By Wendell Tenison
LESSON FOUR: AT THE CROSSROADS
A TIME FOR DECISION:
The child has now reached the age of accountability and must make a decision to serve God or not. We would be fanciful to think that all children even would consider making a decision like this. In the first place, the vast majority don't even know anything about God. In the second place, many think they know what God demands, but are totally ignorant of his requirements. In the third place, many have been taught error concerning God's commands and are led astray. In the fourth place, very few really know the truth of God about the conditions of salvation. Regardless of their status, God holds all responsible for their own actions, Acts 17:30.
Who can say if the child becomes aware of sin overnight, or if there is a gradual change that takes place in his life. We can be sure that God knows. Thousands are taught at an early age that God is good, there is a heaven, there are angels, etc. This does not automatically qualify one to enter into the grace of God at accountability. I have seen this over and over again where a child has such a good attitude toward God, but when he becomes aware of the appetites of the flesh he makes a complete about face.
The spirit of man ranks among the highest in difficulty to understand, but God has shown us many things from the scriptures and we should not hesitate to exploit them.
THE SPIRIT BECOMES MORE AGGRESSIVE:
(James 4:5) "Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?"
Here James is talking to Christian people showing some of the bumps in the road that we must overcome. However, it is my belief that Satan marshals his forces of evil against the one who is considering obedience to God at accountability and really turns it on when one does obey God. Some believe that spirit in this verse means the Holy Spirit. If we stopped our lesson here there may be an argument. I have never read anything in the scripture that even hints that the Holy Spirit lusts. However, the balance of this lesson will prove beyond any doubt that reference is made to our spirit. Does our spirit really lust to envy as we have just read? Absolutely!
(Ps.106:30) "Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips"
In one of our recent class periods where I worship, we studied about the tongue in the book of James. Our preacher made a very good point that since the tongue cannot be tamed we certainly can control it. As we shall see just a little later, our heart controls our spirit and our spirit controls our tongue. When a little child says things that are not godly, sometimes the parent will threaten or actually wash their mouth out with soap, or put a piece of tape over it. They certainly got the message, but this is treating symptoms and not the cause. Far too many medical doctors only treat the symptom and not the cause, such as removing the tumor and then it will pop up somewhere else. In this case the cause is the heart, but we know that little children must be taught and are not responsible. By our spirit we make verbally known the wishes of the heart and also the spirit. Can the spirit work independently of the heart? Absolutely! It not only can, but does if we do not keep it in check. I care not to prove again that the heart is the nerve center for quality control, for it would require much time and many pages.
(Prov.16:32; 25:28) "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city......................He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls."
This is the sum of what we have been talking about. A city without walls was ripe for anyone who wanted to take it. So it is with us if we do not control our spirit; Satan can have a field day and do as he pleases.
(Job 15:13; 32:18) "That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth.........For I am full of matter (words), the spirit within me constraineth me."
We come back again to the tongue and the control of the tongue. The heart set the spirit against God by way of unholy words. It is evident that the heart can cause the spirit to do good or evil. In the latter verse, Elihu could not contain himself any longer when his heart overruled his spirit in not letting him speak.
THE INTELLECT OF THE SPIRIT:
(1Cor.2:11) "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."
(Prov.20:27) "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly."
What an eye opener! The spirit of man is knowledgeable and cognizant of the man in whom he possess. The belly here means the spiritual heart and not the fleshly body. The spirit of man is the lamp or the light of the Lord to convey any and all data regarding the man. In computer language the spirit of man is the "link" to God. How many things does our spirit know about us? The answer is obvious, everything. As I have said before, so say I again, spirits are kindred. There is nothing in the scripture that forbids the Holy Spirit of God from communicating with our spirit. Thanks be to God for these three key verses which unlock the understanding of how God knows us, declares the power of the spirit within us and brings to light how we communicate with him.
Our access to God is by the Holy Spirit as our intercessor and of course, Christ makes intercession for us also, Rom.8:26-27; Eph.2:18; Rom.8:34; Heb.7:25. I do not know how many languages and dialects there are in the world; it is my belief that the Holy Spirit converts all prayers of the saints into one language to present to God. Not only does he do that, but they are perfectly translated. Another thing the Holy Spirit does in regard to prayer, is that he can accurately unscramble the thoughts where many times we have a hard time expressing ourselves.
To sum it up, our prayer goes from our heart to our spirit, from our spirit to the Holy Spirit, and then to God. However, Christ is also our intercessor and the same process is followed. It is either this way or the prayers taken by the Holy Spirit ultimately go through Christ. It is beyond my scope of understanding to determine the definite route they take. Likewise, anything coming from God would follow the order in reverse. Before anyone gets too hasty about the fact that God does not communicate with man in any form other than the bible, he should read James 1:5. God said he would give us wisdom and that is final; but, the question is how? It is by his "spirit of wisdom" that we have already discussed.
(Rom.8:16) "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."
This by no means is saying, that we are taught the things of God apart from his word, which has been revealed by the Holy Spirit, 1Cor.2:9-16.
THE AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
(Rom.7:7-11) "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet..............But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead....................For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died...........And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death..................For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
The apostle Paul declares his situation as a Jewish child reaching the age of accountability. As we all know Jews were the children of God by natural birth. Paul did not escape his accountability to God by reason of being born into the family of God. There were sacrifices commanded under the law for sin. Paul was simply saying, that as a child sin was not a problem, but when the commandment came, sin revived and he died, that is, spiritually. Jewish children were taught the commandments from a very early age, so when did the commandment come? When he was old enough to realize he was committing sin.
The same is true with children today, except they are not subject to the law of Moses to any degree. Then to what law are they subject? They are subject to the law of God from the beginning of time. They are not subject to the law of Christ, Rom.8:7, because they are not in his kingdom. At accountability, sin enters the child, that is, he has transgressed God's original law. To get back into the grace of God, he must obey the Lord Jesus Christ by being born again into his kingdom.
The greatest thing that man in general could do for himself is to forget about the Law of Moses as being subject to it. On the other hand, man would do well to understand that several of God's laws dating back to creation are still binding upon all men. It is not the consensus of the world, or those in the church for that matter to believe that there are any of God's original laws that apply to man today.
TRY THE SPIRITS:
(1Jn.4:1) "BELOVED, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
We know that John was talking to adult members of the church of Christ. John made an association between spirits and false teachers as being the same. I care not to prove this here and now, but Satan can only communicate his doctrine (which is not his doctrine, but the word of God perverted) to men by way of man's spirit. How else can Satan work through man except through his spirit? We have already learned that man's spirit is intelligent, that is, it has knowledge and understanding.
What does this verse have to do with a child reaching the age of accountability? The chances for a young adult to try spirits and to know what is true and false is slim to none. This is why our Lord said to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Children are very impressionable at this age and woe to them who mislead them.
THE CALL OF THE WORLD:
Nearly all sins fall within these three categories: the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life, 1Jn.2:16. Eve committed all three at one time in the garden, Gen.3:6. At the age of accountability sin reigns in the mortal body, Rom.8:2. Man will give an account of his deeds regardless of what law he lived under, whether it was under the laws to the patriarchs, the Jewish nation, those not of Jewish descent, those under the law of Christ, or those not subject to his law. The call of the world weighs heavy upon the lost soul and beckons to the sinner not to return to God where he once was in the grace of God. Those who were once in the grace of God as little children are typical of those in the kingdom of heaven.