will become so constipated that God will have to oppose us. How does God oppose? He stops feeding us, but instead gives us a laxative. Spiritual laxative often goes to work at very inconvenient times, leading to serious embarrassment. Some people still do not learn their lesson until they are utterly destroyed.
Romans 8:1-2 NKJV There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. [2] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:35-39 NKJV Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [36] As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." [37] Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. [38] For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, [39] nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Galatians 5:22-26 NKJV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. [24] And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25] If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. [26] Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Jude 1:24 NKJV Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
All-sufficient Grace
We must all grow through these three levels. We can’t skip any level. The God of all grace has supplied us with everything we need to help us go through the process successfully.
We have God, the Father Himself, who speaks the Word.
We have the Son, the Word, who teaches, instructs, corrects and reproves us.
We have the Holy Spirit, our Resident Teacher, and Guide, who leads us into all truth.
We have gifts the Holy Spirit gave us, the body of Christ, in the persons of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
We have the fruit of the Holy Spirit which He is gently, slowly, with our cooperation cultivating in us.
Conclusion:
As we study in the word of God, it is necessary for us to gain a literary understanding. That understanding must not contradict the understanding of the original audience.
A sound literary understanding gives us a solid footing for correct spiritual discernment of the truth, which is deeper or higher understanding.
The evidence that we have correctly divided the word will be the fruits of our lives, not merely in the smoothness of our talk.
We present ourselves by making time for God to teach us.
We humble ourselves by acknowledging that we need help to understand what we have read and studied.
We will know we are learning, when we begin to see our lives being transformed, not by our own efforts, but by the power of God.
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