Give Glory To The LORD Your God
It
is my sincere hope that this short study will exhort the true believer to unashamedly
and unreservedly practice doctrinal purity.
First,
a little background!
The
Apostle Paul gravely commanded, I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in
season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and
doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers,
having itching ears;
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry (2 Timothy 4:1-5).
We are living in that time.
God
plainly declares His Holy Bible to be without error and sufficient, or enough,
as we shall shortly discover. God lovingly gave us His Bible to be studied, clearly
understood, and obeyed. After all, Jesus, God in the flesh, said, if ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15); a preposterously ruthless (for the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord;
Romans 6:23)
demand if it were not possible. For this very purpose, God, Who hath also sealed us, and given
the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts (2 Corinthians 1:22) sent His Holy Spirit to the believer;
howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that
shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall
receive of mine, and shall shew it
unto you (John 16:13-14), for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in
all churches of the saints (1 Corinthians 14:33).
This
does not imply that authentic Christians cannot fall into sinful behaviors; but
that our lives are marked by an overriding pattern of godly obedience, as the
Apostle John carefully explains throughout the book of 1 John. For even Holy
Spirit-indwelled Christians are incapable of keeping the law, to God’s standard
of perfection, in our natural bodies; we don’t always obey the Holy Spirit and
we’ve already committed sin offenses prior to our conversion—offenses that must
be accounted for by a just (equitable) God.
Moreover,
just for the sake of contrast, if unbelieving man could somehow keep God’s moral
law (as taught by mans’ philosophies, psychologies, and world religions—all
stress some form of mans’ inherent goodness, self-godhood, and good works to be
saved), then Jesus’, God the Son’s, gracious atoning work on the cross would be
insignificant. Therefore, if the God of the Bible is indeed who He says He is,
and if His Words are true, then He is sovereign (supreme ruler) in all aspects
of salvation, and subsequently, doctrine…just as His Bible declares.
Thus,
we will briefly investigate 7 foundational terms (Wisdom, Written, Way, Word,
Workman, Walk, Warning) that may help us to better understand our God-given
command to revere (worship) and mirror (obey) God’s doctrine, the Bible, in our
daily walk with our Savior.
Let’s
begin our study!
Wisdom
Proverbs 1:7 The
fear of the LORD is the
beginning of knowledge: but
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs
4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all
thy getting get understanding.
James
1:5-8 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not;
and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he
that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he
shall receive any thing of the Lord.
A double minded man is
unstable in all his ways.
Written
Psalm
40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Hebrews
10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,)
to do thy will, O God.
Way
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and
the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Word
Hebrews
1:1-4 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets,
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the
angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Revelation
19:13 And he was clothed with a
vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Let’s review!
(Wisdom, Written, Way, Word)
Jesus, God the Son and The Word of
God, declares that He is the only true path to God the Father and that God the
Father now speaks to us through The Word of God, Jesus, in the Bible (Psalm 40:7 and Hebrews 10:7), in these last days. In
other words, the Bible is, at present, a closed Book. There will be no new revelation from God the Father,
despite the contrary (to the Bible) claims of some that God is still speaking
to them (remember Paul’s warning in 2 Timothy 4:1-5; and, if God is still
speaking to men, then the Bible is still being written) and the ungodly
intermingling of God’s Word with mans’ atheistic, evolution-based, morally-relativistic
(what is true for you might not be true for me, but both are equally true), self-exalting
and sinless, philosophies,
psychologies, and world religions (which offer superseding revelation by unbelievers apart from God and His
Bible). Jesus declares that the Book, the Bible, is about Him and all those who
wish to understand this Book need only faithfully ask God, in reverence and awe
(fear), for such wisdom.
So far, so good—let’s continue!
(Workman, Walk, Warning)
Workman
2
Timothy 2:15-16 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will
increase unto more ungodliness.
2
Timothy 3:13-17 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving,
and being deceived.
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and
hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus. All scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto
all good works.
2
Peter 1:3-4 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Walk
2
Timothy 2:4No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who
hath chosen him to be a soldier.
Warning
Proverbs
16:18 Pride goeth before
destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Jeremiah
3:15 Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God,
before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains,
and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret
places for your pride; and mine
eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is
carried away captive.
Let’s review!
(Workman, Walk, Warning)
A result of his evil sin nature, man
is easily led captive by his own wicked heart (The heart is deceitful
above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9) and his pride, or
self-glory (self-worship or the worship of man, which is worshipping the
creature). And, because that, when they
knew God, they glorified him
not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and
fourfooted beasts, and creeping things (Romans 1:21-23).
This first chapter of the book of Romans earlier teaches us why evil unrepentant
pride soon progresses into the gross darkness the prophet Jeremiah warns about; for the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth
in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them;
for God hath shewed it unto
them (Romans 1:18-19).
God’s people are commanded to, love not
the world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him
(1 John 2:15), but rather to walk
in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham (Romans 4:12). And, God promises that His Word,
the divinely-inspired (God-breathed) Bible, is all that a believer needs for
life and godliness. Consequently, man is instructed to study and rightly divide
God’s Bible or face God’s wrath; once again, a preposterously ruthless demand
if it were not possible.
So, let’s summarize!
The
Bible is all about Jesus Christ, but man wickedly corrupts God’s Bible by mingling
his own foolishness (mans’ wisdom) and creating new (false) revelation, thereby
defaming Jesus, God the Son. God is clear— the Bible, a closed book, is His only Self-written source of doctrinal
purity and all glory rightly belongs to the divine Author. A failure to revere
and obey God’s doctrine will yield gross darkness. Furthermore, every believer
can practice doctrinal purity simply by obeying God’s Biblical instructions. The
true believer’s cry must be Sola Scriptura, or by Scripture alone!
An urgent plea from this writer!
Please, if you know someone (pastor
or layman) who needs to hear this message, share it. It is our duty as true
believers to warn those who profess to believe, as well as those who openly
deny God. Romans 1:28 says, and even as
they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things
which are not convenient, thus this is a salvation issue—it is (eternally) serious!
This writer’s personal opinions are irrelevant, but God’s words on the matter
are plain and clear, as we have discovered. The topic will undoubtedly produce
strife in the modern church and you will
suffer for standing firm for the Bible. Yet, Jesus said…be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
Give glory!
When battling apostasy, an old
seminary professor was heard to exclaim, “I’m just a newsboy, but God is the
Editor. If there is a conflict with the content, it must be taken to the
Editor” (a true account).
Be a good soldier and may God bless
you!
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