"All are sure to err who do not know the Scriptures." - Companion Bible Notes
How important is it that you back up everything you believe with the Bible? How important is it that you know the Scriptures and study the Bible for yourself?
In order to answer these questions, let me tell you what "Darin" the blogger believes. He finds "truth" in his own heart. He knows "truth" from within. He lives from his heart and has stopped meticulously following Scripture. In fact, he claims to let the Scripture follow him. His argument is that you do not have to back up everything you believe by the Word of God.
But, what does the Bible say about this? How important is it that you back up everything you believe by God's Word?
In this message, we would like to answer that last question for you by directing you to the Holy Scriptures themselves. This certainly will not be an exhaustive study, so we encourage you to study further on your own.
First of all, let's get one thing straight. God's Word is the "truth" - the whole "truth" - and nothing but the "truth." In John 17:17, Jesus - in praying to the Father - clearly stated - "Thy word is truth." In John 16:13, when referring to the Holy Spirit Whom the Father would send in His Name, He said - "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth..."
Jesus was making it crystal clear that all that was contained in the Bible - all the commands and the promises of God - the Holy Scriptures in general - came from the God of truth and was the truth in the most absolute sense. He was saying to all of His disciples that all needful truth was comprised and summed up in His Word. The Divine Revelation - as it stands in the written Word - is the pure truth - without mixture - and the entire truth - without deficiency.
David - who knew the value of God's Word - stated in Psalm 33:4 - "For the word of the LORD is right..." In other words, whatever He says - including His commands, law, and promises - is "right" and is worthy of universal belief. The fact that God Almighty says a thing is the highest proof that it is true - for God "cannot lie." (Titus 1:2) Hence, His "word" directs to the "right" way... makes men "right" ...and engages them to walk in "right" ways.
Knowing the value of God's Word, the Psalmist in Psalm 119:128 stated - "Therefore I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." What the psalmist was saying is that he regarded as "right" and just God's Word as it pertained to everything and every person. He did not pick and choose which "words" he would neglect and which he would obey. He "esteemed" them "all" - "concerning all things to be right." And, in doing so, he "hated" every course or view of things - every command, institution, or ordinance of men that was opposed to the will of God - because it was a "false way" - that could not be backed up by the Word of God.
The Pulpit Commentary said - "All ways are 'false' except the way of God's commandments."
The Psalmist went on to say in Psalm 119:105 - "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Here he introduces the "Word" as a candle that gives light in every dark place and chamber. It is a "light" shining in a "dark place" - provided for you by God - as you pass through a dark world. It enables you to see the stumbling blocks and escape the pits and ditches along the way. It shows you the way wherein you should go - keeping you from "the paths of the destroyer." (Psalm 17:4)
He did not stop there. In Psalm 119:24, he went on to say that he actually made God's Word - his "counsellors." It was the "men of his counsel" - his best advisers. He looked to it to ascertain what was right. He consulted it on every occasion and in every circumstance. He sought direction and advice from it.
The Word of God is to be central in the believer's life. How so? Deuteronomy 6:6-9 spells it out for you in saying - "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."
As is evident - the Word of God is to affect the entire life of the believer. Nothing is to be done except it can be backed up by the Scriptures.
In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, the Apostle Paul carried this argument further in saying - "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."
Paul was saying that the Word of God is useful to the believer for communicating instruction... teaching the will of God...convincing men of truth ...confirming the right doctrines concerning God... the refutation of error... correcting false notions and mistaken ideas...the reproof of heresies...and the correction of vice.
Knowing all this, how important is it that you back up everything you believe by God's Word?
In Matthew 22:29, Jesus openly stated that you can fall into "error" when you "do not know the Scriptures" - "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God."
What Jesus was saying here is this - "You are mistaken...you go astray...you are deceived...you are in error...and you are wrong because you do not know the scriptures..."
You can easily take a wrong view. You can become deceived by your impure passions or by your false assumptions. The misrepresentation of the Scriptures always ends in sinful consequences. The Holy Scriptures are the only deterrent against the deviation from the truth to error.
Matthew Henry said - "Ignorance is the cause of error; those that are in the dark, miss their way. The patrons of error do therefore resist the light, and do what they can to take away the key of knowledge."
How important is it that you back up everything you believe by God's Word?
Hosea 4:6 warns you - "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." True knowledge of God is the life of the soul. When you lack it, you are sure to walk on blindly and perish.
Matthew Henry said - "Those that rebel against the light can expect no other than to perish in the dark ...Ignorance is so far from being the mother of devotion that it is the mother of destruction; lack of knowledge is ruining to any person or people."
The Pulpit Commentary said - "Lack of knowledge is itself destruction."
Once again, we ask you - "How important is it that you back up everything you believe by God's Word?"
First of all, it is crucial because there is a "spirit of truth" and a "spirit of error" (1 John 4:6) that is presently in operation. The "spirit of truth" comes from God and teaches truth. The "spirit of error" comes from Satan and seduces into error. The Word of God - the Scripture of truth - is the only test and standard - the touchstone to bring what you hear and read to and to try them by.
The Bible warns repeatedly that the "spirit of error" would operate through "blind leaders" (Matthew 15:14) who would "make the word of God of none effect through their traditions" (Mark 7:13) They would conceal the real Truth using tradition. They would make the real Word of God of none effect by means of a pretended word. They would "teach for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9) - pertaining to the things believed and practiced.
Barnes' Notes said - "God only has the right to declare what shall be done in His service; but they held their traditions to be superior to the written word of God, and taught them as doctrines binding the conscience."
The Prophet Isaiah plainly instructed us to try everything by the revealed Word of God when he said in Isaiah 8:20 - "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." In other words, he was saying that if the teachings you read or hear do not accord with "the law and the testimony" - the Word of God - it is proof that the "teachers" you are following are totally ignorant...without the "daybreak" of true knowledge...and in total darkness.
Charles Spurgeon warned - "Unless you study the Word of God, you will not be competent to detect error...Many false prophets are gone forth into the world. There is a solemn danger of being absolutely misled."
It cannot be stressed enough that the law of God - the Bible - is the standard by which all is to be tested.
Once again, we ask you - "How important is it that you back up everything you believe by God's Word?"
Because if you do not, you may very well end up "falling into the ditch." In Matthew 15:14, Jesus told us - "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." He was offering a striking expression for the ruinous effects of erroneous teaching. Whenever you trust to the ignorant sayings of corrupt men - speaking contrary to the Bible - you are headed for the "ditch" - eternal damnation in the lake of fire.
Lastly, the books of Deuteronomy and Revelation warn of "adding to" or "taking away" from the Word of God to fit your man-made doctrine and then illustrate the terrible consequences thereof -
Deuteronomy 4:2 says - "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."
Revelation 22:18-19 says - "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."
Once again, we ask you - "How important is it that you back up everything you believe by God's Word?"
Plain and simple - it can cost you your eternal soul and you can end up in Hell for all eternity!
May God Bless His Word,
Connie
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. (Isaiah 54:17)
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