The Fundamental Blog

I believe that we are called upon as Christians to be the salt and light to the world that is spoken of in The Sermon on the Mount. As the faithful, our duty is to stand fast upholding the truth and proclaiming God’s gift of grace, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, to all the world. So then, what is our message? How do we know what to proclaim? How do we know that the basis of our proclamations is genuine? More to the point, where are you getting your information? For most of us, I pray, we are looking to the word of God to learn what we are to be doing for the kingdom in the life we are being allowed to live out. But for some, reading the Bible is still only a goal that has yet to be conquered.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2Tim. 2:15. What is it to, “rightly divide,” the word of truth? There are many people, far too many, who simply believe what they are told as long as it doesn’t conflict with the moral traditions within which they were raised. These people have not actually read the Word of God for themselves, but rather, depend on the opinions of various expositors to tell them what it says. These expositors may be well known writers, friends, relatives, pastors, deacons and elders or various others who seem to sound as though they know what they are talking about. And they may. But how do you know the truth if you have not read it for yourself?

I must begin by stating emphatically that I am not trying to take anything away from the sound teaching that is often delivered by many of the worlds best theologians and scholars. I myself, read Spurgeon, Tozer, McDowell, Stanley, Sproul, and many others because I find that the way these people present scriptural truth puts a handle on things that oftentimes makes the meaning easier to grasp. But having meaning with an easily graspable handle is useless if it is not Biblically sound, and the only way to know that is to know what the Bible says. What I am trying to get at here is that too many people are reading books about the Bible but NOT reading the Bible itself!

In Acts 17 we find that the Bereans were considered to be of a more noble character because they searched out the scriptures to see if the things that Paul said were true. This is also my admonition to you on my home page, that you verify that what I write aligns with the scriptures. As much as I want you to consider the things I write to be true and accurate, I beg of you; Please, don’t take my word for it, check the scriptures and for the sake of holiness, if you ever find fault with the things I say, tell me! Are there reliable writings dealing with Godly issues that can help a person in their walk with Christ? Of course there are, and I hope that you prove to your selves that mine are within this group also. But these writings are not enough by themselves.

The Bible can be twisted to seem to contain meanings that are only viable if scripture is taken out of context, or taken in fragments which ignore the surrounding verses. I can prove that there is no God at all by using Isaiah 44:6. It clearly says that there is no God. In order to make the case though, I have to ignore the preceding words, “… apart from me …” There are a lot of questionable teachings floating around in theological circles that seem to hold water, as long as you don’t look at them too closely. One of the more prominent ones is the, “Give-to-Get,” viewpoint that says you should send in all your money because if you give it away, you will be blessed up to a hundred fold in return. Clearly this is bunk! It is popular though because it tickles the ears of a greedy, fallen world.

We must know God’s Word if we are going to prosper from it, and I do not mean prosper in a material sense. We are told, “…man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.” Dt8:3; that, “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless.” 2Sam22:31; Ps119:9 explains that the way to keep pure is, “…By living according to your word.” But all of this is only so much wasted ink if we are unwilling to open God’s Word and read it for ourselves to learn what it really says. Some will say that they do not need to read the Bible because their pastor explains it all to them quite nicely. Christian friends, pastors are people too! They make mistakes just the same as the rest of us and this sometimes extends to interpreting the Word. Some churches may actually discourage the lay person’s reading claiming that only the trained clergy are capable of understanding the Word.

The truth is this… No one comes to Christ except that the Father calls them and the Holy Spirit is responsible for opening our eyes to the truths contained in the scriptures. We have all read things in the Bible that didn’t seem to make sense the first time around only to understand them later on the second or third reading. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. He keeps back understanding that we are not ready to receive until such a time as we mature enough to understand it and then, “BAM,” it clicks and the lights come on! We must follow the prompting of the Spirit and open the Bible to read God’s Word in order that the Spirit can make these revelations to us.

Again, it is imperative for you to realize that I AM NOT SAYING the pastors, writers and assorted expositors of Biblical doctrine are hacks who confuse the Word to achieve their own gains. Some may, but that is not the point here. The point is that unless you have a working knowledge of the content of the Bible for yourself, how will you ever know if you are being duped? When you are dealing with the truth as given by the very God who created you, the God who loves you and promises eternal security for your soul, the God who desperately desires for you to come to the fullest knowledge of Him; you have to root out the pearls for your self. Once you have done this, you may then ask questions and explore expository accounts to better help you understand the scriptures.

I can tell you that the second coming of Christ is not the last coming, but that He will actually return twice in the times yet to come. Once to gather His bride, the church; once to defeat the evil in the world once and for all in the great and final battle of Armageddon. Is it true? Did you think that He was only coming back once? How can you be sure if you haven’t read the Bible for yourself? I know that the prospect of reading the Bible can seem a daunting task but you manage to set aside time for other less important disciplines don’t you? You can begin with a simple chapter a day and if you are persistent, you will eventually finish. You can never complete a goal if you refuse to begin the task; you will never read through the Bible if you never open the book. There are many reading plans available to guide your progress and oftentimes you can become involved in a group study, (or start one yourself), which will support you in reading through the entire text in a shorter time than you might have imagined.

I can not say that you should not read the Christian literature available to you, but I beg you; do not read the Christian literature available to you in exclusion to reading the Bible, itself. Look, this is the revealed truth of the God who created you, do you really want to get this information second hand? Can you trust the fallen, sinful, tragically human people that surround you to deliver the message intended for you from your Heavenly Father? It would be like coming home late for dinner and having the family tell you about the fabulous meal that you had missed; you don’t want to hear about it, you want to taste it for yourself! The Word of God is similar in that it is so much sweeter to experience it for yourself instead of having someone else tell you about it.

DON’T JUST READ BOOKS ABOUT THE BIBLE - READ THE BIBLE!

If you find yourself face to face with God and He should ask, “Did you read My book?” What will you say? “No, I never really did.” And when He asks, “Why not?” What will your answer be? Is there anything that could pass as a plausible excuse for not having read the most important piece of literature of all time, when you are standing before the author of all creation? Only by reading the Word of God can we pattern our lives to ensure that we are living…

All for the Glory of Christ

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